BEFORE2030 - A LIVABLE FUTURE For people, planet, and all life
CHAMPION ALL RENEWABLE ENERGY, NOT NUCLEAR
Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute : “We don’t need any novel technology we need smarter design.”
Despite everything, the adoption of renewables is becoming normalized. We’re still a long way off because the electric grid also needs to be upgraded and segmented, networked and improved mightily to handle the new world of renewable electricity.
It is understood that the amount of energy from oil is so unbelievable that it will be hard for renewables to deliver that level of output. But, many of our systems are also unbelievably inefficient – a result of cheap energy in the past. It is time to focus not on new invention, but to put all our attention on negawatts, the ones we don’t use. Simply, if we insulated more fully all the buildings in every country, we probably wouldn’t need to build any more power generating stations for some time, especially in the industrialized countries. And with transport switching to electric power, we’re going to need as much of it as we can get. I’ve only mentioned the built environment, but there are so many other places energy can be conserved, so let’s get with this.
Wind and solar seem to be the big go-toes right now. Geothermal, using the heat/cooling advantage from under the surface of the earth is another. But we only go shallow for this at the moment. Recently, people have been talking about the vast amount of energy deeper in the earth, it’s a no-brainer for us to tap that and the oil industry is going to help us. Why? Because the drilling and fracking technologies they’ve developed are what we need to go down great depths for much higher temperatures. Future towns could be heated just from this system alone from a centralized distribution center. This is already in use in countries where they have natural geothermal features near the Earth’s surface.
Note: Below what we call the frost-line in the earth, the depth at which the earth freezes in winter, in my region about 36 inches, it’s a constant 45-50 degrees, this is normal the world over where there isn’t permafrost and even in very hot countries. What are the connotations of this? If buildings have a below-surface floor, known currently as a basement or cellar, and if future buildings are dug a little deeper, here we have a cool place to live in the possible super-hot climate of the future, without the need of any extra cooling energy. In fact, one might need a small intake fan to bring the warm air from outside, just to bring the temperature up a little to be more comfortable. Look to nature for solutions first before making a big hoo-ha industry out of it – not the modern way.
Nuclear power is not zero emissions. Radioactive material is mined in far-off countries, sometimes under very insecure conditions. Then shipped to a processing destination. This highly toxic material has special handling needs. Then the power station is built with lots of concrete and steel, which uses and gives off emissions for decades. No one will insure them, so the people have to, through government agreements and that should tell you something. Huge amounts of water are consumed, putting a strain on local habitat. Then, when decommissioned, the infrastructure has to be maintained for 50,000 years. And the waste has to be stored... somewhere, for thousands of years. Should we put this burden on future people who didn’t benefit from its short life span? And all the while there is always the possibility of a major accident, the consequences of that make it so irresponsible. Take a look at Fukushima, Japan. If a wind turbine falls, you collect the pieces, recycle what you can and replace it; if nuclear power stations fail, they could destroy Nature itself, it should never be on the surface of the planet. Without the immense power advantage gained by fossil fuels during the 'carbon pulse,' it may be impossible to maintain and contain aged atomic infrastructure in the future.
It’s time to give Nature a position on the board of every corporation in the world, with voting rights just like the other participants.
Further info:
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com
www.sustainable19320.weebly.com/know-energy.html.
Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute : “We don’t need any novel technology we need smarter design.”
Despite everything, the adoption of renewables is becoming normalized. We’re still a long way off because the electric grid also needs to be upgraded and segmented, networked and improved mightily to handle the new world of renewable electricity.
It is understood that the amount of energy from oil is so unbelievable that it will be hard for renewables to deliver that level of output. But, many of our systems are also unbelievably inefficient – a result of cheap energy in the past. It is time to focus not on new invention, but to put all our attention on negawatts, the ones we don’t use. Simply, if we insulated more fully all the buildings in every country, we probably wouldn’t need to build any more power generating stations for some time, especially in the industrialized countries. And with transport switching to electric power, we’re going to need as much of it as we can get. I’ve only mentioned the built environment, but there are so many other places energy can be conserved, so let’s get with this.
Wind and solar seem to be the big go-toes right now. Geothermal, using the heat/cooling advantage from under the surface of the earth is another. But we only go shallow for this at the moment. Recently, people have been talking about the vast amount of energy deeper in the earth, it’s a no-brainer for us to tap that and the oil industry is going to help us. Why? Because the drilling and fracking technologies they’ve developed are what we need to go down great depths for much higher temperatures. Future towns could be heated just from this system alone from a centralized distribution center. This is already in use in countries where they have natural geothermal features near the Earth’s surface.
Note: Below what we call the frost-line in the earth, the depth at which the earth freezes in winter, in my region about 36 inches, it’s a constant 45-50 degrees, this is normal the world over where there isn’t permafrost and even in very hot countries. What are the connotations of this? If buildings have a below-surface floor, known currently as a basement or cellar, and if future buildings are dug a little deeper, here we have a cool place to live in the possible super-hot climate of the future, without the need of any extra cooling energy. In fact, one might need a small intake fan to bring the warm air from outside, just to bring the temperature up a little to be more comfortable. Look to nature for solutions first before making a big hoo-ha industry out of it – not the modern way.
Nuclear power is not zero emissions. Radioactive material is mined in far-off countries, sometimes under very insecure conditions. Then shipped to a processing destination. This highly toxic material has special handling needs. Then the power station is built with lots of concrete and steel, which uses and gives off emissions for decades. No one will insure them, so the people have to, through government agreements and that should tell you something. Huge amounts of water are consumed, putting a strain on local habitat. Then, when decommissioned, the infrastructure has to be maintained for 50,000 years. And the waste has to be stored... somewhere, for thousands of years. Should we put this burden on future people who didn’t benefit from its short life span? And all the while there is always the possibility of a major accident, the consequences of that make it so irresponsible. Take a look at Fukushima, Japan. If a wind turbine falls, you collect the pieces, recycle what you can and replace it; if nuclear power stations fail, they could destroy Nature itself, it should never be on the surface of the planet. Without the immense power advantage gained by fossil fuels during the 'carbon pulse,' it may be impossible to maintain and contain aged atomic infrastructure in the future.
It’s time to give Nature a position on the board of every corporation in the world, with voting rights just like the other participants.
Further info:
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com
www.sustainable19320.weebly.com/know-energy.html.