Re: [GBlist] Afgreenistan

[Renewable News Network <rnn@rnn.com>]

Dear Thomas,

This is a very excellent thought, but how would such a solar energy
effort be carried out?  Who is in a position to move this initiative
forward?  Who should we be talking to?  Who, here, has the kind of
influence, contacts, resources, access, etc (whatever it takes) to
make things happen?

People wonder why and how oil interests effect energy developments and
the directions that the US and the Bush Administration take regarding the
clean green options?  Here's a practical result of Cheney meeting in
private with oil, gas, and coal executives;  ...of Enron's top executives
ripping off their own employees;  ...of that ilk promoting the hydrogen
fuel cell futuristic fantasies at the expense of the clean green options.

Its already been reported in the independent media that the diplomatic
corps now being staffed up in that part of the world comes, in part, at
least, from the ranks of the oil industry.  Instead of solar being
developed, our worst unsustainable nightmere is being piplined down their
throats.

What now?

Yours truly,
Ross

"What now, my love?"  -Bert Bacharach (?)

ps. We have another perhaps minor problem in that a "simple transpired
collector" is NOT designed to perform for direct space heating, but for
pre-heating make-up air for furnaces and boiler systems in
non-residential systems.  Small huts don't have furnaces.  We've lost a
lot over the past twenty years, including the practical experience
of innumerable community groups that adopted solar air heating space
heating collector systems that were appropriate and actually worked.
All that's been replaced with Federally funded non-US companies promoting
niche applications in devious ways that have confused the expert
consulants and ruined one of the most popular grassroots solar
technologies of the Solar Age (1975-1985).

"Nevermind."  -Rosanne Rosannadanna

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Thomas M Hughes-Lampros wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> The front page of the local (Gannett) newspaper recently carried a picture
> of two children digging in the Afghanistan desert for roots to use for
> cooking.  Ignoring the energy content of the roots for the moment, I
> couldn't help but notice what a sunny day it was in the picture.  It
> occured to me that, if what people need is heat for cooking, look to an
> available and easily convertible source: the Sun.  The effort expended in
> periodically rotating a solar box cooker to keep it pointed at the sun
> would be far less, and far more sustainable, than digging in the dirt for
> roots.
>
> Furthermore, if what people need is space heat, again look to the sun.  A
> simple transpired solar collector could provide the heat necessary for a
> small hut, provided of course, that the hut was protected from the winter
> winds.
>
> Personally, I would like to see relief efforts provide "the pole" rather
> than "the fish."
>
> Peace,
> Tom Hughes-Lampros			tlampros@udel.edu
> Institute of Energy Conversion		tel: 302.831.3523
> University of Delaware			fax: 302.831.6226
> Wyoming Rd.
> Newark, DE 19716
>
> When we turn our face to the sun,
> we feel the power to heal the earth.
>
> "First they ignore you
>    Then they laugh at you
>         Then they fight you
>                 Then you win"
>
>                      -Gandhi
>
> "If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
> Power concedes nothing without a demand." -- Frederick Douglas
>
> "Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul." -Edward Abbey
>
> Work is love made visible.  And if you cannot work with love but only with
> distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate
> of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
>   -- Kahlil Gibran
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
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> ______________________________________________________________________
>


______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by REPP/CREST, creator of
Solstice http://www.crest.org, and BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of
Environmental Building News and GreenSpec http://www.BuildingGreen.com
______________________________________________________________________