Cow Power (Anaerobic Digesters)

Location: Vermont

Years: 2008-present

Organization: Central Vermont Public Service

http://www.cvps.com/cowpower/

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.64

One cow can produce over 30 gallons of manure a day. Instead of letting cow manure run into waterways and seep into the ground, the Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) has created a Cow Power Program, which turns cow manure into energy. An anaerobic digester is installed on a farm and, over a period of about twenty days, breaks down some of the collected poop’s solids into acids, which feed bacteria, which in turn digest the manure and produce biogas. The gas is then pushed through a pipe into a modified natural gas engine, and electricity generated by burning the gas is fed into the CVPS system. One cow’s waste can produce enough electricity to power two 100-watt light bulbs 24 hours a day. The digester also produces a low-odor slurry that makes a fertilizer that is safer than raw manure. Participating dairy farmers get an additional source of income.

Cow Power farms are located all across Vermont. There are currently six farms online and producing electricity in Bakersfield, Bridport, Richford, Sheldon, St. Albans and Newport. All the farms have well over 500 cows, and produce or are expected to produce between 0.78 and 3.5 million killowatt-hours of electricity a year.

Algae Farming

Years: 1978-present

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.111

http://www.bionomicfuel.com/algaculture-and-benefits-of-algae-farming/

http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/blog/2009/01/21/algae-farming-in-the-face-of-the-oil-price-situation/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/business/energy-environment/29biofuel.html

http://infranetlab.org/blog/2009/02/farming-fuels/

Algae have the ability to consume CO2 and turn it into biodiesel. A single acre of algae ponds can produce 15,000 gallons of biodiesel. GreenFuel has a full-scale algae fuel plant underway. Algae farming can offer many benefits, and one of these is that microalgae grow significantly faster than land crops used to make biodiesel. One acre of algae will produce between 5,000 and 20,000 gallons of oil that can be turned into biodiesel. The US Energy Department is reviving a massive project it abandoned in 1996 to produce algae gasoline on a large scale. The DoE abandoned the project because of the low oil price at the time, but it has recently teamed up with National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Chevron. Some insiders say that it will take ten years before commercially viable products will hit the market. Others say this is going to materialize in as little as two years from now. The reason for this massive difference in prediction time is due to the political climate. In one year’s time that landscape will be a lot clearer.

Algae, just like any other plant life, use carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This means that large-scale algae farming would not only create a biofuel that is environmentally friendly, but also, while the algae is growing, it would be cleaning the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing fresh oxygen.

Algae also contain nutrients that can provide a fertilizer that is environmentally friendly and rich in phosphorous and nitrogen. These nutrients can be extracted from the algae and make farming land crops much cleaner and less harmful to the earth.

Dow Chemmicals and Algenol Biofuels are building a demonstration plant that will use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol. Or, the oxygen produced by the algae would be used to burn coal cleanly. The carbon dioxide exhaust released by the coal burning would be reused to feed algae.

Algenol grows algae in bioreactors, which are troughs covered with flexible plastic and filled with saltwater. The water is saturated with carbon dioxide, to encourage growth of the algae. The company has 40 bioreactors in Florida, and as part of the demonstration project plans 3,100 of them on a 24-acre site at Dow’s Freeport, Tex., site. Algenol and its partners are planning a demonstration plant that could produce 100,000 gallons a year.

PetroSun Biofuel’s 1,100 acre algae farms in Harlingen, Texas

Ecological Dry Toilet

Location: Mexico

Years: 1980-present

Organization: Centro de Innovacion en Tecnolgia Alternativa

Designer: Cesar Anorve

Manufacturer: Tecnologias y Sistemas Ecologicos (TESEC)

Cost: $27-54 (stand alone toilet), $150-550 (complete system)

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, p.296

The Ecological Dry Toilet was created by Centro de Innovacion en Tecnolgia Alternativa, in Mexico, where nearly half the water used in a Mexican home goes down the toilet. The toilet both conserves water and creates fertilizer.

The Ecological Dry Toilet mounts a conventional toilet seat cover over two chambers—one active, where waste is collected, the other passive, where waste composts while the other chamber is in use. The toilet diverts urine to a tank where it settles before being used as fertilizer. Solid waste passes to the active chamber, which is “flushed” with ash or lime rather than water to speed composting and neutralize odors. When the active chamber is full, it is sealed off and the waste is left to compost for 18 months or more. Meanwhile, composted waste is emptied from the second chamber, which them becomes active again.

Solar Watercones

Years: 1999-present

Developer: Stephan Augustin

Manufacturer: Wisser Verpackungen and Mage-Watermanagement, Germany

Funding: Hans Sauer Stiftung

Cost: $60-100

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, p.285

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.193

http://www.watercone.com

The Solar Watercone uses the sun’s heat to evaporate seawater, which then condenses on the inside of the cone. When the cone is flipped, the water can be poured out into a container. The Watercone can purify about 1.6 quarts of water per day (enough to meet a child’s daily needs), killing waterborne pathogens, removing particulates, chemicals, and heavy metals.

The Watercone is a conical, self-supporting and stackable Unit made from transparent, thermo-formable polycarbonate (same as water dispensers) outfitted with a screw cap spout at the tip and an inward circular collecting trough at the base. The polycarbonate Watercone is UV-resistant and can be used up to 5 years daily. The material is non-toxic, non-flammable and 100% recyclable. The black pan for the saltwater is already made out of 100% recycled PC.

The manufacturers of the Watercone argue that “many peripheral, de-centralized small units will ensure a better supply of freshwater than one central big generator. If the big one fails, there is no water generation for anyone. If a small one fails, the other ones still keep on working.”

5 reasons for the global distribution of the Watercone:

1. Much cheaper than bottled water. Average Price of 1 liter of bottled water in developing countries: $US 0.50. One liter of water from the Watercone costs just between two and five cents calculated over a lifetime.

2. Easy to use. As opposed to other types of solar stills which feature electronics, photo-voltaic cells, tubes, filters, many parts, etc. the Watercone concept is understood with absolutely no need for academic background.

3. Perfect for coastal dwellers. Hundreds of millions of people live in nearest proximity to water but cannot drink it or use it for agriculture, because it is saltwater.

4. Perfect for medical purposes. There are thousands of hospitals in developing countries, field and mobile hospitals, first aid and emergency medical units around the world that are located in sunny climates and lack condensed water. Outfitted with just a dozen Watercones, a little field hospital could harvest 15 liters of condensed water per day.

5. Creates jobs. Based in the vicinity of salt or brackish water and outfitted with a minor credit line, vendors could invest in a dozen Watercones and sell 15 liters of water a day and have their investment returned in no more than half a year.

Pour salty / brackish Water into pan. Then float the Watercone on top. The black pan absorbs the sunlight and heats up the water to support evaporation.

The evaporated Water condensates in the form of droplets on the inner wall of the cone. These droplets trickle down the inner wall into a circular trough at the inner base of the cone.

By unscrewing the cap at the tip of the cone and turning the cone upside down, one can empty the potable Water gathered in the trough directly into a drinking device.

PlayPump Water System

Location: Southern Africa

Years: 1989-present

Developer: Ronnie Stuiver

Manufacturer: Roundabout Outdoor, South Africa

Cost: $8500, including maintenance (advertising on the tank reduces the cost)

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, p.283

http://www.inhabitots.com/2009/03/05/play-pump-the-merry-go-round-water-pump/

The PlayPump was designed to bring clean water to South Africa’s rural communities. Children, who are often responsible for water collection, spin on the roundabout, forcing 318 gallons of water per hour from 130 feet below ground into a 568-gallon storage tank, tapping enough water to meet the daily household needs of a small community. The PlayPump has been installed in rural villages and primary schools where kids can easily access the fun, all the while pumping clean, potable water from underground. A few hundred yards away, a spigot supplies fresh water for the whole community. The water is then used for drinking, cooking, sanitation and even growing vegetables.

PlayPumps come with 10 years of guaranteed maintenance supported by the advertising space on each water tank. Two of the four panels are sold to local advertisers promoting only products and services appropriate for primary school audiences. The other two panels are reserved for public service announcements. These provide information on hygiene, HIV, AIDS, and other health-related issues.

The implications of bringing fresh water into a community go far beyond drinking and sanitation. Many women and girls in rural Africa can walk for hours each day to fetch water passing through vulnerable and unsafe regions. A local pump allows them to stay home and care for younger children, work a job, attend school, grow vegetables or build a business. This opens up immense opportunities for women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve their greater potential. Fresh water also means that it doesn’t need to be boiled first, which drains precious resources such as gas or firewood and degrades the environment. Families with access to clean water are also much more able to achieve self-sufficiency by growing their own produce and maintaining local businesses. The PlayPump system has created dozens of jobs locally and continues to spawn social and economic development

The PlayPump system has introduced positive play activities in places where many schools not only lacked clean water, but also toys or playgrounds. At Regiment Basic Primary School in Lusaka, Zambia a vegetable garden is now also in the works. Produce from the garden is sent home with the children most in need. In time, the school hopes to sell surplus vegetables in the community so they can provide books and supplies to students who can’t afford them.

So far, over 1,000 PlayPumps have been instilled in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia. PlayPump International plans to bring that number up to 4,000 by 2010, supplying as many as 10 million people with fresh water and a fresh start.

Polyface Farms

Location: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Years: 1961-present

Founders: The Salatin Family

http://www.polyfacefarms.com

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan

Joel Salatin, of Polyface Farms, utilizes natural relationships and cycles to maintain an organic, productive farm. Salatin practices “Grass Farming.” Since cows are natural ruminators, he feeds them grass, and not corn. Salatin is careful not to allow the cows to overgraze or undergraze, so they rotate daily between pastures, which contain different types of grass (clover, orchard grass, sweet grass, bluegrass, timothy, etc.). As a modern grass farmer, Salatin relies on the energy of sun to grow his grass, rather than petroleum. He considers himself a “sun farmer,” because “the grass is just the way we capture the solar energy.”

Salatin invented the Eggmobile, a mobile chicken coop housing 400 hens, that follows the cows in their rotation. The Eggmobile is a 12 ft. X 20 ft. portable henhouse and the laying hens free range from it, eating bugs and scratching through cattle droppings to sanitize the pasture just like birds in nature that always follow herbivores as biological cleansers. This supplies the chickens with plenty of fresh insect life, living in and under the cow patties.

Each season, the 100-acre Polyface Farm produces 30,000 eggs, 10,000 broilers, 800 stewing hens, 50 beeves (25,000 lbs of beef), 250 hogs (25,000 lbs of pork), 1,000 turkeys, and 500 rabbits. Salatin also refrains from shipping any of his food in order to reduce the farm’s carbon footprint.

The Eggmobile

Salatin with Polyface chickens

Polyface cows

Urban Farming's Food Chain Project

Pilot city: Los Angeles, CA

Years: 2008-present

Partners: Green Living Technologies and Elmslie Osler Architects

http://www.urbanfarming.org/foodchain.htm

Urban Farming, a Detroit-based non-profit that plants food in unused space, started a vertical farming project consisting of “edible” food-producing wall panels mounted on walls. The food is grown without the use of pesticides and is irrigated with an automated drip irrigation system woven into the wall panels. Each wall about 24’-30’wide and 6’ tall. It is composed of 2’ X 2’ X 4” interconnected recycled stainless steel panels. People who own the walls will donate a portion of the harvests to neighbors and organizations in need.

The vertical gardens are currently in four locations around downtown Los Angeles, including a supportive housing project in Skid Row, Rainbow Apartments. The tenants of Rainbow Apartments installed and maintain the vertical gardens and eat the fresh produce. The wall systems of the Food Chain concept are as “links” connecting to each location by intention and design, as well as presenting a new definition for the familiar term, ‘food chain’. The Food Chain offers immediate access to fresh produce, greens the environment, creates team-building and skills-training, and provides an opportunity for community service and involvement. In addition, particularly in areas where concrete and steel are plentiful and ground space and greenery are scarce, the Food Chain will help to lower the heat index and the effects of global warming.

The hosts and new owners of the Urban Farming Food Chain’s first four walls are: The Weingart Center; The Rainbow Apartments (In partnership with the Yankee Apartments); The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex.

The Food Chain pilot project in Los Angeles is partially funded by gifts and grants from The Annenberg Foundation, the Los Angeles Office of Community Beautification and Warner Bros Entertainment, with many materials and professional services donated by Green Living Technologies, Elmslie Osler Architect, Cal Poly, Greenheart Farms and Meyer Trucking.

Weingart Center - After

Weingart Center - Before

Rainbow Apartments - Installation

Rainbow Apartments - Residents

LifeStraw

Years: 2005-present

Developer: Vestergaard Frandsen

Cost: less than $4

http://www.lifestraw.com

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, p.208

The European-based international organization Vestergaard Frandsen develops emergency response and disease control products. With the invention of LifeStraw, Vestergaard Frandsen aims to reduce the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by half. Currently, more than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and nearly 6,000 people, mostly children, die from waterborne diseases every day.

LifeStraw is a drinking straw that contains filters capable of killing bacteria, such as E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella and microorganisms that cause diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, and cholera. With each sip of water, two textile filters catch large materials and clusters of bacteria; next, a chamber of iodine-filled beads kills smaller bacteria, viruses, and parasites; finally, a chamber containing granulated active carbon catches any remaining parasites and rids the water of the iodine smell. It removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and 98% of waterborne bacteria. One LifeStraw can filter about 185 gallons (or 700 liters) of water, which is about one year’s worth of water for one person. Currently, the average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km. LifeStraw is only 31 cm long and includes a string to hang around one’s neck, so it’s easy to carry around. Thus, LifeStraw will make safe drinking water much more accessible.

New Rice for Africa (NERICA)

Location: Africa

Years: mid-1990’s-present

Developer: Dr. Monty Jones and the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA)

Funding: African Development Bank, UN Development Program, Japanese government

Rice is in high demand in Africa. Rice imports represent 25% of total food imports in West and Central Africa. NERICA is a genetically engineered strain of rice that may restore agricultural sustainability in Africa, improve economics by encouraging local trade and reducing food imports, and strengthen the population’s health. NERICA mixes African rice, which is highly resistant to drought and local pests but which has a very low yield (triggering wide-spread slash-and-burn farming), and Asian rice, which has a very high yield but is more sensitive to environmental conditions (triggering increased use of pesticides). NERICA’s combined assets include higher yield, shorter growth duration, resistance to local stresses and higher protein content than traditional rice varieties.

While NERICA has potential to do good, it is controversial because it was developed in labs instead of as an incorporation of new seeds into African farms. NERICA is also a concern to small farmers and their local seed systems because it threatens to expand agribusiness. However, since most small farmers lack the means and money to irrigate or to buy pesticides, using NERICA could increase production, allowing them to feed their communities and participate in trade.

http://www.warda.org/NERICA%20flyer/technology.htm

WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, p.68

http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=579