This graph shows how the various energy sources are being used world-wide. The first graph shows total energy consumption, no matter what the end purpose is. The bottom graph shows what fuels are being used to generate electricity.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
World-Wide Energy Use
This graph shows how the various energy sources are being used world-wide. The first graph shows total energy consumption, no matter what the end purpose is. The bottom graph shows what fuels are being used to generate electricity.
U.S. Sources of Energy Over Time
This graph illustrates where the United States has gotten its energy from over the past 150 years. Obviously, we need to start getting a larger portion of our energy from renewable sources.
QUOTE: Competitive Advantage
"We don't want to save the World and we don't claim that Marburg will revolutionize climate action. But we must chart new territory in order to ensure a future supply of energy independent of oil and gas.... No south-facing roof will be left unused." Fritz Kahl, the Mayor of Mahberg, Germany (80,000 people) on the change in the city's building code that requires solar collection (thermal or PV) whenever a roof is renovated, a heating system replaced, or an addition made.
How will a home or a community be valued by the marketplace in the future? By the amount of solar energy it captures (via heating, PV, or photosynthesis). Changing building codes is gradual way to make your community more competitive, reduce exposure to risks, and improve property values.
This is a good example of one of the things that needs to be done to solve the energy problem -- distributed energy production on individual buildings. The example of this city in Germany needs to be adopted around the world.
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British Environment Minister ready to study GM crops
We have been genetically modifying crops since man started farming. We just did it slowly through inbreeding, cross-pollination, etc. We now have the ability to do it quickly through genetic modification. You can't prove something is going to be completely safe forever. Certain risks are worth taking. In order to feed the billions of people on this planet, genetically modified crops is one solution. The risks are worth taking. Britain and the rest of Europe need to move forward in this field.
India's growth outstrips crops
India's supply of arable land is second only to that of the United States, but it must buy some foods on international markets, exacerbating a global food crisis. This is a microcosm of the problems the whole world is facing -- a growing population, less land devoted to farming, a diminishing water supply.
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Awesome Infographic: Where Is the Blue Planet's Water?
This graphic really explains how little water is available for living organisms on this water planet.
So much water, and almost none of it available to the non-fish among us.
Even though I learned how little fresh water there is on Earth sometime in elementary school, graphics like the one on the right still amaze me. It shows the distribution of water from all sources on Earth. All those mighty rivers? They needed a mere 0.04 percent of the water on Earth to cradle civilizations.
The realization that fresh water is a finite resource has led some people to call it the "new oil". A few months ago, the New York Times Magazine ran an influential article about climate change's impact on the current water regime entitled, "The Future is Drying Up." In it, he argued that the West would basically have to decide between farms, cities, or drastic water usage changes. Paraphrasing an Arizona water manager, Jon Gertner wrote:
There was a decent amount of water out there, he went on to explain, but it was a false presumption that it could sustain all the farms, all the cities, all the rivers. Something will have to give. It was also wrong to assume, he said, that cities could continue to grow without experiencing something akin to a religious awakening about the scarcity of water. Soon, he predicted, we would talk about our “water footprint” just as we now talk about our carbon footprint.
One tech-heavy solution is desalination, but it's an energy-gobbling process, using in the range of five to ten megawatt hours for each acre foot (about 325,000 gallons) of water produced. In an energy-constrained world worried about greenhouse gas emissions, desalination doesn't look that attractive. One new option is to use heavily-treated recycled water a la Orange County's new $480 million facility.
Another possible solution I've seen is to pair solar thermal power plants, which we've written about many times, with desalination facilities. Not surprisingly, Acquasol's new double-duty plant is being demoed in Australia, where they are in desperate need of water, and have really started to move to tackle climate change. It's hard to tell if the idea will work at a reasonable cost before it's built, but in the oil AND water constrained future, it's exciting to see a company try to bring an idea to market that would solve both problems.
Via > Scot Hacker's Foobar Blog, Mindserve Clipper
Image: UN Environment Programme
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