Buck Up, America

This week's newspaper column: (Read it in the Hattiesburg American.)

“If you think you can, or if you think you can’t, either way, you’re right.”

Attributed to Henry Ford, this is one of my favorite quotes, and it’s especially applicable to the current debate over fossil fuels and renewable energies.

Voices arguing against moving away from traditional dirty energies – most notably oil, gas, and coal – in the direction of clean energies proclaim that running America on renewable energy is a pipe dream, a fantasy – “pie in the sky!"

But I ask you: Whatever happened to that good old American “can do” spirit?

True, Henry Ford took a lot of ribbing for his idea of bringing horseless carriages to the mass market. (The buggy whip manufacturers were especially skeptical.) “What a silly idea,” they said. “Who would want to ride around in one of those things? They’re too expensive. They’re ugly. There are not enough roads to handle automobiles. They can’t possibly work for everybody. Pie in the sky!”

But we got over it, and by the mid-twentieth century, the automobile had transitioned from pipe dream to the American dream. And the buggy whip manufacturers somehow managed to make the transition too.

And now look at us arguing against our own ingenuity once again. This time, it’s not horseless carriages taking the brunt of the mocking criticism, it’s solar panels and wind turbines and alternative energy technologies we’ve only begun to explore. I don’t believe for a moment that we, as a society, are incapable of transitioning to clean energies; it’s simply a matter of will.

The vision of a clean-running America may very well be out of reach for those who close their minds off to the infinite creative possibilities lying ahead of us. But American innovation can only be throttled for so long. Eventually, either we advance as a nation, or we’ll be leapfrogged by the rest of the world. China, with its substantial investment in renewable energies, sustainable cities, and high-speed rail is on the verge of doing just that.

But everybody isn’t quite as down on renewable energies as are the current crop of nay-saying politicians and oil men. Right now, all across the US, in garages and labs, innovators and entrepreneurs are positioning themselves to be the next Henry Ford – this time, in the area of renewable clean energy.

That’s why I’m optimistic about the future of renewable energy. That’s why, regardless of all the negative talk, regardless of all the “here’s why we can’t” diatribes, this country is about to go through a fundamental revolution in the way we produce and use energy, and we’ll all be better off.

Years from now, our children will look back and wonder why we put it off for so long.

Up in the Air

This week's newspaper column: (Read it in the Hattiesburg American.)

As oil from BP’s deep sea well continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, the debate on the future of energy has shifted. “Drill, baby, drill” just lost its mojo.

With just one accident, the downside risk of fossil-fuel dependence is coming into full view, and if ever there’s an example of how ‘all things are connected,’ this is it. As if a free-flow of crude oil and gas spewing into a natural aquatic habitat isn’t bad enough, the unintended consequences are just beginning to play out. Gulf fishermen are seeing their livelihoods vanish as sheens of oil invade the fertile estuaries of the Mississippi River Delta; the tourist industry in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida is taking it on the chin as would-be visitors steer clear of Gulf beaches; and a quarter of America’s homegrown seafood source has been placed in jeopardy.

The smoke is beginning to clear inside the crystal ball and one thing is coming into focus: Our energy future is not with fossil fuels.

Rather, the future of energy production on this planet is up in the air – literally – with solar and wind. On the surface, it’s obvious. Why drill more dirty holes in the earth to extract finite resources when an infinite supply of clean energy is right above our heads? The transition will take some time, but not as long as some would lead you to believe; when the costs of real and potential accidents like the Deepwater Horizon spill are added into the equation, wind and solar may already be a better deal.

But for now, what do we do about the damage - economic and environmental – caused by the Gulf oil spill? How are we, as a society, going to mitigate the damage and insure that future accidents are prevented when possible, and quickly remediated when necessary?

I'd love to see a modern-day CCC program funded by a fossil-fuel tax. (History geek footnote: The Civilian Conservation Corps, better known as the CCC, was a successful jobs program in the US born out of the Great Depression to put millions of unemployed people back to work while simultaneously building and maintaining American park infrastructure and helping out with natural and man-made disasters.)

Before anyone blows a head gasket over the mere mention of the word “tax,” let’s just be clear. It is as American as apple pie to expect people and businesses to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Otherwise, taxpayers pick up the tab. Think of it as a tipping fee – fees landfills charge to accept waste - if you’ve been conditioned to hyperventilate when you hear the word “tax.”

By matching up environmental tipping fees with the inherent risks of fossil-fuel extraction, we can put millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans to work cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico and rebuilding our natural ecosystems.

Today, the headlines may be bleak, but our energy future is bright – and windy.

Mea Culpa

OK. As much as I loved reporting that Mississippi Power Company had experienced a "road to Damascus" moment, it's not true. So apologies to those who took the bait. (Usually, I completely forget about April Fools Day and take a bite or two from tall-tale-tellers myself, so I know the routine.)

But wouldn't it be nice if the Southern Company - one of the United States' largest energy producers - did move aggressively into alternative energies. It makes so much sense - environmentally AND economically. The environmental advantages of 1) not raping the earth for the extraction of finite resources and 2) ending the inherent carbon dumping associated with fossil-fuel energy production, are self-evident. But now that advancements in solar and wind energy technology along with economies of scale are bringing down the cost of alternative energies (while fossil-fuel-based energy production is increasing in cost), isn't it about time we moved as a society to a clean energy system?

Given the overwhelmingly positive - bordering on ecstatic - response to the post, it would be hard to believe that major US energy producers would suffer any downsides from aggressively converting to green energies, at least not with the general public. Sure, entrenched interests would "have a cow" if this announcement was true, but after the transition, I believe that even the hardcore drill-baby-drill crowd would come on board. In fact, it's my experience that those who resist positive change most viscerally wind up co-opting and championing the very thing they resisted(and almost always claim it as their own idea) once it becomes commonplace and proves itself beneficial. Witness Medicare, for example. The forces that fought so hard to keep it from being enacted several decades ago just made the "saving of Medicare" a reason not to pass health care reform. Ironic, but true.

Old paradigms are dying faster than new dirty energy plants can be constructed. Let your local power company and elected officials know that you are in favor of moving to a clean energy economy, and someday soon, I may be able to re-post this report on a date other than April 1.

BeauSoleil: All-solar Home Erected on the Mall in DC

If you're in the neighborhood, drop by and take a tour of ULL's entry in the Solar Decathlon on the Mall in Washington.

Your best bet for transportation is the DC Metro. (Good luck parking, if you're auto-determined.) Get off at the Smithsonian exit, and you'll be right in the thick of things.

Next week, I'll be in DC posting on the Solar Decathlon every day, so stay tuned!

Popping the Cork on BeauSoleil

Photo: the Daily Advertiser

TEAM BeauSoleil celebrated the competition their Solar Decathlon entry Thursday evening with an exhuberent "Bon Voyage" party.

The all-solar home, designed and constructed by ULL students, will now be on its way to Washington, DC where it will be installed on the National Mall along with 19 other university teams for public display and judging.

Set-up begins October 1st, homes are open to the public starting October 9th, and the event culminates with the awards ceremony on October 16th.

Lafayette's Daily Advertiser posted this photo essay and write-up.

Solar Power. Warning: Not for Dummies

This summer at the MREA Energy Fair, one of my goals was to find the best new manual on residential photovoltaic design out there.

Pickings were actually much slimmer than I had anticipated; you'd think that with the ascent of renewable energies lately there would be a flood of new books on the market. Wrong.

Surprisingly, after asking around, recommendations for this book kept popping up: Solar Power Your Home for Dummies.

Normally, I stay as far away from "For Dummies" books as I possibly can. (The dummy-themed titles always seemed to me to be a bit condescending.) But when one insistent vendor assured me that "no dummies have ever read this book," I acquiesced. And I'm very glad I did.

Rik DeGunther infuses a healthy dose of wit with a mountain of concise, digestable information about the different types of PV systems, practical advice on selection and installation, and a good many helpful charts and illustrations. It's a cut-to-the-chase reference manual for professionals and, at the same time, is written in a way that newbies to solar energy can understand. Companion volumes (which, full disclosure, I have not read) include Alternative Energy for Dummies and Energy Efficient Homes for Dummies.

DeGunther is an engineer, product designer, writer, and apparently has an affinity for loud guitars. In addition to his books - including a golf manual on the mechanics of putting - DeGunther is a weekly columnist for the Mountain Democrat newspaper.

I did not include a link to the book on Amazon.com in this post. (You can find it in about 3 seconds.) But in the spirit of sustainability, why not buy locally, and support your neighborhood independent bookstore.

BeauSoleil: Hot, Hot, Hot !!!

Solar Decathlon Update: Every two years 20 university teams are chosen, based on proposals, to design an all-solar home and assemble it on the National Mall in Washington DC for public viewing and judging. Check back each Wednesday as the NAV Blog reports on the process of the design and construction of BeauSoleil, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's entry. For more info about the project, visit their website. And check out a short film about the project.





A report from the field...

We’ve kicked it into high-gear and have been working about nine hours a day (with a lunch break of course) to bring you guys the solar home of the future! The exterior is nearly finished-out and we’ve gotten the sheetrock ready for being finished and painted!

The transitional porch is nearly done as well! The aluminum frame is completed and the plumbers finished installing the fin-based, water heating system on Friday.

Monday the polycarbonate roof goes on and the roof is completed!!! All that’s left is the Nanawall system and finishing-up the cypress and bug screen!

Sorry for having so many exclamation points in this update. Things are just really exciting right now. It’s definitely worth a visit, preferably on Tuesdays!
Have a BeauSoleil Day!

Chris Dufreche, TEAM BeauSoleil


Some BeauSoleil Facts and Figures...

* although the home is only 800 sf, the surrounding porch is another 1700 sf
* the IPE wood (FSC Certified-Sustainably grown) deck on the porch should last 100 years
* the millwork shop which milled our siding for the rainscreen is going to name our unique siding profie "BeauSoleil"
* the UL Ragin Cajun Football team lent us their sideline PortaCoolers to us to help keep the students cool in our warehouse during construction. Thanks Caoch Bustle!
* The interior doors for the BeauSoleil Home will be made from reclaimed cypress and polycarbonate vision lites
* we are using paperless sheetroack in the bathroom of the BeauSoleil Home to reduce the possibility of mold growth
* the aluminum solar fins manufactured by Begneaud for us will be coated with a special silicon paint to increase the amount of heat they will collect

Bring on the Sun

This weekend, I experimented with some do-it-yourself solar cooking, assisted by my furry sous chef, Frank.

The concave reflector below was cannibalized from a not-so-popular torchiere - first wrapped with aluminum foil, then with better results, spray painted chrome.

Alternative prototypes involved cardboard flaps covered with aluminum foil for additional reflectivity.

The earlier, weaker version worked nicely for heating up a tasty tomato and pesto sandwich. My wife Vickie made the amazing pesto from the basil in our garden, tomatoes were homegrown from the farmer's market, and we added fresh mozzarella - all on fresh-baked rye bread, again from the local farmer's market. Delicious!

Vegetables seasoned with herbs from our garden were on the menu for day two. They cooked nicely until an afternoon storm blew up. A bump up on the stove, and the veggies over brown rice complemented Vickie's out-of-this-world gazpacho for a tasty fresh feast.

My dog Frank was in charge of quality control.

Update: Check out this article on how to use a solar cooker for links to commercial and DIY solar ovens.

Green Retrofit

Green design is not just for new buildings. This 100+ year old structure has been enhanced with a series of green building technologies including new energy-efficient mechanical systems and lighting, operable windows resulting in a savings of over $1000 per month on energy costs.

This spring, the solar panels and green roof will be installed. Most of the green roof is a low-maintenance roof using indigenous plants and wildflowers that grow heartily without the need for constant supervision. (Think about the plants you see along the highway that grow just fine without being watered by anyone except mother nature.)

We've carved out a 30' x 90' section for a roof garden and "fair-weather classroom" for the five-and-under year old students served by the agency.

The solar panels will supplement the facility's power needs. The amount of power generated will depend on the level of funding generated for the project over the next few months. In the end, this building will not be entirely energy self-sufficient, but close.

BeauSoleil: Construction Begins

Solar Decathlon Update: Every two years 20 university teams are chosen, based on proposals, to design an all-solar home and assemble it on the National Mall in Washington DC for public viewing and judging. Check back each Wednesday as the NAV Blog reports on the process of the design and construction of BeauSoleil, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's entry. For more info about the project, visit their website. And check out a short film about the project.


A report from the field:

It is a very exciting time for TEAM BeauSoleil. We started the framing of our floor today and are already near completion. The shop drawings for our NanaWall door system are almost complete. Our cypress is also almost here for us to see. We have many new faces that are already hard at work on the all aspects of our project. The new fourth year studio students have done a thorough research on what we have already designed and already started working on new design tasks and research. Many new students in other classes have also started their great contribution to the project with building, LEED research, material research, and design. All of our TEAM BeauSoleil officers have returned and have hit the ground running on material purchasing, public relations, research, building and continue designing every last detail of our home.

Many of us have been part of TEAM BeauSoleil for over a year, and yet we still have a sincere passion for what we are doing. We still believe in our mission of designing a uniquely regional work of architecture with a balanced technological hybrid of both passive and active systems that can serve as a marketable prototype for housing in Louisiana. We are reaching our goal of educating TEAM members about sustainable design, construction methods, and professional practice. We are also still working hard to increase awareness regionally, nationally and worldwide about the need for resilient and sustainable emergency housing in the form of readily available, long-term housing options that are sustainable and affordable, environmental responsibility, and our amazing Louisiana culture.

Please, stay in touch with us and our progress. There are many great things to come!

Gretchen LaCombe Vanicor - TEAM BeauSoleil