Category Archives: cool sites

If You Are A Genius You Install A Geothermal Heat Pump

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Short of Heating your house with Solar and cooling your house with evaporated water, this is the closest thing we have right now to an environmentally sound system. Its advantage is that it heats and cools the house as one unit and the Earth becomes your heat sink.

Thanks to the good people of Econar for the Explanation:

 http://www.econar.com/

 ECONAR® GeoSource® Geothermal Heat Pumps

How Geothermal Works

Geothermal can be used to providing heating or cooling services. In each instance the process is similar.

Geothermal Heating
In the heating mode, the water circulating in the earth loop is colder than the surrounding ground. This causes the water to absorb energy, in the form of heat, from the earth. The water carries this energy to the heat exchanger in the pump. In the heat exchanger, refrigerant absorbs the heat energy from the water. The water now leaves the heat exchanger at a colder temperature, and circulates through the earth loop to pick up more energy.

The refrigerant gas, which contains energy gained from the earth loop, travels from the heat exchanger to the compressor. In the compressor, the refrigerant temperature rises to 160°. From the compressor, the superheated refrigerant travels to the air heat exchanger. Here, the heat pump’s blower circulates air across the air coil, increasing the temperature of the air, which is blown through ductwork to heat the home. After refrigerant releases its heat energy to the air, it then flows to the earth loop heat exchanger to start the cycle again.

Geothermal Cooling
In the cooling mode, the water circulating in the earth loop is warmer than the surrounding ground. This causes the water to release energy, in the form of heat, into the earth. The water, now cooler from traveling through the ground now flows to the heat exchanger in the heat pump. In the heat exchanger, hot refrigerant gas from the compressor releases its heat into the water. This causes the water to increase temperature, which it releases to the ground.

The refrigerant, which has released its heat energy and became a cold liquid, now travels to the heat exchanger. Here the heat pump’s blower circulates warm, humid air across the cold air coil. The air is then blown through ductwork to cool the home. The refrigerant in the air coil picks up the heat energy from the air, and travels to the compressor. When the refrigerant leaves the compressor, it then flows to the earth loop heat exchanger to start the cycle again:}

Then there is Mr. Slim – The Japanese are always one step ahead:

 http://www.mrslim.com/Products/subCategory.asp?ProductCategoryID=24&ProductSubCategoryID=140

Which does not explicitly say it can be hooked up to a geothermal loop but I am sure it can…I can’t copy Mitsubishi’s web page so you will have to look for yourself. Then self promoter Doug Rye:

http://www.geothermal-heat-pump-resource.org/

 Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP’s) have been supplying homes and businesses with high efficiency heating and cooling for nearly 20 years.

If you’re planning to build a new house, office building, or school, or replace your heating and cooling system, you may want to consider a geothermal heat pump (GHP) system. Geothermal heat pump systems are also known as GeoExchangeSM, ground-source, water-source heat pumps (as opposed to air-source heat pumps), earth-coupled heat pump, heat pump ground-source, or ground-coupled heat pump. Regardless of what you call them, energy-efficient geothermal heat pumps are available today for both residential and commercial building applications.

Did you know?  The average life span of a geothermal heat pump is 22 years.  That’s a long time!

Geothermal heat pumps save money, reduce emissions, and are cost effective in replacing conventional heating and cooling technologies

 www.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/heatpumps.html

www.igshpa.okstate.edu/geothermal/residential

www.reddawn.com/featart11-98.html

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_exchange_heat_pump

People will even give you money for installing one:

 www.nhec.com/residential_residentialheatpumps.php

What a deal! 

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We Are All Going To Die – Oil hits 150$$ a barrel.

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Just kidding. It’s hard to concentrate on the residential housing market when everyone is all aflutter about the high prices of gasoline and the artificially high oil prices. I wish gasoline prices would double again. Then we would see some real doom and gloom. This from Asianone:

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/My%2BMoney/Opinion/Story/A1Story20080701-74069.html:}

 asiaone.gif

The economics of running on empty

Wed, Jul 02, 2008
The New Paper
By Dr Larry Haverkamp

 Surprisingly, there are only two ways to invest: You can own or you can lend. That’s it.

Owning is called ‘buying equity’. Examples are stocks and property.

It earns about 12 per cent a year with lots of ups and downs. You could lose some sleep.

Lending is called ‘buying debt’. Examples are fixed deposits and bonds.

It earns about 3 per cent a year and lets you sleep soundly.

An age-old truth of investments is that equity earns more than debt. I guess it’s obvious since 12 per cent is more than 3 per cent.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

But now, everything has changed. The world is entering a new era of shortages that could turn the old rules on their heads.

Stocks would follow the economy down, leaving fixed deposits as the top money-earner.

The story begins with the higher prices for natural resources like food, fuel and minerals.

High prices, however, are only a symptom. Chronic shortages are the problem.

You can imagine, for example, the difficulty of building a house without steel or cement.

We saw something like this in 1973 and again in 1982. The US was hit with an oil shortfall, which resulted in both recession and inflation, called stagflation. It spread to Singapore and around the world.

In hindsight, it seems overblown, since everything turned out okay. Prices shot up, then they came down. Growth slowed, then it picked up.

Prosperity returned, as it always does. If it didn’t, you would have a permanent recession. The notion is so absurd that no economist in their right mind would even consider it. So I will.

In a worse-case scenario, permanent recession hits and each generation becomes poorer than the last. Gross domestic product (GDP) declines continuously. It eventually hits zero and we return to subsistence living, like our cavemen ancestors.

We may be seeing the beginning of that now.

Demand is out-pacing the world’s limited supplies, pushing prices higher.

NEW OIL RECORD

Last Friday, oil hit another new high of US$142 a barrel. It is exactly double the price of one year ago.

The demand comes from a rising middle class in China, India and the Middle East. This is new. We didn’t have it in 1973 and1982.

When Li Yong, Ramesh and Abdullah buy their first motorbikes, they love it. They find it hard to go back to peddling bicycles.

The US Department of Energy expects energy use in 30 developed countries to increase 25 per cent by 2030. In developing countries, it will increase 95 per cent.

As high prices persist for one, two, three and then 10 years, people will grow to understand that this is more than just a speculative bubble. (Sorry, Fat Cat.)

A permanent shortage of input (resources) produces a continuous decline in output (GDP). That, by the way, is the definition of a permanent recession.

To drive the point home, try this experiment:

Fill up your car or motorbike with one tank of gas and drive to Kuala Lumpur. When you run out of petrol, walk the rest of the way. It shouldn’t take more than a week.

You’ll be tired, but you will gain insight into a life without natural resources.

The shortages will sneak up on us gradually. A tank of petrol will soon cost some drivers a full day’s wages. After that, it will take a month’s wages and then a year’s.

Finally, availability will cease altogether and the lights will go out.

Future generations will sit around the campfire and tell fantastic stories about hollow trees with wheels that took people from Yishun to Orchard Road in less than an hour.

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This from Singapore no less… 

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Efficiently Cooling Your Home – Air conditioning the old fashioned way

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I know, there are better ways to cool your house than you cool your food. Nonetheless it must be discussed for the people who just can’t do it any other way.

http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/EnergyWise_House_Energy_Efficient_Air_Conditioning-Air_Conditioning-A1629.html

EnergyWise House: Energy-Efficient Air ConditioningMany people buy or use air conditioners without understanding their designs, components, and operating principles. Proper sizing, selection, installation, maintenance, and correct use are keys to cost-effective operation and lower overall costs.

Related Showrooms

• Cadet – Zonal heating solutions for your home from Cadet
• Sears – Heating & Cooling Repair
• Trane – Enjoy perfect heating, cooling and beyond year-round.
• WholeHouseFan.com – Cool Your Home with a Whole House Fan

Air conditioners employ the same operating principles and basic components as your home refrigerator. An air conditioner cools your home with a cold indoor coil called the evaporator. The condenser, a hot outdoor coil, releases the collected heat outside. The evaporator and condenser coils are serpentine tubing surrounded by aluminum fins. This tubing is usually made of copper. A pump, called the compressor, moves a heat transfer fluid (or refrigerant) between the evaporator and the condenser. The pump forces the refrigerant through the circuit of tubing and fins in the coils. The liquid refrigerant evaporates in the indoor evaporator coil, pulling heat out of indoor air and thereby cooling the home. The hot refrigerant gas is pumped outdoors into the condenser where it reverts back to a liquid giving up its heat to the air flowing over the condenser’s metal tubing and fins.

Central Air Conditioners
Central air conditioners circulate cool air through a system of supply and return ducts. Supply ducts and registers (openings in the walls, floors, or ceilings covered by grills) carry cooled air from the air conditioner to the home. This cooled air becomes warmer as it circulates through the home; then it flows back to the central air conditioner through return ducts and registers. A central air conditioner is either a split-system unit or a packaged unit.In a split-system central air conditioner, an outdoor metal cabinet contains the condenser and compressor, and an indoor cabinet contains the evaporator. In many split-system air conditioners, this indoor cabinet also contains a furnace or the indoor part of a heat pump. The air conditioner’s evaporator coil is installed in the cabinet or main supply duct of this furnace or heat pump. If your home already has a furnace but no air conditioner, a split-system is the most economical central air conditioner to install.Today’s best air conditioners use 30 percent to 50 percent less energy to produce the same amount of cooling as air conditioners made in the mid 1970s. Even if your air conditioner is only 10 years old, you may save 20 percent to 40 percent of your cooling energy costs by replacing it with a newer, more efficient model.But then there is new technology out there:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Appliances/Air_Conditioning_And_Heating/W2D2V4S2

Get rid of the bug spray because an air conditioning system that kills bugs and gives you a better night’s sleep has been revealed. The innovative new inverter wall mounted air conditioning systems, that have been scientifically proven to provide a better night’s sleep.

Samsung recently conducted extensive research in Good Sleep technology involving the Bukyung National University, Busan, Korea which revealed that a room’s temperature should change in accordance to sleep patterns, to achieve longer periods of deep sleep and ensure an optimal night’s rest. The Samsung Good Sleep 2 air conditioner control program adjusts temperature profiles to the most comfortable according to the three stages of sleep. 

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Appliances/Air_Conditioning_And_Heating/K5J2C3C7

Smart Energy Saving Air Conditioner

By Manisha Kanetkar | Monday | 19/03/2007

Australian company Advantage Air has developed a smart reverse cycle air conditioning system that not only saves on your energy bill but is also able to be fully integrated into a home automation system.

According to Advantage Air’s Walter Kimble, all parts of the GEN III air conditioning system are designed to operate as a cohesive, integrated system making it easier for the home automation system integrator to set up. 

The system allows you, among other functions, to control the temperature of individual zones as well as program Fresh Air control.

And with sensors in each zone, the system ensures that no room is being over-heated or over-cooled, thus contributed to the product’s energy efficiency.

The Fresh Air system is an electronically controlled device that measures the temperature outside of the house. If this is cooler than that inside the house (which Advantage says is 25 percent of the time) it opens and brings cool air in. This smart function means not only do you get fresh air circulating around your house (as opposed to the same air re-circulating) but it is also energy efficient. According to the CSIRO, the GEN III is capable of energy savings of up to 38 percent or approximately $1000 a year.

 

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Now That Your House Is All Warm And Insulated – Whatever shall I put in it?

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The big energy hogs in the house are the HVAC, The refrigerator and the water heater.

HVAC in the residentail market simply means a combine furnace and airconditioner that share the same ventilation system. but we will treat them as seperate units for easier detail:

http://www.fypower.org/res/tools/products_results.html?id=100156

Of course it would use natural gas,

 Condensing furnaces contain a second heat exchanger that condenses water vapor in the hot flue gasses, extracting additional heat. The gases are then vented directly outside through a pipe in the wall. Condensing furnaces are the most efficient on the market but they are also the most expensive. Almost all ENERGY STAR qualified furnaces are condensing models.

Efficiency Rating
Furnace efficiency is rated by annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE). The AFUE measures the amount of fuel converted to space heat in proportion to the amount of fuel entering the furnace. The federal minimum efficiency standard for furnaces specifies an AFUE rating of at least 78%. ENERGY STAR qualified furnaces must have a minimum AFUE rating of 90%. The most modern and efficient heating systems can achieve an AFUE of as high as 97%.

For a list of the most efficient furnaces in all output categories, visit the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)’s guide to top-rated furnaces.

Efficiency Improvements
Some improvements that have been made to the components of furnaces in recent years are two-stage burners and higher-efficiency blower motors.

    Two-Stage Burners — When the heating demand is low, two-stage burners allow you to run your furnace at a lower burn rate most of the time, using less gas than a single stage burner. These use a special gas valve that fires the burners at either the low-heat or high-heat level. When heating needs increase, the burner fires at the high-heat level, increasing the burn rate. These burners save energy by using a smaller amount of gas when demand is low, thereby providing more even heating throughout the day.
    Fan Blower Motor — Depending on the size of the furnace, fan blower motors can use between 84 kWh/year for the smallest gas furnaces (25,000 Btu) to almost 550 kWh/year for the largest models (118,000 Btu). Some newer furnaces have an electronically commutated (ECM) fan blower motor that is more efficient than a standard blower motor. Variable-speed blower motors also have been in use in newer models. By using only the power needed for the immediate heating demand, these motors use 75% less electricity than standard motors. They also adjust to changes in air pressure among rooms, heating the space more efficiently.

 http://www.residential.carrier.com/products/furnaces/gas/index.shtml

Gas Furnaces

The smooth comfort of gas heat with the most advanced technology

For the optimal combination of gas heating and impressive energy efficiency, choose Carrier precision-engineered gas furnaces, from the innovative Infinity™ ICS with precision temperature control to the solid Comfort™ 80. The higher the AFUE rating, the more energy efficient—meaning you’ll save more money.

Infinity ICS Gas Furnace

Up to 3.5 times tighter temperature control

          Quietest furnace you can buy

  • IdealComfort™ technology
  • Lifetime heat exchanger limited warranty
  • Infinity 96 Gas Furnace

96.6% AFUE

  • Variable speed blower
  • IdealHumidity
  • Lifetime heat exchanger warranty

Infinity 80 Gas Furnace

80% AFUE

  • Variable speed blower
  • IdealHumidity
  • 20-year heat exchanger warranty

Performance 93 Gas Furnace

93% AFUE

  • 4-5 speed blower
  • Enhanced humidity control
  • Lifetime heat exchanger warranty

 http://www.bryant.com/products/furnaces/index.shtml

Evolution System Plus 95s™ Furnace

  • Up to 95 AFUE
  • PerfectSense™ functionality
  • Up to 73% more consistent temperatures than single stage furnaces
  • Quietest furnace that you can buy
  • Perfect Humidity
  • Perfect Heat technology
  • Pilot-free PerfectLight ignition
  • Lifetime heat exchanger warranty
  • Evolution System Plus 95s™ Gas Furnace

Evolution System Plus 90i™ & Plus 95i™ Furnaces

  • Up to 96.6 AFUE
  • Perfect Humidity
  • Perfect Heat technology
  • Pilot-free PerfectLight ignition
  • Lifetime heat exchanger warranty
  • Evolution System Plus 90i™ Gas Furnace

Evolution System Plus 80v™ Furnace

  • Up to 80 AFUE
  • Perfect Humidity
  • Perfect Heat technology
  • Pilot-free PerfectLight ignition
  • 20-year heat exchanger warranty
  • Evolution System Plus 80v™ Furnace

 

 

 http://www.lennox.com/products/list.asp?type=2

 

ESTAR ICON ENERGY STAR® Product   Energy
Efficiency (AFUE)		 Price
Guide*

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But then there is the new kid on the block: 

 

Emerging Technology

The MicroHeater, developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, could redefine the way in which homes are heated. The size of a palm, the MicroHeater is capable of combusting 4,000 to 120,000 Btu of gas per hour. They can be installed in baseboard heaters, and an array of them can efficiently heat an entire house. The MicroHeater can reduce energy loss from a typical central heating system by 45%.

 http://picturethis.pnl.gov/picturet.nsf/All/4A2LDA?opendocument

microheater.jpg

We have even talked about air conditions yet or geothermal heat pumps…geez

 

 

Social and Environmental Justice Graduation Pledge – A brief break from our residential meditation

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My favorite cousin, Matt Nicodemus, has been involved in the pledge process for years and years to I told him I would post this here and CES’ Bulletin Board. All of you should take it.

:}

Latest development (6/13): At Fujen University, where one instructor has been handing out the Graduation Pledge in his ethics classes since 2006, Dean of Student Affairs Yang Bai-Chuan (??????) has just this week decided to offer all Fujen graduates the opportunity to take the voluntary oath at the school’s commencement this Saturday, June 14.  See contact list at bottom for contact information for Dr. Yang and his secretary, Ms. Chi.  This event will be the last chance this year to get photos, videos, and live interviews with graduates, faculty, administrators,and graduation guests.

GRADUATION PLEDGE PROGRAMS EXPAND, MATURE IN TAIWAN — NEW EFFORTS UNDERWAY IN INDIA

                                                               Graduation Pledge Alliance–Asia Regional Center (GPA-Asia)

                                                                P.O. Box 10123, Taipei, Taiwan 10099

                                                               Contacts: Matt Nicodemus, Executive Director (English language)

                                                                                (e-mail) mattnico8@yahoo.com, (cell) +886-972-170-392

                                                                                Sonia Zhan, Project Assistant (Chinese language)

                                                                                (e-mail) soniazhan1126@gmail.com, (cell) 886-919-978-979

                                                                                Steve Masters, Pledge Coordinator, GPA                                                                               

                                                                               (e-mail) smasters@bentley.edu, (tel) 1-413-478-7628                                                                                                                                                                 Prof. Neil Wollman, Ph.D, Senior Fellow, BentleyAlliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility,                                                                                 Bentley College, Waltham, MA 

                                                                                (e-mail) nwollman@bentley.edu, (tel) 1-260-568-0116

                                                                                (website) www.graduationpledge.org

June 23, 2008, Taipei) Six years ago saw the introduction of the Graduation Pledge of Social & Environmental Responsibility to Asia, at the Singapore campus of INSEAD business school.  Now, with pledges offered at five universities in Taiwan and two colleges in India, the graduation pledge programs are not only spreading through the region but are also growing in sophistication and impact.

Students taking the voluntary oath promise to explore the social and environmental consequences of jobs they consider, and to try and improve the social-environmental performance of organizations for which they work.

According to Matt Nicodemus, executive director of the Graduation Pledge Alliance-Asia Regional Center (GPA-Asia) in Taipei, 2008 marks several firsts for the Pledge in Taiwan.  At Soochow University (SCU), where the career center has taken over coordination of the school’s pledge program, students recently participated in more than a week of activities designed to increase awareness of ethics and responsibility in career choices and on-the-job decisions.  The GPA chapter at Chinese Culture University (CCU) last month joined the school’s administration to co-sponsor the first-ever Earth Week on campus.  At National Taiwan University (NTU), the Student Graduation Association is creating new forms of pledge-taking ritual, and getting faculty involved.  And at National Taipei University of Education (NTUE), future teachers are being encouraged to spend the week before commencement reflecting on how they could educate their own students to help make the world better.

“Taking the Pledge is so much more than just signing a piece of paper,” said Nicodemus, who helped start the first pledge program 21 years ago at Humboldt State University in Northern California, “and organizing a pledge program is so much more than just offering pledges to graduating students.”

Nicodemus noted that the most effective pledge efforts have three components: 1) educating the campus community about the Pledge and social-environmental responsibility issues that students will face in their work lives; 2) making the pledge available for graduates to take; and 3) following up with pledge-signers to provide the information and support they need to live out their pledge commitments.  “Now, more and more, we’re seeing these different components in the pledge programs here in Asia.”

Charged by Soochow University’s office of student affairs with responsibility for managing the school’s pledge program, Career Center director Beauty Yu and her staff have put together a multi-faceted, highly engaging and informative series of activities to introduce students to the Pledge and issues of ethics and responsibility in employment-related choices.  Beginning in mid-May, “Ethics at Work: Responsibility for your Work, Satisfying Cooperation with Colleagues, and New on the Job” ran for more than a week and included lectures, workshops, and trainings.  “We hope students will be responsible to themselves and find the proper job which fits with their own values, then try their best to make the society better,” said Yu

While the Pledge has been available to Soochow grads since 2005, this year’s distribution will reach a far greater number of students, and offer them much more than a single pledge card.  A pre-commencement public education program is being carried out on both the main Shihlin and downtown Taipei campuses, featuring beautifully designed informative banners, posters, and wall displays.  At graduation ceremonies on June 7th, students will receive special decorative bags containing pledge cards, special “ribbon stickers” that can be worn on their gowns to show commitment to the Pledge, and information to help pledge-takers successfully live out their commitments to social-environmental responsibility.  Faculty members and university administrators attending the events will also be able to wear ribbon stickers, to demonstrate their support for students considering and making the pledge promise.         Angel Hsu, an instructor in the English department who coordinated Soochow’s pledge program last year, has brought the Pledge into her classrooms, having students write essays about how they could be socially and environmentally responsible in their jobs.  “For me,” she explained, “it was one of the most meaningful assignments I’ve given, especially because I wrote an essay myself to show the students that all of us have to consider these important questions.”   Business management senior Gina Chou volunteered for “Ethics at Work” and plans to sign the pledge at Soochow’s June 7th graduation.  She emphasized, “For me, the Pledge is not only a promise to myself but to the whole world,” and noted that by signing and following through on the Pledge, she might be able to positively affect many people around her.Ilan County high school English teacher Huei-Wen Tsai, a graduate of CCU who signed the Pledge when it was first offered in 2004, admitted she didn’t really understand the commitment until she started to teach English in an Ilan high school.  “I think it has been very lucky for me to be a public school teacher,” said Tsai, “because the call of a teacher, in essence, corresponds very well to the cause of GPA.”  She fulfills her promise by often incorporating themes of environmental and social issues into her regular classroom instruction.The Graduation Pledge is spreading steadily in Taiwan, gaining new schools each year, and has also taken root in India, where several educational institutions have either begun offering the Pledge to their graduates or are considering doing so.  Frequently, the programs of the pledge schools have been started by a single faculty member who decided to offer pledges to their own students.  Success of the Pledge in their classroom then led to bigger and better things.  At Fujen University (FJU) in Taipei, Father Daniel Bauer, a longtime instructor and regular newspaper columnist, has taught about the Pledge and distributed it to students in his ethics courses since 2006.  Recently, he wrote that he’s “lending a hand in back of the scenes” with the goal of FJU beginning to include the Pledge in its official commencement ceremony.Meanwhile, GPA-Asia is working hard to compile and create practical resources that pledge-signers can use in making important choices of jobs and on-the-job choices, and also developing materials and processes for training students, teachers, and career counselors.  Group leaders are also meeting with a variety of governmental agencies and private organizations with which it shares goals, seeking support and cooperation.  “We’re quite excited about the interest that’s been shown in the Pledge and our work for social-environmental responsibility,” commented Matt Nicodemus, adding that contacts with Taiwan’s ministries of education and foreign affairs have been particularly promising.               

 Most active pledge schools in Asia:

Chinese Culture University (CCU, ??????), Taipei

Graduation and pledge activity date: June 7 

Website: www2.pccu.edu.tw/pledge

Coordinator & faculty contact: Terry Wu (????), Director, Language Center, Instructor, English Department and Coordinator, GPA-CCU

terry0530@yahoo.com

(office) 02-2861-0511 x24401

(cell) 0928-528-464

Fujen University (FJU, ???????), Taipei

Graduation date: June 14 

Pledge program coordinator: Dean of Student Affairs: Dr. Yang Bai-Chuan (??????)

005087@mail.fju.edu.tw 

(office) 2905-2229

Secretary: Ms. Chi

046477@mail.fju.edu.tw 

(office) 2905-2229

Faculty contact: Father Daniel J. Bauer (??? ??), SVD, Associate Professor, English Department and Chairman, English Department, School of Continuing Education 

015130@mail.fju.edu.tw

(office) 02-2905-2565

National Taipei University of Education (NTUE, ????????), Taipei

Graduation & pledge activity date: June 7

Administration contact: Prof. Chen Chin-Fen (???), Dean of Academic Affairs

fen@tea.ntue.edu.tw

(office) 02-2732-1104  x2008, 2170

(cell) 0939-565-157
National Taiwan University (NTU,), Taipei

“Shout for Declaration” pledge activity date: June 6 (12:00 pm) Graduation date: June 7“Shout for Declaration” web page: www.bonvoyage.club.tw/10/shout_for_declaration.htm Student Graduation Association president: Cindy Hsu (???)

scjorme@hotmail.com

(cell) 0928-973-901

SGA pledge program organizers:

Sophia Kuo (???)

since19865@hotmail.com

(cell) 0955-293-575

Damien Chang (???)

damien0327@hotmail.com

(cell) 0921-823-321 

Soochow University (SCU, ????), Taipei

Graduation & pledge activity date: June 7 

Website: www.scu.edu.tw/career/

Career Center pledge program coordinators:

Beauty Yu (???), Director, Shihlin campus center

beauty@scu.edu.tw

(office) 02-2881-9471 x7571

Faculty contact: Angel Hsu (???), Instructor, Dept. of English

yesangel@hotmail.com

(cell) 0939-720-779

Canadian Kids Rock On the Environment – What polluters don’t understand about a rapidly changing population

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For 3 generations now, environmental stewardship has been taught in the k-12 school systems of many countries. The change it will bring is only now a wave but soon it will be a tidal wave:

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/index.cfm

kids.gif

Welcome to the EcoKids recognition zone. The place where EcoKids clubs strut their stuff to the world-wide-web! Have a look around to see what’s going on across Canada and who’s doing what in your province. Get ideas for your own club by reading about the efforts and successes of others.

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I put up examples – for a complete list go to the site

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 Delwood Elementary School, Edmonton

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/atlantic/Ecole_St._Catherine_School.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/bc/FourSeasonsMontessori.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/manitoba/Stonewallhomepage.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/ontario/Gore_Hill_Public_School.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/quebec/CirqueduSoleilAlegriaSchool.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/saskatchewan/Ecole_Elsie_Mironuck_School.cfm

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Here is a sample of what they do:

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/atlantic/NorthEastKingsEducationCentre.cfm

One of our major projects for this year was our penny drive for the World Wildlife Fund. This program was called “Pennies for the Planet”. Over five weeks, we were able to raise $759.29 in pennies. It took a lot of time and dedication to count all of the pennies. On average, about five students every lunch hour would count pennies by hand. This took approximately a month. All together, that´s close to 76 000 pennies! We used the money to adopt a Panda bear, an owl, an Orca, a Sea turtle, an Asian elephant, a Polar bear, part of the boreal forest, the Arctic and the oceans 

Another project that we´ve been working on this year is our Peace Garden. We worked very hard to clear it of trash and weeds and planted new flowers and plants. We also raised awareness about global warming and littering. One of our environment club members gave a speech about global warming this year and another member is part of a news crew that makes announcements once or twice a month about littering.

To help get the message out, we made posters about different environmental issues. Some of the issues were anti-idling, composting and waste reduction. To help encourage the use of composters, we were able to purchase a compost bin for our cafeteria

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Uranium – The Best Place For It Is In The Ground

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Wow!  The Australians rally kicked the energy ball forward. I suppose this would be called the ultimate hot rocks project. Drill to the uranium and get the heat. An electricity generator that could last for 25,000 years and be totally clean. Where are the investment bankers when you need them?

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508132406.htm

Tapping Into Australia’s Unique

Hot Energy Resources

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2008) — Australia is uniquely endowed with heat-producing elements under its surface that could provide potentially unlimited amounts of geothermal power for this country, says geoscientist Dr Sandra McLaren.

Dr McLaren will speak about her research into Australia’s heat-producing elements, and their potential for future energy production, at the Academy of Science’s peak annual event Science at the Shine Dome May 7.She says that west of the line between Cairns and the mouth of the Murray River lies a belt of rocks containing the enriched elements uranium, thorium, and potassium that are around 1.5 billion years old. These enriched elements are essentially a heat source located in the upper part of our continental crust.’Our status as one of the most prospective countries in the world for geothermal power generation is due to this extraordinary enrichment in uranium. That’s because when we bury these enriched rocks, even beneath only about two or three kilometres of sediment, they’re capable of generating extremely high temperatures which we can use to generate geothermal power.’

She says that nuclear power and geothermal power use the same source of fuel – enriched uranium.

‘The fundamental difference between the two energy options is the degree to which the uranium is enriched in a particular spot, and the way in which we choose to use it. So, although as geoscientists we are aware of this resource, there is still a lot of work we can do in assessing and documenting it and developing new exploration strategies and, further down the track, new technology to exploit this.

‘Its an extraordinary resource that we have. Its had profound impact on our geological past, and we’re at the point in time, in terms of society, of making a choice of what to do with that resource into the future.

‘We have on average 2-3 times the normal concentration of uranium, thorium and potassium in the crust, so we’re in a better position than probably any other country in the world to generate this type of geothermal energy.’

In terms of the future of geothermal power in Australia she says: ‘Its potentially unlimited in terms of the actual resource. I think the thing that’s going to constrain how and when we can use this resource for generating power is more on the engineering side, more understanding how to exploit it once we’ve identified how much is there.

‘The exploration companies in Australia are used to exploring for base metals and gold and metallic resources. Exploring for geothermal energy is a different ask all together and we really need to develop a framework to get better data sets for us to assess different resources and better ways of looking fo

Dan Piraro Is One Of The Funniest Cartoonist Alive – Well at least to me

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I am told that unofficially and off the record, Chris Robertson and the people at Peak Sun Silicon think so too.

http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

I think the Peak Oil People are wrong. I think Oil Speculation has DOUBLED the price of oil. The Saudi’s claim that they believe oil is worth 70$$ a barrel. The real question is who tried to corner the Oil Market and Why? The second question is like the Hunt Brothers before them (in silver) when will they go to jail?

A bigger question is will the Saudi’s give the money back that they made as a result? Unfortunately they may have screwed the pooch because people are switching to mass transit and scooters.


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The Yucca Mountain Operating Permit Arrived In Washington Today!

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The application on CD arrive several months ago but the ACTUAL Paper application arrive today at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission simultaneously. The application filled a semitrailer truck for each agency and took a chain of workers to unload the boxes. This is not getting off to an environmentally start is it? I wonder how many trees they killed to make the application.

So I thought we would take this day before Weird Bird Friday to catch up with the old “hole in the ground” in the Nevada Desert.

Here is what the what the current female Editor of the Magazine RadWaste puts it:

http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/rs/docs/2008-3-4-2.pdf

“Isn’t ironic?  While the nuclear reactor sector is beginning to boom….In the area of high-level waste, the proposed Yucca Mountain/spent fuel repository project is expected to submit its license application to the NRC this year. But Congress, thanks to efforts of Yacca Mountain opponent Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev), the Senate majority leader, cut more than 100 million $$$ from the fiscal 2008 appropriation for the project, putting the the license application at risk and ensuring that continuing research….

     The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s trade group, is so excited about the nuclear renaissance that it’s willing to put waste issues aside for now.”

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That doesn’t sound good.

http://www.republican-eagle.com/articles/index.cfm?id=50783§ion=News

Others seem more hopeful – the Natives re restless:

City and tribal leaders hail Yucca

Mountain  progress

Mike Longaecker The Republican Eagle
Published Thursday, June 05, 2008

 A major step toward building a national nuclear waste repository has been met with support from Red Wing leaders.

The Department of Energy on Wednesday submitted its license application to build a facility at Yucca Mountain, Nev., where proponents hope to store spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.

If accepted, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will undertake what officials estimate will be a three-year licensing process.

Local tribal and city leaders lauded the action.

Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Council President Ron Johnson called the application submittal “a giant step.”

“I hope it goes further than that,” he said.

The tribe has long been a supporter of the project, which proposes to store 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste inside the remote, tunneled-out mountain.

Both the tribe and the city of Red Wing are members of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition.

City officials have also backed Yucca Mountain in hopes of moving the waste out of the Red Wing area.

“As neighbors to a nuclear power plant, it is vital to the community to move Yucca Mountain forward and create a permanent repository for this waste,” Red Wing City Council President Carol Duff said in a statement.

“It cannot continue to be stored in the backyards of communities like Red Wing, creating a risk of exposure.”

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In fact it’s all tied up in the new Carbon Capping Bill though the good thing is that the Global Warming as a hoax arguement disappeared from the debate:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0605/p02s05-uspo.html

 On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a long-awaited license application to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada – a move that supporters say is essential to revive the nuclear-power industry.

Nuclear-power advocates hope to use the global-warming bill as a vehicle for reviving the industry. They make the case that without a significant increase in nuclear power, it will be impossible to lower carbon emissions without a blow to US living standards.

“It’s time we begin the nuclear renaissance in America and Yucca Mountain is a vital step,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R) of South Carolina, in a statement after the announcement. “If Congress is serious about reducing carbon emission, nonemitting nuclear energy must play an even larger role than it does today.”

Many Democrats are wary of risking the support of some environmental groups over nuclear power. Majority leader Reid, a longtime opponent of a nuclear-waste dump in his state, charged that DOE filed the application with only about 35 percent of the work done to justify it.

“Yucca Mountain is as close to being dead as any piece of legislation could be,” he said on Tuesday. Republicans say they are holding out for a wide-ranging debate over the global-warming bill, including many amendments. Democratic leaders worry that some amendments, including those over nuclear power, could undermine support for the bill.

Commenting on the diverse coalition of lawmakers now supporting the bill, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) of California said: “They need a certain amount to stay on it. I need a certain amount not to get off it. We’re looking for that sweet spot.”

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Of course, the Energy Hogs are screaming VICTORY:

http://blog.heritage.org/2008/06/05/morning-bell-the-lefts-nuclear-nightmare/

 Morning Bell: The Left’s Nuclear Nightmare

 Posted June 5th, 2008 at 9.18am in Energy and Environment.

The U.S. Department of Energy officially submitted the license application to build a nuclear waste facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada earlier this week. A strong supporter of the Lieberman-Warner carbon-capping bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was incredulous, telling reporters: “Yucca Mountain is as close to being dead as any piece of legislation could be.” However, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) both recognize that their bill will not pass without more nuclear power.

Far to Warner and Lieberman’s left though, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) thinks their bill does not need to reform the nuclear industry: “Already in the bill there’s a whole funding stream for these low-carbon, noncarbon energy sources and that’s sufficient. I don’t think you need more.” It is nice that Boxer believes this–but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) sure don’t.

Throughout the debate on Lieberman-Warner, activists such as the Environmental Defense Fund have quoted selectively from EPA and EIA studies to minimize the ruinous effects the bill would have on the U.S. economy. For example, this press release celebrates the fact that under Lieberman-Warner the economy will grow by 80 percent by 2030.

What the EDF doesn’t tell you is that the same report says Lieberman-Warner would raise energy prices by 44 percent in the same time frame. But the real kicker comes when you look at the assumptions the EPA made to come to its conclusions. Despite the fact that the U.S. has not built a new nuclear reactor in two decades, the EPA assumes that the U.S. will build 50 new reactors in the next 25 years.

Without these new power plants, which the Environmental Defense Fund no doubt will oppose, the U.S. economy will be 650 gigawatts of electric power short of its needs. That will send the price of energy through the roof — and kill many more jobs than the EPA currently estimates.

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If you want to take a look at the site you can go here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl

But trust me it’s pretty boring!

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Farming And Growing Food After The Oil Runs Out – We Shall Survive

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People have been brainwashed to believe that our world will come to a crashing end without oil. The Peak Oil people in particular have a saying “back to the olduvai valley” because they believe that our civilization will crumble like the Egyptions, Greeks and other GREAT civilizations. Olduvai was the valley where they found the homonid Lucy’s bones.

Admittedly some of those societal “downs” caused famine and pestilence, but in others it merely led to lots of people going back to farming. As silly as it may sound, you can generate electricity with a bicycle and charge a battery to run a computer. Us modern humans have run on excess energy  for so long it might not hurt us or the planet to take a break and set some priorities.

So anyway from where I live in Riverton IL in the USA, I would just go back to farming and let a few yard birds run. Others are not so lucky. I have said with no malice or cruelty that a lot of people are going to die. But I think we will do what humanity has done for 1000’s of years…we hang together.

Here is what other people say:

http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/greenfutures/articles/602540

Farming without fossils

In a world on the cusp of fuel shortages, one enterprising collection of British farmers have come up with a solution they claim is practical, profitable – and close to home. They’re growing their own. Trevor Lawson reports

Barton reckons that the Goodwood estate’s tenant farmers could produce enough biofuel to supply the estate and themselves, and still have a surplus for sale. The key, he argues, is keep it local. “There’s no point in producing seed here, sending it miles for processing and then bringing the fuel all the way back. It’s too inefficient.” So Barton is looking at a combined rape press and refinery system that will produce 2,000 litres of fuel an hour, round the clock, for as long as there is rape seed to supply it. He’s also got plans for the pressed ‘cake’ that’s left over. “You can make it into dense briquettes for a superb solid fuel, burning more slowly than wood but at a higher temperature. So it can be used to feed boilers to generate heat and electricity.” Barton’s logic seems inescapable, and it’s finding allies in Whitehall, too. Nick Cooper manages the Farming Without Fossil Fuels project at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

http://globalpublicmedia.com/stephen_decater_on_farming_without_oil

 Stephen Decater speaks with Els Cooperrider of The Party’s Over on KZYX about biodynamic farming in Round Valley of Mendocino county. Stephen talks about draft horses, their history, and how he uses them. He also talks about the Live Power Community Farm, which is a community-based agriculture (CSA) project, and how this arrangement differs from a market-based relationship. They are looking for apprentices now. Contact info: livepower@igc.org and (707) 983 8196.

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The above is a cool site complete with Post Carbon Institute and Energy Farming sections

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Then there are the back to the earth types:

 http://www.soilassociation.org/peakoil

Peak Oil: the threat to our food security

Peak oil refers to the point when the maximum amount of oil that can be extracted globally is reached. Thereafter, production will tail off as remaining reserves become more difficult and more expensive to harvest. Many of the services that we currently take for granted – cheap flights, cheap imports and global distribution of food – will be radically curtailed.
 One of the greatest impacts will be on how and where our food is produced. The dominant models of intensive agriculture and the global food trade depend on vast inputs of oil. In a post peak oil world, the combination of higher transport costs, climate change and increased conflict will necessitate us all relying far more on re-localised food supplies. Even though it requires far lower amounts of oil, organic farming is not exempt from the need to adapt.

You can find out more in our information sheets on peak oil and climate change and agriculture.

Over the last 20 years, the Soil Association has established organic farming as the most sustainable method of production and helped grow a burgeoning market for organic food. Now we must refine our focus if we are to adapt to the changing external circumstances which will touch all our lives very soon. The phrase that comes to mind is that we are ‘building the ark of sustainable agriculture’ for the new era ahead.

The challenge is immediate, but fear should not be the driver. The Soil Association is optimistic that we have the vision and means to create a new, localised food culture that will deliver long-term quality of life in place of the old dynamic of unrestrained globalisation and short-termist exploitation.

http://transitionculture.org/2006/12/20/applying-energy-descent-plans-to-food-and-farming-an-article-in-living-earth-magazine/ 

Applying Energy Descent Plans to Food and Farming – an article in Living Earth magazine.

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The Soil Association is the UK’s organic certification body, and they are making peak oil and the relocalisation of food the focal point of their 60th Anniversary conference in Cardiff in February. I am editing a report that will accompany the conference, which explores this deeper, and to introduce this, I recently wrote an article that appears in Living Earth Magazine, the organisation’s publication. It suggests that the concept of Energy Descent Plans could be applied to food and farming in the UK, an idea that will be explored in more depth in the report. Here is the article followed by some additions from within the Soil Association.

Energy scarcity is an opportunity for a better world, says Rob Hopkins

I used to think that one day the world would literally run out of oil. A driver in Leicestershire would use the last drop and that would be that, similar to the felling of the last Truffula Tree in Dr Seuss’s The Lorax. It turns out that scarcity kicks in earlier than that. It’s not the last drop that is the problem but the mid-point of production, when all the oil that is easy and cheap to extract has been used up. It looks as if we are reaching that point soon.

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Where folks have “farmable” or “growable” land, all of us will have to plant Victory Gardens and raise rabbits and chickens. We will have to buy and sell local. For those that do not… well that is something we all should be planning for now. There are probably 2 billion people in harms way. What about the economy? Well what about it? Aren’t WE the economy. Money may be worrthless…but so what. That is only gona matter to people that gots a lot of it.

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