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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
In response to: "Mini adventure: how far can an electric car go?"
I love the initiative. In order to go beyond the early adopters, real-life use cases must be proven to work. Such high profile testing is a good stepping stone to show just that and encourage adoption.
What I would like to see more however from the media is some explanations of the science behind. We have all somewhat accepted that electric cars will save us from global warming and our addiction to oil. But will it? Will our lifestyle be sustainable after we all buy an electric car?
Electric cars do solve one thing for sure: on-the-spot CO2 emissions. No more smelly streets, headaches in the traffic or smoggy city-centers. But where is the electricity used to charge the car come from? Is it produced sustainably? Here in self-acclaimed green Denmark, still 80% of electricity comes from burning coal or oil. Mining and burning fossil fuels to produce electricity to run our cars still increase concentrations of CO2 in our atmosphere with the consequences we know from the IPCC reports. So unless we take a larger perspective and solve the full cycle, we are only solving the most visible but unfortunately superficial part of the problem.
Furthermore, if we rate the electrical car solution against all sustainability principles, it is also important to recognize that 1) we still require more mining of natural resources and fossil fuels to actually produce the cars (eventually producing more waste) 2) batteries require that we extract rare metals like lithium and create compounds not naturally present in nature, eventually increasing concentrations in the biosphere of those metals and compounds as they find their way into nature as waste (with unknown consequences on life).
One solution at least, if we must create those cars and batteries, is keeping the metals and chemical compounds in closed loops. Recycle. Not satisfying our needs for mobility with such wasteful solution as the private car is of course ideal. Simply put, is it really that efficient to use a 2,496 lb (1,132 kg) device to move my humble 165 lb (75 kg) self?
I still believe that the private car is not a sustainable solution for transporting 7 billion people. Investing all this money into creating a real sustainable public transportation system would be more efficient.. and sustainable. What happened to all those electric tramways??!
All this being said, have a good trip, Brian, looking forward to hear how it goes!
Refs.
Four principles of sustainability
IPCC causes of climate change
I love the initiative. In order to go beyond the early adopters, real-life use cases must be proven to work. Such high profile testing is a good stepping stone to show just that and encourage adoption.
What I would like to see more however from the media is some explanations of the science behind. We have all somewhat accepted that electric cars will save us from global warming and our addiction to oil. But will it? Will our lifestyle be sustainable after we all buy an electric car?
Electric cars do solve one thing for sure: on-the-spot CO2 emissions. No more smelly streets, headaches in the traffic or smoggy city-centers. But where is the electricity used to charge the car come from? Is it produced sustainably? Here in self-acclaimed green Denmark, still 80% of electricity comes from burning coal or oil. Mining and burning fossil fuels to produce electricity to run our cars still increase concentrations of CO2 in our atmosphere with the consequences we know from the IPCC reports. So unless we take a larger perspective and solve the full cycle, we are only solving the most visible but unfortunately superficial part of the problem.
Furthermore, if we rate the electrical car solution against all sustainability principles, it is also important to recognize that 1) we still require more mining of natural resources and fossil fuels to actually produce the cars (eventually producing more waste) 2) batteries require that we extract rare metals like lithium and create compounds not naturally present in nature, eventually increasing concentrations in the biosphere of those metals and compounds as they find their way into nature as waste (with unknown consequences on life).
One solution at least, if we must create those cars and batteries, is keeping the metals and chemical compounds in closed loops. Recycle. Not satisfying our needs for mobility with such wasteful solution as the private car is of course ideal. Simply put, is it really that efficient to use a 2,496 lb (1,132 kg) device to move my humble 165 lb (75 kg) self?
I still believe that the private car is not a sustainable solution for transporting 7 billion people. Investing all this money into creating a real sustainable public transportation system would be more efficient.. and sustainable. What happened to all those electric tramways??!
All this being said, have a good trip, Brian, looking forward to hear how it goes!
Refs.
Four principles of sustainability
IPCC causes of climate change
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Green roofs are good for:
1) BIODIVERSITY - provide new semi-natural habitats for different birds and invertebrates
2) AIR POLLUTION MITIGATION - roofs with shrubs and grass have the largest impact on reducing the amounts of particulate matter, ozone nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide during day time and in-leaf season
3) ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR BUILDINGS - green roofs have delivered savings of about 25% in energy bills
4) STORM WATER MANAGEMENT - effective way of storing rainwater because of the plants and growing medium absorbing capacities
5) AESTHETIC - views of a natural setting reduce stress levels and decrease heart rate
6) USE OF RECYCLED MATERIALS - recycled materials such as crushed bricks are used for membranes and drainage mats; the growing media could contain also compost from recycled households, agricultural and horticultural waste
7) PROPERTY VALUES - proper design and planning since the early stages of a new building or in an existing building (retro-fitting) will be beneficial to the overall property value
See master thesis from CEU. See more pictures from Faroese green roofs
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