new study shows that being smart about where we grow algae can drastically reduce how much water is needed for algal biofuel. Growing algae for biofuel, while being water-wise, could also help meet congressionally mandated renewable fuel targets by replacing 17 percent of the nation's imported oil for transportation, according to a paper published in the journal Water Resources Research..... water use is much less if algae are grown in the U.S. regions that have the sunniest and most humid climates: the Gulf Coast, the Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes. "Algae has been a hot topic of biofuel discussions recently... click here: Algae Could Replace 17% of U.S. Oil Imports
Showing posts with label energy efficiency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy efficiency. Show all posts
Apr 14, 2011
Oct 14, 2007
Eco Extravaganza
Green Festival
Oct. 6-7, 2007
Washington DC Convention Center
Attendance: Standing room only for this 2-day eco-extravaganza
Ideas and Insights:
Greener than thou?
It’s not a competition...it’s about personal decisions. Everyone can make a difference even if not ready to change your whole lifestyle. Do can you can. And realize that we all vote with our dollars. Start by thinking about each purchase; it can be a chance to change without pain.
And those who aren’t ready to trade in their gas-guzzlers, take heart. And all others, take note: gas-chugging lawn care equipment does more environmental damage than cars. And chew on this: changing to a vegetarian diet would reduce several times the carbon emissions of ditching an SUV. Yes, really. Livestock raising, feeding, handling, transporting in the factory farm mode is one of the biggest drains on the environment and energy reserves.
New(ish) foods:
* Hemp milk – richer and reputedly twice as nutritious as soy milk, which is twice as nutritious as animal-derived milk.
* Acai – juices and other foods containing this berry bursting with exotic sweetness, vitamins and antioxidants.
* Clif Bars and Lara Bars – some new flavors, and all good...and good for you.
* Can a tea be luscious? Try Numi’s luscious new flavors. And Traditional Medicinals has brought out a whole line of healing teas to fight colds, stomach aches, flu and other maladies.
* Soul vegetarian...and vegan? Yes, and D.C. is one place where you’ll find some great places for it. Soul Vegetarian on Georgia Ave. near Euclid St. near Howard University in N.W. And Vita’s in Anacostia – perhaps you saw Vita’s recipes for all vegan/no animal products cornbread, pumpkin bread and barbecue (yes, BBQ!) in the Washington Post after she won over the editors.
* Healthy cakes for any taste. OK, they still have calories, but they’re all flavor, and no dairy products. Lines formed for slices of cake and pies from a booth set up by the new Sweet N Natural caterers (their shop’s in the Maryland suburbs). No animal byproducts, so the treats are naturally lactose and cholesterol-free, with no hydrogenated oils. 301-805-0007.
Building tech tidbits:
* Solar panels are getting better, and are expected to come down in price. Big tip: A common mistake is to lay them flush or flat on a roof/surface, but they ned to be elevated of a surface and tilted to allow air to circulate. This is necessary to optimize their ability to absorb and retain sun energy.
* Helpful websites for building green include www.solarcities.org
* Adding insulation makes a huge difference in home comfort and energy bills. An easy place to start: the attic. Also, around cracks; use spray foam said Jason Holstine of Maryland-based Amicus Green Building Center. New products include eco-friendly soy-based insulation.
* Solar hot water systems are big hits, and while costly, pay for themselves within 7 years and usually quality for tax credits. On-demand tankless heaters are also a very smart move. Appx 13% of home energy is consumed by hot water heaters. Don’t forget to use low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, which use tiny air-jets to push the water. Unlike old-school models, newer ones don’t sacrifice pressure.
* Easy greening and money savings move: replace standard light bulbs with CFLs, or compact fluorescents. They last longer and now many styles cast a lovely tone of light. Disposal is a little different; since they contain a bit of mercury, don’t just toss them in the trash. More and more places for recycling CFLs are popping up. Next-generation LED (light emitting diodes) lights are even more efficient and consume less energy, but they are still expensive and not easy to find. Per Amicus, LEDs, which come in recessed, pendant, under counter and cover versions, use 80% less energy than regular incandescent lights and 40% less than CFLs. They’ll last appx 50,000 hours and throw off no heat.
* Paint progress: Today’s low- and no-VOC paints (better for the environment and your health) now come in hundreds of great colors.
* The most efficient light: the sun. Maximize home design with windows, clerestories (those skinny high-up windows), solar tubes (skylights are so 1990s), glass doors and overhangs, window glazings and other features to strategically balance light and heat gain.
* E-plus building and remodeling: Per www.amicusgreen.com, ask for products made from recycled content and /or rapidly renewable materials, are recyclable, and don’t have formaldehyde and other offgassing chemicals. Choosing wood? Look for “FSC” certification that indicates environmentally appropriate management and harvesting.
* Magnetic cooking: Induction stove tops use magnets to heat pots and pans. No heat means money savings and greater safety.
* “Stone” from paper and eco-friendly recycled plastic: Now ready for exterior finishing, countertops and other parts of your home.
* Dirt works: John Spears, president of the nonprofit International Center for Sustainable Development in Gaithersburg, Maryland, discussed energy self-sufficient homes. Earth built, he says, is cooler in summer, warmer in winter, storing passive solar energy in its walls. And construction costs are 30% less than wood homes. He also described creative building materials made of recycled materials, such as insulation from old soda bottles.
Animal testing:
Wonder why so many people have fallen ill, and some have even died, as a result of taking drugs that were tested on animals? Because animal testing results don’t reflect the realities of drug effects on humans. The explanation is too long for this forum, but the proof is in from many sources. Which, like the animals exploited for profits, can’t garner the microphones and media that the drug industry (and the researchers and politicians in the pocket of deep-pocketed Big Pharma) can.
If animals would talk, it would change the face of medical testing – and lead to better outcomes for humans as well as nonhuman animals. Interesting aside: A team of respected medical researchers wrote in the Sept. 21, 2007 (vol. 317) issues of SCIENCE magazine that “Scientists and journals could and should do more to secure the ethical standards of animal use in biomedical research.” They noted the ethical erosion of compromising animal welfare. They also noted the need to use “earlier, less severe clinical signs [in the animals used in research studies] as endpoint parameters rather than awaiting spontaneous death.” Animals are suffering unnecessarily to a degree that appalls even researchers engaged in such studies.
I donate only to cruelty-free charities, and recommend that others consider more fully before making donation decisions.
Find out why the leading scientists and doctors advocate non-animal medical research ... the facts behind various health-related charities (beyond the marketing brochures and press releases) ... the realities of animal testing ... and all-around better alternatives to testing on animals ... www.HumaneSeal.org
Fun fact:
96% of all materials used at last year’s Green Festival, including the various sample cups, were recycled.
Not so fun fact:
The MSM/mainstream media has continued to lag at best, in coverage of green issues, from energy efficient technologies to organic foods to healthy eating to medical testing. It is important to remember that MSM and even many blog writers rely on corporate-generated information, and profits. Industry leaders from big pharma to factory farms to corporate-industrial food and vehicle manufacturers are able to outspend and outshout nonprofit sources and researchers. Reporters and editors are not only on tight deadlines but have aligned with big business, and many mistakes have been made in the reports you see.
For example, if you are seeking accurate information about health and medical topics, we highly recommend sources such as www.pcrm.org and www.aicr.org
Oct. 6-7, 2007
Washington DC Convention Center
Attendance: Standing room only for this 2-day eco-extravaganza
Ideas and Insights:
Greener than thou?
It’s not a competition...it’s about personal decisions. Everyone can make a difference even if not ready to change your whole lifestyle. Do can you can. And realize that we all vote with our dollars. Start by thinking about each purchase; it can be a chance to change without pain.
And those who aren’t ready to trade in their gas-guzzlers, take heart. And all others, take note: gas-chugging lawn care equipment does more environmental damage than cars. And chew on this: changing to a vegetarian diet would reduce several times the carbon emissions of ditching an SUV. Yes, really. Livestock raising, feeding, handling, transporting in the factory farm mode is one of the biggest drains on the environment and energy reserves.
New(ish) foods:
* Hemp milk – richer and reputedly twice as nutritious as soy milk, which is twice as nutritious as animal-derived milk.
* Acai – juices and other foods containing this berry bursting with exotic sweetness, vitamins and antioxidants.
* Clif Bars and Lara Bars – some new flavors, and all good...and good for you.
* Can a tea be luscious? Try Numi’s luscious new flavors. And Traditional Medicinals has brought out a whole line of healing teas to fight colds, stomach aches, flu and other maladies.
* Soul vegetarian...and vegan? Yes, and D.C. is one place where you’ll find some great places for it. Soul Vegetarian on Georgia Ave. near Euclid St. near Howard University in N.W. And Vita’s in Anacostia – perhaps you saw Vita’s recipes for all vegan/no animal products cornbread, pumpkin bread and barbecue (yes, BBQ!) in the Washington Post after she won over the editors.
* Healthy cakes for any taste. OK, they still have calories, but they’re all flavor, and no dairy products. Lines formed for slices of cake and pies from a booth set up by the new Sweet N Natural caterers (their shop’s in the Maryland suburbs). No animal byproducts, so the treats are naturally lactose and cholesterol-free, with no hydrogenated oils. 301-805-0007.
Building tech tidbits:
* Solar panels are getting better, and are expected to come down in price. Big tip: A common mistake is to lay them flush or flat on a roof/surface, but they ned to be elevated of a surface and tilted to allow air to circulate. This is necessary to optimize their ability to absorb and retain sun energy.
* Helpful websites for building green include www.solarcities.org
* Adding insulation makes a huge difference in home comfort and energy bills. An easy place to start: the attic. Also, around cracks; use spray foam said Jason Holstine of Maryland-based Amicus Green Building Center. New products include eco-friendly soy-based insulation.
* Solar hot water systems are big hits, and while costly, pay for themselves within 7 years and usually quality for tax credits. On-demand tankless heaters are also a very smart move. Appx 13% of home energy is consumed by hot water heaters. Don’t forget to use low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, which use tiny air-jets to push the water. Unlike old-school models, newer ones don’t sacrifice pressure.
* Easy greening and money savings move: replace standard light bulbs with CFLs, or compact fluorescents. They last longer and now many styles cast a lovely tone of light. Disposal is a little different; since they contain a bit of mercury, don’t just toss them in the trash. More and more places for recycling CFLs are popping up. Next-generation LED (light emitting diodes) lights are even more efficient and consume less energy, but they are still expensive and not easy to find. Per Amicus, LEDs, which come in recessed, pendant, under counter and cover versions, use 80% less energy than regular incandescent lights and 40% less than CFLs. They’ll last appx 50,000 hours and throw off no heat.
* Paint progress: Today’s low- and no-VOC paints (better for the environment and your health) now come in hundreds of great colors.
* The most efficient light: the sun. Maximize home design with windows, clerestories (those skinny high-up windows), solar tubes (skylights are so 1990s), glass doors and overhangs, window glazings and other features to strategically balance light and heat gain.
* E-plus building and remodeling: Per www.amicusgreen.com, ask for products made from recycled content and /or rapidly renewable materials, are recyclable, and don’t have formaldehyde and other offgassing chemicals. Choosing wood? Look for “FSC” certification that indicates environmentally appropriate management and harvesting.
* Magnetic cooking: Induction stove tops use magnets to heat pots and pans. No heat means money savings and greater safety.
* “Stone” from paper and eco-friendly recycled plastic: Now ready for exterior finishing, countertops and other parts of your home.
* Dirt works: John Spears, president of the nonprofit International Center for Sustainable Development in Gaithersburg, Maryland, discussed energy self-sufficient homes. Earth built, he says, is cooler in summer, warmer in winter, storing passive solar energy in its walls. And construction costs are 30% less than wood homes. He also described creative building materials made of recycled materials, such as insulation from old soda bottles.
Animal testing:
Wonder why so many people have fallen ill, and some have even died, as a result of taking drugs that were tested on animals? Because animal testing results don’t reflect the realities of drug effects on humans. The explanation is too long for this forum, but the proof is in from many sources. Which, like the animals exploited for profits, can’t garner the microphones and media that the drug industry (and the researchers and politicians in the pocket of deep-pocketed Big Pharma) can.
If animals would talk, it would change the face of medical testing – and lead to better outcomes for humans as well as nonhuman animals. Interesting aside: A team of respected medical researchers wrote in the Sept. 21, 2007 (vol. 317) issues of SCIENCE magazine that “Scientists and journals could and should do more to secure the ethical standards of animal use in biomedical research.” They noted the ethical erosion of compromising animal welfare. They also noted the need to use “earlier, less severe clinical signs [in the animals used in research studies] as endpoint parameters rather than awaiting spontaneous death.” Animals are suffering unnecessarily to a degree that appalls even researchers engaged in such studies.
I donate only to cruelty-free charities, and recommend that others consider more fully before making donation decisions.
Find out why the leading scientists and doctors advocate non-animal medical research ... the facts behind various health-related charities (beyond the marketing brochures and press releases) ... the realities of animal testing ... and all-around better alternatives to testing on animals ... www.HumaneSeal.org
Fun fact:
96% of all materials used at last year’s Green Festival, including the various sample cups, were recycled.
Not so fun fact:
The MSM/mainstream media has continued to lag at best, in coverage of green issues, from energy efficient technologies to organic foods to healthy eating to medical testing. It is important to remember that MSM and even many blog writers rely on corporate-generated information, and profits. Industry leaders from big pharma to factory farms to corporate-industrial food and vehicle manufacturers are able to outspend and outshout nonprofit sources and researchers. Reporters and editors are not only on tight deadlines but have aligned with big business, and many mistakes have been made in the reports you see.
For example, if you are seeking accurate information about health and medical topics, we highly recommend sources such as www.pcrm.org and www.aicr.org
Aug 25, 2007
Size Matters
Book Review: Little House on a Small Planet
A few years ago, my husband and I went house-hunting as prices spiraled upward. We sought an affordable, well-built 2,400 sq.ft. contemporary home. We settled for a 1,400 sq.ft. 1950s rambler. Furnishing and maintaining that led to an epiphany: 400 sq.ft. is all we need, and want.
2,400 to 1,400 to 400 – it took a lot of time, effort and money to learn this lesson. Now there’s a short-cut to small-home smarts: Shay Salomon’s book, “Little House on a Small Planet.”
“People really are moved by this movement,” says Salomon, who in an email admits to getting fan mail each week.
Between the book’s covers, you’ll find function-driven inspiration to build all the house that fits your lifestyle, with no excess space to clean, maintain or serve as a clutter magnet. Or a drag – current research shows that our immediate environment impacts not only our efficiency but also mood and outlook. Excess, long a symbol of success, has a downside. How often have you heard laments about stuffed closets and drawers, cluttered rooms, the frustration of having too much of everything except time to enjoy it?
Perhaps you learned early on the real estate rule of thumb: Buy as much as you can afford. And that has become too much in this age of easy credit.
Salomon offers a new real estate rule for the real world: Build a glove, not a warehouse. A dwelling that fits and fulfills you, not someone else’s idea of a dream home in our consumption-driven society.
How much space does it take to be happy?
The author, a self-described “natural builder,”broadens the definition of eco-friendly housing beyond using sustainable, nontoxic materials to size. She has extracted 14 principles of building small from interviews with a few hundred folks with downsized dwellings.
These escapees from overbuilt environments offer antidotes to house lust and alternatives to McMansionization. You can say no to renovated palaces built of plastic credit cards, though often, zoning laws and building codes pose roadblocks.
Profiles of several actual small houses include locations, building cost, size, monthly utilities, and favorite aspects of the house. Among topics and ideas addressed in the book:
* Size matters: House size affects energy consumption more than insulation does – meaning your costs rise with cubic feet.
* How to downsize tips: Examples: Write the numbers 1 to 100 and tag 100 things to give away.
Note the time spent in each room of your current house to plan just what you really need. Remember that money saved in downscaling house plans can be used for eco-efficient and aesthetically pleasing luxuries.
* Not living large: Keep in mind the maxim that “stuff” expands to fill available space. Such is the magic of materialism. Interesting statistic: The self-storage industry has increased 40-fold since 1960, making it larger than the music business and more profitable than the film industry.
Tips: Choose and design for a set amount of storage space and simply allow no more. Design for shared space for different activities – such as a big central table for dining, socializing, work and school projects in an area having the best light, view and proximity to things you need.
* Cool kitchen idea: A cold storage box recessed into a thick wall that harnesses free cool night air and cold stored in the wall’s thermal mass to keep food chilled. A simple screen on the exterior keeps the animals out.
* Create spaciousness with a design that blurs the line between indoor and outdoor space, with nature providing some of the decor.
* Sick building syndrome resulting from the largely 1970s-80s energy efficiency-motivated sealing up of buildings. The book explains where to place operable clerestory windows and skylights to harness the best ventilation, working in consort with the physics of hot air rising. Outdoor kitchens merit discussion for their energy efficiency potential. Then there’s an example of permaculture at work, complete with chickens free-ranging as a “chicken tractor” plowing sections of a Point Reyes, Ca. garden.
* Living with children in a small home: The author addresses controversial questions such as “Is TV a human right?” and the “delicate dance of need and greed.” Consider the effects of modern living arrangements in which family members hole up in their own personal Siberias, shielded from exchanging ideas with one another thanks to their separate computers, PDAs, TVs ... the iPodification of daily life.
* Fortifying resolve against consumerism: To shake free of the tentacles of marketing messages, some have joined “simplicity circles.” Most of us have been co-opted by industry to reinforce messages to consume what benefits big business. We become wallet-waving zombies chanting cheese is healthy, unprocessed foods are undesirable, and bigger is better.
* Intelligent retrofitting and remodeling comprises a second section. Topics meander to gentrification’s environmental degradation of to trailer salvages to the deconstruction cottage industry that dismantles houses to move, rebuild and supply recycled materials for new projects. The book makes detours into co-housing and work-at-home territory, flex multi-generational residences, “Co Abodes” shared by single moms and other ways to maximize efficiency of one’s personal built environment.
* Quick quip: The addition, said Andy Rooney, is America’s contribution to the history of architecture.
* Sophisti-crit: The book’s utopian photo trove of hippie-dippy accented abodes may kick close-quarters up to a claustrophobic level for some recovering space addicts. Then again, there’s upside in having everything at your fingertips. But the principles translate to environs with cosmopolitan appeal. One can swap the fabric curtain dividers with sleek pocket doors, for example.
* Cutting-edge designs based on ancient but enduring building proto-technology: Such as Earthships built into hillsides in the Southwest, with walls bolstered by dirt-packed tires. The author touches on the government red-tape roadblocks erected by bureaucrats – some possibly propped up by big-business interests – via zoning and building codes.
* Big picture insights: Census reports indicate that in 2000, 10.4 million units of housing in the U.S. were vacant, while 250,000 people slept in homeless shelters. That’s 45 vacant houses per shelter occupant. Overseas, as Chinese emulate Western consumer culture, the panda is scrambling for shrinking space as houses grow larger and more plentiful.
* Practical philosophy: Bound by abundance – having so much has led to a different kind of scarcity. One sage commenting in the book noted how if we were to eat directly the 16 pounds of grain that it takes to produce a pound of meat, we would have 8 times as much protein available to us. Then there’s the increasing water scarcity issue.
Small houses, to most Americans, sounds like a revolutionary notion. But considering the revered architects who now hold forth on the environmental as well as aesthetic and social benefits of hewing to “human scale” design, architecture and urban planning, it’s a idea that fits like a glove.
Resources:
“Little House on a Small Planet” by Shay Salomon (The Lyons Press)
www.littlehouseonasmallplanet.com
www.smallhousesociety.org
A few years ago, my husband and I went house-hunting as prices spiraled upward. We sought an affordable, well-built 2,400 sq.ft. contemporary home. We settled for a 1,400 sq.ft. 1950s rambler. Furnishing and maintaining that led to an epiphany: 400 sq.ft. is all we need, and want.
2,400 to 1,400 to 400 – it took a lot of time, effort and money to learn this lesson. Now there’s a short-cut to small-home smarts: Shay Salomon’s book, “Little House on a Small Planet.”
“People really are moved by this movement,” says Salomon, who in an email admits to getting fan mail each week.
Between the book’s covers, you’ll find function-driven inspiration to build all the house that fits your lifestyle, with no excess space to clean, maintain or serve as a clutter magnet. Or a drag – current research shows that our immediate environment impacts not only our efficiency but also mood and outlook. Excess, long a symbol of success, has a downside. How often have you heard laments about stuffed closets and drawers, cluttered rooms, the frustration of having too much of everything except time to enjoy it?
Perhaps you learned early on the real estate rule of thumb: Buy as much as you can afford. And that has become too much in this age of easy credit.
Salomon offers a new real estate rule for the real world: Build a glove, not a warehouse. A dwelling that fits and fulfills you, not someone else’s idea of a dream home in our consumption-driven society.
How much space does it take to be happy?
The author, a self-described “natural builder,”broadens the definition of eco-friendly housing beyond using sustainable, nontoxic materials to size. She has extracted 14 principles of building small from interviews with a few hundred folks with downsized dwellings.
These escapees from overbuilt environments offer antidotes to house lust and alternatives to McMansionization. You can say no to renovated palaces built of plastic credit cards, though often, zoning laws and building codes pose roadblocks.
Profiles of several actual small houses include locations, building cost, size, monthly utilities, and favorite aspects of the house. Among topics and ideas addressed in the book:
* Size matters: House size affects energy consumption more than insulation does – meaning your costs rise with cubic feet.
* How to downsize tips: Examples: Write the numbers 1 to 100 and tag 100 things to give away.
Note the time spent in each room of your current house to plan just what you really need. Remember that money saved in downscaling house plans can be used for eco-efficient and aesthetically pleasing luxuries.
* Not living large: Keep in mind the maxim that “stuff” expands to fill available space. Such is the magic of materialism. Interesting statistic: The self-storage industry has increased 40-fold since 1960, making it larger than the music business and more profitable than the film industry.
Tips: Choose and design for a set amount of storage space and simply allow no more. Design for shared space for different activities – such as a big central table for dining, socializing, work and school projects in an area having the best light, view and proximity to things you need.
* Cool kitchen idea: A cold storage box recessed into a thick wall that harnesses free cool night air and cold stored in the wall’s thermal mass to keep food chilled. A simple screen on the exterior keeps the animals out.
* Create spaciousness with a design that blurs the line between indoor and outdoor space, with nature providing some of the decor.
* Sick building syndrome resulting from the largely 1970s-80s energy efficiency-motivated sealing up of buildings. The book explains where to place operable clerestory windows and skylights to harness the best ventilation, working in consort with the physics of hot air rising. Outdoor kitchens merit discussion for their energy efficiency potential. Then there’s an example of permaculture at work, complete with chickens free-ranging as a “chicken tractor” plowing sections of a Point Reyes, Ca. garden.
* Living with children in a small home: The author addresses controversial questions such as “Is TV a human right?” and the “delicate dance of need and greed.” Consider the effects of modern living arrangements in which family members hole up in their own personal Siberias, shielded from exchanging ideas with one another thanks to their separate computers, PDAs, TVs ... the iPodification of daily life.
* Fortifying resolve against consumerism: To shake free of the tentacles of marketing messages, some have joined “simplicity circles.” Most of us have been co-opted by industry to reinforce messages to consume what benefits big business. We become wallet-waving zombies chanting cheese is healthy, unprocessed foods are undesirable, and bigger is better.
* Intelligent retrofitting and remodeling comprises a second section. Topics meander to gentrification’s environmental degradation of to trailer salvages to the deconstruction cottage industry that dismantles houses to move, rebuild and supply recycled materials for new projects. The book makes detours into co-housing and work-at-home territory, flex multi-generational residences, “Co Abodes” shared by single moms and other ways to maximize efficiency of one’s personal built environment.
* Quick quip: The addition, said Andy Rooney, is America’s contribution to the history of architecture.
* Sophisti-crit: The book’s utopian photo trove of hippie-dippy accented abodes may kick close-quarters up to a claustrophobic level for some recovering space addicts. Then again, there’s upside in having everything at your fingertips. But the principles translate to environs with cosmopolitan appeal. One can swap the fabric curtain dividers with sleek pocket doors, for example.
* Cutting-edge designs based on ancient but enduring building proto-technology: Such as Earthships built into hillsides in the Southwest, with walls bolstered by dirt-packed tires. The author touches on the government red-tape roadblocks erected by bureaucrats – some possibly propped up by big-business interests – via zoning and building codes.
* Big picture insights: Census reports indicate that in 2000, 10.4 million units of housing in the U.S. were vacant, while 250,000 people slept in homeless shelters. That’s 45 vacant houses per shelter occupant. Overseas, as Chinese emulate Western consumer culture, the panda is scrambling for shrinking space as houses grow larger and more plentiful.
* Practical philosophy: Bound by abundance – having so much has led to a different kind of scarcity. One sage commenting in the book noted how if we were to eat directly the 16 pounds of grain that it takes to produce a pound of meat, we would have 8 times as much protein available to us. Then there’s the increasing water scarcity issue.
Small houses, to most Americans, sounds like a revolutionary notion. But considering the revered architects who now hold forth on the environmental as well as aesthetic and social benefits of hewing to “human scale” design, architecture and urban planning, it’s a idea that fits like a glove.
Resources:
“Little House on a Small Planet” by Shay Salomon (The Lyons Press)
www.littlehouseonasmallplanet.com
www.smallhousesociety.org
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