Frogfall

Are you sure that wood is hardwood? It may be softwood pulp, which is a different issue. A picture of a carload of the wood might help.

Hmm. Some years ago a ship load of eastern hemlock was organized and shipped from here. I watched the load go out from the Portage Shipping Canal. The logs looked like matchsticks on the deck. It was the only load to be assembled. The wood didn't measure up. Not much market for hemlock today, so maybe you could suggest to that company they investigate using eastern hemlock from the Lake Superior region.

As I type this there are 16 foot 2 inch by 10 inch hemlock joists above my head supporting the next floor. I don't expect a collapse anytime soon. The wood came from property I own west of here. Sawed it with my own sawmill. There is 5,000 board feet of hemlock in this house. That area grows hemlock like hair on a dog. But as I said, there's no market for it.

The UK used to buy a lot of Hemlock - I think from Canada - for Joinery work, internal partioning and so on. It was servicable stuff if a bit soft. But at some time in the 70's it vanished from the softwood market here, replaced by redwood pine (pinus rosa) from the Gulf of Bothnia ports in Sweden ,and also Russian pine which was also good timber, but often plagues by 'blue stain' which was discoloration caused by fungus attack after felling. But the UK still imports Douglas Fir, Tulipwood and Western Red Cedar. - presumably from the US and Canada.

We’ve got no choice’: locals fear life as lab rats in UK hydrogen heating pilot

‘We’ve got no choice’: locals fear life as lab rats in UK hydrogen heating pilot | Hydrogen power | The Guardian

On the sit alongside a neat lawn and fledgling shrubs. Named the “hydrogen experience centre”, this unassuming place is at the heart of a testy tussle that could have implications for how homes across the country are heated.

The site, in the village of Whitby, just outside Ellesmere Port on the south bank of the Mersey, could become the UK’s first “hydrogen village”. It is being analysed, along with Redcar in the north-east, for potential conversion to 100% hydrogen heating, using the existing gas network and new appliances to update up to 2,000 properties.

The government will make a final decision on which village will take part in a two-year pilot by next year. Hydrogen is seen by some as the ideal fuel to replace natural gas in homes and help Britain hit its climate targets. It can be produced through various methods, including using electrolysis to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. It is colourless and odourless, meaning an odour would need to be added to help detect leaks

Quote from GRMattson

Are you sure that wood is hardwood?

Hardwood forests cut down to feed Drax Power plant, Channel 4 Dispatches claims

A Dispatches investigation has uncovered evidence of hardwood forests being chopped down to provide 'green energy' for the UK. Experts say unique habitats rich…

theecologist.org

Quote

Antony Barnett, reporter at Dispatches, travelled to the southern states of the USA to investigate the source of wood that is now being turned into millions of tonnes of wood pellets to be burnt in Britain’s largest power station, Drax, in North Yorkshire.

Footage reveals huge areas of hardwood forest in the state of Virginia being chopped down and removed to a factory owned by US firm Enviva that grinds up logs into pellets. A large proportion of these pellets are then shipped across the Atlantic to be burnt at Drax in the UK - one of Enviva’s main customers.

Drax have previously claimed that softwood (and especially softwoord waste) didn't have sufficient calorific value for their needs - so they reckoned that they had to use hardwood. The type of wood used is now obfuscated on their website.

Even if there is a mix of woods - they are burning primary forest. See:

RSPB | New investigation: Drax sends primary forests up in smoke - Nature’s Advocates - Our work - The RSPB Community

Quote from Shane D.

Yes, rich countries are trying to go green, but after decades of pushing it hard, they really have little to show for their efforts.

Very little? I think they have a lot. Look at the UK graph above. They have almost eliminated coal. QUOTE:

How much of the UK’s energy is renewable? | National Grid Group

www.nationalgrid.com

By the end of 1991, renewables accounted for just 2% of all electrical generation in the UK. By 2013 this figure had risen to 14.6%.

In 2019, zero-carbon electricity production overtook fossil fuels for the first time, while on 17 August renewable generation hit the highest share ever at 85.1% (wind 39%, solar 25%, nuclear 20% and hydro 1%).

Zero-carbon power in Britain’s electricity mix has grown from less than 20% in 2010 to nearly 50% in 2021. In contrast, power provided from fossil fuels was down to roughly 35% in 2021 compared with over 75% in 2010.

U.S. coal consumption has also drastically declined:

How Does Your State Make Electricity?

(A sharable link:)

How Does Your State Make Electricity? (Published 2020)

America isn’t making electricity the way it did two decades ago. Now the future of the nation’s energy mix has become a major election issue.

www.nytimes.com

Furthermore, solar electricity in the third world may produce only small levels of electricity, but it has tremendous benefits. LED illumination replaces kerosene. It is far cheaper. Kerosene causes severe health problems. It improves children's grades, letting them study after sunset. It recharges cell phones, which a lifeline for people in rural areas, tremendously improving their lives and education. Education and literacy are increasing rapidly in the third world, and so is wealth.

Quote from Frogfall

Long trainloads of imported wood, sourced from forests in the USA and Canada, pass my house every day - heading for Drax power station.

Burning wood is a bad idea. Not as bad as ethanol from corn, but bad. However, a lot of the wood burned in the U.S. is left over from sawmills and would be left to rot anyway, returning to the carbon to the atmosphere. In the U.K. bioenergy is 12.7% "of the renewable mix" compared to 26.1% from wind. (See the nationalgrid source above.) I think wind is growing a lot faster.

Here is a sharable "gift" link to a long article about indoor agriculture in the Netherlands. Lots of good information!

Cutting-edge tech made this tiny country a major exporter of food

The Netherlands has used advances in vertical farming, seed technology and robotics to become a global model

https://wapo.st/3gvbRax

One of my friends is working on a project in Canada. - here's the first prototypes, producing 14 crops of basil a year in a cold (but frost free) greenhouse at the local university. The lights are LED on an accelerated day/night cycle and the rotation speed is around 5 RPH

Virgo Technologies Ltd.

Virgo Technologies Ltd. is offering innovative solutions to the challenges that the agricultural industry is facing because of climate changes and the food…

www.virgoltd.com

And here's the devices in use at Laval Uni, in Quebec City.

Installations — Virgo Technologies Ltd.

Our various installations aim for different purposes such as a training center for future Virgo technology users, fulfilling commercial needs to supply…

www.virgoltd.com

Quote from Shane D.

COP27: A Parade Of Climate Hypocrisy (forbes.com)

Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy, as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions.

The key question in this phrase is "... carbon emissions." And those who call for this and those who listen to these calls do not even suspect that these damned ones are "carbon emissions." , are necessary for humanity to survive ... It is from carbon-12 that oxygen is synthesized for humanity every second ... But this physics is not taught to either one or the other ... There is no correct physics in schools and institutes! There will be no carbon-12 and all of us and all living creatures on Earth will die! People are stupid, but they are not to blame - no one teaches them this wisdom... Thousands of physicists in the world do not even realize that this is how nature works! And the reason is the same - they are not taught this at school and institute - it's just that this knowledge is not in textbooks ... In this matter, people behave at the level of a person who warmed himself by a fire 3000 years ago so as not to freeze ...

This qualifies for this thread, as it is an'emerging green technology.

Installations — Virgo Technologies Ltd.

This is the website of a company making rotary agricultural systems, The picture here is of three prototypes working in a cold greenhouse space at Laval University in Quebec City. A friend works for 'Smartmill' who have formed a partnership to make these machines in Aluminium and to make them shippable in a 20' container..

This particular system grows Basil, 12 crops a year. The trays are started off flat and transferred into the machine after 1 week or so, so they develop enough root hairs not to fall out. They then go into the very slowly rotating drum and are harvested after 4 weeks. So production from the machine is actually 12 crops a year. With Basil the tops are simple sheared off and they regrow from the root in situ, but apparently they change the trays out after 3 crops since these early machines don't have any method of adding fertiliser apart from in the initial soil. The latest machines will have pumped liquid fertiliser as required. By varying the colour mix on the lights you can promote either stem growth of leaf production. And soil and water use is very low. Since the lights are all LED and energy consumption isn't high, and they are adamant that no additional heating is required unless it gets very cold. The fans visible at the back of the system are linked to humidity sensors to control the moisture level or (exceptionally) the temperature.

Quote from Alan Smith

This qualifies for this thread, as it is an'emerging green technology.

Installations — Virgo Technologies Ltd.

This is the website of a company making rotary agricultural systems, The picture here is of three prototypes working in a cold greenhouse space at Laval University in Quebec City. A friend works for 'Smartmill' who have formed a partnership to make these machines in Aluminium and to make them shippable in a 20' container..

This particular system grows Basil, 12 crops a year. The trays are started off flat and transferred into the machine after 1 week or so, so they develop enough root hairs not to fall out. They then go into the very slowly rotating drum and are harvested after 4 weeks. So production from the machine is actually 12 crops a year. With Basil the tops are simple sheared off and they regrow from the root in situ, but apparently they change the trays out after 3 crops since these early machines don't have any method of adding fertiliser apart from in the initial soil. The latest machines will have pumped liquid fertiliser as required. By varying the colour mix on the lights you can promote either stem growth of leaf production. And soil and water use is very low. Since the lights are all LED and energy consumption isn't high, and they are adamant that no additional heating is required unless it gets very cold. The fans visible at the back of the system are linked to humidity sensors to control the moisture level or (exceptionally) the temperature.

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The kind of agriculture that could be done in a rotary artificial

gravity space station.

Quote from Curbina

The kind of agriculture that could be done in a rotary artificial

gravity space station.

They certainly reminded me of Gerard O'Neill "High Frontier" stuff.

A company called Lufa Farms also operate in that part of Canada. There are lots of large flat-roofed buildings in cities that could be used for fast-growing, short shelf-life, leafy crops under glass - without resorting to huge drums.

About Lufa Farms

Everything you need to know about Lufa Farms.

montreal.lufa.com

Quote from Frogfall

They certainly reminded me of Gerard O'Neill "High Frontier" stuff.

A company called Lufa Farms also operate in that part of Canada. There are lots of large flat-roofed buildings in cities that could be used for fast-growing, short shelf-life, leafy crops under glass - without resorting to huge drums.

https://montreal.lufa.com/en/about

Display More

This kind of rotary systems It’s all about maximizing kg/m2 of surface devoted to cropping. Doesn’t make much sense if you have room, but when footprint matters much because it’s expensive and scarce (like in Holland or Japan), this is the way to go.

Quote from Curbina

when footprint matters much because it’s expensive and scarce (like in Holland or Japan), this is the way to go.

OK - we'll see if it catches on

In the mean time, a couple of my favourite websites are Low-Tech Magazine and No Tech Magazine (edited by Dutchman Kris De Decker). This is from the latter:

Everyday counter-narratives of the so-called fourth agricultural revolution

you will have to dare to take the big step now and start planning your home lab now

Quote from Frogfall

OK - we'll see if it catches on

In the mean time, a couple of my favourite websites are Low-Tech Magazine and No Tech Magazine (edited by Dutchman Kris De Decker). This is from the latter:

https://www.notechmagazine.com…icultural-revolution.html

Quote from Curbina

This kind of rotary systems It’s all about maximizing kg/m2 of surface devoted to cropping. Doesn’t make much sense if you have room, but when footprint matters much because it’s expensive and scarce (like in Holland or Japan), this is the way to g

Not only land that matters, the rotary systems (for example) only require 10% as much water, don't require tractors and harvesters, or gangs of migrant crop-pickers and are of course immune to the vagaries of a changing climate. And they are relatively easy to run as pure 'organic' systems producing premium price salads.

The Renewable Energy Transition Is Failing

We need a realistic plan for energy descent, instead of foolish dreams of eternal consumer abundance by means other than fossil fuels.

www.resilience.org

Crucially, even if we had a new energy source - mineral shortages will hamper the continual drive for "growth".

Not Failing. Only slowed down by the FM/R/F/B mafia that wants the old profit margin for members age > 60....

Also resources are a no issue for solar panels, same for iron flow batteries as a storage.

Also, the planet will be dead. Energy, per se, isn't killing these animals - but habitat loss and pollution is. Energy is simply an enabler for the continued human drive to multiply (eight billion!) and to trash the planet in the process.

Animal populations experience average decline of almost 70% since 1970, report reveals

Huge scale of human-driven loss of species demands urgent action, say world’s leading scientists

www.theguardian.com

Quote from Wyttenbach

Also resources are a no issue for solar panels, same for iron flow batteries as a storage.

And for EV batteries when they switch from Lithium/Cobalt to Sodium.