High-Level Project Summary
It has been known for decades that mercury pollution causes serious harm to human health and the environment. Mercury pollution cause by 2 main reason; intentional source and unintentional source. One of the Intentional source is spent florescent lights. The basic principle of Green Box is to change the normal operation system in spent florescent light with a simple resonant transformer to reuse spent florescent lights through wireless means. This innovation will radically change the industry of recycling spent florescent lights. Instead of breaking them down to be remade into new lights, the old non-functioning lights can be used again without any costly process.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
One of the undesirable sources of mercury pollution is discarded fluorescent lights or spent fluorescent lights. The basic principle of GREEN BOX is to change the basic operation system of spent fluorescent lights with a simple resonant transformer to enable the reuse of the spent fluorescent lights through wireless means. The purpose of this project is to instill the awareness of the dangers of mercury pollution among school children and o provide a solution to end mercury poisoning that is caused by spent fluorescent lights. This innovation has the potential to radically change the industry of recycling spent fluorescent lights. Instead of breaking them down to manufacture new lights, the old non functioning fluorescent lights can be reused at the fraction of the cost of traditional recycling.
We live in a time of great economic and social distress. Natural resources are wearing thin globally. Pollution is wreaking havoc among 21st century humanity. Yet an invention that was made possible by a nineteenth century inventor named Nikola Tesla has the potential to greatly alleviate mankind's environmental and economic problems in this century. That invention is the Tesla Coil. My product which is called the GREEN BOX enables spent fluorescent lights to be used again without the costly process of recycling. It utilizes electromagnetic technology that can give new life to discarded lights. The best place to start is in this rural area in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It can give great economic benefits to this rural populace whose income is just average. Besides it can give great benefits to it's natural surroundings as far less lights would be thrown away in dumps, thus greatly reducing the danger of mercury poisoning. I hope that by succeeding here, this technology would be adapted worldwide and benefit everyone on earth. By creating GREEN BOX kiosks/booth in this rural community, I hope to bring new economic possibilities and a new sense of responsibility and belonging for this community. Each kiosk/booth with huge tesla coil will enable the reuse of spent fluorescent bulbs at the same time it prevent the release of mercury vapor to surrounding or nearby water bodies if not dispose in proper way. Most of the time spent fluorescents bulb become white elephant in waste facilities.
Space Agency Data
According to United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Once mercury from the air reaches water, microorganisms can change it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish. As larger fish eat many smaller fish, mercury concentrations increase in their body tissues. Mercury contamination affects populations of numerous fish species trout, bass, salmon and others. Waterfowl and mammals that eat fish, including loons and otters, and songbirds, bats, and amphibians that feed on insects can be exposed to high levels of mercury. Birds and animals suffering from mercury exposure behave differently and have less reproductive success. With that being said, we have come up with a solution the Green Box, the momentous breakthrough in mercury pollution which was an epidemic in few countries.
According to IPEN International Pollutants Elimination Network, When mercury, a global pollutant, enters the aquatic environment, microorganisms can transform it into methylmercury, a compound that is more toxic at low doses than elemental mercury. Once methylmercury is in the environment, it becomes part of the food chain. Small aquatic organisms ingest it from their surrounding environment, and are, in turn, eaten by fish and other, larger aquatic organisms. As a result, the methylmercury biomagnifies, becoming increasingly concentrated as the pollutant works its way up the food chain, polluting marine mammals, birds, and other animals that consume fish. Generally, higher concentrations are found in larger and older animals. Methylmercury pollution also harms the health of people who regularly eat fish. Testing fish and human hair for mercury is a good indicator of mercury pollution levels in various geographic regions and communities.
Minamata disease was first discovered in the city of Minamata Japan, in 1956, hence its name. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from a chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corperation, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated and biomagnified in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay which, when eaten by the local population, resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued for 36 years.
The story of Minamata related to above information we collected from NASA Space Apps. This deadly mercury exposure to environment inspired our project to find a solution for mercury pollution.
Hackathon Journey
According to the information from space apps, we learn that mercury, a global pollutant, enters the aquatic environment, microorganisms can transform it into methylmercury, a compound that is more toxic at low doses than elemental mercury. Once methylmercury is in the environment, it becomes part of the food chain, indirectly we consume mercury from fish and shellfish. More than half of all women who were sampled measured above the US EPA level of concern, and three out of four women measured had mercury levels that have been associated with the onset of mercury-related impacts to fetal development. The study establishes that mercury pollution has accumulated across the worlds’ major oceans, contaminating the marine food chain and posing a threat to a sizable portion of the world’s island populations.
We cant eliminate this mercury pollution 100% but we can reduce it. We have design a solution to help reduce mercury pollution. One of the intentional source for mercury pollution is spent fluorescent bulbs. Our project is to reuse spent fluorescent bulbs Instead of breaking them down to be recycle them, the old non-functioning lights can be used again without any costly process by using tesla coil which produce wireless power to excites mercury gas to produce visible light by phosphor coating in spent fluorescent bulbs
We have officially wrote to Malaysian digital Economic Cooperation (MDEC) to fund a pilot project to be carry out in a rural village in Malaysia. With the technical and financial support from (MDEC) Malaysian digital economic cooperation, the CEO has given letter of intent to carry out the community project to be piloted in Rural village before extended to other countries in global platform as community project. The prototype of kiosk/booth to light up spent fluorescent bulb is in progress. The coordinates of the pilot project is latitude 1.167819/N 1 10' 4.147" and longitude 110.570480/ E 110 34' 13.729" .
We are so lucky to participate in NASA Space app challenge, many new information we gathered from NASA resources such as bioaccumulation of methylmercury in fish and shellfish which become part of our food chain.
We would like to thanks the great inventor Nicola Tesla for his potential to greatly alleviate mankind's environmental and economic problems in this century. Thanks to NASA Space App for the opportunity given to move further with our pilot project.
References
1)What are the connections between mercury and CFLs? (2021, May 26). US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/cfl/what-are-connections- between-mercury-and-cfls
2)World environment situation room. (n.d.). World Environment Situation Room. https://wesr.unep.org/topic/index/4
3)Mercury in fish and human hair. (n.d.). IPEN | A Toxics-Free Future. https://ipen.org/projects/mercury-fish-and-human-hair
4)United Nations. (n.d.). ClimateChange. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/
5)Minamata disease. (2003, September 5). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease
6)Tesla coil. (2002, February 14). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil
Tags
#minamata disease #mercury pollution #tesla coil