The Return of the Bicycle
Consumerism, Energy Systems, Health & Disease, Society, peak oil — by Earth Policy Institute July 7, 2010
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car. Bicycles increase mobility while reducing congestion and the area of land paved over. Six bicycles can typically fit into the road space used by one car. For parking, the advantage is even greater, with 20 bicycles occupying the space required to park a car.
Few methods of reducing carbon emissions are as effective as substituting a bicycle for a car on short trips. A bicycle is a marvel of engineering efficiency, one where an investment in 22 pounds of metal and rubber boosts the efficiency of individual mobility by a factor of three. On my bike I estimate that I get easily 7 miles per potato. An automobile, which requires at least a ton of material to transport one person, is extraordinarily inefficient by comparison.
Comments (0)The Di Pietro Compressed Air Motor – Alternative Clean Energy, Today
Energy Systems, peak oil — by Patrick Blampied June 21, 2010
Obama if you’re reading this – here’s the answer to your call for alternative energy.
The spill in the gulf… only underscores the necessity of seeking alternative fuel sources. We’re not going to transition out of oil next year or 10 years from now but think about it… we’re not going to be able to sustain this kind of fossil fuel use. This planet can’t sustain it. – President Barack Obama, May 26, 2010
Sure, it was the brute force of having the ugly truth of our thoughtless consumption of dirty energy thrust upon us instead of it being hidden from TV cameras and newspapers in the third world, but finally we’re talking publicly about the real costs of our energy use and where it’s taking us. Since a disaster of this scale was bound to happen anyway, personally I’m thanking God it happened where it did and when it did.
Comments (25)Compost Heated Hot Water in Canberra
Compost, Energy Systems, Urban Projects — by Patrick Blampied June 17, 2010
Leigh Blackall has set up a compost water heating system after being inspired by a series of Youtube videos including one featuring Zaytuna’s compost heated shower.
He’s documented setting up his system here:
Part I Comments (1)
Solar Cookers
Energy Systems, Processing & Food Preservation — by Ecofilms June 11, 2010
While we were shooting the Permaculture Soils video with Geoff Lawton, we noticed an array of shiny solar cookers being assembled on the jetty at Zaytuna Farm. Barb Ford from Brisbane was cooking the afternoon lunch for the woofers and students on the farm.
Taking a break from our filming, we asked Barb to give us a run down on the various cookers she had on display and explain their uses. Not all Solar Cookers are the same. Some act as ovens whilst others act as direct burners.
Comments (6)An Agricultural Crime Against Humanity
Consumerism, Energy Systems, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, peak oil — by George Monbiot June 2, 2010
Biofuels could kill more people than the Iraq war.
First published in November 2007, by George Monbiot: journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist, United Kingdom
 Jatropha plantation |
It doesn’t get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty per cent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, cassava(1). The government has allocated several thousand hectares of farmland to ethanol production in the county of Lavumisa, which happens to be the place worst hit by drought(2). It would surely be quicker and more humane to refine the Swazi people and put them in our tanks. Doubtless a team of development consultants is already doing the sums.
This is one of many examples of a trade described last month by Jean Ziegler, the UN’s special rapporteur, as “a crime against humanity”(3). Ziegler took up the call first made by this column for a five-year moratorium on all government targets and incentives for biofuel(4): the trade should be frozen until second-generation fuels – made from wood or straw or waste – become commercially available. Otherwise the superior purchasing power of drivers in the rich world means that they will snatch food from people’s mouths. Run your car on virgin biofuel and other people will starve.
Comments (13)Biofuels and Confirmation Bias
Energy Systems, Fermenting, Global Warming/Climate Change, peak oil — by Tim Auld
by Tim Auld
Several years ago I learned about peak oil and decided that industrial civilisation was going to collapse. From then on I viewed many responses to this with scepticism. They would at best prolong business as usual for a short period. Use of cars and trucks would collapse with the supply of oil, along with plastics, rubber and pharmaceuticals. I thought that this would ultimately be a good outcome considering the damage our civilisation does.
Is this our future?
When you draw a conclusion on information like this the mind can trick you. You become invested. You might say that you’re keeping an open mind, but you actually discount information that contradicts your chosen outcome and you don’t search for information or solutions that might change your mind. It’s called confirmation bias.
Comments (17)Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – Same Shit, Different Day
Consumerism, Economics, Energy Systems, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh May 28, 2010
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill mirrors another gulf oil spill – from thirty years ago – that took nine months to contain. The present spill is at 25 times the depth….
Our peak oil disaster scenarios talk about the oil industry, having long ago picked all the low hanging fruit of available supplies, needing to go to greater and greater lengths, and greater expense, to locate and extract new supplies of oil – and from fields the industry wouldn’t have even considered a decade or two ago. One angle in all this that is not well discussed, however, is that along with a significantly reduced EROEI is a corresponding increase in attached risk.
The clip below compares two out-of-control gulf oil spills – the present disaster, and one thirty years ago. The spill of 1979 went on for months, and months – nine to be precise – despite the blown out well being only a couple of hundred feet below the surface. The spill today is at 5,000 feet.
We may be hearing about the ongoing drama of this spill for a very, very long time….
Comments (8)The Transformation of Our Urban Home
Biological Cleaning, Building, Energy Systems, Retrofitting, Urban Projects, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Harvesting — by Rob Avis
by Rob Avis
In August 2008, my wife Michelle and I returned to Calgary, Canada, after spending one year traveling abroad in search of sustainability solutions. With backgrounds in mechanical engineering, our “sabbatical” started off in Denmark – we were drawn there by the lure of technological solutions to energy issues. After several months of volunteering and filling our brains with information (wind energy, solar applications, passive buildings, biogas, plant oil engines… and more) we ended up back in North America prepared to explore the U.S. and Mexico in our plant-oil powered Westfalia.
We knew that something thus far in our sustainability search was missing and were starting to suspect that the missing link might be permaculture (although we didn’t really know what it was quite yet). Our travels brought us to several eco-sites, including an ecovillage near Mexico City. We stopped to do some WWOOFing at a permaculture farm and then headed further south to visit the indigenous Mexicans of the Chiapas, interested to learn about their agricultural practices. An Earthship workshop and geodesic greenhouses in New Mexico and an education center and CSA project in Colorado to name a few other adventures. And to culminate this amazing year we signed up for a Permaculture Design Course at Bullocks Homestead in Washington. The entire experience was nothing short of amazing.
Next task – put all of this information to productive use! Oh boy.
Comments (9)Out of Sight, Out of Trouble
Economics, Energy Systems — by George Monbiot May 24, 2010
A new report shows how the UK could tap into vast renewable resources, without any of the aggro caused by existing wind farms.
by George Monbiot: journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist, United Kingdom
Whenever you suggest that renewables could one day supply a large proportion of our electricity, scores of people jump up to denounce it as a pipedream, a fantasy, a dangerous delusion. They insist that the energy resources don’t exist; that the technologies are inefficient; that they can’t be accommodated on the grid; that the variability of supply will cause constant blackouts.
Rockets That Don’t Fly
Energy Systems — by Rob Avis April 7, 2010
by Rob Avis
Living in Canada makes staying warm in winter an interesting challenge. In such a cold climate I have long wondered how to continue to keep humans warm (care of people) without bringing down forests or using fossil fuels (care of earth). Even the most energy efficient home with passive solar design will require some sort of external heat input during our winter.
Biomass is simply “ordered” carbon through the process of photosynthesis – ie. stored solar energy. Biomass comes in the form of straw, wood, stover, or generally any matter from living organisms. Wood is a premier choice for heating as it has a high carbon content and will burn hot. However, if there was a massive shift to heating with wood we would quickly deplete our forests and significanlty affect the climate. How do we heat ourselves without bringing down the lungs and life support system of the planet?
Recently we visited Nick and Kirsten of Milkwood Permaculture. I was immediately drawn to their shower block built from an old sheep dip and using rain water heated by what’s called a rocket stove.
Comments (13)Please Get Behind Our Efforts to Demonstrate Sustainable Development and Relief for Chile Quake/Tsunami Victims
Aid Projects, Building, Community Projects, Conservation, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Ethical Investment, Irrigation, Networking Sites, News, People Systems, Society, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Harvesting — by Grifen Hope March 20, 2010
Editor’s Preamble: Permaculturists famously endeavour to ‘turn the problem into a solution’. At the moment we have a tremendous opportunity to apply this principle in wonderful, productive ways in disaster-hit Chile. The quake-tsunami combo that hit on February 27, 2010 has created a void just begging for sustainable relief and re-development. Grifen Hope, who writes below and who leads out at Ecoescuela El Manzano, a partner organisation to the Permaculture Research Institute, is well positioned to fill that void with all kinds of permaculture goodness – in the form of low-cost environmentally friendly buildings, improved sanitation and nutrient cycling through construction of composting toilets, water harvesting systems and in education in home garden design, etc. Grifen’s already established and successful project and his national contacts make this a particularly significant opportunity, to not only directly help people in great need at this time, but to also offer more holistic and community centred alternatives to local and national government – alternatives with far greater short and long term potential than those offered by the scores of contractors seeking to cash in on misery. PRI Australia feels so strongly about assisting Grifen with his noble ambitions, that we’re putting forward the first AU$1,000 donation. Both PRI Australia and PRI USA are taking donations for this cause (people in the U.S. will want to donate through PRI USA, to take advantage of their tax-exampt non-profit status). In the interests of transparency, PRI USA will take 5 percent of donations to cover administration and the work that had to be done to facilitate the legal aspects of sponsoring this project – but that 5% will help PRI USA develop its own projects). PRI Australia will pass 100% of donations to the project in Chile. Additionally, as we feel this work deserves significant exposure, and as we seek to ensure that valuable permaculture relief work gets noticed at the highest levels, to attract further governmental support for future disasters worldwide, PRI Australia and myself (Craig Mackintosh) will share the costs for myself to go to Chile to cover and report on Grifen’s work via photographs, writing and video. I would like to take this opportunity to ask people to get behind this in whatever way they can. Donations, large or small, will all assist in what is the very best form of aid work. Perhaps ask your employer to match your donation – many will. Additionally, people with contacts in government, aid agencies and other NGOs are invited to share this page with them. Thanks in advance to the worldwide permaculture community for getting behind this work. You never know – in the future you may be the recipient of such assistance.
Update: ‘Letters from Chile‘ reports from Craig are coming in. Check them out!
| Donate via PRI USA (USA residents)* Other non-paypal methods of donating here |
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| Donate via PRI Australia (rest of world)* Other non-paypal methods of donating here |
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| *Please be sure to click on the ‘Add special instructions to seller’ link, and then type ‘CHILE’ in the field provided, to ensure these fund are correctly diverted. | |
El Manzano in Transition – Towards Community Resilience, by Design
by Grifen Hope of Ecoescuela El Manzano
Comments (3)Letters from Costa Rica, Part III – Happiness Is….
Community Projects, Consumerism, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Energy Systems, People Systems, Society, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling — by Juliana Birnbaum Fox March 18, 2010
by Juliana Birnbaum Fox, fellow collaborator with Craig Mackintosh on the Sustainable (R)evolution Book Project.
Editor’s Note: This is Part III of a series. Read Part I here, and Part II here.
Does Costa Rica hold the secret to happiness? According to a number of different studies, Costa Ricans are the happiest people on the planet, with a longer life expectancy than Americans. Over the past weeks, major news outlets such as the New York Times and the BBC have reported on these results. One figure, called “happy life years,” results from merging average self-reported happiness (where subjects rate their happiness on a ten-point scale) with longevity. Using this system, Costa Rica ranks first, the United States is 19th, and Zimbabwe comes in last.
Comments (2)The German Disease
Energy Systems — by George Monbiot March 15, 2010
The scheme for supporting renewables that the UK is importing from Germany has been a disaster there.
by George Monbiot: journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist, United Kingdom
This is my third and final salvo in the heated debate over feed-in tariffs. You can follow the arguments for and against through the following links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/01/solar-panel-feed-in-tariff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/03/solar-panel-workable-future
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/mar/05/solar-feed-in-tariff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/09/george-monbiot-bet-solar-pv
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/mar/11/solar-power-germany-feed-in-tariff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/05/solar-panel-feed-in-tariff-benefits
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/10/feed-in-tariffs-solarpower
Let me begin with a plea to tone down this debate. Jeremy Leggett and I have addressed each other politely and stuck to the facts. I have no ill-feelings towards him: I simply believe that he is wrong about solar power. But the level of viciousness displayed on the comment threads, by email and on other sites has to be seen to be believed.
Comments (7)On Rooftops Worldwide – a Solar Water Heating Revolution
Energy Systems — by Earth Policy Institute March 10, 2010
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors to convert sunlight into heat that can be used to warm both water and space.
China, for example, is now home to 27 million rooftop solar water heaters. With nearly 4,000 Chinese companies manufacturing these devices, this relatively simple low-cost technology has leapfrogged into villages that do not yet have electricity. For as little as $200, villagers can have a rooftop solar collector installed and take their first hot shower. This technology is sweeping China like wildfire, already approaching market saturation in some communities. Beijing plans to boost the current 114 million square meters of rooftop solar collectors for heating water to 300 million by 2020.
Comments (5)A Great Green Rip-Off
Economics, Energy Systems, Society — by George Monbiot March 4, 2010
The feed-in tariffs about to be introduced here are extortionate, useless and deeply regressive.
by George Monbiot: journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist, United Kingdom
Those who hate environmentalism have spent years looking for the definitive example of a great green rip-off. Finally it arrives and no one notices. The government is about to shift £8.6bn from the poor to the middle classes. It expects a loss on this scheme of £8.2bn, or 95% (1). Yet the media is silent. The opposition urges only that the scam should be expanded.
On April 1st the government introduces its feed-in tariffs. These oblige electricity companies to pay people for the power they produce at home. The money will come from their customers, in the form of higher bills. It would make sense, if we didn’t know that the technologies the scheme will reward are comically inefficient.
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