Spring Break 2013: I Got Hammered

This past week I had the privilege to do community service work in Statesville, North Carolina.  I had applied in the fall semester to do an alternative break through the University of Florida.  During my undergraduate years, I had never heard of such a thing.  Breaks consisted of going to Key West, Panama City,  Cancun, or some other tropical place where college students party hard every night.   I heard about these alternative breaks upon returning for my graduate degree.  I thought what better way could I spend my time.  Not only would I be contributing to the community and helping people in need, but I'd also gain hands-on experience in the field I had gone back to school to earn a master's degree in. A newsletter is sent weekly to students, and, finally, the application was advertised.  I applied early and was accepted to work with the University of Florida's Habitat for HumanityCollegiate Challenge program.  Sunday morning, the car arrived at an ungodly hour.  We drove the 9 hours up and made it before dinner.  The other school, Muhlenberg College, had already arrived and settled in. So we unpacked and became acquainted with what was to be our new home for the week.

The next morning we arrived at our site with little knowledge of how to hammer, saw, or use tools.  The foundation and a few of the piers had been built, but the rest was now up to us.  The first day consisted of hundreds of expletives and frustrated faces, hundreds of swings of the hammer, hundreds of bent nails, and a lot of hurt fingers! The morning was spent filling in dirt around the foundation wall and piers. Once the dirt had been filled, we were instructed to knock off any extra mortar that bulged out of the CMU blocks.  This is when the sustainability factor came into play.  A special insulation is applied to the slab to create a higher energy efficiency.  Its application must be made on a smooth surface, otherwise the insulation won't work properly. As we continued working through the week, I asked our general contractor, Billy, how Habitat forHumanity proceeds to build energy efficient homes.

Many steps are taken to reduce energy needs.  Some measures include sealing every crack in the home with caulking, using windows covered in a specialized film, and insulation below and above the living areas (ie crawl space and attic).  What I found to be the most interesting measure, though, is that the plumbing can only span a specific distance from the water heater.  By doing this, the water travels smaller distances and there is less loss of heat.  As the wall framing came up, we could see the layout of the house.  No surprise, the two bathrooms and kitchen are all within the same region of the house.  Sustainable homes require a lot forethought to the design.

By spending such a short time on this project, I was able to gain a better perspective of what goes into the design and building of an energy efficient home.  It was the best experience and I highly recommend everyone try it at some point.

Your 2012 Ford becomes my 2022 Ford

The European Union already has directives requiring car companies to be responsible for the recovery of a car at the end of its life.  By January of 2015, for all end-of-life vehicles, the reuse and recovery is to be a minimum of 95% by an average weight per vehicle and year. The reuse and recycling will be increased to a minimum of 85% by an average weight per vehicle and year. The vehicles produced have to have low energy consumption, easy dismantling, suitable recycling, and less toxic metals.  Essentially, the car manufacturers are leasing the cars because they are getting them back in the end.  By putting the responsibility of disposal on the manufacturer, manufacturers are becoming more innovative in design and material use.  If a company knows it is gaining material back at the end of the life cycle, it can save money and design for easier disassembly. 

 

 In the United States, Ford has announced a plan to cut landfill waste by 41%. The five year plan of Ford would take the 22.7 pounds of waste per vehicle in 2011 and cut it to 13.4 pounds of waste per vehicle by the year 2016.  They had previously cut waste by 40% from the 2007 amount of 37.9 pounds per vehicle down to the 2011 of 22.7 pounds per vehicle. By keeping with these improvements in design, Ford is significantly reducing waste to the landfill.  Ford has also announced that it plans to reduce its energy use in factories by 25 percent.  Ford's Chief Executive Officer, Alan Mulally, has introduced new hybrids and plug-in models in the past year.  They are self-proclaimed "environmental industrialists", supporting sustainability and fuel efficiency.  (Pictured above is the new model of a fuel efficient Ford Fusion.  Personally, I think it looks pretty sleek.) In Flat Rock, Michigan, Ford's assembly plant is the flagship for many pilot projects.  The paint solids that would normally be sent to landfills is being sent to nearby utility companies as a source of fuel.  Metallic particles, abrasives, and oils left from production of engine and transmission parts is being reduced by the use of less oil during lubrication.  Such projects have now been introduced in Ford's Chicago and Dearborn assembly plants.  In 2012, the company was able to create $225 million by recycling 568,000 tons of scrap metal in the United States and Canada.

Obviously, there are many steps the auto industry  has taken toward a more sustainable future.  With governments intervening through implementation of more stringent laws, innovative car designs are producing less waste. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  We see this all over the University of Florida's campus.  It is reassuring to read that an industry notorious for pollution is following suit. Reuse the metal, the nuts, and the bolts.  Reduce the fuel needed to run the cars and machines.  Reduce the raw materials extracted for new cars.  Recycle electrical parts and scrap metals.  As the second largest automaker in the United States, Ford is leading the industry toward a more sustainable future.  Hopefully, others will follow their lead.  Hopefully, the United States government  follows the European Union's lead.  It seems like I end every blog with hope.  Hope for the future. Hope that it's not too late.  Hope for change.

Restaurant Sustainability

Some of the most waste comes from restaurants.  Water, food, and energy is wasted.  From the buildings themselves, to how the food is produced and brought to the restaurant, to running the restaurant, to throwing food in the garbage, waste is everywhere.   An English chef, Arthur Potts Dawson, is trying to change the restaurant industry through his vision of sustainable restaurants.  His childhood was meager, growing up on a farm in Dorset.  With little money around, his family learned how to get by with what they had.  If it was cold, the heat wasn't turned on.  Rather they'd throw on jumpers.  Turning off the lights was essential to keeping energy costs down. Arthur's background set the stage for his passion in food and conserving resources.  He has worked along renown chefs including Jamie Oliver.  He opened two restaurants in England.  This is when he started practicing sustainability in the kitchen because he had free reign to what he wanted in his own place.  His restaurant Acorn House is made up of sustainable and recyclable floors.  The chairs are recycled and recyclable.  The tables are forestry commissioned.  There is use of wall space with shelving to hold products that customers can view.  The restaurant runs on sustainable energy, wind in particular.  All bulbs and paint are energy efficient and low chemical. There is a reconditioned coffee machine.  His emphasis is on reuse.  He uses a car tire for a pot that is growing an orange tree which uses compost as fertilizer.  His menu is created to allow the customer to choose the amount and volume of food they want as opposed to a traditional restaurant forcing you to choose what is on  its menu.  Food waste is put into a special dehydrating machine which is then put into a compost.  

He uses the compost and soil for his rooftop garden which produces much of the food used in the restaurant.  This eliminates transportation energy.  There is a water filtration system to reuse water.  Water is essential.  And so much to Arthur Potts Dawson, that his second restaurant is called Waterhouse.  

The interior design is similar to Acorn House, but Waterhouse is completely run on electricity and in particular, hydroelectricity.   There is no air conditioner, but the restaurant sits alongside a river where the temperature of the water is used to cool and heat the restaurant.   He is moving to make a total of five restaurants, but Arthur Potts Dawson is trying to reach the general public. Most people who go to his restaurants are already looking for the sustainability factor he offers.  His next project is to make a no-waste supermarket with the hopes to reach everyday people.  As more companies turn toward higher efficiency and sustainability, Arthur Potts Dawson and his restaurants could be used as a model of what's possible.

Politics, Schmolotics..Bi-Partisanship is necessary for change

We've seen super storms, such as Sandy, and droughts take huge tolls on our communities and farms.  Devastation that we are still recovering from has been noticed.  The public can no longer deny that climate change is real.  In 2009, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham worked together with environmentalists and industries alike to propose a bill that would shift America's carbon consumption.  Upon sitting with the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, they introduced their bill.  Emanuel informed them if they could not get the 60 votes needed by the Senate to pass the bill, the White House would put little effort into climate change.  The senators had the backing of major green parties and even the biggest polluters in industry.  This was unheard of! But now they needed the backing of the Senate.  The Senate was comprised of 59 Democrats, just under the 60 required to pass the bill.  Of the 59 Democrats, certainly a few would deny the bill.  The three sat with Emanuel to assure him that five Republicans would pass the bill, one of which was sitting across from him, Lindsey Graham.  The trio, comprised of a Democrat, Republican, and an Independent, could change their reputations and that of the Senate by working together for a brighter future.  

In this year's State of the Union Address, President Obama vowed to make climate change a priority. The solution, it seems, is to introduce a market-based solution. It comes in the form of cap-and-trade.  The mechanism promotes innovation through incentives.  A company is limited to the amount it can pollute.  There are environmental taxes to be paid based on the amount of pollution created.  If a company chooses to innovate and comes in under the allowable pollution set by permits, they can 'trade' with other companies.  The 'trade' is when the company coming under their pollution allotment sells their permits to companies who may use more energy and create more pollution.  By adding extra incentive through the generation of extra income, a company will look for better solutions.  With the backing of the White House, it seems we are heading in the right direction.  Looking for alternative forms of energy will mitigate climate change, boost the economy, and lessen the dependency America has on foreign countries for sources of fuel.  

Many Republicans look at climate change as being a farse, but hopefully they will realize change needs to be made before it's too late.  The environment shouldn't be a party issue, but a priority of the people.  Future generations are dependent on what we do now!  Polls show a high support of President Obama's statement for climate change efforts.  Hopefully, the Senate will listen to the people and also show support.