[Pil-pc-oceania] ABC opinion: Can we live with zero emissions?

Mon Mar 17 18:23:23 EST 2008

a good read kerry.

small aside, green-powered electric induction cooking is da bomb!
you can pickup one or two-pot portable induction cooktops relatively cheap
at decent asian supermarkets.
to me the instantaneous heating and temperature control is just as good as
gas, and safer.

andrew

On 17/03/2008, Kerry Dawborn <kj.dawborn at bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi Folks, thought you might find this message which was posted on the
> Public Transport Users Association list, interesting... It gives a detailed
> positive view of the potential future, and as writer Matthew Wright says, we
> already have the know-how to do this.....
>
> Highly recommended reading!
>
> Kerry
>
> -------- Original Message --------  Subject: [ptua] ABC opinion: Can we
> live with zero emissions?  Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:51:26 +1100  From:
> mediamonitor at ptua.org.au <mediamonitor at ptua.org.au><mediamonitor at ptua.org.au>  Reply-To:
> ptua at yahoogroups.com.au  To: ptua at yahoogroups.com.au
>
>   http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2186610.htm
>
> Can we live with zero emissions?
>
> Matthew Wright
>
> On February 21, the interim Garnaut Climate Change Review was
> released. It states: "It is in Australia's interest for the world to
> adopt a strong and effective position on climate change mitigation."
>
> Professor Garnaut also mentioned scenarios including what it would
> take if Australia was to be fair to developing countries and carry its
> historical burden to have a 50 per cent chance of meeting the long
> established EU goal of keeping warming under two degrees. To do this
> he suggested we would have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 90 per
> cent by 2050 - effectively, it's a zero emissions target.
>
> So what would life be like with zero emissions? Is it even possible?
>
> Yes it is, and here's how it looks...
>
> It all starts at home
>
> If your house was built after 2014, then you don't require any space
> heating or cooling as your house has been engineered to include
> passive solar design, as well as with enough thermal mass storage like
> concrete or rammed earth to get you warmly through many days of
> continuous cloud cover.
>
> Your water is heated purely by an evacuated tube solar system in the
> summer months and boosted by an electric heat pump in the winter
> months. Lighting is vivid and dimmable, using Light Emitting Diodes
> (LEDs), which use five per cent of the electricity consumed by today's
> lighting.
>
> There is no more gas in use, so if your house is of pre-2014 vintage
> it has been retrofitted to 8-star. The gas cooktop is gone, replaced
> by the European style induction cooktop, which cooks faster and gives
> better responsiveness than gas.
>
> Our electric ovens are triple glazed - you can put your hand on the
> front while the thermostat is up and not get burnt.
>
> Our televisions are Organic LED (OLED) display based. Sony has already
> released one and they use 10 per cent of the power of today's LCD
> flat-panel televisions.
>
> Computers use the technology of the latest laptops with OLED displays
> and consume around 80 per cent less power than today's desktops.
>
> Water collected from our roofs provides 100 per cent of our water.
>
> Getting energised
>
> Brown coal use ended in Victoria in 2014 and black coal was phased out
> in 2016 in the rest of the country.
>
> By now, wind power already contributes 40 per cent of total power
> generation and we see rapid growth in concentrating solar thermal
> plants (these boil water to drive steam turbines to make electricity).
> Gas was used to repower coal plants during the transition to a zero
> emissions energy sector, but by 2020 gas has been phased out totally.
>
> For energy security, reliable baseload and peak power demand, we use
> pumped hydro, compressed air storage, high temperature solar hydrogen
> storage, ammonia thermochemical storage and Phase Change Salt thermal
> batteries as well as flywheels and super-capacitors.
>
> In 2020, geothermal technology takes off, allowing Australia to
> continue exporting energy based products such as aluminium.
>
> Travelling and eating
>
> We get around by traditional bicycle, fully enclosed electric assist
> bicycles, public transport and private cars.
>
> Fast and frequent light and heavy rail account for 70 per cent of
> travel. Just like in the 1930s, trams and trains are now within 500
> metres of most homes in cities like Melbourne and Sydney. By 2020, a
> massive rail network using the latest engineering is rolled out across
> our cities and major urban centres.
>
> The streets are clean and there is no local air pollution in our cities.
>
> Asthma rates and air quality related mortality fall dramatically as a
> consequence.
>
> The vehicle fleet is a combination of electric vehicles (60 per cent)
> and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (40 per cent). Congestion charges
> and road taxes motivate most people to use public transport.
> Intercapital trips are on the $100 billion 400km/h fast rail system,
> which links Perth, Melbourne, Cairns and Darwin.
>
> International air flights are costly and are used to get from Darwin
> to Singapore. For trips to Europe or Africa, you take the Trans Asian
> Fast Train which links to the African Fast Rail. To get to the US, you
> take the Fast Train to Haerbin in China, then fly to Anchorage in
> Alaska eliminating all long haul flights. The only other flights are
> to small remote islands such as New Zealand and Iceland.
>
> Shopping centres have been upgraded for energy performance; slashing
> their power consumption by 80 per cent. As you enter any commercial
> centres you'll notice the addition of air-locks (two sets of doors) to
> keep the heat out or in.
>
> Energy used for production is listed on all foods, which are taxed
> based on their total life cycle energy input. Thus, vegetarian dishes
> are more popular, with the average family eating meat less than once
> or twice a week. Freight is almost exclusively done by rail, with
> shipping containers racing around the city on the tram network.
>
> Waste is expensive and we all have a compost bin. Community
> food-producing gardening has become a popular pursuit and means our
> cities import 50 per cent less food from rural areas.
>
> Entertainment is of course zero carbon, with the lights at the MCG
> being replaced by an array of thousands of high power LEDs.
>
> Farming is predominately organic. Soil carbon is also big business.
>
> Carbon dioxide is actually pulled out of the atmosphere by a process
> developed by the ancient South American Mayans called Bio Char. This
> involves cooking crop waste in the absence of oxygen and then using
> the synthetic gas to make biofuels for our plug-in hybrids and farm
> machinery. The by-product is the char, which takes carbon out of the
> atmosphere and even increases soil fertility. Farmers are paid for
> this, with the aim to return our atmospheric carbon to the pre
> industrial level of 270ppm.
>
> Forests stewardship is rewarded. Reforestation with indigenous species
> becomes a new land use, which corresponds with the reduced farming
> footprint of a more vegetable based diet.
>
> Recycling is about closing the loop. Usually 95 per cent of any
> product that comes to the end of its life after reuse is recycled.
>
> Mining and construction now predominately use electric vehicles and
> tools. Consequently, according to the unions, life expectancy of blue
> collar workers now exceeds that of the white collar work force. The
> Unions are also happy about how quickly the renewable energy industry
> has grown to over 100,000 workers.
>
> Materials are taxed according to their total life cycle, which means
> if management plans are not in place for mine tailings and industrial
> wastes, the costs are prohibitive, thereby promoting alternative
> materials.
>
> And the best bit?
>
> All the technology and know-how that was used to achieve this was
> commercially available at scale in 2007. I think we must make this
> change much sooner than 2050.
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-- 
Fact: To manufacture a 3 tonne car requires 50 tonnes of raw material.
Fact: In your lifetime you will eat 50 tonnes of food and produce 3 tonnes
of poo :)
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