Energy

Comment

Comment by John Robertson on August 2, 2010 at 6:58am

Hi Rob
I will need to follow up on this with you or your company to determine what additional equipment I need to make the system work.
I am working busy with construction right now of the porch which will be the platform for the solar collector. The solar will be part of the next stage of construction.

Comment by Rob Baxter on August 1, 2010 at 9:12pm

Hi John,
I work for a company that sells and installs solar hot water systems. We always see systems with either overheat protection built into the collector or a heat dissipater in the loop and connected to the controller.

If you like you can purchase these products from us.

It is unfortunate that people are selling evacuated tube collectors without the proper controls and peripheral equipment.

Comment by John Robertson on August 1, 2010 at 8:48pm

evacuated tube hot water heater
I expect to install this unit when I finish building my back porch. A similar unit (owned by a friend) overheated and now leaks. I was told I needed an expansion tank and other controls to prevent this. Anyone have any experience with this technology?

Comment by Trevor Hirsche on July 6, 2010 at 4:14pm

Ross, I think meeting to discuss this would be a great idea. Evenings work best for me in general. Randy, I'd be very interested to see the calculations you've done so far, and I'm at UBC every day anyway so meeting with Bill Rees would be relatively easy for me. I really hope that this can be a tool to help people make strategic lifestyle (and policy) changes to have the largest impact possible. That said, a lot of related work has already been done in this area, so it might just be a matter of putting everything in one place and in a user-friendly format.

Comment by Randy Chatterjee on July 6, 2010 at 3:17pm

Trevor, This is a project that most interests me as well. I have my own spreadsheet that calculates my total, all sources energy use plus a few minimal offsets (mostly urban agriculture). I have collected various scientific data on the carbon footprint of transportation, including long-distance travel by air, rail, bus, and car.

There are many judgment calls, such as whether riding transit has a carbon cost. I think it should, as demand induces increased supply. Whether riding a diesel bus or on the concrete-enshrouded RAV Line, there is a cost to the environment either way. We would be remiss in ignoring it.

We should I believe not get too hung up in very minor details, but we must try to be comprehensive, and seek to reward and punish many different behaviours. For instance, an urban chicken enthusiast's 3 eggs a day may only offset her carbon footprint by ten pounds of CO2 per year (wild ass guess), but IMHO this is an important contribution on so many other levels that it is worth counting anyway.

After we meet once and assemble what we have, I want to organize a group to visit Bill Rees at UBC to get his input. I think this is an important project with a very high potential profile. We have to do the best we can, and maybe we can get some help or pointers from the academe.

After we create this new, broader measure, I believe the real value VV brings to the table is in both measuring and IMPLEMENTING change to our footprint--within at least 400 of our membership. The multiplier effect of what VV can do grows every day.

Comment by Rob Baxter on July 6, 2010 at 9:47am

references for emissions from cement and steel:
http://www.carbonwarroom.com/battle/cement-and-steel
http://www.buildinggreen.com/features/flyash/appendixa.cfm

Comment by Ross Moster on July 5, 2010 at 1:08pm

What if we hold a brainstorming session (possibly as part of next Energy meeting?) to help whoever is interested (Trevor, etc.) get going?

Comment by Trevor Hirsche on July 4, 2010 at 1:04pm

At the last energy group meeting I volunteered to take the lead on coming up with an energy use calculator. The idea was to help individuals better understand how they are consuming energy, so that they can chose the most effective ways to reduce their energy use. I began by taking an inventory of existing on-line energy use and ecological footprint calculators, and trying to build on the strengths of the best ones. I feel that most of them are not detailed enough to allow individuals to really track their progress as they make changes. This is looking like it will be a bigger project than I had initially thought, and I would love to work with other people so that I can get it done in a more efficient manner. Is anyone interested in helping me out? If so, perhaps we could arrange a meeting to get started.

Comment by John Robertson on July 3, 2010 at 7:57am

My view of energy descent is that we make investment individually or as a society in systems or infrastructure that reduce our consumption of non-renewable energy. Better windows or roof insulation for example.

I think that concrete and steel are necessary elements for infrastructure investment that could lead to energy descent depending on what use they are put to. Less durable materials need continual renewal and for a given purpose may ultimately have a higher cost to the environment than building with concrete.

The Pantheon in Rome was built largely out of concrete in 118-125 AD and has been in use ever since. Whatever C02 was produced in its construction now seems justified. It is the use that materials are put to that seems relevant. We need to build with a view to conserving energy and long-term sustainability.

The transition movement has become popular because it focuses on what individuals can do in terms of energy descent. There are various prescriptions for how our society should change but the mechanism for that change is the political party.

My interest in this group is in hearing what investments people are making in their home or elsewhere to reduce their future energy consumption.

Comment by Rob Baxter on July 2, 2010 at 11:12am

richard,

Cement production releases CO2 in two ways. It is released from the combustion of fossil fuels used to operate the kiln but is also released as part of the chemical process of calcining limestone into lime.

Cement accounts for 1.6 billion tons of CO2 emissions each year. Steel only accounts for 0.78 billion tons per year.

A lot of people would probably be shocked to learn that here in the lower mainland there are train cars full of coal being brought in to be burnt and produce cement.

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