Kevin Surace suggests we rethink basic construction materials -- such as the familiar wallboard -- to reduce the huge carbon footprint generated by the manufacturing and construction of our buildings. He introduces EcoRock, a clean, recyclable and energy-efficient drywall created by his team at Serious Materials.
About Kevin Surace
Kevin Surace is looking at the climate crisis from an engineer's perspective -- and creating products that prove there's no piece of our daily lives we can't redesign to be cleaner and greener. Full bio and more links
Carbon farming on rise in Australia
June 16, 2009
Editing by Megan Goldin
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian "carbon farmers" hope to sell their soil carbon credits in the fight against climate change. Australia plans to have an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) running by 2011, with agriculture possibly included in 2015.
Some facts about soil carbon, carbon sequestration, carbon farming:
SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION The uptake and storage of carbon. Trees and plants, for example, absorb carbon dioxide, release the oxygen and store the carbon. Fossil fuels were at one time biomass and continue to store the carbon until burned.
By 2030 an estimated 5.5-6 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent a year could be mitigated by agriculture, with about 89 percent achieved by soil carbon sequestration through cropland and grazing management and restoration of organic soils, said a U.N. climate change paper on agriculture in November 2008.
HOW IS SOIL CARBON PRODUCED
Soil carbon is created when CO2 is absorbed by vegetation, oxygen is released and carbon is used to make living tissue, such as vegetation.
It is also produced by microbes and fungi, stimulated by plant roots as they push down through soil, retreating when the foliage above ground is grazed or harvested, then pushing down through the soil again as the foliage regrows.
Much of the carbon taken in by plants enters the top layer of the soil and is held there as humus. Some of it is carried further down to deeper layers of the soil where it can be held for hundreds of years.
Some carbon returns to the atmosphere as CO2 from respiration of plants and some as methane from the rotting of vegetation.
WHAT IS CARBON FARMING Carbon farming is a new way to describe a collection of eco-friendly farming techniques which increase soil organic carbon in agricultural land.
Senate panel approves energy bill
June 18, 2009
By John M. Broder, New York Times
WASHINGTON - A Senate committee on Wednesday approved an energy bill that would open large tracts of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and provide federal loan guarantees for a gas pipeline project in Alaska.
The measure, which cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a 15-to-8 vote, would also require utilities to produce up to 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power by 2021. That standard is somewhat weaker than one in a House energy and climate change bill that is headed for a floor vote as early as next week.
The Senate bill is a compromise between Democratic members seeking to reduce energy use and emissions linked to global warming and Republican members intent on increasing production of oil, gas and nuclear power. Republicans and Democrats who supported the bill said they hoped to strengthen it, each side to its own advantage, when it reaches the floor.
The measure does not include any mandatory reductions in emissions of heat-trapping gases, the focus of separate legislation being considered by another Senate committee.
The energy bill includes money for clean energy technologies and training for workers in new energy-related industries. It calls for expansion of the nation's stockpiles of petroleum reserves to deal with sudden shortages or steep price increases. It provides federal incentives for projects to capture and store carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, and encourages a solution to the problem of storing nuclear waste.
Incentives add shine to China solar drive
June 19, 2009
By Leonara Walet and Rujun Shen
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Beijing's bid to boost the solar energy sector could draw more than $10 billion in private funding for projects and put China on track to become a leading market for solar equipment in the next three years.
Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese solar firms such as Suntech Power Holdings, the world's biggest crystalline solar panel-maker, have risen strongly on expectations China will soon unveil more cash incentives to develop solar energy.
China, the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, is trying to catch up in a global race to find alternatives to fossil fuels, blamed for carbon emissions affecting the planet's climate. Any cash perks for the sector will help drive demand for solar energy systems and create bigger businesses for companies involved in the entire solar supply chain, says Julia Wu, an analyst with research firm New Energy Finance.
Top panel-makers including Trina Solar, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co and JA Solar are expected to benefit, while solar wafer-makers such as LDK Solar could gain from related business opportunities. "China could potentially be the top market for solar. Companies up and down the supply chain should benefit," said Wu.
Beijing is considering enhancing cash incentives at a time when European states including Germany, one of the largest solar markets, are pulling back on spending to slow industry growth. Nearly 10 years of subsidized prices have made Germany among the largest markets for photovoltaic panels, which transform sunlight into electricity, producing solar giants including Q-Cells AG and Conergy.
"The photovoltaic industry has very good opportunities in the medium and long term now that a lot of countries have decided to develop new energy as an important measure to combat the economic crisis," Shawn Qu, president and chief executive officer of Canadian Solar Inc, told Reuters.
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