DrawDown #4: MicroGrids and Industrial Recycling
Greetings virtual friends. We made it to this website's final March 2018 episode of the DrawDown bookclub, meeting #4. Should we keep going?
I. Review
II. Microgrids, page 5
III. Industrial Recycling, page 160
IV. Next Week: Spring Break
Should we bother? Meeting #1 began with reading the essay on page 52 of the DrawDown book, an essay also available at this no-paywall link: "Why Bother?" And really, why bother hosting a club to discuss a textbook that talks about drawing carbon down - it's hopeless, right? Climate change, assault weapons, war, widening inequality, housing shortages, disruption, disaster capitalism, the dark web, corruption, the Panama Papers, ID thieves, cynicism, shouldn't we put down the textbook and party?
Dinosaurs roamed the earth for so much longer than we've walked upright. And yet we could wrap this life on earth gig right quick.
Foresters and geologists tell us we were due for another ice age beginning around 1960. But homo sapiens are so clever, our modern industrial technology and the powerful exploitation of fossil fuels directed that earth cycle into a U-Turn and it's back-to-back warming cycles for our planet. Said the homo sapiens, "OOPS."
Said my friend's incredibly smart 10-year-old last month, when he gave me his back issue of National Geographic "the cover story is by Jonathon Franzen. I already read it you want it?" Uh sure, I said to him. I pointed to the article on the melting icecaps and asked if he saw it. "They're melting." I told the 10-year-old we could Draw it all down. The guy, he wrote DrawDown he was on Bill Maher, it's about all the ways to draw it down. Sullen, the 10-year-old said "No. It's too late."
This kid is 10. He's probably 11 by meeting four of this bookclub I never planned on hosting in the first place.
Should we really go on? Let's complete this meeting and take a breather. It's Friday. Let's go!
I. Review
In Meeting #1 we read an essay we highly recommend at this no-paywall link: "Why Bother?" Reading it may let you off the hook - confirm there's no point, and you'll be free to liquidate your kids' cryptocurrency college funds to spend on hedonistic pursuits. Kidding. Read it if you read nothing else in this book.
Here's how the bookclub has changed us already. Before Meeting #1: We were tossing our apartment unit's compost down the building garbage chute into the brown waste bin. After Meeting 1: spending very little willpower, we walked our biomass, our compost waste, down the stairs all the way out to the garbage company's green compost bin.
Showing up to this bookclub and reading the four measly assigned pages per week, and engaging the discussion, internalized for us motivation. Behavior change was nearly automatic.
Meetings #1 and #2 talked us into eating more plant-based foods and striving to cap our meat consumption at flexitarianism, where meat is never the largest serving of any meal plate.
We're noticing vegan recipe blogs. No vegan commitments from us. But some recipes show savory-looking photos.
Meeting #3 was intriguing in new ways for makers out there. We broke into the topics of energy storage and delivery. Tiered hydroelectric reservoirs, railcars and molten salts are the new tools of tomorrow.
But here's what we observed in the week since discussing energy storage: yes we have a chance to draw down carbon and arrest, even reverse, warming to stabilize the climate. Yes a few energy storage technologies have emerged. But very few storage and delivery techniques have been patented or are in beta. People aren't focused on drawing down. They're cooking vegan. Nose-down in digits. And the people using their hands stringing solar PVs or salting ice-caps appear to all know each other. It's a small group so far.
Heh.
("Have you looked into the eyes of a climate scientist recently?" Michael Pollan asked in his 2008 essay. "They look really scared.")
...
Heh.
...
...
...Where were we? Ahem: Last week we also studied and really grasped what a kilowatt-hour is. An expert long in the field assumes terms like kilowatt-hours are obvious to every lay reader out there. We had to look it up.
II. Reading #1: MicroGrids page 5
This chapter dovetailed well with last week's readings.
To understand "micro" grids let's say what a "macro" grid is: a network of energy sources, energy generators, utility delivery lines and "24-7 control centers monitoring supply and demand."
As we learned last week: a primary energy source, such as a hydroelectric dam, or a nuclear power plant, is the energy "baseload." Since modernizing energy delivery 150 years ago, we haven't been saving energy. We turn on power generators and they cannot be turned off. One can be adjusted up and down with delayed reaction times akin to pivoting a barge. Excess unused energy from these baseloads is thrown away.
On rare intervals when the populace draws more electricity than usual, the power companies switch on a backup "peaker plant" typically powered by non-renewable natural gas.
Renewable (solar, wind) baseloads are more "intermittent" baseloads than steady nuclear or hydroelectric power generators. Renewables, "intermittents", vary more in quantity of power produced, dependent on wind water currents, and sun-blocking storm cloud positions.
So what is a microgrid: a "localized grouping of distributed energy sources, like solar, wind, in-stream hydro, and biomass, together with energy storage or backup generation and load management tools."
A microgrid, powering say 50,000 houses like the ARES project in Nevada (linked picture - right), can be standalone or complement a macrogrid.
Localizing supply reduces energy lost in distribution, reduces energy "line loss." Microgrids seem to be the way we're going to capture and use renewable energy. Microgrid communities can taper off the power they draw from macrogrids.
But building a microgrid in dense urban areas will be more obstacle-ridden. Rural areas are better for breaking ground:
We could leave it up to startup companies and entrepreneurs, but this isn't ephemeral software. Small microgrid builders may need the institutional staying power and land use procurement expertise of the larger companies.
III. Reading #2: Industrial Recycling page 160
This chapter is shorter and more conceptual. (We're almost done!)
Thinking about recycling earlier in production cycles is needed. Yesterday and today's way of industry was "take, make, waste." We took resources to make things and discarded the rest.
We could reshape industrial processes around patterns found in nature:
One policy instrument is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR.) This type of law is popular with the Dutch. Where they exist, producer "take-back" laws address e-waste.
Something called the Materials Marketplace launched in 2015 in attempt to facilitate trade of one production line's waste to fulfill another's resource needs.
Recycling technologies are young and have room to evolve, the book says. And that's possible with sensors and robotics. A decade ago I read about mechanized garbage sifters that teased out recyclable trash from the plant's waste piles. Did it get past the design phase? Anyone out there know?
IV. Next Week: Spring Break
Let's pause for a week take in some baseball and incorporate what we've learned.
We'll decide later whether to continue with DrawDown bookclub for another four weeks.
And send out a tweet after break.
Thank you for coming!
<- DrawDown #3: Future Energy Storage More Fascinating Than First Appears | DrawDown #5: Is Recycling Worth It? ->
------------
Further Reading:
SF complains PG&E is holding up major projects with unreasonable demands: sfchronicle.com
View a video demonstration of Advanced Railcar Energy Storage ARES now running in Nevada. greentechmedia.com
Catch up:
I. Review
II. Microgrids, page 5
III. Industrial Recycling, page 160
IV. Next Week: Spring Break
Should we bother? Meeting #1 began with reading the essay on page 52 of the DrawDown book, an essay also available at this no-paywall link: "Why Bother?" And really, why bother hosting a club to discuss a textbook that talks about drawing carbon down - it's hopeless, right? Climate change, assault weapons, war, widening inequality, housing shortages, disruption, disaster capitalism, the dark web, corruption, the Panama Papers, ID thieves, cynicism, shouldn't we put down the textbook and party?
Dinosaurs roamed the earth for so much longer than we've walked upright. And yet we could wrap this life on earth gig right quick.
Foresters and geologists tell us we were due for another ice age beginning around 1960. But homo sapiens are so clever, our modern industrial technology and the powerful exploitation of fossil fuels directed that earth cycle into a U-Turn and it's back-to-back warming cycles for our planet. Said the homo sapiens, "OOPS."
Said my friend's incredibly smart 10-year-old last month, when he gave me his back issue of National Geographic "the cover story is by Jonathon Franzen. I already read it you want it?" Uh sure, I said to him. I pointed to the article on the melting icecaps and asked if he saw it. "They're melting." I told the 10-year-old we could Draw it all down. The guy, he wrote DrawDown he was on Bill Maher, it's about all the ways to draw it down. Sullen, the 10-year-old said "No. It's too late."
This kid is 10. He's probably 11 by meeting four of this bookclub I never planned on hosting in the first place.
Should we really go on? Let's complete this meeting and take a breather. It's Friday. Let's go!
I. Review
In Meeting #1 we read an essay we highly recommend at this no-paywall link: "Why Bother?" Reading it may let you off the hook - confirm there's no point, and you'll be free to liquidate your kids' cryptocurrency college funds to spend on hedonistic pursuits. Kidding. Read it if you read nothing else in this book.
Here's how the bookclub has changed us already. Before Meeting #1: We were tossing our apartment unit's compost down the building garbage chute into the brown waste bin. After Meeting 1: spending very little willpower, we walked our biomass, our compost waste, down the stairs all the way out to the garbage company's green compost bin.
Showing up to this bookclub and reading the four measly assigned pages per week, and engaging the discussion, internalized for us motivation. Behavior change was nearly automatic.
Meetings #1 and #2 talked us into eating more plant-based foods and striving to cap our meat consumption at flexitarianism, where meat is never the largest serving of any meal plate.
We're noticing vegan recipe blogs. No vegan commitments from us. But some recipes show savory-looking photos.
Meeting #3 was intriguing in new ways for makers out there. We broke into the topics of energy storage and delivery. Tiered hydroelectric reservoirs, railcars and molten salts are the new tools of tomorrow.
But here's what we observed in the week since discussing energy storage: yes we have a chance to draw down carbon and arrest, even reverse, warming to stabilize the climate. Yes a few energy storage technologies have emerged. But very few storage and delivery techniques have been patented or are in beta. People aren't focused on drawing down. They're cooking vegan. Nose-down in digits. And the people using their hands stringing solar PVs or salting ice-caps appear to all know each other. It's a small group so far.
Heh.
("Have you looked into the eyes of a climate scientist recently?" Michael Pollan asked in his 2008 essay. "They look really scared.")
...
Heh.
...
...
...Where were we? Ahem: Last week we also studied and really grasped what a kilowatt-hour is. An expert long in the field assumes terms like kilowatt-hours are obvious to every lay reader out there. We had to look it up.
II. Reading #1: MicroGrids page 5
This chapter dovetailed well with last week's readings.
To understand "micro" grids let's say what a "macro" grid is: a network of energy sources, energy generators, utility delivery lines and "24-7 control centers monitoring supply and demand."
As we learned last week: a primary energy source, such as a hydroelectric dam, or a nuclear power plant, is the energy "baseload." Since modernizing energy delivery 150 years ago, we haven't been saving energy. We turn on power generators and they cannot be turned off. One can be adjusted up and down with delayed reaction times akin to pivoting a barge. Excess unused energy from these baseloads is thrown away.
On rare intervals when the populace draws more electricity than usual, the power companies switch on a backup "peaker plant" typically powered by non-renewable natural gas.
Renewable (solar, wind) baseloads are more "intermittent" baseloads than steady nuclear or hydroelectric power generators. Renewables, "intermittents", vary more in quantity of power produced, dependent on wind water currents, and sun-blocking storm cloud positions.
So what is a microgrid: a "localized grouping of distributed energy sources, like solar, wind, in-stream hydro, and biomass, together with energy storage or backup generation and load management tools."
Localizing supply reduces energy lost in distribution, reduces energy "line loss." Microgrids seem to be the way we're going to capture and use renewable energy. Microgrid communities can taper off the power they draw from macrogrids.
But building a microgrid in dense urban areas will be more obstacle-ridden. Rural areas are better for breaking ground:
"In many places, the business models of large utilities are not compatible with distributed energy and storage. They have sunk costs in a system of generation and delivery that is becoming outmoded. Where utilities are resistant, monopoly, not technology, is the biggest challenge for microgrids. Lessons could cross-polinate: large grids need to be less rigid and adapt to a changing world; microgrids need to adopt robust technical standards for long-term success. In the age of technological disruption, working out a partnership of technologies makes good sense."What this says to me is power companies, while restoring power after climate-induced weather events will also want to spend on capital improvements like microgrids to stay in the game or maintain market share. That's going to be tricky. Business-minded voters or bookclub readers out there could probably come up with techniques for doing this.
We could leave it up to startup companies and entrepreneurs, but this isn't ephemeral software. Small microgrid builders may need the institutional staying power and land use procurement expertise of the larger companies.
III. Reading #2: Industrial Recycling page 160
This chapter is shorter and more conceptual. (We're almost done!)
Thinking about recycling earlier in production cycles is needed. Yesterday and today's way of industry was "take, make, waste." We took resources to make things and discarded the rest.
We could reshape industrial processes around patterns found in nature:
"In nature, cycles abound. Water and nutrients move in closed loops, and there is no waste. Instead, discards become resources. Drawing on nature's wisdom, circular business models look at old goods and scrap materials as valuable resources for new products. They begin to redirect the linear flows that start with raw materials and end at landfills and incinerators, making the industrial system function more like an ecosystem instead. Companies can send their waste for recycling but also can be recyclers themselves. By reducing material use to begin with and recycling and reusing waste, they can reduce greenhouse emissions from extracting, transporting, and processing raw materials. And because the global economy currently uses far more of these materials far more quickly than the earth can regenerate, such practices address parallel challenges of resource scarcity."
One policy instrument is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR.) This type of law is popular with the Dutch. Where they exist, producer "take-back" laws address e-waste.
Something called the Materials Marketplace launched in 2015 in attempt to facilitate trade of one production line's waste to fulfill another's resource needs.
Recycling technologies are young and have room to evolve, the book says. And that's possible with sensors and robotics. A decade ago I read about mechanized garbage sifters that teased out recyclable trash from the plant's waste piles. Did it get past the design phase? Anyone out there know?
IV. Next Week: Spring Break
Let's pause for a week take in some baseball and incorporate what we've learned.
We'll decide later whether to continue with DrawDown bookclub for another four weeks.
And send out a tweet after break.
Thank you for coming!
------------
Further Reading:
SF complains PG&E is holding up major projects with unreasonable demands: sfchronicle.com
View a video demonstration of Advanced Railcar Energy Storage ARES now running in Nevada. greentechmedia.com
Catch up:
- March 01 DrawDown Bookclub is Here!
- March 09 DrawDown Bookclub #1: Reading 'Why Bother' Was a Wise Choice
- March 16 Meatlover's DrawDown Bookclub #2: Can We At Least Have Fish?
- March 24 DrawDown Bookclub #3: Future Energy Storage More Fascinating Than First Appears
- March 30 DrawDown #4: MicroGrids and Industrial Recycling
