MIT Energy Hackathon: Rebuilding Energy Infrastructure in the Caribbean After the Hurricanes

The content committee for the MIT Energy Hackathon, November 3-5, has accepted my challenge on "Rebuilding Energy Infrastructure in the Caribbean After the Hurricanes.”  With luck, an extremely 
knowledgeable and expert team of MIT and other students will study this question and propose solutions.  

My cunning plan is to see whether Hackathon weekend can snowball into a global brainstorm on the topic, sorta kinda like a World Game or World Peace Game for all those who want to participate, "for the benefit of all who will allow the benefit of all,” as my friend Milt Raymond used to say.  I think renewables are mature enough and affordable enough now to be a feasible alternative to the fossil fuel economy if you start from scratch.  And there are islands like Barbuda and areas of Puerto Rico which are doing just that.  This is an opportunity to design an accelerated renewable transition, something that was already buiding before disaster struck.

Here is the challenge proposal I submitted:

Challenge:  How do we rebuild the energy systems of Puerto Rico, the American and British Virgin Islands, and the other countries and islands whose infrastructures have been destroyed by this season’s hurricanes so they are subject to less damage the next time a hurricane or other natural disaster comes?

This challenge has to think along a variety of different scales and situations.  The island of Barbuda experienced 95% destruction of their infrastructure for their population, around 1800.  The United States Virgin Islands of St Croix, St Thomas, and St John also experienced wide-spread devastation for their population of about 106,000 people.  Puerto Rico with a population of around 3.5 million is in a similar situation compounded by their existing economic debt crisis.

Is it useful to think from the individual on up, from small community microgrids that have the ability to stand-alone as well as connect to a larger grid, to start from the existing grid on down, repairing what already existed and changing as little as possible?  What are the options, what are the possibilities, what are we missing as we go about this task which means the survival of many?

Background:  
Solar Electric Light Fund is helping to distribute solar lights and chargers for Puerto Rico (https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/solar-light-and-communications-for-puerto-rico--2).  This is an individual person or family solution.  Can it be integrated into a kind of local microgrid which might also include bicycle chargers for AA, motorcycle, and car batteries?

Sunnyside Solar of Brattleboro, VT, a long-time solar installer, is fund-raising for community-scale solar electricity and water supply
https://www.gofundme.com/ngwbw-solar-generators-for-puerto-rico

The Coastal Marine Resource Center through Resilient Power PR is building mobile solar relief hubs, based upon their experience in NY’s Rockaways after Hurricane Sandy, as phase one of a project that they plan to develop for 100 mobile solar hubs so that each of the 78 communities in Puerto Rico will have at least one solar relief hub available, leading to solar for every home in Puerto Rico
http://resilientpowerpr.org/resilientpr/

Tesla (and other renewable energy companies) are helping to restore power and services
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/10/26/tesla-delivers-solar-power-puerto-rico-hospital/802216001/
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/25/tesla-sonnen-working-overtime-power-puerto-rico/
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/2/1703392/-Germany-steps-up-to-help-rebuild-power-grid-in-Puerto-Rico-s-emergency-relief-centers
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-solar-industry-wants-to-help-puerto-rico

Experts are rethinking hurricane disaster response and infrastructure rebuilding, given the technologies now available and their relative costs compared to older energy infrastructure:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-solar-industry-rebuilding-after-disasters-jigar-shah/
http://getenergysmartnow.com/2017/10/04/what-might-a-solar-disaster-4r-package-costlook-like-for-puerto-rico/
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/353144-puerto-rico-needs-a-new-energy-grid-not-just-repairs-to-the-old
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/articles/in-puerto-rico-a-foundation-changes-course-to-rebuild-after-maria

There is even already an MIT student response:
https://github.com/SoPR/maria-tech-brigade-effort/wiki/50w-Solar-Panel-Setup-to-Charge-Phones-Batteries

Existing Knowledge Base:
Islands Energy Program
https://www.rmi.org/our-work/global-energy-transitions/islands-energy-program/
"We aim to accelerate the transition to renewables in 10 island Caribbean countries, install 95 megawatts of renewable energy, and leverage $300 million in financing for island energy projects by 2020.”
This is a project of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in partnership with Caribbean Electric Utility Service Corporation (CARILEC) (http://www.carilec.org) including Anguilla, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Colombia (San Andrés and Providencia), Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos, and The Seychelles which has been underway for some time.

Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) http://www.cdema.org/

The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has an Islands Energy Playbook
https://www.eere.energy.gov/islandsplaybook/

Finally, MIT’s D-Lab has their Off-grid Energy Checklist
https://d-lab.mit.edu/off-grid-energy

Final statement:  Can we reimagine the Caribbean energy infrastructure in such a way that we can rebuild from this season’s hurricanes with the result that the people of the Caribbean will not suffer as they are now suffering?  Can we provide a hardened and resilient energy system that is close to 100% renewably powered, wherever possible, at an affordable cost that will support the present standard of living and industry and, perhaps, provide the power for much higher standards of living and more robust industries?

Renewables in the Wake of the Caribbean Hurricanes

I couple of weeks ago, I suggested crowd funding solar lights and chargers for Puerto Rico and the other islands devastated by this year's hurricanes.  One of the groups I sent that piece to was the Solar Electric Light Fund (http://www.SELF.org) and they let me know a few days ago that they have launched a crowd funding campaign for solar lights and chargers, using d.light's S300 mobile charger + solar light, LED Rechargeable Lantern (http://www.dlight.com/solar-lighting-products/multifunction/dlight-s300/).  You can contribute at https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/solar-light-and-communications-for-puerto-rico--2 with Catholic Charities USA distributing the systems to those most in need.

Rocky Mountain Institute has been working with the Clinton Climate  Initiative (CCI) and the Caribbean Electric Utility Service Corporation (CARILEC) (http://www.carilec.org) on an Islands Energy Program (https://www.rmi.org/our-work/global-energy-transitions/islands-energy-program/) aiming to accelerate the transition to renewables in 10 island Caribbean countries (Anguilla, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Colombia (San Andrés and Providencia), Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos) and The Seychelles, installing 95 megawatts of renewable energy, and leveraging $300 million in financing for island energy projects by 2020.  I'm sure they are adjusting and speeding up their timetable.

Gov. Ricardo Rosselló of Puerto Rico and Elon Musk of Tesla had a 25-minute phone conversation Friday night October 6, 2017 discussing relief efforts.  Teams from Tesla and Puerto Rico’s energy sector will continue the talks early next week, Rosselló told USA Today.  “I told him because of the devastation, if there is a silver lining, we can start re-conceptualizing how we want to produce energy here in Puerto Rico and distribute it and do it in a more reliable fashion,” Rosselló said. “It was a very positive first step.”

Richard Branson (https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/hurricane-irma-hurricane-maria) has said, "My thoughts are turning to working with others to help create a long-term Marshall Plan for the BVI, and for the Caribbean to be reconstructed and rejuvenated with clean energy and new jobs."

The Solar Energy Industries Association is coordinating efforts by the solar industry to aid relief efforts (https://www.seia.org/disaster-response) and I suspect that there will be a growing recognition of what this new energy industry can do on short notice and for the long term.

What is needed is renewable energy at all scales from basic - light, phone, radio, battery charging - to household, business, and enterprise microgrids (hospitals first).

Most islands going majority renewable are at the 10 - 15,000 population scale.  Hawaii is planning for 70% renewables by 2030 but Puerto Rico is 3.5 million and is facing months of repair to their old energy system before returning to normal.  Will small and medium scale renewables tide them over? There are, perhaps, some lessons to be learned from Bangladesh, in relation to renewables deployment and climate change adaptation:  http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/green-energy-for-billion-poor.html

Back in 2004 I wrote about a possible Solar Product Chain (http://solarray.blogspot.com/2004/12/three-solar-projects.html)

I want to make a series of steppingstone products to full solar electric power.  From the smallest button batteries up to dry cell and USB, 6 volt, 12 volt systems to integrate with bicycles, motorcycles, and cars, and to AC power through inverters.

solar powered LED light - flashlight, keychain or backpack fobsolar jewelry - rings, bracelets, necklaces, with solar charging brooch and rechargeable battery packsolar bicycle light (for visibility)This set of products uses button batteries, CR2016 and CR2032 size and hearing aid batteries, for instance. The simplest system is a solar cell, with a blocking diode, a set or rechargeable batteries, and a single LED

solar/dynamo flashlight/radio and battery chargerThe charger works on AA and other dry cell sizes, possibly up to 12 volts. A radio and flashlight are what is recommended in case of emergency and disaster. If the extra set of batteries is rechargeable, the solar/dynamo system can produce electricity day or night by sunlight or muscle power as long as the batteries can carry a charge.

solar car battery charger (one square foot)12 volt (and multiples)Every car can become a "hybrid vehicle" by installing an extra battery and a control system to charge from the alternator when the engine's battery is finished. Battery switching, with 12 volt or dry cell or even button batteries is a key concept in the solar transition.

one window solar electric system (four square feet)12 volt, with AC inverter and possible grid connectThe one window system is 4 square feet of solar collector and should be almost as easy to install as an air conditioner. Open the window, erect the frame, aim it at the sun, attach collector, plug it in, and close the window.
There should be a consistent look and feel to all the products along the product chain and as much inter-operability as possible.

I've contacted people at MIT who are about to have their annual Energy Hackathon (https://innovation.mit.edu/event/mit-energy-hackathon-2017/) about the possibility of working on Caribbean energy reconstruction and the possibility of opening up the Hackathon through MIT EdX to all those around the world who wish to contribute.  I dream of a global brainstorm to make the Caribbean 100% clean energy powered now.  There is also the start of a discussion around a presentation on this topic at the next NE Sustainable Energy Association's Building Energy conference in March 2018 (http://nesea.org/conference/buildingenergy-boston).

Perhaps the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria can result in a transition to clean energy in the Caribbean at a scale and a speed that we have not yet dared to imagine.

RMI is using the Islands Energy Playbook to plan their approach (https://www.eere.energy.gov/islandsplaybook/) and MIT's D-Lab has an Off-Grid Energy Roadmap (https://d-lab.mit.edu/off-grid-energy) which may also be useful as we build our clean energy future.

Crowd Funding an Emergency Solar Electric Grid for Puerto Rico and Other Islands

Solar lights and cell phone chargers are now $1or less production costs and selling around the world for $5 or less retail.  Add bicycle generators and you have independent indigenous emergency power now, day or night.  AA battery to car battery and better microgrids.

It is conceivable that we could crowd fund a basic emergency electrical system (lights, cell phones or radio, computers) for Puerto Rico (as well as the other islands destroyed by the recent hurricanes) within less time than the established grid can come back on line.

There are examples of islands which are planning and working toward 100% renewable power:
El Hierro, 7,000 people, one of the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, uses wind and pumped hydro energy storage to supply 50% of its power
http://www.dw.com/en/renewable-energy-on-el-hierro/av-38694579

Kodiak Island, 15,000 people, in Alaska has been running its grid with wind and hydro power since 2012
http://www.sierraclub.org/pennsylvania/southeastern/blog/2017/05/kodiak-island-100-renewables

Samsø, 4,000 people, in Denmark has spent over the last decade moving towards zero carbon with wind, solar, and biomass
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/feb/24/energy-positive-how-denmarks-sams-island-switched-to-zero-carbon

Bornholm, 14,000 people, also in Denmark, is working towards a CO2-neutral society based on renewable and sustainable energy by 2025 and was the site of the EU’s Grid 2.0 project
http://www.theinnovationofenergies.org/bornholm-energy-2016/
http://www.globalislands.net/greenislands/docs/denmark_44043147.pdf
http://www.ecogrid.dk/en/home_uk

and Hawaii, 1,400,000 people, has the goal of using renewables like wind, sun, ocean, geothermal, and bioenergy to supply 70 percent or more of Hawaii's energy needs by 2030
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Hawaii#Hawaii_Clean_Energy_Initiative

How about an ad hoc global online design charette and hackathon to rebuild Anguilla, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, St. Martin / St. Maarten, the US Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos, Dominica… ?

That might be a good thought experiment.  Perhaps we could run it through the Small Island and Developing States UN organization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Island_Developing_States

Is It Time to Talk About Solar Civil Defense?

Solar IS Civil  Defense (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2007/3/30/317777/-)

Solar power for the flashlight, communications, and extra batteries we are supposed to have on hand in case of emergency and disaster is also entry level electricity for those billion and more people around the world who don’t have access to power.

With solar lights now available at a retail price of $5 @ or less all around the world (this Mini Portable Hand Crank Dynamo 3 LED Solar Powered Flashlight Camping Torch CM (http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172671471131?chn=ps&dispItem=1) for example), Solar Electric Power to the People (http://solarray.blogspot.com/2016/07/solar-electric-power-to-people.html) is not only practical but affordable.

The next step is Solar Swadeshi (http://solarray.blogspot.com/2005/05/solar-swadeshi-hand-made-electricity.html), using solar the way Gandhi used the spinning wheel.  Nonviolence requires practice and the practice of swadeshi, local production, every day was, according to Gandhi, the heart of satyagraha.

As we rebuild in the face of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose…. and the fires in forests in the Pacific Northwest and Greenland and other places…  the floods, landslides, earthquakes…. we might want to start thinking about a solar civil defense, personally, socially, politically, economically, and culturally.

Net Zero Energy Now

Over the last few years, I’ve been collecting links on zero net energy buildings and communities (archived at http://solarray.blogspot.com), systems which produce at least as much energy as they consume.   There are now net zero energy buildings operating from skyscraper scale down to low income single family homes and both the EU and CA are phasing in net zero building standards between 2017 - 2030 and beyond.  My city, Cambridge, MA, has a zero net emissions policy in place and many communities are considering net zero standards, ideas, and developments as well.   

Net positive buildings are also coming on like gangbusters and there is a German village that produces five times the energy it needs through renewables.  Please note that this article about it is from 2013 and the state of the art has moved on since then.

http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2013/07/with-citizen-buy-in-german-village-generates-5x-renewable-energy-it-needs/

Another example are these net positive townhouses in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston
http://www.is-architects.com/roxbury-e

Net zero energy is not just for new buildings as well.  A retrofit home in Whatcom County, Washington produces twice the energy it now consumes.  In this area, the solar insolation is 3.5 - 3.0 kWh/square meter/day.  Germany, with that 500% net positive village, has an average solar insolation (or irradiance) of 2.9 kWh/square meter/day.
http://inhabitat.com/retrofitted-net-zero-home-in-washington-produces-double-the-energy-it-needs/

It’s not just one-at-a-time as construction companies like Sekisui Heim of Japan builds "zero-utility cost" houses and has constructed over 160,000 units with "solar generation systems"

http://www.sekisuichemical.com/about/division/housing/

Buildings can achieve net zero almost anywhere in the world.  Here’s information on the Northernmost net positive energy office building (so far):
http://snohetta.com/projects/283-powerhouse-telemark
http://inhabitat.com/worlds-northernmost-plus-energy-office-could-spark-an-energy-revolution/

The Southernmost is the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica

http://www.antarcticstation.org

From pole to pole, in most building types, as eco-districts and net zero cities, Net Zero Energy Vermont focuses on making Vermont the first zero energy state

http://www.netzeroenergyvt.net/
Net zero energy feasibility study for Vermont buildings (and beyond)
https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/news-blog/whitepapers/net-zero-energy-feasibility-study

I also collect links on City Agriculture (archived at http://cityag.blogspot.com) and have found that urban agriculture and net zero energy buildings are merging. 

Daniel Libeskind, the “starchitect,” has designed both net zero energy buildings

http://libeskind.com/search/Ogden+Center

http://inhabitat.com/daniel-libeskind-unveils-spectacularly-green-physics-center-at-durham-university/

and vertical gardens

http://libeskind.com/search/Toulouse

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/27/studio-libeskind-150-metre-high-occitanie-garden-tower-toulouse-business-district-architecture/

This synergetic trend is only going to continue and speed up, expanding to include buildings that not only produce as much energy as they consume or more while feeding the local population and even improving the air.

Agora Gardens in Taipei - a green building that absorbs CO2
http://vincent.callebaut.org/object/130122_taipei/taipei/projects
Net zero energy buildings like trees:  Oas1s
https://www.oas1s.com
https://youtu.be/B3gbfDfjDto

The poet Lew Welch wrote, "We remain alert so as not to get run down, but it turns out you only have to hop a few feet to one side and the whole huge machinery rolls by, not seeing you at all.”  We have the tools at hand to change our energy and economic system radically, quickly if we want to take them up and make that little hop to one side or the other.

Zero Net Energy - January 18, 2017

Phipps Center for Sustainable Landscapes - greenest building in the world?

https://phipps.conservatory.org/green-innovation/at-phipps/center-for-sustainable-landscapes-greenest-building-in-the-world/

Dutch net zero retrofitting on an industrial approach

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2015_04_16_taking_dutch_housing_from_energy_hog_to_net_zero

hat tip to Gil Friend

Newstead, Australia, population 500, planning to be 100% renewably powered within 5 years

http://www.renewablenewstead.com.au

Agora Gardens in Taipei - a green building that absorbs CO2

http://vincent.callebaut.org/object/130122_taipei/taipei/projects

Smart green tower in Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany, 16 stories, net energy plus solar with lithium ion battery storage, rooftop garden

http://www.freyarchitekten.com/en/projects/smart-green-tower/#read-more-2945

KU students build net zero, Passive House, LEED Platinum certified home

http://studio804.com/2015-1301-new-york.html

http://inhabitat.com/kansas-university-students-build-net-zero-home-with-leed-platinum-and-passive-house-certification/

Heidelberg Village - 162 apartments built to Passive House standards

https://www.fastcoexist.com/3063270/this-will-be-the-largest-passive-house-apartment-complex-in-the-world/2

Passively heated and cooled building in Austria

http://architizer.com/projects/2226/

http://inhabitat.com/austrian-residential-building-relies-entirely-on-nature-for-heating-cooling-and-ventilation/

CO’s net zero energy districts

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/new-zero-energy-districts-mile-high-and-growing

RMI’s An Integrative Business Model for Net Zero Energy Districts

http://www.rmi.org/Content/Files/Insight%20brief_Net-zero%20energy8_2.pdf

ReGen Village designed to produce all its own food and energy

https://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/20/effekt-designs-regen-villages-produce-own-food-energy-danish-pavilion-venice-architecture-biennale-2016/

http://www.regenvillages.com

Northernmost net positive energy office building (so far)

http://snohetta.com/projects/283-powerhouse-telemark

http://inhabitat.com/worlds-northernmost-plus-energy-office-could-spark-an-energy-revolution/

McKinsey Talks Energy and Climate at MIT

On November 21, 2016 Scott Nyquist of McKinsey & Company (http://www.mckinsey.com) spoke to the public at MIT's Sloan School (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTLrGhwLlrx3wx3eTYcnTX6pIS6iziw4RTLiYNL9uP0dWmVQ/viewform?c=0&w=1).

Over the next 20 years, there are projections for 80% more demand on resources as a result of growing populations and growing economic production.  However, higher energy intensity, efficiency, and slower GDP growth leads McKinsey and Company to consider a less than base case view.

McKinsey sees 74% of our energy still coming from fossil fuels by 2050, with an energy related CO2 peak by 2035, and a similar peak in transportation by 2025.  COP 21, the Paris Agreement, has businesses going ahead and beyond waiting for negotiation, regulations and governments.  Nyquist pointed us toward not only the Energy Transitions Commission (http://www.energy-transitions.org), 28 leaders from business who recognize that COP21 is not enough and are setting zero carbon as a planning goal but also the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (http://www.oilandgasclimateinitiative.com), 10 companies with 20% of global oil and gas production, which has pledged $1 billion for low carbon technology.

The top 4 emitters, US, China, India, the EU, are planning 4 - 2.5% improvements per year in energy productivity now and that will continue.  China is forecast to exceed the EU, US, India combined in zero carbon energy growth over the next 20 years.  They will have a large nuclear component to their energy mix. Even the Saudis are diversifying from oil.

Autonomous and sharing vehicle systems may reduce transportation emissions dramatically by 2030.  Private cars are going away, says the Senior Partner in the Houston Office of McKinsey and Company and leader in both McKinsey's Energy Practice and the McKinsey Sustainability and Resource Productivity Network.

Solar electricity, photovoltaics, are expected to be competitive in most USA states by 2025. A third of the USA now finds solar electricity competitive with other energy sources, including, in some areas, natural gas, even without subsidies.  Solar is beyond the tipping point today, even with the election of Donald J Trump.  Utility clients are optimistic about the possibilities of storage and micro-grids but still waiting for the technology.  Nyquist did not directly address demand side management or advanced energy efficiency.

According to his conversations, fossil fuel companies understand that the carbon budget is 900 Gt of emissions to keep within the 2ºC increase in global temperature rise while fuel reserves are already 3-5 times that amount.  Scott Nyquist called out  the oil and gas industry and the Republican Party for their conduct on climate change.  The topic of stranded assets was not addressed in this talk.

Nyquist spoke almost exclusively of emissions without really exploring sinks.  All the carbon capture methods he mentioned,  briefly, were industrial.  He concentrated on sources of greenhouse gases rather than sinks, flows much, much more than stocks.  Geoengineering did not come up nor did the idea of geotherapy, amplifying existing natural carbon sinks by ecological design.

At the very beginning of his talk, Scott Nyquist said that there is geological evidence of sea level risings as much as one foot per decade.  That is the context in which McKinsey and Company are thinking about energy and climate change.

Zero Net Energy - November 21, 2016

5 companies leading the field in net zero building

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/5-companies-leading-charge-net-zero-building

Zero net energy row house project in Sweden

http://inhabitat.com/solar-powered-swedish-homes-produce-at-least-as-much-energy-as-they-consume/

http://www.archdaily.com/792318/power-to-the-people-street-monkey-architects

http://streetmonkey.se/?portfolio=the-powerhouse-12

Heidelberg Village PassivHaus development of 162 units, including rooftop and vertical gardens

http://www.freyarchitekten.com/en/projects/552_heidelberg-village.html

http://www.heidelberg-village.de

RMI’s report:  An Integrative Business Model for Net Zero Energy Districts

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2016_08_01_Report_Release_An_Integrative_Business_Model_For_Net_Zero_Energy_Districts

Hampshire College’s RW Kern Center, zero net energy built to Living Building Challenge standards

http://www.brunercott.com/projects/kern-center/

Zero net energy retrofits for a Whole Foods grocery and a mixed use historic building with 91 low-income residents in SF

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/09/20/zero-net-energy-projects-to-transform-affordable-housing-and-grocery-industry/

http://prospectsv.org/2016/04/13/whole-foods-market-sf-zne/

http://prospectsv.org/2016/05/17/innovate-net-zero-project/

UK Green Building Council’s office renovation for lowest carbon footprint

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/11/01/uk-green-building-council-hq-renovations-set-record-lowest-carbon-footprint/

http://www.ukgbc.org/resources/key-statistics/uk-gbc-office-refurbishment-annotated-diagram

http://www.ukgbc.org/sites/default/files/UK-GBC%20Storyboard%20%2014.10.16%20low%20res.pdf

Zero emissions hydrogen fuel cell train

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-unveils-zero-emissions-train-only-emits-steam-lower-saxony-hydrogen-powered-a7391581.html?cmpid=facebook-post

Regenerative villages

https://www.businessinsider.nl/self-sufficient-village-regen-2016-9/

Aruba commits to 100% renewables by2020

http://www.ecowatch.com/aruba-renewable-energy-2089477899.html

Santa Monica requires all new single-family homes to be net zero energy

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/11/19/santa-monica-require-new-single-family-homes-net-zero-energy/

Ecocor - prefab Passive House construction

http://www.ecocor.us

Zero Net Energy - August 1, 2016

I’m noticing a cross-over now between zero net energy building and city agriculture, two subjects I follow and publish links lists on.  The archive of the city agriculture links list is at cityag.blogspot.com

Net Zero Plus

The NetZero Plus Electric Training Institute (NZP-ETI), opened recently in Los Angeles, and is the largest net-zero plus commercial building retrofit in USA which “will function as a living laboratory, educational facility and demonstration center for advanced and emerging clean energy technologies."

http://nzp-eti.com

http://inhabitat.com/largest-net-zero-plus-commercial-retrofit-in-the-us-opens-in-los-angeles/

Eco-Cooler

http://inhabitat.com/this-amazing-bangladeshi-air-cooler-is-made-from-plastic-bottles-and-uses-no-electricity/

https://youtu.be/jPuh8IFbIzQ

I’ve built a version of this for myself and it seems to work although mine is just a small test model

All terrain off the grid survival vehicle

http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-houses/survival-van-conversion-off-grid-all-terrain-john-mcelhiney.html

New home construction moving towards net zero

http://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/23/new-construction-homes-moving-towards-net-zero-california-leads-way/

Retrofit home in Whatcom County, Washington produces twice the energy it now consumes (in an area with solar insolation of 3.5 - 3.0 kWh/square meter/day)

http://sustainableconnections.org/news/sc-press-releases/100-powered-by-sunshine-first-home-in-whatcom-county-to-receive-net-zero-energy-certification

http://inhabitat.com/retrofitted-net-zero-home-in-washington-produces-double-the-energy-it-needs/

Virginia Beach,VA 10,500-square-foot Brock Environmental Center turns rainwater into drinking water, produces 83% more energy than it uses

http://inhabitat.com/incredible-net-zero-energy-brock-environmental-center-turns-rainwater-into-drinking-water/

http://www.cbf.org/brock

Net Zero Energy Vermont - blog focusing on making Vermont the first zero energy state

http://www.netzeroenergyvt.net/

Net zero energy feasibility study for Vermont buildings (and beyond)

https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/news-blog/whitepapers/net-zero-energy-feasibility-study

Net zero downtown Montpelier design competition

https://netzerovt.org/design-competition/

Siemens new Munich headquarters, using 90% less electricity and 75% less water than what the building it replaced

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/project/2016/26904/henning-larsen-architects/siemens-hq-in-munich.html

http://www.henninglarsen.com/news/archive/2016/06/one-of-europe’s-most-sustainable-buildings-inaugurated.aspx

http://inhabitat.com/renovated-siemens-headquarters-in-munich-now-consumes-90-less-energy-and-75-less-water/

Los Angeles net zero solar powered  20 unit apartment building:  Hanover Olympic 

http://www.hanoverolympic.com/eco-green-homes

http://www.hanoverolympic.com/los-angeles/hanover-olympic/photos/

http://inhabitat.com/first-solar-powered-net-zero-apartment-building-in-los-angeles-opens-its-doors/

Nanjing China zero net energy Green Light House

http://www.archdaily.com/792110/nanjing-green-light-house-archiland-international

http://inhabitat.com/zero-carbon-nanjing-green-lighthouse-is-a-beacon-for-sustainable-design-in-china/

Net Zero community in Salt Lake City

http://www.buildingsaltlake.com/net-zero-community-coming-salt-lake/?mailchimp_signup=1

Telus Gardens in Vancouver, LEED Platinum with indoor gardens

http://inhabitat.com/vancouvers-greenest-office-building-envisions-a-new-kind-of-office-space-with-telus-garden/

http://henriquezpartners.com/archimemo/telus-garden-grand-opening/

http://www.officemb.ca/work/telus-garden/

LIAR Living Architecture

"This project will develop blocks able to extract resources from sunlight, waste water and air. The bricks are able to fit together and create ‘bioreactor walls’ which could then be incorporated in housing, public buildings and office spaces.”

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2016/07/liarlivingarchitecture/

Floating House - 100 sqm residential unit, 12 m in diameter and 4 m high, made entirely of recycled laminated timber on a recycled aluminium hull.

http://www.ecoflolife.com/floating-house/

Solar Electric Power to the People

I like direct action, positive protest that has immediate, practical, social and economic use.  

That's why I say, Solar IS Civil Defense - light, phone, battery can be supplied by a few square inches of solar electric panel.  The solar bike lights on my backpack over the last decade have proven the concept to my satisfaction (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/30/352476/-).

Light, phone, battery are also entry level electricity for the 1.4 billion or so of us around the world who don't yet have access to reliable electric power.  Emergency preparedness at home, entry level solar power to the people who've never had it is essentially the same thing.

Bare minimum solar electricity for all, as long as the sun shines and the batteries hold out, is technically and practically feasible now.  

It is rapidly becoming affordable too.  

I know of one company that is reaching the price point of $1 per unit production costs for solar rechargeable lights (http://www.thriveenergy.co.in) and believe that there are others that are doing the same or better.  That's $1.4 billion in production costs (or less, given economies of scale) to supply everyone among the presently powerless or $200 million if we start with one solar lighting system per family at a global average of 7 people per family.

How much more for delivery and setting up the infrastructure?  The Dominican Light Project (http://www.esencialessrl.com) is beginning to provide solar lights for every family in the Dominican Republic at a proposed cost of $5 each to the customer's door.  They raised some of their money through crowdfunding (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dominican-light-project-by-esenciales-j-s-srl--2#/)

Bare minimum solar electricity for all, as long as the sun shines and the batteries hold out, is not only technically feasible but also affordable and practical now.

in 2015, the world's military forces spent $1,676.0 billion annually or $4.59 billion per day
Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

2016 USA Presidential election spending to July 22, 2016:
Amount raised by candidates:  $904 million
Amount raised by Super PACS supporting them:  $492
Source:  http://www.opensecrets.org/pres16/

Just for reference.

Conceivably, there could be ad hoc popular movement for crowd funding the end of electrical energy poverty within the next 3 to 5 years.  A day of what we spend on warfare or a US Presidential campaign could give everybody who needed a light, a light.  This is solar electric power to the people.

Now, add a bicycle or a hand-crank and you have two reliable sources of electricity day or night, by sunlight or muscle power.
See http://solarray.blogspot.com/2004/12/three-solar-projects.html

Here are a few solar lighting buy one, give one programs:
One Million Lights
http://onemillionlights.org/donateshop/

WakaWaka
http://us.waka-waka.com/products/

Buy One Give One for Malawi
http://www.voltaicsystems.com/blog/buy-one-give-one-for-malawi/

LuminAID Portable Solar-Powered Inflatable Light
https://luminaid.com/

and
10 Inspiring "Buy One Give One" Projects - Mashable
http://mashable.com/2010/11/07/buy-one-give-one/

Free as in Sunlight

Found an interesting project while wandering through my usual haunts on the Internet the other day.  The Dominican Light Project (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dominican-light-project-by-esenciales-j-s-srl#/story) is an Indiegogo campaign with a goal of raising at least $25,000 over the month of May 2016 to give solar lanterns to 5000 families in the Dominican Republic.  "For every $25 raised with the Dominican Light Project on Indiegogo, five Dominicans will receive a solar lantern to provide them with a safe source of light. Each lantern provides 12 hours of bright, LED light per 6-8-hour charge and will also eliminate the health and fire risks associated with candles and kerosene lamps.”  Eventually, they’d like to give a solar lantern to every family in the Dominican Republic at an estimated cost of over $25 million.

This reminded me of another solar project in the  Dominican Republic that started in 1984, Enersol (http://www.enersol.org), which developed the SOlar-BASed rural Electrification Concept (SO-BASEC): "an appropriate low-cost, practical, PV system that could be sold and installed by local PV supply micro-enterprises, with financing through a low-cost micro-credit payment plan managed by a local association, cooperative or NGO.”  This model would go on to influence the Grameen Shakti (http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/green-energy-for-billion-poor.html) program in Bangladesh as well as the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/7/650525/- ) in India.

What I remember most about Enersol and their work was their insistence on builidng a local support infrastructure that would not only install but also maintain and repair the equipment.  "By 1990 Enersol’s training and assistance to local technicians and micro-credit programs had led to the electrification of 1,000 households and micro-enterprises” demonstrating "that solar electrification was an affordable and effective alternative to conventional grid systems and that it benefited the environment and contributed to local economic development as well.”  And that’s at 1984-1990 prices.

The Dominican Light Project estimates the cost of their solar lights at $5 each, 12 hours of light for every 6-8 hours of charging.  A few months ago, I had an email from Thrive Solar (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/18/1345878/-Thrive-Solar) informing me that they’ve been able to build solar lights for $1 a piece in production costs in their Indian factory.

For years, I’ve been promoting the idea of Solar IS Civil Defense (https://youtu.be/u0mjqjgZ64E) - what we are all supposed to have on hand in case of emergency:  flashlight, cell phone, radio, extra set of batteries - can be powered by a few square inches of solar electric panel.  Add a hand crank or bicycle generator and you have a reliable source of survival level electricity, day or night, by sunlight or muscle power.  This is also entry level electrical power for the 1.5 billion people around the world who do not yet have access to electricity.  

Civil defense at home and economic development abroad can be combined economically as a gift, a premium in a “buy one, give one” program, as a small business, and in many other configurations.  Sunlight is free and the technology for converting it to electricity is now within almost everyone’s grasp. 

Zero Net Energy - April 20, 2016

Shanghai Tower:  World’s Foremost Eco-Friendly Skyscraper?
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/03/14/filming-worlds-foremost-eco-friendly-skyscraper/

Greening the Empire State Building - report from 2011
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/9/10/1015400/-

Net Zero Habitat for Humanity homes
http://www.pgecurrents.com/2016/03/01/stockton-pge-habitat-for-humanity-dedicate-new-zero-net-energy-home-to-deserving-families/

ZNE Action Bulletin, Winter 2016
http://newbuildings.org/resource/zne-action-bulletin-winter-2016/

Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)  called for legally binding targets for near-zero building energy standards
http://www.edie.net/news/6/Investors-call-for-legally-binding--zero-energy-building-standard/

Energiesprong - Dutch near net zero building retrofit kit
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3046525/in-just-a-week-this-kit-turns-old-houses-into-zero-energy-homes-for-free
http://energiesprong.nl

EU ZNE renovarion case studies:  zero-energy for zero-upfront-costs (The Netherlands); a revolving loan fund (Estonia); a large-scale national programme (Germany); a scheme tackling fuel poverty (France) and dedicated energy services for the public sector (United Kingdom). 
http://bpie.eu/publication/renovation-in-practice/

Toward Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Super High-Rise Commercial Buildings - 2014 White Paper 
http://www.screamingenergyapp.com/images/easyblog_articles/120/CABA-ZNE-white-paper-june-2014.pdf

Seoul to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Buildings 26.9% by 2020
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Po_detail.htm?No=118154

UK’s Costa coffee shops opening 4 new ZNE Eco-Pods
http://www.edie.net/news/6/Costa-to-roll-out-four--zero-energy--eco-pods-in-the-next-12-months/


NYC’s first Passive apartment building, Perch Harlem
http://perchliving.com
http://inhabitat.com/nyc/nycs-first-passive-apartment-building-set-to-open-next-month/

World Game Notes: MOOCs, Global Displays, and Existing Technological Opportunities

"Quite clearly, our task is predominantly metaphysical, for it is how to get all of humanity to educate itself swiftly enough to generate spontaneous behaviors that will avoid extinction."  R Buckminster Fuller

 

MOOC [Massive Open Online Course]: Power Agriculture: Sustainable Energy for Food
Feb 1st - March 27, 2016
poweringag.org/...“Details: Around one third of the energy used worldwide goes into the production and processing of food from field to table. Given the current energy system mix, the agrifood industry sector is however heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs for production, transport, processing and distribution, and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. With a continuously growing world population the need for food and for energy to produce it is increasing. At the same time millions of farmers and processors in developing countries and emerging economies lack access to clean energy technologies for irrigation, drying, cooling, storage and other processes. Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC) seeks to identify and support new and sustainable approaches to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy solutions for increasing agriculture productivity and/or value in developing countries.”

There is now technology to show this and other MOOCs’ proceedings on, among other things, a dynamic spherical screen like the iGlobe (www.iglobeinc.com/...).  Currently, MIT’s Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences is hosting a two foot diameter iGlobe. 

 

“If you have data or interactive models you'd like to see visualized on the sphere... learn how it can be done and to figure out better ways and how to present information using the iGlobe.  Or try to make a compelling environmental movie using the sphere, an auxiliary screen, and sound.  Or come if you'd just like to experiment with the way things look projected on a spherical surface.”

There are open sessions with the IGlobe display every Thursday in January 2016 from 11am to 12pm at MIT, Building 54-1827, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge, the Green Building, the tallest building on campus.  Glenn Flierl, Professor of Oceanography, is the host.

 

NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] also has a program called Science on a Sphere sos.noaa.gov/..., 

 

“a room sized, global display system that uses computers and video projectors to display planetary data onto a six foot diameter sphere, analogous to a giant animated globe. Researchers at NOAA developed Science On a Sphere® as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages.”

These ongoing activities approach R Buckminster Fuller’s idea of a World Game:  

 

The goal of the World Game is to "make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone." 

Today, we have the technology to play the World Game online in real time with interactive maps and satellite images updated frequently.  Imagine World of Peacecraft or the Final Fantasy of a sustainable, restorative economy and ecology for everybody, all 100% of the human population with a significant number of that 100% participating as co-designers, for the benefit of all who will allow the benefit of all.

 

An online, ad hoc “Dashboard for Spaceship Earth” can also be cobbled together from existing resources with some of theseWorld Game Dashboards and Visualizations:

 

http://www.worldometers.info

 

clock of various Earthly vital statistics

http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock/

 

Breathing Earth - carbon output, births and deaths

http://www.breathingearth.net  

 

AP's interactive map of countries, emissions, and climate goals (2009)

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_science/globalWarming/index.html?SITE=WSAW

 

NASA's Aqua/AIRS animation on carbon, watching the Earth breathe

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=3947

 

http://www.modelearth.org - associated with Solutions Journal

 

http://show.mappingworlds.com

 

 

Environmental Performance Index 

http://beta.sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/collection/epi/

 

Arctic Jet Stream

http://squall.sfsu.edu/scripts/nhemjetstream_model.html

 

Yale's Environmental Performance Index (http://epi.yale.edu) is global in scope. 

And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch) tracks everything from temperature change to carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. 

Terralingua is tracking something unique they call Vitality Index(http://terralingua.org/our-work/vitality-index-of-tek/). 

What are other groups tracking? 

What global measures are there for biodiversity, ocean health, arable land, rainforest, ice coverage, number of species, etc? 

 

realtime wind/temperature Earth:  http://earth.nullschool.net

 

Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs (http://www.amazon.com/State-World-2015-Confronting-Sustainability/dp/1610916107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453084737&sr=1-1&keywords=state+of+the+world+2015). 

The Skeptical Environmentalist (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521010683/) has a lot of interesting statistics and comes from another perspective. 

UNESCO (http://en.unesco.org) has good statistics about education and science from a global perspective.

NASA's Earth Observatory (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov) has some cool maps and interesting analysis of what is happening on earth as seen by satellites. 

For example, while biodiversity is going down, the total amount of life on earth as measured by Net Primary Productivity has actually increased on average by 6% from 1982 to 1999.

 

Crisis Commons (http://crisiscommons.org) and CrisisCamps like this 2010 one for Haiti in Boston are already a kind of narrow World Game:

http://crisiscampbos02132010.eventbrite.com

Saturday, February 13, 2010 CrisisCamp will bring again together volunteers in Boston, MA to collaborate on technology projects which aim to assist in Haiti's relief efforts by providing data, information, maps and technical assistance to NGOs, relief agencies and the public.

 

The Buckminster Fuller Institute (http://www.bfi.org) is preserving and continuing Fuller's work and OS Earth (http://www.osearth.com) runs corporate and student simulations based upon the World Game.

 

There are disaster preparedness (http://www.stopdisastersgame.org) and humanitarian assistance training (http://www.virtualpeace.org) simulations online. Bright Neighbor (http://www.brightneighbor.com) is a community resilience software package marketed to city and town governments.  [There is also http://Recovers.org which has worked with Occupy Sandy in NYC and helps cities and towns prepare for recovery before the disaster happens.]

 

One game designer, Jane McGonigal has built a number of real world problem solving games, including SuperStruct for the Institute for the Future (http://www.iftf.org) in 2009 and Evoke http://blog.urgentevoke.net, in 2010. The first challenge in that game is a famine in Tokyo ten years from now. There are ten challenges to be completed in ten weeks. McGonigal's writings are at www.avantgame.com/... 

 

John Robb of Global Guerrillas (http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2010/02/journal-alternative-ways-to-incentivize-work-and-innovation.htm) theorizes about "a real world company that operates like a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. One reason I believe that this type of venture would work (and that my dream wasn't purely a fantasy) is this simple insight: MMOs with persistent environments (aka 'worlds') have proven an ability to incentivize tens of millions of players to do billions of hours of work...."

Those incentives are

"Improvement in status (level).

Gain new capabilities (new tools) and skills.

Earn in-game faux money (to purchase new tools and status enhancing items)."

 

In-game faux money becomes real money all the time these days.

 

Additional Links:

http://ayiti.newzcrew.org/..."  The Cost of Life is a pre-earthquake game of rural life in Haiti (Ayiti) from UNICEF. The object of this game is to follow one family for four years. It is not an MMO.

 

http://permaculturehaiti.org  and http://transitionhaiti.ning.com are both sites trying to compile permaculture and transition town information as it applies to Haiti

Enersa (http://enersahaiti.com)  is a Haitian group doing solar as a cottage industry.

For more information contact Richard Komp, PhD, Director of Skyheat Associates <www.skyheat.org>.  His report on a 2007 visit is at [pdf alert]

http://www.mainesolar.org/Haiti07.pdf

Ozone Hole Watch

ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov

 

International Institute for Sustainable Development on climate policy

http://www.iisd.ca/process/climate_atm.htm

 

Gamification of Systems Thinking

http://blog.sustainabilitylearningcentre.com/2014/01/28/1438/

 

urban world app from McKinsey "offers previously unavailable data from a proprietary MGI database of more than 2,600 cities around the world”

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/mgi/in_the_news/urban_world_app

 

10 science games doing real research, including a game to find cropland at www.geo-wiki.org

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/25/online-gamers-solving-sciences-biggest-problems

 

realtime model of (commercial) planes in http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/aviation-100-years

 

There is a board game version that approaches the World Game called the World Peace Game (http://worldpeacegame.org) developed by John Hunter for Fourth Graders and other elementary school students.  I've talked with him and he knows about Buckminster Fuller's World Game but has his hands full with his won World Peace Game.  He has been working with a gaming group at MIT to make a digital version of the tabletop version of the game.

 

These are all resources I’ve collected over the years and are not intended to be examined all at once, only to give you an idea of what is already out there and available now.