Brian Posted June 16, 2017 For clarity, that's not smoke you can see beyond the house on the right side. Clouds form over the mountains across the valley. Sometimes you can sit on the porch and watch as they form, drift over and then rain on us. Pretty cool! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted June 16, 2017 1 hour ago, WuDao said: Two years ago, when I first met Tom, he'd lived up here for 8 yrs with no electricity/water/sewage. First years he built a 16x20 cabin, by hand, by himself. Woodstove heat, propane cooktop. Hauled general use water from a nearby lake in barrels, gathered rainwater, filled drinking water jugs at friends. That was our life, first year. (-: Then we married and decided to make this our home forever, so we'd need it easier soon (we're both in our 60s) so March last year we had a well drilled (200' through solid granite) and a septic system installed (the scars are almost grown back in with wildflowers!) and installed a solar system. Yay! Also built an addition, with a bathroom & bedroom, by hand, together. Sorry such a long answer. We're still off-grid, closest neighbour half mile away, have to plow our way out in winter & harvest, cut, split 7 cord of wood for winter - but those last two things we can hire out when we're old & feeble. Thanks for elaborating. I think that's great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted June 16, 2017 I did the log cabin, wood stove, chop wood, carry water" thing for some years in my early 20s -- prior to career, marriage, family, etc. When my commitments are fulfilled, I anticipate returning to that simpler and more grounded lifestyle, too. I'll probably just move further back into the mountains and fade away. In the meantime, here's a shot from this morning which shows how the clouds so often cling to the mountains: 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
windwalker Posted June 16, 2017 (edited) a temple in the mountains close to Hsinchu, Taiwan. very nice peaceful Edited June 16, 2017 by windwalker 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndoe2012 Posted July 3, 2017 On topic India renewable percent 2016 https://www.ibef.org/industry/power-sector-india.aspx 20% - 57244.23 MW / 280 GW Renewable energy capacity in China https://steemit.com/greenmovement/@livingdreams/is-china-really-the-leader-of-green-energy 2012: ~ 27% if I read correctly US, 2016: 10% of total energy consumption, 15% of electricity production https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=92&t=4 California, 2017: 40% of electricity production (only solar energy) https://phys.org/news/2017-04-california-solar-energy-power.html Compared to smaller countries Scotland 2015: 59% of electricity production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Scotland Denmark 2014: 57% of electricity production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Denmark 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelerner Posted July 3, 2017 Thanks for the Stats JohnD. Seems like some of the long awaited breakthroughs in Solar are finally becoming commercial. With rates near and in some cases below conventional sources. Now we need storage technology to catch up and we should see some positive developments in the next decade or two. Many countries (including the US) are using less oil each year. Cars are getting more efficient, old inefficient polluters are aging out. We can now get 60 'watts' of light from an 8 watt bulb, and that bulb (if led) will last 8 to 10 times longer. There are some good trends going on. It'd be nice to see some new paradigms in the housing. Seems like many of designs are not that much different then 50 years ago. I'd like to humongous mobile 3D fabricators 'printing' houses.. not just cookie cutter but individualistic then rolling on. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
windwalker Posted July 3, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, thelerner said: Many countries (including the US) are using less oil each year. Cars are getting more efficient, old inefficient polluters are aging out. We can now get 60 'watts' of light from an 8 watt bulb, and that bulb (if led) will last 8 to 10 times longer. There are some good trends going on. Kind of depends. The infrastructure will still have to be maintained. This means that people will pay more for less. Soon they will tax miles driven not gallons or liters consumed in gasoline. If all the people talk about saving energy do, and more people do this on their own, big brother wont have to regulate or legislate it to force people to do it. It always seem like those who talk about it, want others to do what they talk about while they themselves don't do it. " Back home in Tennessee, safely ensconced in his suburban Nashville home, Vice President Al Gore is no doubt basking in the Oscar awarded to "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary he inspired and in which he starred. But a local free-market think tank is trying to make that very home emblematic of what it deems Gore's environmental hypocrisy. Armed with Gore's utility bills for the last two years, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research charged Monday that the gas and electric bills for the former vice president's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours." http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/GlobalWarming/story?id=2906888 20 times the national average, I guess its not so much... wow 20 rooms, now I wouldn't be the one to say its a little much. But I do wonder what does one do with all the rooms.... I also wonder how many rooms he wants us to live in or what size house he feels should be big enough... Edited July 3, 2017 by windwalker 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted July 3, 2017 11 minutes ago, windwalker said: Kind of depends. The infrastructure will still have to be maintained. This means that people will pay more for less. Soon they will tax miles driven not gallons or liters consumed in gasoline. If all the people talk about saving energy do, and more people do this on their own, big brother wont have to regulate or legislate it to force people to do it. It always seem like those who talk about it, want others to do what they talk about while they themselves don't do it. " Back home in Tennessee, safely ensconced in his suburban Nashville home, Vice President Al Gore is no doubt basking in the Oscar awarded to "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary he inspired and in which he starred. But a local free-market think tank is trying to make that very home emblematic of what it deems Gore's environmental hypocrisy. Armed with Gore's utility bills for the last two years, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research charged Monday that the gas and electric bills for the former vice president's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours." http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/GlobalWarming/story?id=2906888 20 times the national average, I guess its not so much... Hard to take someone like Gore seriously when he's made millions off his supposedly altruistic mission and he lives like he doesn't believe what he preaches. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralis Posted July 4, 2017 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hawking-paris-climate-withdraw-damages-earth-irreversibly Quote Global warming is nearly irreversible, according to Cambridge professor and world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who spoke to BBC News about climate change and President Donald Trump this past weekend. “We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump’s action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuric acid,” he said. He said that by pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement to reduce CO2 emissions, Trump is causing “avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and for our children.” “Climate change is one of the great dangers we face and it’s one we can prevent if we act now,” he said. He went on to say that environmental issues are just intensifying human conflict, adding that he thinks people may have a limited number of days left on earth. “I fear evolution has inbuilt greed and aggression to the human genome. There is no sign of conflict lessening, and the development of militarized technology and weapons of mass destruction could make that disastrous. The best hope for the survival of the human race might be independent colonies in space,” he said. I agree with the bold sentence above, in that the push for rampant individualism as opposed to learning that we must all work together as a coherent system, will lead to the downfall of our species. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voidisyinyang Posted July 4, 2017 30 minutes ago, ralis said: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hawking-paris-climate-withdraw-damages-earth-irreversibly I agree with the bold sentence above, in that the push for rampant individualism as opposed to learning that we must all work together as a coherent system, will lead to the downfall of our species. yes yet maybe Hawking has not read E.O. Wilson's book "The Social Conquest of Earth." People confuse culture with ecology - so Hawking thinks the last 10,000 years apparently is human biology but modern humans have existed for over 100,000 years. haha. Oh well. I mean people can be geniuses in their own field but interdisciplinary analysis is not favored in our culture. Yeah and reading takes times - it takes a big investment. Even E.O. Wilson is good but does not know enough about modern culture. My undergrad was in sustainable development - a brand new "option" in International Relations. So I took a third biology, a third economics and a third political science to all be integrated. What did I discover? Those three disciplines all lied about each other to prop up their own propaganda. But who could I turn to about my discovery? No one. haha. You know that Stephen Hawking shared his office in "mathematical physics" with the great Peter Wadhams? But no one has heard of Peter Wadhams! Did you know that Peter Wadhams got fired from being the director of Arctic Ice Research at Cambridge!! He is the world's top expert on Arctic Ice - he led 50 expeditions to study the Arctic ice melting - and why did he get fired? Because he said the Arctic will be ice free for the first time in 3 million years - probably in one year or two years at the latest. No one wants to hear that!! Because if it is true - it also means a 50 gigaton burst of methane is going to let loose. So Wadhams is at a college in Ireland now. He got demoted for telling the truth. haha. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted July 5, 2017 very interesting stuff... better than going to news outlets at this point. I had a few reactions/thoughts: 1. We do really need to get away from oil and I think that is happening slowly with better technology and other sources. It can't happen fast enough and I think it won't anyways. 2. I agree with Ralis agreement on the bolded text... our built in kill switch seems within reach on some level. But our species will end one way or another... and rise again. Eon's of such cycling through nature shows as much. 3. The whole climate change thing is a kind of quasi-nothing-burger for me. Climate is irreversible because population is also, and the kill switch creeps closer due to reasons mentioned. I am certain the climate is changing and as certain it has always changed... no argument there. The last ice age was 11,000 years ago. What will be telling is how long will it be to the next cycle of cooling or warning... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
26sol Posted July 7, 2017 On 5/7/2017 at 3:47 AM, dawei said: But our species will end one way or another... and rise again. Eon's of such cycling through nature shows as much. I agree the fall is inevitable but should we fall saying oh well all is Dao what can you do,or must we fight a fight that can't be won just for the shake of trying? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jetsun Posted July 7, 2017 There is unlimited energy available us through the sun, through the tides, it is only a matter of time until we harness it. Many countries are going to be moving to 100% renewables in the near future. Northern European countries will be the first and then others will follow. The energy companies are going to do whatever they can to slow this down so they retain their power and profit, but without our reliance on oil we can finally stop propping up dispicable regimes in the Middle East, stop fighting wars for resources. It may sound idealistic but it is potentially very close if everyone gets on board as a popular movement, no need for us to mindlessly destroy ourselves. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndoe2012 Posted July 7, 2017 Moving to 100% renewables is not enough to stop climate change. If CO2 is the prime mover behind the temperature increase then you need CO2 removal plants, hundreds of thousands of them. https://futurism.com/a-plant-1000-times-more-efficient-at-co2-removal-than-photosynthesis-is-now-active/ 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted July 7, 2017 We need someone with supernatural powers to stop the Earth from tilting on its axis. Atlas used to do that. But I guess he has gone AWOL. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
