Salt mounds harvested, after a night of rain. photo by flickr/kuzquiano
The massive salt playa in Bolivia covers about 9,000 km2.
The optimism surrounding the potential of electric vehicles to mitigate resource extraction does overlook a few key factors that extend beyond the obvious economic and cultural hurdles. One interesting factor is resources needed; Yes, resources for electric and hybrid vehicles. Such as the need for massive amounts of lithium carbonate. Lithium is the mineral of choice for batteries, and is found in most laptops and mobile phones. It is central to the next generation of hybrid and electric cars and this success will depend upon 5 times the current estimates of lithium worldwide to support the emerging industry.
Many are turning to Bolivia for clues. With over half of the world’s (untapped) lithium reserves found in Bolivia, in the the Uyuni salt plain, the attention is obvious. Uyuni is the largest salt playa in the world, covering nearly 9,000 square kilometers. The salar playas are believed to have been a closed basin for the last 10000 years. Receiving about 300mm/year of rainfall has created a repeated wet/dry cycle and a thick but smooth evaporite of mostly halite. Besides its fascinating geomorphological history, the Uyuni is also simply a stunning endless mirror landscape of surficial saline waters.
found via: http://infranetlab.org and http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov
The Manosegawa River, with an overall length of about 26km, flows across the south of Kyushu Island into the East China Sea. Four local communities located along the Manosegawa River and its branches collaborated on a river art project directed by Ichi Ikeda. For many, this was their first collaborative experience reaching beyond district boundaries. According to the artist, « An artwork functions something like a magnifying lens. Through this special lens, you can see what you have never been aware of before: the inherent stories of the land, new views of the landscape, intercommunication between humans and nature, etc. » Artists and people from the area worked together to create a desirable combination of what’s known as Commonality and Inherency over a two month period.
The projects were presented as: « Water Ekiden Project in league with people in the basin » and « Network for producing water – essential for the future earth. » The River was likened to the railway, and four water stations were constructed to represent the different water situations of each district; water from the heaven (rain), water from the earth (spring water), water for daily life (purified water), water for agriculture (irrigation water). Each Water Station provided a starting point for the Water Ekiden and asked visitors, « What kind of water can you carry to people living on the future earth? » The Committee members of the Manosegawa River Art Project talked about their own expectations, « These artworks, we hope, will encourage people to have more positive interest in water problems, volunteerism and exchanges between communities. »
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Prisons are perhaps the most resource-intensive institutional infrastructures. This is largely a function of the unique nature of the building typology, which requires continuous operation, high levels of lighting (for security) and water consumption (for the inmates). Moreover, prison cells that contain toilet fixtures are required to have exhaust venting, increasing heating and cooling loads and costs. With the number of prisons on the rise in the US, new green initiatives are being explored to offset these resource hogs.
Take, for instance, Cedar Creek Corrections Center (CCCC), located close to Olympia in Washington State. A couple of years ago, Cedar Creek set up a “Green Work” program, wherein inmates grow produce, compost and recycle waste, and harvest honey. They have also established a research venture with Evergreen State College, entitled the Sustainable Prisons Project. Cedar Creek (and prisons in general) provide an ideal environment to measure energy and food inputs and outputs due to the stability of the population. Further, the inmates are educated in green practices and gain job skills, equipping them to be part of the next generation of ‘green-collared’ workers.
Cedar Creek’s organic garden, recycling program, composting, beehive facility and water catchment tanks have impressive measurable figures; 15000 pounds of organic food was produced last year alone, while 2000 pounds of food was composted. Further, over 250 000 gallons of water was saved. The economic savings from landfill, water and food costs totaled $34,333 USD, or approximately $85.83 per inmate per annum. This has saved Washington State taxpayers $1.5 million dollars per year and allowed, in theory, money to be transferred to other social programs. Further, it has inspired the retrofitting of 34 facilities in Washington State to gain LEED certification.
Found via INFRANETLAB
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Dimanche, février 15, 2009
The Berkeley Pit Lake, located in Butte, Montana, is a part of the largest Federal Superfund site in the United States. Selective underground mining in the Butte area began in the 1860s. The Berkeley Pit mine was eventually opened in 1955, when the area surrounding the mine was surface-stripped by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company to allow miners access to the depths of the mountain. The mines were worked until 1982, when the operation was abandoned. Over the twenty-seven years it was active, the Berkeley Pit Mine produced over one billion tons of ore, including copper, lead, zinc, gold, and manganese, leading to the nickname the Richest Hill on Earth. Once the pit was closed in 1982, groundwater started to fill the pit to the natural groundwater level. Because its water contains high concentrations of metals such as copper and zinc, the Berkeley Pit is listed as a federal Superfund site.
