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I very much appreciate the direction advanced technologies are taking with the concern over emissions produced by motorized transportation. However, even a case like mine - taking my laundry to the local permaculture laundromat - is still a high emissions affair.
I use a B.O.B. trailer hitched to my cyclocross bicycle to haul my laundry to a friend's house. They have off-the-grid solar power feeding the heating and electricity needs for a once-condemned house that is now a demonstration permaculture homestead on the edge of downtown Tucson. There I wash my clothes in a top-load horizontal-axis clothes washer. Built by Staber here in the US, this is a very energy efficient machine. The discharge wash water is recycled as greywater to irrigate the innermost garden plantings. I use small amounts (the correct amount) of laundry detergent containing the lowest levels of chemical salts to minimize deleterious effects to the soil.
Even though this trip to the laundromat seems to be ecologically-sensitive I see very clearly how it is not. In brief, everything we touch and use is brought to us through processes of sourcing, manufacture, and distribution that are immensely and excessively destructive to the environments from which we arose. For societies, and their marketing firms, to be able to correctly claim that such-and-such is (near-) zero emissions, they must develop low emissions and low impact extraction, refining, manufacturing and distribution methods.
We can do this.
If you're interested in this subject look up "life cycle assessment" or "cradle-to-grave analysis". I also recommend checking out Environmental Defense online. One of the reasons that I applaud Environmental Defense's efforts is because they do a great job of explaining the pre-purchase emissions that go into our possessions, in their case with so-called green cars - HENCE my post here in Biodiesel.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life...assessment
www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm
www.bobtrailers.com/trailers...ilers.php
www.davidsonbicycles.com/
www.staber.com/
I use a B.O.B. trailer hitched to my cyclocross bicycle to haul my laundry to a friend's house. They have off-the-grid solar power feeding the heating and electricity needs for a once-condemned house that is now a demonstration permaculture homestead on the edge of downtown Tucson. There I wash my clothes in a top-load horizontal-axis clothes washer. Built by Staber here in the US, this is a very energy efficient machine. The discharge wash water is recycled as greywater to irrigate the innermost garden plantings. I use small amounts (the correct amount) of laundry detergent containing the lowest levels of chemical salts to minimize deleterious effects to the soil.
Even though this trip to the laundromat seems to be ecologically-sensitive I see very clearly how it is not. In brief, everything we touch and use is brought to us through processes of sourcing, manufacture, and distribution that are immensely and excessively destructive to the environments from which we arose. For societies, and their marketing firms, to be able to correctly claim that such-and-such is (near-) zero emissions, they must develop low emissions and low impact extraction, refining, manufacturing and distribution methods.
We can do this.
If you're interested in this subject look up "life cycle assessment" or "cradle-to-grave analysis". I also recommend checking out Environmental Defense online. One of the reasons that I applaud Environmental Defense's efforts is because they do a great job of explaining the pre-purchase emissions that go into our possessions, in their case with so-called green cars - HENCE my post here in Biodiesel.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life...assessment
www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm
www.bobtrailers.com/trailers...ilers.php
www.davidsonbicycles.com/
www.staber.com/
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Tucson
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Mon, October 8, 2007 - 8:46 PMThat's cool, but only tangentially related to biodiesel which, as far as I know, nobody has ever claimed to be zero emissions. I wouldn't even refer to it as an "advanced technology" given that diesel engines have always been able to run on bio-fuels. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Tue, October 9, 2007 - 4:11 AMOh, I don't know. This was cross-posted to a number of tribes, I'm assuming to raise awareness that we still have a long way to go, which, as you say, is cool.
Bio-D has the benefit of being potentially negative emission, though, when you look at it systemically. It is an emissions sink for discarded vegetable oil, provided that this is the source of your biodiesel, rather than virgin oil.
On the other hand, using virgin oil to make biodiesel is, I believe, potentially a greater emitter than using petrodiesel. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Tue, October 9, 2007 - 2:47 PMRaising awareness... yes. Life cycle awareness is definitely something worthy of consideration. I'll often whip out the concept when arguing with self-righteous gasoline/electric hybrid owners and people that believe that photovoltaic solar will solve the world's energy problems.
As for Bio-D resulting in negative emissions, I imagine that relies on the assumption that one is going to expend fuel regardless, which doesn't really give a negative net result. If you'd like to expand your assertion a bit, I'm interested.
> On the other hand, using virgin oil to make biodiesel is, I believe, potentially a greater emitter than using petrodiesel.
That depends on a lot of factors including the harvest and production of the vegetable oil in question and then the type of engine one would use to burn the resultant fuel in. Assessing environmental impact requires that one model a tremendous number of variables. This, in and of itself makes it difficult to have simple discussions on the topic. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Tue, October 9, 2007 - 7:10 PMHere is the true clean car: www.theaircar.com/
using solar to fill the air tank & zero emissions.......
K -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Wed, October 10, 2007 - 9:13 PMKennedy-
I've heard about this car and I appreciate you sharing this link.
However, I wonder if you read the links that I posted on life cycle analysis and green cars, given your response.
How do you think fiberglass is manufactured? How do you think the aerospace frame, chassis, and engine block are manufactured? Attention to the sustainability of the manufacturing process is what I am trying to garner among people interested in post-production emissions. That audience includes people, who like myself, are interested in renewable, low-emissions fuels such as biodiesel.
Archer
Tucson, Arizona -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Thu, October 11, 2007 - 12:34 AMAgreed. The concept is cool and likely beneficial but doesn't qualify as zero emissions from a life-cycle analysis perspective. However, I want to add that we gain more insight into the environmental impact of a given activity, I still believe it's impossible to do a complete and accurate assessment of any given activity. There are too many variables to model given current technologies and understanding. My point is that life-cycle analysis is valuable, it still won't give a complete and indefensible conclusion.
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Wed, October 10, 2007 - 3:14 AMIt is true; there are a lot of variables that are in play.
My negative emission assertion is based solely on the fact that you are taking something out of the waste stream (not all emissions are gaseous!) and doing something productive with it, displacing something else that you were going to do anyway, so yes, there was an assumption that you were going to burn fuel anyway.
This, of course, raises the question of what you were going to burn the fuel for. Transportation seems to be the big application, and, quite frankly, we get around too much.
That leaves heating as the obvious application for it. If you are in a home that uses oil for heat, then biodiesel is a natural replacement for it, since heating oil is exactly the same stuff as diesel fuel.
A quick aside on photovoltaics.... I think there is some potential there, but it needs to be combined with conservation. It seems to that the owners of photovoltaic systems that I have met are all about efficiency as well as the inputs they get from their PV systems. I don't know if this will hold as PV becomes more popularlised or not. I guess what I am saying is that I agree with you that PV won't solve all of the world's energy problems, but it is a serious step in the right direction. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Wed, October 10, 2007 - 10:37 AMThanks for supporting your assertion. That makes more sense to me.
My comment about PV panels comes from the environmental impact of manufacturing them, which I suppose is different from emissions. I'm familiar with the type of people that you're referring to, those that have taken efficiency to the extremes, which I do appreciate. However, that particular sort of conservationism is outside the mainstream at this point in time. The real benefit, as I see it, is that those applications are a proving ground for technologies that do make it into the mainstream. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Thu, October 11, 2007 - 3:57 AMI have a presentation that I have given to a few different groups (I am a member of Toastmasters International) that touts the advantages of switching to compact fluorescent lighting. Life cycle analysis does come into play in my presentation, because people invariably bring up the presence of mercury in these fixtures. Equally invariably, though, I get people coming up to me to tell me that they have made the switch and didn't realise it would be that painless.
...so people will think about efficiency and life-cycle analysis if you prod them to it. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Thu, October 11, 2007 - 7:06 PMIndeed. CF bulbs are a perfect example of what was once fringe technology now getting into the mainstream. -
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Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Sat, October 13, 2007 - 9:25 AMHey now Archer, admittedly I did not read all of your links (D'OH!) I suppose one idea for the air car (or others) might involve a hemp derivative for the body instead of fiberglass. As a species all that we manufacture should follow the "waste = food" paradigm. "WASTE EQUALS FOOD: A principle of natural systems and MBDC that eliminates the concept of waste. In this design strategy, all materials are viewed as continuously valuable, circulating in closed loops of production, use, and recycling."
VERY great work being done by these guys: www.mbdc.com/c2c_ee.htm
Sorry if this has gotten OT!
K -
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This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: Show me something marketed as zero emissions that really is zero emissions
Sat, October 20, 2007 - 3:04 PMThere's a great article in the latest issue of Co-op America Quarterly. It's an interview with William McDonough who, along with Michael Braungart, wrote Cradle to Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things. Unfortunately the article is not online yet. I'll give you the links to Co-op America and the Cradle to Cradle book, anyways.
www.coopamerica.org/
www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm
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