The book I last read was “Energy Victory” by Robert Zubrin, who has a proposal to reduce dependence on oil and greenhouse emissions. The reason I picked this book was because I wanted to read a book on energy. I think the hard problems of the future are in the energy sector as it has the greatest impact on our lives and the future of this planet. Are we going to have the natural resources needed to sustain our world-wide population growth? Are we going to run out of oil? Is oil going to hit $8 a gallon by next summer? Are our children and their children going to have clean air to breathe, and the natural resources to survive? Will global warming eventually lead to the next Ice Age and wipe out our species?
Zubrin argues that energy conservation by itself will not solve our energy problems. We need to innovate and engineer solutions to use alternate energy sources and increase efficiency. The amount we can save through existing conservation methodologies is easily offset by increase in population and oil price.
He recommends mandating Flex Fuelled Vehicles (FFV) in the United States to drive auto manufactures to mass produce FFV’s that would stimulate demand in growing economies such as India and China. FFV’s can utilize either gasoline or alcohol-based fuel from Methanol and Ethanol. The engineering difference between an FFV and a regular vehicle is in one sensor and a computer chip that controls the fuel-air mixture, and the employment of a corrosion-resistant fuel system. The difference in price is typically $100, but can be as low as zero and not more than $500.
Brazil is an example of a successful application of this proposal. In 2003, lawmakers mandated the usage of FFV’s, providing tax incentives to expedite the transition. By 2004, all the Brazilian divisions of the major auto manufacturers came up with FFV’s which accounted for 20% of new vehicles sales. By 2006, the number was 70%.
There are a lot of advantages to using Methanol and Ethanol. Methanol can be made by any biomass material. Ethanol is less toxic than Methanol. Both however achieve less miles per gallon than gasoline. Ethanol contains 67% of the energy of gasoline per gallon while Methanol contains 50%. However, they achieve the same miles per dollar at current prices, and significantly less at future oil prices. Since Methanol and Ethanol are water soluble and biodegradable, there is less environmental impact caused by spills. Methanol and Ethanol produced from biomass or agricultural products will emit far fewer air-polluting particles when burned. In fact, they may act as counters to global warming when made from agricultural products.
While I am not qualified to make claims on the right solutions to our energy problems, I think we all have a part to play. Fundamental change and revolutions start from the grass roots. From the people, from me and you. I think by increasing our energy awareness and taking steps to reduce our own carbon footprint, we can drive a larger market for energy efficient products and solutions to our energy problems.
Some immediate ways we can help reduce our carbon footprint:
Take public transportation over vehicle when you can
Transportation accounts for 28% of all energy usage, 65% of which comes from individually owned gasoline cars [1]. This is an area we all can make a great impact. The most common engine type used by Sound Transit buses is Cummins ISM engine [2] which has a mileage of about 7 mpg [3]. In my case, home to work and back is about 24 miles and my car gets about 20 mpg in morning traffic. If I were to drive, I use about 1.2 gallons of oil. On average, the bus has 20 passengers during rush hour. When 20 people are riding the bus, the amount of oil used per person is about 0.2 gallons of oil, a saving of about 1 gallon per person. Assuming an average of 220 working days a year, that’s 220 gallons of oil saved.
Admittedly, it’s not as simple of a calculation because there are many hidden energy costs in operating a bus. In fact, sound transit is extremely inefficient and costs $133.09 to ride every hour, 69% higher than average [4]. So the actual number of gallons I would save is MUCH lower. Nevertheless, the savings are substantial and while engineers are still figuring out ways to implement 100mpg cars, we can reduce our carbon footprint by taking public transit. Also, as more people take the bus, Sound Transit will be forced to upgrade its infrastructure and fleet and become more efficient.
My 2007 Audi A4 is the most beautiful thing I have. The best part of my mornings have been driving my car across the 520 bridge and listening to my favourite rock songs. However, I now take the bus 75% of the time. It also gives me an opportunity to read, and takes the same amount of time to reach work, and allows me to come back home during rush hour in 30 minutes instead of an hour.
Recycle EVERYTHING
I have been guilty of being lazy when it came to recycling. However, I have realized that recycling is the MOST low effort high return investment we can make to the environment. I now keep a second bin in which I dump anything that can be recycled, and at the end of the week empty it to the larger recycling bin in my building.
Every year, each individual uses 650 pounds of paper, 392 aluminum cans and 73 plastic bottles, ALL of which can be recycled. Yet our recycling rate is at 28% [5]. We recycle 22% of our glass jars and bottles, which is actually worse than in 1995 when the glass recycling rate was 27% [6]. By just adding a few minutes to our days, we can increase this to at least 95% per person and drastically impact the environment.
By recycling all our paper, each person on average will save 5.5 trees, 0.65 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 410 miles), 1,332 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for two months), 1.04 cubic yards of landfill space, and 19.25 pounds of pollution. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. So we should never doubt the impact each one of us can make.
Buy energy efficient products
By buying energy efficient products, we will raise demand so companies are motivated to build better, more efficient products. As companies compete with each other for our business, more energy efficient products will be built. Furthermore, most of these products generally save us money and in many cases can help get tax credits. Fluorescent light bulbs have a lifetime of 10,000 hours compared to standard 750 hours and use substantially lower wattage [7]. Energy efficient appliances such as dishwashers can reduce usage, and therefore our bills, by 25%. Energy efficient construction of homes, such as energy efficient windows that can save up to 39% in energy usage [8]
I am now going to turn off this monitor, put my computer on hibernate and go sleep, thus saving even more energy.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
[3] http://www.cummins-sp.com/
[4] http://seattlepi.nwsource.
[5] http://www.dosomething.org
[6] http://www.eia.doe.gov/kid
[7] http://www.buyenergyeffici
[8] http://www.efficientwindow
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