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laodan

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laodan is a guy from Milford, Pennsylvania, USA

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THE WAY THINGS ARE: The meaning of life is to be found in thinking about what is reality and the beauty of reality is to be found in our DNA's memorization of all forms that have been successfully retained along the four billion years of evolution of the principle of life on Gaia our earth. In the end what I mean to say is that beauty is something objective and what we call ugliness is then simply our unconscientious feel of something evolution did not retain.
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  • Google Reader

    Rated Apr 24 2009 • 135 reviews • energy, freetools • google.com

    FreakAngels Episode 0053
    by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Paul Duffield

    Over on Freakangels, our heroes are experimenting with post-apocalyptic solar power.

    FREAKANGELS is a free, weekly, ongoing comic written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Paul Duffield.

    FreakAngels




    Stumbling on this site via WorldChanging I thought about my friend RenRutia. But while those FreakAngels guys have a quite traditional style RenRutia's style remembers me of the work of Crumb who is my favorite cartoonist.




    44K views
    Google Reader

  • The Green Leap Forward 绿跃进 & Solarizing for Security

    Rated Mar 06 2009 • 1 review • china, energy • greenleapforward.com

    China Solarizing for Security
    in "The Green Leap Forward" by Julian Wong

    ...despite the tough times a vast market and progressive national renewable energy policies make China the key to a solar future.
    Chinau2019s solar photovoltaics (PV) industry has been export oriented, but argue that there is no time better than now to develop its domestic solar market because of a combination of increased solar module and polysilicon supply and decreased overseas demand is driving costs down to record lows.

    Solarizing for Security
    Here Comes the Sun The Beijinger's green issue this March
    Solar at a Crossroads
    u201cGetting Out of the Shade: Solar Energy as a National Security Strategy,u201d in China Security journal



    Excellent source of info on the state of China's solarization and its solar industry.




    403 views
    The Green Leap Forward 绿跃进 & Solarizing for Security

  • Technology Trends - How new technologies are modifying...

    Rated Dec 27 2008 • 2 reviews • environment, energy industry, energy, economy • primidi.com

    Is the LED revolution coming?
    in Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends

    According to two professors at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and smart lighting could save trillions of dollars worldwide in the next ten years. They claim that innovations in photonics and solid state lighting could also lead to 'a massive reduction in the amount of energy required to light homes and businesses around the globe.

    The team added that LEDs require 20 times less power than today's conventional light bulbs, and five times less power than 'green' compact fluorescent bulbs. According to them and "if all of the world's light bulbs were replaced with LEDs for a period of 10 years," we could save $1.83 trillion and reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 10.68 gigatons.

    Is the LED revolution coming?
    Transcending the replacement paradigm of solid-state lighting 8 pages pdf scientific presentation.



    From passive architecture to LEDs.
    What is not mentioned here is that China is already well ahead of the pack in the field of LEDs.




    68 views
    Technology Trends - How new technologies are modifying our way of life

  • The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in...

    Rated Dec 27 2008 • 1 review • environment, science, energy, economy • nytimes.com

    No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in 'Passive Houses'
    in the NYT by ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

    The concept of the passive house, pioneered in this city of 140,000 outside Frankfurt, approaches the challenge from a different angle. Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants' bodies.

    And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build than conventional houses.

    ... The European Commission is promoting passive-house building, and the European Parliament has proposed that new buildings meet passive-house standards by 2011.

    ... The courses and literature were mostly in German, and even now the components are mass-produced only in this part of the world.

    No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in 'Passive Houses"
    Passive House Institute



    Is there an impact on the technological approach of countries that have green parties in power for prolonged periods of time? This article covers an anecdote that seems to indicate just that.
    Germany had a green party in power for some years and because of the popularity of its ideas all other parties have been integrating the same ideas in their own platforms. This also explains how innovation and entrepreneurialism thrived along the same lines.
    Result: Germany today is the uncontested world leader in:
    - passive building technologies
    - solar and wind technologies
    - the manufacturing and application of those technologies in real life.

    What more needs to be said?
    Imagine the application of such passive technologies generalized in a country as the US. The result would be a drastic reduction of its national energy consumption, a drastic reduction of its energy imports that eventually would result in its balance of payment entering positive territory, If the country had mastered the technology before others it would also have an export opportunity that would result in pushing its balance of payment further into positive territory. And lastly a reduction on the scale that passive technologies could allow would also drastically reduce the emission of CO2 and other gases responsible for the present man induced climate change.

    We can only observe that such a scenario did not originate in the US but in the countries composing the Germanic area of the EU. So it seems to me that some conclusions...




    5 views
    The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Innovative ‘Passive Houses’ - Series - NYTimes.com

  • 321energy :: POWERFUL BULLMARKET IN US STOCKS LOOMS as...

    Rated May 13 2008 • 1 review • energy industry, globalization, geopolitics, energy • 321energy.com

    The US prepares for GLOBAL HEGEMONY
    via Twine by Steven Wears, in 321energy by Clive Maund

    Complete control of the Mid-East, which the United States and the major oil companies are now close to having achieved, of course confers massive power over the rest of world, in particular over rising economic powers such as China and India and the immense leverage that this will in time afford can be used to steer these countries in whatever direction is desired. The US is believed to be involved in a strategic race against time to corner the bulk of the world's remaining oil reserves, the control of which can then be used to dissuade countries like China from resorting to the wholesale dumping of dollars or US Treasuries, along the lines of "Try it and we'll cut off your oil supply"...

    The US prepares for GLOBAL HEGEMONY



    A must read that gives the reader to think really hard.

    This article gives a general vision without proving each steps of its argumentation. For that reason we might be tempted to reject it. But the vision makes sense and it challenges our minds to open up to the unknown that possibly is fashioning our future.

    We always should be aware that reality is not made of morality. Human reality, as far as our eyes can see along the road of history, is the outcome of games of power. There is always a winner and a loser. Even if it is difficult to imagine that the US is playing smart in Irak Clive Maund's article gives a plausible conclusion that the US appearance of dumbness could be a tactic to avoid its strategy being uncovered. I know, I know. BUT... if Maund's conclusion appeared to be verified by the facts a few years down the road then we would have to recognize that its present posture was plain genius.

    The only shortcoming I personally see in Maund's argument is its US unilaterality. It's a plausible vision but it does not account for how other powers play. In a game there is never one player left alone free to take the road he wants; there are other players who counter his actions. And it seems to me that in his description of the present geo-political game Clive Maund forgot to account for the positioning of the historical masters of gaming that are the Chinese. Does he really believe that his vision has not reached the calculus of the Chinese? No way. If the game played by the US is as Maund describes it then the Chinese have been thinking about a counter play. But again only time will tell.




    27 views
    321energy :: POWERFUL BULLMARKET IN US STOCKS LOOMS as the US prepares for GLOBAL HEGEMONY :: Clive Maund

  • The Oil Drum: Europe | Olduvai revisited 2008

    Rated Feb 29 2008 • 2 reviews • economics, energy, geo politics, globalization • theoildrum.com

    Olduvai revisited 2008
    in The Oil Drum by Luis de Sousa and on You Tube by Nate Hagens and Chris Vernon

    Richard Duncan's Olduvai Theory is re-assessed with the latest available data and modern fossil fuel depletion models. On the second half it is analyzed how can alternative energy sources fill the gap left by those finite resources.

    Olduvai 2008 post
    Olduvai 2008 movie


    Forecast for Conventional Fossil Fuels per Capita.
    Sources: UN for Population model, Jean Laherr\u00e8re [pdf!] for Natural Gas, Energy Watch Group for Coal and The Oil Drum - Khebab for Oil.

    video.google.com/videoplay [video.google.com/videoplay]


    My reading of what is going on today around the world integrates a set of factors that will be determining the future of humanity:
    - Environmental Chaos: Climate Change, loss of bio-diversity, poisoning of land, water and air,
    - Resource Collapse: Oil. Water. Topsoil. Fisheries. Seeds. Arable land. Minerals. Copper. Food.
    - Societal Atomization
    - Economic Globalization: Financialization, Outsourcing, Institutional lag

    The Oil Drum (TOD) is all about Peak Oil and the collapse of our energy resources...




    37 views
    The Oil Drum: Europe | Olduvai revisited 2008

  • Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels

    Rated Jan 25 2008 • 5 reviews • science, energy, sustainability • i-sis.org.uk

    Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels
    in The Institute of Science in Society Online

    Cuba's experience has opened our eyes to agriculture without fossil fuels, a possibility rapidly turning into a necessity for mitigating climate change as world production of petroleum has also peaked. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

    Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels
    FAO report on Cuba
    UN report "Hunger and malnutrition in the countries of the Association of Caribbean States"
    Comments on MetaFilter

    This is no time for ideological sabre-rattling.
    All societal experiments to power the economy with non-fossil fuels are important. Peak-oil is at our doors and we better have access to experiments shedding light on possible alternative paths for entering the future.




    43 views
    Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels

  • http://www.aspousa.org/proceedings/houston/presentations/...

    Rated Jan 12 2008 • 1 review • economics, energy industry, energy, peak resources • aspousa.org

    Just how close to Peak Oil are we?
    via TOD, by Chris Skrebowski

    Chris Skrebowski, Trustee of the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre and Editor of Petroleum Review, Energy Institute, London, has written a 42-page peak oil analysis entitled "Megaprojects update: Just how close to Peak Oil are we?"

    Much of the arguments are similar to those presented by Matt Simmons, founder and chairman of the world's largest energy investment banking company, Simmons & Co. International. But some of the charts, like the one below, show some interesting numbers.

    Just how close to Peak Oil are we? FREE 42 pages PDF
    Peak Oil & Beyond in Resouce Investor, an interview by Bud Conrad of Matt Simmons ( Investment banker for 40 years. He is the founder and chairman of the world's largest energy investment banking company, Simmons & Co. International).


    All liquids in Million Barrels per Day (MBD)


    All liquids in Million Barrels per Day (MBD)


    Are we prepared for the energy crunch that is coming our way? I don't think so. But one think I'm sure about is that peak oil shall soon be accepted as a fact under the duress of oil's rarefaction that will impose price levels that more and more people simply will not be able to pay. So we are in for a social crisis without precedent.




    7 views
    http://www.aspousa.org/proceedings/houston/presentations/Chris%20Skrebowski%20megaprojects.pdf

  • The Oil Drum | At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say...

    Rated Jan 04 2008 • 1 review • economics, energy industry, energy • theoildrum.com

    At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say to the Investor?
    in The Oil Drum by Nate Hagens

    While we are used to thinking about the economy in monetary terms, those of us trained in the natural sciences consider it equally valid to think about the economy and economics from the perspective of the energy required to make it run. When one spends a dollar, we do not think just about the dollar bill leaving our wallet and passing to some one else. Rather, we think that to enable that transaction, that is to generate the good or service being purchased, an average of about 8,000 kilojoules of energy (equal to roughly the amount of oil that would fill a coffee cup) must be extracted from the Earth and turned into roughly a half kilogram of carbon dioxide. Take the money out of the economy and it could continue to function through barter, albeit in an extremely awkward, limited and inefficient way. Take the energy out and the economy would immediately contract immensely or stop.

    At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say to the Investor?
    Other papers by Charles Hall
    "The Power of Community"



    Charles Hall is a systems ecologist. He studies and models how complex systems of nature and humans interact. One of his main points is that without energy human economies collapse.

    Earth, as a very complex system, is finite. Point.
    States can print, and the financial system can create, as much money as they wish. This difference between the 2 is not relative. It is an absolute difference. Hiding from that fact can only lead our societies to disaster. But such disaster would not only spell doom, for, it would also bring us closer to the end of the cycle of materialism... But this is another matter.




    38 views
    The Oil Drum | At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say to the Investor?

  • Asia Times Online :: Central Asian News and current...

    Rated Dec 21 2007 • 2 reviews • economics, energy industry, energy, geo politics • atimes.com

    Russia, Iran tighten the energy noose
    in Asia Times by M K Bhadrakumar career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including India's ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).

    ... how Moscow proceeds with the reconfiguration of Russo-Iranian relations could well form the centerpiece of the geopolitics of energy security in Eurasia during 2008. The dynamics on this front will doubtless play out on a vast theater stretching well beyond the Eurasian space, all the way to China and Japan in the east and to the very heart of Europe in the west where the Rhine River flows.

    Russia, Iran tighten the energy noose

    The general context of the world energy game:
    - the demand for energy is bound to increase fast in the next decades due to the rapid economic growth of the BRIC countries.
    - the worldwide offer of energy is stalling since a few years at its present plateau of some 86 million barrels per day. According to Peak Oil theory that plateau is bound to be left behind soon by decreasing output levels.

    This general context indicates that the prices of fossil fuels are bound to continually increase over the next decades until other sources of energy can successfully reduce the demand for fossil fuels by significant quantities.

    In the meantime we'll assist at a feverish dance on two fronts:
    - geopolitics: countries will position themselves so as to control the supply of the available fossil fuels to their own shores or to avoid the supply of their competitors. All means will be used including resorting to military force.
    - science and technology: huge budgets will be made available to scientists in order to devise new methods to generate energy and free us from our fossil fuel bind.

    Bhadrakumar gives here a masterly description of the geo-politics of fossil fuels.




    170 views
    Asia Times Online :: Central Asian News and current affairs, Russia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan