SustainYou

First introduced to us by the Beautiful Daryl Hanna. Check out her site for more good info.

The IPCC newest report released today determines with 80% certainly that Climate Change is happening now and it is radically altering ecosystems. 

World scientists are confirming with statistical certainly what we new all along - our earth is warming.  Now it is time for us inhabents of the earth to act! 

IPCC 4th Report Summaries:

Grist

Treehugger

NY Times

The carbon balance in traditional cement and concrete construction is tremendous.  A strong and insulated wall is not enough!  Sustainable building must comfort its inhabitents and tread lightly on the earth when built. 

Harmful minerals such as silica and portland cement are used by the train car to construct our concrete structures. 

There are other ways to make a wall.  Here are just a few:

Translucent Concrete: Let their be light!  Traditional combination of cement, sand, gravel and water but reinforced with fiber optic fibers.  Not only do they transmit light though cement, they make it stronger too!  The co-op will try it’s hand at making it’s own in a future project.

Blocks made from trash , New Concrete Science , Rammed earth walls

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Today the Supreme Court decided that the EPA does have the right to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.  States are able to sue the EPA, if it fails to regulate.

This vote is a big win for states and the environment and a defeat to Bush Administration.

The vote was 5-4 with 4 conservative justices descending.

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I can’t go to this because I am going to the Harriet Island Earth Day celebration. Which I encourage everyone to go to, too. But if you insist on staying in Minneapolis for earth day, here’s another event I got a flier about:

Climate Crisis Coalition of the Twin Cities Film Screenings and Discussion

Sunday, April 22nd

11:00 am The Science of Global Warming, a PBS documentary that explains Earth’s climate system and how it works

1:00 pm Global Warming: Bush’s Climate of Fear, a BBC documentary on the US Government’s suppression of climate science.

3:00 pm The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, an inspiring documentary on how we can wean our society off of fossil fuels.

Location: Acadia Cafe Theatre
1931 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis

The co-op is far from carbon neutral this year. In fact we used well over a $1000 in natural gas this winter to heat our home. Our Natural Gas water heater, on it’s 13th year, is about to RIP and we desperately need a new electrical service. The current 100amp service is illegally double tapped to the max. How can we combine all of these needs and jump in the direction of energy sustainability & carbon neutrality? This discussion looks at the supply & sources of heat needed. Follow up posts will analyze reducing energy consumption.

The core of our energy supply problem is our reliance on a inefficient natural gas furnace and water heater. Their heat is inefficiently distributed throughout the house by forced air venting. Our 1911 bungalow as been added on on and re-framed with apparent disregard for heating vents — one rooms is hot, another is cold.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo7rmajxxnc
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Whether you are designing a passive solar greenhouse/studio or you are planning where to place your spring/summer garden, keeping track of the sun is extremely important. You must determine where the shade will be and thus where microclimates will develop.

Here are some tools on Sustainable by Design’s website for tracking the path of the sun during different times during the year as well as designing that much needed overhang to block the heat of the harsh summer sun.

Solar Path

Overhang Design

There are also a few other tools that are quite neat as well such as sun angle and position so you should scope at the site when you get the chance.

From the NY Times: 

“The autobahn, though, is statistically safer than highways in many countries, even if its crashes are singularly horrific. Saving the planet, it turns out, may be more persuasive than saving lives.

“Given the pride of Germans about being No. 1 in protecting the environment, this could lead to a breakthrough,” said Peter Schneider, a writer who limits himself to 90 m.p.h. on the autobahn…

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“Horrifying” new ice-core data reveals that around 5 million years ago there was massive melting of the Ross Ice Shelf, destabilizing the Earth’s climate for the following 3.5 million years.   This is how Viereck-Götte and other scientists from the Antarctic Geological Drill team are describing the situation, they are extremely alarmed at the scale of melting which occurred with an increase in average global temperature of only 2-3 degrees Celsius.

The findings from high-tech ice core drilling near Mt. Erebus, Antarctica, also showed that the starting temperature was much lower than today.

“The melting of the Ross Ice Shelf, currently the size of France, would literally leave just a ‘Ross Bay’ as it did 5 million years ago. Not only would the melted ice cause sea levels to rise, it would force land-based ice to shift, breaking up dramatically and cause the break down of the oceans’ global conveyor belt thermohaline circulation system.” said Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions campaigner.

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I get a lot of emails from U.S.Pirg about petitions and calling senators to support environmental legislation, but this Photographic Petition looks particularly fun so maybe it could be a Coop/Sustain You community activity at the potluck tomorrow! Here’s the email:

“You’ve done a lot of things to communicate with your elected officials in the past: written emails, signed petitions, even made phone calls. But global warming is such a crucial and urgent issue, I think it calls for a special action.
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Hypalon roofs. Hypalon membrane roofing uses a highly reflective surface and increased insulation to improve energy efficiency. Hypalon roofs are EPA Energy Star approved and, when combined with increased insulation, reduce overall building heating and cooling requirements, compared with buildings with standard roofing materials. Verizon has installed more than 600 Hypalon roofs to date in company buildings in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Texas, and is studying the value of expanding the program throughout the company’s service territory.

Does a CFL release more Mercury into the environment than a regular light…..
No if you recycle the CFL when it expires, Yes if you throw it away.

This EPA CFL Fact sheet compares Mercury emissions for the whole life-cycle of CFLs and Incandescent bulbs.  This worksheet incorrectly assumes all electricity is from coal generation.  In Minnesota, aproximately half of our electricity is from coal, which releases Mercury.  The remaing half of eletricty generation (Nuclear, Natural Gas, Hydro, Wind, Biomass) does not release any Mercury.  Taking this into account CFLs and Incandescent bulbs have near idential Mercury emissions over their lifetime.  CFLs will still reduce CO2, SOx and NOx emissions.  CFLs are the better choice.

However, there are even better options then basic CFLs for lighting.

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I would like to report on our experience in replacing incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. We began doing this in early 2006 and really accelerated this process last summer when it was so hot. We went back and created entries for electricity use for 2005 from past electric bills. As you can see savings are often very dramatic, and as you can see from May through December 2006 we saved an average of 28% on electricity use. We have an electric range and dryer, but gas hot water.

Our total investment was probably less than $300.  At $.10 per kwh we will probably recoup our investment in about a year. We also have a 2004 Honda Civic hybrid and have averaged 46.7 mpg over the past 3 years.

• Bottom line: these things really do work.

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Matthew Adams outside his 120-square-foot house by Modern Cabana on his 160 acres near Red Bluff, Calif.