We heard it said beautifully by T. Boone Pickens the other day. He said: “A fool with a plan will always beat a genius with no plan.”
We think Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to dot the island of Manhattan with windmills is anything but foolish. We think it’s downright outstanding.
“In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy.
The plan, while still in its early stages, appears to be the boldest environmental proposal to date from the mayor, who has made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his administration.”
Nice!
Answer one question honestly: What bothers you more? Windmills in view or your country helpless without imported oil?
We’re going with: Country helpless without imported oil.
Yeah, the thought of the USA gasping to a halt without oil kinds of puts a burr under our saddle.
So we undertake the incredible task of decentralizing. State by state, house by house.
Miraculous Mayor Michael B. and PlaNYC have introduced a new pedestrian-friendly scheme called Summer Streets. Summer Streets blocks 6.9 miles of Manhattan roadway to car traffic, making it the exclusive domain of those that wish to walk, jog, or bike in peace, free from the fear of winding up on the hood of someone’s Crown Vic.
In two words: Awe some.
Check it:
“In Bogotá, they call it Ciclovia, or bikeway. In Paris, it’s the Plage, or beach. Here in New York, Summer Streets will literally turn the streets of our city into a pedestrian park,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “The streets themselves are among the most valuable public space that the City has to offer, and finding the room within our existing street space for those on two feet or two wheels is a true application of our goals for a sustainable future under the Mayor’s PlaNYC initiatives and the DOT’s strategic plan.”
Sweet. Three Saturdays in August is a great start.
I read Niki’s post about NYC’s recycling plan with interest, because trash and our methods of dealing with it have been in the forefront of my mind ever since I saw an amazing piece on Korean television about a Canadian company called Plasco Energy.
Plasco just may have got this whole “trash” thing figured out.
Using a technique called Plasma Gasification, they’ve devised a way to reduce landfill content by 99.9 percent. You heard that right: Ninety-nine point nine percent.
Here’s how their system works:
Municipal solid waste arrives at the Plasco facility where it is shredded. Recyclables are sifted and sorted out.
What’s left is run through past electric plasma torches in high heat, but almost zero oxygen. This results in decomposition, not combustion. So no smoke is produced, just usable gases. These gases are refined into fuel gas and used to power Plasco’s operation. Meaning, once the system is started, it is self-sustaining, needing only more trash to keep running.
Furthermore, the gases produced are also used to run a series of generators which create electric power. This power is then sold to the grid.
All material left over is then run past the plasma torches a second time, turning decomposed ash into a crystalline, glass-like material which is non-toxic, non-leaching, and can be used as roadbed aggregate, in construction materials, even polished and set to create jewelry. It looks a bit like obsidian, and personally, I think it would make some very cool black brick.
Any water that comes out of the process is perfectly clean and can be used for irrigation purposes.
So, just to recap:
Trash in. Recyclables, power, fuel, salt, sulfur, clean water, and black glass-like material out.
What’s left? .1 percent heavy metals from improperly disposed trash; things like batteries and paints.
And it gets better. Plasco’s operation, besides being self-sustaining and extremely productive, is very quiet, modular so it can be scaled to whatever size you need, and doesn’t stink up the neighborhood.
New York currently has to pay $90 per ton of trash in hauling and disposal fees. With a Plasco system in place, NY could be making $15 a ton.
Think what this technology means to the future of NYC. Instead of looking at trash as a problem, we realize that it is a huge asset.
Fresh Kills Landfill becomes Fresh Kills Mine. Plasma gasification quietly and efficiently turns countless tons of our trash into wonderful usable products like gas and electricity while making our city money!
How nice is that? A landfill is just a mine in reverse!
And you don’t even have to sort your trash anymore.
(Personally, I’ve never understood why the onus of dealing with municipal waste fell on the private citizen. Isn’t the whole point of a state and federal government to deal with that issue, among others? Isn’t the point of those institutions existing to let us live our lives happily, cleanly, and productively? Shouldn’t we be free of the worry that our trash is going to harm our environment?)
Really, what are you and I supposed to do with an aluminum can? A dirty diaper? Our take-out containers?
Plasma gasification, that’s what.
Waste = Food! Waste = Energy! Waste = $$$!
What do you think? Should we start a “polite declaration of intention” and ask Mayor Bloomberg to invite Plasco to set up shop in NYC?
It would eliminate 99.9 percent of my concerns about the future of NYC’s trash.
Finally, “To raise bike-consciousness in the city, the Transportation Department and the nonprofit group Transportation Alternatives are holding a competition to find the most bicycling-friendly employers in the city.”
Hooray! Mas bike lanes for all! Bloomy, you’re the bee’s knees.
Petitions are so over. Since this whole internet thing got started we’ve seen a million of them drift through our inboxes.
Why don’t they work? Maybe it’s in the wording?
Maybe the word “petition” just rubs folks the wrong way?
So, in honor of Earth Year Day One (April 22nd, 2008) SuperForest presents the following statement. If you’re down with this, consider copying it and sending it along to your homies:
A Polite Declaration of Wishes-
Dear Mayor Bloomberg,
Thank you for all of your hard work in protecting the environment that we New Yorkers live in. The PlaNYC initiative is a great start.
We, the undersigned, the people of the five boroughs of New York City (Staten Island, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan,) ask politely that you and the rest of the NYC Gov Team work hard to:
Please ban and replace all non-recyclable plastic products in New York City.
There are now many alternatives to non-recyclable plastics, namely recyclable plastics, bio-plastics, and compostable plastics. As the majority of trash going out to our landfills is non-recyclable plastic, we would like New York to be a leader in plastic recycling as well as a leader in resource management.
As you worked so hard to protect us from secondhand smoke and trans-fats, please work to ensure that less plastic ends up on our streets, in our waterways, and in our landfills.
This will protect the lives and livelihoods of countless generations of New Yorkers to come.
Thank you very much for your time and energy.
Yours,
The People of New York City
(Here please write your name and zipcode and then send this along.)
Thank you! Jackson Nash – 10011
Let’s see how many names we can get on this list! Now, don’t go sending to everyone you know, that is unless everyone you know is here in NY. Send it to New Yorkers! We New Yorkers have everything to win and nothing to lose.
Once you’ve signed it, send it to Mayor Bloomberg’s Email Address We want to treat the Mayor to a full inbox of his citizenry’s wishes for a more sustainable present. Awesome!
Our boy Mayor Mikey B. wants him some solar panels on all state owned buildings in Manhattan!
Parse this!:
“New York City is moving ahead vigorously on our PlaNYC agenda, especially in the all-important area of reducing our reliance on the carbon-based fuels that contribute to global warming,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We’ve set a target of shrinking our carbon footprint by 30% by the year 2030. Increasing the use of renewable energy, like solar power, is a key strategy in that effort. Using solar power decreases demand for electricity from the power grid, which is typically generated by burning the fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.” -Mikey B.
Ooooh snap! Thems some sweet words. A 30 percent reduction in carbon output by 2030? Minty green.
All this greening going on, we’d better be careful or it’ll be Utopia before we know it.
SuperForesters are all over planet Earth, all united in exploring how to redefine "environmentalism" and "sustainability" to encompass every aspect of our lives.
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