Progressive Wednesday

From A to B on nothing but air

Gasoline. Diesel. Electricity. Ethanol. Propane. Methane. Hydrogen. Solar. Biodiesel. Natural gas. Vegetable oil. Air? Yep, air. Ex-Formula One engineer, Guy Negre, has developed an engine that runs on compressed air. Here it is from EcoGeek.org:

The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine’s pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by 2008. If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles.

Here’s how it works. A lightweight, carbon-fiber, air tank holds 3,000 psi. That air runs the engine at lower speeds, primarily in the city, up to that 125-mile range. At higher speeds and longer distances, most models will adapt by using fuel engine to assist or to refill the air tank, in a similar fashion to today’s gas/electric hybrids. That technology would likely “squeeze” a cross-country trip out of a single tank of air.

There are two refueling options. The vehicles come with a built-in air compressor that plugs in to a standard outlet and takes about four hours to “filler-up.” If you’re lucky enough to drive by an increasingly ubiquitous (in India, at least) custom air pump. All that plus zero tailpipe emissions.

The CityCat model is being developed by the Indian automobile manufacturing company, Tata Motors. With the number of new drivers in India and China skyrocketing, it nice to know that some of them will have zero impact on the environment and won�t contribute much to the global fuel economy. We could afford to take a recycled page from that book on this side of the pond.

It hard to believe that there could be naysayers when it comes to air-powered vehicles, but naysayers there are. Their paper-thin argument is that it still takes electricity to fill the air tanks and that electricity usually comes from burning coal. While true, even at four hours fill-up time the carbon emission and the cost is a drop in the proverbial bucket. And, sure, it’s not exactly vehicular “eye candy,” but that seems like a small price to pay.

As an added bonus, since the process of compressing air creates heat, the exhaust of these vehicles is cold air. A quick redirect of that air into the cabin and…. Ahhh. Plus, no more expensive air-conditioning repairs. This technology is definitely a “breath of fr…., okay, I won’t say it.

Cement-imentality

Strolling around NYC one winter with my Brooklyn born-and-bred bud, Jay, I looked up at the skyscrapers surrounding us like they were monuments to the gods. From my vantage point, that of someone who grew up in a town where a three-story building was considered excessive, these buildings boggled my imagination.

“Man, those are beautiful,” I said. “I can’t believe we made these.”

To that, Jay, making every effort to dismantle my sentimentality for his city, said: “I wish cement had never been invented.”

Maybe we both had a point. And maybe Jay, an avid reader of Progressive Wednesday, will smile a bit over what Time magazine has just plopped into my mind, which I will now plop into his and yours: cement can help save the planet.

Read for yourself:

As head of research and development for Italcementi, Enrico Borgarello knows cement isn’t considered the most high-tech–or environmentally friendly–of products. But under his direction, the Bergamo-based Italian company has developed a substance that could turn an ordinary building into a weapon against air pollution.

It’s called TX Active, and it’s an additive for cement that literally eats surrounding smog.

According to Mr. Borgarello, when the sun hits TX Active, the substance “neutralizes surrounding pollutants like nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide.” TX has the potential to cut local air pollutants from 20-70%.

The Italcementi company paints an even clearer picture:

In a large city such as Milan, researchers have calculated – “ on the basis of test results – “ that covering 15% of visible urban surfaces with products containing TX Active® would enable a reduction in pollution of approximately 50%.

Testing continues because similar catalytic agents like TX can lose steam over the long haul. But considering the building boom going on in some underdeveloped but industrializing countries, TX could make minuscule and monstrous buildings alike more eco-friendly and life more sustainable.
If so, Jay and I might see the world a little more similarly, and call me selfish for ignoring the environment for a split-moment, but I’d kinda dig that, too.

Planting trees from 30,000 feet

Last Wednesday we told you a little about Earth Day and provided you with some things that the everyday Joe Schmoe and Suzie Creamcheese can do to make our planet livable in the long term. One of those was with carbon offsets, taking action to reduce your net carbon emissions by planting trees, combusting methane, combating deforestation, etc.

Well, since we wrote that, carbon offsets have become “all the rage– (Okay maybe it's not all because of us, but we like to think we've played our part). The most recent to jump on board the environmentally progressive bandwagon is Delta Airlines. According to Delta's website:

Delta’s Force for Global Good has partnered with The Conservation Fund’s Go ZeroSM program to begin the process of planting trees to help offset, or “zero out”, the carbon footprint of air travel. On Earth Day 2007, we pledge to zero out the air travel carbon footprint of every worldwide Delta customer who flies. To celebrate our commitment to our hardworking men and women, we'll also plant a tree for every worldwide Delta employee.

So if you fly Delta this Sunday they'll foot the bill for trees to be planted in the Gulf Coast region, where they claim 20 million acres of forest have been lost since we started driving horseless carriages. After June 1st, they'll make it easier for us to do that ourselves. When you make your reservations on delta.com, just add a few bucks to the total to offset our carbon footprint. It's just one more click and a few bucks; it won't give you carpel tunnel syndrome or break the bank. It's a small thing to do, but it'll have a big impact.  And that's what we're all about here at Progressive Wednesday.

The Grandeur of Earth Day

Problem:

Earth Day is April 22, and recognizing and reacting to this day couldn't be more important. Why? Because the planet, as we know it, is dying, its heart is slowly stopping, and we needn't look farther than a mirror to see who's to blame.

But we're powerful. We're creative and resourceful and brilliant: lest we forget, we landed on the moon, we invent and reinvent language, we split the atom, we adopt forgotten children as our own. Most importantly, we are, at our core, good. And like metaphoric doctors with a metaphoric defibrillator, it's shocking how quickly we can bring the planet back to life.

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Make Progress:

Eventually, the bugs — blasted things that they are — are going to take over the planet. Our species is going to cease being. At Progressive Wednesday, we'd like to put that headstone for humanity off for as long as possible.

Much like our bodies, which regulate themselves to maintain homeostasis, the planet is one giant organism. Rain, bees, and rabbits help plants grow and reproduce. The plants help oxygenate the air, reduce greenhouse gases, and help protect glaciers and icecaps, the largest reservoirs of freshwater on the planet. Rivers thrive, so the fish thrive, so the bears thrive. Right now in a city near you, cats are killing rats. And the rats– ¦ well, we've got no idea what they do except keep alleys company. Let's just say that the interconnectivity of all species of life is a bit mind-boggling and that biodiversity lies at the core of this connectivity. We think it's safe to say humans don't even completely understand its importance.

To liberally quote the 19th Century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

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[But] all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

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And for all this, nature is never spent.

Nature is never spent. There's hope, my peeps. And because at our best we're stewards of the environment, it's time to right this ship of ours a bit. That's how we celebrate Earth Day around these here parts. That's how we celebrate our planet's unfathomable grandeur: we protect it.

• Earth
• Animals
• Air
• Water
• Plants

The Grandeur of Earth Day: Air

Air:

To make a bad play on words, our air is starting to seriously blow. The average American, that's you and that's me, spews about 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year into the only air we've got. How? By moving our bodies from A to B without using our legs. By cranking the heat in the winter and revving up the A/C come August. By buying, well, by buying just about anything, since those “things– — Legos, Eggos, leggings, and eggs — only come to be through production that burns fossil fuels.

If you really want to face the atmospheric music, use this carbon calculator or this one or this one or this one. From these sites, you can find easy things you can do around the house to reduce the poisonous emissions from fossil fuels. Remember: doing something is better than nothing, because each of our little “somethings– add up, baby, they add up. We've mentioned some of these before (just click this sentence to see what we're talkin' – ˜bout). This week, we've got a different suggestion: purchasing off-setting carbon funds from Terra Pass.

These aren't exactly the oft-discussed emission trading (sometimes referred to as “carbon credits– ), though those are better than doing jack squat. Even entire governments are falling into the mind-trap that suggests that emission trading makes it okay to burn more fossil fuels. It doesn't. The idea is to still minimize our use of fossil fuels, and not just for the environment, but for economic and political reasons as well. The less we rely on oil from countries that don't play nice (though, we're not exactly one to talk these days), the less we'll end up, theoretically, embroiled in trade conflicts at best, and at worst, more wars.

But, Terra Pass is something to consider snagging. Even if you own a hybrid car, you're still pumping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the only air we've got. These are poisons. They will kill you, and they will kill our air, which will in turn kill the water, the plants, other animals.

Through Terra Pass, you calculate the average greenhouse gas emissions of your vehicle of choice (or the flights you take or the kind and amount of energy you use at home). Then Terra Pass lets you know which level of membership you'll need to help offset your emissions. They use a bulk of the money to help fund clean energy projects – “ wind farms, biomass, and industrial efficiency. The only problem we see on the surface of Terra Pass is that word “Pass.– We can't get a “pass– for our emissions. Our emissions are still being made. With Terra Pass, we're helping to prevent even more from going up to the stratosphere. The less up there, the better.

Need convincing? Reread our TGIF Movie Review of An Inconvenient Truth, then rent the sucker. Honestly, every week I think of the movie at least once when I'm on pause — not reading, not typing, not driving, not chatting it up on my cell, not gettin' jiggy wit it — when I'm on pause and just breathing. I feel thankful. Then I feel a twinge of fear about the future.