permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Anyone interested in exploring possibilities with living machines
add your commens.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Tall grasses set to 
power Europe
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 04:11:42 -0400
From: Lawrence F. London, Jr. <lfl@INTREX.NET>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Lion Kuntz wrote:
> --- "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@INTREX.NET> wrote:
> > <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4220790.stm>
> > Last Updated: Wednesday, 7 September 2005, 00:49 GMT 01:49 UK
> > E-mail this to a friend         Printable version
> > Tall grasses set to power Europe
> > By Jonathan Amos
> > BBC News science reporter, Dublin
>
> How many times do I have to say this. The most energy-efficient
> species of life on planet Earth is Homo Sapiens. I don't care
> how you slice and dice it, photosynthesis is never more than 1%
> to 2% efficient in capture and utilization of solar energy.

> Human beings have achieved 20%, 25%, 30% efficiency using the
> higher cost  pure monocrystal photovoltaics, and 13%-14% using
> the low cost Multi-Crystalline PV.

Homo sapiens has not yet learned how to feed himself in a nutritionally
correct way, with food grown under optimal conditions and recycle his
waste byproducts back to the Earth leaving the smallest possible
footprint. He may have produced devices that are more efficient at
converting light energy into electical energy than plants are at
converting light to biomass but he can not do without those plants
as they prouce food, shelter, clothing and much more. All human waste
should be converted to biogas, plantfood and food for soil-dwelling,
soil-building, plant-nourishing lifeforms. Each home could recycle all
its biological waste in a "Living Machine" system that could produce
flammable gas for heating and cooking (and heating the greenhouse in
cold weather), humus to increase soil tilth and compost to feed plants
growing in one component of the "Machine", which could, themselves, be
recycled back through this system or composted externally to feed food
crops and the permaculture landscape surrounding the energy-efficient
dwelling (exterior & interior walls built of heavy concrete block
surrounding a 12-16" core of AAC block [Aercon or Hebel], concrete
floors). Rainwater would be collected off the roof, yard and paved
surfaces and stored for use in the "Machine" and in the landscape.

_That's_ efficiency.

Use sewage to grow biomass crops in a constructed wetland. Harvest and
convert the plant biomass to biogas and feed the compost back to the
system and to food-producing gardens. Harvest aquatic animals and weeds
from the wetland to feed livestock which in turn produce manure to
apply to gardens which produce food for people who produce manure to
feed the wetland and so on ........

Grow Miscanthus in sewage (human, kitchen and garden, and livestock
waste), irrigate with rainwater. Harvest the crop and dry in in a solar
kiln. Get your exercise on a treadmill that generates electricity and
powers a flywheel that turns a biomass compactor to compress the dried,
chopped Miscanthus leaves and stems into bricks to be used as fuel in a
super-efficient, clean burning wood-fired boiler (HS Tarm [Denmark] is
the best) plumbed to a hot water radiator home and greenhouse heating
system. Grow vegetables, fruit, herbs, livestock and fish year-round in
a greenhouse that is connected to your "Living Machine" used for waste
recycling.

Waste not, want not.


> There's no plant nowhere, not on steroids, not GMO, not nothing,
> that can come within one-sixth as good as human beings on its
> best day.

See above.

> We don't need expanded human footprint to waste land in
> inefficient energy production. We don't want net-zero CO2, but a
> drawdown in CO2 by smartening up and forgetting about every kind
> of carbon fuel. Burning carbon in any form whatsoever is not
> smart,

Yes we do and ASAP.

LL