Page 63 - Green Builder July-August 2017 Issue

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ENERGY S0LUTIONS

Sustainable Power From This Day Forward

CREDIT: HAROLD PETTERSEN/STATOLL/FLICKR

Lacking wind resistance. Offshore windfarms are are gaining popularity—another sign that green building technology is becoming widely
accepted.
“The new book considers two types of solutions that could poten- what is actually possible, here and now.
tially bring that atmospheric concentration down: technologies and Reading through Drawdown, with its clear, plain-spoken
practices that can avoid emissions compared to business as usual, explanations, photos and graphics, one feels lifted up on the
and those—like planting trees, or managed grazing, which uses cattle wellspring of goodness and humanity that has been brought together
to bring back native grasses—that can help absorb more CO . Using in these life-giving pages.
2
the best available data, each solution was modeled in three scenarios, We need not let the darkness of our national politics rob of us of
each with an increasingly aggressive scale of adoption. our ability to see, to feel and to act.
“The ‘plausible’ scenario looks at an optimistic but somewhat Or, as Thomas Paine said it, “We have it in our power to begin the
conservative path for adoption of each solution (trips by bike, for world over again.”
example, are assumed to rise from the current global rate of 5.5% Project Drawdown shows us how. GB
of urban trips to 7.5% by 2050). The ‘drawdown’ scenario scales
those solutions up. The final scenario, called ‘optimum,’ looks at the Martin O’Malley served as Governor of Maryland
maximum potential of the solutions, such as the adoption of 100 from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Baltimore
percent clean, renewable energy. Each scenario ranks the solutions from 1999 to 2007. He has lead widespread
by potential impact.” sustainability initiatives, from massive cleanup
Wind energy, solar farms, silvopasture, educating girls, green build- efforts in the Chesapeake Bay to strong advocacy
ings, changes in refrigeration technology—each of these actions, for a 100 percent national renewable energy mandate
based on current technology, are ranked by scientific criteria from by 2030.
most impactful to least. The cost of creating a more prosperous,
healthier and secure future for our kids turns out to be less than RESOURCES
the cost of clinging to business as usual. That’s right—creating a
■ ■ Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse
more sustainable way of living turns out to be more profitable than Global Warming. www.drawdown.org
pumping carbon into our thin atmosphere. ■ ■ “Project Drawdown—The 100 Things We Need to Do to Reverse Global
And while there is a preview of upcoming technologies like Warming.” http://bit.ly/2umF7Uc
Hyperloop transportation and other promising innovations on the ■ ■ Hyperloop technology overview, Wikipedia.
energy frontier, the real service of this great work is understanding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop

www.greenbuildermedia.com July/August 2017 GREEN BUILDER 61

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