Energy & EcoTechnologyModule 4 of the PDC+++PDC

++

+We dedicate this Module to the Mother &

Father of Integral Permaculture: Dana Meadows & Howard Odum, two original

pioneers who helped humanity make great strides in understanding systemic

thinking, in all four quadrants.

What Energy Sources are available & how do they work?Civilizations are based on the fuels they use to power themselves. 

The fuel determines the technologies used, and the technologies determine the lifestyles, economies, and eventually the entire culture.  

So the transition to sustainable fuels is critical if we wish to design sustainable cultures.  

This class explores which fuels can be considered 'renewable' & under which circumstances. 

Also we look into the various transformer technologies which are needed to make this energy available to us, how they are most effectively used and we

explore what a truly 'solar-powered civilization' might look like.

Class M4.6

Renewables

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

biodiversity extinction

&the 'gray

wave'

PEAK OIL CLIMATE CHANGE

monetary instability

& the

information revolution

20002020

“In times of extraordinary

change,

the problem is NOT in achieving all that we could dream,

but in NOT dreaming all that

we could achieve”

(Dee Hock)... things are a lot more interesting than we usually

imagine ...

in the last 20years, the 500 largest firms in the world

increased their production & sales by 700% whilst

REDUCING their labour force

right now are alive 3/4 of the 65+ year olds that

have ever lived. A fundamental problem of

the 21st century.

“That you may live in interesting times”

we are destroying 200 species per day - all being tranformed to

human biomass

energy-matter

What happens with sources & consumption of energy?

BioEnergies Fossil Fuels + Nuclear

knowledge >> general principles

What happens with complexity?

300.000 emjoules are needed to produce a joule of electric

energy

See Class M4.4 Energy

& Class M4.4 Odum

A society RE-DESIGNED for an energy descentHT Odum "A Prosperous Way Down"

Basically there are 3Energy SOURCES:

Thermo-SolarPhotovoltaicWindWaves Hydro BioEnergy(Plants & Animals)

Fossil Reserves (Coal, Oil, Gas)

GravitationalGeoThermic

Solar

source: The Ecologist Magazine

Tidal Dams

Gas from Rubbish

Marine Wind

Small Hydro

Terrestial Wind

Big Hydro

Concentrated Solar

Tidal Currents

Waves

Solid Biomass

Thermo-Solar

PhotoVoltaic

Conventional Coal

GeoThermal

Nuclear

Heat Pumps

Clean Coal

BioDiesel

Ethanol

Tar Sands

GeoTherma

l

Gravi-tational

Solar

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improvements that increased the efficiency of coal use led to the increased consumption of

coal in a wide range of industries. He argued that, contrary to common intuition, technological improvements could not be

relied upon to reduce fuel consumption.

History has repeatedly shown that energy-efficiency rarely leads to net energy reduction. In fact, quite frequently, efficiency improvements make things worse by actually encouraging a net waste in energy. This counter-intuitive effect is known as the Jevons Paradox.

The end aim is ENERGY

REDUCTION

NOT higher

efficiencies

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

Gravitational Energy

Height of tides in the port of Brest (France) in December 2000

Gravitational Energy

TIDAL POWER(SeaGen in

Strangford Lough, UK)

(PowerBuoy in Reedsport, Oregon)

WAVE POWER

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

Geothermal gradient

Geothermal Energy

¡

Applications

Geothermal Energy

Biggest hotspots in the world

Geothermal Energy

High-temperature deposits (>100ºC): Electricity generation

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Energy

Mid-temperature deposits (>30ºC & <100ºC): Heating

Geothermal Energy

Mid-temperature deposits (>30ºC & <100ºC): Heating

Geothermal Energy

Low-temperature deposits (<30ºC): Heat pump

Geothermal Energy

Low-temperature deposits (<30ºC): Heat pump

Geothermal Energy

Low-temperature deposits (<30ºC): Heat pump

GeoVentilation: Canadian Well

Winter:Outside temperature 3º CHouse air inflow 14.5º C

Summer:Outside temperature 31.5º CHouse air inflow 19.5º C

Geothermal Energy

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

Sunlight in the areas represented by black disks could produce enough energy to power the world. Credit: ez2c.de

Solar Thermal Energy

Photovoltaics

Wind power

Hydropower

BioMass(Plants & Animals)

GravitationalGeoThermal

Solar

Solar Thermal Energy

Direct Circulation

Forced Circulation

Solar Thermal Energy

We’ll study many solar devices in the M4.9 & M4.10 – EcoScience – classes… and you can build many of them :)

Solar Thermal Energy

Solar Thermal Energy

Photovoltaics

Wind power

Hydropower

BioMass(Plants & Animals)

GravitationalGeoThermal

Solar

Photovoltaics

Isolated

Photovoltaics

Connecting to the grid

Photovoltaics

Connecting to the grid

Photovoltaics

Connecting to the grid

Photovoltaics

Connecting to the grid

Photovoltaics

Solar Cooperative

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics

Solar Guerrilla

Solar Thermal Energy

Photovoltaics

Wind power

Hydropower

BioMass(Plants & Animals)

GravitationalGeoThermal

Solar

Connecting to the grid

Wind Power

Micro Wind Turbines

Wind Power

Homemade Wind Power

Wind Power

Solar Thermal Energy

Photovoltaics

Wind power

Hydropower

BioMass(Plants & Animals)

GravitationalGeoThermal

Solar

HydroPower

MicroHyro Systems

Solar Thermal Energy

Photovoltaics

Wind power

Hydropower

BioMass(Plants & Animals)

GravitationalGeoThermal

Solar

Biomass boiler

Biomass

District heating

Biomass

Electricity generation

Biomass

Efficient stoves

Biomass

Biogas

Biomass

Biogas

Biomass

Used oil biodiesel

Biomass

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

Direct Link to this chapter in the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewables46

PermaCulture we're building

What we've got / already built

Class M4.5

Meadows9) Numbers.

8) Material stocks and flows

7) Regulating negative feedback loops.

6) Driving positive feedback loops.

5) Information flows.

4) The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).

3) The power of self-organization

2)The goals of the system

1) The mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises

0) The power to transcend paradigms

Places to Intervenein a System

DESIGN is

conscious creation

DeGrowth!

The GOALS of the System

The mind-set or

paradigm

&FACILITATEhealing of addictions

Re-design myths!

Mad Max etc. ... apocalyptic cinema

a flotilla of rescue-boats is

not enough

Whilst current society (the Destructo-Culture) continues sailing along, in great part ignorant of its wake-up call with Nature...

A) enjoying the view, B) re-organizing the deck-chairsHow many are still :

C) trying to persuade the captains to change course?

in the modern Titanic ...

beyond the ABC

The Jetsons, Venus Project, etc.“TechnoFantasy”

The Metaphor of the Chrisalis

The waking of Planetary Consciousness

after much

pruning & eating

the caterpillar encloses itself in a chrysalis

& some imaginal cells appear, apparently ‘from nowhere’ ... & at the start are killedas ‘foreign’ to the system

... when the chrysalis opens, acompletely new creature emerges

& dramatica

lly change

the design

... but then more & moreimaginal cells appear,

& little by little they groupto form new organs

The Green Planet, Avatar, ...

PermaCultureScience.com

PermaCulture we're building

What we've got / already built

Class M4.5

Meadows9) Numbers.

8) Material stocks and flows

7) Regulating negative feedback loops.

6) Driving positive feedback loops.

5) Information flows.

4) The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).

3) The power of self-organization

2)The goals of the system

1) The mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises

0) The power to transcend paradigms

Places to Intervenein a System

We are all in Transition, Re-designing ...as imaginal cells (activists)

& we need to CONNECT in order to co-create the new structure, together

Inventing our new butterflyself (empowered)

M4.6 * What Energy Sources are available & how do they Work?

Energy Sources & Societal Design

Jeevon's Paradox

Gravitational

GeoThermal

Solar Energy

Leverage Points in a System

In the e-book: www.bit.ly/Renewable

s46

Our Imagination, Hope, Intelligence, Optimism