enviroblog

Change your password

2005-05-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

I am another blog user that has just setup a new blogger account with the same username and password coincidentally. I suggest you change yours so that myself or anyone else cannot access it like this. Very much a coincidence. Sorry for the enconvience.

Shaun

Brian's human-powered bike house.

2005-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Back from haitus (grant writing . . . 'nuff said), I would like to post in honor of a friend who's creative approach at living has been such an inspiration.

Brian lives in Davis, California in his personally constructed bike house. He lives on his bike full time. His ingenuity has allowed him to build not only a machine that is sturdy as hell, but also has ammenties like heating, lighting and a shower. More than just an invention, Brian's home is a way of life that he has created with freedoms and costs that few can imagine. If you see Brian in Davis give him a donation; he will really appreciate it and all of the money will go towards his art. Now that I live in Colorado I miss hanging out with Brian and I hope that he sees this post. Best to everyone, more soon.

Jon

/> View of Brian's Bike house

Anyone can make a Biogas Digestor . . .

2004-10-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Recently, I met a person very interested in small-scale biogas production, Bruce Manaam, at Sustainable Resources 2004, a sustainability conference in Boulder, CO. He told me about Stewart Green (aka Hondu Stu), who has been researching small home-built biodigestor systems in the tropics of Honduras. The systems Stewart Green has shown me are simple and cheap. I am excited about the potential for such a system to provide cooking and water heating with environmentally benign methane and hydrogen gas. The byproduct of the digestor can be composted and used to fertilize plants. The following links are say more pictorially than I can say in words . . .[Polyethylene bag digestor insturctions] [Biodigestor basics in Vietnam] [Ecofarm in Vietnam - Use of Biogas] [Thai group doing biogas research]

Seeing "Spaceship Earth"

2004-10-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

In 1964 Buckminster Fuller [link] proposed building a 100-foot diameter world globe for the 1967 World's Fair. The globe would have great detail; "Cities such as New York, London, Tokyo and Los Angeles would appear as flattened-out, basketball-sized blotches with the tallest buildings . . . only about one-sixteenth of an inch high." (Critical Path, 1980) His proposed globe would have the ability to flatten out into the Dyamaxion World Map, a cartographic projection of the earth without any distortion of size or shape. This map would also be wired with numerous light bulbs used to indicate populations. The purpose of such a project would be to put a seemingly incomprehendable amount of information into a format that can be understood. Buckminster Fuller built a number of different "Geoscopes", including a 20ft diameter one at Cornell in 1952 and nother at Princeton in 1955. For Expo '67 in Montreal, Canada a 250ft sphere was used as the U.S. pavilion. I agree with Bucky that a realistic Earth-view could help individuals realize their place and impact on our planet. In cyberspace, however, many of the physical limitations Bucky faced in building a mini-earth are gone.

Imagine the possibilities of Bucky's Geoscope in a digital format. Imagine a website which not only presented the geographic world, but also, via user interaction, incorporated data on deforestation, pollution, wars, famines, movement of resources such as metals and oil, global temperatures and weather ect. This data could be overlaid as symbols or representative colors on a digital earth. Today we are constantly bombared with tidbits of information that we care about but are difficult to assimilate into a real-time world view. It seems possible, with todays technology, to provide a digital view of the earth's state, with layers of physical and metaphysical realities projected in a user-friendly and visual format. This idea has inspired me to research related projects. Below are two organizations taking steps to provide a better world view.

- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
"Science on a Sphere" [link]

- The EarthSeeds Project [link]

Compost Power - Kompogas!

2004-10-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

A Swiss company that began as a hobby is now powering 1200 cars in Zurich. Kompogas is a company which harvests the biogas from the digestion of organic scraps from homes and restuarants and sells the methane as automotive fuel. From about 220 pounds of scraps, a typical car can go 62 miles. Unlike the natural gas buses and cars here in the U.S., the carbon dioxide Kompogas powered vehicles release into the air is the same carbon dioxide that plants take from the air during photosynthesis. Thus, the fuel is "carbon-neutral", the net carbon added to the atmosphere is zero. Also, carbon-dioxide and water are virtually the only emissions. In fact, methane is about 25 times worse of a green house gas than carbon dioxide; so burning the methane in cars could be better than simply composting the biowaste. Eventually though, the nutrient-rich byproduct of the initial biodigestion is composted and then sold as natural fertilizer. This also offsets fossil fuel use, as synthetic fertilizers are produced by energy (fossil fuel) intensive means. The company has been so successful, the German government plans to adopt the technology and ban organic mass from landfills by 2005. [more]

Flexible sensors make robot skin

2004-09-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have devised pressure-sensor arrays that promise to give objects like rugs and robots the equivalent of one aspect of skin -- pressure sensitivity.
LINK

A Winderful Brewery - New Belgium's Green Brew

2004-09-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins (makers of Fat Tire Ale ect.) had become a leader in Environmental Stewardship and ethical business practices. After visiting the brewery on a trip up north to the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair, I can verify that all of their beers are great too!! Some bullet points on their business practices*:

>100% Renewable Energy - All of their purchased power is wind power. They also produce methane (natural gas) from an anaerobic digestor at their own water treatment plant. The methane is burned in a generator which provides 50% of their energy needs. Also, they use high efficiency processes wherever possible such as heat exchangers, radiant floor heating, swamp cooling systems, natural draft cooling, and the Merlin brew kettle (75% more energy efficient than standard kettles).

>On-site water treatment - Bio-digestion used to generate methane, for electricity, and sludge, which is sold for compost. Effluent is used for evaporative cooling, cleaning and landscaping. The water that leaves the brewery is cleaner than the water that comes in.

>Alternative light sources - "Sun tube lights" are roof mounted domes which reflect light down long tubes into packaging, the warehouse, the bright beer cellar, both brewhauses, and the control building of the water treatment plant. They also utilize motion and light sensors so that energy is only used when needed. And the simplest approach, skylights and windows are abundant. The windows have a special glaze which allows in sunlight but minimizes glare and heat. They also utilize light shelves, which reflect light onto the ceiling for beneficial reflective lighting.

>Recyclables and Reusables - Brewing by-products (grain and trub) are fed to dairy cattle. Everything at the brewery that can be recycled is. Everything from stretch wrap to malt bags! They also use citrus based and biodegradable cleaners.

>Concientious Consumption - Office furniture comes from Studio Eg and is made from compressed newspapers and woodchips, recycled tires and cardboard. Carpet is Interface and made from infinitely recycled technical nutrients. Office products are purchased with as much recycled content as possible, from office paper to toilet paper. The t-shirts they sell are organic cotton (Patagonia Beneficial T's) and printed with non-toxic dyes. Their local delivery trucks run on B20 biodiesel.

>Good to Employees - Every worker takes home free beer at New Belgium. Also workers are paid well and get great benefits. After one year at New Belgium an employee gets their own fat tire bike. After five years every employee gets an expense paid trip to Belgium. If you every go to the brewery just ask the people that work there - they are stoked!

Best of all New Belgium is doing all this and also an extremely successful business!! They are a model for businesses large and small and even for each of us all!

www.NewBelgium.com

(*info from brewery tour and "New Belgium's Steps to Being Green" pamphlet Aug. 2004)

Popeye Power: Spinach powered solar cells.

2004-09-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

An electronic device that uses spinach to convert light into electrical charge has been developed by US researchers
more on New Scientist

NuRide: Incentive-based Eco-consciousness

2004-09-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Rick Steel of NuRide (Washington D.C.) wants ride-sharing to be both "stupid-simple" and incentive based. This reward based system actually pays people to carpool. For traveling with 2 people, "Nu-riders" earn $1.00/trip; 3 people $1.50/trip; 4 people $2.00/trip. The system pays in the form of gift cards and gift certificates up to $1000/year. Drivers and riders earn rewards equally.

The system is web-based, honor-system based, and only requires members to have a car, have a job, and have a job e-mail for verification. Riders rate each other on tardiness ect. This keeps lemons and cheaters out of the system. Unlike a carpool the system seems very flexible, the online schedule of who and when you choose to ride with can be modified anytime.

One of the most interesting things about the system is where the funding comes from. Already since its inception in March, NuRide has given $37,616 in rewards. The system is mostly funded by large companies that spend a lot of money on advertising. The goal of advertising is to get people to come to the store, but has a low rate of success. By giving ad money directly to NuRide, these companies insure that customers come to their store. They may spend their $20 gift certificate this time, but once they know where the store is and what services/merchandise is offered, they are likely to return to spend money. The other source of funding is the government. The government has figures for the cost of road maintenance per car per mile. NuRide has a deal with them that they pay NuRide half of the normal maintenance cost per car per mile for every car they keep off the road.

Already NuRide has 1.323 members with no advertising. 75% of these members have never shared rides. The result: 509,000 fewer miles driven. Already they are looking to expand to other states. Future systems will also reward people for taking subways, trains, and buses.

Check out NuRide.com !

Cities21 - Personal Rapid Transit Shuttle in Bay Area

2004-09-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

At times I've been known to rant about how great a personal, gondola-like, computer-contolled, call-like-an-elevator, ultra-fast, electically powered via rail to on-board motor ect. ect. . . Steve Raney of Cities21 (Cities21.org) gave a great presentation at the Going conference in Boulder last Friday detailing just this!! And in the bay area!! Currently only 3% of employees working in office parks take mass transit to work, and 78% drive alone . . .slowly . . . in heavy traffic! It is possible that Cities21 far-out system, the "Silver-bullet" could help to change all this.

The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) shuttle is planned as a 3 person, automated and rail-guided above ground transit system that Cities21 would like to attempt at the Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto. While individual shuttles on the system allow for the flexibility of instant service, the track would be able to handle high density because of automated merging superior to cars on freeways. Though the Stanford Research Park is a pilot project, according to Steve the system could scale even to accomodate commuters into and out of urban centers (how I initially invisioned such a system).

The Stanford Research Park is the workplace of about 20,000 people, most whom drive their own car to work every day. The idea is that the PRT shuttle track would loop the park, of course also hitting the local Caltrain station. Research by Cities21 has shown that one problem with public transit is the "last mile" (ie getting from Caltrain to the workplace, doing the "Milk run" of dropping off carpoolers within the research park). Preliminary surveys have shown that the "first mile", getting from home to a transit place or carpool meeting point, is less of a problem; people are generally willing to walk, ride a bike, or use a Segway.

The proposed system is expected to cost 50 million dollars for 5 miles of track. This seems like a lot until one considers the amount of unnecessary parking places that could be free for development after installing the PRT shuttle. Cities21 estimates that 50 acres of parking on this project will opened up on a campus that is now 50% asphalt when the 90% of employees that drive alone drops to 45% after installing PRT. Because space is so valuable in Palo Alto, that amounts to 326 million dollars worth of developable space. If these same statistics were true for the 6 million people working in major employment centers comparable to the Palo Alto project, that amounts to 424 million gallons of gasoline and 8.4 billion pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year (assuming PRT gets all its juice from renewable sources).

This all fits nicely into what I hope will be the new paradigm in transit, "Multi-modal transportation," in which the appropriate type of vehicle is chosen for the appropriate application. Go ice-climbing, check out an SUV for the day. Go on a soy-milk run to the store, hop on a bike, GEM, Seqway or such. Commute to work, an easy efficient combination of transit that doesn't involve one person in a hulking vehicle taking up 150 square feet of space per unit time of commute. Anyways, there is more to come . . . this week I think I'm going to post primarily on Going (the conference) and my take on transportation in the U.S.

Check out Cities21.org!!

A Prologue to Enviroblog

2004-09-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hi.

Here I am in Colorado, far from my family and most of my friends, but working on a dream. Thanks to Amy Franceschini I now have this wonderful forum to communicate my work and my passions, which are often synonymous, Enviroblog! A little backround. . . Amy is the founder of Futurefarmers. Futurefarmers, created in 1995, "is a New Media construct specializing in creative investigation and development of new work. Through collaboration, (they) explore the relationship of concept and creative process between interdisciplinary artists." Futurefarmers has recieved international attention and many major clients for its innovative design (see Futurefarmers.org). They have supported so many projects!! In Spring 2004 Amy contacted me because she became very intriqued by the concept of algal hydrogen production. With the support of Futurefarmers I was able to build my first "at-home" algal hydrogen bioreactor that was shown for the first time at a Futurefarmer's show at the University of the Pacific. Amy and I share a similar world view but have distinctly different specialties. Without her, who knows if I would have ever gotten a blog up. Enviroblog is a forum for us to share our discoveries with each other and anyone else. Below are some photos Amy took at the unveiling of the personal algal hydrogen bioreactor at UOP. More soon, just last night I witnessed some amazing progress in the realm of transportation at the first ever Going conference in Boulder. Stay tuned.

Tightening leaky valve on sterilized nutrient tank.
Almost finished with set-up.
The completed bioreactor!

Amensal: Lichen as Public Art

2004-09-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

Amensal is a public installation work which explores the delicate balancing act that unfolds when nature ventures into the city. To explore this territory, Lichens were chosen as the central players in the work. Each lichen is a symbiotic relationship between two species; [more]

EcoBot II: Robot Powered by Eating Flies

2004-09-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

British scientists are developing a robot that will generate its own power by eating flies. The idea is to produce electricity by catching flies and digesting them in special fuel cells that will break down sugar in the insects' skeletons and release electrons that will drive an electric current.[more]

In the beginning...

2004-09-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

A data capsule from Nasa's Genesis probe, which has been gathering particles blown off the Sun, has crashed in the Utah desert on its return to Earth. The capsule entered the atmosphere as planned but its parachute failed.
[link]