A frustrating reason why it is difficult to "use green energy" in general is because of the secret accords between Franklin D. Rosevelt and King Faud of Saudi Arabia just after the end of WWII, wherein, according to the BBC documentary "Bitter Lake," the U.S. agreed to uninterrupted purchases of Saudi oil in return for regional security in the Middle East. The U.S. Navy has been sending masters' students to MIT to work on shipboard synthesis of liquid diesel fuel from the carbonate in seawater since the 1970s, and the U.S. Strategic "Petroleum" reserve stopped announcing purchases in the 1990s when the number of oilers assigned to carrier groups and their port fuel purchases both declined sharply. The SPR still frequently announces sales, however.
Google recently developed a prototype of liquid transportation fuels synthesis from the dialysis of carbonate in seawater, which incidentally produces large quantities of fresh water as a byproduct: http://x.company/explorations/foghorn Other researchers have developed similar ways to recycle the flue exhaust from natural gas power plants: http://bit.ly/co2-ccr Both of these U.S. projects stopped abruptly, supposedly because they were not economical at the retail cost of power, and the researchers refuse to discuss the reasons that they did not calculate the cost of their outputs from off-peak power. I recommend efforts to encourage resumption of these projects using discounted nighttime wind power (which as per http://freenights.txu.com is so inexpensive as to be entirely free at retail in Texas, where some Foundation datacenters are located) as a more effective means of minimizing environmental impact than merely contracting for renewable energy. Merkel's Germany and her neighbors in Europe have developed a vibrant power-to-gas research and nascent industrial infrastructure which the U.S. Department of Energy has never yet touched because of the corrupt U.S. "all of the above" strategy of catering to fossil fuel producers because of their political power in this political environment where unlimited amounts of money from any source can be funneled to politicians' campaigns. If the Bitter Lake accords are in the way of lessening environmental impact, another approach would be to encourage national leaders to talk about how the increasing use of non-supply limited renewables and concordant continued decline in the price of all energy via power-to-gas and gas-to-liquids infrastructure which is already built out in Europe and Qatar (the Pearl GTL plant produces about 10% of Royal Dutch Shell's fuel output) will effect geopolitical crises. I am convinced that Syria would not have had a refugee crisis if they were producing their own fresh water as a byproduct of Project Foghorn-style fuel from the carbon in seawater instead of having to depend on changing weather patterns. The heart of the question is: can alleviating pressure of scarce energy resources, and in turn alleviating the scarcity all of the goods and services in the real economy that energy underpins, provide more geopolitical security than a 70 year old secret agreement to buy peace by uninterrupted purchases of oil? Another important consideration is that recycled carbon can be used for more than just carbon neutral fuel. Researchers such as those working on http://co2-chemistry.eu can use recycled carbon as plastic feedstock, allowing structural plastic fiberglass composite lumber to replace most if not almost all of the wood timber used in construction, allowing reforestation. Could the Endowment be chartered to ask the same environmental responsibility of the directors and officers of its investments? Best regards, Jim Salsman On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 8:10 AM María Sefidari <msefid...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Forwading. > > ---------- Mensaje reenviado ---------- > De: "María Sefidari" <msefid...@wikimedia.org> > Fecha: 29 mar. 2017 15:06 > Asunto: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact > Para: <wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org>, < > wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>, > <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> > Cc: > > Hi everyone, > > Since early 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation has been evaluating efforts > and engaging in discussions related to the environmental impact of the > movement, and specifically the Foundation. During that time, we > supported improvements to our on-wiki documentation,[1] talked with > members of the community, and began reviewing internal processes. > > The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to finding ways to reduce the > impact of our activities on the environment. We aim to always act as > responsibly and sustainably as possible, including favoring renewable > energy where it is available for our operations. > > To help clarify and solidify our intentions in this important matter, > the Board of Trustees has passed an environmental impact > resolution.[2] This resolution commits the Wikimedia Foundation to: > > 1. Seek out information about our overall impact on the environment > and then work to minimize it; > > 2. Consider sustainability as an important part of decisions around > servers, operations, travel, offices, and other procurement; > > 3. Use green energy where it is available and a prudent use of resources; > and > > 4. Starting in 2018, include an environmental impact statement in our > annual plan. > > We appreciate the input of the nearly 200 Wikimedians that have > already spoken to this in on Meta-Wiki,[1] and hope that you will join > future efforts to minimize any negative impacts on the environment. > Thank you! > > Kind regards, > > María and Christophe > > > María Sefidari, Board Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation > > Christophe Henner, Board Chair, Wikimedia Foundation > > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_Initiative > > [2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Environmental_Impact > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
