This thread is intended to be a collection of green solutions that have already been deployed or are in the process of gearing up. This includes countries and companies that have begun transitioning
Some costs may be high at the moment but mass production brings that down considerably.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/5/17373314/electricity...
It took a great deal for me to get past my own skepticism. Reporting this story, I was repeatedly reminded of science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke’s famous dictum that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But I’m convinced that this thing is not magic. It is real, and it’s a big deal.
Digital measurement and management of electricity is a huge deal — and very complicated
If it proves out, the implications of what 3DFS calls “software-defined electricity” (SDE) are almost beyond reckoning. To begin with, recovering some or most of the lost electricity on the grid would amount to finding a huge new source of zero-carbon power — a powerful resource in the fight against climate change.
And that’s just the beginning. SDE promises to improve efficiency on both ends as well, making generators more efficient and boosting the performance of every electrical device (including storage, like batteries) in every environment, and reducing consumption and waste heat.
It promises to hasten electrification of the economy, radically reduce infrastructure costs, and open up new lines of science and inquiry. It is not exaggerating to say that it could change our relationship to electricity more than anything since the days of Nikola Tesla.....
3DFS came back a year later with a commercial product and Heuberger agreed to let them demonstrate it in the miniature data center his company has built as a testbed for new products.
“Hey, dude, it looks like it’s working!”
“I remember the moment and I get goosebumps,” Heuberger recounted to me. “We hooked it up to our system — it took maybe 30 minutes until it was all installed — and [the 3DFS engineer] said ‘I’ll turn it on now.’ Click.”
Power consumption dropped by 20 percent, server temperature dropped by 20 degrees, and PQR reached the high 90s.
“I went to my UPS displays, was able to see everything he was seeing, and said, ‘Turn it back off,’” Heuberger recalls. “He turned it off, everything went back to crazy, ugly, shitty load distribution.”
“We did this a couple of times,” he laughs. “I figure ... he cannot manipulate this, right? I said, ‘Hey, dude, it looks like it’s working!’”
This looks promising. I wonder what the drawbacks are.
Dutch engineers build world's biggest sun-seeking solar farm
The 15 floating solar islands will possess sunflower-like ability to turn to face the sun
Sun 21 Apr 2019
ZoW5 Photograph: Floating Solar
Dutch engineers are building what will be the world’s largest archipelago of islands made up of sun-tracking solar panels.
Growing resistance to the construction of wind turbines or fields of solar panels on land has led the renewable energy industry to look for alternative options. Large islands of solar panels are under construction or already in place in reservoirs and lakes across the Netherlands, China, the UK and Japan.
In a development that is to become the largest of its type in the world, construction will begin this year on 15 solar islands on the Andijk reservoir in north Holland. The islands, containing 73,500 panels, will have the sunflower-like ability to move to face the light.
The Netherlands - very far from the sunniest place in the world. Hope this will work. Yes, of course they have had windmills for centuries - and a lot of high winds - but many people don't like the sound of the large modern ones, which also kill birds.
A green solution that works already has its own thread but should appear here as well. Free public transit in cities. It's not fancy but it works and has an immediate impact. It is an obvious way to meet carbon emission reduction goals.
When electric cars catch on it may happen very rapidly
There are a number of things that can help Green the planet I will throw out a couple that I have spoken about:
1) Difficult to do but legal status for the environment or interests of future generations. No question this is new law but it could be helpful
2) Take it back legislation -- effectively make products returnable for wearing out or failing. This forces a higher standard of quality. It is controversial as it would create some inflation and difficulty in the up-front cost of items but it would reduce landfills. I am not sure how the problems can be resolved in the end but I think it is worthy of exploring.
3) Through regulation reducing the numbers of different materials in items so they are built to be reused and recycled. Reducing the number of types of plastics and the number of items made with more than one material increases the quality and ability to recycle.
4) Through regulation, increase the items that can be reused rather than requiring recycling. Bottles can be reused, cans are recycled. In some cases though the reuse might have a bigger footprint so this must be done with care. The recycling of aluminium is so efficient that it is said that it has a lower carbon footprint than reusing, cleaning and transporting heavy bottles. It really needs individual assessment to see which is best.
5) Legislation regarding overpackaging. Consumers can also play a role. Do English cukes really need to be wrapped in plastic for example?
6) Increases in modular design so that the same item can be used in different ways and more than once -- think shipping containers turned into buildings.
7) Right to repair legislation is coming up in different places. Essentially this is about making companies be more open to consumers and repairshops fixing things. This means changing designs that require total replacement when parts fail (like forcing companies to screw parts together rather than cement them so they cannot be opened).
8) Finding new ways to look at travel -- in some cases reducing travel and in others finding more environmentally friendly ways to do it. This applies both to people and goods. Goods might be produced more locally for example. Transportation might involve alternatives like sail again (there are already new sailing hybrid ships designed to take advantage of wind where possible) and even balloon airships that could move goods slightly slower but at less cost in money and the environment.
9) heating homes, power cars and commercial energy can all be more efficient or replaced. Public transit locally is one thing I have spoken about. There is also inter-city transport that can be re-envisioned. There are technologies in heat exchangers that reduce the fuel used to heat and better insulation to prevent loss of heat. Cars where they remain do not have to be powered by gas as we know. Electricity for comercial applications does not need to come from fossil fuels.
10) People have to live more densely to protect remaining green spaces and reduce sprawl
11)Energy can be diversified to include geothermal, tidal, wind, solar to not rely on any one of these reducing backup sources of fossil fuel energy as much as possible -- to eventually eliminate it.
12) living and working spaces that use energy can be reduced in size in many cases and made to be more efficient that way.
'Workers must be at the centre of shaping Canada’s ‘Green New Deal’
For Green New Dealers, economic structures matter. The results of an economic model – how gains are shared, where investment is targeted – greatly depends on who sets the rules. Green New Deal architects need to bring together the political coalition they need to be the change they want.
A Green New Deal also needs to work with Canada’s federal structure, not fight it. Many key levers of transformation are within provincial jurisdiction -- electricity production, building codes, collective bargaining, worker training and transit. The art of federalism is to bring provincial governments together – despite differing party stripes – to reach national objectives Canadians agree on.
That political art created our greatest social policy successes. The federal government worked with provinces to create public public health care and public pensions – both areas of provincial jurisdiction. Federal financial financial support was critical to the progress of co-operative federalism.
But massive federal transfer cuts in the late- and mid-1990s offloaded programs, damaging provincial trust in federal partnership. Ottawa has died back to an executive federalism that is constitutionally unable to do much on its own, and too weak to win-over provincial governments. And we’ve seen cooperative federalism become replaced with obstinacy, grandstanding and political stands-offs.
Even worse, one of the remaining areas of federal funding -- infrastructure -- has been turned into a monstrosity. For decades, under Liberals and Conservative alike, federal infrastructure funding has been tied to privatization. A Green New Deal should tie infrastructure dollars to decarbonization.
Architects of a Green New Deal for Canadians can use federal authority where there is jurisdiction. They can re-establish co-operative federalism by reversing the tax-cut spiral and rebuilding provincial trust. And when that work is done, a Green New Deal can set out specific strategies that encourage provincial participation and shift the economic model to support public services, reduce inequality and decarbonize the economy.
That policy work is challenging enough. But perhaps the biggest and most immediate challenge is to ensure working people get engaged -- that Canadians can spot a sham deal, and know a real Green New Deal is focused on improving their lives. Even the most artful federalism and smart policy crafting won’t amount to much if those it aims to benefit don’t want it.
China Deploys 60,000 Soldiers To Plant Trees...
"China has reportedly reassigned over 60,000 soldiers to plant trees in a bid to combat pollution by increasing the country's forest coverage..."
China Deploys 60,000 Soldiers To Plant Trees...
"China has reportedly reassigned over 60,000 soldiers to plant trees in a bid to combat pollution by increasing the country's forest coverage..."
Good. Also slows erosion and mitigates dust storms.
All the East side of the Island was part of a Railway Land grant in 1883 and the timber rights are now held by US Hedge funds mostly. One can see the hills all up and down VI being clear cut as fast as possible because none of it is Crown land. The people of my Village are buying as much of it as they can as fast as we can. I was out for a 5km hike in the forest just this morning.
The Cumberland Community Forest Society was formed in 2000 with the mission to purchase and protect the Cumberland Forest for its ecological, historical, economic and recreational values. Guided by the shared belief that this forest is now worth more to our community standing than as timber, the society is supported by hundreds of donors from Cumberland and beyond.
To date the society has purchased 110 hectares of forest and placed it under a conservation covenant to ensure its future protection. Our most recent purchase was in 2016 when a 36 hectare area known as Space Nugget was purchased outright by the community.
But we’re not done yet! We’re currently working to purchase and protect another 93+ hectares of forest, wetlands, riparian areas and heritage landmarks along Perseverance Creek.
In our neighboring town of Courtenay there is a great project in progress that will turn an old industrial site into a wetlands area. This project highlights what reconciliation should look like as well. The provincial government just announced a million dollar donation into the fund. Here are a couple of links. I love the disclaimer that the K’ómoks have on the Kus-kus-sum site.
“This land [Kus-kus-sum] is in K’ómoks First Nation traditional territory and our work with the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society is not intended to abrogate or derogate from out our asserted Aboriginal title and other Aboriginal rights. Any steps we take working in conjunction with the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society must not be interpreted as extinguishing or consenting to the infringement of our Aboriginal title and rights. Further, the Field Sawmill site is [or maybe] the site of an old K’ómoks First Nation Village, and our participation in this project is without prejudice to any specific claim the K’ómoks First Nation may file in relation to this site.”
https://watershedsentinel.ca/articles/kus-kus-sum/
This is what the people of VI want. We don'twant to have our tax dollars spent on ramming a pipeline into the Salish Sea.
I’m going to expand on NDPP’s link about China’s Great Green Wall
And here’s another
I’m not entirely sure that their plan will work? I’m sure it will help, still not sure to what extent But from the different links I’ve read the Chinese researchers are adapting and developing their approach in a realistic manner to have a better shot at success of trees surviving for longer
I’ve always believed that the problem with green energy was never on the supply end. The sun shines and the winds will always blow, eventually. So both these sources,still in need of improvement, but will always be central in green energy (along with hydro)
The only thing that solar and wind really need is storage capacity to seriously compete with hydro. And I believe it’s coming
https://www.androidheadlines.com/2019/01/researchers-battery-tech.html
I have been reading about some of these new batteries for at least a decade now, but nothing has really materialized yet
Why do they have to be plug in to get the government assistance?
Why do they have to be plug in to get the government assistance?
Because otherwise they burn gas, at least some of the time.
3-2 decision
Saskatchewan carbon-tax ruling a victory for the planet, environment minister says
EVs are coming, it’s just a matter of time before they take over as the vehicle of choice
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/national-electric-vehicles-pros-cons-1.5119687
China's electric buses are killing oil demand
China's rapidly growing fleet of electric buses could be the biggest existential threat to oil demand in the future as more and more vehicles shun fossil fuels.
A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance suggests that China's electric-bus revolution could kill off oil demand in the future with 6.4 million barrels a day displaced by electric vehicles by 2040.
By the end of 2019, a cumulative 270,000 barrels a day of diesel demand, predominantly from China, will be removed from the market. China's revolution in electric vehicles has been astonishing and looks set to continue into the future. For example, in the growing mega city of Shenzen, the entire 16,000 strong fleet of buses run on electric engines and taxis will soon follow suit.
The US had a New Deal under Roosevelt in the 1930s. So Green New Deal refers to that. Why do Canadians copy the US term?
