week10


 * CCT434 Lesson #10 In Class Assignment: Energy Efficiency, Transition Towns and Sustainable Energy Solutions **
 * Professor Littlejohn **


 * In Class Assignment: **** 1 hour 50 minutes **


 * Overview: To learn about sustainable energy models, energy mix, and Transition Towns, whose principles have been designed around the concept of peak oil. **


 * Part 1: Transition Towns as a Design Model at [] **
 * Read the article at [] **
 * and watch the video at [] : 25 minutes **


 * 1. List the twelve principles of Transition Towns. **


 * 1) Positive visioning
 * 2) Help people access good information and trust them to make good decisions
 * 3) Inclusion and openness
 * 4) Enable sharing and networking
 * 5) Build resilience
 * 6) Inner AND outer transition
 * 7) Transition makes sence- the solution is the same size as the problem
 * 8) Subsitiarity – self- organization and decision making at the appropriate level
 * 9) Permaculture principles
 * 10) Resilient systems


 * 2. Describe why Rob Hoskins calls Transition Towns ‘a design concept’. (1 paragraph) **

Rob Hoskins calls Transition Towns a ‘design concept’ for it provides a narrative concept of what our world will look like without oil dependence. The use of a series of practical steps to engage the community to work together actualizes this vision under the provision of a 20-year timeline. The concept then becomes more grounded and plausible. Transition Towns suggests a “12 step program” to wean yourself off of oil. The design concept provides an outlook of the future in order to help us rethink our actions with security.


 * 3. What is ‘peak oil’ and how was Transition Towns created to correct it? **
 * (2 paragraphs) **

Peak oil is the crisis in which the total amount of oil has been exploited and that the nonrenewable resource now faces a steady decline, at a time when we are very dependant on the substance. The majority of oil reserves were developed 300-400 million years ago, and therefore our usage will not be met by continuous processes of replacement like that of sustainable resources. Transition Towns was created in correlation to the current crisis. By providing education at the level of both citizens and government, changes can be made to decrease our dependence on oil in preparation for the declining amount of the resource (while also lessening usage in association with the environmental harms of fossil fuels).


 * Season 2, Episode 1 **
 * e2 energy “Harvesting the Wind” **
 * Background Essay **

Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy resource in the world. Denmark, which gets 20% of its electricity from wind, is leading the world right now, but Germany may soon surpass Denmark in that regard. So where does the United States stand when it comes to wind energy? Right now the United States gets less than half of 1% of its energy from wind, but at the same time there is enough wind in the United States to provide 1½ times the energy demand of the country. Shouldn’t more communities be utilizing this clean, renewable energy resource?

In the Southwest corner of Minnesota, the Buffalo Ridge region, there is a productive and progressive wind industry that is not only providing clean energy, but also economic development and prosperity to the local community. Often times communities are resistant to the implementation of wind farms on their local land because of the aesthetic effects on the natural environment. In Minnesota this hasn’t been the case, because it’s the community itself that is building and benefiting from the wind farms.

In many cases, an outsider will enter a community with his/her own contractors, build a wind farm and leave taking most of the financial benefits with him/her. How can this model be changed to ensure that the local community not only supports the building of wind farms but also reaps most of the benefits?

Dan Juhl, President of the Woodstock Wind Farm, will describe the process by which he leased land to create a wind farm in the Buffalo Ridge region of Minnesota. When the landowners noticed the profits that he was gaining with his wind turbines, they enlisted his help and expertise to build their own. They installed two wind turbines and became the first farmer-owned commercial wind farm in the state. They certainly weren’t the last. Now other farmers have joined forces to bear the financial burden of installation together and within a year recovered their initial investment. The community wind industry has grown so much in Minnesota in the last ten years that Suzlon – India’s #1 blade manufacturer – has opened its first U.S. blade manufacturing facility in Pipestone, Minnesota in the heart of Buffalo Ridge. The facility employs over 300 people right now, a number that will surely continue to grow as the current demand for blades in Minnesota is greater than Suzlon can produce. For more information about community wind, visit www.windustry.org/community

For more information about Dan Juhl and Woodstock Wind Farm, visit [|www.danmar.us/windfarm.html]

For more information about Suzlon, visit [|www.suzlon.com]


 * 4. What is a community wind farm? How is it different than any other wind farm? **

A community wind farm, as seen in South-western Minnesota, focuses on localized benefits and community based ownership. Small groups of farmers and local citizens have a significant stake in the incentives, enabling the survival of rural towns with long term economic stability. This also improves 5-10 percent of the efficiency as they continuously maintain and protect the turbines. Other privately owned wind farms divert the profits from the local community, not taking to heart the community aspect and with little consideration for placement in regards to citizens. People look at windmills differently if they have an economic interest in it.


 * 5. Dan Juhl says that community wind is a “trifecta,” what are the three reasons he thinks this is true? Do you agree? Why or why not? ** _

Trifecta of community wind :clean sustainable energy, economic development and economic viability for the rural communities, and long-term low-cost energy. The cost of capital is well worth it, yet still requiring the grid to be upgraded to accommodate this change. The trifecta effect can only be agreed upon in the event that all members of the community are supporting the wind farm and not opposed. That being said, the rural town in south-western Minnesota greatly benefited from the community wind initiative.


 * If we used all of the wind energy available what percentage of our energy needs could it power? **

By using all the wind energy available in the United States, the country could meet 1½ times the energy demand. (As opposed to less than 0.5% currently being used)

NOTES: -Locally owned, local labour (skilled jobs, well paid) -income stream, money stays within town – sustaining future, culture, jobs -employs 300 people at a blade factory for the 2.1 S88 machine -vertically integrated – profit and procedures, allow for easement, no gaps -“future generations” of blade builders – careers


 * Documentary #2: **
 * E2 energy, Episode 2 **
 * “Energy for a Developing World” **


 * Background Essay **

Since 1976 Muhammad Yunus has been dedicated to fighting poverty and empowering women in Bangladesh and the world over. After earning his Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University in 1969 and working for a few years in the United States, he returned to Bangladesh to accept a chair in economics at the University of Chittagong in 1972. He was shocked by the poverty and famine in his home country and decided thateconomic theories alone were not going to pull the people of Bangladesh out of poverty.But what would?

He recognized that because many people were too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans, they were not being given the opportunity to improve their own economic situation. He decided that he would give them that opportunity and in doing so invented the concept of micro-credit. He started by giving a small loan of 27 dollars to a group of craftsmen to help them grow their business. After several years, several loans and a near-perfect repayment rate, he decided to make it official and founded Grameen Bank in 1983. Since then, micro-credit has spread to several countries and has pulled countless people out of desperate poverty. Not only has he created a bank that is self-financing, makes a profit and has almost 7 million borrowers, but over 95% of those borrowers are women. In this way, he has empowered women to start their own businesses in countries with traditionally repressive social and economic conditions for women.

In 2006 Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work towards creating economic and social development from the bottom up. But Muhammad Yunus did not stop with micro-credit. He has since recognized the importance of energy as a factor in economic growth for the poor people of Bangladesh.

With over 100 million people without access to electricity, rural Bangladeshis are literally energy-starved. The few who do have access to energy use kupi or hurricane lamps fueled by kerosene, the fumes from which present significant health hazards. Since 1996, Muhammad Yunus started Grameen Shakti, a not-for-profit company, to promote, develop and popularize renewable energy technologies in remote areas of Bangladesh. By focusing on solar, biogas and other forms of renewable energy, Grameen Shakti sees a future where rural households of Bangladesh will have access to environmentally friendly and pollution-free energy at affordable costs.

Muhammad Yunus’ long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. Whether it’s through micro-credit or renewable energy, he continues to find new ways to empower poor people, giving them the opportunities they need to improve their own situations.

To find out more about renewable energy, visit [|www.nrel.gov] or [|www.nrdc.org/energy]

To find out more about the Nobel Peace Prize and Muhammad Yunus, visit []


 * 6. What is micro-credit? What are the benefits and challenges? **

Micro-credit supplies small loans to low-income participants in order to help them climb the social ladder. Microfinancing is of less risk to banks, it enables citizens to work their way out of poverty with small financial loans. If you are able to generate money legally, you are able to sustain yourself, cutting down on criminal activity to achieve money. “Grameen Shakti” provides a business model for education, helping others access power and in turn develop economically. Low cost localized solutions = solar power to generate power for lighting, water distribution/filtration, etc.

__** 7. The United Nations stated that sustainable development “implies meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Given this definition do you think the programs of Grameen Bank and Grameen Shakti (the non-profit organization) are promoting sustainable development? Why or why not? Use specific examples. **__

By enabling the lending of small loans to struggling citizens, Grameen Bank strives to provide economic advantages to the underdogs, allowing them toclimb the social ladder. The successful use of this program promotes sustainable development by ensuring human rights with environmental perspectives being considered. The episode exhibited non-renewable resources (kerosene) being exchanged for renewable (solar) resources (ensure the needs of the future are not compromised). By improving accessibility to water (from a 7 hour walk to 3 minute walk), human rights are improved. Grameen also stressed the importance for social balance by granting loans to women who they trust will invest the money directly into the children before themselves. The embedded systems enforce the under-representation of women as men are free to rise in society and find someone of higher rank whereas women are restricted to the village and the responsibility of childcare.

__** 8. How did access to renewable energy help the economic growth of the poorer communities of Bangladesh? **__