Save and Conserve

On the heels of the fairly alarming news about the severe Atlanta drought and Atlanta's dwindling reservoirs, comes this long NY Times Magazine article about water in the Western US that is very interesting and very sobering.

While it seems that Atlantans have been taken surprise by the extent of the drought (only calling for strict water conservation in the past few weeks) and the general lack of preparedness about how to deal with it, the Western states better understand what a precious commodity water is and are trying to figure out how to manage water during a time of explosive population growth, drought and global warming.

The article profiles a couple of water managers - the people tasked with making sure their municipalities don't end up looking at an empty water pipe. I don't envy Pat Mulroy (Las Vegas) and Peter Binney (Aurora, CO), though they should be commended for tackling such an insidious problem. And they clearly recognize what is going on:

We have an exploding human population, and we have a shrinking clean-water supply. Those are on colliding paths. This is not just a Las Vegas issue. This is a microcosm of a much larger issue.

Binney is working on a new pipeline project that will, in essence, collect treated waste water from Aurora and pump it back to Aurora for treatment. Recycled water. A closed-loop water source. Apparently, this is pretty innovative water management. It makes sense on the surface, though I can't help but wonder about how much energy will be required to pipe water back from the river to the treatment facility. The article touches on this link between wawter and energy:

The two problems -- water and energy -- are so intimately linked as to make it exceedingly difficult to tackle one without the other. The less water in our rivers, for instance, the less hydropower our dams produce. The further the water tables sink, the more power it takes to pump water up. The more we depend on coal and nuclear power plants, which require huge amounts of water for cooling, the larger the burden we place on supplies.

This is very troubling. It seems that communities suffering from declining water will turn to systems like Aurora's closed loop in order to recycle waste water (Australia, also suffering extreme drought, is turning to waste water as well). In order to build systems that recycle water, you need massive energy inputs. With energy becoming scarcer and more expensive, this just doesn't add up.

I have seen people refer to "peak everything" ... and I think I'm starting to understand what they mean. These systems are all so linked and connected that a peak in any component sends ripples through the entire complex. The bottom line in this case, however, is that the real source of the problem - over-population - is not being addressed. Instead, the focus is on the drought conditions.

No, the focus should be on reducing the amount of demand for water, via conservation and via reduced head count. Until those two items are pushed higher on the priority list, the long term prospects for resource-constrained areas look ominous.

Posted by tom c. at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Although solar energy is a very small contributor to total energy production in the US, there is no denying the impressive growth in the solar power industry. Take a look at these EIA charts, with data through 2006:

Total Solar Thermal Collector Shipments, 1997-2006

Photovoltaic Cell and Module Shipments, 1997-2006

Demand for solar energy is very robust, being helped by progressive states like California and New York that are offering major incentives and rebates to both commercial and residential markets. You can see where the solar panels are being shipped:

Solar Thermal Collector Shipments Top Domestic Destinations, 2006

As more states start to offer incentives and rebates, expect to see demand for solar continue to increase.

Posted by tom c. at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Earlier this year in February, I blogged about Australia's severe drought, but now drought is hitting closer to home (Atlanta) ... and the situtation is looking pretty dismal.

The article at the end of that link is well worth a read, but here's the synopsis:

• Atlanta metro area has a population of about 5.3 million
• Atlanta is experiencing a never before witnessed level of drought
• Lake Lanier (the main reservoir) is down to around 3 months worth of water left in storage
• The drought is hitting the local economy (landscapers not doing any business, layoffs, etc.)
• There is not a whole lot of rain in the forecast
• There don't seem to be any reasonable workarounds if Lanier continues to deplete

I'm interested to see how this thing progresses. We are still in hurricane season, so there is a decent chance that the Atlanta area could see some significant rain. On the other hand, October is typically the driest month of the year, so if rain comes, Atlanta would be extremely lucky.

What will Atlantans do? Will the drought cause people to change? What's the right amount of change? How can you measure your water usage against other residents? If there is a water shortage, what will the government do? What can they do? Is the drought related to global warming? Is this the beginning of persistent water problems in the deep south of the US?

Update December 14, 2007:
Atlanta's water problem hasn't gotten any better. This USGS page is the best place to go for status on Lake Lanier water data.

Posted by tom c. at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New York is not only testing new battery-powered buses ... they are also doing some progressive work with street redesign on 9th avenue. They have reworked a section of the avenue so that there is a buffered bike lane next to the sidewalk on one side of the street. The buffer? Parked cars.

Here's a picture below ... and you can read more about the experiment at the NYTimes.

The first comment that was made under the article said:

As a longtime resident of 22nd St. & 9th Ave., I am amazed with the improvement of 9th Ave. Traffic is flowing like normal, but cars seemed to have reduced their speeds on their own. Delivery guys on bikes are no longer running you over from all angles, and you know exactly where to look for them. The overall layout of the “new” 9th Ave. feels clean, organized, and well thought out.

Only one person's opinion, of course, but sounds pretty effective. I was recently down in New York and I can tell you that a bike lane like this would definitely encourage me to get on the bike a lot more often. The status quo is most definitely not bike-friendly. There is great stuff happening in New York around conservation and smarter energy use. I dig it.

Posted by tom c. at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out the new test bus running around midtown Manhattan these days. It's battery powered (though the battery is charged by a diesel engine with help from the brake system a la Prius) and gets better mileage than the city's fleet of current hybrid buses:

Jerry Higgins, the director of new bus technology for New York City Transit, said the manufacturer predicts the bus will get about seven miles per gallon, which is about double the fuel efficiency of the transportation authority’s current hybrid bus fleet.

Nice to read some good news every once in a blue moon ...

Posted by tom c. at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just returned from a 10 day trip to Hawaii. We visited the garden island: Kauai. Kauai's weather is really fast changing. It rained quite often, but usually for only 2-3 minute bursts. Immediately after the rain stopped, the sun was usually right back out and shining bright. I went to college in Burlington, VT, where locals like to say if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes. True, northern VT weather is pretty fleeting, but can't compare to Kauai in terms of change frequency. Plus, Kauai is so incredible beautiful that the rain bursts only add to the charm. Whereas the Burlington shift from freezing rain to ice pellets does not warm the heart nearly as much.

Anyway, I've recently read a bunch of articles on the global warming situation like this one that has nuggets like the following:

Entire hillsides, sometimes more than a kilometre long, simply let go and slid like a vast green carpet into valleys and rivers on Melville Island in Canada's northwest Arctic region of Nunavut this summer, says Scott Lamoureux of Queens University in Canada and leader of one the of International Polar Year projects.

"The entire landscape is on the move, it was very difficult to find any slopes that were unaltered," said Lamoureux, who led a scientific expedition to the remote and uninhabited island.

The topography and ecology of Melville Island is rapidly being rearranged by climate change.

"Every day it looked different," he told IPS. "This is a permanent change."

How fitting that global warming is progressing much more rapidly than scientific models have suggested. This fits hand in glove with our American culture, where we have the collective attention span of the common gnat. Thank goodness you can actually see global warming as it happens! If not, we'd probably ignore the whole issue and quickly forget about it. Phew! And to think I was worried? My guess is some enterprising game development company will have a global warming-inspired "Save the Polar Bears" type product out very soon for the kids to play at home.

Global warming, a product fit for the times.

Posted by tom c. at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)