Saturday, April 03, 2021

Geotherapy Not Geoengineering, Please

 Geotherapy not geoengineering, please.

“Geotherapy refers to the process of restoring the earth’s health by strengthening natural biogeochemical and physiological mechanisms that regulate the earth’s planetary life support systems and control global temperature, sea level, atmospheric composition, soil fertility, food, and fresh water supplies.”
Source: Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/geotherapy-thomas-goreau-ronal-larson-joanna-campe/e/10.1201/b13788

Geoengineering “is the deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system, in order to moderate global warming” and “the most prominent subcategories of climate engineering are solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering

Geotherapy is based on working with existing natural systems and starts local, adapting to the different biomes in which a geotherapeutic technique works. Geoengineering tends to be global from the get go and the “engineering” is emphasized much more than the “geo,” at least so far. Geotherapy is systems solutions, working within ecological boundaries. Geoengineering is engineering, tools based, and usually mechanistic.

The resources I used to learn about geotherapy are
Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/geotherapy-thomas-goreau-ronal-larson-joanna-campe/e/10.1201/b13788k

Proceedings of the recent conferences organized by Biodiversity for a Livable Climate on a wide variety of geotherapeutic solutions
https://bio4climate.org/conferences/

John Todd’s history of his lifetime building healthy and healing ecologies, Healing Earth: An Ecologist’s Journey of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship
https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/healing-earth/

According to the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/20/our-biggest-challenge-lack-of-imagination-the-scientists-turning-the-desert-green), John Todd is working with a Dutch company, the Weathermakers (http://theweathermakers.nl), developing a plan to make the Sinai Desert green. They are using John’s “eco machines,” greenhouses with an extremely biodiverse environment reflecting “the aggregate experience of life on Earth over the last 3.5bn years.” They will distill salt water while growing plants, fish, and animals, all powered by the sun. “The idea is that you may have 100 of these structures,” says John Todd. “And they’re spending five years in one site and then they’re moved, so these little ecologies are left behind.”

One proof of such a regreening the desert concept is a permaculture experiment near the Dead Sea over a decade ago
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2007/06/you-can-fix-all-worlds-problems-in.html

Another is Wadi Attir (http://www.sustainabilitylabs.org/wadiattir/home/) in the Negev Desert, a Bedouin sustainable farm.

The Weathermakers are also following the successful methods Li Rui developed in regreening the loess plateau of northern China in the 1990s, collaboratoring with John D Liu who documented the process for TV and film and is now associated with the Ecosystem Restoration Camps (https://ecosystemrestorationcamps.org), part of a growing group of environmental restoration and regeneration projects now launched around the world.

Just as focusing on cities drove climate politics from Copenhagen to the Paris agreement, I believe ecovillage restoration will drive practical climate solutions using geotherapy, which works at every scale from a flower pot on a window sill to thousands of hectares of land, in the next few years. 

Here are some upcoming events which offer ways to participate in the action:
Smart Village Summit (https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrduGgpz8pG9WyihU6tdCcuuq1F20NY6hn), powered by Future Thinkers and RegenVillages.
This monthly virtual summit is for people interested in the many aspects of Smart Villages and ProtoB communities. We’ll be joined by experienced guests to discuss earth regeneration, permaculture, community building, governance, education, social dynamics, funding, economics, organization and leadership, affordable housing, natural building, information sharing, innovation, technology and other important subjects.
March 31, 2021 04:00 PM GMT (Vancouver)
April 28, 2021 04:00 PM GMT (Vancouver)
May 26, 2021 04:00 PM GMT (Vancouver)

Global Just Recovery Gathering (https://justrecoverygathering.org), April 9 to 11, is a three-day online event featuring interactive workshops, cultural sessions, and hands-on trainings. The events will include appearances by Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Naomi Klein, Brianna Fruean and others. Build your skills, strengthen relationships, and hear from a powerful line-up of climate leaders, artists, and musicians in every corner of the world.

The GEN Ecovillage Summit – Living Solutions for a Regenerative World (https://summit2021.ecovillage.org) will take place from April 9-15, 2021 and will showcase how ecovillages contribute to the mitigation of climate crisis and function as resilient communities of practise bringing concrete solutions and actions for earth restoration, economic revival, social regeneration and cultural celebration.

Recently, L Hunter Lovins said that reputable scientists believe we could return to 280 ppm CO2, pre-industrial levels, in 30-60 years IF we used holistic grazing practices on the existing grasslands of the world (https://www.cambridgeforum.org/?p=7205). Now, think about how quickly we could draw down atmospheric carbon IF we added marine ecosystems, which can sequester much more carbon (15 -20 times) more rapidly than terrestrial ecosystems, to the mix all while rapidly reducing our emissions to zero.

We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities, when we think in terms of geotherapy, not geoengineering, please.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Zero Net Energy - March 24, 2021

 Making a wooden solar insolation visualization

https://youtu.be/PvcvY4ToFaQ
https://www.makingdatatangible.com/solar/ - program to help you make your own
https://pysolar.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ - a collection of Python libraries for simulating the irradiation of any point on earth by the sun
Editorial Comment:  possibly a useful tool for those thinking about solar in relation to zero net energy

District heating in Sweden
https://www.ecowatch.com/sweden-renewable-energy-homes-2647776925.html

World’s largest PassivHaus-certified office building 
https://handelarchitects.com/project/winthrop-center
https://inhabitat.com/this-will-be-the-worlds-largest-passive-house-certified-office-building/

Saudi Arabia to build a zero emissions city
https://www.dw.com/en/saudi-arabia-to-build-a-zero-emissions-city/a-56189240

Sustainable Housing Ownership Project, Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation
https://thundervalley.org/program-guide/sustainble-home-owenership-project

Gothenburg, Sweden is developing the world’s first large-scale zero-emissions city zone
https://news.cision.com/business-region-goteborg/r/gothenburg-green-city-zone-leads-the-way-towards-zero-emissions-transportation-in-the-near-future,c3266333
https://inhabitat.com/gothenburg-sweden-develops-worlds-first-zero-emissions-zone/
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/01/19/gothenburg-partners-with-volvo-to-create-a-climate-neutral-city/
https://www.greengothenburg.se

Ohlone College - 185,000-square-foot net zero energy development
https://inhabitat.com/new-ohlone-college-buildings-target-net-zero-energy-consumption/
https://www.cannondesign.com/our-work/work/ohlone-community-college-district-academic-core-buildings/
http://aba-arch.com/Portfolio/education/Ohlone-CORE

UK prefab low energy homes coming to scale?  An estimated 30,000 in the pipeline
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/mar/06/eco-homes-become-hot-property-in-uks-zero-carbon-paradigm-shift
Leeds Climate Innovation District
https://citu.co.uk

Deep Energy Retrofit for Triple Deckers
https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2021/03/12/triple-decker-deep-energy-retrofit

Oregon State University goes for net zero in new building
http://www.srgpartnership.com/work/edward-j-ray-hall
https://inhabitat.com/oregon-state-university-building-on-a-reclaimed-mine-targets-net-zero-energy/

ML King Open/Cambridge Street Upper School in Cambridge, MA achieves net zero emissions
https://www.arrowstreet.com/portfolio/king-open-cambridge-upper-street-schools-community-complex/
https://rawnarch.com/kingopen
https://inhabitat.com/award-winning-school-and-community-complex-achieves-net-zero-emissions/

Net zero home development with 3D printed components
https://www.treehugger.com/community-3d-printed-net-zero-homes-california-5116947

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Solar Decathlon Webinars

"The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy."

It’s been going on since 2002 and has produced hundreds of model houses built by student teams from all over the world.  This year they are doing a webinar series as well.  Should be lots and lots of good information here which will be especially useful now that Governor Baker has vetoed the Climate Roadmap bill.

Democracy is do it yourself and I guess so is energy and climate policy.

Resilient Home 411: Strategies to Weather and Recover from Natural Disasters
Thursday, January 21, 2021, 1–2 p.m. E.T.
RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1486122315339351051

Zero Energy Ready Homes: New and Growing Fast
Wednesday, February 17, 2021, 1–2 p.m. E.T.
RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2818488515646035216

The Future of Solar: A Tour of Cutting-Edge Solar Research with the U.S. Department of Energy
Wednesday, March 17, 2021, 1–2 p.m. E.T.
RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1202756178629245968

Solar Decathlon Build Challenge Team House Tour
Wednesday, April 28, 2021, 1–2 p.m. E.T.
RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2467358377853890320

More at https://cleantechnica.com/2021/01/11/register-today-for-resilient-home-411-next-solar-decathlon-virtual-session/

Friday, December 25, 2020

Zero Net Energy - December 25, 2020

 "Second + Delaware is the largest Passive House building in the world, which means that it uses 80-90% less energy than conventional buildings”

Opening in October in Kansas City, Missouri
https://www.secondanddelaware.com
https://inhabitat.com/worlds-largest-passive-house-building-to-open-in-kansas-city/

A blog about living in a self-designed shipping container tiny house which is completely self-sufficient in Australia
https://tinyhousesustainablelivingaustralia.com

40 hectare “regenerative city” plan for Bergen, Norway
https://www.tredjenatur.dk/en/portfolio/regenerative-city/
https://inhabitat.com/third-nature-imagines-a-zero-emission-regenerative-city-district-in-bergen/

How Oslo plans to become a zero emissions city by 2030
https://www.fastcompany.com/90552168/this-is-what-a-zero-emissions-city-looks-like

Net Zero energy McDonald's
http://www.r-barc.com/fast-company-new-mcdonalds-solar-powered/
https://inhabitat.com/disney-world-mcdonalds-to-be-first-net-zero-fast-food-restaurant/

Snøhetta’s Powerhouse Telemark will use 70% less energy than a conventional building of similar size and will produce more energy than it will require over its entire lifespan, including the energy used in construction and even during its eventual demolition in decades to come
https://snohetta.com/projects/523-powerhouse-telemark-a-sustainable-model-for-the-future-of-workspaces
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/11/03/powerhouse-telemark-by-snohetta-produces-more-energy-than-it-consumes/
https://inhabitat.com/snohetta-completes-breeam-excellent-net-positive-energy-office/

In January, 2019 this list included
Trondheim, Norway’s net energy positive building, Powerhouse Brattørkaia, "will generate more energy in its operational phase than it consumes through the production of buiding materials, construction, operation, and disposal of the building” or Snøhetta strikes again
https://www.powerhouse.no/en/prosjekter/powerhouse-brattorkaia/
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/12/norway-energy-positive-building-powerhouse-snohetta/577918/

Editorial Comment:  Snøhetta is the standard for zero net energy, net zero energy design and construction, at least in my opinion.

Plan for UK’s first carbon neutral “urban quarter” 
https://inhabitat.com/sunderlands-riverfront-to-house-uks-first-carbon-neutral-community/

The Green Gateway, a zero-emission, highly sustainable multimodal hub, is the winner for the 2020 Fentress Global Challenge (FGC), an annual global student design competition
https://fentressglobalchallenge.com/news/2020/airport-of-the-future-global-student-design-competition-2020-winners-announced
https://inhabitat.com/zero-emission-airport-concept-wins-2020-fentress-global-challenge/

Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota with net-zero energy design
https://hga.com/projects/westwood-hills-nature-center/
https://inhabitat.com/this-nature-center-proves-zero-energy-is-possible-even-in-wintry-minnesota/

Net energy positive hotel for Bornholm Island, Denmark
https://inhabitat.com/3xn-unveils-denmarks-first-climate-positive-hotel-for-bornholm-island/
https://www.greensolutionhouse.dk/en/
Editorial Comment:  Bornholm Island was the test-bed for the EU’s Grid 2.0 project to determine how to mesh renewables with the existing grid and speed the renewable transition:  http://www.eu-ecogrid.net
More on Bornholm and other near net zero island projects at http://solarray.blogspot.com/2017/09/crowd-funding-emergency-solar-electric.html

Redesigning Bellinzona, Switzerland through an “'eMergetic evaluation' concept that considers the entire building lifecycle to minimize the city’s carbon footprint. The proposal also includes planned energy policy objectives with zero-emission targets, renewable energy systems and environmental monitoring."
https://www.tamassociati.org/2020/10/22/tamassociati-takes-part-in-redesigning-the-future-of-bellinzona-switzerland/
https://inhabitat.com/tamassociati-envisions-a-zero-emissions-future-proof-urban-development/

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Planning the Energy Transition

 Over the past couple of weeks I’ve run across what might be a few really useful reports on the energy transition.


The Lancet is doing an annual climate countdown report to monitor our progress.  Here is this year’s edition: https://www.lancetcountdown.org/2020-report/


That should give us some idea of where we are and this particular finding jumped out

"Indicator 4.2.5: net value of fossil fuel subsidies and carbon prices—headline finding: 58 of the 75 countries reviewed were operating with a net negative carbon price in 2017.  The resulting net loss of revenue was, in many cases, equivalent to substantial proportions of the national health budget...


"This indicator calculates net, economy- wide average carbon prices and associated net carbon revenue to government. The calculations are based on the value of overall fossil fuel subsidies, the revenue from carbon pricing mechanisms, and the total CO2 emissions of the economy. Data on fossil fuel subsidies are calculated on the basis of analysis from the IEA and OECD.  Together, these sources cover 75 countries and account for around 92% of global CO2 emissions. Carbon prices and revenues are derived from data in the World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard (https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/) [Corporate Carbon Accounting Market https://cleantechnica.com/2020/11/30/the-corporate-carbon-accounting-market/ may also be useful here]


"Of the 75 countries, 61 (81%) countries in 2016 and 58 (77%) countries in 2017 had net negative carbon prices, and only 14 (19%) countries in 2016 and 17 (23%) countries in 2017 had a price higher than zero, a result of substantial subsidies for fossil fuel production and consumption (figure 25). The median net carbon revenue was negative, a pay-out of $0·66 billion (IQR –0·04 to –3·48), with some countries providing net fossil fuel subsidies in the tens of billions of dollars each year. In many cases, these subsidies were equivalent to substantial proportions of the national health budget—more than 100% in eight of the 75 countries in 2017.  Of the 38 countries that had formal carbon pricing mechanisms in place in 2017, 21 still had net negative carbon prices.”


An historical perspective is available with an interactive diagram of the Energy Transitions in U.S. History, 1800–2019 (https://us-sankey.rcc.uchicago.edu), extremely fine work which maps the transitions from biomass to coal to oil to gas to nuclear to renewables.  The supporting paper is at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54dcfad0e4b0eaff5e0068bf/t/5fbeba6ffa04221c71019ccc/1606335091993/Suits_Matteson_Moyer_2020_Energy_Transitions.pdf


McKinsey has just released a report on How the EU Could Achieve Zero Emissions at Net Zero Cost (https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/how-the-european-union-could-achieve-net-zero-emissions-at-net-zero-cost#) and there are two new studies for the USA:


Net-Zero America:  Potential Pathways, Infrastructure, and Impacts

https://environmenthalfcentury.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf331/files/2020-12/Princeton_NZA_Interim_Report_15_Dec_2020_FINAL.pdf

https://environmenthalfcentury.princeton.edu/research/2020/big-affordable-effort-needed-america-reach-net-zero-emissions-2050-princeton-study


and two US renewable energy policy scenaria, administrative action alone doubling renewables by 2030 and 50% renewables by 2030, from Wood Mackenzie (https://www.woodmac.com/our-expertise/focus/Power--Renewables/us-renewable-energy-policy-scenario-analysis/).


The Sierra Club also has a paper on how they are approaching "Climate Resilience, Carbon Dioxide Removal, and Geoengineering Policy”

https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/2020-Sierra-Club-Climate-Resilience-Policy.pdf

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Toward Net Zero Energy: Tiny Houses on Up

The Laney College Carpentry Department in Oakland, California built a net zero tiny house, the Wedge, in 2016 for the SMUD Net Zero Tiny House Competition

https:/youtu.be/PyxJQynaC_c


That tiny house is for sale for
$55,000
https:
tinyhouselistings.com/listings/oakland-ca-12-matthew-wolpe


Laney College carpenters are currently building two other prototypes tiny houses, the Pocket House, for the unhoused and homeless in Oakland
https:
laney.edu/carpentry/tiny-houses/pocket-house


The Northern Nomad is another net zero tiny home designed and built by a group of students from Carleton University in Canada as this video from 2019 shows:
Northern Nomad Tiny House 
https:/youtu.be/gbz35FLg9L4
http://www.thenorthernnomad.ca/


Reading Design Guidelines for a Net Zero Tiny House (https:tinyhousedesign.com/design-guidelines-for-a-net-zero-tiny-house) and Guide to Off-Grid Tiny Houses (https://gosun.co/blogs/news/guide-to-an-off-grid-tiny-house), the core idea seems to be energy efficiency first, last, and always:  the less energy you use the easier it becomes to supply it with renewables onsite.


That core idea of energy efficiency applies to all houses, not just tiny houses.



Sunday, August 09, 2020

Zero Net Energy - August 9, 2020

 Santa Monica civic building will produce net positive energy and going for full Living Building challenge certification

https://fisherpartners.net/projects/city-of-santa-monica-city-services-building/
https://inhabitat.com/new-santa-monica-city-services-building-will-produce-more-energy-than-it-uses/

An affordable Passive House development that’s “aggressively green"
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/15/999376/the-passive-house-thats-aggressively-green/

A ski chalet in Utah which will be a net-positive energy building, generating 364% more power than it needs
https://tomwiscombe.com/THE-DARK-CHALET
https://archpaper.com/2020/04/tom-wiscombe-architecture-dark-chalet-utah/#gallery-0-slide-0
https://inhabitat.com/dark-chalet-in-utah-will-generate-over-350-more-energy-than-it-needs/

Link City - proposed self-sustainable city-forest, using an urban operating system with an AI (Artificial Intelligence)
https://www.lucacurci.com/portfolio/the-link-city.html
https://inhabitat.com/luca-curci-architects-designs-a-zero-energy-smart-city-of-the-future/

Park Avenue Green - affordable passive house apartment building in the South Bronx, the largest passive house development in North America
http://www.cplusga.com/works/park-avenue-green-2/
https://inhabitat.com/passive-house-certified-development-offers-affordable-housing-in-south-bronx/

Wellesley College Global Flora greenhouse "exceeds the Net Zero Water & Energy requirements of the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most rigorous certification of sustainable construction."
http://www.kvarch.net/projects/133
https://inhabitat.com/wellesleys-global-flora-greenhouse-can-generate-all-of-its-own-energy/

Energy neutral school in Utrecht
https://inhabitat.com/energy-neutral-school-in-utrecht-enhances-biodiversity/
http://e-v-a.net/?fluxus_portfolio=so-fier

AI to identify energy wasting homes
https://venturebeat.com/2020/07/07/wattscale-is-an-open-source-ai-tool-that-identifies-energy-wasting-homes/
WattScale https://arxiv.org/pdf/2007.01382.pdf
Watthome, an earlier version:  http://www.ecs.umass.edu/~irwin/watthome.pdf 

Arctic Nordic Alpine  - Exhibation on Snøhetta’s work including Hotel Svart in Svartisen, the Arctic World Archive Visitor Center in Svalbard Island, and the Museum Quarter in Bolzano
https://www.aedes-arc.de/cms/aedes/de/programm?id=19520291
https://www.fastcompany.com/90524716/how-the-worlds-most-remote-buildings-can-help-us-adapt-to-climate-change
hat tip to Heath Row’s Media Diet: http://tinyurl.com/joinmediadiet

Orford Mews - energy-positive, carbon positive, zero construction waste nine-unit development planned for London
https://studioanyo.com/work/orford-mews/
https://inhabitat.com/zero-waste-orford-mews-to-bring-energy-positive-homes-to-east-london/

Moonstone House - test bed for energy efficiency started in 2002 is still evolving
https://themoonstoneproject.co.uk
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/07/30/fully-charged-tours-the-net-zero-energy-moonstone-house/

Self-sufficient skyscraper proposed for NYC
https://www.lissoniandpartners.com/en/architecture/competitions/americas/completed/skylines-new-york/1289
https://inhabitat.com/self-sufficient-garden-city-skyscraper-proposed-for-nyc/

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

COVID19 and Energy: What McKinsey Thinks

On Tuesday, April 28, I attended an online seminar on Energy and COVID19 organized by the Harvard Undergraduate Clean Energy Group (https://www.huceg.org/) with Scott S. Nyquist and Luciano Di Fiori both of the consulting firm McKinsey and Company. I’ve heard Scott Nyquist speak on energy a few times over the years, usually at MIT, and have found him to be informative even though our perspectives are very different.

The COVID19 scenaria McKinsey is examining now include
Virus contained — based upon China’s 6-8 week shutdown  
Vaccine — 12 – 18 months away plus the time it takes to innoculate the world population (at least another 12 – 18 months), similar to the expectation author Laurie Garrett reported to Frank Bruni in the NYTimes over the last few days
Waves — there will almost certainly be a second wave of COVID19 and possibly multiple waves until we have a vaccine.

In terms of energy, liquid fuels demand will take 2 — 4 years to recover; gasoline use is estimated to decrease 60% under lockdown; natural gas is down 5-10%. There will be excess supply and dropping prices which means that fracking will become even less economic (a conclusion I draw which Nyquist and Di Fiori did not offer). Global oil products demand will be down 6.7 -13.0 million barrels per day pushing refinery levels and margins to historically low levels and LNG [liquid natural gas] may take 5-7 years to come back to stable prices, lower with occasional flare ups of higher prices as things equalize. McKinsey expects no long-term consequences to demand, but is monitoring for changes. I don’t agree with McKinsey about no long-term changes in demand.  

Electric power demand is down 3-5% and peak load down by 18-24%. Electricity peak times and amounts have changed due to more people staying at home, primarily from increased air conditioning.

The airline business is down to 20% of its former business and will take a long time to come back. Cruise lines are in an even worse position with worse projections for the future.

GDP growth is going to be negative for about 2 years and then come back but to 2019 levels, at best.  

There may be a very cautious consumer culture, as after the Depression, coming out of the pandemic. The frugality imposed by the Great Depression affected all the generations that lived through it for decades afterwards.
Economic growth may be much slower after this. Companies will be less likely to hold debt and become very cash conscious.  

Nyquist believes that governments will be much better prepared for the next pandemic but “we have to pay for this” and government debt will be much higher. I do not have as much confidence as Nyquist does in the future preparations of any government in the USA but will be happy to be proved wrong.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Zero Net Energy - March 23, 2020

Sheridan Small Homes - affordable net zero single family homes in Providence, RI designed by architects and students from RI School of Design
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/23/public-private-partnership-building-net-zero-homes-for-low-income-families-in-rhode-island/

Dutch Railways adult swing set for generating power
https://id310.nl/en/play-for-power-ns/

Net zero community planned for Hamburg, Germany
https://www.saota.com/project/neulander-quarree/
https://inhabitat.com/net-zero-community-planned-for-hamburg-will-rely-on-geothermal-and-solar-energy/

Vertical City, a proposal for urban development through a series of modular, zero-energy skyscrapers anchored to the ocean floor
https://www.lucacurci.com/portfolio/vertical-cities-zero-energy-city-building.html
https://inhabitat.com/luca-curci-architects-proposes-a-self-sustainable-vertical-city-of-the-future/

Unisphere, one of the largest net zero energy commercial buildings in the world
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/12/31/a-peak-inside-the-unisphere-one-of-the-worlds-largest-net-zero-buildings/

Park Avenue Green - the largest passive house development in the USA, 154 low income housing units, 46 of which are for formerly homeless tenants
http://www.cplusga.com/works/park-avenue-green-2/
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/01/01/the-largest-passive-house-in-north-america-154-low-income-housing-units-46-for-formerly-homeless/

Net positive 47,000-square-foot building living building opens at Georgia Tech
https://livingbuilding.gatech.edu/kendeda-building-innovative-sustainable-design
https://inhabitat.com/kendeda-a-net-positive-living-building-opens-at-georgia-tech/

Prefab homes that require "84% less energy per square foot to operate than a conventional stick built home” making net zero energy eminently achievable
They can be ordered with solar power and a battery back-up
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/02/20/new-prefab-homes-never-need-to-be-connected-to-the-grid/
https://www.curbed.com/2020/2/14/21135428/prefab-homes-self-powered-dvele
https://www.dvele.com

Canada’s first net-zero carbon, mass timber college building
http://www.dialogdesign.ca/open-dialog/centennial-college-announces-canadas-first-zero-carbon-mass-timber-building/
https://inhabitat.com/canadas-first-net-zero-carbon-mass-timber-college-building-to-rise-in-toronto/

Green Concept House - a zero-waste, 100% self-sustaining home, including growing food
https://www.archdaily.com/934277/green-house-yang-design
https://inhabitat.com/a-zero-waste-self-sustaining-home-of-the-future/

"Edwina Benner Plaza is among the first affordable housing projects in the nation to have zero operating emissions.”  It has 66 apartments in Sunnyvale, CA
https://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/202/Edwina%20Benner%20Plaza.html
https://inhabitat.com/new-affordable-housing-in-silicon-valley-boasts-net-zero-emissions/

Vertical Oasis - concept for a green solar-powered skyscraper
https://faab.pl/en/vertical-oasis/
https://inhabitat.com/architects-envision-a-green-solar-powered-skyscraper/

Tuesday, March 03, 2020

Simple Solar Education

Back in the early 1980s I made some 15 second PSAs for the Urban Solar Energy Association [USEA] that were actually shown a couple of times late at night on the local TV stations.

In the early 1990s, I made another set of 30 second PSAs for the Boston Area Solar Energy Association, the successor organization to USEA, but none of them were broadcast as local TV stations all had their own approved non-profits to soak up public interest broadcast time requirements by then.  Or so I was told.  At the same time, I was producing the monthly lectures of the Solar Association and putting them on local cable access.

In the last decade or two I’ve put my share of solar video online at Youtube.  You can see them at http://youtube.com/user/gmoke

So I’ve been dabbling in solar video for a long time.   But not for a long time.  These are relics of what I’ve thought and done with simple solar throughout my life.

The presentation may be amateurish at best but I believe the majority of the information and ideas is accurate although I may have made some mistakes in the details here and there.

May these be of use.

One Square Foot of Sunlight  https://youtu.be/LICMvQCOnkg 
come from the early 1990s and were the 30 second PSAs I was trying to get local TV to broadcast.

Simple Solar Principles  https://youtu.be/6_NN__fS5pM

Solar Is Civil Defense  https://youtu.be/u0mjqjgZ64E
Cell Phone Solar  https://youtu.be/ybxbJ53X4kY
Minimum Solar Light  https://youtu.be/m56Lu2o9Wfc
Homefront Advantage - WWII posters   https://youtu.be/FIlQJg1kSvk
A South-facing Window Is Already a Solar Collector  https://youtu.be/FdGAdEq242M
Solar Windowbox Air Heater  https://youtu.be/lTOe2OYSPlw
Insulating Roller Shade  https://youtu.be/jEh9Bq4qQB8
Old Solar:  1980 Barnraised Aolar Air Heater  https://youtu.be/N8SEwJkEwoc
Old Solar:  1990 Boston Area Solar House Tour  https://youtu.be/NkOkFmq6doI

I believe you can provide people with the essential concepts of practical solar energy within a very short period of time and can even present it as a series of short segments like these Youtube videos

Simple Solar parts 1 - 8
is my one attempt at trying to assemble a curriculum that leads from one possibility to another.
At a skill share.  Whatever happened to those?

Providential Experimentation   https://youtu.be/wC-uqy2qJH0
Worms, worms, worms  https://youtu.be/iMe9ssId0Bk
expands the concept beyond direct solar energy into secondary sources and regenerative systems leading to full geotherapy.

Simply Questions  https://youtu.be/ehKgs_rFhF8
is an attempt to visualize that system in terms of basic logistics

Thursday, February 06, 2020

Net Zero Energy Buildings at the Poles

The NYTimes published "The Coolest Architecture on Earth Is in Antarctica" by John Gendall on January 6, 2020. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/science/antarctica-architecture.html)
It was a general overview of new research stations and their designs to cope with the "world’s harshest environment."

According to the story, designer architects are bringing "aesthetics — as well as operational efficiency, durability and energy improvements” to the new buildings planned or under construction.

The Halley VI research station of the British Antarctic Survey, designed by Hugh Broughton Architects, is credited with changing the state of the art.  The Halley VI is built on hydraulic stilts, "allowing operators to lift it up out of accumulating snow drifts. And if the entire station needs to be moved — it sits on a drifting ice shelf — skis at the base of those stilts make that possible."

India’s National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research’s new research station, is built, partially, out of the shipping containers the rest of the materials came in, designed into the process from the beginning by the German architecture firm of bof architekten.

The article quotes Ben Roth of the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science, or AIMS, the National Science Foundation initiative to modernize the USA’s McMurdo Station, as saying the existing buildings there are “energy hogs” which create additional problems for scientific research.

It was a good article but, since I’ve been collecting links to developments in net zero energy buildings since 2013 (http://solarray.blogspot.com), I was surprised that the world’s first zero emission polar research station with a decade’s worth of operating experience, the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica (http://www.antarcticstation.org), the research station of the International Polar Foundation based in Brussels, was not mentioned at all.  I’d like to know if the Princess Elisabeth Station is still the only zero emission polar research station and if so, why;  but both the station and the concept of net zero energy seems to absent from the architectural context of this particular article in the NYTimes.  

The fact of the matter is there are net zero buildings at every scale, at every price in every existing climate, including net positive energy buildings in polar regions.

Snøhetta is the company to watch as they have completed the world’s northernmost energy-positive building, an 8-story, 18,000 square meter Powerhouse Brattørkaia in Trondheim, Norway "which produces, on average, more than twice as much electricity as it consumes daily”
(https://snohetta.com/projects/456-powerhouse-brattorkaia-the-worlds-northernmost-energy-positive-building
https://inhabitat.com/snohetta-completes-worlds-northernmost-energy-positive-building/)
and another far Northern net positive energy office building
(http://snohetta.com/projects/283-powerhouse-telemark
http://inhabitat.com/worlds-northernmost-plus-energy-office-could-spark-an-energy-revolution/)
They also worked on Harvard’s HouseZero, a near net zero retrofit of a 1940s building in Cambridge, MA.
(http://harvardcgbc.org/research/housezero/)

In addition, California’s Title 24-2019 is the first state code in the USA in force now to require solar panels and nearly net zero levels of energy consumption in all new homes through improvements in the building’s thermal envelope and demand responsive technologies including battery storage and heat pump water heaters 
(https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/title24/2019standards/documents/2018_Title_24_2019_Building_Standards_FAQ.pdf https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-efficiency-standards/2019-building-energy-efficiency
https://zeroenergyproject.org/2019/02/18/2019-is-the-year-of-energy-codes/)

The EU has near net zero building standards as well through their Energy Performance of Buildings Directive or EPBD which "requires all new buildings from 2021 (public buildings from 2019) to be nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB)” meaning "a building that has a very high energy performance... The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent from renewable sources, including sources produced on-site or nearby."
(https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/content/nzeb-24)

We have built net zero energy buildings in every climate on Earth.  Over the next few decades we will rebuild our structures to those standards and, eventually, replace the energy from the grid that goes into our buildings, about a third of all energy the USA generates in a year, about 33 quadrillion btu’s with energy efficiency and energy production onsite.

This is the reality coming down the pike.  The more we recognize it, the faster it will happen.  Changing building codes across the USA is a significant leverage point for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy waste, improving resilience and preparedness (Solar IS Civil Defense), and building a renewable future now as Justin Gillis has recognized, also in the NYTimes
(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/opinion/climate-building-codes.html).

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

What I Read in the Green New Deal for Public Housing Bill

The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act (these comments come from the draft https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/sites/ocasio-cortez.house.gov/files/OCASNY_053_xml.pdf but the actual bill has now been filed at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5185/text) is the first binding legislation drafted.  It will reconstruct "the entire public housing stock of the United States, as swiftly and seamlessly as possible,” into zero-carbon homes, "a highly energy-efficient home that produces on-site, or procures, enough carbon-free renewable energy to meet the total annual energy consumption of the home” within a decade.

Public housing stock will be eligible for deep energy retrofits, including 
energy-efficient windows; 
super insulation of roofs and exterior walls, including the addition of new cladding to buildings and the rerouting of plumbing and electricity; 
electrification of water heating and building heating systems using electric heat pumps; 
and electric heat pumps to provide air conditioning, where feasible; 
materials and technology to increase airtightness of the building envelope, including air sealant paints; the acquisition and installation of heat-recovery ventilation systems; 
and energy monitoring devices including smart meters and smart thermostats.  

There will be grants "to build and expand community energy generation in public housing, including 
the construction of and ongoing costs associated with renewable energy rooftops; 
renewable energy generation; 
photovoltaic glass windows; 
the bulk purchase of clean energy supply from energy utilities; 
and community-scale energy storage."

What the bill is calling a zero carbon home is also known as zero net energy housing or, more commonly, net zero energy buildings, structures which produce as much energy as they consume and such buildings have been built in just about every Earthly climate, from the Arctic Circle to the South Pole;  at single family and skyscraper scales;  at low, moderate, and luxury prices.  I’ve been collecting examples of Zero Net Energy buildings and technologies for years at http://solarray.blogspot.com if you want to see what is operating now, is being built, and some of the design visions for the future.  CA is already transitioning to a net zero energy building standard for all low-rise residential buildings now (2020) and the EU is moving to a “near net zero” standard now too.  Both will have a net or near net zero building standard for all buildings, including rehab, by 2030.

There are positive net energy buildings as well (see http://solarray.blogspot.com).

In 1979 Jimmy Carter’s energy plan called for insulating 90% of American homes and all new buildings and use solar energy in more than 2.5 million homes by 1985. There were 1.3 million solar installations in the USA in 2017 by one count and may be 1.9 million in 2019 by another.  The DOE is predicting there will be 3.8 million solar homes by 2020.

Carter also wanted "20% of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000."  Renewables, wind, solar and hydro, are at just about that level now, 20 years behind his schedule.

Carter was thinking in terms of his next four years in office. Extinction Rebellion is demanding that “Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.”  The Green New Deal has a 10 year timeframe.

Jimmy Carter in 1979 was more ambitious than we are now. 

The Green New Deal for Public Housing also provides for community resilience centers, "a communal space in public housing that is used as a cooling center, heating center, or disaster relief center during extreme weather.”  This fits in with the idea of emergency preparedness, civil defense, no matter what the opinion of climate change.  After all, Solar IS Civil Defense (and entry level electricity for the billion or so people in this world who don’t yet have access to minimal electricity for light, communications, and other things.  See Personal Power Production:  Solar from Civil Defense to Swadeshi (http://solarray.blogspot.com/2010/12/personal-power-production-solar-from.html) for more on these concepts and Personal Power Set (http://solarray.blogspot.com/2018/09/personal-power-set.html) for a look at current available technologies.

Community resilience measures include a "grant program to help provide the purchase and installation of energy storage, including batteries, flywheels, compressed air, and pumped hydroelectric or thermal energy storage, in order to ensure energy backup of not less than 48 hours in the event of an emergency or disaster;  the construction of childcare centers and ongoing costs associated with childcare centers;  the construction of senior centers and ongoing costs associated with senior centers;  the construction of community gardens and ongoing costs associated with community gardens.”

This will allow public housing to become islanding microgrids, housing that can power themselves when the grid goes down.  Grid interconnection will also allow public housing to feed energy back into the grid and offset costs.

The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act also authorizes the "training and development of skills necessary for career development in the fields, trades, and services reasonably determined during the first public comment period held in accordance with subsection (b)(3) to be of interest to public housing residents,” at a wage of $15  per hour with "stipends valued at not less than $250 per week to individuals participating in the workforce development program.”

Using the reconstruction of the USA's public housing as a job development program in energy efficiency and renewable power is supported by the results of the 2019 US Energy and Employment Report [USEER]* which found that there are currently more clean energy jobs available than workers to fill them.  The lack of trained people was highlighted by virtually all surveyed sectors as a growing problem with lack of experience, training, and technical skills almost universally cited as the top reason for hiring difficulty by employers. The need for technical training and certifications was also frequently cited, implying the need for expanded investments in workforce training and closer coordination between employers and the workforce training system.

US Energy and Employment Report [USEER]*  also found that energy efficiency has the most overall growth and potential for jobs.  It is about 41% of energy sector jobs now.  More than 1 out of 6, 17% of all USA construction jobs are in energy efficiency.  E2 [Environmental Entrepreneurs] (https://www.e2.org) has an Energy Efficiency Jobs in America report that goes deeper into this subject (https://www.e2.org/reports/energy-efficiency-jobs-in-america-2019/).  Cities like Boston have found that energy efficiency retrofits, electrification of existing residential buildings, and improved transportation are the most impactful strategies for reducing carbon emissions (http://sites.bu.edu/cfb/files/2019/01/Carbon-Free-Boston-Report-web.pdf).
*Summary of the report at https://www.e2.org/reports/clean-jobs-america-2019
Full report at http://usenergyjobs.org
Webinar at https://www.dropbox.com/s/9jgpx73nmeh4myu/E2%20Webinar%203.20.19.mp4
More at https://solarray.blogspot.com/2019/04/why-isnt-job-growth-first-thing-climate.html

There are 3.3 million clean energy jobs
2.3 million in energy efficiency
508,000 renewable energy
254,000 clean vehicles
139,000 grid and storage
38,000 clean fuels

The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act requires biannual reports
"on the impact that the grant programs established under subsection (a) have had on—
(1) the rehabilitation, upgrades, innovation, and transition of public housing in the United States;
(2) total greenhouse gas emission output, and quarterly data on greenhouse gas emission reductions from individual public housing developments, specifically as they relate to—
(A) home energy carbon pollution emissions in each public housing development, as calculated using the Carbon Footprint Calculator from the Environmental Protection Agency;
(B) waste-related carbon emissions in each public housing development, as calculated using the Carbon Footprint Calculator from the Environmental Protection Agency; and
(C) total greenhouse gas emissions released by individual public housing buildings and homes within a public housing development, as calculated using the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator from the Environmental Protection Agency;
(3) the amount of Federal money saved due to energy cost savings at public housing projects, on a quarterly basis;
(4) the amount of energy savings per KwH at each public housing project, on a quarterly basis;
(5) public housing residents, including—
(A) access to economic opportunities through compliance with the hiring and contracting requirements described in subsections (c) and (d) of section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701u);
(B) the impacts, if any, those residents have experienced to their individual economic growth as measured by individual and household income;
(C) the specific career skills acquired;
(D) the impacts, if any, those residents have experienced to their overall health; and
(E) the specific educational or technical certifications acquired; and
(6) changes to the overall community health indicators in public housing developments and their surrounding neighborhoods, including asthma rates, air quality, water quality, and levels of lead and mold.”

And
"Before the start of the second fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, and quarterly thereafter, the Secretary shall require each public housing agency to monitor, measure, and report to the Secretary on the economic impacts of this section on the community in which housing developments of the public housing agency are located, including

‘‘(A) the aggregate dollar amount of contracts awarded in compliance with this section; 
(B) the aggregate dollar amount of wages and salaries paid for positions employed by low- and very low-income persons in accordance with this section;
(C) the aggregate dollar amount expended for training opportunities provided to low- and very low-income persons in accordance with this section; and
(D) the aggregate dollar amount expended for training and assisting public housing resident-owned businesses for compliance with this section."
The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act guarantees "the right to housing for every individual… all housing in the United States is habitable, highly energy-efficient, and safe; and… that the Federal Government should act and build new public housing where there is a serious need that the free market cannot address or is not addressing responsibly.’’

Most, if not all. of the Green New Deal for Public Housing necessitates "SEC. 10. REPEAL OF FAIRCLOTH AMENDMENT. Section 9(g) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(g)) is amended by striking paragraph (3), Faircloth Amendment which forbids HUD to "fund the construction or operation of new public housing units with Capital or Operating Funds if the construction of those units would result in a net increase in the number of units the PHA owned, assisted or operated as of October 1, 1999."
Faircloth Amendment - HUD
https://www.hud.gov