INFRASTRUCTURE
Energy from the Sun
By Yasha Husain
February 3, 2013
Truth be told, all energy is solar, and countless sustainable forms of solar energy are available to us, which we should be exploiting.
Following is a blueprint of how to do solar energy in America, creating a robust, localized system, that also stretches from coast to coast.
To begin with, build a national grid that is minimalist and a flexible structure, that can take and leave local, sustainable, energy sources, that contribute to one stable energy pool, with capacity for constant and directional power, locally.
Second, local solar, energy sources should include the following:
More >>
_______________________________________
An American Reconstruction Department
By Yasha Husain
December 29, 2012
A logical next step for the Obama Administration and its efforts to triumph against the challenges of the 21st century, is, strategically speaking, the creation of an American Reconstruction Department, a Franklin Roosevelt-type initiative.
All wings of the proposed Reconstruction effort, listed below, would be carried out concurrently by diverse teams of experts, the heads of which meet bi-monthly. Expenditures will come chiefly from already distributed, or budgeted, dollars, in exception of R&D and special projects, e.g. pilot projects, including ones that meet the needs of poor, underserved or polluted communities.
For each wing of the department, there will be three "well-schooled" and "well-rounded" experts with a specialty in their field area, be it, for clean energy, wind, solar or geothermal. Each will be a holistic, which also implies, global, thinker, in their own right, but above them will still be a world-class expert, who is firstly a holistic and global thinker, whose job it is to arrive at the most common sense energy solutions for localities, regions and the nation, with the rest of his or her team, or panel, and the nation.
The panel of the Clean Energy wing would,
for example, work in coordination with the Department of Energy. It would have a specially appointed person to work with think tanks, and the media, to get the word out of the progress of the Department. The panel member's closest relationships would be to Congress, as selected Congress members would be asked to help write legislation, and all of Congress would act as constant liaison between the nation's people and the Reconstruction Department.
The head of the Reconstruction Department may be a residing Senator or Congressperson.
In light of climate change and the international economy, domestic and world affairs would largely be tackled with the follow-through of an American Reconstruction Department.
The idea for the Department comes not only from Roosevelt's defeat of the Great Depression, but from Japan, which in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and in response to its environmental demands, instituted a nationwide, regional and community-based reconstruction effort, according to Habitat for Humanity, which ran a special ad about Japan in Bloomberg Businessweek (Oct. 22-28, 2012).
It's true that after the 2008 financial crisis has wound down, Obama's in earnest planning stage is finally upon us. No better time, then, to start the ambitious goal setting, based on a long range vision, with a centralized department, with outreach capacity to communities across the nation, and world.
The logical next step in the Obama Administration's efforts to promote change is an American Reconstruction Department, that could be replicated internationally, its various wings:
1. Celebrating the Family and Perfect Love
2. Emergent Education, Adapting to 21st Century Needs, Including Job Creation
3. The Role of Faith in Culture
4. Exchanging Nonviolence
5. Guideposts: Sharing the Wisdom of All Time
6. Harnessing the Creative Potential Utilizing “Perfect Knowledge” (Self-realization)
7. On the Nature of Competition: Holistic Competition
8. On the Role of Science: Holistic Science
9. Holistic Farming
10. Helping Hands for the Poor
11. Developing Cognitive and Behavioral Health Advancements, Thinking Out-of-the-Box
12. Integrative, Holistic Medicine
13. Sound Design Materials
14. Graduated Engineering
15. Architecture and Design
16. Rail and Vehicular Design and Transfer
17. Clean Energy Projects
18. Remediation
19. Environmental Monitoring
20. Technology Transfer
21. Realigning Military and Intelligence to Carry Out More Diplomatic Missions
22. Mixing of Economies
23. Cross Cultural Exchange for the Continuation of Cultural Heritage
24. Global Participation
25. Development
_________________________________________
Give Initiative a Chance
by Yasha Melanie Husain
First appeared in The Leader Herald (Gloversville, NY)
September 20th, 2012
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Cleaner, Greener Communities initiative, an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability now in its planning stages, is an opportunity to push a sustainability agenda for New York state that relies on energy efficiency, renewable energy and other carbon abatement measures.
Building on what's been developed by the 10 Regional Economic Development Councils, the CGC only stands to improve the state's efforts to go green in a way that's truly sustainable.
A bottom-up approach, the CGC is an opportunity for local experts, administrators and the public to draw up sustainability plans that best suit their region before the plans are finally submitted to the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority - the agency that oversees the CGC - in January 2013.
_________________________________________
'Worldfocus' in Denmark: A People's
Green Energy Model
by Yasha Husain
Posted
04/02/10
Certain kinds of people like to make what they're doing known to the world and go out and actively seek attention for their efforts. Others prefer to sit back, enjoy the rewards of a job well done, and let those who are interested come to visit. Even when the world focuses its attention directly on the latter group, their attitude may simply be to say, 'well, this is what we've done.' There it is, you have it then. They'll let you take with you whatever impression you will.
That seemed the attitude of a number of down-to-earth Danes who've become leaders in the green energy revolution due to the simple fact conditions were right for them on the ground to make a shift in their energy behavior earlier than the rest.
Worldfocus, airing on PBS, chose to run a half-hour special report on Friday night, “Green Energy in Denmark,” highlighting stories about these everyday people: farmers, artists, individual residents of a small Danish island, a businessman part of one of wind energy's greatest success stories, to show that Danes achieved energy independence and financial security, without making remarkable changes to their lifestyle.
More >>
________________________________________
Blog: Decision '09, The Science Debates
Debate #3: Elusive Water Vapor: High
Altitude Hydrogen Jets, and the Delicate
Stratosphere (12/31/09)
Moderator Question:
What do we know about manmade water vapor emissions in the lower stratosphere and the implications of risks involved in their release?
Background:
Water vapor remains among the most elusive of greenhouse gases. Perhaps in part because of its innocuous sounding name, its story has seldom been told.
A 1996 study, however, titled, “Molecular Hydrogen and Water Vapour Emissions in a Global Hydrogen Energy Economy,” by Zittel and Altmann, assumed that about 20 percent of planes at the time flew in the upper troposphere / lower stratosphere. The report, presented at the 11th World Hydrogen Energy Conference, declared a hydrogen fleet of planes emitting water vapor emissions would need to fly well within the troposphere to keep from disrupting the delicate, dry balance in the stratosphere. Starting in 1996, the year the study was published, NASA's modified U2 spy plane, the ER-2, began collecting samples of stratospheric air from which to draw such conclusions. Since then, scientists have continued to elaborate on Zittel and Altmann's findings as well as apply unique methods of analysis in their attempts to understand the potential for stratospheric ozone destruction from commercial hydrogen fleets.
________________________________________
Blog: Decision '09, The Science Debates
Debate #2: Green Energy in the American Southeast (5/14/09)
Moderator Question:
It's been said that in the southeastern portion of the United States there's not a lot of solar or wind resources.
But could the solar and wind potential there in fact be utilized to create hybrid energy systems reliant on a host of renewables including offshore wind, concentrated solar, and the energy carrier hydrogen, when it's produced from the sun or wind via electrolysis?
According to the latest science, what are some of the more promising green energy options for the American Southeast?
Expert Commentary:
Below are a number of expert voices that weighed in for this debate. While the views expressed are divergent they also contain overlapping ideas about the future of southeast energy.
More >>
_________________________________________
Time for a New Direction for Fulton County's
Waste Management Operations
By Yasha Husain
First appeared in The Sunday Gazette (Schenectady, NY)
April 22, 2007
To save money down the road, and to do more to protect the environment in which people live and breathe, more responsible forms of waste management, the kinds taking place in Europe, Peel, Ontario in Canada, and San Francisco, could begin to be administered here.
At the Fulton County landfill on Mudd Road not only have household wastes been landfilled, but also construction and demolition materials, contaminated soils, industrial sludge from tanneries, wastes incoming from an area with an operating paper mill, sewage sludge, and asbestos.
While the landfill, which has been open since 1989, is considered state-of-the-art because it contains a double composite liner to minimize leakage and contain gases, regulations still allow a maximum of twenty gallons per acre per day of leakage. And the liner itself is helpless against the two main instigators of complete failures at landfills: 1) the deterioration of cover after the landfill has been capped and 2) clogging of leachate lines.