Having learned about global warming and carbon emissions from Dr. Altostratus at the Climate Center, Akbar has introduced a new line of face parts in his mall called Carbon Couture!
These are no ordinary face parts. Unlike Whyville's power plant which burns coal (and coal emits more carbon than any other fuel), these parts generate electricity without emitting carbon.
Incredible, but true! You can even help design parts for the Carbon Couture using Akbar's Face Factory. If Akbar approves your part, he'll assign it a unit rating based on how much carbon-free electricity it generates for Whyville. Then, he will put it on sale at Carbon Couture. As you design these parts, be aware that reducing carbon emissions isn't always t he same as being environmentally friendly, at least in the way it typically means. Reducing your carbon emissions is much tougher because carbon sneaks in where you might not think to look.
Here are some examples to inspire your design:
Windmills are great ways to generate carbon-free electricity. Powered by the wind, a renewable energy source, windmills produce zero waste products. The larger and better designed it is, the more electricity it will produce. Akbar will assign high unit ratings to windmills.
Solar panels capture the Sun's energy and convert it into electricity. No carbon is emitted. The larger and better designed it is, the more electricity it will produce. Solar panels accepted by Akbar will get high ratings.
This device captures the energy of a person biking and stores it as electricity in a battery. This is an interesting way to generate electricity. The thing to keep in mind however is that human beings specifically and all animals in general are not very efficient producers of energy. We take in a LOT more energy as food than we are able to put back out. Regardless of of how organic, sustainable and locally-grown your food is, its production still generates a lot of carbon. Using this food to energize you to charge up batteries makes more carbon than just using the electricity from a coal-fired power plant. HOWEVER, if you were going to ride your bike anyway, either for exercise or to get somewhere, then capturing your energy in batteries can be a good idea. Just don't go biking *just* for the sake of charging up batteries. Due to this complexity, Akbar may accept human-powered generators, but will give them only medium ratings.
This Chia Hat is in Carbon Couture simply because it is so darn cute. You might say that it lowers carbon emissions because it sucks up carbon dioxide. Nonetheless, it's rating is zero because it does not generate any electricity. From time to time, Akbar will accept well-designed parts that may indirectly reduce carbon emissions, but if they do not generate any electricity, their rating will be zero.
Design your parts based on these examples, and help power Whyville. Learn more at the Carbon Inventions page.
