Comments sustainablejohn has made

  • Although, we don't have the video posted online (the video doesn't do the live performance justice), we believe this may have been one of the first every comedies performed about environmental issues: Lean Mean and Green

    http://www.chinasgreenbeat.com/blog/?p=32

    Here is some eco-rap in English and Chinese:

    http://www.chinasgreenbeat.com/blog/?p=43

    On Four years after my pleading essay, climate art is hot posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago 12 Responses

  • This collection of bullet points is a bit haphazard. Try this. Recent testimony to Senate committee on environment and public works by Julian Wong from the Center for American Progress about what China is doing in the clean tech realm. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/07/wong_testimony.html

    On Is China winning the clean energy race? posted 4 months, 1 week ago 7 Responses

  • 11 plants with CCS in China?? This is a ridiculous claim. Not true.

    The only project is and IGCC (still not sure if this is technically CCS) project in Tianjin, and work has just broken ground. There are some other announced projects, but nothing commissioned in China, nothing actually capturing and storing carbon yet.

    On What the heck is CCS and can it really help fight climate change? An expert explains posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago 8 Responses

  • if i got a dime for every time a stupid reporter confused energy intensity with carbon dioxide emissions, i'd be rich.

    On Exclusive: Have China and the U.S. been holding secret talks aimed at a climate deal this fall? posted 6 months, 1 week ago 2 Responses

  • can someone post the link to the video on hulu or youtube website? i'm in china... can only access it through a proxy...

    On Obama to meet with swing Dems on climate and energy bill posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago 2 Responses

  • fire safety

    what about fire safety? any codes out there on that?On Umbra on straw-bale homes posted 1 year, 1 month ago 11 Responses

  • projector/laptop combo

    hey,
    my roommate and i use a laptop to play a dvd, and then use a projector to project it onto the wall.  the laptop is acting as a dvd player (so we don't have to buy a separate device), but probably not as energy efficient, i wonder how TV's and projectors compare though.On How to green your entertainment center posted 1 year, 2 months ago 2 Responses

  • Menendez doing well in my book

    NJ w00t! Yo this guy is spot on. He knows his shit and stands well on the issues.On Sen. Robert Menendez chats with Grist about climate legislation posted 1 year, 4 months ago 1 Response

  • This is awful!

    I've stayed and had interaction with nomads.  They are amazing people who peacefully let their yaks graze the land.  I've seen the crystal clear waters of the source of the Yangtze.  And I've seen people in the towns of Qinghai province chuck litter into that pristine water.  They want to move the nomads to these towns.  It will ruin one of the last remaining sustainable cultures in the world.  Further downstream, the Yangtze receives about 50% of China's wastewater (i forget the exact stat).  This is an awful move by the Chinese government.On China relocates Tibetan herders in interest of environment posted 2 years, 1 month ago 1 Response

  • buses in beijing

    taking the bus in beijing is a bitch at rush hour, buses average ten kilometres an hour.  cars pretty much the same.  so the advantage of the car is you're not jam packed with a hundred people on a bus, you can sit in your car and look rich and show it off.  but i take the bus anyway, it's more adventurous.  and buses are so dirt cheap, if you have a transport card, it costs between US 5-30 cents to get where you're going.

    i just wish these car bans would take place every day...On So That's What Those Trains Are For posted 2 years, 3 months ago 8 Responses

  • protest!

    Who wants to protest??

    The biofuels/rainforest struck a note.  This past year I lived in China, and I am returning there at the end of the month.  I am researching biofuels development, specifically what jatropha might do for biodiesel.  In 2020, China's appetite for diesel will be 170 million tonnes (currently 100 or more). Waste oil can be turned into biodiesel, but this could only supply up to 10 million tonnes.  So if China wants to pursue a 5 or 10% Biodiesel standard (or even more ambitious), they will have to look at energy crops.  Given that they're already a net food and oil (both edible and for cars) importer, there's not much room to be growing it on their soil.  This is where palm oil plantations in malaysia and indonesia enter the picture.

    I'll be trying to research jatropha, a non-edible seed-based plant, that maybe can be succesfully grown on less arable lands, that currently aren't used for growing food.  And maybe provide extra income for poor farmers.  But if it's successful, CNPC might come in and just rip that money out of the farmer's hands, and if not, they'll buy out some plantations in Indonesia, thus worsening climate change.

    If that happens, I'll call my friend in Indonesia, and hopefully him and I can organize the locals to protest!

    I would like to protest new coal fired power plants in China, but my rights as an American citizen aren't too protected over there.On Against climate polluters posted 2 years, 3 months ago 13 Responses

  • Energy Day @ NU, May 13th

    http://www.energydaynu.org/
    Continuing the tradition established last year, the second annual 2006 `Energy Day @ NU' will focus on creating practical knowledge for its attendees about the topic of sustainability and renewable energy. The goal of this year's conference will be to bring together students and professors along with professionals working in the business, nonprofit and public sectors, to discuss these issues with an action-oriented agenda without any emotionally charged perspectives. For instance, a panel will look at how making
    companies, products and processes more sustainable in fact cuts costs and is simply doing good business. The conference will aim to educate its attendees about the common sense applications of sustainability and new energy, which everyone from professionals to students starting their careers can take with them and help impact their current and future organizations. Therefore, the 2006 `Energy Day @ NU' will create a forum for ideas and applications, either already in place or possible in the near future.On Conference bleg posted 3 years, 7 months ago 8 Responses

  • I think batteries

    Hydrogen storage is too volatile and risky at this point.  Also high in cost.  People don't want to be carrying around explosive tanks with them.  However, fuel cells will be used at solar and wind farms (these can still be local, distributed power sources), because excess hydrogen will be produced at night when demand goes down and the wind still blows for instance.  Then this hydrogen can be used during the day when the wind doesn't blow.  It will be safer to keep hydrogen stored where the money can be put in to making it safe, i.e. not with people carrying it around to power their cars and lap tops.  So batteries will be better for these options and they will be able to be charged by people's own private energy farms at their homes (biomass, solar and wind).  These batteries are much further in development and will come down in cost.On Jeremy Rifkin calls it for hydrogen fuel cells posted 3 years, 7 months ago 9 Responses