Excellent news, thank you for this María and to the Board! And, thanks to those - especially Gnom/Lukas - who have been doing such a good job of raising awareness in the community, and documenting their progress, at [[Sustainability Initiative]] on Meta over many many months - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_Initiative
Sincerely, - Liam/Wittylama [who is not part of the secret accords between Franklin D. Rosevelt and King Faud of Saudi Arabia] wittylama.com Peace, love & metadata On 29 March 2017 at 19:30, James Salsman <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Forwading. > > > > ---------- Mensaje reenviado ---------- > > De: "María Sefidari" <[email protected]> > > Fecha: 29 mar. 2017 15:06 > > Asunto: Wikimedia Foundation's commitment around our environmental impact > > Para: <[email protected]>, < > > [email protected]>, > > <[email protected]> > > 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: [email protected] > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:[email protected]?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: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?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: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
