Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

City Agriculture - March 17, 2023

by gmoke Fri Mar 17th, 2023 at 03:05:27 AM EST

Chinese natural restoration project

http://inhabitat.com/a-restoration-project-in-china-uses-a-sponge-system/

Urban Permaculture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qXgbrIYcFE

Floating farm in Rotterdam
http://cleantechnica.com/2023/01/20/say-hello-to-the-floating-farm-in-rotterdam/

Editorial Comment:  Previous mentions of Rotterdam in City Agriculture
World's first floating dairy farm in Rotterdam, Netherlands
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-45130010
http://cityag.blogspot.com/2018/08/city-agriculture-august-30-2018.html

Floating Park in Rotterdam made from recycled plastic
http://www.recycledpark.com/
http://www.recycledisland.com/about.html
https:/cityag.blogspot.com/2018/08/city-agriculture-august-30-2018.html
Editorial Comment:  The Floating Park seems to have vanished but the group behind it is still removing plastic from waterways.
Editorial Comment:  Aztecs and other South American peoples built floating gardens for hundreds of years.  They called them chinampas

A rooftop forest for Rotterdam
http://www.mvrdv.nl/news/2603/with-construction-almost-complete-depot-boijmans-van-beuningen-prepare s-for-preview-opening-in-september
http://www.mvrdv.nl/news/2652/depot-boijmans-van-beuningen-rooftop-forest-awarded-rooftop-award-2020
http://inhabitat.com/an-award-winning-forest-tops-the-worlds-first-publicly-accessible-art-depot/
http://cityag.blogspot.com/2021/01/city-agriculture-january-20-2021-happy.html

Rotterdam's roofscape - greening 10 million square feet of rooftops
http://www.c40.org/case-studies/cities100-rotterdam-mitigation-meets-adaptation-on-rotterdam-s-rooft ops

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f082078d610926644d22e00/t/621e3b2a1ee23c373149cac0/1646148404 157/URBANISTEN_Rotterdam_Rooftop_Potential_EN.pdf
http://www.fastcompany.com/90755913/inside-rotterdams-quest-to-green-10-million-square-feet-of-rooft ops
http://cityag.blogspot.com/2022/07/city-agriculture-july-31-2022.html

Dallas TX plans for urban farms
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/urban-farms-in-dallas-will-be-vital-to-a-healthier-population-cit y-officials-say-15696187
Dallas Climate Action Plan on food access
http://www.dallasclimateaction.com/foodaccess

How container farms can help with climate change
http://energynerdshow.com/episodes/mit-lab-explores-how-container-farms-can-help-with-climate-change
hat tip Bruce Biewald

Kroger partners with Gotham Greens to supply more than 1000 stores
http://www.agritecture.com/blog/2023/2/9/kroger-expanding-gotham-greens-to-more-than-1000-stores

Japan's agricultural decarbonization plan
http://sponsored.bloomberg.com/article/jco/japan-where-food-security-meets-innovation
Editorial Comment:  government press release

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - March 2023

by gmoke Mon Feb 27th, 2023 at 06:41:13 PM EST

Conferences
Lecture Series
Events

More complete information on each entry at http://hubevents.blogspot.com
These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.

This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).  

A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.  

If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.

Thanks for reading,
Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com

http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds

------------------

Tuesday, February 28

Powering the Mekong: Does "clean energy" mean more dams?
Tuesday, February 28
3am - 5am EST (15:00 - 16:00 BKK)
Online
RSVP at http://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_56hHaxT_T-yZZpA7toeM6Q

Accelerating Climate Resilience Webinar: Resilience Hubs
Tuesday, February 28
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Online
RSVP at http://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAofuCpqjkvHdL9rWm6rCpxXQG9zctQQXJb

Dorceta Taylor: Untold Stories of the Conservation Movement: Race, Class and Environmental Protection
Tuesday, February 28
6:00pm
BC, Gasson Hall, 100 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA

Wednesday, March 1

Biodiversity 8 Deepdive: Symbiosis is Challenging Survival of the Fittest
Wednesdays, March 1 - May 12
RSVP at http://bio4climate.org/course-offerings/biodiversity-8-deepdive-into-symbiosis/registration/

2030 solar and wind roadmap for Pakistan
Wednesday, March 1
5:30am EST [11:30 AM in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna]
Online
RSVP at http://agora-energiewende-de.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RXguv17OS0-84V-_4ZzlWQ

Energy Efficient Circuits Beyond what have been known as the Fundamental Limits: Power Converter, Analog Interface and Frequency Generation
Wednesday, March 1
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Grier Room, Building 34-401, 34 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Enhancing the Benefits of Human Mobility through Development Interventions
Wednesday, March 1
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT Building 9, 9-255 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This is an in-person event with a virtual option. To join the Zoom Webinar, registration is required: http://bit.ly/BenefitsHumanMobility

Reducing Child Poverty in the United States
Wednesday, March 1
1:00 - 3:00 p.m. ET
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC
RSVP at http://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-attend-reducing-child-poverty-us
and Online
RSVP at http://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-watch-reducing-child-poverty-united-states

Sulfur and the organic carbon cycle
Wednesday, March 1
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 54, Room 209, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA

Psychology for a Safe Climate [PSC] In Conversation with Joelle Gergis: Humanity's Moment
Wednesday, March 1
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm AEDT
Online
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/psc-in-conversation-with-joelle-gergis-humanitys-moment-tickets-51256 4031817

Thursday, March 2

Tufts Energy Conference 2023
Thursday, March 2 - Friday, March 3
5:00 PM EST
Tufts University 419 Boston Avenue Medford, MA 02155
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tufts-energy-conference-2023-tickets-529744308487

Systems Change for People and Planet: What You Need to Know
Thursday, March 2
10 a.m. EST (4 p.m. CET)
Online
RSVP at http://wri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_du_IQb_QRVSAJAOnr9BvZg

A Clean Energy Workforce and the Path to Equity
Thursday, March 2
12:00PM - 1:30PM
Kleinman Energy Forum, Fisher Fine Arts Library, 220 S 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
and Online
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-clean-energy-workforce-and-the-path-to-equity-registration-51813181520 7

Moakley Chair Webinar Series: When Will This War End? Unraveling The Russia-Ukraine Crisis
Thursday, March 2
4:00 PM
Online
RSVP at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ejm5jgr50d4a71e4&oseq=&c=&a mp;ch=

Climate Change and Muslim Societies: Examples from Africa and Asia
Thursday, March 2
4 - 5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Sackler Lecture Hall, 485 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RdpyRRe5SbC8-ZNGUArrqw

Climatetech Intern Fair 2023
Thursday, March 2
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts
RSVP at http://greentownlabs.com/event/climatetech-intern-fair-2023/

Design Activism: Border Ecologies and the Architecture of UN Missions
Thursday, March 2
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Long Lounge, 7-429, 7-429 77 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02139
and Online
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/malkit-shoshan-tickets-536285192447

Friday, March 3

From Land Carbon Sink to Net Zero Emissions: How can Land be Part of the Climate Solution?
Friday, March 3
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Parsons Laboratory , 48-316 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA

"Culturally-Minded Disaster Response," Virtual Discussion
Friday, March 3
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Online
RSVP at http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/1774

Sunday, March 5
Transformation Beyond the Climate-bubble: The Case for Building a Climate Majority
Sunday, March 5
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM EST
Online
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/transformation-beyond-the-climate-bubble-tickets-544452541207

Read more... (2078 words in story)

Carbon War and Energy Transition in Germany and Poland

by gmoke Tue Feb 14th, 2023 at 03:46:58 AM EST

Sales of heat pumps in Poland experienced a 120% rise in demand in 2022, as interest in the renewable heating technology booms across Europe.

Poland saw sales grow to over 200,000 units in 2022, accelerated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and plans to move away from natural gas in heating buildings.

In terms of equipment designed for central water heating, the increase reached 130%, representing almost one in three of all space heating units sold in 2022.

Source: https://www.coolingpost.com/world-news/heat-pump-sales-rise-120-in-poland

More from the European Heat Pump Association

https://www.ehpa.org/2023/02/08/ehpa_news/port-pc-2022-was-the-year-of-heat-pumps-in-poland

German heat pump sales were also up 53%

Source: https://www.coolingpost.com/world-news/german-heat-pump-sales-up-53

and German "Roof-mounted [solar] installations for family homes increased by 40 percent to nearly 3 GW"

Source: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/german-solar-power-capacity-2022-sees-fast-growth-still-w ell-below-target

People, individual homeowners are responding to the carbon war by getting off fossil fuels and installing renewables.  This is a response to the current war between Russia and Ukraine as well as to climate change.  It's a connection I don't see made often enough.

As with climate change, perhaps this trend will only accelerate.

See Mandatory Solar for more

https://solarray.blogspot.com/2023/01/solar-mandates.html

Read more... (244 words in story)

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - February 2023

by gmoke Sun Jan 29th, 2023 at 09:46:25 PM EST

Conferences
____

Ethics and Solar Geoengineering: Justice, Legitimacy, and Governance in a Climate Crisis
February 2

Sustainability Connect 2023: A Forum on the Future of Sustainability at MIT
Tuesday, February 14

EBC Tenth Annual Offshore Wind Conference: T-minus 7 years to 30GW by 2030
February 15

The 1619 Education Conference
February 18 - February 19

Mathemalchemy Symposium:  Exploring the Intersections of Mathematics, Art, & Education
Friday, February 24

Lecture Series
_
____

Global Energy Trends 2023: Crisis, Contingencies, and Climate Change
Thursday, February 2

Explore the Shape-Shifting Media Climate with Earth's Publicist - David Fenton
Friday, February 3

Cancel Wars:  How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy
Friday, February 3

Vandana Shiva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements
Monday, February 6

Green Shipping Corridors: Getting Maritime Shipping to Net Zero
Tuesday, February 7

Environmental Justice Roundtable
Wednesday, February 8

Climate change in Africa: Exploring citizen experiences and perspectives
Friday, February 10

Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy
Friday, February 10

Sustainable Places: Climate Adapted Cities
Wednesday, February 15

Climate Action in Nigeria:  Risks, Urgencies, and Opportunities
Wednesday, February 15

Living Between Worlds, with Grace, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday February 15

The Role of Carbon Capture in Meeting Net-zero Carbon Goals
Thursday, February 16

Living with Climate Change in Northern New England
Thursday, February 16

Events
_
__

Energy Seminar: Leon Clarke, Bezos Earth Fund
Monday, January 30

Mini-Symposium on Environmental Justice and Energy Sustainability ​
Tuesday, January 31

Chilean Constitutional Reform: Mother Nature, Mapuche Women, and Decolonial Perspectives
Tuesday, January 31

The Falling Sky and The Yanomami Struggle
Tuesday, January 31

Navigating Energy Transitions: The implications of 1.5°C scenarios for Canada's Paris-aligned energy transitions
Wednesday, February 1

Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians--Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott
Wednesday, February 1

The Foreign Policy of Technology
Thursday, February 2

Interspecies Attentiveness: An Artist Panel Discussion
Thursday, February 2

Cambridge, MA: BEUDO: A Path to Reducing Building Emissions in Cambridge
Thursday, February 2

Wikipedia edit-a-thon on climate change
Friday, February 3

Housing as a Climate Lever, with Scott Wiener
Monday, February 6

Using an International Human Rights Framework for Climate Justice Advocacy in the United States
Tuesday, February 7

Restoring the Earth's lungs - How can forests support climate change mitigation?
Wednesday, February 8

Understanding the threat of white Christian nationalism to American democracy today:  Findings from the PRRI and Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey
Wednesday, February 8

Rethinking China's rise, restraints, and resilience
Wednesday, February 8

Transition in the Food Industry:  A Solutions Approach
Wednesday, February 8

A Digital Green New Deal: Wiring Gaia in the Anthropocene
Wednesday, February 8

The Energy Transition and Indigenous Communities in the US and Canada
Wednesday, February 8

Climate Change and Health: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Friday, February 10

Can companies save the planet? Sustainable investment between greenwashing and real impact:  Finance Company climate claims
Wednesday, February 15

Analyzing Earth's "Fine Prints": Utilization of High-Resolution Geological Records to Elucidate Future Climate Change
Wednesday, February 22

Business Climate Challenge Energy Management Workshop
Tuesday, February 21

Nomad Century - How to Survive the Climate Upheaval
Tuesday, February 21

Inclusive Insurance: A U.S. Roadmap for Climate-Related Disasters
February 22

Paul R. Ehrlich's Life: A Journey through Science and Politics
Thursday, February 23

Are Economic and Judicial Sanctions Effective in Combatting Authoritarianism? Evidence from Venezuela, Hungary & Poland
Monday, February 27

When Wounds Travel: Ecologies of War and Healthcare East of the Mediterranean
Wednesday, March 1

A Clean Energy Workforce and the Path to Equity  
Thursday, March 2

----------

These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.

This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).  

A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.  

If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.

Thanks for reading,

Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com

http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds

----------

Read more... (9535 words in story)

City Agriculture - January 19, 2023

by gmoke Fri Jan 20th, 2023 at 04:29:24 AM EST

3D printing houses with dirt, green walls and various crops built-in
http://www.fastcompany.com/90780034/bioconstruction-will-build-homes-out-of-flowering-3d-printed-dir t

Singapore skyscraper, Capita Spring, with a food forest on top and gardens throughout
http://big.dk/#projects-sing
http://inhabitat.com/this-is-how-singapore-does-vertical-biophilic-urbanism/

Reducing energy in Controlled Environment Agriculture [CEA]
http://www.agritecture.com/blog/2022/10/18/5-organizations-trying-to-solve-ceas-energy-problems
Editorial Comment:  These are the only CEA operations I know of which designed energy efficiency into their systems from the beginning:
Net zero vertical farm in Chicago
http://inhabitat.com/food-waste-fuels-vertical-farming-in-chicago/
InFarm for supermarkets who want to grow their own food
http://www.fastcompany.com/3058155/at-this-supermarket-the-produce-section-grows-its-own-produce

CO2 to boost plant growth in rooftop farming
http://interestingengineering.com/innovation/co2-boost-plant-growth-on-roof
http://www.wbur.org/news/2018/05/15/rooftop-garden-bu
hat tip to Nathan Phillips

BBC on carbon farming
http://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211020-carbon-farming-a-better-use-for-half-earths-land

BBC with Corteva, an agriscience company with roots in the DuPont companies, has produced three editions of eight half hour programs and three specials since 2021
http://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/

Growing wheat indoors and without soil
http://agfundernews.com/infarms-indoor-wheat-suggests-we-re-examine-the-realities-of-vertically-farm ed-commodities

Cutting-edge tech made this tiny country a major exporter of food
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2022/netherlands-agriculture-technology/
Editorial Comment:  If you can't get past the Washington Post paywall, copy the address into http://archive.ph

Forest stadium for Milan, Italy (a design concept but not an actual project)
http://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/project/san-siro-an-international-forest-stadium-for-milano /
http://inhabitat.com/stefano-boeri-architetti-designs-a-forest-stadium-in-milan/

How Tunisia's lagoon farms use saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea
http://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1387222141790782
hat tip to Monica Raymond

BBC asks "What if all our food was grown in indoor vertical farms?"
http://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230106-what-if-all-our-food-was-grown-in-indoor-vertical-farms

How to make vegetables last longer
http://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230118-how-to-make-fruit-and-vegetables-last-longer

Mandatory Solar

by gmoke Sat Jan 7th, 2023 at 03:09:41 AM EST

Germany

http://renewablesnow.com/news/overview-rooftop-solar-to-become-mandatory-in-several-german-states-in -2023-809103/

"The installation of solar panels on the roofs of buildings is already mandatory in Baden-Wuerttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, while Berlin, Hamburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, and Lower Saxony have adopted laws introducing the obligation as of January 1, 2023."

France
http://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/12/12/france-introduces-requirement-for-pv-in-parking-lots/

"The French parliament has approved a new measure to make it mandatory for parking lots to include solar if their surface area is more than 1,500 square meters."

Tokyo, Japan
http://e360.yale.edu/digest/tokyo-rooftop-solar

"Tokyo is mandating that all new homes in the city be built with rooftop solar panels starting in 2025."

"Three in four houseowners in Germany wish to put a solar PV array on their roofs, according to a survey commissioned by the country's solar industry lobby group BSW Solar. One in five houseowners aims to install solar PV arrays within the next twelve months, the survey by pollster YouGov also revealed, making the solar industry confident that a 'persistent solar power boom' lies ahead for Germany. Two thirds gave rising energy prices as a their main motivation, while 40 said they were driven by climate action. About 80 percent of the over 1,000 houseowners surveyed said they could imagine simultaneously installing a power storage unit to maximise the effectiveness of their roof-mounted solar power installations."
http://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/three-quarters-german-houseowners-ready-put-solar-installation-t heir-roofs-survey

I doubt if the survey asked anyone whether they were going solar to parry the energy weapon Putin, for one, is now using but it does.

Comments >> (13 comments)

Energy (and Other) Events - January 2023

by gmoke Wed Jan 4th, 2023 at 04:37:35 AM EST

*Conferences

Reducing the Threat of Nuclear War: Social and Economic Costs of the Current Nuclear Weapons Buildup
Saturday, January 21

Addressing Climate Emergency for Small Islands States: The case of the Maldives
Monday, January 30

**Lecture Series

Recanati-Kaplan Talks:  Two Years After Insurrection: A Conversation with Dr. Barbara F. Walter & Farai Chideya
Wednesday, January 4

An Introduction to Nuclear Weapons
Fridays, January 6 through January 27

Beyond Plastics Webinar - Pollution by Chemicals and Plastics: The Stealth Threat to Planetary Health
Thursday, January 12

GreenGov Webinar Series -- Advancing the Global Sustainable Development Goals in our Personal and Professional Spheres
Friday, January 13

Cool as a Cucumber: The food and climate nexus at MIT (an IAP series)
Wednesday, January 18 (More dates through February 1, 2023)

NECEC Emerging Trends Series:  Decarbonizing Building Heating
Thursday, January 19

Space Food for the Final Frontier
Thursday, January 19, Friday, January 20, Friday, January 27

Computational modeling for clean, reliable, and affordable electricity
Monday, January 23 More dates through January 27, 2023

A Changing Planet Seminar by Sir James Bevan
Tuesday, January 24

MIT AgeLab Aging & Equity Series: Climate Change and Health: Age and Intergenerational Considerations
Friday, January 27

**Events*

SEA-CO2 Seminar: Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic Carbon through Ocean Observation, an upcoming ARPA-E program on mCDR MRV technology development
Monday, January 9

Gaming Climate Change: Challenges and More Challenges
Tuesday, January 10

Accelerate to Net Zero Europe: The Carbon Trust Event Series
Wednesday, January 11

Harvard Climate Justice Design Fellowship Virtual Showcase
Wednesday, January 11

US Green Building Council-LA Net Zero Accelerator Demo Day & Expo
Thursday, January 12

American Perceptions of Climate Change (IAP Workshop)
Thursday, January 12

What Magic Can Teach Us About Misinformation
Friday, January 13

Small-Scale Agricultural Climate Resiliency
Tuesday, January 17

How Low-Carbon Ammonia Can Help Fight Climate Change
Wednesday, January 18

The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal - Report launch
Thursday, January 19

Homelessness in The United States: Context, Scope, and Approaches
Friday, January 20

LDEO Earth Science Colloquium Dr. Jade D'Alpoim Guedes
Friday, January 20

At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth, with Madeline Ostrander
Tuesday, January 24

U.N. Perspective Series: Clean Water & Sanitation
Wednesday, January 25

Democracy and peace at stake? The rise of geo-strategy in energy transition
Wednesday, January 25

US Nuclear Weapons Accidents: A Brief History and the Evolution of Response
Thursday, January 26

Brian Eno and Donna Grantis: Arts' Role in the Climate Crisis
Friday, January 27

Interspecies Attentiveness: An Artist Panel Discussion
Thursday, February 2

Wikipedia edit-a-thon on climate change
Friday, February 3

Housing as a Climate Lever, with Scott Wiener
Monday, February 6

----------

These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.

This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).  

A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.  

If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.

Thanks for reading,

Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com

http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds

Read more... (8 comments, 8894 words in story)

Have a Solar Civil Defense Christmas

by gmoke Sun Dec 25th, 2022 at 06:10:18 PM EST

I ordered some of these as Christmas presents this year.  I tested them.  They work.  

"Solar Battery Charger AA AAA C and D

$4.95
Our solar battery charger is a simple way to keep your Ni-MH or Ni-CAD batteries charged. Compatible with all sizes (AAA,AA,C and D). Simply insert the batteries and put the solar charger into the sunlight.
https:/www.siliconsolar.com/product/solar-battery-charger-aa-aaa-c-and-d "

Batteries not included (but I'm adding them to the gifts).

At these (retail) prices, $5 or 6 billion buys entry level electricity for the poorest billion people in the world - solar energy for light, communications, and battery charging.  This is also survival solar, what we are supposed to have on hand in case of emergency or disaster.

Combining even this miniscule amount of solar with bicycles as both small generators and batteries, from AAs on down and on up through 6 volts, 12 volts all the way to the grid, an individual could conceivably have access to bare minimum electricity almost all the time in almost any situation.  Looked at from this direction, bicycles, e-bikes, and the varieties of other new personal mobility devices as well as electric vehicles could be seen as a floating network of power producers and consumers* at the same time, mobile energy storage and generation.

This is one reason why I say Solar IS Civil Defense.

We would do well to prepare for the next weather event in ways that mitigate as well as adapt to the already occurring climate changes.  We may need it quicker than we think.  

*  This energy consumer/producer concept is also happening in our buildings as net zero energy building codes are adopted.
Years of links to net zero energy examples and developments at https://zeronetenrg.blogspot.com (also available as a free quarterly links list)

We remain alert so as not to get run down, but it turns out you only have to hop a few feet to one side and the whole huge machinery rolls by, not seeing you at all.
Lew Welch

Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in Challenging Times

by gmoke Mon Dec 19th, 2022 at 04:00:38 AM EST

This Zoom event comes from Energy (and Other) Events Monthly (http://hubevents.blogspot.com) 12/9/22. I attended and am sharing my notes.  

Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in Challenging Times with Margarita M Balmaceda, Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, author of Russian Energy Chains, and an Associate of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
and
Constanze Stelzenmüller, Director and Fritz Stern Chair of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution
Moderators:  Elizabeth Wood and Carol Saivetz, both MIT
Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1DrP8wqqPs
A transcript will be available as well

Frontpaged with minor edit - Frank Schnittger

Read more... (17 comments, 1113 words in story)

Two Events on December 14: Circular Development and The Effects of War, Pollution & Capital

by gmoke Mon Dec 12th, 2022 at 05:43:40 PM EST

Changing Planet Seminar: Going Circular: Addressing Climate Change through Circular Development
Wednesday, December 14
6am - 7:30am (11:00 - 12:30 GMT)
Grantham Institute Board Room, Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus, London, UK
and Livestream
RSVP at https:/www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/going-circular-addressing-climate-change-through-circular-development -tickets-451718721857

Circular development is a regenerative approach to the way in which we design, plan and manage urban ecosystems. It has the potential to help city-regions mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt for climate change. It will ecologically regenerate urban systems; turn cities into producers as well as consumers of resources; and enable them to adapt more easily to the tumultuous changes in the landscape. However, it does incur a whole range of challenges to implementation. Perhaps the greatest of these is the low value the economic system attributes to circular activities, which are needed to address climate change.

Join us in person at Grantham Institute Board room, or watch the online screening at Silwood PArk's F&H rooms, or online for an intriguing discussion with Prof Jo. There will be time for questions after her presentation and a networking session will follow.

About our speaker
Jo Williams is a senior lecturer in Sustainable Urbanism at the Bartlett School of Planning. She co-developed the innovative MSC Sustainable Urbanism and was the director of the programme from 2010 - 2012. She is currently Director of the International Circular Cities Hub which she founded in collaboration with the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. She works closely with industry (e.g. ARUPs, Zed Architects, Happolds, WSP, CBRE, WS Atkins), government (municipalities, regional and national governments in Europe and Asia), interest groups (e.g. Asia- Pacific Zero Carbon Hub), International bodies (European Environment Agency and United Nations). She has acted as an advisor to a number of regional, national and international bodies including: the United Nations task force on the Marrakech process, the European Environment Agency; the World Congress on Smart Cities, the UK Peak Oil committee, the Horizon Scanning team and UK Department of Business, Innovation and Enterprise; and the GLA London Renewables. She is on the steering panel for several large research projects and conferences focussed on low carbon and smart urbanism. She reviews papers for several journals (including Energy Policy, Journal Cleaner production, Environment and Planning B) that are important in the field of sustainable urbanism and energy policy. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and written "Zero Carbon Homes - A Road Map" a book published by EarthScan-Routledge

Joining the event
This will be a hybrid event, with the opportunity for Imperial staff and students to attend at one of two campus locations (South Kensington and Silwood Park).

In Person
South Kensington Campus - The Grantham Institute Boardroom, followed by a networking reception.
Silwood Park Campus - Fisher and Haldane. There will be a live stream of the event here followed by a networking reception.
Online

Guests can join the seminar remotely on zoom. Details to be sent to those who register.

The Changing Planet seminar series is run by students and staff on the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet (SSCP) Doctoral Training Program. It offers the chance to hear the latest in understanding, adapting to and mitigating environmental problems, complementing the diversity of environmental research at Imperial College London and beyond. Please be aware that our seminars are recorded. If you do not wish to appear on the recording please alert a member of staff. For any further enquiries regarding the Changing Planet seminar series, please contact us at grantham.events@imperial.ac.uk .

----------

Environmental Destruction: The Effects of War, Pollution & Capital
Wednesday, December 14
7am - 11am [12:00 - 16:00 GMT]
Online
RSVP at https:
www.eventbrite.com/e/environmental-destruction-the-effects-of-war-pollution-capital-tickets- 426078390937

(In)Justice International are proud to put out a call for attendees and papers/abstracts for our December Workshop which is open to all academics, researchers, students (of any level), Barristers, reporters and people who have lived experienced of the devastating traumas of environmental destruction.

The workshop invites holistic, intersectional approaches relating to war, oppression, pollution, neoliberalism, discrimination and climate change. For example, one could take the influence of capital and, by association, neoliberalism where the drive for profit can create unnecessary pollution across the world. Global organisations often seek the least expensive means of production often characterised by a low paid (poverty stricken) workforce. Allied to the weaker Health and Safety regulations in many countries, productivity targets are often enforced.

As a consequence, any shortcuts that result in greater productivity at the expense of the environment or working conditions are either ignored or encouraged which, in turn, can result in the `dumping' of waste products as opposed to recycling or disposal processes that cost more money. Indeed, this `dumping' tends to take place in the poorer neighbourhoods and, therefore, affects those more susceptible to poverty than more elite sections of society (see https:www.injustice-intl.org/environment).

War on the other hand can result in similarly devastating consequences. The use of heavy ammunition, the raising of buildings and power stations the war has exacerbated levels of pollution. In addition, war intensifies relations appertaining to forced migration (and subsequent discriminatory practices) alongside concerns over energy supplies with those countries that have agreed to zero emissions targets beginning to resort back to the burning of fossil fuels. All-in-all, there is an exacerbation of the causes of climate change and an increase in relative poverty if not absolute poverty.

And with climate change, the poorest are disproportionately affected.

These are but a few of the examples that can lead to both an intersectional and holistic account of the overwhelming havoc being caused by environmental destruction. From whatever the preferred approach of the speaker/researcher on the subject, (In)Justice International welcomes the submission of abstracts.
Agenda
12-12.10 (GMT) Brief Introduction.
12.10-13.10 Four fifteen-minute presentations.
13.10-13.30 Breakout sessions
13.30-13.50 Q&A
13-50-14.00 Break
14.00-15.00 Four fifteen-minute presentations.
15.00-15.20 Breakout session
15.20-15.40 Q&A
15.40-15.50 Closing remarks
Presentations in this event could lead to publication in either our journals (please click on https:
www.injustice-intl.org/cfp1-call-for-journal-abstracts) or books (https:anthempress.com/crime-criminality-and-injustice-hb). It could also secure a place at our World Convention in Finland 2023 (see CfPs on https:/www.injustice-intl.org/copy-of-call-for-abstracts-papers-2).

December 9 - Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in Challenging Times

by gmoke Wed Dec 7th, 2022 at 09:45:58 PM EST

If you go, please share your notes.

More such Energy (and Other) Events at https:/hubevents.blogspot.com

MIT Starr Forum: Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in Challenging Times
Friday, December 9
12:00 PM - 1:15 AM
Online
RSVP at https:
mit.zoom.us/webinar/register/8716637662420/WN_Yd1_bF0DS3mKt30f_7gxdg

Speakers:
Margarita Balmaceda is the Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University; and an Associate of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Her most recent book is "Russian Energy Chains: the Remaking of  Technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union."
Constanze Stelzenmüller is the Director and Fritz Stern Chair of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. She is an expert on German, European, and trans-Atlantic foreign and security policy and strategy.

Co-Chairs:
Carol Saivetz is a Senior Advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues.
Elizabeth Wood is a Professor of History at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia's War in Ukraine as well as articles on Vladimir Putin, the political cult of WWII, right-wing populism in Russia and Turkey, and US-Russian Partnerships in Science. She is Co-Director of the MISTI MIT-Eurasia Program.

Email
svanmell@mit.edu
Website https:
/calendar.mit.edu/event/starr_forum_energy_as_a_weapon_of_war_russia_ukraine_and_europe_in_ch allenging_times#


Comments >> (1 comment)

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - December 2022

by gmoke Wed Nov 30th, 2022 at 01:43:34 AM EST

*Conferences

TEDxMIT:  What Defines a Mind?
Sunday, December 4

----------

**Lecture Series

Economic Diversification in Nigeria: The Politics of Building a Post-Oil Economy
Thursday, December 1

Beyond Data: Reclaiming Human Rights at the Dawn of the Metaverse
Thursday, December 1

Susan Chomba: Will Ongoing Grand Restoration Schemes Reverse or Accelerate Biodiversity Loss?
Thursday, December 1

Bradford Seminar: "Critical Data Gaps in Climate Change Adaptation Modeling"
Monday, December 5

Inside Putin's Head: The Threat of Nuclear Strike in Ukraine
Monday, December 5

HMEI Faculty Seminar: "The Urbasphere: How Humans, Infrastructure and Nature Shape the Emerging Environment of Cities"
Tuesday, December 6

Jewish Climate Action Network Webinars:
Decarbonizing
Wednesday, December 7
&
Calculating Your Energy Benchmark
Tuesday, December 13

Climate Change and Health Equity
Thursday, December 8

Transforming Policy, Procurement & Data to Achieve Carbon-Free Electricity in New England
Friday, December 9

MIT Starr Forum: Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in Challenging Times
Friday, December 9

Earthquakes and the End Times: Global Disasters and Apocalyptic Predictions in the Early Modern English Atlantic
Tuesday, December 13

A Changing Planet Seminar: Going Circular: Addressing Climate Change through Circular Development
Wednesday, December 14

An Introduction to Nuclear Weapons
Fridays, January 6 through January 27, 2023

----------

**Events*

Keeping the (Decarbonized) Lights On: US Housing, Equity, and the Energy Transition
Friday, December 2

Hurricanes and Breezes: Visualizing Climate Change
Friday, December 2

Peter Zeihan: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
Friday, December 2

The Appallingly Bad (Neoclassical) Economics of Climate Change
Sunday, December 4

Rocky Mountain Institute Discussion -- How Can We Accelerate Our Clean Energy Future?
Tuesday, December 6

Are Industry Regulators Ready for the Climate Transition?
Tuesday, December 6

The 2022 Climate Risk Scorecard: Assessing U.S Financial Regulator Action
Tuesday, December 6

Farmers-Scientists panel on Climate-Smart Agriculture
Wednesday, December 7

And on His Farm He Had..A Photovoltaic System? Where Solar and Farming Meet
Wednesday, December 7

Cyber Negotiations: The Case of Ransomware
Wednesday, December 7

Farming + Fresh Water - "Solving Complex Problems" (12.000) Final Presentation
Wednesday, December 7

After Biden-Xi Handshake: Is U.S.-China Climate Collab About to Heat Up?
Wednesday, December 7

Greta Thunberg in conversation with Naomi Klein
Thursday, December 8

Stefan Rahmstorf: 2022 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication
Friday, December 9

Nature-Based Adaptation: Getting to Scale
Friday, December 9

Zaporizhzhia: Facing the Dangers of Nuclear Plants in War and Peace  
Sunday, December 11

Environmental Destruction: The Effects of War, Pollution & Capital
Wednesday, December 14

Great Decisions with Rachel Kyte | Climate Change
December 14

----------

These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.

This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).  

A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.  

If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.

Thanks for reading,

Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com

http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds

Read more... (8526 words in story)

Environmental Demonstrations Ideas from 1970s Science Fiction

by gmoke Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 02:58:18 AM EST

John Brunner was a UK science fiction writer active from the 1950s through the 1990s.  Some of his work was truly prescient, mostly the four novels Stand on Zanzibar (1968), The Jagged Orbit (1969), The Sheep Look Up (1972) and The Shockwave Rider (1975), where the term worm for a computer virus was coined, which have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet" because they deal with overpopulation, ecological collapse, and runaway technology.

In The Sheep Look Up (ISBN 0-345-24948-8-195), Brunner comes very close to predicting the recent Just Stop Oil traffic blockades, down to the symbol they are using, a skull and cross-bones:

Sharp on nine the Trainites [environmental protesters] had scattered caltraps in the roadway and created a monumental snarl-up twelve blocks by seven.  The fuzz, as usual, was elsewhere - there were always plenty of sympathizers willing to cause a diversion.  It was impossible to guess how many allies the movement had;  at a rough guess, though, one could say that in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, LA or San Francisco people were apt to cheer, while in the surrounding suburbs or the Midwest people were apt to go fetch guns.  In other words, they had least support in the areas which had voted for Prexy.

Next, the stalled cars had their windows opaqued with a cheap commercial compound used for etching glass, and slogans were painted on their doors.  Some were long:  THIS VEHICLE IS A DANGER TO LIFE AND LIMB.  Many were short:  IT STINKS!  But the commonest of all was the universally known catchphrase:  STOP, YOU'RE KILLING ME!

And in every case the inscription was concluded with a rough egg-shape above a saltire - the simplified ideogrammatic version of the invariable Trainite symbol, a skull and crossbones reduced to
0
X

I've always liked the way The Sheep Look Up ends with USAmerica having declared war against an enemy it can't name which is simply all the poisons we've thrown to the winds coming back to poison us and a woman in Ireland greeting someone at the door.

Opening the door to the visiting doctor, also to apologize for the flour on her hands - she had been baking - Mrs. Byrne sniffed.  Smoke! And if she could smell it with her heavy head cold, it must be a tremendous fire!  
"We ought to call the brigade!" She exclaimed. "Is it a hayrick?"
"The brigade would have a long way to go," the doctor told her curtly."It's from America. The wind's blowing that way."

My full notes are available at http://solarray.blogspot.com/2022/11/environmental-demonstrations-ideas-from.html

Read more... (6 comments, 925 words in story)

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - November 2022

by gmoke Sun Oct 30th, 2022 at 03:27:20 AM EST

Events at the colleges and universities in Greater Metropolitan Boston, MA.

Saturday, October 29, 2022
Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - November 2022
*Conferences

2022 C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium & Awards Retaking the helm: Steering clean energy through perilous storms
Wednesday, November 2

--------

Advancing Environmental Justice and Conservation Innovation: Rethinking Institutions, Governance, and Collaborative Processes
November 3

--------

Yale Clean Energy Conference
Thursday, November 3rd, 2022, 4:30 PM EDT -- Friday, November 4th, 2022, 6:30 PM EDT

--------

Science, Technology & the Human Future
Thursday, November 3 - Saturday, November 5

--------

TransCultural Exchange's 2022 International Conference on Opportunities in the Arts: Create the Future
Friday, November 4 - Sunday, November 6

--------

Net Zero Carbon Industry by 2050: Myth or Reality? - 4th of November 2022
Friday, November 4

--------

Annual Climate Symposium 2022 at Harvard Business School
Saturday, November 5 4:00 PM - Sunday, November 6, 5:00 PM EDT

--------

COP [Conference of Parties] 27:  Global Climate Conference
Sunday, November 6 - Friday, November 18

--------

Innovations in Education for the Global Village Online Summit
Tuesday, November 8

--------

The First Ecology and Sustainability Forum in Metaverse
Friday, November 11

--------

World Sustainability Conference 2022
Saturday, November 12

--------

TEDxBoston:  Planetary Stewardship
Sunday, November 13 - Monday, November 14

--------

Convergence: The Promise and Reality of AI & Quantum
Monday, November 14

--------

Passive House Symposium
Wednesday, November 16

--------

International Sustainability Conference 2022
Friday, November 18

--------

**Lecture Series

Energy Policy Seminar: "Towards Quantitative Comparison of the Risks and Benefits of Solar Geoengineering"
Monday, October 31

--------

Leapfrogging in energy technologies: Evidence from China's electric vehicle industry with Hengrui Liu
Monday, November 3

--------

Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels
Saturday, November 12

--------

Living Between Worlds, with Grace, Dignity, and Power
Wednesday, November 16

--------

EnergyBar: Go Move 2022 Kickoff
Wednesday, November 16

--------

Transforming Policy, Procurement & Data to Achieve Carbon-Free Electricity in New England
Friday, December 9

--------

Earthquakes and the End Times: Global Disasters and Apocalyptic Predictions in the Early Modern English Atlantic
Tuesday, December 13

**Events*

Planning Transformation Coastal Adaptation with a Climate Justice Lens
Monday, October 31

--------

Centering Gender at COP 27
Tuesday, November 1

--------

Social & Environmental Impact: Can you be profitable and save the planet?
Thursday, November 3

--------

Mapping the Circular Economy in Greater Boston
Thursday, November 3

--------

Derivatives and Bank Climate Risk Report
Friday, November 4

--------

Energy Seminar: The Decarbonization Imperative - Michael Lenox, Darden School of Business
Monday, November 7

--------

The future of our ecosystems in a sustainable future
Tuesday, November 8

--------

Mobilizing Finance for Clean Energy in Emerging Markets
Tuesday, November 8

--------

Can We Eat Our Way Out of Climate Change?
Tuesday, November 8

--------

Climate Solutions Roundtable - Decarbonize Cambridge Built Environment
Tuesday, November 8

--------

"Nature-Based Solutions: Engineering for a Coastal Climate Future"
Thursday, November 10

--------

The Farm on the Roof
Thursday, November 10

--------

Can Offshore Wind be an Innovation Anchor for the New Blue Economy?
Monday, November 14

--------

Concentration and Crises: Exploring the Deep Roots of Vulnerability in the Global Industrial Food System
Tuesday, November 15

--------

Energy Policy in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam: Can Coal be Curbed?
Tuesday, November 15

--------

Reimagining the Digital Public Sphere
Tuesday, November 15

--------

Frances Moore Lappé, Aligning with the Earth: What Will it Take?
Tuesday, November 15

--------

"Degenerations of Democracy": A Clough Distinguished Lecture by Craig Calhoun
Thursday, November 17

--------

Silent Spring Revolution
Thursday, November 17

--------

On the Contradictions of Sustainability
Tuesday, November 22

--------

"Democratizing the Economy or Introducing Economic Risk? Gig Work During the Covid-19 Pandemic"
Tuesday, November 29

--------

Educating for the Anthropocene: Schooling and Activism in the Face of Slow Violence
Wednesday, November 30

--------

Stefan Rahmstorf: 2022 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication
Friday, December 9

--------

These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.

This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).  

A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.  

If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.

Thanks for reading,

Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com

http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds

Read more... (9729 words in story)

Zero Net Energy - October 20, 2022

by gmoke Fri Oct 21st, 2022 at 03:44:35 AM EST

An energy rule of thumb is one third of energy goes to buildings, one third goes to industry, one third goes to transportation.  The technology is certainly available to reduce the energy that goes to buildings drastically, nearly to zero even in retrofitting existing ones.  If we got serious about it, we could do quite a lot to reduce that third of all energy that goes to heat, cool, and power buildings.

Unfortunately, it seems even with a carbon war going on in the Ukraine affecting the world, we didn't focus on this readily available tactic which means there will be a lot of unnecessary suffering this winter and, probably, winters to come.

According to this carbon countdown clock (https:/www.mcc-berlin.net/fileadmin/data/clock/carbon_clock.htm), at the current rate, the most CO2 we can emit to stay below 1.5ºC rise is 400 Gt, starting from 2020, and that carbon budget will be used up by about July/August  2029.  

We have 284 Gts left as I write.

Becoming and remaining a net zero office building
https:
www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/opinion/energy-office-buildings-net-zero-climate.html

Distributed battery systems for utilities:
Vermont's Green Mountain Power
https:
greenmountainpower.com/news/gmp-expands-battery-options-for-customers
California's PG&E
https:/electrek.co/2022/08/18/teslas-virtual-power-plant-first-event-helping-grid-future
Utah's Rocky Mountain Power (and Idaho)
https:/www.canarymedia.com/articles/batteries/in-utah-thousands-of-homes-feed-the-grid-stored-solar -power

Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands building designed to generate more energy than it consumes
https:
www.unstudio.com/en/page/13592/echo-tu-delft
https:
inhabitat.com/echo-by-unstudio-generates-more-energy-than-it-uses

Sunnova wants to build solar/battery neighborhoods that don't connect to the grid
https:/www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/business/energy-environment/sunnova-off-grid-neighborhoods.html

5 net zero homes
https:
inhabitat.com/5-sustainable-eco-homes-built-with-style

Team Zero helps homeowners, builders, and industry professionals work towards a Zero Energy future.  
https:/teamzero.org/gateway-to-zero

Renovating a 100 year old Craftsman home to net zero
https:/www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/09/14/net-zero-home-renovation-washington

URB - Net zero community for 100,000 in United Arab Emirates
https:/urb.ae
https:
inhabitat.com/urban-design-of-the-worlds-largest-net-zero-community

The Line - first development in Neom, a planned $500 billion city for an anticipated population of 9 million
https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Line,_Saudi_Arabia

My Biggest Regret Building a Net Zero Home
https:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4aqEjIwBwo
hat tip to W David Stephenson

How will future climate impact the design and performance of nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs)?
https:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221027286
hat tip to cleantechnica.com

First NYC condo certified to passive house standards
https:
gbdmagazine.com/bksk-architects
https:/inhabitat.com/first-condo-in-nyc-certified-by-passive-house-institute

Comments >> (1 comment)

City Agriculture - October 17, 2022

by gmoke Mon Oct 17th, 2022 at 06:37:52 PM EST

Salmon Wars:  The Dark Underbelly of Our Favorite Fishy Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, "a critical look at the commercial salmon farming industry which now provides 90 percent of the salmon consumed by North Americans"

book: https:/us.macmillan.com/books/9781250800305/salmonwars
CSPAN interview:  https:
www.c-span.org/video?522142-1/qa-douglas-frantz-catherine-collins-commercial-salmon-farming

A tropical garden inside Manaus, Brazil Innovation House provides passive cooling
https:/www.agritecture.com/blog/2022/9/16/laurent-troost-revives-an-abandoned-structure-in-manaus-b y-inserting-a-tropical-garden-inside

It's Time to Make Cities More Rural
https:
www.wired.com/story/why-its-time-to-make-cities-more-rural
hat tip:  Gil Friend

NION - sustainable office building in Frankfurt am Main with gardens inside and out
https:/www.unstudio.com/en/page/16495/nion

https:
inhabitat.com/nion-to-be-one-of-frankfurts-most-sustainable-office-spaces

Factory in Vietnam with walls of live plants
https:/g8a-architects.com/project/jakob-factory
https:/inhabitat.com/the-jakob-factory-in-vietnam-builds-walls-out-of-live-plants

Mary Mattingly, environmental artist working on urban food systems, among other things
https:/www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/t-magazine/mary-mattingly-art-climate.html(not sure this will get you past the paywall but it's worth a shot)

Edible Cities - turning parks into orchards and gardens where anyone can pick for free
https:
wapo.st/3Mkk8tB" (not sure this will get you past the paywall but it's worth a shot)

Here are some of the resources mentioned in the WashPost article:
Edible Town, Andernach, Germany - https:
www.andernach-tourismus.de/en/andernach/the-edible-town
Edible Cities Network -https:
www.edicitnet.com
Endless Orchard - public access fruit trees around the world - https:
endlessorchard.com/map
Urban Food Forest, Atlanta, GA - https:/www.aglanta.org/urban-food-forest-at-browns-mill-1
Food Forests, Philadelphia, PA - https:/www.phillyorchards.org/2020/06/10/philadelphias-food-forests
Beacon Food Forest, Seattle, WA - https:/beaconfoodforest.org
George Washington Carver Edible Park, Asheville, NC - https:
www.facebook.com/Dr-George-Washington-Carver-Edible-Park-620672487948577
Bloomington, Ind Community Orchard - https:
bloomingtoncommunityorchard.org/site
Hyattsville, MD Food Forests - https:/www.hyattsville.org/902/Food-Forests

Community orchards in the UK help preserve apples
https:
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63160292

This could be called planting for gleaning:
Boston Area Gleaners
https:
www.bostonareagleaners.org

Agnès Varda's two documentaries on gleaning:
The Gleaners and I
https:
www.criterion.com/films/30368-the-gleaners-and-i
The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later
https:
/www.criterion.com/films/30564-the-gleaners-and-i-two-years-later

Reinventing Collapse

by gmoke Sun Oct 16th, 2022 at 03:47:36 AM EST

Reinventing Collapse:  The Soviet Example and American Prospects by Dmitry Orlov

Gabriola Island, BC, Canada:  New Society Publishers, 2008
ISBN:  978-0-86571-606-3

(page 5)  Wars take resources;  when resources are already scarce, fighting wars over resources becomes a lethal exercise in futility.  Those with more resources would be expected to win.  I am not arguing that wars over resources will not occur.  I am suggesting that they will be futile, and that victory in these conflicts will be barely distinguishable from defeat.

Frontpaged with minor edit - Frank Schnittger

Read more... (28 comments, 1113 words in story)

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - October 2022

by gmoke Sat Oct 1st, 2022 at 06:21:21 PM EST

 *Conferences

Cambridge Science Festival
Sunday, October 2 -  Sunday, October 9

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HONK! Festival 2022
Friday, October 7, 3 PM - Sunday, October 9, 6 PM

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Winter Is Coming:  Europe's Energy Crisis and What It Means for Climate Change
Eighth Annual Columbia Global Energy Summit  
Wednesday, October 12

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ClimateTech
Wednesday, October 12, 9:00 AM - Thursday, October 13, 5:00 PM EDT

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Global Environmental Justice Conference 2022
Thursday, October 13 - Friday, October 14

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Love.Earth.Justice.2022
Sunday, October 16

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Power of Design
Tuesday, October 18

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Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education:  The Urgency of Now!
October 18, October 26, and November 3

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MIT D-Lab 20th Anniversary Events
Friday, October 21

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EBC Fourth Annual New England Energy Leadership Conference
Tuesday, October 25

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Yale Clean Energy Conference
Thursday, November 3 -- Friday, November 4

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**Lecture Series

People and Primates Recasting the Anthropocene Dynamic
Tuesday, October 4

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Federal Funding Learning Series #4 - How Unprecedented Incentives and Funding in the Inflation Reduction Act Can Advance Local Climate Action
Description
Tuesday, October 4

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The Amazon Forest and Climate Change: A Sustainable Pathway to Avoid a Tipping Point
Wednesday, October 5

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Environmental Justice in Albaydha: The Story of a Rural Desert Community
Wednesday, October 5

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Starr Forum: An Update on Russia's War Against Ukraine
Friday, October 7

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China and Japan in the Global Politics of Climate Change
Monday, October 17

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Seeing the forest beneath the trees: Mycorrhizal fungi as trait integrators of ecosystem processes
Thursday, October 20

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The Ocean's Natural Way to Stop Climate Change
Thursday, October 20

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Getting to Net-Zero: A Canadian Perspective
Monday, October 24

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Environmental Justice in an Age of Upheaval
Thursday, October 27

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Planning Transformational Coastal Adaptation with a Climate Justice Lens
Monday, October 31

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**Events*

African Perspectives on Climate and Climate Adaptation in Eygpt
Monday, October 3

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Rural Renaissance: Revitalizing America's Hometowns through Clean Power
Wednesday, October 5

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Deploying the Synergies Between Energy Access and Sustainable Development
Thursday, October 6

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Global Refugee Crisis: What can scientists and engineers do to ease the suffering and protect the vulnerable?
Thursday, October 6

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Wholehearted Regeneration: Boosting Communal and Climate Resilience One Pocket Forest at a Time
Thursday, October 6

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Governing the 'China Boom' in the Amazon Basin: Social and Environmental Regulation Amid A Commodity Supercycle
Tuesday, October 11

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Research and development for the public good: Strengthening societal innovation
Tuesday, October 11

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Pedagogy of the Rainforest: An Indigenous Yanomami Perspective
Wednesday, October 12

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Great Decisions | Outer Space
Wednesday, October 12

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Disinformation and free speech: perspectives on the future of information
Thursday, October 13

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Brain, Body + Breath
Saturday, October 15

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Nouriel Roubini: Megathreats
Tuesday, October 18

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A Pale Blue Dot under Pressure: Climate Change, Justice, and Resilience in Our Rapidly Warming World
Friday, October 21

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MIT Energy Night 2022
Friday, October 21

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Environmental, Energy, and Engineering Career Fair
October 24

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Trauma to Transformation: A Set of Existential Opportunities to Address Environmental Justice and the Climate Crisis
Tuesday, October 25

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Energy Seminar: Lauren Culver, Senior Energy Specialist, The World Bank
Monday, October 31

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Wet + Dry: Landscapes of Resilience and Material Exploration
Thursday, November 3

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These kinds of events below are happening all over the world every day and most of them, now, are webcast and archived, sometimes even with accurate transcripts. Would be good to have a place that helped people access them.

This is a more global version of the local listings I did for about a decade (what I did and why I did it at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html) until September 2020 and earlier for a few years in the 1990s (https:/theworld.com~gmoke/AList.index.html).  

A more comprehensive global listing service could be developed if there were enough people interested in doing it, if it hasn't already been done.  

If anyone knows of such a global listing of open energy, climate, and other events is available, please put me in contact.

Thanks for reading,

Solar IS Civil Defense,
George Mokray
gmoke@world.std.com

http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com - notes on lectures and books
http://solarray.blogspot.com - renewable energy and efficiency - zero net energy links list
http://cityag.blogspot.com - city agriculture links list
http://geometrylinks.blogspot.com - geometry links list
http://hubevents.blogspot.com - Energy (and Other) Events
http://www.dailykos.com/user/gmoke/history - articles, ideas, and screeds

Read more... (2 comments, 9196 words in story)

Climate Preparedness Week, September 24 - 30

by gmoke Sat Sep 24th, 2022 at 02:31:30 AM EST

CREW [Communities Responding to Extreme Weather]
Climate Preparedness Week

Throughout the week of September 24th-30th, CREW will be hosting (or co-hosting) a variety of events that will spotlight the invisible effects of climate change.
More information at https://www.climatecrew.org/climate_prep_week_2022

SATURDAY, SEP 24TH, 1-2:30 PM EST- INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

MONDAY, SEP 26TH, 5-6 PM- PREPARING COMMUNITIES TO RESPOND TO EXTREME HEAT

TUESDAY, SEP 27TH, 5-6 PM- RISING SEA LEVELS: PREPARING FOR BOSTON'S FUTURE

WEDNESDAY, SEP 28TH, 11 AM- 12 PM EST- SUSTAINABLE LIVING LIBRARY
WEDNESDAY, SEP. 28TH, 5:30-7:30 PM EST- GROUND TRUTH: SHAPING NARRATIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
WEDNESDAY, SEP. 28TH, 6:30-8 PM EST- INTERSECTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS: HOW MASSACHUSETTS CAN STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA

THURSDAY, SEP. 29TH, 4-5 PM EST: THE CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATING CLIMATE RISK

FRIDAY, SEP 30TH, 5:30-6:45- MENTAL HEALTH IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

Comments >> (4 comments)

Insulate Britain Was a Bargain

by gmoke Mon Sep 19th, 2022 at 02:52:14 AM EST

Insulate Britain (https:/insulatebritain.com) is an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion which demanded that the British government fund insulation for all public housing by 2025, and, by the end of 2021, the government must create a plan to fund retrofitting of insulation of all homes in Britain by 2030. Someone estimated that it would cost £5 billion to insulate all public housing by 2025, which I'm sure was "too much" for conventional wisdom.

Insulate Britain demonstrated for these demands by blocking major highways around the UK, a dozen or more times, starting in September 2021 through February 2022 when the group announced "with a heavy heart" that the series of protests had failed in their aim to force the government into taking action. One poll from October 2021 showed that only 18% supported the protests while 72% of those surveyed opposed the protesters' actions, with 10% that "did not know."
Source: https:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulate_Britain_protests

Energy prices are soaring in the UK and, according to columnist Caitlin Moran, "the present UK Energy Rebate Scheme will cost £9.1 billion for just one year"
Source: https:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/caitlin-moran-insulate-britain-conservative-party-energy-g78nbfcx m
https:
twitter.com/CHeinemeyer/status/1569646532013465600

and the Guardian reports that
"UK must insulate homes or face a worse energy crisis in 2023, say experts
Cutting heat loss from houses will be more effective in the long term than subsidising bills, according to analysis"
https:
/www.theguardian.com/money/2022/sep/11/britain-insulate-homes-energy-crisis-2023-heat-loss-ho uses-subsidising-bills

 Looks like Insulate Britain was offering a bargain.

Read more... (304 words in story)
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News and Views

 March 2023

by Oui - Feb 28, 186 comments

Your take on today's news media



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