Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed

I found the article Energy flows: How green is my solar? very interesting because it contains facts and figures about solar that are easy to understand. I do believe that using solar in household energy consumption is definitely a green option. If we want to end the "energy slave" era, we need to make a change. Of course it is not possible to shift from energy generated from fossil fuels to renewables overnight, but there has to be a starting point. I do not agree with the fact that "Where the grid is available, a grid-connected solar panel is greener than an off-grid one", due to off-grid homes normally use a diesel generator to cover additional consumption. As i commented on the postcard forum, Michael Mobbs is an off-grid guy that lives in Sydney's CBD who only relies on PV panels and a battery for their house energy consumption. He has been living this way since 2015 with no problems. In this specific case, the installation of solar panels reduced energy consumption because his family became conscious about energy use. In the following link, this off-grid guy gives a guide about the election of solar panels and batteries: How to choose solar and batteries for low bills living. To conclude, i would say that this might not be a 100% green option but at least is greener than having all the electricity taken from the grid. As far that the installation of solar panels increase, technology developments might make possible to manufacture systems with less embodied energy, a broad range of the population may be aware of this alternative and policy makers will give attention for adapting the actual slave energy scenario. While in the third lecture we still studied the different sources of energy and its emissions, it really opened my mind the fact that passive design when done wisely and correctly can be really useful. The toilette for a school in India, really showed that it is simple and easy to achieve. Which is the clue then? As we discussed in lecture 2, knowing local climate conditions in depth is a vantage. The good thing, is that passive design can be used at different scales of the built environment. While the example in India is a small scale case, i would like to share a large scale application in a corporate building in Chile: Edificio Transoceánica.

It's overwhelming to see the numbers behind the idea of getting the planet completely powered by batteries, as the Real Engineering video shows. Hopefully. if by year 2050 we will change completely our sources of energy to renewables, worrying now about lithium batteries is essential. However, i do not agree with the focus of the video. The recording demonstrates in detail all the calculation to determin

e how many batteries we would need to store energy which is assumes the same energy consumption pattern, which i consider it's wrong. If we remember the kind of mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle, other than obtaining the energy we require from more environmental friendly sources, we need to change dramatically our "energy slavery" behavior. I would like to analyse a point that is not mentioned in the video but i consider crucial in the new era of lithium batteries manufacturing: the chemical element extraction. Chile, the country where i was born, has the second largest world reserve of lithium, where this element has been called the "white gold"due its great economic potential but it has note been away from controversy. In year 2012, the Chilean government had to invalidate a tender process that had given extracting rights to a private company. This is shameful, unsustainable, shows no social equity and no long term perspective. The industry of lithium in Chile could be a great opportunity, and it is an important challenge. If its developed sustainably, i think it could even make the country start the transition to a developed economy. The strategy that Amory Lovins proposes for USA seems more practical, while focuses in a key point: efficiency, which means less energy consumption. Achieving the goal of the journey in which he is embarked "reinventing fire" is a tough task, which will inevitably require a broad range of stakeholders engagement. Due the scope of the initiative, a quintuple bottom line approach may be suitable. This means, considering the cultural and governance pillars. The former, related to impact on the communities and the latter related to the process of decision-making, undertaken in this case by the country. Sadly, with the actual president of United States, Amory Lovins plan seems to be infeasible to be implemented in the short term.