Thoughts- Europe Possible Solar Source

It is only a short amount of time when this world will not be livable for any living creature to live on, causing us to maybe relocate somewhere else like Mars, but it is very ridiculous because we are just trying to avoid the problems that we have disturbed the environment’s life cycle. An important aspect to pay attention to is our energy crisis. With our energy crisis getting more intense, our world needs to consider using renewable energies. We need to consider using solar, nuclear, bio-fuel, wind, tide, and other renewable energies. Just like what MacKay says we need to say yes to renewable energy not like what we have been doing for a long time saying no.

Something interesting that MacKay brought up in Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air was that we could put solar panels in the Sahara Desert to help send solar power to energize all of Europe. So much solar energy could be generated from the Sahara desert that it could power the whole world. In fact there is already being propose by a company called Desertec. This could be an important project that could cut down Europe’s Carbon Footprint down significantly. But there are some concerns about having this project come through. It brings up a reoccurring topic that Europe and other Western countries have been relying on Africa for their resources. A specific event that could be remembered is when Belgium had control over the Congo Free State. It was only Belgium that had any benefit from their control over the Congo. Congo ended up not benefitting at all, but were being tortured, killed, or harassed. The Desertec Project has a similar aspect that Europe will benefit but Africa will not (but there will not be any tortured, killed, or harassed).

Even though it seems that there will not be an even outcome, there is a way to help benefit Africa. There could be a factory where citizens of Africa could work in, so people could have jobs and get paid. Also instead of having Europe have all the power, it could have some power be distributed to some parts of Africa. It is important that we do use renewable energy, but not make the same mistakes from the past.

Thoughts: Energy Efficiency

While watching the Deep Clean, during class, I thought it was really interesting about the architectural side of being sustainable with energy. I was surprise that China was making great progress in trying to use sustainable practices. When people think of China, they usually think of how fast they are industrializing and the amount of oil plants are being produce. But hear that they are being more sustainable buildings and people trying to help become more activist toward the environment was a nice sigh of relief. I was also surprise to learn that building take up so much of our energy. It would be the least expected thing that I would expect would take up so much energy. After reading MacKay’s Without the Hot Air, it made more sense, for example he brings up the point how old houses are not energy efficient because they have little holes and cracks that would let the cold or hot air leak out of the house.

The OHSU (Oregon Health and Sciences University) is one of the greenest buildings nationally. It is over sixty-one percent more energy efficient than the require Oregon Code and LEED standards. What I found very impressive is how a place where medical research center and school could be so energy efficient. I would say that anything medical would get a pass-by for being sustainable because they have other things to worry about, but when a medical center like OHSU is sustainable, should mean that all buildings being built should be sustainable too. Even though it might cost more money to build, in the long run the electrical bill will be lower and you could save a lot of money and help contribute to a healthy earth.

It is amazing to see how much energy could be saved if people decide to use more sustainable practices. This will be an important component in a healthy and sustainable world. This week help me realize that maybe I should go back into architecture to create more energy efficient buildings that would also look really cool. I am looking forward to seeing what other sustainable practices will occur in the architecture world in the future.

Thoughts: Big Changes

It is important that people make changes for a more sustainable lifestyle for our future and for a healthier world. But if people just take baby steps, it will not be enough. People need to make big changes in the lifestyle in order for our world to have a future in which we will not destroy our lovely earth.

This is shown through David JC MacKay, Sustainable Energy-Without the Hot Air. For example BBC advice people on how doing a little bit can help save the planet like “switching off your mobile phone chargers when it’s not in use” (3) but MacKay says that a more realistic phrase is that “if everyone does a little, we’ll achieve only a little” (3). It is important for us humans to realize that making some small changes in our life will not be good enough for this world to achieve a sustainable and healthy world.

David also portrays why we have not been able to use alternative energy instead of using what we are currently depending on. He was able to come up with the maximum of 18kWh/d per person while using alternative energy compared to using 125kWh/d per person when using the typical energy that is polluting our earth (109). Through his graphs he shows how people make up lame excuses to change their lifestyle. For example an excuse for solar heating is that it does not have an appealing look. It is such a lame excuse because solar heating only will use 13 kWh/d compared to regular heating and cooling which is 37 kWh/d (109). This also demonstrates how people are not willing to change for the better of the earth because they are too lazy to change or they do not care.

While reading through MacKay’s Sustainable Energy-Without the Hot Air, it was obvious how we need to change our lifestyle in order for our earth to live a healthy life. But in order for this to happen we will have to make big changes, not small ones. It was interesting to see how using alternative energies can make a big difference in how much energy we are consuming. I think that this change could happen, the only problem is that we need more and more people educated about how they could make a difference to make this world a better place.

Thoughts: Big Companies

It is ridiculous how some of these big organizations have all of these rights to do what ever they want to do because they have so much power. It is unfair for the smaller independent businesses to have a say when all of these big companies can basically take them over because of how they can make cheaper products and can produce more bulk than smaller companies. This could be shown through a lesson in my business class. More than 90% of the businesses in the United States are small businesses yet over 90% of the revenue goes to these big corporations. This just helps demonstrates how powerful theses big corporations are.

This helps brings me to my attention about a significant event that took place in Seattle, Washington. There was a meeting with the leaders of the World Trade Organization because they do is “protect is business and growth, not people and the environment, with an underlying assumption that the wealthier a country becomes, the better it is able to protect its people and the environment” (121). There were 150,000 protesters protesting how these big corporations are bad. These protesters are important because they are just regular citizens and they use the nonviolent protesting principles from Gandhi. They held their ground in front of the police, while dealing with pepper spray, tear gas, and riot batons. When protesters needed medical attention, new protesters filled in. it is just ridiculous how these big companies deal with people that are right.

This is important to look back from history because this helps symbolize how these big corporations just use violence as a method to deal with their unsustainable flaws. They do not know how to deal with people that are right so that they instead use tear gas, pepper spray and riot batons to deal with protesters instead of doing the right thing and trying to hear what they have to say. The problem is that they do not want to change; these big corporations just want more money. In order for a more sustainable world, we need to support local businesses and our local economies. It might be expensive at first, but when more and more people start doing it, the price will eventually go down.

Here is a city that uses local living economy that I just happen to find recently

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M__BN7S5Xpw