The Mother of Invention

Since Cuba lost oil imports from the Soviet Union, they've had to overcome the loss and learn how to make the necessary adjustments to daily life, and the article focused on their education, medicine, housing and transportation. These are all facets of life we, too, face, and can perhaps learn from how they've handled the loss of oil and managed to build and maintain a sense of community. As far as medicine goes, they've done a great job at providing health care or some kind of medical attention to people. As it stands now, there's one doctor for every 167 people, and they emphasize providing preventive medicines, instead of trying to fix those who are already ill and perhaps getting worse. Their level of health is also very high, being that most folks walk or are active on a daily basis and have a good diet. For schooling, the ration is a 1:16 teacher student ratio, and 1:42 teacher - population ration. This is outstanding, and speaks loudly to the amount of attention students receive and the quality of their education. After the fuel loss, they couldn't use their cars, and what cars or vehicles were used were limited to public transportation, which utilized every available space to fit people. 2 million Chinese bikes were imported to help people get around; walking, carts, wheelbarrows and anything else that moves is used to transport goods and people from place to place. This has helped slow their lives down as they rely on more simplistic methods of transportation.

What's important about Cuba's situation is that they've truly managed to live without an abundant oil source. With that channel of energy closed off, they've clearly developed stronger communities and lived very well without the use of oils. The U.S. can certainly turn to Cuba's model for a simplistic standard of living.

Though Cuba is a lifestyle I'd certainly like to take up, there are some hiccups in the situation that are notable.
First, Cuba is very small in comparison to the U.S., being roughly the size of Pennsylvania. This in and of itself makes simpler, more eco-friendly transportation a viable option. With the number of (long) distance commuters today, switching to bikes or walking really is difficult. It isn't impossible for everyone; if people committed to biking farther, and maybe if work sites eliminated dress codes (it's okay to abandon the business attire after a 20 miles bike ride..) this could look better for those farther from work.

The author of the article also states how they identify better with the Cuban way of life (right on board with them there, it sounds wonderful); but they made a couple of comments (page 2 and 7) about the U.S.'s decision to ban visits to Cuba as efforts to keep us from learning about their culture. From what I've known and read about the embargo situation, it's more of a statement against their political platforms than our reluctance to learn from their successful standards of living. We've sacrificed some great learning opportunities here, and considering our current oil addiction, we should be taking notes, but I think this is a result, not the purpose of the ban on Cuba. Hopefully, all will be settled sooner than later and we can openly visit and apply some of their principles to our society as we face a similar crisis.

A question I have is, not whether the principles of Cuban living can be applied to us, because I think they can be, but rather, can these be applied to our society as a whole given the number of factories, buildings, machinery, developed areas we have. To stop cold turkey is seemingly ideal, but is the simplistic life really attainable for us? Have we compromised that opportunity?

AH, do we need to physically eliminate the areas/machines/vehicles that use the resources we don't have so we can finally learn to live without them? Like taking the whole cookie jar away so we don't have the temptation of grabbing from it. Hopefully not that extreme.

Also, I liked the Cuban phrase, "Necessity is the Mother of invention". I totally agree with this, or at least I think necessity should be the driving force of invention. I'm reading a book on the philosophy behind capitalism, and it discusses the relationship between innovation (invention) and profit. It reads,
"From the point of view of an individual, a successful innovation is a source of profit. From the point of view of the community, a successful innovation is an engine for progress" (Pejovich 3).

These two approaches seem to represent our two cultures; the Cuban phrase shows that necessity is what ignites progress and innovation, whereas for us in our economic system, profit ignites innovation, not necessarily necessity. One might argue that profit is a necessity, which, to some degrees it is, but there are limits to that approach.

Eating Fossil Fuels

I seemed to have combined the homeworks, but here is my summary with some additions:

The article from Eating Fossil Fuels, Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture touched base on a few topics concerning fossil fuels. Predicting where the peak oil point was attempted by Dr. King Hubbert, saying that it would peak in the 1970’s, and he was able to calculate this because of his experience in developing production curves. His estimate was correct, and it has been on the decline since. Finding reliable and available data is possible, like through Petroconsultants, but other organizations like USGS have not provided realistic data. Because we are at the peak production point, instead of finding locations abundant with oil, many smaller pockets have been tapped into to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, demand has remained high, and the supply is being depleted. The use of natural gas is possible, being that it’s less costly, but the decline rate is much faster than that of oil, at “five to ten percent, compared to oil’s two or three percent” (36). Also, agriculture has had its own detrimental effects, but fossil fuels have only furthered the problem. In North Korea, they experienced a shortage in hydrocarbons and fuels because they depended on the Soviet Union for their supply. They saw several declines in markets, and the agricultural collapse correlated with the petroleum decline. Because they didn’t have access to the fuels needed, crops suffered. They didn’t have the adequate amounts of fertilizer to continue growth, and amounts of fuels used for agriculture went from 120,000 tons of diesel fuel per year down to 25,000-35,000 tons (46). The DPRK’s collapse poses as a model for what can be affected by an energy crisis, and is something we should seek and implement alternatives as soon as possible.

Our dependence on fossil fuels to power our agricultural system for production makes us very vulnerable. If any element of the power needed is gone, then the entire system compromise. As we discussed in class for a bit today, we’ve lost the knowledge and skillsets vital to producing and growing without such an intense reliance on fossil fuels (fertilizers, electricity, machinery, etc). Until these skills can be re-learned and practiced, we’re putting ourselves in a fragile position.

The DPRK model is an actual event that should be ringing louder in our society’s ears. The results of their energy crisis can help us plan ahead better so if this should happen (which at this rate we’re looking at our own energy crisis in the face) we can avoid some of the problematic situations they experienced.

some GOOD ideas

One of my favorite magazines, however "trendy" it might be it has some great things to say!

Some investing approaches to localizing:
http://www.good.is/post/slow-burn/

Driving at 55 :

http://www.good.is/post/you-can-drive-55/

Joyriding

1. Write a thoughtful response/summary of the reading.The first article, Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture touched base on a few topics concerning fossil fuels. Predicting where the peak oil point was attempted by Dr. King Hubbert, saying that it would peak in the 1970’s, and he was able to calculate this because of his experience in developing production curves. His estimate was correct, and it has been on the decline since. Finding reliable and available data is possible, like through Petroconsultants, but other organizations like USGS have not provided realistic data. Because we are at the peak production point, instead of finding locations abundant with oil, many smaller pockets have been tapped into to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, demand has remained high, and the supply is being depleted. The use of natural gas is possible, being that it’s less costly, but the decline rate is much faster than that of oil, at “five to ten percent, compared to oil’s two or three percent” (36). Also, agriculture has had its own detrimental effects, but fossil fuels have only furthered the problem. Having available electricity to run machinery and irrigation, the upkeep of aging tractors and equipment while still trying to provide fuel to run them,
The second article, Joyride, described the various problems that stem from the use of cars. When streetcars were originally in use, corporations such as GM sought to eliminate public transportation and replace it with private. Mass transit wasn’t going to rake in the profit cars could by needing roads (from taxes) and such. This created a new market of personal cars, which then led to other markets, such as housing. Because public transportation was not receiving adequate funds to stay in business, Americans developed a goal set on having a car for every family or person. The result was convenient travel. Driving out of the city to the country side led to the ever growing suburbia. It allowed people to commute to the city, while returning to the comforts of their lovely home. Unfortunately, the mortgage system was faulty and allowed people to buy houses they couldn’t afford. Also, farming changed quite a bit because of the new availability of farm machinery. This increased production, but provided a supply far greater than the demand, dropping prices, and making it difficult for farms to continue in business.

2. Answer the following two questions:a. How did the car/tractor shape American culture and American’s lifestyle?
It cultivated this idea that everyone needed that personal space, a way to get somewhere at one’s own convenience. It settled in with this “American” dream of receiving rewards for going through a difficult time. However, after the depression and war, life’s difficulties weren’t as pronounced, yet people were still demanding material goods at escalating rates. A car jumped into production once again after the war, and from this suburbia was born. Cars have ultimately provided the beginning frameworks for class status and separations.

3. Three thoughtful questions.One of the quotes that really struck me as important, and is in line with what I’ve been struggling in my own thought life lately, is “Profit justifies existence”. Clearly, our country and society has utilized profitability as a means for continuing bad habits and decisions; can we envision and actually reshape our culture to where quality really does replace the push for quantity?

Could we, if we reached a point where implementing this was feasible, reduce the number of cars considering the number of suburban communities? Because the distance from homes and shops/groceries, etc. is pretty extensive, can we adjust our culture to fit bikes or walking, or have we already missed that opportunity?

TED Talks!

relatively short and interesting as a business major - glad to see someone in something like the tile business, and has upheld some accountability for his business over the years!

Ray Anderson - Green Entrepreneur
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability.html

Chapter Six

With the increasing use of fuels, industries have been able to utilize these resources to improve the transportation of information. Over time, various of methods of transporting goods and information have gone from traveling by train (which was, and has remained very helpful in highly populated areas like cities), ships, and cars. Ships have been able to transport large quantities of goods, though they burn more fuel, they can carry heavy loads. He mentioned the use of bycicles, which is the fastest, most energy efficient way of moving for people. Airplanes have also made a significant contribution to the movement of goods, people, and information. With the rate of technology improving, computer chips and internet (powered by fossil fuels) can now be easily used to transfter information, and the use of aiprlanes, or trains are helpful in moving goods and people around.

anaerobic- living or active in the absence of free oxygen;

The economy can become more efficient through transportation because engineers can develop new designs that allow machines (cars, trains, planes, etc.) to travel farther on less fuel. What this does, however, is increase popularity among them, and transportation use increases, generates more revenue and use, and then the fuel use increases, too. As demand grows, new designs are made to imrpove efficiency levels.

Communication opens up conversations and idea-swapping between countries as they experiment and implement programs, new machines and models, to reduce energy use. Reducing energy consumption isn't something to be made secret and exclusive to the country using it, but rather, they're sharing new methods of efficiency. With the internet as widely used as it is, and the transportation available to make lives far more convenient, innovative designs and ideas can be more easily shared and fine tuned to fit the needs of a country, as well as the global community and environment.

Recently, Dan Morse showed me a blog that showed that 600,000 people in Denmark biked to work by 12:30 pm, being the most widely used method of transportation there. I'll try to find the link for that!

Fossil Fuels

Chapter five describes the progression from earlier uses of fossil fuels, to more complex and technologically advanced methods of generating electricity. Smil recognizes that the food supplies available have risen significantly, and because of the increased use of fossil fuels, alternatives will be needed in time, though it will be a gradual adjustment. Picking up from the innovations of preindustrial society, he shows that it did not take long for countries to enter the booming market for coal. Coal, natural gases, and crude oils have found their own markets, and since then, drilling sites and pipelines have extended their use worldwide. Energy sources also include turbines, which have contributed to the design of engines, or electric motors, which could turn electric currents into rotary motions. As technologies constantly introduced newer, more efficient designs for electric use and power, there are environmental damages to be answered to.

Prorate- To divide, distribute, or assess proportionately.

Armature- The rotating part of a dynamo, consisting essentially of copper wire wound around an iron core.

Nuclear reactors and hydro-turbines are in this chapter because they’ve contributed to increased electrical use. With fertilizer, it produces nitrogen, a natural gas, which is related to the fossil fuel topics of the chapter.

I tried to look into the Sanxia Dam in China he made note of, and found some sites, though I did find an article on JSTOR that briefly discussed that there were faulty areas of the dam. Here is a general overview about it though

http://www.china-hiking.com/ThreeGorges/1.htm

Canine

Coal is being burned at a faster rate, for a lower price. Where companies need to upgrade or even rebuild their plants entirely, they’ve made plans to build more plants to meet the demand for this accessible energy source. Unfortunately, the CO2 emissions are still climbing, and many environmentalists think “that coal simply has no acceptable future as a major energy source” (2). Because of the current CO2 levels in the atmosphere, innovative technologies are looking to “enable a new breed of coal-fueled power plants to ‘capture’ CO2 and other pollutants efficiently and economically” (2); if building more plants can’t be stopped, at least limiting their emissions is a potential alternative. Once captured, the gas would be pumped to the ground for storage. This is a more feasible approach in a gasification plant opposed to regular power plant because the gases are already going through a separation process.

The IGCC plants are catching a lot of attention because they remove SO2, NOx, and mercury before coal is combusted, reducing the pollutants by “90%” (7). The new approach is certainly a helpful alternative to decreasing the amount of pollutants in the air. Since there aren’t regulations on CO2, capturing isn’t as vital, but if need be, these plants would be more equipped to do so than regular power plants. These generate heat to turn a turbine, and with the excess heat, a second turbine can be turned, too. The system is “15% more efficient to run than a conventional power plant” (7). Unfortunately, the higher cost for investing in this new technology has deterred utility companies from adopting the method. This, would in turn, “handicap the country’s ability to compete with India and China” (7), and proposals have been rejected on the grounds that it needed “maturation”, was “too expensive” and may cause initial price increases for electricity to cover the costs of starting an IGCC plant.

Gasification: a flexible, reliable, and clean energy technology that can turn a variety of low-value feedstocks into high-value products

Can conventional coal plants be converted into the IGCC plants?

Pre-Industrial Societies

Chapter four goes through all various sources and uses of energy in pre-industrial societies. Methods used progressed from one's manual labor in gathering and hunting,to agriculture, to the use of animals, then to machinery device whose designs became more complex and efficient in time. Smil shows the reader this progression from basic to complex, as people sought to increase efficiency and production and describes the basic functions and output of things like horsepower, waterwheels, wind mills, and blast furnaces. Eventually, the use of metals was introduced and used for the production of various materials. Each progression was done so to support larger populations and produce more goods.

mizzen sails/mast - the third mast, or the mast immediately aft of the main-mast. Typically shorter than the fore-mast.

phytomass-plant biomass

The ultimate source of energy in pre-industrial society....I'd have to say that for some time, manual labor, whether by people or animal, was the ultimate source of energy because it was through this kind of work that crops could be harvested, wood chopped, seeds sown, and so on. But also, wood was an essential source for energy because of its heat and ability to burn.

The windmill was an innovation that has since progressed very far. I like this one because the overall construction of it with the use of wood and man power had to be challenging; they had to develop the most efficient design possible with the materials available. The book mentions that "the cubic wind speed...is proportional to the height above the ground raised to the power of 0.14" (124). Current turbines can range anywhere from 27m to 60m, and there's a new technology of wind power that works 1000' in the air:

http://www.magenn.com/

Certainly, having all the resources needed to make more advanced machinery is advantageous, but since people in the preinudstrial societies were limited in this way, they had to progress at a perhaps slower rate with what animal, man, or machine power they had.

China's electricity use

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/12/16/business/global/16chinanuke_graphic.html

Acid Rain

Both the articles, Acid Rain in China, and Chronic and Episodic Acidification, identified a growing problem, acid rain, and discussed causes, effects, and the research involved in resolving this issue. In China, vehicle and coal use has increased their emissions (which were about 22 million metric tons in 2003) and since 2003, these numbers have only increased while industry, population, and more are all increasing at an intimidating rate. The article also states that China’s annual growth rate for coal consumption is ~20% (419)…I tried going to China’s national statistics website to find updated statistics on China’s energy use, but unfortunately it can only be accessed through purchased reports. Regardless, it can be assumed the statistics for China’s consumption have since increased. Acid rain is located in Southern and Southwestern China and one of the most polluted areas was Chongquing. According to the World Health Organization’s profile of China, “Acid rain has been reported to be mainly distributed in areas south of the Yangtze River. The areas seriously affected cover about 30% of China (5)” and 74% of Chinese people “live in areas where air quality does not meet standards” (5) here is the site link to the report from June of 2005: http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/1BAA5515-9571-4383-BA1D-169BDD4A8C38/0/China_EHCP_EHDS_9jun05.pdf

In the second article, the researchers conducted a survey design with a population of accessible streams within a 3 part criteria; a sample of 200 randomly selected streams, and they conducted samplings during selected seasons and intervals. From this, they used calculations of BCS (base-cation surplus) and DOC indicators (dissolved organic carbon) as well as ANCg (acid-neutralizing capacity by Gran titration, http://web.mit.edu/mpinney/MacData/afs.mpinney/MacData/afs.course/1/1.75/OldFiles/www/Lecture8AlkalinityPaper.pdf

which measures water’s acid-base status and Ph, but for the purpose of this research design, BCS was a more effective measurement for acidic deposition (2271).

Essentially, both articles addressed the issue of lacking data; the Adirondack stream study didn’t have adequate data collection that could truly represent the presence or effects of acid rain, and in China, “more studies are needed on the impacts on forests and ecosystems” (424). Acid rain is happening. The research looks to find ways to neutralize the acidic levels, as well as identify and hopefully eliminate root causes. What this issue calls for is “willingness to establish environmental policies” (424), more extensive studies and data, and monitoring. Monitoring has been greatly improved for China, and the WHO stated that the cases they oversaw “represents improvement over the last seven years” (5).

In the Adirondack streams study, the last sentence on 2273 says “additional studies will be needed…” to measure stream sensitivity to acid, curious - what kinds of studies would help?

After the Global Climate Discussions in Copenhagen in December, where does, if at all, acid rain stand on China’s agenda for emission reduction? I found this brief article about closing small coal power plants: http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=1797

Eutrophication-is a process whereby water bodies, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow-moving streams receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/r/raindrops-sisson-295322-xl.jpg - - this is pretty sweet – it’s on my screen saver, but didn’t realize what was until now

Marcellus Shale

The article by Daniel J. Soeder and William M. Kappel presents a general overview of what the Marcellus Shale and its estimated productivity, and the potential and current problems associated with water usage. This natural gas resource extends from Southern New York to West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio. This fine-grained shale was estimated to produce 50 TCF (trillion cubic feet) of natural gas by Terry Engelder and Gary Lash, but the estimate was later increased to 363 TCF by the Chesapeake Energy Corporation. To obtain more from this resource, “higher permeability flow paths” need to be made, and is usually done through a process called “hydrofrac” or “stimulation”. Essentially, water creates pressure, which fractures the rock and allows the gas to flow more freely toward the well.
This process requires significant amounts of water and supplies. Not only is finding a reliable water supply source in important, but carefully, and effectively removing contaminants can be exceedingly difficult. The hdyrofrac-treatments pose threats to local communities, both to residential areas and to watersheds, cause erosion on roads, and disposing of the waste water properly. Various solutions and alternatives are being considered.

Viscosity-the resistance to flow
Proppant – “sized particles mixed with fracturing fluid to hold fractures open”

A vital aspect of this article is the question of water supply and disposal. “Many state agencies have been cautious about granting permits” (Soeder 5) because answers to the process of de-contaminating the water after fracturing hasn’t been taken care of yet. Any compromise to safe drinking water is grounds for serious questioning. I read in the New York Times in December, here is the link to the article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08water.html
that New York has already violated laws concerning water quality; the Marcellus Shale may only add to that current problem. The article stated that in hydrofrac fluid, chemical additives are less than 0.5 percent by volume (Soeder 4) and with the larger hydrofrac treatments, a 3 million gallon job could yield “15,000 gallons of chemicals in the waste” (Soeder 4).
Hmm...I’m not sure if I necessarily question the validity or reliability of the sources, but I did notice that Daniel Soeder cited himself from a paper he wrote in 1988, as well as P.E. Potter and a couple of other authors for the final report in 1982 for the U.S. Department of Energy. In Soeder’s paper in 1988, he cites the same final report from Potter, so I wonder if these are perhaps outdated in some way. Being unfamiliar with geology, I’m unsure how constant some information is year to year.

How big is the Barnett Shale in Fort Worth? I couldn’t quite find the size, but in this article it states that it takes “up to 3 million gallons” of water to hydrofrac, but in Robert Francis’ article, he states that Barnett used 248 million gallons.

What did the Chesepeake Energy Corporation do differently to provide an estimate so much higher than the two professors?

The ‘effectiveness of standard wastewater treatments on these fluids is not well understood” (5)…Not effective, or successful, makes sense to me, but curious how and why exactly aren’t they understood?