How Lilypad Cities May Save Future Climate Change Refugees

Looking like something out of an Arthur C. Clark novel, the Lilypad is a large-scale ecotectural concept designed by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, for housing the potential future victims (50,000 within each structure) of climate change in coastal areas. From Callebaut’s description of his intention on his website, it is quite clear that he takes seriously the many predictions of mass migration away from worldwide coastal zones following inundation by the potentially catastrophic rise of sea levels brought on by polar and glacier melting. Although such a dire scenario is not inevitable if the powers that be band together to stave off the seemingly relentless rise in CO2 levels, Callebaut is one architect who doesn’t want to wait and see until it’s too late.

Aside from their sheer aesthetic beauty, the self-sustaining Lilypads incorporate the latest (in some cases not yet feasible) approaches in clean technology and aquaculture. From rainwater purifying lakes, undulating solar roof panels, and wind turbines, to a tidal power station and CO2-absorbing titanium dioxide exoskeleton, the structures offer a well-thought out approach in how to incorporate complex technologies within a dynamic community. Some may say this concept is so far reaching and grand in scope to deem it wishful thinking, however its incredible potential suggests that bold thinkers like Callebaut, may indeed help the world come up with remarkable solutions to the daunting challenges which lie before us. With the introduction of his Lilypad concepts, he has surely gotten people thinking about his dynamic vision of things to come.

For more information, please visit Vincent Callebaut Architectures.

Stormy Days Ahead for Biofuels?

As if the current challenges related to biofuels (use of food crop, questions about genetic modification, to name a few) weren’t enough, according to many energy industry experts, academics, and climatologists, unpredictable and severe weather trends such as greater incidence of powerful storms, flooding, drought, etc, could restrain the potential growth of the biofuels market - recent storms in the Midwestern U.S. which have damaged a great deal of corn crop are but one prescient example. This threat to today’s biocrops (corn, potatoes, sugarcane, etc) is made plain by the fact that due to scale of production, for the most part the crops must be grown outdoors, and shows how delicate a growing dependence on cropland will be as biofuels gain market share (ethanol is currently at 6%, but expected to rise above 20% in coming years). Put simply, ethanol expert John M. Reilly, senior lecturer at MIT, states that “we are holding ourselves hostage to the weather.”

Although not to be taken lightly, this challenge simply provides further indication of what we already know, that we must develop feasibly sustainable alternatives to weather-dependent (and resource-depleting) sources for our fuel, and do so sooner than later. And aside from the need to develop sources and methods of production which are not dependent on the unpredictable weather that lies ahead, we must rapidly make affordable super-efficient vehicles the market standard. Only then will the world be able to accommodate the increasing demand for more fuel efficient cars and trucks, and more accessible and widespread public transportation.  As oil prices increase, the calls for these alternatives will only become louder, so it’s important to act while we still have time.

Cambridge Energy Associates

USDA

Renewable Fuels Association

DOE’s Energy Information Association

Thomas Friedman’s Earth Day Lecture at Brown University

For Earth Day, Thomas Friedman, the well author and journalist spoke at Brown University. He joined the New York Times in 1981 as a financial reporter specializing in petroleum industry and economy news and has won the Pulitzer Prize 3 times to date. His work has covered “the Middle East conflict, the end of the cold war, US domestic politics and foreign policy, international economics, and the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat. Today, his foreign affairs column appears two times a weekly in the Times. Friedman’s reporting specifically on sustainability appeared on the Discovery Channel in the documentary titled, “Green: The New Red, White and Blue.”

His lecture focused on outlining the book he’s been working on entitled “Hot, Flat and Crowded.” His first time releasing any public information about the book, and started off by telling the audiece that is we really “go green,” the United States could be the “strongest, most innovative and entrepreneurial country in the world. He also added that we’d be solving a problem that everyone is facing, the issue of becoming sustainable. Friedman declared that 2007 was the “beginning of a new era, marked by a convergence of individual flames that have come together into a fire. It’s a perfect storm between global warming, what I call, global flattening and global population growth.” His theory is that rising temperatures, access to more information and population growth have all created a real awareness of the issue are also seen as a “tipping point,” and people are starting to take action. After years of neglect and expending resources, our current generation with the problems we have today. He made the analogy of our current situation as a society being “a monster truck with the gas pedal stuck.”

Friedman described that we’ve gone from BCE to CE and to now ECE, which is the “Energy Climate Era.” Outlined in his 3 goals to meet the challenges of the Energy Climate Era are, “clean energy, efficiency and an ethic of conservation.” He discussed his skepticism of the “green revolution,” stating that we’re in something more of a “green party” if anything. After doing a Google search for “easy ways to go green.” he found titles such as “10 Ways to Save the Earth and Money in Under a Minute” and “10 Ways to Green Up Your Sex Life: Vegan Condoms and Solar Vibrators.” The real revolution, he say’s will come but you’ll really know it. He made the comparison that the real massive change will occur “like the IT revolution” in the sense that businesses and our economy will “either change or die.”