What is the Hope for the Future?

With all of these observations and suggestions for building a sustainable community, city, lifestyle it is important to figure out where we all fit within the big picture. It’s pretty hard to admit I feel like the biggest hypocrite of them all when I grew up on an acreage where you had to drive 15 minutes to get to any business. My parents have 5 vehicles, fly in out of work monthly, have Coscto memberships, buy things at Walmart, and consume just as much as the next guy. (Sorry didn’t mean to throw you under the bus guys.) But in all honesty, “Welcome to rural Alberta.”

http://www.concertcars.com/related/2028-car-clubs.htm?tkn=Ihg7dX7WTDEKEwjpuv6s6vujAhUi7oIKHQInTMgYAyAAMPj7ggE4DVD4-4IBUJPKogNQpPmYD1Cas_gQULDr_xNQ1OiEG1CWmY4dUIq23B5QzPrtmwM

This is what it is like in most communities, maybe not this extreme, or as bad in urban areas but most people are saving up for their own detached house, recreational vehicles, tropical vacations, and so on. That is because we live in an oil based economy, and most of the jobs in Alberta are based around the extraction of hydrocarbons. Many people in Alberta would argue about the validity of Peak Oil theory saying that untapped reservoirs are still being discovered, and the amount of oil that can be recovered from reservoirs through tertiary recovery is 60% greater than primary production of the right technology is applied and optimized for best results. This may be so, but win combination with massive population growth, people using vehicle transportation more than ever, and consuming more than ever we still have to take responsibility for what effect this has on our environment. Burning hydrocarbons, manufacturing consumer products, even agricultural practices to produce the food we eat all contribute to releasing greenhouse gasses and toxic compounds into the atmosphere, deplete the atmosphere and creates more wastes to dispose of. Things aren’t going to start changing dramatically in places where the majority of the people profit so highly at the expense of their environment.

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/12/10/editorial/special3.html

Like the Oncelor portrayed in the Lorax movie by Dr. Seuss, people are here to make a profit, as fast as they can. If he doesn’t harvest all of those trees they are not going to make a profit. With no regard for the environmental wealth of our ecosystems and resources they are being exploited for profit. Until we start connecting extreme weather patterns with climate change and human impact, the depilation of our land and natural resources with over consumption, and the overall health of our planet, it’s difficult for people who profit from these practices to start contributing to sustainable solutions.

On a positive side more people have actually become enlightened about sustainable practices and have started to transition towards a more holistic approach for the Earth. The reduction of plastic bags which once plagued our streets, highway ditches and landfills has been dramatic. This goes to show that if the problem is visual it is easier to perceive as a problem and people are more likely to accept changes. Irradiating plastic bags is only a minor subsection of the first step… and we’re not fully done getting rid of them yet. We have a long ways to go before we can say we live in a sustainable fashion, hopefully it doesn’t take too long to get everyone one board.  

How is Sustainable Development in Practice?

http://j9er.com/archives/category/green-design
Earthships are designed and created by converting waste materials into structural homes. They can use recycled glass, recycled building materials or even tires for walls. Along with sand, clay, or materials naturally derived from the earth to mould them together. These ecologically and recycled structures are designed to provide all amenities required to survive in any climate. Already existing homes can be retrofitted with biotecture technology to become self sustaining so people living there can live in a more ecologically friendly, self sustaining way.

Earthships are designed to provide their own utilities in an environmentally friendly way. They reduce reliance on fossil fuels for electricity and heat by using photo voltaic, solar thermal or wind generated power which can be stored in batteries for further use. Earthships separate sewage streams and contain and reuse wastes in the most efficient ways practical. Grey water is reused for toilet water or irrigation for food creation and Black water can be treated and reused for fertilizer.

With growing volatility in fossil fuel prices food sovereignty is becoming a highly desirable trait.  With earthships this is possible. Gardens adorn roofs and adjacent rooms where almost all food can be created on site. Plants are not only aesthetic but provide necessary nutrition to habitants.

Like any biological system, earthships must be taken care of properly in order to remain healthy and take care of the people living in them. With the growing reality of waste disposal issues, food prices, utility bills affecting our ability to enjoy nature and care for ourselves, I cannot imagine a more sustainable way to live.
The following is a video that is effective at describing how Earthships are created adn all of the recycled materials used to create it, and the systems that provide utilities.

The Sustainable City

There are many pilot projects around the world aimed to increase sustainability through means of energy production, pedestrian friendly development, water planning and waste reduction.

One project that is currently integrating all of these new technologies is the city of Masdar located 17km from downtown Abu Dhabi situated in the United Arab Emirates. They plan to be the first 100% carbon free community. Housing the Masdar institute of Science and Technology they have created a high density, pedestrian friendly, efficient transit, alternatively powered scholarly city to conduct research for the efficient installation of these new technologies. The school is investing research to develop the leading edge on alternative energy, environmental technologies and sustainability.

Solar Molten Salt Technology Surrounded by Solar Panel Farm to Produce Majority of Masdar's Electricity.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/masdar-city-overhaul-cuts-3-3bn-from-costs

In order to remain culturally appropriate, architecture is designed as traditional Arabian style but with cutting edge technology and smart design to maximize energy efficiency and reduce need for excessive air conditioning.  Roofs are adorned with solar panels and fields of solar photovoltaic panels will be set up to provide the city with the majority of the electricity. Concentrated solar power panels used molten salt technology to store energy and provide electricity overnight. Solar power “sunflowers” are covered with solar panels on the top, and provide movable shade during the day to provide pleasant walking areas for pedestrians. At night they provide radiant heat energy. Deserts are cold at night and this will create a more comfortable atmosphere for 24 hour activity within the city.

http://www.greendiary.com/entry/carbon-neutral-masdar-city-to-test-efficacy-of-smart-home-appliances/

Along with solar power, the city has decided to implement waste to energy technology where they incinerate any non-recyclable garbage to produce electricity.  Some groups of people are against this idea of garbage incineration saying that it releases toxic compounds such as dioxins, furans and PAHs into our atmosphere, but at high enough temperatures this should not be an issue. This technology also eliminates the need for a landfill or dump to dispose of wastes.  

http://www.standardsusers.org/mysr/index.php?option=com_content&limitstart=5

Masdar is a walled community to decrease the effects of windstorms but more importantly limit growth and expansion. As mentioned before the city is designed to be pedestrian friendly and by limiting growth to 6km² anywhere within the city is within reasonable distance for walking or bicycling. On top of efficient walking designs, the city of Masdar has installed a personal rapid transit (PRT) system that transports people within the city using magnetic guided tracks and electrically charged battery powered pods. These pods are capable of 60km of transport with air conditioning before needing to be re-charged. No hydrocarbons in the city walls should eliminate any photochemical smog and particulates associated with transportation in any large city.

Ground water in the desert is hyper-saline and not suitable for drinking therefore desert communities use desalination technology for treatment. This technology is energy intensive and responsible for large amounts of CO2 release into the atmosphere. Masdar is currently undergoing research to design a more efficient technology to create potable water for their city. If they are successful this could be a highly sought after commodity because oil producing companies prefer to use fresh water sources as current desalination technologies cost millions of dollars. Fresh water gives oil production better results, and will cause less damage to equipment. If Masdar develops a more efficient affordable technology that can have industrial applications, less pressure will be put on natural water sources, and disposal of saline brine water in industrial situations.

My Stuff and other Sources of Consumption

The story of “stuff” video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8) produced by free range studios has definitely made me more aware of how our present consumption levels impact more than just the economy. They explore the story of extraction, production, distribution, and consumption and disposal, referred to as the materials economy.

The video points out that our current rates of resource extraction are non-sustainable. The United States has 5% of the world’s population but account for over 30% of resource extraction and waste disposal. As they run out of their own resources they move to third world countries to provide materials, where people were previously living in a sustainable way within their environment. As resources are depleted in the 3^rd world countries, the environment is no longer able to provide their basic needs and residents are unwillingly forced from their cultures and lifestyles to work towards creating our “stuff” in order to sustain themselves. Rich cultures are being lost to industrialization of indigenous areas and their inhabitants are not being compensated as they are forced out of their livelihoods into our society.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikaZDO_Rg2O3yAsBoTIZiw5iJpiCazoTbY-83Hh2TAHQWWYz3i_xCWAlmS_PxpwwZX1OoFaHSQPCUMhql6oMElG6LlCKZjrbX3dJLpo1uqHUjXqEyrU2lcwqMR813I1bO17EUbJGEvpQ4/s1600-h/Depletion+of+Natural+Resources+1.JPG

The world was not always like this. It is said that as North Americans we consume and produce twice as much waste as 50 years ago. Then, thriftiness and conservation were considered to be valued characteristics. Now people measure themselves by how much they can shop, buy, and consume. On average only 1% of products purchased are still in use after 6 months. The rest ends up in landfills. This is hardly sustainable, as we constantly search for more materials to mine and produce more goods; the environment and social wealth of people are compromised. This is all wasted because we are getting no real value from the materials we extract. 

http://cdin.us/blogsites/little-girl-in-a-dump/

This is not by accident. Producers have planned methods to increase consumption and disposal of goods to boost the economy. There is planned obsolesce where things are meant to be useless and thrown out after a certain period of use. Producers and designers for products plan for it to break down within a certain time frame, therefore costumers will have to buy more. This is normal with things like plastic bags, but bigger goods such as televisions, washing machines or computers have been targeted to have a limited lifespan to increase consumer purchasing. This has been observed by costumers when they may suggest that, “Things just aren’t made the ways they used to.” It’s true, they aren’t.  

There is also perceived obsolescence. This is where consumers are encouraged to throw out old goods that are still in good working order. This may be due to the image that what they have is old, out of fashion, or not as good as new objects. It’s all part of the image that shopping and buying new things means you’re happier and better off than others who don’t.  So people continue to buy new things to keep the image that they are happy and contributing to the economy, as they continue to dump things that are still in good condition or working order.

http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2010/08/04/tips-for-users-of-ancient-technology/

Although we have more stuff than ever, happiness levels are at the lowest levels they have ever been. This is because we also have less leisure time than ever before. We spend all of our time at work trying to pay for the new stuff we want to buy, go home to watch TV and get bombarded by advertisements telling us that we need more stuff to be happy. So we continue to shop more, work more, dispose more. And the cycle continues.

http://bonggamom.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

A scary thought is how companies are beginning to zero in on targeting youth. There is a new reference of “cradle to grave” than traditionally speaking about the life cycle of products. The new reference refers to focusing marketing strategies from cradle to grave in our lives. Children have always been targeted in the past, but never as strongly as they are now. Instead of focusing on cognitive, social, spiritual, emotional development, society has begun targeting children to become “little consumers.” Children now have much more influence than ever before, and through media targeting they have developed into a trillion dollar market.

Powering the Sustainable Society

Currently most of the energy used today is provided by fossil fuels. With concerns surrounding “Peak Oil” and when this phenomenon may occur, along with rising volatility of oil prices, interest in alternative energy has been increasing. 56% of our energy is provided by hydrocarbon extraction, and 10% coal fired power generation plants. These technologies are responsible for high levels of heavy metal and atmospheric pollutants such as greenhouse gases, heavy metals like mercury, SOx, NOx, and particulates. Hydro power is not as polluting, but it has large ecological consequences to natural water habitats.

http://peakoil.org.uk/

So how would a sustainable community provide its power? Well as mentioned in previous discussions, sustainable means that something can be sustained for a long time without running out. If we are worried about scarcity of hydrocarbon deposits, no matter how far in the future, this is not a sustainable choice for future generations. Alternative energy sources like solar photovoltaic, solar thermal hot water, geothermal, regional district, waste to energy, wind, or biofuels are all new technologies gaining interest in the classification of “green technology.” Although these all have great potential it is important to consider more than just the ability to generate power. For example, Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI) the efficiency of each technology proposed. This measurement takes into consideration the units of energy produced per unit of energy required to make it. When looking at some simple figures, hydrocarbons and hydro are by far the most efficient technology to date.

• Oil – 20

• Natural Gas – 20

• Coal – 9

• Nuclear – 4

• Hydro – 11

• Wind – 7

• Solar (photo voltaic) – 5

• Geo-thermal – 6

• Wave / tide power - ?

• Ethanol – 1.3

Ling , C. (2011). Energy. ENSC 301, (p. Slide 25). Victoria.

The production of biofuels is inefficient because it requires hydrocarbon fuel to provide energy to farm equipment. Although biofuel itself is supposed to be cleaner burning, the use of farm equipment still contributes to greenhouse gas emissions associated with the fuel. Biofuel is also a concern because increased demand for corn, grain or other fuel sources will create scarcity and market prices to rise. The problem is that more people will not be able to afford to eat due to allocation of resources.
http://www.bigpictureblog.info/?p=120

Nuclear power has been implemented in some areas. At first nuclear appears to be a clean power generation source, but under further scrutiny, the impacts associated with nuclear appear to be environmentally detrimental. To build the power plant requires massive amounts of concrete which creates a large greenhouse gas effect. Also the radioactive waste such as plutonium is produced, the wastes are highly dangerous and there are still no plans for the final handling of these products. This creates headaches for future generations to deal with. Also mining of uranium still requires fuel to power and transport to the facility. Nuclear power generation is not a closed loop system because it still requires energy to obtain inputs, and it creates waste which is extremely difficult to dispose of.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste

While it is difficult to fulfill all of our energy needs by just using one form of renewable energy technology, combining the most efficient technologies can often have the best results. Solar photovoltaic and wind power directly produce electricity with no input other than the equipment production and weather conditions. Solar thermal hot water and geothermal technologies provide hot water to reduce energy consumption for heating costs, and have potential to provide electricity if steam energy is harnessed. Although these technologies are highly expensive, require a large investment upront and have long payback periods, if tied into a district heating system costs can be shared and benefits wide spread.

http://www.volker-quaschning.de/articles/fundamentals4/index.php

It has also been noticed in pilot projects for alternative energy such as the T’Sooke nation solar powered project that once alternative energy technologies are installed, conservation efforts increase. Electricity consumption was estimated to decrease by about 10% after the project was complete. This can be attributed to to increased awareness, and social programs. The community members have actually become so efficient, on weather permitting days, they are able to charge back up batteries for future energy use, and sell power back to BC hydro. Although when hours of sunshine are restricted they may still need to use electricity from hydro power, this is an example of sustainable energy development. If coupled with another form of more reliable green back up energy such as tidal power, T’Sooke nation would be completely self-sufficient in terms of energy production. It took full commitment and leadership to be so sucessfull in this project, but in no short of economic, environmental, and social benefits.