#biomass heating

[divine-nonchalance]

At the same time methane can be harvested, filtered and burned as well.

[rxttenfish]

i might take a break on caecilian, at least until my family turns the Fucking AC On. ive been trying to write lately and its just. not happening.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

One way of classifying the forms of energy is shown in Table 8.5.

"Environmental Chemistry: A Global Perspective", 4e - Gary W. VanLoon & Stephen J. Duffy

[clean-renewable-energy-limited]

Commercial heating systems for public and private sector. A range of fully scalable air source and ground source heat pumps and biomass boilers are available.

[jkmtseo]

Explore the eco-friendly world of Jay Khodiyar Biomass Briquetting Plant in India. Our advanced technology transforms agricultural and forestry waste into high-quality briquettes, promoting sustainability and profitability. Dive into the benefits and setup processes of our innovative briquetting solutions and join the green revolution today!

[earaercircular]

Gjakova city in Kosovo sets example in sustainable district heating with new biomass plant

District Heating Company

With its new biomass-fired cogeneration plant and the ongoing reconstruction and expansion of the district heating network that it supplies, Gjakova[1], a city in Kosovo’s west, has set an example for municipal authorities in the Balkans in switching to sustainable district energy technology.

The energy sector is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions and a heavy polluter. While the switch of electricity production to cleaner technologies is gaining pace, heating is more challenging. Similar to the rest of the Western Balkans, Kosovo is still mostly dependent on traditional fuels: wood, fuel oil and coal.

Moreover, only three cities have district heating, with mostly old pipes and substations, which break down a lot. The government in Pristina[2] is yet to assess the potential for high-efficiency cogeneration and efficient district heating and cooling.

But the enthusiasm of the local authority in Gjakova and its district heating firm is already moving the needle with the introduction of biomass and the modernization and expansion of the network. The project is a blueprint for other municipal units in Kosovo for the energy transition in the sector.

With biomass, costs are 50% lower than they would be for fuel oil

First thin white smoke instead of clouds of soot

The District Heating Co.[3] of Gjakova now operates a biomass cogeneration plant instead of the old facility, which was in the city centre and ran on fuel oil. The combined heat and power (CHP) system [4]was built using European funds.

The first thin white smoke that came out of the chimneys when the plant was put into operation last year marked a victory for the city and the local community and all the people that contributed to enabling better district heating and cleaner air.

The endeavour drew interest from municipal authorities across Kosovo, motivating them to turn to sustainable technologies. It earned District Heating Co. a place among the Energy Transition Champions in the Western Balkans, promoted by Balkan Green Energy News.

“We managed to overcome difficulties that arose with the coronavirus pandemic and, more recently, the war in Ukraine, with just minor delays in project implementation. Our team did a very important job. The old heating plant worked for just eight to 12 hours per day, so the benefits of 24-hour working regime are obvious for households and our other customers in Gjakova. But there is also the advantage regarding the environment, together with job opportunities in the biomass supply chain,” the utility’s Chief Executive Officer Albana Skivjani said.

The government is currently subsidising the purchases of biomass, she added. However, next winter the utility should be able to cover its expenditures alone, according to Skivjani. Calculated for a 24-hour heat supply from biomass, costs are 50% lower than they would be for fuel oil, she explained.

District heating projects were funded with EU and Swiss grants

The first step was the feasibility study, funded with a EUR 600,000 grant through the European Union’s Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF)[5]. It was completed in 2015. The conclusion was the future plant should be fuelled with woodchips from forestry residues and the waste from wood processing and vine pruning.

The EU provided EUR 15 million in total for the facility, which consists of two heat-only boilers, one combined heat and power unit and two heat storage spaces. Total heat production capacity is 15 MW and the cogeneration system also generates up to 1.1 MW of electricity.

The district heating upgrade doesn’t stop there. Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs – SECO[6] provided a EUR 4.5 million grant for the modernisation and expansion of the network, while the Municipality of Gjakova participates with EUR 500,000. The works are close to 90% done.

All substations are equipped with heat meters which will enable the introduction of a billing system and enable customers to pay in accordance with their consumption.

SECO granted another EUR 800,000 for the rehabilitation of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in the Regional Hospital Isa Grezda[7]. A total of nine public buildings have been connected to the heating network. It now serves 30,000 people or 40% of the population of the municipality in Kosovo’s west.

Hardships led to improvements in management

The construction of the biomass plant began in January 2020, just ahead of the first lockdowns in Europe. The activities were soon halted, says Vladislav Pavićević, Project Management Team Leader from Egis, which was selected as the supervision authority. “Despite the Covid-19 challenge, our team managed to cope with pandemic rapidly and we resumed the works shortly,” project’s Team Leader pointed out.

The supplier, Urbas Maschinenfabric[8] from Austria, succeeded in manufacturing and delivering the equipment in the middle of the pandemic.

“The first heating season with the new system started only slightly later than usual and planned, in November, and this is a huge success of the whole team devotedly working on this project,” Pavićević concluded. The network was just partly reconstructed at the time, but this year it is in a good condition.

Biomass storage

We need clean air, affordable fuel

The new cogeneration plant was installed outside of town, which helps reduce air pollution. In any case, emissions are line with the EU’s Medium Combustion Plant Directive.[9]

“We need clean air and we need affordable fuel,” says Lendita Gashi, Energy Program Manager in the EU Office in Kosovo. She asserted that the switch to biomass also boosts economic activity. The feasibility study showed one hundred jobs would be created in the biomass supply chain for the combined heat and power plant.

As for challenges, Gashi warned of the risk of getting biomass from quality wood instead of sanitation harvest – forestry waste, which would make the system unsustainable. Next, she pointed to the energy crisis and fuel shortages, saying that the price of woodchips doubled and that there aren’t enough woodchips yet in the market for a steady supply.

WBIF funded a feasibility study for the construction of district heating systems based on renewables in eight cities in Kosovo, she noted. It is scheduled to be completed by mid-2023, after which further steps are needed regarding mobilizing financing for implementation with the European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international financing institutions, Gashi revealed.

Not long before other cities introduce sustainable district energy systems

The capital Pristina, which is already turning to solar thermal technology, and North Mitrovica (Kosovska Mitrovica)[10] are the only other cities with district heating facilities.

What is the next planned move for the authorities of the seventh-largest city in Kosovo and the utility?

“It is important to secure the local market for the summer period, so that the new plant can work throughout the year. We are working on the start of production of thermal energy for sanitary water for the hospital and other potential customers,” CEO Skivjani said. She suggested that investments are needed to expand the network and the energy production capacity.

One of the options for future improvements is solar heating combined with biomass and geothermal energy.

Source

Balkan Green Energy News: Gjakova city in Kosovo* sets example in sustainable district heating with new biomass plant, in: Balkan Green Energy News, 9-12-2022, https://balkangreenenergynews.com/gjakova-city-in-kosovo-sets-example-in-sustainable-district-heating-with-new-biomass-plant/

[1] Gjakova is the seventh largest city of Kosovo[b] and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants. Geographically, it is located in the south-western part of Kosovo, about halfway between the cities of Peja and Prizren. It is approximately 100 km inland from the Adriatic Sea. The city is situated some 208 kilometres north-east of Tirana, 145 kilometres north-west of Skopje, 80 kilometres west of the capital Pristina, 435 kilometres south of Belgrade and 263 kilometres east of Podgorica.

[2] Pristina is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban centre in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and speakers of the Albanian language.

[3] Ngrohtorja e Qytetit Gjakova in Albanian

[4] CHP is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies using a range of technologies and fuels. With on-site power production, losses are minimized and heat that would otherwise be wasted is applied to facility loads in the form of process heating, steam, hot water, or even chilled water. CHP can be located at an individual facility or building or it can be a district energy, microgrid, and/or utility resource that provides power and thermal energy to multiple end-users. CHP equipment can provide resilient power 24/7 in the event of grid outages, and it can be paired with other distributed energy technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV) and energy storage. https://www.epa.gov/chp/what-chp

[5] The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) supports socio-economic development and EU accession across the Western Balkans through the provision of finance and technical assistance for strategic investments. It is a joint initiative of the EU, financial institutions, bilateral donors and the governments of the Western Balkans. The WBIF provides financing and technical assistance to strategic investments in the energy , environment, social, transport, and digital infrastructure sectors. https://www.wbif.eu/about/about-wbif#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20joint%20initiative,transport%2C%20and%20digital%20infrastructure%20sectors.

[6][6] SECO is the federal government`s centre of excellence for all core issues relating to economic and labour market policy. It is our aim to contribute to sustained economic growth, high employment and fair working conditions, by creating the necessary regulatory, economic and foreign policy framework. https://www.seco.admin.ch/seco/en/home.html

[7] Spitali Rajonal 'Isa Grezda' is a hospital in Kosovo. Spitali Rajonal 'Isa Grezda' is situated nearby to Posta e Kosoves and Fati-im Hospital.

[8] URBAS has been constructing trendsetting energy systems for the intelligent use of biogenic fuels for more than 30 years. URBAS systems are specially designed for energy recovery from the inhomogeneous fuels that accrue in sawmills and wood-processing plants or in forestry. Special combustion systems are used for the utilisation of recycling wood. A dedicated research department is permanently engaged in innovations on the topics of ENERGY and BIOMASS. The realization of plants for the sustainable use of biogenic fuels according to economic and ecological criteria - this is the competence of URBAS. https://www.urbas.at/en/energietechnik/

[9] The Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD)regulates pollutant emissions from the combustion of fuels in plants with a rated thermal input equal to or greater than 1 Megawatt thermal (MWth) and less than 50 MWth. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/industry/stationary/mcp.htm

[10] North Mitrovica or North Kosovska Mitrovica, is a town and municipality located in Mitrovica District in Kosovo. As of 2015, it has a population of 29,460 inhabitants. It covers an area of 11 km2. North Mitrovica is a part of North Kosovo, a region with an ethnic Serb majority that functions largely autonomously from the remainder of ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo. The municipality was established in 2013 after North Kosovo crisis, previously being the settlement of the city of Mitrovica, divided by the Ibar river. Following the 2013 Brussels Agreement, the municipality is planned to be the administrative centre of the Community of Serb Municipalities.

[dsiddhant]

/PRNewswire/ -- Biomass Gasification Market is projected to grow from USD 29 million in 2022 to USD 45 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 8.9% according to...

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - September 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. A beam of hope for North America’s most endangered sparrow

“Dozens of conservationists, gathered some distance away to avoid spooking the skittish sparrows, celebrated the [release of the 1000th captive-raised sparrow] in an unprecedented recovery program that in only a few years has doubled the bird’s wild population, from a mere 80 five years ago to some 200 today. […] “What we have achieved is the best case scenario.””

2. U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives

“"In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of twenty percent, thirty percent," said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an expert on street drugs at the University of North Carolina. […] According to Donaldson, many people using fentanyl now carry naloxone, a medication that reverses most opioid overdoses. He said his friends also use street drugs with others nearby, ready to offer aid and support when overdoses occur.”

3. Propagated corals reveal increased resistance to bleaching across the Caribbean during the fatal heat wave of 2023

“”[… Y]oung corals bred for restoration are a lot more resistant to bleaching under extreme levels of heat stress than the prevailing corals on the reef." [… Unlike with the previous propagation strategy, fragmentation, e]very time a population reproduces, new offspring receive newly mixed sets of genes through recombination, making them different from their parent colonies and thus enabling adaptation.”

4. Habitat Management Helps At-Risk Butterflies

“For a number of at-risk butterflies in the United States, habitat management can play an important role in keeping them from going extinct. [… “In] places where people are actively engaged with ways to manage the habitat, the butterflies are doing the best,” said Cheryl Schultz, a professor of conservation biology at Washington State University[….]”

5. Study: Protecting the ocean helps fight malnutrition

“[The study] found that fish catches in coral reefs could increase by up to 20 percent by expanding sustainable-use marine protected areas — that is, areas where some fishing is allowed with restrictions[, … and] that sustainable-use marine protected areas have on average 15 percent more fish biomass than non-protected areas. […] “Allowing regulated fishing in marine protected areas can support healthy fish populations, while also having a positive impact on the quality of life of surrounding communities.””

6. [FWS] Advances Effort to Create Urban Conservation Footprint in Tucson

““We want to continue to work together to create an urban footprint to improve access to nature, conserve habitats, and improve air and water quality.” […] The area provides habitat for several federally listed species, including southwestern willow flycatcher, western yellow-billed cuckoo, and Mexican garter snake. If protected, the area will also help connect critical habitat for jaguar and Chiracahua leopard frog.”

7. ‘Exciting’ solar breakthrough means energy can be kept in sustainable batteries that don’t overheat

“The technology is based on a specially designed molecule of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen that changes shape when it comes into contact with sunlight. These are common elements - providing an alternative to other technologies relying on scarce materials like lithium. […] A unique feature of the system is that the molecules also provide cooling in the photovoltaic cell[, which can store solar energy “for up to 18 years.”]”

8. Sea turtles make big comeback on sandy beaches at 2 British military bases in Cyprus

“[… The] number of nests surpass[ed] last year’s record count by nearly 25%, environmentalists said Tuesday. […] “The steep increase in turtle nests has been the result of a consistent, systematic ‘hands-off’ approach, together with enforcement efforts to minimize illegal, damaging activities on nesting beaches[….” D]aily patrols by volunteers ensure that aluminum cages set atop the nests remain in place to protect the turtles from predators like foxes and dogs.”

9. First ever photograph of rare bird species New Britain Goshawk

“The last documented scientific record of the bird is from 1969[….] Working closely with [“the Indigenous Mengen and Mamusi peoples”], WWF hopes to support local stewardship to safeguard the future of these incredible biodiversity hotspots through community-led conservation.”

10. Hospitals begin offering breakthrough radiation therapy for metastatic cancer tumors

“[First,] a patient is injected with a radioactive glucose (or sugar) tracer. The machine picks up the tracer in real time and in bright colors, [… then] reads a signal from the cancer cells breaking down the tracer. [… “The] machine is automatically and autonomously reacting and responding to those signals by shooting radiation back to their source[….]””

September 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[reasonsforhope]

"The last coal-fired power plant in New England, which had been the focus of a lawsuit and protests, is set to close in a victory for environmentalists.

Granite Shore Power said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to close the Merrimack Station in New Hampshire by June 2028. As part of the deal, the company said the site will be turned into the state’s first renewable energy park that host solar power and battery storage systems. The company also said it would shutter Schiller Station in Portsmouth in December 2025. That facility, which is permitted to use oil, coal and biomass, has not operated for several years...

The 460-megawatt station in Bow has long been a thorn in the side of environmental groups. Most recently, the Sierra Club and the Conservation Law Foundation filed a lawsuit against plant owners, alleging it was violating the Clean Water Act. The plant was owned by Eversource until 2018, when it was sold to Connecticut-based Granite Shore Power. Both were named as defendants.

The environmental groups claimed the plant draws about 287 million gallons (1.1 billion liters) of water per day from the Merrimack River, heats that water as a result of its cooling process, and then discharges the water back into the river at temperatures that often exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

Climate activists also protested the plant and demanded its closure over concerns it is a major source of air pollution. [Note: Coal plants are by definition major sources of air pollution. x] In one incident, climate activists last year paddled canoes and kayaks down the Merrimack River to the plant site and were arrested after going onto the property.

“This historic victory is a testament to the strength and resolve of those who never wavered in the fight for their communities and future,” Ben Jealous, Sierra Club Executive Director, said in a statement. “The people of New Hampshire and all of New England will soon breathe cleaner air and drink safer water.”

The Sierra Club said the announcement will make New Hampshire the 16th state that is coal-free and New England the second coal-free region in the country."

-via AP News, March 28, 2024

--

Note: It doesn't say it in this article, but the coal plants are being replaced by renewables! Specifically solar and battery farms! Source

[absolute-flaming-trash]

Pairing: Yandere!Mahito x Reader

SFW

Word Count: 1'745

Warnings: Yandere, Kidnapped Reader, Captive Reader, Implied death and torture (not reader), Brief descriptions of blood, Possessiveness, Implied abusive behaviour.

Additional Notes: Ya girl gets chronic nightmares, so I'm being self-indulgent here.

Nights like these were always rough.

It was cold. Cold enough that you could see your breath every time you exhaled, and you wrapped your arms around yourself for an additional layer of protection against the frigid air.

The sound of the hammock’s ropes resonated throughout the empty chamber of the sewer, creaking as you rocked it back and forth. The hamstrings in your calf had begun to burn over an hour ago from the repetitive motion of pushing from the heel of your foot to the ball, but that didn’t stop you from doing it. Back and forth. Back and forth. Each motion accompanied by the sound of rope straining under weight.

At times you swore the weight of sleeplessness added onto your actual biomass.

He wasn’t there. Mahito usually wasn’t when you woke up like this. Cold. Tired. Achy. It almost made you miss him, but the sane part of you that remained was thankful for the absence.

He had already seen far too many sides of you for your liking. Him seeing another would be… well. Gut-wrenching was always a good way to describe it, but violating came closer.

Back and forth.

Part of you wondered where he went in the evenings. Curses didn’t sleep, and he typically got his fill of you during the daylight hours, so - as far as you knew - once you drifted off he was gone in favor of unleashing whatever horrors he desired to inflict that night. Sometimes you’d hear distant screams echoing along the vast expanse of the sewers, and you knew he wasn’t far.

Those nights you folded the single pillow in the hammock over your ears and muffled the sounds of suffering to the best of your ability.

But there were no screams tonight. Just the creaking of the ropes and the distant drip of water from a leaky pipe.

“Trouble sleeping?”

Mahito’s sudden voice from behind startled you so badly that you over-calculated the rocking motion of the hammock and sent yourself spiraling onto the concrete floor.

A new sound filled the air - his degrading, overzealous cackle bouncing off the walls while he held an arm over his stomach, doubling over at the sight of you.

“Look at you, you should see your face!”

The tired glare you sent him only earned another round of laughter and you sat up with most of your weight supported behind you on the palms of your hands.

“I thought you went out.”

“I did~.” He said, reaching out and pulling you back up to a standing position by your upper arm once he was finished with his laughing fit. “And now I’m back.”

You hummed lowly in acknowledgement, brushing bits of idle debris off your clothes using your free hand but stopped when his grip tightened on your bicep.

He leered closer to you, the hot rot of his breath hitting you directly in the face.

“Well?”

You swallowed. “Welcome back.”

He grinned, teeth flashing in the dim lighting before he pulled you with him, falling backward into the hammock with you between his legs, back resting against his chest.

It was deceptively domestic, especially when he ran his fingers up and down your arm absentmindedly. The additional warmth of what little body heat he provided did not help in the delusion, either.

“Why are you awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“I know that.” He poked your cheek, the nail of his finger digging into the soft skin and leaving a crescent moon shape. “I asked why.”

You shrugged, not giving a verbal answer outright, but the sigh that followed gave away far more than you intended to.

Mahito clicked his tongue and put his hand under your chin, forcing your head to tilt back so you had no choice but to look at him. It was a little awkward with the semi-upside-down positioning, but things like that were never of any concern to him.

“Details, sweetheart, stop stalling.”

You made a face at the pet name he had chosen for this week. It was tacky and tasteless, but in your opinion anything he picked was. That being said, it was better than what he had chosen the week before.

“I have nightmares, okay?”

His face filled with child-like wonderment and he let go of your chin. A small grunt of relief left you and you rubbed the back of your neck while Mahito repositioned the both of you so he could look at you better - slotting you beside him.

“Poor little thing gets nightmares…” He cooed mockingly, running a hand through your hair. “Am I in them?”

It took everything not to sneer at him. Of course, that would be the first thing he would ask. Not that you were surprised, but that didn’t lessen the near-overwhelming desire to kick him in the teeth.

You forced your feelings down and shook your head. “Not all of them.”

His smile returned, eyes gleaming at the subtext of your words. “But I have been.”

You cringed and went to look away from him, but his cool fingers wrapped around your jaw and brought your gaze back to his.

“What happens in these dreams?”

“A lot.” Your answer was clipped, not wanting to offer more, but his grip didn’t waver. Your jaw clenched. “I can’t remember all of them.”

“But you remember some.”

“Some are hard to forget.”

He pulled you closer - wrapping his arms around you so you were completely trapped against him in an embrace that made your skin crawl.

“I’m all ears~.”

Your lips formed a thin line, the silence and tension between you growing ever palpable with each second you remained quiet.

Mahito sighed, tracing patterns along your back, but his amusement never wavered. “Do I kill you, is that it?” He let his fingers slide up along the upper half of your spine, dragging them across your shoulder blade and back down again before repeating the motion. “Do you beg me for your life like you’ve heard so many do before you?”

He giggled and ran his other hand along your jaw, “You can tell me~.”

A shiver went through you, from the cold you reasoned, but you still stayed quiet - not willing to confirm the small yet horrifically accurate details of his guesses. 

Anything you feared him doing to you in the waking world, he’d done in your dreams. Killing you. Maiming you. Making you wish you were never born, but really that one was a constant even when you weren’t asleep.

He chuckled again at the silence and patted your cheek, “So predictable, I wonder if that’s what you dreamed about tonight for you to be so mousey…”

The near-hopeful curiosity of his tone had your stomach in knots and you swallowed bile.

“It wasn’t.”

“Hmm?” His expression fell, a bit of disappointment shifting onto his face but it was quickly overtaken by interest and the patterns being traced along your back came to a stop. “What was it then?”

You made a face. “Does it matter?”

“Oh, sweetheart, yes it does.” Mahito squeezed you tighter, the look on his face a little… manic. “I want to know what’s going on in that little mind of yours.”

He tapped his fingers twice against your temple in emphasis, each time making you flinch a little bit. “Spill.”

Your tongue darted out to moisten your lips, the skin already chapped and dry before you had even begun.

“It’s a reoccurring one, and it’s always the same.” You started. “I’m in a building that has endless halls and endless rooms. There’s no light coming from an obvious source, and it doesn’t illuminate everything - leaving some parts in complete black.”

Mahito raised an eyebrow, seemingly not very impressed so far, but you continued.

“There’s no exit. No way of getting out. Any emergency exit leads to another hall, and any stairs that would lead to the roof are sealed off by a wall that shouldn’t be there.

“None of the rooms are the same. Some are harder to get into than others and they don’t have a door. I have to crawl on my belly or shimmy my way between two panels that are so close together that I can’t even breathe as I move through them…”

Even the memories of the claustrophobia made you shiver.

“Sometimes the rooms are… coated. Absolutely coated in blood, but there are never any bodies. It’s thick and hot, like it had just been spilled…”

Mahito huffed, toying with a strand of your hair. “Doesn’t seem that bad, I thought you’d have thicker skin after all I’ve done to you.”

That made you both flinch and cringe, but it was quickly overtaken by a wave of anger and you shot him a look. “You asked.”

The words were bitter - doing nothing to mask the sickeningly real sting of hurt you felt.

“Now, now, don’t be like that.” He cooed, holding your chin between his thumb and index finger. “Go on.”

Your frown deepened and you shook your head. “That’s essentially all there is to it.”

Mahito sucked on his teeth and tsk’d. “‘Essentially’ isn’t everything, what are you leaving out?”

The look on his face was still one of morbid interest, but you could see the impatience starting to build behind his eyes.

Impatience meant boredom, and boredom was never good.

“...As I move through the rooms, I sometimes feel like I’m being followed by something, but when I look back there is nothing there.”

Something more serious replaced the look in his eyes in the time it took to blink. “By something or someone?”

“I don’t know!” The frustration fully bled into your tone for a moment and you cleared your throat after a beat. “I just know I can feel whatever it is watching me, sometimes so closely I can feel them breathing down my neck…”

You rubbed your neck in discomfort as if you could still feel it. “It stays that way until I wake up…”

Mahito was silent for a bit, his expression not changing and he gripped you to the point it was painful. Controlling.

Possessive.

Eventually, his grip loosened, but only enough so he could slide his hand down along your neck, the touch lingering.

“Sounds like you need different dreams, then.” He said, cold fingers wrapping around your throat, but not squeezing just yet. Goosebumps blossomed over the flesh and this time you knew it wasn’t from the cold.

“I can help with that~.”

© absolute-flaming-trash 2023. Do not repost, modify, copy, or claim.

[nshtn]

[ UV Albert Wesker Uroboros & PG67 HCs ]

These take after the knowledge that PG67 contains hastily-added leech genes. This is full of medical jargon related to virology and genetics. It's hard sci-fi styled!

the neurology is probably capable of being refuted easily, unfortunately- a lot of sert rabbithole research can't be cited because it's... lacking in couth towards how they talk about neurodivergence...

tags: medical:genetic;neurology (hardly);virology;needles (PG67-A/W), cannibalism mention, childhood trauma, body horror, mental decay

Such a far cry from his beginnings... he's truly taken after the man he hates the most.

Unfortunately for Wesker, adding Uroboros in intensely massive quantities to an existing Progenitor-67 infection is a poor choice that makes him spend much of his fight with Chris alternating between pouncing him like a rabid animal and curling like the death throes of a dying spider.

And unfortunately for Chris, Wesker doesn't die when he's left at the volcano to stew in a puddle of himself. Even with the awakened lack of thermophilic qualities as a result of G, there is enough local flora and fauna to keep him alive, albeit in a subdued state.

Physiological:

Uroboros, combined on the initial foundation of Progenitor 67, takes after Progenitor 67's metabolic inefficiency and drives that far higher than it was ever meant to go in an attempt to sow compatibility.

Due to this, Wesker needs a truly ridiculous amount of calories (~6,000 - ~9,000 kcal/d) to remain fully intelligent.

A lesser amount will generally retain him, though he will experience a plethora of negative symptoms related to starvation (~3,500 - ~5,500 kcal/d).

Wesker cannot digest iron bound to salt or any organic chelates except heme (or hemeprotein) as a result of initial Progenitor 67 infection.

Progenitor 67 epigenetically alters his enterocytes. The genes involved with this are the upregulation of HCP1 and the downregulation of DMT1 and, less intensely, Dcytb, and is a result of both Progenitors' own natural leaning and, primarily, the hasty introduction of leech genes when microinjection became available.

This ultimately means that, as time drags on, he begins to find his palate shifts from a lot of power smoothies to meat.

But there is something crucial here: 67% or more of heme iron is lost when you cook meat. That means...

He slowly slips into preferring his meat blue or raw, otherwise he won't be able to properly supplement his need for heme iron.

With the addition of Uroboros, which dethrones and replaces Progenitor, this change persists and couples roughly with his modified caloric needs.

Uroboros; a monster that eats itself continually without end. It physically presents a sign of Wesker's malingering, creeping need to consume biomass.

Patches of necrotizing, hardening skin and flesh form across his arms and legs in uneven patterns.

Scaly, itchy lesions creep along his cheekbones and the sides of his neck like a corrupted skin flush. They make him look draconic and feral.

These are a weaker, useless vestigial presentation of the hardening of skin he undergoes when he's being flash-fried by high temperatures.

One of the scars of Wesker's infection and subsequent mutative transformation are hypermelanotic deposits.

They start strongest at his fingertips and weaken at the base of his shoulders.

They are also strongest in the center of his chest where his macronuclei is present and taper off approaching his shoulders and abdomen.

His face has some of the same tinting where he was burned and developed heat-resistant scales.

Uroboros enhances the strength of many of his bones - worse closer to the surface of his body - by fortifying them with calcium and double-thickening them.

As a feature of the beginning stages of Uroboros' starvation, it will begin to leach calcium out of bones and the deposits it creates when time to intellect loss is ticking down.

When resources are low, the bones will be stripped for the calcium they uniformly contain, causing him to experience an effect similar to calcium gout / pseudoarthritis, malaise, and brittling.

This leaching undoes itself and becomes re-fortifying under the duress of stress hormones like cholecystokinin and epinephrine.

To note, epigenetic changes brought on by Progenitor physiologically are stacked upon inappropriately and randomly by Uroboros like re-patchwork, which leads to a general instability and accidental incorporation of Progenitor's physical defense mechanisms.

This is what ultimately enables him to survive the events of RE5.

Neurological:

Progenitor infection spiraling into his temporal lobes, brain stem, and, minorly, his frontal lobes as years progress are the cause of his irritation and aggression in RE5.

It does this because it has no antimutagenic properties unlike the more developed t-Virus, slowly mutating out of control into a dysfunctional beast as Wesker experiences more and more stress and trauma.

A bit like G in this regard...

His SERT is disrupted by its' presence in the midbrain raphe nuclei along the brain stem.

This causes elevated extracellular serotonin levels initially, followed by receptor downregulation and eventual serotonin deficiency.

The lack of available serotonin leads him to experience, at first, heightened periods of aggression. Later, this becomes mania and even delirium if he forfeits sleep or a PG/67 shot, because...

As time ticks on, his dopamine begins to become dysregulated as well.

This imbalance contributes to mood swings, aggression, and impaired decision-making.

It also leads to a loss of the ability to feel pleasure or joy in things, making him manic and paranoid, taking risks uncharacteristically to feel something, anything.

As Progenitor 67 degrades brain function, particularly areas involved in impulse control and aggression, Wesker experiences the uncontrollable urge to consume.

This leads him to cannibalize interns and people he calculates won't be missed, as well as people who piss him off enough. During this time it does change - and become true - that a misplaced boop! or headpat! might get you killed.

His ego begins to vacillate and strengthen itself in an effort to maintain itself despite his decline. If he can just finish Uroboros, everything will be okay again, he can fix himself...

His brain practically relies on his PG67-A/W dose before he gains Uroboros.

A rapid decline in cognitive and emotional stability when he’s off the dose is present.

It's not unlike sundowning...

You would not want to see his MRIs during this time. They look awful - his brain has lesions and there are parts that are grossly overgrown; there are tiny black specks where Progenitor has gnawed holes in the fabric of him. If he hadn't roped it in, he would probably end up eventually going completely feral from his brain swelling up against the sides of his skull; he'd just become another victim of Cannibal Disease and turn, simply painfully slowly.

Uroboros is not supposed to crawl into the brain. It's supposed to leave it unaffected - but Progenitor having already curdled and spread unchecked into it gives it an opening for opportunistic infection.

It attempts to knit the holes and tamp down overgrown regions, but in doing this, it feeds from a sort of 'genetic template' that restores Wesker's ability to feel and feel greatly. This includes the reactivation (and reanimation) of the greatly disordered regions of his brain responsible for empathy, sleep regulation, attachment, and guilt.

It also cannot perfectly recreate lost tissue or resurrect memories from dead, liquefied tissue, so he retains some of his symptoms, like mood swings.

Rage becomes consuming, hunger becomes voracious, and guilt becomes haunting; he is plagued with an unfortunate (to him) tendency to consider others.

He finds it a prying weakness, but he can no longer tamp it down into nonexistence as he did; he is, essentially, thermally reduced to his Arklay days in behavior. He’s still intelligent and cunning, but he must now wrestle with intense emotional responses that don’t align with his goals at all...

Guilt and empathy are so foreign to him they are nearly out-of-body; he views them clinically and tries to rationalize them away, but his inability becomes the stake that impales him and imparts a malingering sense of conflict.

...and he must take a good, hard, long look at his goals and how far they've diverted from their initial precedence.

... what is he now? What use does he serve in this world - to what master does he heel, clearly dethroned from his position? These questions and more are things he asks himself now.

Is he doomed to roam aimlessly without purpose until he perishes?

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Why We Need to Care About Insects

Originally posted on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/why-we-need-to-care-about-insects/

Some months back a study was released that demonstrates just how damaging climate change is to insects, particularly those in tropical areas. Warming temperatures cause insects to die from overheating and dehydration, kills off their food sources, and lowers their fertility rates to dangerous levels. Moreover, changes in climate affect insect phenology, the timing of when they hatch, migrate, breed, and so forth.

And because insects are so small, they’re often disproportionately affected by many of these problems. As ectotherms, they rely on the air around them to regulate their body temperatures; their small mass means they lose heat faster than larger animals, and can be overloaded with heat much more quickly. Tropical insects are especially at risk from major fluctuations in temperature because they are adapted to a relatively narrow temperature range.

Gray spruce looper moth (Caripeta divisata)

But the problem goes far beyond the tropics, and we are in the middle of an insect apocalypse. This problem often flies under the radar of those who are not already aware of invertebrate conservation. While a few insects, such as monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) and domestic honey bees (Apis mellifera), find themselves in the press on a regular basis, most species don’t have large fan clubs. Some of my favorite insects include the white-tipped ctenucha moth (Ctenucha rubroscapus), the velvet snail-eating beetle (Scaphinotus velutinus), and the black-tailed bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus), none of which are insects you’re likely to find making the headlines.

To be fair, there are a lot of insect species out there, so it would be hard to feature every single one individually. But we already face the problem that many people simply just don’t see why we need to worry about fewer bugs around. Last year I wrote an article about how search engines tend to produce exterminator sites at the top of results for various insects, and while some of that is no doubt due to advertising-oriented algorithms, they do reflect a widespread demand for extermination services that isn’t matched by more positive attention to these little animals.

Much has been said among entomologists, ecologists, and other professionals about why we need to be concerned about the drastic drop in the numbers of many insect species, and I’ve written about it as well. I could reiterate what would happen if we lost our pollinators (and also how to save them!) or the crucial role insect detritivores play in reducing diseases and keeping the food web cycling along. And I am still a champion for mosquitoes and other unpopular insects.

Green stink bug (Chinavia hilaris)

But these things always bear repeating. It may be that nine out of every ten organisms on this planet is an insect. Insects play an incredible number of ecological roles, from ecosystem engineers to pollinators to food sources and much more. Without them, ecosystems around the planet would collapse entirely.

I could certainly take the self-interested route and emphasize that fully one-third of our food relies on insects and other pollinators. I might also point out that insect detritivores help nourish the soil needed for everything from food crops to timber. While terrestrial insects and other arthropods only make up about a fifth of the amount of global biomass as their marine counterparts, they still represent a natural sink that holds about 200 million tons of carbon at any given time.

But our anthropocentric worldview rarely considers the intrinsic value of insects simply for existing. We’re constantly weighing and measuring their worth based on our biases and values. We divide them into “good” or “bad” insects: good insects are those that do things we like, like pollination or looking pretty, while bad insects are the ones that chew on our homes and plants or which bite or sting us when threatened or seeking food. For a lot of people, any insect beyond maybe a butterfly is a reason to say “Ewww, gross!” I’ve even seen this widespread among self-professed nature lovers, whether they have a true entemophobia or not, though there may be an evolutionary reason for this seemingly disproportionate reaction.

So consider this yet another attempt to change opinions about insects. I can’t cure entemophobia, but I can at least get people thinking more critically about personal and societal attitudes toward insects. I hope to get people to realize that widespread use of pesticides and other garden/agricultural chemicals–which has increased fifty-fold in twenty-five years–is driving the loss of so many insects. I’ve mentioned before that habitat loss is the single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction, and that goes for insects, too. And, of course, the study mentioned at the start of this article is just one highlighting the increasing impact climate change has on insects worldwide.

Metric Paper Wasp (Polistes metricus)

Let me wrap this up on a bright note: word is getting out. There is a lot more awareness than there was twenty years ago, and there’s more nuance than we had in the early “save the (domesticated European honey) bees” campaigns. More people are ditching pesticides and other garden chemicals unless absolutely needed, and regenerative agricultural practices that use fewer chemicals overall are gaining ground. And while numerous organizations are increasing awareness of insect conservation, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation–the oldest organization dedicated solely to invertebrates–is still going strong.

And you can help spread the word, too. Share this article with others, and some of the resources and organizations linked throughout. Consider your own relationship to the native insects in the world around you, and whether you might make their lives a little easier. And remember that sometimes it is the smallest of things that have the greatest importance in such a massive system as an entire living planet.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[rxttenfish]

btw i feel like i should make it clear. miranda gets a cane + wheelchair in the future, at least in as far as i write her. being on land for extended periods of time is not something that her joints and back and hips were made for, and ESPECIALLY not bipedal walking as much as she does, so she’s already dealing with some pretty severe chronic pain. the only reason she doesn’t yet is because the merkingdom and the vanderbilt family line is. ah. very resistant to the idea.

[clean-renewable-energy-limited]

UK homeowners get renewable energy finance now! RHI Scheme, Green Homes Grant or regular financing for a biomass boiler, solar panels or heat pumps. Free advice.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Zeolite catalyst method uses microwaves to convert waste cooking oil into useful chemicals

Researchers from Kyushu University have revealed that a zeolite material called Na-ZSM-5 is effective in improving the chemical conversion of biomass into olefins—a precursor chemical that makes everything from plastics to pharmaceuticals—using microwaves. Publishing their work in Chemical Engineering Journal, the team explains that microwave heating of Na-ZSM-5 could open doors to a more energy-efficient and sustainable chemical industry. If you want to synthesize complex organic compounds, whether it be plastics, pharmaceuticals, or food additives, you generally need to start with chemical precursors with simple structures. Naturally, finding ways to efficiently and sustainably synthesize precursor chemicals is an extensively researched field.

Read more.

[bowtiedauthor]

The Black Flame or: subterranean blood worship

inspired by Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarestani

In earth’s hallowed subterranean womb confined, Where shadows breathe and darkness ever reigns, A liquid flame ignites the space entwined, A sentient force within blackened veins. From ancient soil doth black gold softly seep, A whisper silent, cosmic cry forlorn, Through fractured stone its essence dark doth creep, A tellurian pulse ‘neath sky is born.

The East, a vortex deep and tempest-torn, A stage where earth and man in conflict stand, Where ancient myths in anger are reborn, And weeping springs anew in desert sand. Oil, blood of earth in dolorous descent, A weapon forged within nature’s core, The congealed biomass of epochs lent, To create heat and energy, evermore.

Petroleum, thou dark and subtle foe, In complicity we bind our fate, To forces deep beneath the sky doth grow, In shadows of a timeless state. Through warlike engines and through armor’d might, The black flame fuels unending, ceaseless strife, A dance of shadows in the darkened night, Entwined with human soul and mortal life.

The blackening, a world by fire transformed, By liquid’s unyielding grip enthralled, In myth and mind its presence has stormed, Through history’s veins it drips and calls. O worshippers of the blackened flame, In complicity we take our part, Bound to the liquid’s ancient claim, Its darkness etched upon our heart.

As tellurian whispers rise and fall, And subterranean plots do yet unfold, We seek the truth ‘neath lies that we enthrall, In oil’s embrace, a tale is told. In blackened fields, where shadows darkly bloom, And myths of old find life in form anew, We worship at the earth’s most ancient tomb, The liquid flame, both old and true.

Through punctured earth, the otherworldlies creep, Dimensional gates where shadows breathe, Our ignorance, a gift to depths that seep, In oil’s dark thrall, we blindly weave. A mirror to the sun’s consuming fire, The earth rebels in shadow’s cold embrace, An apocalyptic end, our dark desire, In blackened veins, we find our fateful place.

-8/2/24