embodied energy

Shallow but Green: Frost-Protected Foundations

Posted by Philip Higgs on June 19, 2007 - 7:31am.

Frost-protected shallow foundations are cheaper and more green than your everyday cement foundation. Come on -- you're totally fascinated by foundations, right?



Great Debate: Cans or Bottles?

Great Debate: Cans or Bottles?Posted by Hillary Rosner on March 21, 2006 - 9:19am.

You’re standing in front of the cooler, trying to choose the perfect beer for a spring evening. But beyond the dilemma of lager versus ale lies a more serious question: bottle or can? LIME lays out the arguments on both sides.

Cans

Aluminum cans are lighter than glass bottles, so they require less fuel to truck them from the factory to your local retailer. But that’s not the whole story. Creating metal aluminum is a resource-intensive process: four to six metric tons of the mineral bauxite are required to produce one metric ton of metal aluminum. Bauxite is strip-mined in tropical and sub-tropical regions, such as Jamaica, Brazil, and Indonesia, where mining is not subject to the same level of environmental regulation as it is in more developed countries. Bauxite is crushed and put through a series of chemical processes to produce alumina powder, which is then smelted into metal. Smelters are generally located in places where energy is cheap: Alcoa, for example, is constructing a smelter in Iceland that will be powered by a massive hydroelectric project fed by a glacial river. (That project is destroying a vast wilderness area and has angered many Icelanders and Europeans.)



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Interests: Anything with an ING: dancing, biking, listening, talking, writing, reading, watching, eating, drinking, running, thinking, working, dreaming, surrendering, laughing, smiling, acting, traveling, singing, surfing, driving, shopping, thanking, observing, welcoming, connecting, loving, learning, sharing, practicing, asking. I love supermarkets in other places, lyrics to songs, seeking out gluten free food, responding to questions and surveys, finding deals and bargains, doing public relations for anyone/anything I believe in, good conversation, sociological observation, the beach, early mornings, condiments and spices, vitamins and minerals, alternative medicine, nutrition, holistic health, fitness gum, coffee drinking, gun chewing and sitting in the steam room.
Inspiration: Books: Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke Music: Linkin Park and The Cure People: My mother and all of those that have come before me that have fought their own battles and didn't give up. Places: Carl Schurz Park, New York, NY Movies: In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Stealing Beauty, Beautiful Girls, When A Man Loves a Woman, In America, Magdelene Sisters, The Notebook, Run Fat Boy Run Things: Causes worth fighting for: Lupus and other auto-immune disorders, Organ Donation and impoverished and at-risk youth.

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