speed wobble

Apologies for the lack of activity on Carbon Copy, but I am busy using up my carbon allowance on a one-week study tour of a few cities in the UK and Europe. I should be refreshed on my return, but I'm not sure I will be able to keep up the frenetic pace of posting that I maintained over the past year. I will do my best, though.

I am writing now from Amsterdam, city of bicycles. I knew there were a lot of bikes here, but this is phenomenal. The older areas are teeming with young and old cyclists, and I am having to be alert to avoid getting hit by cellphone-wielding riders. You may have seen pictures of row upon row of bikes at railway stations, but what really amazes me is a massive parking garage built under a new square, just for bicycles. People cycle there from home, and either walk or catch a train to work, giving new meaning to the term 'park and ride'. I have never seen so many variations on bicycle style, from three-wheeled taxis to two-wheeled versions customised to carry cyclist, two children, and packages on the front and behind the driver. People are walking and cycling everywhere at all hours of the day and night, and the only hint of crime is on signs at railway stations, warning of pickpockets. Apparently most theiving is on public transport, not on the streets. Groups and individuals seem happy to use dimly lit, quiet alleys. It makes me feel like getting out and walking all night, just because I can.

algal biofuels: the next wave

Using a third-generation biofuels technique to create ethanol from algae in seawater, one company claims it "will be the largest consumer of CO2 on the planet". Algenol Biofuels says it will be able to create 100 million gallons of ethanol from 1.5 million tons of CO2 at a facility in Mexico, with a yield of 6,000 gallons per acre per year. In comparison, corn yields only 360 gallons per acre per year, and sugarcane 890 gallons. Expecting to be producing at scale by the end of next year, the company hopes to produce "the cheapest fuel on the planet".

energy standards for buildings jacked up in SA

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) will soon be releasing SANS 204 to set new standards for energy efficiency in buildings. If implemented following the public comment period, this should raise the bar for reduced energy consumption from air conditioning and heating. It's not clear how this would be implemented, given the shortage of energy auditors, but SANS 204 and the forthcoming release of the Green Star building rating system by the Green Building Council of South Africa should create greater impetus for the establishment of an industry of consultants and contractors who understand energy efficiency.

schooling fine young greenies

German firm Schucco has developed a solar project at the Deutsche International Schule in Johannesburg. PV modules generating 3.48 kW, together with a solar water heating system, are expected to save the school 22,300 kWh of electricity a year, cutting emissions by 18,000 kg a year. That's great, but what I find hard to believe is the claim that the payback period for a similar system on an industrial scale would be less than a year. If that were true, we'd all be rushing out to install these systems. Do the Germans know something we don't?

moving products in cities

One of the challenges in greening transportation is in improving distribution systems for local freight. With the trend towards centralised warehouses and fewer but bigger shopping centres, transport is getting less efficient for the sake of "cleaner" distribution processes. Each individual business, such as Woolworths and other big distributors, will optimise its own distribution chain, but this is repeated for every other business so that overall there is more traffic. And more of the transport requirement is being placed on the final consumer, who must drive farther to get to the shops.

Amsterdam recently repurposed an old technology to make a dramatic change to the distribution of goods by sharing facilities among businesses and using less polluting technologies. A new inner city distribution system consists of freight trams that will carry goods in and out of the city on existing tram lines, and electrically powered vans ('e-cars'). The vehicles work with a docking centre that accepts goods from customers that need to deliver to the city, and one company prepares the goods for distribution on the new system.

Startup company CityCargo hopes to reduce the deliveries made by 2,500 trucks that enter Amsterdam daily. The system allows for greater flexibility without the negative impacts of truck traffic, as the new system allows smaller deliveries throughout the day, while the City restricts regular truck traffic to cretain hours to reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

microgeneration could rival nuclear power

One in five buildings in Britain could become mini power stations, with the right incentives in place, according to a new report commissioned by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Regulatory Reform (DBERR). A large-scale shift to microrenewable energy could save 30m tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 5% of all UK electricity. Such widespread microgeneration would need a feed-in tariff scheme so that homeowners could sell electricity to the grid, and there would need to be some combination of grants, subsidies and soft loans. But this investment by government would be partially offset by effectively outsourcing the project management costs and effort required for large-scale projects, by putting the initiative in the hands of individuals. This "distributed project" would reduce investment needed in more traditional generation facilities. On top of that, job creation would be more widespread.

feeling despondent? there is hope

Well, after a week's absence - I have been moving house and travelling on business - here's a feel-good Friday post. Wired presents five people who just might make you feel better about the future of humanity on this wonky planet of ours. News from the World Science Festival held last week.