Up the Pacific without a paddle...

The country I was stationed in, Kiribati, is in the news again. You don't hear much from this coral atoll until concerns about global warming are publicly addressed. Considering the highest point in Kiribati is only six feet above sea level, you can imagine what a little bit of melted iceberg might do to their shores (Kiribati doubles in land mass at low tide).

Once again, extreme weather patterns are swooping across the Pacific and as a result, Kiribati is suffering economically.

Southern Kiribati Suffering Through Extended Drought
By By Batiri Bataua in Tarawa
Sunday: October 07, 2007

The southern atolls of Kiribati have been hit by drought. Many fruit bearing trees are affected and in particular coconut, the main economic and social backbone of people living on the outer islands.

Officer in charge of copra trading within the country, Awaki Baare, from the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Cooperative says the trading has dropped tremendously from the southern islands.

“We used to send money twice in a month for purchasing, but now its only happens once,” he said. “Copra trading with the Central Kiribati and the Linnix (Line and Phoenix Islands) is still strong and ongoing. But Northern Kiribati is gradually reducing.”

Reports from the Meteorological Station confirmed that the southern islands are in a drought season. Rain has not fallen, and if the drought continues, the situation will be critical.

According to Dr. Iete Rouatu, Director of Statistics, this drought period could cause economic and social problems.

“Copra cutters will lose their source of income,” he said. “Islands and church development projects would be affected. Not only that, companies relying on copra would also be affected. The Kiribati Copra Society, which exports copra abroad, the Kiribati Copra Mill, which manufactures coconut by-products, the shipping companies, which provide transport and a lot more.”

Rouatu said it’s an advantage to government because it will spend less money and subsidies, but the worst hit are the people on the outer islands, who rely on copra revenue as their main income.

Huge pipes with big laser beams on their heads...

Off we go into the cold blue/warm red yonder...

I am a big proponent of grandiose scheming when it comes to green design, but I'm filled with trepidation when it comes to the screwing-with of Mother Nature's methods. She's existed this long for good reason, and throwing a stick into the spokes to get the bicycle to stop speeding down the environmental hill might not be the best method to slow down global warming.

BldgBlog has yet another interesting post, this one concentrating on James Lovelock's grandiose scheme to line the ocean with a bazillion vertical pipes in order to pump nutrient-rich seawater from the depths of the seafloor to the surface. He posits that the pipes would spur algaeic (my word) growth, thus spurring the "natural" consumption of carbon dioxide.



The concept of deep water exploitation is not a new one. Since 2004, the city of Toronto has been utilizing a 5 km long pipe to draw cold water from the depths of Lake Ontario and distribute it to office towers for air conditioning, Cornell University employs a similar program from Lake Cayuga, Stockholm uses deep sea waters for air conditioning, and Honolulu is debating doing the same.

Additionally, many geothermal pockets in the earth are being tapped in the US to heat and cool buildings. Las Vegas, in their infinite hotness, is desperately scurrying under their gambling tables for a viable source of cool earth.

Similarly, China has gone batty over geothermal exploration:

Last year alone, China added 102 gigawatts to its electrical grid--roughly twice the total capacity of California's--and about 90% of that came from carbon-belching coal plants... The China Energy Research Society expects 110 gigawatt hours (GWh) to be produced through geothermal power nationally by 2010, out of 2.7 million GWh in total.

Take Steven Holl's Linked Hybrid in Bejing, a community of buildings that employs 45 bajillion (my estimation...I think it's actually around 600) geothermal wells beneath its span.


While the majority of this award-winning design rests on firmly-grounded pillars, one must wonder what effect it has on the supporting ground mass to, in essence, dispose of half of that ground's strength by drilling well after well, side-by-side.


You must admit, those green roofs make you drool a little bit.

Given the building's weight, their must be some reduction in foundation integrity. Keep in mind, of course, that I have ZERO education and/or knowledge in architecture and engineering. I just like to ask questions :)

To get a firm understanding on the "hybrid" aspect of this project and its innovations linking building to building, watch this video (they start talking about the building about 3:00 into it):



While the reduced energy usage resulted from this practice is being lauded as the next big elucidation in eco-friendly heating and cooling, one must ask if we're not, in fact, warming the earth in areas we have never warmed before? Fortunately, most proposed installations are now carrying out environmental impact studies prior to their installation, but as we all know with green design/ideas/hypotheses, the trend usually precedes the technology.

My question is this:

If you're pulling cold air from the earth or sea, what takes its place? Are we not warming one area and compromising another?

Not to mention, you might cause an earthquake or two.