Bike O'Rama 3 weeks and no car!

 WEEK 1 - In my experience bike riding has been great! For the first time, I've had the need to use my bike to transport myself on a regular basis. In this first week I've felt a big difference in my day when I bike ride. That five minute bike ride from my home to school in the morning make me feel more awake and alert during the day. When I got to class I was so alert that I retained more more information and I could enjoy more my class. The same thing happened in the afternoons. Before I would walk to my room right after class and felt so tired that I didn't have the energy to focus in my school work. But bike riding back to my house after class I will still feel so energetic that I'm ready to start my school work or other afternoon activities without feeling tired. Overall the experience has been amazing!

WEEK 2 - I bike ride everywhere. Moving around Fairfield is easy and accessible because it's such a small town. Nevertheless, now that it started raining I got soaking wet several times. As well, I needed to go grocery shopping. I couldn't buy many things because I didn't have the space to carry them. The good thing about it was that it helped me control myself when I did my grocery shopping. I love buying many things that later I don't end up consuming. So, it pushed me to take only the things I really needed. Also, I moved to an unfurnished new house. Going to different places and getting the new furniture has been hard without a car. I've had to ask my friends for it because there was no way I could do it on my bike. I've realized that as great as it it to ride your bike, there's some things you need a car for. You can be efficient and use your bike on a daily basis, but sometimes when you have big loads of things to transport, cars are the only solution. That has really made me think if we can possibly be completely car-free.

This is the first time I've been without a car for so long. I always managed to get a ride with a friend. The experience overall has been great. In spite the general difficulties I've had along the way, I will keep riding my bike as much as I can. 

WEEK 3 (free writing my overall experience)- does matter to be completely car free in a personal scale. The first thing you want to do when you are being efficient is to reduce your consumption levels. Yes, this can mean a great difference if large amount of people would consider it. Throughout the assignment I came across several experiences that made me wonder if it really mattered if I was car-free for three weeks. if so, how was I making the world a better place? All of this were valid questions that the assignment pushed me to reflect on. This idea grew bigger in my head when I heard Thom Linzey. Am I running in the same loop created by the hierarchy to make us believe we have power and the freedom to choose? And suddenly I got my answer. We need both. We need to change the system, but I also need to do whatever I can daily to reduce my carbon footprint. It may not be a significant contribution to the world, but it was to myself. I felt differently the mornings I rode my bike than the one day I decided to take a ride. Overall, I felt more vibrant, more energized and I was more aware of my surroundings. Nom Nom Nom....I don't know what else to say. Oh! I remembered. Another thing that I realized doing this assignment is that we cannot be completely car free. So, we need to make them for efficient. We have no other choice. Making them more efficient may increase the dependency on them, but there's no way we can be completely car free with the current infrastructure model we have today or even if we redesign our cities. There's things we cannot do when we don't have a car; transport big loads of things or travel long distances. If we don't want people to become more dependent on their cars once we make them more efficient, we need to start creating a car-free culture. This way we can be car-free on our day to day activities, but use it only when it's truly necessary and needed.

The Electric Power Industry

The electrical power industry was created and developed to be one of the most powerful industries in the world. Throughout time the industry has created a power paradigm of utilities, monopoly and franchise, central power stations and transmission lines. Nevertheless Bill Mollison offers alternative energy solutions that include producing and supplying power to our communities. 

Hence this brings up the question, do we really need big central power plants and transmission lines? Are these completely indispensable in order to have electricity? The truth is "there are many energy alternatives", as Bill Mollison says.

There's a small mediaeval german town I've visited a several times called Mainz. Mainz don't have any visible transmission lines in the entire city. When they reconstructed it after WWII, they put all the transmission lines underground. Now, the power never goes out in spite of weather conditions. Also, doing a little bit of research of the town, I found that instead of having big central power plants, they are utilizing the design of their buildings to put solar panels and generate the needed energy. One incredible building they inaugurated in 2011 was a soccer field/stadium. Isn't cool?

Jean Pain: France's King of Green Gold

THOMAS LINZEY

Today I met personally Thomas Linzey. What an INSPIRATIONAL human being! If you don't know who he is GOOGLE HIM!

Summary of main talking points!

U.S.

-       570 billion lb of meaningful waste each year

-       4 billion of it are toxic waste

-       2 Trillion lb of livestock waste

-       11 million people live within a one mile of a superfund sites

-       80,000 synthetic chemical produced at a rate of 1,800 per year

-       Each person has 700 synthetic chemicals in their bodies

-       90% of all forest in the US has been logged.

-       70% of all biodiversity in the world has been extinguished 

The United Nations has said this is a “planetary catastrophe” 

Things are worst 40 years after laws and regulations like the “Clean water act” has been made 

The purpose is to legalize the harm that was once illegal. That’s what they give PERMITS. 

Fracking – a way to extract natural gas. Takes large amount of water, alters climate, releases toxics

-       It is causing earthquakes in Ohio. 

State Law in Colorado

OIL & GAS ACT – regulatory system to do fracking of oil and gas. 

Regulatory System 

1. Community gets together

-       Causes earthquakes

-       Water use

-       Contaminates aquifers

-       Privatizes

2. Call state agency

3. Permit application 

“Regulated” – Regulate something that is already coming in and it’s going to continue to come in. 

4. Get a lawyer

Need a lawyer in order to continue with the process. Need legal representation.

They are extremely expensive. Many towns don’t have the resources to pay them. 

5. Lawyers verify that the administrative is complete 

The way the system is created is to be owned by the government and the corporations. They call it democracy, because we “participate”. But the way the system is created is to subordinate us. Environmental law today is making better permit application.

The structure is to make the illegal, legal! 

Nutrient Management Act – Create a plan that explains how will you manage manure, waste, etc. 

State can preempt the local 

Corporation’s Constitution - Corporations has constitutional rights like the ones the individual entities have in the constitution. 

Anti-Corporate Farming Laws

            Local Ordinances

Putting a different law system that gives the power to the local level 

We use the drain waste; we separate it from the solid and use the liquids for agriculture and grow food.

Corporation has personalized rights (the amendments apply to them, 1^st, 5^th, ect) that give them the power to sue the communities. 

Doctrines that enable corporation

Preemption

Corporation’s constitutional rights

Non-research commerce clause

Dillon’s Rule – State determines the rights the communities have. 

The underlying problem is our law system. We have to remove these doctrines. 

RIGHTS OF NATURE

            In our system of laws nature doesn’t have rights. They are properties. Properties by law can be destroyed.

Ecosystems must have rights bare. 

State Constitutional Change – Driving the states to make change to liberate communities from the power of corporations. 

Sustainability constitution – How does it look?

Masters: Energy for Sustainability: Financial Analysis of Energy

Masters: Energy for Sustainability: Financial Analysis of Energy explains how to do the economic analysis of the life-cycle of an energy system. What are the short and long term costs? What are the short and long term saving? How much will it take to pay for it's initial capital costs? Are some of the many questions the reading responds in order to have a cost efficient system. 

When implementing a new energy system, you need to have your numbers straight. If you don't do the proper calculations, the system could end up costing you more than expected. 

http://www.ieefa.org/category/reports/

Doing some research I found this organization called The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). Their goal is to research the financial and economic issue to accelerate the transition energy transition to a more sustainable and profitable energy economy. 

http://www.ieefa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Policy-Memo-in-response-to-OIG-audit.pdf

This audit analysis economically how the dependence of coal has caused:

    - $60 million in revenue loss

    - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is not in compliance with Fair Market Value Process (accurate valuation or assessment of its worth)

 Overall it explains how the Federal Government has been leasing coal activities throughout history, which has led to not be in compliance with the Fair Market Value of it. 

Generating Your Own Electricity

This was a great reading because it summarizes what we've learned in the course so far. When we implement a small scale energy system, we come across many questions. What's the information we need? How do we collect that data? How do we calculate it? What are the things we need to build it? What do we have to take in consideration? What are the steps to follow? How do we meet our demand? These, article guide us through that process and gives us the essential knowledge we need in order to create a working system (well, for us we are just reviewing cause we are master's are it now!). 

It was a very easy to understand! People belief that it is hard to generate your own electricity from renewable process, and it's not. Anyone who understands this article has the knowledge to make their own small-scale energy generating system. It's possible and easy. I encourage you to read it. Link bellow!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Rp9RR_3nOaXy00MFBPSFhnVVk/edit?pli=1

Some Are Actually Doing it

The Unsung Solution/The Island in the Wind

The Unsung Solution explains how we can sequester waste heat to generate power. Actually, the data shows that the U.S. could produce 14 percent of the power it now uses by just recycling heat waste from factories. But as good as it sounds, there are some complications. In order to do this, you have to understand several things, like how much heat a plant generates, how it varies daily, and so forth. Policies must be created in order to regulate this complex matter. 

The Island in the Wind is the Danish island Samsø. Samsø went from being completely dependent of fossil fuels to being a leader of sustainability and renewable energy in less than 10 years. They generate all the energy the island needs from wind and solar. They run their economy, power their business, heat their homes and water, and produce surplus energy to power to the mainland.  They also have biomass heating plants and create biofuels to run their cars. 

Creating the right policies and taking the right measures sustainable methods of generating power could be easily implemented. Even in places where the conditions where considered unbearable to implement solar and wind based energy systems, the've done it. Each day there are more places doing it and they are serving as models to proof and guide the rest of countries towards a more sustainable future. 

Samsø reminds me a lot of Puerto Rico. The economical and political situation they had before is very similar to what Puerto Rico faces now; dependency of fossil fuels that need to be brought in the island from somewhere else, subjection to outside rulings and an indifferent population to the issues. I think Samsø is a great model that Puerto Rico should follow. Hence, I will study more in depth both cases and create and strategical plan I could send to different senators promoting green energy to get things moving for Puerto Rico! - Feeling powerful and optimistic! ;)

Upping the Stakes/Technologies of Globalization/The Efficiency Dilemma

Upping the Stakes - The solution doesn't lie in reducing individual consumption. Individuals consume no more than a quarter of the world's consumption. Industrial economy and corporations are responsible  for the vast majority of the goods that are consumed and wasted in the world. Hence, reducing the day to day individual consumption is not really going to make a significant difference. Even though the change can be significant if us as individual don't support such economy. Then, the corporations will be forced to take immediate action. 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YxMFdyDqtMSmBXW8mgxS8iTSdPofYuU_ZrCI5V8zKco/edit

Technologies of Globalization - Technologies offer both advantages and disadvantages. But throughout history there has been a tendency to market only the positive aspects of them. In this excerpt the author shows the negative effects it has created in the modern globalized world that ultimately has been created by these technologies. The essential underlying principle is that they have created a monoculture that disfavors democracy and diversity.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Rp9RR_3nOaOEpXc2lnVUJBODQ/edit 

The Efficiency Dilemma - Efficiency is seen as the most efficient and cost-free method to accelerate the transition to a green-energy economy. It is a fact that things have become more efficient and cheaper through time making them more accessible to people in all scales of society. So in reality we are increasing our dependency to energy when we make our technologies more efficient. As a consequence, we try to find ways to leverage our energy consumption that at the end makes us even more dependent on them. Even though we need to decrease our dependence to fossil fuels, we really have o think if making things more efficient is really our best solution. 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Rp9RR_3nOaRjlydlZFUDZJMjg/edit

Mimicking Nature

  The second law of thermodynamics states that energy becomes less useful and more disperse. Nevertheless, this doesn't happen with living systems. Actually they become more orderly and complex throughout time. But why is that if physics states differently? This is because living systems tend to be self-sustained, self-regulated and self-regenerated systems. They base their living life and cycles in the primary source of energy, the sun. 

   

    Nature works and self-regualates in an orderly manner. Entropy increases in our system because it is based in energy systems that become less useful throughout time. We have all the knowledge we need from Nature. If we understand the different patters and flow of energy that regulates nature and implement them to our system, we will as well have a more orderly, complex and self sustained system.

    The sun is the only source of energy that we will have everyday for million of years. The answer is switching to solar power. Also, it is essential we create efficient city and home designs. This will help the energy to keep flowing and reduce our waste to zero.                                                                       

The Extra Costs of Being Sustainable

Essentials of Economic Sustainability -The  source of all economic value is energy. Everything we extract from nature and it's valuable to us requires energy. The ability to produce things of economic value will diminish if our economy continues to depend on nonrenewable resources. We can get all the energy we need to run the world economy from solar and wind. This is the only way we will be able to sustain life on Earth. 

Houses & Tunneling Through the Cost Barrier -Things are beautiful when they are efficient. This way, you can sustain yourself without undermining the rest of the life on Earth. When you make homes and structures more efficient, you can reduce the overall short term and long term costs. With all of the savings you can have you can get the house to pay off on its own. But everything depends on the design. The design of the structure will determine how efficient it's going to be. Tunneling Through the Cost Barrier says, "By the time the design is completed, about 80-90 percent of their life cycle economic and ecological costs have already been made inevitable!". They key is thinking about the structure as a whole and not as parts that come together in a whole. So the house or the structure can work as an integrated system. When you make each part of the home extremely efficient, it can make the home as whole inefficient. Also, it is very important to take the right steps at the right time. Every intelligent design and engineering process has a series of steps that need to be followed. A low cost efficient home will be inevitable if and only if all the elements of intelligent design and engineering are applied.      

Many people think it is impossible to generate all the energy we need  to power the world economy with only solar and wind . Lester Brown states in Plan B 4.0 that if we capture all the solar energy we get from the sun in an hour, we could power the world economy for a year. This unknown facts have mislead people to belief that there's no other way to run our economy and, solar and wind are not really an option. 

Poor designs are creating unnecessary costs to the home owner's pocket and to the environment.    

The issues lie in ignorance. They can easily be solved if the knowledge is spread. If the majority of the people knew the facts and understand it is really possible to run the world economy with solar and wind energy, things will be differently. Knowledge is power and with that power the people can push the government to invest in renewable energy and create the necessary policies to support it. 

Also, we have to educate our architects and engineers. The mistakes they make are because they are not aware of these essential factors in the design process. By educating them they will know what things they have to take in consideration in their designs. Another solution I suggest is to require a sustainability expert to look over the plans and sign them in order get the required permissions to build the structures. Wether is spreading this knowledge or creating the right policies, these issues can be easily solved.

Ecocities and Energy

We have to know and understand the scientific theories of energy in order to comprehend the math behind our global energy catastrophe we are currently facing. After reading Energy-A Scientific Perspective, I was able to grasp the laws and theories that explain how energy works, how it flows, how it's stored and what are the different types of energy. In Rolling Stone's article Global Warming's Terrifying New Math, it is explained with numbers and facts the amount of temperature rise, burning of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide the Earth can withstand. Scientists say the global temperature increase should be below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). "So far, we've raised the average temperature of the planet under 0.8 degrees Celsius". This creating unbearable repercussions to the environment. Our Arctic sea ice is melting and already one third of it is gone, our oceans have become 30 percent more acidic, floods and decertification are increasing among many other things. Since the amount of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere is increasing, the scientists established a "carbon-budget" of 565 gigatons by midcentury. Nevertheless, a study found that the carbon emissions will keep growing by three percent a year and at this rate we'll blow our "carbon-budget" in 16 years. One of the things that trigger and is accelerating these numbers is the fossil fuels we are currently burning. We're currently planning to burn 2,795 Gigatons and we have five times as much oil, gas and coal in reserve which scientists think it's "safe" to burn! Unfortunately, from what the author states there's no interest from the leading responsible countries and companies to try to reduce these numbers. It will not be possible to achieve this until we redesign our technology, economic model and communities. These numbers will continue to rise unless we leave the addiction we have to our cars and our others unsustainable technologies. As Richard Register states in Ecocities, we have to plan pedestrian cities. Facilitate access so pedestrians can get anywhere in town by walking or bike riding. Also, by making the city as a whole more efficient, buildings can be heated or cooled with zero or very little energy; this is only some of the many things he suggest. Even though the Rolling Stones article has a very pessimistic tone about the global crisis we are currently facing, Register's book make us rethink about the things we can do differently in order to solve these issues. 

The Rolling Stones article may seem very pessimistic but it is not pessimistic at all. It is putting the facts out there so we become aware and do something about it. We can withhold the responsibility to the government and the corporations, but after all it is our responsibility. The companies and our government will not offer their concessions unless we reduce our consumption. So, the article is really a call to wake up and rethink what we can do from where we are. The tips that Register mentions are great! You can decide to walk or ride your bike whenever you can instead of using your car. Many small changes can be made to our daily lives that can make a significant difference in the world. 

These readings have really made me think about the economical and social models we have followed since the industrial revolution. We have slowly created a dependency for fossil fuels and everything is due to the way we have designed our cities, towns, appliances, everything! We have created an economy of consumption and waste, and long hours of commuting to do our day to day tasks. It is said in the story of stuff that "99 percent of the things we mine, harvest and produce are trash within six months". Crazy, right? Think of it, all of these require much more energy to make than what we end up using during the time we own them. As it is explained by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics the energy at the beginning of the cycle is much more than at the end, as it is lost along the way. That is why we have to be very conscious about our consumption rate. So, think everyday. Think if there's any other way to you could fulfill your daily tasks without consuming as much energy. Be creative and think outside the box!

Power to the People

       

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, author of Power to the People, mentions the threats of oil and coal to the world. He depicts how these energy generating system are destructive to the environment, destabilizes governments and, promotes war and terrorist attacks with facts and historical events. Nevertheless, he states that emerging technologies and knowledge are creating a “quiet revolution” which is “upending the energy business”. Even though the facts are outdated in this excerpt, it still gives hope to the reader that many innovative technologies are on the market; whether it was the fuel cell car in 2003 or today’s electrical cars. This revolution is inevitable and it’s bigger than any other revolution we have gone through in the last century.

      

This is very important because our fossil fuel base economy is creating conflict in the world and disrupting the order in nature. These violations of the most basic laws of nature are destabilizing societies. In my opinion, it may not be the root of most of our issues, but it’s certainly aggravating them at a very rapid pace. Nevertheless, the response of creating new technologies portrays the need the world has to change the model we have. There’s no way life will seize to exist if we continue following our current model.

   

 Many great technologies are emerging to the market. As consumers we have the power to choose. We can vote with our dollar and invest in these new more efficient systems. Nevertheless the solution doesn’t lie in making our current model and the technologies we have now more efficient. This will only make us more dependent on them and eventually we will be facing the same problems we have today.