It’s coming. The tidal wave of green design, energy generation and lifestyle choices seems unstoppable at this point. According to iSuppli, for instance:
Worldwide investments in the production of Photovoltaic (PV) cells will rise to the same level as those for semiconductor manufacturing by 2010, due to booming demand for solar energy, according to iSuppli Corp.
Meanwhile, in Europe engineers are re-designing their power grids into Smart Grids (though admittedly they won’t be on line until 2050).
One of my favorite out-of-the-box design ideas is the Nano Vent-Skin designed by Agustin Otegui. His idea is to wrap existing and new buildings in a “skin” that is made of thousands of tiny wind turbines. Um, wow!
And then there are the smaller-scale changes, like those made by the Redmond family in Virginia. Those might still be the hardest to implement on a wider scale. When environmental activists shake their collective heads and wonder why more people aren’t making lifestyle changes and rallying in the streets for more alternative energy, I don’t share their bewilderment. Although we work hard to live simply in our own home, I am one of those who will admit to often being overwhelmed and paralyzed by the vastness of the problem. Still, the surge in stories like these have left me feeling much more hopeful lately.
Last fall, Miles and I attended an event in NYC featuring two of our favorite scientists — Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye (yes, that wacky Science Guy). During their presentation, there were a few main strands of discussion — the shocking decline in science education in the United States, the possibility of the existence of life on Mars (everyone should hear Dr. Tyson riff on this once in their lives), and climate change.
Nye is a passionate environmental activist, and you might expect him to wiggle an accusatory finger and admonish us all to radically alter our lives to save the planet, but you’d be wrong. First off, Nye reminded us that this is not even about saving the planet. “Earth will be just fine,” he reminded us, there just might not be any humans on it. So, he concluded, what we’re really talking about is saving our species.
But Nye is a realist, he understands American culture. He is sympathetic to the soccer mom with the minivan — after all, she might have once been one of the excited kids watching his show who proclaimed that “Science Rules!” back in the day. Instead, he scolded the scolders, noting that Americans don’t want to be told to “do less with less.” His mantra? “Do MORE with LESS.” He loves watching his electric meter run backwards as his house generates power, eating great food from his own garden. When you hear Nye talk about this stuff, it’s evident that doing more with less can leave one practically giddy, and really, is that a bad thing? It sure beats lying awake in bed at night imagining you can hear the latest unimaginably huge chunk of the Antarctic ice shelf break off.
Not that I’ve ever done that.
We’re still in the baby steps stage at our house, but we’re getting there. We’ll keep on recycling every single thing we can because it’s fun to see how few garbage bags we can put out each week. I’ll keep dragging my reusable bags to the store and having the same conversation over and over with the cashiers (yeah, I know, they’re bigger, so they get heavier — it’s okay!) because the house feels lighter and cleaner when I’m not surrounded by crinkly plastic sacks after putting everything away. And you’ll pardon me if you see me sneaking yet another prideful peek at the blue glow of my new solar powered LED porch lights.
5 responses so far ↓
Expat Briton // June 26, 2008 at 2:18 pm |
I think one of the biggest barriers to the uptake of green energy in residential areas is people’s mobility now, as well. If it takes 10 or 15 years for those solar panels to pay for themselves, no one who’s only expecting to live in a home for 3-5 years is going to buy them. How you deal with this, I don’t know – some sort of tax credit/subsidized loan that can be rolled into the value of the mortgage seems to be the best idea. But it really needs to be made appealing to the short term owners, somehow.
Beth // June 26, 2008 at 6:41 pm |
I was listening to Thom Hartmann yesterday or the day before, broadcasting from Copenhagen..and they were having this discussion about the smart grid type technology, and storing excess energy in car battery cells–I was floored by the concept…I love systems which allow the participants to reap the majority of the benefits.
And soon, I will be knitting my bags for the grocery store. Its a new pattern made with super cheap cotton. Perhaps I will make some for you!
xo
Rachel // June 26, 2008 at 11:12 pm |
EB – valid point, but something to consider is that the time horizon of amortizing the cost of solar panels will naturally fall as oil/gas/electricity becomes more expensive and as the products themselves become cheaper as more people purchase them and economies of scale are reached. I’m keeping a close eye on prices here in Australia – they are falling; in the next few years, I expect that the decrease in solar panels (or PVCs), combined with the increases in expenses, will make this an economic decision for us.
FWIW, there’s a big subsidy here in Australia for solar panels – about half of the total costs of materials + installation.
Hillary: I think incremental change is a great way to engage in sustainable living, rather than the big sweeping changes. For example, getting a compost bin (or my ever-boasted about, ever-loved Bokashi bucket – god, I love my Bokashi. And I’ve halved our weekly garbage output!) to keep your food scraps from going to the landfill. Your noted use of cloth bags. Little things like that which requier only marginal (or minimal) changes day-to-day, but which get people thinking of the bigger picture.
FWIW, this is why I think your biz idea is genius – catering to the act-small-to-effect-big-change idea.
hillarykwiatek // June 27, 2008 at 11:20 am |
Thanks for your comments, friends! Rachel, the article about the price of PVCs coming down to parity with fossil fuels was the one that most excited me this week. Since up until now the US government has been unwilling to entertain the German or Australian model of massive subsidies for solar, that’s what it’s going to take.
There was also good news out of Florida this week: Not only has the state purchased 187,000 acres of land back from US Sugar to reclaim for the Everglades, but the power company there is installing three massive solar power systems that will together produce something like 200 MV of electricity.
Rachel // June 27, 2008 at 11:33 am |
How exciting on the Everglades! You know , one of the less-lauded things that Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Erwin did with his money was to buy up land in Northern Australia and preserve it. He was made an honorary son of an Aboriginal tribe for his efforts. I love this idea – even more than buying carbon offsets, I love the idea of just buying up acres and acres of land and letting it remain free and untrammeled.
I have a lot of hopes riding on an Obama presidency (I know, foolish me for being an idealist), but climate change and related issues are so high on my agenda. I’d love to see him throw masses of funding at projects like subsidizing solar.