Because
our food, our homes, our businesses and our transportation system primarily depend
on burning fossil fuels, the way we live today is not sustainable. During the
past 200 years probably around one billion people helped burn the first half of
these valuable energy resources that can be economically procured. Seven
billion folk now appreciate how wonderful life can be in every season, with food
and inexpensive goods available from around the globe, in comfortable homes with
running hot and cold water, and in vehicles that go where and whenever we want (and
much farther than horses that need pastures, grain and hay, not to mention,
rest). The other soon to be nine billion folk want the lives we live and will compete
for the second half of available raw materials.
In
early 20th century people worried about managing food and manure for
horses in cities as populations grew. But those problems disappeared when it
took only a few minutes to refuel vehicles with exhausts that “disappear”.
We
live at a time with both tremendous opportunities and impending peril. Each of
us in the US is responsible for consuming 17 tons of resources each year, or
1,343 metric tons in a lifetime.
In
the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates the national total
raw materials consumption at close to 2 billion tons per year. This is
equivalent to 30 tons per person, per
year, and it does not even take into account the consumption of raw
materials hidden in imported finished products. OPENING PANDORA’S BOX: The New
Wave of Land Grabbing by the Extractive Industries and the Devastating Impact
on Earth (2012) by Philippe Sibaud, presents these alarming statistics in:
As
we draw down these resources we have an opportunity to not only create the
tools that harness renewable resources but also develop the culture and
facilities to reuse and recycle materials instead of exploiting new resources. For
more than thirty years it has been evident that we have been using resources at
an ever increasing rate that will, in one generation, deplete most of what is
worth acquiring. Soon the only raw materials left will be too expensive to
mine, pump or frack. It seems to be in the best interest of those who profit
from selling raw materials, including all fossil fuels, to discourage
competition and challenge serious discussions of climate change or
responsibility for conserving resources for our children, others who follow, or
even consider other organisms on this planet. Therefore: individuals and communities have to
develop both the tools and orientation we’ll need for a sustainable future.
That’s
why I develop solar collectors that use sunlight to deliver the same high
temperatures developed in the hottest coal, oil and gas fired furnaces and
boilers. These harvesting tools working together with storage and equipment
that burns biomass should soon be able to completely service buildings, farms and
other stationary facilities.
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