Sustaining Future

Carbon Sequestration:Forest

2008-05-15T10:07:00.000+10:00

Yes, we need to remove carbon from atmosphere. We have already pumped too much already. The question is of course HOW.

Fritz Scholz and Ulrich Hasse from the University of Greifswald introduce a possible approach to a solution: deliberately planted forests bind the CO2 through photosynthesis and are then removed from the global CO2 cycle by burial.

Here is some numbers:
1. Current world carbon emission is 32 gigatons of CO₂.
2. Fritz and Ulrich estimated that the world needs about 1 sq km of forest [my notes: world's Irrigated land in 2003 is 2,770,980 sq km]
3. "This project could be financed by an additional tax of 0.11 € per liter of gasoline or 0.003 € per kilowatt-hour of electricity." I don't know how this figure is arrived. From Wikipedia, the 2004 worldwidth energy consumption is 5x10²⁰ Joules or 1.4x10¹⁴kilowatt-hour. That would represent a value of US$644B.

"The forests should be planted in countries that are suitable for growing forest and also have the necessary sites for burial of the wood," stresses Scholz. "Other countries, the primary consumers of fossil fuels, can pay them for it. This would produce a global trade that would benefit everyone involved."

This is a market a lot of big companies will be interested in.

This is how it should be done

2008-05-13T09:57:00.000+10:00

These two videos from ClimateCare have several common themes. Watch first and then see if you agree with me.

High tech low tech
Using high tech to discover area of improvement and then implement the solution in low tech.

Local
The solution is implemented locally using local resources and local labour, including local skill development to maintain the solution.

Micro finance
for rapid deployment to those who can afford.

Bushfire & Charcoal

2008-05-12T14:29:00.000+10:00

CSIRO scientists in Australia discovered that the pollutant (such as benzene and toluene, as a result of industrial pollution) absorption ability of charcoal depends more critically to the combustion temperature at which the charcoal was found. The critical temperature was within the scope of temperatures as observed for bush fire.

Nature's initiation of bush fire is a way of generating filters to eliminate pollutants.

Charcoal: Economics of carbon sequestration

2008-05-10T21:59:00.000+10:00

from Carbon Commentary

Besides all the benefit of improvement to soil, the carbon sequestration itself already worth the effort:

A tonne of good quality biochar has an energy value of about 28 gigajoules (GJ), slightly less than the best quality coal. (Pure black carbon is about 32 GJ/tonne.) Standard coal costs about £1.50 per GJ. If a power station operator is prepared to pay the coal-equivalent price, biochar is worth about £42 per tonne in the UK.

Burning a tonne of biochar will produce about three and a half tonnes of CO2. (Pure carbon would generate 3.667 tonnes.) The current price of CO2 in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is about £16, meaning that sequestering 3.5 tonnes ought to be worth approximately £56. Since £56 is greater than £42, the economic logic suggests that we should hold the carbon in the soil rather than burning it. This is before considering the secondary climate change benefits of reduced fertiliser use and lowered nitrous oxide emissions. [my emphasis]

DIY Charcoal Producing Hiking Stove

2008-05-09T20:33:00.000+10:00

Here is a good description of a wood gasifier hiking stove made from some cans.

According to the author, the total weight is just 14oz and you don't have to carry any fuel.

The author recommends to completely burn the fuel to ashes. However, if you pour water over the fire after you have boiled whatever you have intended, the charcoal left can be buried in the soil as a soil improving agent as well as carbon sink.

By production managememnt (aka waste management)

2008-05-06T14:04:00.000+10:00

By recognizing that there is value in the by-product (any by-product), we may have hope to maintain our living standard without adding more burden on the environment. Here is a suggestion:

Hope someone will fund startups making that happens

7 years window for stablising the climate

2008-05-04T14:25:00.002+10:00

[Image from TreeHugger]

Here’s Rajendra K. Pachauri’s [Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ] panic-inducing assertion: We have a window of seven years to stabilize CO₂ at today’s levels if we are to limit our global mean temperature increase to around 2.4⁰C. A world this hot would be a very unpleasant place to be. Pachauri lays out unequivocal” evidence of climate change, and describes how extreme precipitation events, heat waves and other natural catastrophes will become more frequent, endangering vast swaths of humanity. We stand to lose 20-30% of species if warming exceeds 1.5 to 2.5 ⁰C. Pachauri also notes this “scary prospect”: the rapid loss of ice sheets on polar land, leading to sea level rises of several meters, and the flight of large populations in response.

Forget Nuclear

2008-05-03T10:01:00.001+10:00

from Rocky Mountain Institute

This article analysis the economical fallacy of relying on nuclear power for replacement of carbon-based electricity generation.

The Economist observed in 2001 that “Nuclear power, once claimed to be too cheap to meter, is now too costly to matter”—cheap to run but very expensive to build. Since then, it’s become several-fold costlier to build, and in a few years, as old fuel contracts expire, it is expected to become several-fold costlier to run. Its total cost now markedly exceeds that of other common power plants (coal, gas, big wind farms), let alone the even cheaper competitors described below.

My biggest objection to nuclear power, however, is not just economic. The fact that the spent fuel will need million of years of safe protection is an impossible position for any rational (wo)men to consider the use nuclear power in the first place. No technology, nor political procedure exists to ensure that spent fuel will not be leaked into the environment and hence creating wide-spread radioactive health impacts to all life form.

The article also suggested a solution: micro-generation at end-user locations using a diverse methods and 'negaWatt¹'. This is a video from Greenpeace about distributed power generation

Another video (17 min) from youTube about using alternate power in Australia

¹NegaWatt refers to "negative watt' - the power saved by more efficient mean of using the energy.

Atmospheric Carbon Removal Wanted

2008-04-23T10:23:00.000+10:00

It is now commonly agreed that man-made green house effect is causing major climatic disruption to the world. Unfortunately the politicians and big polluters still remain in the stage of denial. As a result, international agreement is still focusing on limiting the green house gas emission to 'the XXXX year level'. According to climate scientists Ken Caldeira and Damon Matthews, it is not going to be enough.

“Most scientific and policy discussions about avoiding climate change have centered on what emissions would be needed to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” says Caldeira. “But stabilizing greenhouse gases does not equate to a stable climate. We studied what emissions would be needed to stabilize climate in the foreseeable future.”

The scientists investigated how much climate changes as a result of each individual emission of carbon dioxide, and found that each increment of emission leads to another increment of warming. So, if we want to avoid additional warming, we need to avoid additional emissions.

With emissions set to zero in the simulations, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere slowly fell as carbon “sinks” such as the oceans and land vegetation absorbed the gas. Surprisingly, however, the model predicted that global temperatures would remain high for at least 500 years after carbon dioxide emissions ceased. [my emphasis]

It is now time to start thinking of taking some of the carbon back from atmosphere, help nature to repair our damages!

Comment to Carbon Negative Energy Source

2008-04-19T10:26:00.000+10:00

Reader erich has contributed a very thoughtful comment to a previous post Comment to Carbon Negative Energy Source which I will repost entirely without edit below. Before reading that comment, please also watch is video from qunatumshift.tv

Watch more videos like this at www.quantumshift.tv

Comment from erich

The best Win Win Win solution is Biochar.

the current news and links on Terra Preta (TP) soils and closed-loop pyrolysis of Biomass, this integrated virtuous cycle could sequester 100s of Billions of tons of carbon to the soils.

This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too.

UN Climate Change Conference: Biochar present at the Bali Conference

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/steinerbalinov2107

SCIAM Article May 15 07;

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E40

After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies.

Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology.

The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal Below are the first concrete steps in that direction;

S.1884 The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007

A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884:

Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative for the 2007 Farm Bill

Bolstering Biomass and Biochar development: In the 2007 Farm Bill, Senator Salazar was able to include $500 million for biomass research and development and for competitive grants to develop the technologies and processes necessary for the commercial production of biofuels and bio-based products. Biomass is an organic material, usually referring to plant matter or animal waste. Using biomass for energy can reduce waste and air pollution. Biochar is a byproduct of producing energy from biomass. As a soil treatment, it enhances the ability of soil to capture and retain carbon dioxide.
http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html

There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.

If you have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit the TP web site I've been drafted to co-administer. http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node

It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined.

The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) conference held at Terrigal, NSW, Australia in 2007. The papers from this conference are posted at their home page; http://www.biochar-international.org/home.html

.Nature article, Aug 06: Putting the carbon back Black is the new green:
http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf

Here's the Cornell page for an over view:
http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm

University of Beyreuth TP Program, Germany http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=taxonomy/term/118

This Earth Science Forum thread on these soils contains further links, and has been viewed by 19,000 self-selected folks. ( I post everything I find on Amazon Dark Soils, ADS here):
http://forums.hypography.com/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html

Terra Preta creates a terrestrial carbon reef at a microscopic level. These nanoscale structures provide safe haven to the microbes and fungus that facilitate fertile soil creation, while sequestering carbon for many hundred if not thousands of years. The combination of these two forms of sequestration would also increase the growth rate and natural sequestration effort of growing plants.

All the Biochar Companies and equipment manufactures I've found:

Carbon Diversion
http://www.carbondiversion.com

Eprida: Sustainable Solutions for Global Concerns
http://www.eprida.com/home/index.php4

BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable Energy
http://www.bestenergies.com/companies/bestpyrolysis.html

Dynamotive Energy Systems | The Evolution of Energy
http://www.dynamotive.com/

Ensyn - Environmentally Friendly Energy and Chemicals
http://www.ensyn.com/who/ensyn.htm

Agri-Therm, developing bio oils from agricultural waste
http://www.agri-therm.com/

Advanced BioRefinery Inc.
http://www.advbiorefineryinc.ca/

Technology Review: Turning Slash into Cash
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/17298/

3R Environmental Technologies Ltd. (Edward Someus)
WEB: http://www.terrenum.net/

The company has Swedish origin and developing/designing medium and large scale carbonization units. The company is the licensor and technology provider to NviroClean Tech Ltd British American organization WEB: http://www.nvirocleantech.com and VERTUS Ltd.
http://www.vertustechnologies.com

Genesis Industries, licensee of Eprida technology, provides carbon-negative EPRIDA energy machines at the same cost as going direct to Eprida. Our technical support staff also provide information to obtain the best use of biochar produced by the machine. Recent research has shown that EPRIDA charcoal (biochar) increases plant productivity as it sequesters carbon in soil, thus reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

http://www.egenindustries.com/

If pre-Columbian Kayopo Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet deep over 15% of the Amazon basin using "Slash & CHAR" verses "Slash & Burn", it seems that our energy and agricultural industries could also product them at scale.

Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and fungi changes the whole equation of energy return over energy input (EROEI) for food and Bio fuels. I see this as the only sustainable agricultural strategy if we no longer have cheap fossil fuels for fertilizer.

We need this super community of wee beasties to work in concert with us by populating them into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos.

Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
(540) 289-9750
shengar@aol.com

Price of Solar Power in Australia

2008-04-14T10:44:00.001+10:00

One of my friend just installed a 1kW solar panel on his roof, costing his family AUD12,000 after an Australian government rebate of AUD8000. I think it is not right.

I checked this website which quoted the price of solar panel in US to be around USD3 to USD4.85 per watt. My friend is paying AUD12 per watt (after installation and connection to the grid), i.e. without government rebate, we have to pay around AUD20 per watt which is up to 5 times the price from US.

A note for green business entrepreneur, there is a federal government rebate of AUD8 per watt for up to 1000W. If you can import solar panel into Australia (say from China at around US1.5 per Watt + 10% GST), connection equipment to grid at AUD3000, with the government's rebate, you have about AUD3000 to cover your effort and profit. May be if this is not enough, many home owners would be happy to pay something on top of that too (My friend paid AUD12,000!). My friend told me that it took two men half a day to install his solar panels. Yes, the current funding is capped at AUD150 million. But that should be able to give your business a good start. Contact me when you start your business, I will be your first customer (but don't expect me to pay AUD12000 on top). I do not support greedy enterprises!

Al Gore's new thinking on climate crisis

2008-04-10T18:06:00.000+10:00

Ten commandments of eco gardening

2008-04-08T11:26:00.000+10:00

from the Sumday Times over a year ago:

Thou shalt conserve water

Thou shalt put the right plant in the right place
[my additional suggestion]:Thou shalt only put edible plants in the garden

Thou shalt not use peat
[my additional suggestion]:Thou shalt mulch with locally available available material.

Thou shalt recycle garden waste

Thou shalt reuse non-biodegradable products
[my additional suggestion]:Thous shalt use non-biodegradable products for your own as well as your children's and grandchildren's life time.

Thou shalt minimise the use of chemicals
[my additional suggestion]:Everything is chemical. Thou shalt use naturally occuring chemicals from known sources.

Thou shalt leave a messy bit
[my additional suggestion]: and a pond too

Thou shalt use hard landscaping with sensitivity
[my additional suggestion]:Source your landscaping material locally

Thou shalt use lighting responsibly

Thou shalt teach thy children where food comes from

[my additional suggestion]:Grow your own food in your own backyard

Carbon Negative Energy Source

2008-03-26T20:18:00.000+11:00

Can we have energy source which actually is carbon negative, i.e. carbon sequestration while producing energy?

Is such sequestrated carbon stable? Any possibility of sudden disruption resulting in large releases back to the atmosphere?

Is such sequestrated cost negative, i.e. producing a positive economical value other than just the value associated to the carbon sequestration?

If I tell there is a solution which answers all the above question 'YES', can you believe it?

By a process called pyrolysis (cooked without oxygen), biomass is converted into a gas fuel (syngas, a combination of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen) with biochar as a by-product. Biochar can act as a carbon sequestration. Answer to the first question is 'YES'.

In the rainforests of central Amazon, the yellow soils has been turned black by locals thousands of years ago by mixing biochar with the soil. That proves that biochar in soil is extremely stable - as proved by this special soil known as terra preta. Answer to the second question is 'YES'.

Can the Biochar be sold to someone? Not exactly, but all farmers would welcome spreading the biochar to their farm land because of the potential improvement of soil quality by biochar. The use of biochar has been shown to increase water retention, microbial activity, uptake of minerals by plants, as well as continued deposition of healthy soil. Answer to the third question is a probable 'yes'.

Too good to be true? Well it looks like a win-win solution.

Source: Interview of Tim Flannery, 2007 Australian of the Year, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Fastest Folding Bike

2008-02-27T10:36:00.000+11:00

How long it takes to fold a bike? I say about 2 secs.

Watch this!

Global Dimming - Global warming model may be too optisimtic

2008-02-21T00:35:00.000+11:00

Global dimming is reducing the amount of direct sunlight falling on the Earth's surface. This is supported by three independent evidences; long term direct sunlight measurement and pan evaporation data; and a short term measurements (during the three days after 9/11 when all air planes were banned in USA) daily temperature differences increased by over 1 degree C.

The cause of global dimming is the particles from the air pollution - which makes the cloud reflects more sunlight back to the space. It seems that global dimming is protecting us from the damaging effect of global warming. However, we all knows that air pollution has significant implication on health and climate change. If we just clean up the air without reducing green house gas at the same time, the current temperature of global warming models would be wrong by several degress - accelerating the effect of global warming and we may reach the point of no return much earlier than models have been predicting.

Here is the transcript of a BBC Horizon program (from 2005) and if you are lucky you may be able to download a copy of the program from the Pirate Bay using search term such as 'global dimming'.

Instead we have to take urgent action to tackle the root cause of both global warming and Global Dimming - the burning of coal, oil and gas. We may have to make very difficult choices, about how we live and how we generate our electricity. We have been talking about such things for 20 years. But so far very little has been done in practical terms. The discovery of Global Dimming makes it clear that we are rapidly running out of time.

Bamboo scaffolding

2008-02-20T11:00:00.001+11:00

TreeHugger:

The short version: because [bamboo] grows so quickly, the root system isn't damaged by harvesting and it's so plentiful -- "For a lumber harvester, the yield can be 25 times what you'd get from regular ol' trees" -- growing it is really green,

This reminds me the scaffolding in HongKong. Here are some pictures I found in flickr:
[by Neurotic Monkey]
[by Planet Janet]
[by annamatic3000]
[by falln_angel]
[by guzhengman]

and from http://www.12hk.com/BmbooScaf.html

[All photo copyright belongs to their owners. i am linking them without owner's permission. If anyone is not happy that I linked their work, please let me know and I am more than happy to remove!]

You would have noticed that these structures are used to scaffold skyscrapers as well as odd jobs in renovation. One of two construction workers (or they are highly skilled bamboo scaffolding experts) can erect a lot in a single day. It is even faster to dissemble!

Missing Link of Paperless Home

2008-02-11T10:01:00.000+11:00

[from Pushing Paper Out the Door]

Will this vision of paperless home or office ever get realised?

We all know that computers do not reduce paper use. In fact, they increase the amount of paper used. The printing has just shifted from large printing shops to our desktop inkjet printers.

The reason is simple. Reading on a computer screen is not a rewarding experience. Computers are great from finding reading material, but not great for reading. They just cannot compete with paper - until a properly designed e-ink based ebook reader appears.

I have been looking for an affordable, useful e-ink based reader. So far the choices are very limited. Here is a comprehensive E-book Reader Matrix. A quick look will notice that most (except iRex iLiad ER-0100) has a smallish 90mm x 120mm reading area. In Australia, most documents are in A4 (210mm x 298mm) size. Fitting reading material which is originally at A4 size on such a small reading screen is not comfortable reading!

To really get to a paperless future, we need A4 reading size, portable, always on e-ink based reader with no DRM hazzles. Since e-ink display is basically flexible, consumes no energy except during page change (no page refresh is required to maintain the display), it has the quality to meet the above requirement. I just hope that some investor will have the vision of seeing a future where there are several e-ink display devices on each desk - at least one of these device is A4 for document reading, not just novels reading.

GM rice, choice between 2 evils?

2008-02-08T11:39:00.000+11:00

From TreeHugger;

Chinese government to allow Chinese farmers to get carbon credits when they use their [GM] rice [which reportedly requires less nitrogen fertilizer]. The reasoning is, less nitrogen fertilizer equals less nitrous oxide emissions (a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide). Under the Kyoto Treaty, the credits gained from that reduction can then be sold on the global market, bringing extra money to farmers. "Swapping global rice supply to the GM version, the company says, would save the equivalent of 50m tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and generate £750m in carbon credits for farmers.

Some readers of TreeHugger commented:

seems like switching one evil for another. Which of the two evils worse though?

Chinese farmers have been using natural fertilizers for centuries before the modern fertizers were introduced. A lot of research (see permaculture and other more progressive form of agriculture) points out a simple method of letting mother nature to generate the necessary nutrients. Let micro-organisms active in our earth again! Another great promise would be a large co-production of fish and rice, similar to aquaponics. Build some fish farm near the rice fields and use the water from the fish farm for the rice! Protein and carbo at the same time, why not?

Start Solving Global Problem at our Own Backyard

2008-01-27T20:42:00.000+11:00

I wrote about Aquaponics before. By producing food locally, we reduce transportation. By using insects and bacteria from nature, we also help reduce waste.

Permaculture is another approach which gets inspiration from nature. [following quote from wikipedia]

In permaculture and forest gardening, seven layers are identified:

1. The canopy
2. Low tree layer (dwarf fruit trees)
3. Shrubs
4. Herbaceous
5. Rhizosphere (root crops)
6. Soil Surface (cover crops)
7. Vertical Layer (climbers, vines)

The 8th layer, or Mycosphere (fungi), is often included in layering.

A mature ecosystem such as ancient woodland has a huge number of relationships between its component parts: trees, understory, ground cover, soil, fungi, insects and other animals. Plants grow at different heights. This allows a diverse community of life to grow in a relatively small space. Plants come into leaf and fruit at different times of year.

I found a gem at the Pirate Bay today and search for permacultur. The short (5 minutes) video talks about how a 10 acre desert land is turned into a food production lot. The video is called "Greening the Desert Permaculture in Action"

Reduce water used by Toilet

2008-01-26T10:24:00.000+11:00

Most toilets in Australia have two buttons: one for full flush and other for half flush. TreeHugger has posted on how to hack the toilet to flush less water by bending the connection to the float. [See here. The following picture is also from TreeHugger.]

Here is another simple method which does not involving any plumbing:
Material:
Used soda bottles (those 2L or 1.5L are prefect), stone or some thing which can weight down the bottles

Steps;
1. Find out the current depth of water in your toilet.
2. Cut the soda bottle to a height LESS than the water depth (measure from bottom of bottle)
3. Place the result of step 2 into the toilet tank by filling with the tank water.
4. Place your weight in the bottle to ensure it stands up right after flushing.

Explanation:
The soda bottle half will hold the water from flushing out. That's less water used in flush. You can reduce the amount of actual water used by adding more usch water holder inside the tank!

Clean water for under-developed areas

2008-01-26T10:12:00.000+11:00

Get clean water from a polluted source. When arrive home, the water is cleaned. What a great idea!

Ethanol for $1 a Gallon

2008-01-26T09:46:00.000+11:00

A biofuel startup [Coskata] in Illinois can make ethanol from just about anything organic for less than $1 per gallon, and it wouldn't interfere with food supplies, company officials said.

Coskata uses existing gasification technology to convert almost any organic material into synthesis gas, which is a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Rather than fermenting that gas or using thermo-chemical catalysts to produce ethanol, Coskata pumps it into a reactor containing bacteria that consume the gas and excrete ethanol. ... 99.7 percent pure ethanol.

The method seems to have the ticks to several important factors:

cheaper than gasoline by about 1 dollar,

can be produced locally (near the feedstock) reducing the need of feedstock transportation, (another important factor in reducing green house gas and cost)
If you're in Orange County, you can use municipal waste. If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you can use wood waste. Florida has sugar. The Midwest has corn. Each region has been blessed with the ability to grow its own biomass.

a net energy gain of 7.7 times (compared with typical corn ethanol production of 1.3 times)

The Backyard Aquaponics Magazine

2008-01-10T15:07:00.000+11:00

This is the first issue of the magazine and is now available free for downloading.

Roads as solar energy collector

2008-01-04T14:26:00.000+11:00

Dutch Company Siphoning Heat from Asphalt for Energy Uses from TreeHugger reports how a Dutch civil engineering company can collect heat from asphalt covered road, store in deep underground aquifers and later retrieve.

Originally a system erected to reduce road maintenance costs, Ooms' technology consists of a network of flexible pipes held in place by a grid and covered over by asphalt - which helps magnify solar heat. Heated water coursing through the pipes is pumped deep underground into aquifers; it can then be retrieved, even months later, to keep the road ice-free during the winter. Alternatively, the system can pump cold water from a separate reservoir to cool homes or office buildings in the summer.

Using underground aquifers as a heat buffer, cooled during winter months and used for cooling in summer (hereby warming aquifers and storing the heat for winter warming need)! How clever!

Question: If household use, how large is the heat buffer needed to maintain a Melbourne home comfortable year round?