Category Archives: Materials & Metals

Canada’s dead trees to build ‘plyscrapers’

Posted on 4 October, 2014 by

Climate change warmed up Canada’s winters for so long that pine beetles destroyed billions of trees across Canada’s vast forests. Those trees are dead or dying. They will release billions of tons of CO2 when they rot. What to do with … Continue reading →

Posted in Industrial Ecosystems, Materials & Metals, New Urbanism | Leave a comment

But coal is ESSENTIAL for the Australian economy?

Posted on 20 March, 2014 by

Not so fast! 1. overall mining is about 9% of our GDP but that GDP comes at the cost of other GDP. (See below). 2. Fossil fuels are only part of that 9% GDP as the rest is opals and … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Economics, Materials & Metals | Leave a comment

ABC’s Landline says Australia needs Hemp food!

Posted on 10 February, 2014 by

ABC’s Landline: We need hemp food in Australia! 1/3rd the water to grow lucen Hempcrete soaks up CO2 as it dries and petrifies Aboriginals are building hemp housing Was the world’s most common fabric material until the cotton gin was … Continue reading →

Posted in Biofuels, Food, Materials & Metals, Soil, Water | Leave a comment

Peak rare metals

Posted on 3 July, 2008 by

Slashdot discusses another symptom of ‘peak everything’… “While we bemoan the current oil crisis, I ran across an editorial that led me to research a more immediate threat. Ramped-up production of flat-panel displays means the material to make them will … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, Industrial Ecosystems, Materials & Metals | Leave a comment

1972 Limits to Growth not wrong

Posted on 13 June, 2008 by

Dave Kimble points out that while some models ran information based only on the data that they had in 1972, other models factored in a potential doubling of resources, especially as most resource discovery phases had not yet obviously peaked. … Continue reading →

Posted in Materials & Metals, Peak Oil | Leave a comment

Open Source Biochar energy project

Posted on 3 June, 2008 by

Yes, the “Long Now” dude has decided to produce a customisable gasification biochar kit for people to tinker with, measure the results, and innovate. It’s more about experimentation than industrialisation, more about co-operation and shared knowledge than private innovation for … Continue reading →

Posted in Biochar, Geo-engineering, Global Warming, Materials & Metals, Open Source Hardware | Leave a comment