Sustainable Electricity

Near the mountains where I grew up, the Elwha River dam, is being decommissioned (removed) to give wild salmon a chance again. The dam’s removal reflects the kind of proactive policymaking necessary to restore critical habitat for certain fish populations and the ecosystems and people they support. This is a bold move in a part of the world where electricity is primarily generated by hydroelectric dams.

Sustainable C wonders what lessons removal of the Elwha dam will have for other countries, particularly countries (like Sweden) that rely heavily on hydropower (for example, to meet “carbon neutral” goals), despite the awareness that doing so depletes non-renewable natural resources. Certainly nuclear power, which carries clear risks demonstrated by the Fukushima tragedy in Japan, is not the answer. 

It would seem that aggressive investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy storage devices are the only answers that can balance the needs and desires of both nature and humankind. Sustainable C will be on the look out for inspirational energy policy alternatives to nuclear and hydro. Stay tuned!

More information on the Elwha River dam’s history and removal is available in a 5-minute video on the Olympic National Park’s website. 

End of Free Rides for Airline Emissions

Earlier on Sustainable C (“Solar Flight in Sight”, 10 June 2010), we looked at the potential benefits of solar flight. Such flight would eliminate extensive greenhouse gas emissions from jet fuel. For me (and for many of my friends), jet fuel emissions from flights to vacation destinations constitutes most of my carbon footprint. Thus, even though I commute by public transportation instead of car, the jet fuel emitted on my vacations gives me a carbon footprint equivalent to someone who commutes by car for an entire year.

Thoughtful travelers may of course decide to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon offsets or by climate compensating their trip. Some “cheap ticket” websites even allow passengers to add such climate compensation to their cart when they purchase a ticket. Climate Care  is one such organization that offers offsets on these websites and independent of them. It is easy and worth looking into if you are interested in offsetting future plane travel.

Now, though, all flights to Europe may be charged for their impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and air quality. According to Euroactiv, the European Union is considering charging airlines for their greenhouse emissions when they fly to Europe. The move by the EU has been challenged by China, and may be subject to diplomatic negotiations. From the Sustainable C perspective, however, charging airlines (and their passengers) for emissions is just common sense. Airlines, like all other greenhouse gas-intensive industries, should be held accountable for their impacts on climate and air quality. The policy move appears to level the playing field for airlines, which have until now enjoyed a free ride.

Fertilized & sustainable crops, sanitary & sustainable cities

What do you get when you take a Chinese, Japanese and Korean historic solution to sanitary city living and use it as a modern solution for fertilizing the crops that support cities? Humanure. The catch is that this is no joke.

Humanure is a word coined by Joseph Jenkins that refers to the idea that composting human waste for use as fertilizer may be the key to sustainable farming. What is more, using human waste as fertilizer may be the key to sustainable cities, from a sanitary and environmental standpoint.

Though the idea sounds radical, it is in fact nothing new under the sun. At the turn of the last century, the process was used in China, Japan and Korea. Entire (lucrative) markets were built up around so-called ”night soil”. It was one of the reasons that in the year 1900, Tokyo (then called Edo) was one of the largest cities in the world. Folks living there did not suffer from diseases such as cholera and typhoid because human excrement was not mixed in with other waste that ran through street canals. The city was therefore much more sanitary than most and folks lived healthier lives.

What is the punchline today? It is that these ideas could be used again to solve the problem of a growing world population that requires increasing amounts of food to feed. After all, why let factories continue to mine and pump out fertilizers—nearly 100 million tonnes of artificial nitrogen and 37 million tonnes of phosphates—when fertilizers can be more easily obtained on the home front, quite literally?

All joking aside, we live in dramatic times. Dramatic times call for thinking out of the box, at least, and radical new solutions at best. For those interested in taking a closer look at the at-first-glance radical concept of using waste for sustainable agriculture and sanitary cities, Sustainable C highly recommends that read this excellent article by Kris De Decker.