BITS AND PIECES The Secret Life Of Horseradish
(Page 2 of 3)
June/July 1995
By the Mother Earth News editors
The same horseradish can even be used again, with the same purifying effects as when it was freshly minced. The root's power remains for up to 30 treatments of toxic water.
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Anyone who has attempted to thwart an invasion of horseradish in their garden understands the economy of growing the plant in volume. It grows at such a rate that it has cost more to limit the proliferation of horseradish than it ever would to let it grow as it chooses. It needs very little attention, and can be produced in massive amounts for a very low cost. It needs no preparation other than mincing, and the only by-product of the purification process is the spent horseradish instead of the many equally destructive chemicals left over after traditional purification. In comparison to chemical treatments that cost millions of dollars a day, the university estimates that the horseradish would cost only $920 per day to treat 66,000 gallons of phenolcontaminated water.
There is no news just yet on whether or not horseradish can be used to purify water in the home, yet the massive amount of waste water that could be treated by the plant industrially sets the stage for other vegetable/organic alternatives to water decontamination.
Dr. Jean-Marc Bollang, of Penn State's College of Agricultural Science, found that other plants may have similar decontaminating properties. Purification by potatoes and radishes may be next, though potatoes don't hold up as well as the mighty horseradish under repeated use.
The German Postal Service Electrified
Photo Courtesy of Electric Fuel Corporation
Neither snow nor rain nor energy crisis stays the German Postal Service from the completion of their rounds. This summer, Germany's mail couriers will become leaders in the transportation revolution, taking to streets in electric fleets. Mail delivery and the electric battery will meet in the largest-ever use of electricity powered, zero-emissions vehicles.
The German Postal Service (Deutsche Bundepost Postdienst) will be the first to attempt a widespread use of electric vehicles to deliver mail in place of fossilfuel—dependent and pollution—causing—vehicles. Over 50 vans and pick-up trucks will be powered by the Electric Fuel system, transporting mail throughout several German municipalities.
The battery functions by a "zinc-air" system, according to Robert Ehrlich, CEO of Electric Fuel, the company with the contract to provide the postal service with the batteries Electric Fuel developed and manufactures.
"It is very simple," he says. Zinc anodes, which conduct the negatively charged side of a battery, are placed on a metal frame. Air is forced through the anode, producing a catalytic reaction that results in an oxygen ion which, combined with zinc, produces the positive electrical charge.
