The New Green Economy

With all the talk on carbon credits, cap and trade agreements, and proposed policies regarding carbon “pollution”, one question needs to be considered: what is carbon, and why a carbon tax?

Carbon is life.  It is the 6^th element on the Periodic Table of Elements.  It is one of the four most abundant elements in the universe: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and carbon.  All life is composed of carbon.  Carbon is the chemical basis of all known life on Earth.

If carbon is the basis for all life, are we as a nation proposing a tax on life?

In Ancient Building Principles, I discussed how the Romans and Native Americans used thermal mass and flow channels to heat and cool Roman bath houses and Navajo Hogans.

Along with these time tested and ancient principles of nature, there was another common technique used in passively heating and cooling buildings: thermal chimneys.  Thermal chimneys are also referred to as solar chimneys; and is the process of a natural convection caused by solar gain on the top portion of a structure, heating the air inside the ventilation chamber, usually a tall chimney, and naturally drawing the cooler air from the lower portion of the ventilation chamber.

This natural convection current results in pulling cool air from the ground floor, or in the case of a geothermal exchange, through the ground itself; and releasing the heated air out the top of the building.  During the summer, this effectively cools the interior of the building.

Instead of waiting until we as a society outpace ourselves back into the dark ages, by implementing renewable energy and redesigned buildings now, we can keep the lights on.

Buildings of Today 

Buildings are the number one cause of energy consumption and environmental degradation worldwide.