Al Gore's newest speech is an interesting discussion about a new problem that has arisen. Unlike An Inconvenient Truth where he suggested there is a problem and it will need fixing, his new speech says most people now acknowledge that the problem exist but do not have a sense of urgency to solve it.
He poses this idea of a "democratic crisis" which goes hand in had with the environmental one. The main idea here is that we need to make changes. People need to get involved and they need to actually want a change for it to happen.
One way he suggests doing this is to "put a price on carbon." While this blog is rather liberal in the sense that it promotes being green and the like, we do not mean to impose any beliefs on anyone. But, a tax on carbon is a good idea. It will create a sense of personal responsibility because people will not tolerate paying for their consumption and will inevitably reduce carbon emissions.
A last note before the video is that we are finally the last country to not have signed the Kyoto agreement. Again, we don't want to impose, but what will it take for our country (or our leaders) to realize that there is a problem and we need a solution?
Al Gore on TED:
Thanks TED!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
More Green Please
There are quite a few things that we (or anyone) can do to be green. Obviously doing everything is expensive and not always practical. Below is a list of things we want to do within our house. If you have any ideas let us know. Cost is always a concern, but we are creative in finding funding.
Things to do:
- Rain Garden
- Green Roof
- Solar Panels (we wont give up)
- Composting Units
Some of these are more feasible than others. The rain garden and composting units are probably very possible right now and the green roof would fall next, with the solar panels falling last because of funding.
The rain garden may actually make an appearance later this week and the compost units by the end of the school year.
As far as the green roof and the solar panels those will depend on funding. With the green roof we need a structural architect to assess the roofs and get us a weight that they can hold and then get a quote on materials. The solar panels cost a rediculous amount and may not be likely for some time.
Things to do:
- Rain Garden
- Green Roof
- Solar Panels (we wont give up)
- Composting Units
Some of these are more feasible than others. The rain garden and composting units are probably very possible right now and the green roof would fall next, with the solar panels falling last because of funding.
The rain garden may actually make an appearance later this week and the compost units by the end of the school year.
As far as the green roof and the solar panels those will depend on funding. With the green roof we need a structural architect to assess the roofs and get us a weight that they can hold and then get a quote on materials. The solar panels cost a rediculous amount and may not be likely for some time.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Solar Panel Catastrophe
Solar panels are not cheap. They take a while to pay off and require a lot of up front money. Those are just some of the things we learned when trying to get solar panels for the house.
We were requesting money from a few different sources, but our school would have been one of the main providers. If you are a Registered Student Organization (RSO) you can apply for funds from the Student Organization Resource Fee (SORF). We decided to apply for the money and figured we had a pretty good chance of getting the money. Boy were we wrong. It was pretty much a unanimous no for the SORF Board.
We were asking for $50,000 and obviously that is a lot, but the amount was within the rules. The maximum amount of money that and group can request is 10% of the Board's annual budget, which comes out to about $500,000 in total. Clearly it was a lofty request, but we are very serious about being green. Not to mention the publicity this system would get. A frat house being environmentally friendly?
The catastrophe starts more or less as soon as we walk into the room to present our request (we had previously submitted the main requests, but groups asking for large amounts of money are expected to make a short presentation). People were obviously skeptical and didn't really care. We got our 3 mins to give our speech and got cut off at 3:00 exactly.
In the next part the board asks you some questions. Of course we field the question we least wanted to hear: "what will you do with the money saved from the solar panels?" This is a bad question because the Board has a rule that says they will not fund anything that makes the group requesting it any money. Our system would have saved us about $900-$1000. They see that as making money (which it is), but we had good plans for it. The money saved (not made) would have been put back into educating the community about being sustainable and what everyone could do to help and anything left over was going to go back into making our house more green. So that sucked.
When we were answering the question we didn't want to get we got cut off by some ass in the back who said "they already had their three minutes." There are things I would have loved to have said, but when asking for this kind of money you need to be careful.
We got a full "zero funding" from the Board. The reason they gave was that they do not provide equipment for housing. That is one of the rules that the Board is supposed to take into account, but we were under the impression they would overlook it. Why didn't they overlook it? Not sure, but they really didn't seem to take us seriously and obviously at least one kid didn't want to be there.
We are still looking for funding (if you know of any sources let us know) and hope to complete the project eventually. We will move on to more reasonable projects in the near future.
Next article: Upcoming Projects
We were requesting money from a few different sources, but our school would have been one of the main providers. If you are a Registered Student Organization (RSO) you can apply for funds from the Student Organization Resource Fee (SORF). We decided to apply for the money and figured we had a pretty good chance of getting the money. Boy were we wrong. It was pretty much a unanimous no for the SORF Board.
We were asking for $50,000 and obviously that is a lot, but the amount was within the rules. The maximum amount of money that and group can request is 10% of the Board's annual budget, which comes out to about $500,000 in total. Clearly it was a lofty request, but we are very serious about being green. Not to mention the publicity this system would get. A frat house being environmentally friendly?
The catastrophe starts more or less as soon as we walk into the room to present our request (we had previously submitted the main requests, but groups asking for large amounts of money are expected to make a short presentation). People were obviously skeptical and didn't really care. We got our 3 mins to give our speech and got cut off at 3:00 exactly.
In the next part the board asks you some questions. Of course we field the question we least wanted to hear: "what will you do with the money saved from the solar panels?" This is a bad question because the Board has a rule that says they will not fund anything that makes the group requesting it any money. Our system would have saved us about $900-$1000. They see that as making money (which it is), but we had good plans for it. The money saved (not made) would have been put back into educating the community about being sustainable and what everyone could do to help and anything left over was going to go back into making our house more green. So that sucked.
When we were answering the question we didn't want to get we got cut off by some ass in the back who said "they already had their three minutes." There are things I would have loved to have said, but when asking for this kind of money you need to be careful.
We got a full "zero funding" from the Board. The reason they gave was that they do not provide equipment for housing. That is one of the rules that the Board is supposed to take into account, but we were under the impression they would overlook it. Why didn't they overlook it? Not sure, but they really didn't seem to take us seriously and obviously at least one kid didn't want to be there.
We are still looking for funding (if you know of any sources let us know) and hope to complete the project eventually. We will move on to more reasonable projects in the near future.
Next article: Upcoming Projects
Saturday, April 5, 2008
A Quest for Green
So our efforts to be green started small (kind of, but thats for a later post). We started off with the basics and dreamed big from there.
To start we decided to buy compact fluorescents (CFLs) to replace the cheap light bulbs that were quickly burning out. We have over 233 screw in light bulbs. We already have 101 forty eight inch fluorescent tubes. CFLs have been shown to save a lot of money over time, as compared to regular incandescent bulbs. While the up front cost of CFLs is greater they last longer and they save a good amount of energy, so you save money by buying them less often and by saving money on your energy bill.
In some of the high traffic areas we have installed motion sensing and timed switches so that the lights turn off when they are not in use. While the impact of these is not as big as other means, we want to do everything we can.
In our common areas we have lock boxes over the thermostats so that they cannot be adjusted. They are set two or so degrees cooler in the winter and two degrees or so warmer in summer. There are obviously financial benefits for each degree that you turn the thermostat down.
I am sure there are some things I am forgetting, but we'll keep you updated.
To start we decided to buy compact fluorescents (CFLs) to replace the cheap light bulbs that were quickly burning out. We have over 233 screw in light bulbs. We already have 101 forty eight inch fluorescent tubes. CFLs have been shown to save a lot of money over time, as compared to regular incandescent bulbs. While the up front cost of CFLs is greater they last longer and they save a good amount of energy, so you save money by buying them less often and by saving money on your energy bill.
In some of the high traffic areas we have installed motion sensing and timed switches so that the lights turn off when they are not in use. While the impact of these is not as big as other means, we want to do everything we can.
In our common areas we have lock boxes over the thermostats so that they cannot be adjusted. They are set two or so degrees cooler in the winter and two degrees or so warmer in summer. There are obviously financial benefits for each degree that you turn the thermostat down.
I am sure there are some things I am forgetting, but we'll keep you updated.
A Green Fraternity?
The Greek system at any school is most often considered one of the most wasteful communities. Fraternities especially hold a stigma, and it may be a truthful one, that they consume the most while at the same time creating the most amount of waste.
It seems hard to believe that a frat would want to be environmentally friendly, but our house decided to change that mentality. It is a very difficult thing to do in a group that is pretty set in their ways and sees little immediate benefit to change. But, the thing that is the most difficult to overcome is to convince an entire system (school, fraternity, society, etc) to change when it is set up in a way that failing to be eco-friendly seems to be one of its goals.
This blog will journey through our house's experience of being "green". It will pretty much discuss everything about what we are trying to do, what we have done, and the difficulties (or ease) of implementing our ideas.
It seems hard to believe that a frat would want to be environmentally friendly, but our house decided to change that mentality. It is a very difficult thing to do in a group that is pretty set in their ways and sees little immediate benefit to change. But, the thing that is the most difficult to overcome is to convince an entire system (school, fraternity, society, etc) to change when it is set up in a way that failing to be eco-friendly seems to be one of its goals.
This blog will journey through our house's experience of being "green". It will pretty much discuss everything about what we are trying to do, what we have done, and the difficulties (or ease) of implementing our ideas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)