A Solarpunk Place

This lamp absorbs 150 times more CO2 than a tree

The design is a light bulb surrounded by a glass casing. The glass is filled with (water based) media and microalgae. The top is permeable to gasses so that gas exchange can occur. All of the wiring is linked to the grid underground.

Since the light source is inside, it gets scattered and “dimmed” by the water and algae. This makes it less glaringly bright and scatters the light wider, which is good for a street light. It is not longer white light as well, which helps make it easier on the eyes while still providing light.

At the same time, it provides the light for photosynthesis in the algae, so they are continuously exchanging CO2 for O2, not just in the day. It also provides a source of heat, which helps keep the algae from going dormant during cold weather (as in the snowy picture above).

make it the greenest that i’ve ever seen

give it two leaves like roses and clover

and tell it that its weedy nights are over

plant man, i’m so alone

don’t have no garden to call my own

so please turn on your magic bean

Germany should shut down all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest, a government-appointed commission said on Saturday, proposing at least 40 billion euros ($45.7 billion) in aid to regions affected by the planned phase-out.

The commission’s plans are at the center of Germany’s strategy to shift to renewables, which made up more than 40 percent of the energy mix last year, beating coal for the first time.

The proposals of the coal commission, which were finalized after more than 20 hours of last-round talks, will serve as a guideline for the government in its effort to turn the planned exit from coal into law.

This talk is SUPER IMPORTANT in the discussion of clean/renewable energy. The truth is, the US energy grid can’t rely 100% on renewable energy because it is built to generate electricity The Instant It’s Needed. So if electricity is needed, but the wind isn’t spinning the turbines, you’re screwed. And if the wind IS spinning the turbines, but that electricity isn’t needed, it goes to waste because we have no grid-scale energy storage built into our systems.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this or not. This is Appropedia, it’s a wiki focused all on sustainability. The whole thing is extremely solarpunk, and for years they’ve had a starter wiki page on solarpunk itself, ported over at one point from wikipedia. The solarpunk entry on wikipedia was deleted some time ago, and I haven’t had the energy/time to deal with the innards of wikipedia politics (honestly I’m hoping someone else will step up, I’m doing so much already, but I digress…)

Anyway I’ve been working on the solarpunk page at Appropedia, slowly learning how to do various basic things there. I highly encourage others to help out! If we want solarpunk to go anywhere, to do accomplish anything, then we’ve all got to roll up our sleeves and help out when and where we can - which is a very different model and mindset from our overall passive consumerist culture. 

Solarpunk is a call to action, and it is the actions too. And if this entry turns out to be a well fleshed out and referenced article, it could one day just be ported back over to wikipedia. 

this is so cool