Alviston Blog

“Eaarth” is the title of Bill McKibben’s new book. “Eaarth, spoken with a Schwarzenegger accent,” says McKibben. McKibben was interviewed by Amy Goodman this morning about the book and what is coming up for his 350.org organization. Three hundred fifty parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere is the point at which we start losing control of climate change. The worst effects will be on those who can least afford to cope with them. That one thing came out of Copenhagen.

Even though politicians and corporations continue to argue over how to deal with climate change, physics and chemistry do not care. The oceans are becoming more acidic and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere continues to rise. The average temperature continues to climb and things all over the planet continue to melt.

I was waiting to do a presentation at Willow International this morning when I heard the program. I was going to talk about my concept of how everything is connected, what I call “the Connecto-sphere.” However, after listening to Bill, my presentation sounded pretty weak. Therefore, I decided that instead of being cutesy about the environment, I would just ask the students simple questions.

First, I told them the bad news that the fate of the planet rests on their shoulders. Kind of a lot of responsibility there. Then, I asked them the following:

“Does anyone here know why India is building a 2,000 mile wall between them and Bangladesh?”

“Does anyone here know how much power the city of Los Angeles gets from burning coal?”

“Does anyone here know what’s going on in the northern part of Alberta, Canada?”

We used to think that the answers to these types of questions were somebody else’s problem.

Maybe they used to be.

–Mark Alvis

It is amazing where lessons in sustainability pop up.

In the movie, “Batman Begins,” Bruce Wayne goes to a remote part of China to try to deal with the death of his parents, which he blames on himself. There is a scene where Liam Neeson’s character is giving Bruce Wayne a jujitsu lesson on a frozen lake. During the session, Neeson tells Bruce that his parent’s death was not his fault, and then says:

“It was your father’s.”

Wayne responds by attacking Neeson with his jujitsu stick.

Fighting him off, Neeson continues: “Anger does not change the fact that your father failed to act.”

They fight furiously for a few moments until it appears Wayne has the advantage and he angrily commands:

“Yield!”

Neeson, seemingly defeated, flatly responds: “You have not beaten me.” Then he strikes the ice under Bruce’s feat with his jujitsu stick. The ice cracks and Wayne falls into the freezing water. “You have given up sure footing for a death blow. Always heed your surroundings.”

You might not think that we could learn about sustainability from a Batman movie, but together these two lessons are indispensable.

When we possess knowledge that requires us to act to stay alive, inaction is an unnatural response and may result in our demise. Similarly, when we fail to pay attention to what is going on around us, we risk the same fate.

By observing our environment, we not only gain knowledge of the past, but of the future. As we have learned more about how things connect and affect each other, we have been able to design and build some incredible machines.

We have known for a long time how to make electricity without using fuel.

Forty years ago, we flew to the moon in a vehicle that used fuel cells to make electricity. A little later, we figured out how to make cars that can go 100 miles on one gallon of gas. Now, we know how to build homes that produce as much electricity as they consume. Actually, more electricity than they consume.

Sometimes, it seems like we make inexplicable leaps forward in our understanding of science with a “stroke of genius.” In reality, we have not done these things on our own or by ignoring nature. Consciously, or subconsciously, we have done it by paying very close attention to the way the natural world works.

The students who are in high school now will be faced with unprecedented problems in the areas of energy and the environment. The concept behind Buchanan Energy Building in Clovis, California is to provide students the tools to learn how the natural world works. By first building a strong foundation in the sciences, such as physics, chemistry and biology, they can better understand how we can fit into nature without causing it harm.

The design, materials, and systems of the Buchanan Building are all “teaching tools.” With a focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy, the buildings themselves will inspire students to look at the world in an interactive way, not just to learn how someone else has done it.

The Building has a shop area where students will be able to not only learn about photovoltaics and wind turbines, thermal mass, and R-values, but also have the chance to try out their own ideas. Maybe one of them will come up with a way to sequester CO2 directly out of the atmosphere by turning it into a building material. Alternatively, maybe one of them will figure out how to grow food without using petroleum.

Today, energy affects nearly all aspects of our lives, as it will in the future. Nevertheless, the Buchanan Energy Building is not just a view into the future, but a place where students can see what we can do right now if they “pay attention to their surroundings.” Energy efficiency alone can reduce the United States’ energy use by an estimated 53%. Add to that clean energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal and hydroelectric, we can have a carbon-free grid, and from that, carbon-free transportation.

Lack of technology is not what is stalling energy efficiency; it is economics and fear. We think fossil fuels are cheaper because we do not include all the costs. We are frightened into maintaining the status quo by those who profit from it. The equation that this leaves us with is complicated as it pits the economy and our standard of living against the environment. “Do we continue on with business as usual even though we know the consequences?” This is not a technological barrier but a social and political one. In the real world, science is not separated from politics; it is confused by it. The students will learn about this as well.

I do not know all the people involved in making the Buchanan Energy Building a reality; however, I do know that they have something we all desperately need:

The will to act.

–Mark Alvis

I had the honor and pleasure to be the featured presenter at the 7th annual Reedley Peace Center Retreat this past weekend. We watched the short video “The Beer That Saved the World” on Friday night, which sparked a lively discussion about running a sustainable business, and whether or not capitalism requires continual growth. If it does, is it ultimately sustainable?

On Saturday, I did a two-hour presentation where I introduced the concept of “The Connecto-sphere,” which is my idea of how everything is connected to everything else. Initially, I focused on energy-efficient building and conservation. We talked about the importance of education, and about today’s youth having fewer opportunities to connect with nature. Young people are constantly bombarded by advertising, TV, movies, text messages, and the Internet. Unfortunately, this seems to be where our consumer-driven society wants them.

There were some success stories, like that of a youngster who reluctantly went on a camping trip only to have it change his life.

This weekend’s experience gave me the confidence to continue to work on the things for which I care. I have been advised often to focus on one thing, that I am too fragmented, and trying to do too much. I have always struggled with this, because I think we have to see the big picture to see how it all works. I finally realized this weekend that, it is all one thing and that we all need to keep on learning about how it can all fit together, we are, after all, part of nature too.

–Mark Alvis

The Fresno chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council paid a visit to the Buchanan Energy Building, which is well underway. The exterior walls made of insulated concrete forms are now complete, the roof is in, steel grids for the solar panels have been installed, the radiant floor heating system is in, and the huge Kalwal windows on the north side of the building are about to be installed.

Fresno’s USGBC members, which many are architects and builders themselves, had the opportunity to see the building at a very educational stage, since nothing has been covered up yet, even though that is about to change very soon.

After the tour, the group held their regular monthly meeting, and John Smith from SIM architects gave a presentation on the building’s design. John and his team have worked diligently to incorporate as many energy efficient and green building practices as they could squeeze into 9,000 square feet.

Scaffolding is being erected for the stucco application, with the first coat to be applied in a week or so. Therefore, if you are interested in seeing the “guts” of a truly remarkable ICF project, now is the time. If you cannot make it to the site, go to Alviston.com and click on Special Green, where progress reports have been posted every couple of weeks during the building’s construction.

–Mark Alvis

Even though there has been a lot of talk about energy efficiency and building sustainably, there certainly has not been a paradigm shift as of yet. According to Dr. Steven Chu, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, “We need to start shifting away from fossil fuels now.” One of the reasons, he says, is if the frozen tundra in Siberia begins to thaw, all the microbes in it will become active, living off the vegetative matter. This will produce vast amounts of CO2 and methane, more than what we humans have produced by far.

This is an example of a feedback loop. By burning fossil fuels, we add CO2 to the atmosphere. Since CO2 and methane (like water vapor, aka clouds) have the ability to reflect heat, they act like a big blanket for the earth. We need a certain amount of CO2 to keep the planet warm, but now we have too much. That is what Dr. Chu is afraid of, that heating up the atmosphere will result in things that are now frozen, like the tundra, to thaw and create a big feedback loop.

In fact, Dr. Chu is so certain of this danger that he would rather us build nuclear plants than risk “tundra melt,” which is exactly what the President is now proposing.

While nuclear technology has greatly improved, there are two unfortunate parts of this plan. First, it is incredibly expensive and once again, the taxpayers are being asked to pay for it. Second, if we would start investing in energy efficiency and renewables, we could be giving ourselves the money and we would not need to build any nuclear plants. That is what net-zero homes and distributed power are all about. We have a few of these programs in place already, but funding for all of them is nowhere near what one nuclear plant will cost.

Maybe building energy-efficient homes and wind turbines is not as sexy, but it is a lot cheaper and much safer.

–Mark Alvis

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When you live in a place for a long time, you tend to get used to things whether they are good or bad. Seeing the same thing every day over time, even when it is wrong, numbs you.

My good friend William just returned to the Valley after living overseas for more than 25 years. He worked in Beijing and Hong Kong and, for the most part, lived in high-rise apartments. Because of the good public transportation system in Hong Kong, a car was not needed. There was a grocery store on the floor below him; it made sense.

There have been several changes here in the Valley since William left. One of them is the way kids get to and from school. When William and I were growing up in Reedley, kids walked, rode their bikes, or took the bus. Very few parents drove their kids to school. Now, it is pretty much the norm. To those of us who live here, it has been a gradual change and acceptance of things being just the way things are. Because of his experience, William noticed it right away, and to him it seemed incredibly wasteful. There are kids right across the street whose parents drive them to the same school that William drives his kids to. Just a little bit of neighborhood organization could save gas and time, as well as nurturing a community spirit.

However, it was not so much the things that have changed, as the things that have not changed, that William noticed. He cannot believe that we still drive big huge vehicles that run on gasoline, or that so many families live in separate houses, both of which are not only very wasteful, but also very expensive. After living in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, it is not surprising that William sees these types of issues so clearly.

While most of us will never have the benefit of living abroad, we can learn from those who have. By listening carefully to people who have lived in other places we can better assess the way things really are in our own communities, and by doing this, we can learn to see through time.

–Mark Alvis

Last Wednesday I had the great honor of speaking to the USGBC folks down in Visalia. The U.S. Green Building Council is the organization that developed and runs the LEED program, which stands for Leadership in Environmental, Engineering, and Design. USGBC has chapters all over the U.S. and the one in Visalia is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Most of the time, I try to limit my presentations to one or two of our projects, but I knew that this audience was familiar with ICFs, SIPs, PV etc. Therefore, I decided to do an advanced version, covering several of our projects and a few that we had consulted on as well. It turned out to be sort of a crash course in what we have learned about energy-efficient building over the past ten years.

Each project brought new insights, not only about materials, but also about what it actually takes to build “green” here in the San Joaquin Valley. When we first started in 2000, insulated concrete forms had barely been used in California. Structural-insulated panels were a little more common, but it was still difficult to find subs that had the experience of working with these materials. Therefore, we did a lot of the work ourselves with a great deal of hands-on learning. There is just no substitute for that type of experience.  

What we have found is that energy-efficient homes can be built cost effectively, but it requires good planning and cooperation between the designer and the builder, and between the builder and the subs. We have found that the substantial reduction of waste is possible. In fact, building an ICF-SIP hybrid home with virtually zero waste is possible with the proper design, engineering, and manufacturing. This type of design also lowers labor costs by greatly speeding up construction.

Now, ten years after starting our first integrated home, we are hearing about “The New Green Economy” based on energy efficiency and renewable energy. To make this a reality, it is imperative that we understand how to incorporate energy efficiency onto our homes and buildings.

–Mark Alvis

The Detroit auto show was a couple weeks ago and Toyota, once again, showed why they are leading when it comes to high-mileage, low-emission vehicles.

Toyota showed off the FT-CH (the CH stands for compact hybrid), which gets better mileage than the Prius. The FT-CH is smaller and geared more towards younger people. In addition, it will be more affordable than the Prius.

However, the thing that really impressed me was what Jim Lentz of Toyota Motor Sales said at the show. Lentz said that within 20 to 30 years, we will reach peak oil and enter a period where demand for oil will be higher than supply. This means the price of oil will skyrocket. Lentz says we need to “re-invent” the automobile to one that “eliminates or greatly reduces the use of conventional petroleum fuels.”

People have different opinions about when we will reach “peak oil.” Some say we already have. Nevertheless, the critical issue here is that big car companies see the change coming and are now pouring money into hybrid and electric technologies. They want to be prepared when the price of gas rockets up again, because this time, it may not come back down.

Actually, we cannot wait for oil prices to force us to start using these newer, cleaner technologies. That is putting economics in front of the environment, and that is something that simply cannot continue, as we now know.

–Mark Alvis