Food, the alternate energy
A lot of discussion has been going on in the construction and energy sectors regarding what will be the next big energy production platform.
Photovoltaic arrays and Built-in PV are gaining ground in the architecture fields as a way to integrate some of the energy collection in to the structures that will utilize that energy. The challenges surrounding this application of technology are many. Firstly, the building location and project site must be conducive to the collection of solar energy. Buildings attempting to use PV paneling are often surrounded by other buildings attempting to do the same thing. Just like a forest, adjacent structures compete for daylight and produce a shadowed forest floor reducing daylight collection in the lower levels. Secondly, most buildings will use in excess of their production. Building volume and energy demands to condition space are only a portion of the energy demands given that the interior must sustain the electronic infrastructure of business machines (computers, lights, copiers, appliances, telecommunications, security, etc.) and other conveniences provided within the structure. Lastly, the integration of a purely functional element that presently lacks the flexibility of product appearance and cannot be installed away from public view owing to its need for direct exposure to daylight.
Large PV arrays producing industrial levels of energy have also made their way in to the mainstream consciousness. The challenges they face are different than BIPV and are just as difficult to resolve. Firstly, obtaining large tracts of land to construct an installation can mean setting aside hundreds of acres. Most design configurations utilize a planar array and make little use of the vertical space for the same reason that adjacent buildings would have to compete for the same daylight. Also, it is much less expensive to build an array close to the ground and utilizing volume production to reduce fabrication and installation costs. Secondly, large arrays are often located 50 to 100 miles away from the structures and services that they will serve. You have the task of wiring the power to these facilities, line degradation and possible line failures. Lastly, the cost of installation is still high in relative cost comparisons, but in reality the cost will never go down if we never start installing them. Other arrays use solar concentrators, manipulating heat and steam to generate power. One element to consider is storage of the energy when there is excess supply or when power production has to exceed the collection cycle period.
A technological approach to utilizing hydrogen to produce on-demand power and to power mechanical systems is also working its way through development. Concern is for pressurized systems that can potentially receive damage from the interaction of vehicles and equipment. Hydrogen requires the right amount of Oxygen to burn and/or explode and just exposing it to air will not produce the cataclysmic effects some people perceive. The current challenge is in production and generating more energy than is required to produce the gas. Storage and distribution are also being tauted as major hurdles, though this is a non-sequitur provided profitable consumption occurs.
Other strategies involve replacing our liquid fuel source with other similar liquid fuel sources utilizing organic materials that are often underutilized by the commercial marketplace. The issues arise when something that is deemed a waste product becomes a production product. An analogy to reserve currencies comes to mind, when discussion which currency is big enough to replace the US dollar. Picking a more stable currency is not the issue, it is the volume of supply that makes the decision difficult. You would not use a shovel to replace a bulldozer. So taking a waste product that would rely on increasing the production of its source materials far beyond present demand and at a cost to farmers and food consumers, seems to present a dilemma not easily resolved.
Nuclear power, fission, fusion, and all of the regulatory demands for introducing a potential catastrophic failure scenario weigh heavily upon the minds of consumers. Generating portable energy units that can regulate power generation and can be shut down readily without undue harm is the primary challenge facing this technology. We presently understand how to extract energy in two ways, all at once (though not 100%) or slowly through radiation heating. Containment and health concerns are the only issues stopping this technology from deploying in to the marketplace.
An energy source not discussed, though dear to our very survival, is the one that matters the most to the entire population, Food energy. This energy is the one that makes all the other ones relevant. Food materials have become the private purveyance of a few companies whose initial production was that of chemicals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. These are now the same people who control our food supply through the introduction of the GM seeds, fertilizers, insecticides and weed killers. Most of these products are derived from chemicals developed during war time as nerve agents and chemical warfare compounds. These companies have bought or secured the compliance of independent farmers and cooperatives through their manipulation of the legal practice. The first step is the practice of food patenting which attempts to introduce minor genetic variants produced by these companies as unique developments that provide some additional behaviour or characteristic that separates it from the original natural seed line from which it was developed. There is big profit to all involved and utilizing patent law to enforce the ‘licensing’ of their seed product by farmers who have few choices when buying seed since these companies have purchased a majority of major seed supply companies. Additionally, more and more legislation is being authored forbidding farmers from saving seeds they collect when farming with non-GM seeds. GM seeds are good for one planting only, and to plant again, you need to buy more seeds. Finally, GM seeds integrate in to fields of crops not utilizing GM seeds and because of their presence violate the licensing agreement of these companies who promptly sue farmers who have GM plants found in their fields. Basic botany tells us that seeds are traditionally carried on the wind and by animals during the normal course of natural pollination.
Food energy is the basis of human life and we have ignored its posterity for convenience and marketing packaging. We have delegated our future food to companies that produce products that have a one-time use and mandate that we use their products in perpetuity while forgoing thousands of years of seed development for their one year genetic manipulation efforts. The developmental nature of life has been halted to make growing food profitable for chemical companies. The seeds will not change or develop because they produce no fruit or seeds of their own. The world stops because of profiteering and what will essentially be a monopoly of food supply.
Water will come next as is evidenced by the number of people who purchase their water from companies who process the water. Materials in your water may make it the patentable product that will require lawyers and court cases to resolve whether you can drink it our not when it comes out of the tap in your home without paying for it everyday.
Keep the lights on, but remember that the energy that counts the most in the one that provides materials for your body energy. Is there any other source more important to you and your family?
