Goal For The Green

To me this is as beautiful and relaxing , as it is inspiring….See if you agree!

Before he passed away last year, architect and founder of Cal-Earth, Nader Khalili, had created a futuristic housing movement.  He had prototyped his dome-shaped adobes, or “moon-cocoons” on a commission  from NASA  for a lunar colony.  Then he realized that they could take root here on earth…and that they have!

Most of us go to work to be able to pay off our mortgage on our house.  At the same time, we are unaware of the damage to both our health and nature, caused by conventional construction methods.

The first thing to do if we want to create a sustainable building is to eliminate the use of any toxins.  Eco-Domes are built using the earth itself as material.  They use a special sandbag (local earth) and barbed-wire technology called SuperAdobe.  No chemicals or toxins are used, just lime stabilized in the bags, and sometimes cement is added in wetter climates, but is certainly not necessary.  The end result, is a very pretty and stable house that meets California’s strict earthquake requirements.

Built with the sun, wind and shade in mind for passive heating and cooling, you will want to consider the possiblity of installing a solar photovoltaic system and perhaps a small hydro installation, if you don’t have a stream nearby.

There is no greater respect you can show for yourself and for nature, than by building a sustainable building with your own two hands.  While most of the Ec0- domes are 400 or 800 square feet, they can be joined together for a larger dwelling.  They also have a 2,000 sq. ft. model that can be built for $3,000 worth of bags and barbed-wire! Cal-Earth is a non-profit organization that offers workshops teaching you how to build your  house, out of SuperAdobe with a team of 3-5 people in a week!

With the main building material being earth, the simplicity of the SuperAdobe technique, allows for the possibility to quickly build emergency shelters, whenever and wherever they are need anywhere in the world. Most recently, a team from Cal-Earth has gone to Darfur, to help rebuild the damage and devastation to villages there.

We have been conditioned to believe that we are in the midst of a severe energy shortage.  Yet, if we were to take a closer look at Thorium, element # 90 on the Periodic Table, we would discover that we have more energy available than we will ever use.

Until he died, Dr. Petr Beckmann, ( Czech refugee from the Nazis) spent much of his career in America promoting nuclear power.  Unfortunately, he was treated as demon by the environmental movement, and much of his work was ignored.

Many green leaders are now admitting to the mistake of rejecting this clean, safe and relatively cheap technology. President Obama, has promised to make energy conservation and the environment among his top priorities.   He has chosen several “climate change” activists to serve as his top officials.   Among them is, Harvard physicist, John Holdren as his presidential science advisor.  He could have a huge impact on our country’s future energy policies.  In his career he has focused on climate change,  nuclear disarmament, and next generation nuclear energy.

As we know it today, nuclear power is obsolete.  Currently our light water reactors use uranium-235.  Not only is this fuel expensive, but it’s byproducts create political problems. The byproducts are a hot topic, because they can be used to create nuclear weapons.  The very reason we adopted uranium-235, was because America needed the materials for nuclear weapons.  Our power plants at the time, provided those materials, thus pushing aside the more superior fuels such as thorium.

Pluses for thorium, is that it is by far more abundant than uranium-235.  Thorium reactors do not produce hazardous waste materials that are useful in manufacturing nuclear weapons.  The waste is far less hazardous and much cheaper and easier to dispose of.  In general, thorium reactors are safer to operate because they produce little radioactive threat outside their shielding.  In fact, thorium reactors cannot experience a catastrophic meltdown.  The fact that thorium plants can’t melt down, suggests that the total energy cost to operate would be much lower.

Another plus, is that thorium reactors can be almost any size.  There have been prototypes made small enough for military aircraft.  This fact alone, makes them more feasible for developing countries to afford, saving the cost of a large-scale infrastructure. They would also be much more appealing internationally, because they cannot be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.  To learn more about thorium energy, read this.

It is my hope that the Obama administration, will reduce reduce barriers to the production of thorium, by taking a serious look at the positive impact it can make.  A shift to thorium as a source of energy, could help create “green jobs”, facilitate economic recovery,  and help environmental and nonproliferation causes.

Update:http://www.energyfromthorium.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7t=1258

If you have any further questions about Thorium there is a very active discussion found at the link above.