This is a great idea. It also takes advantage of the local topography,
since downtown is down hill of most of the county. Transport of harvested
biomass into the city could be done very energy efficiently. It would be
best, of course, if the source of heat were also being used to generate power.
Joel
At 01:10 AM 12/13/09 -0500, you wrote:
Another conversation going on about the Commons involves researching the
possibility of laying district heating pipes while the Commons is torn up so
that we can heat our public buildings with biomass. Bruce Abbott hosted the
visit of some Danish engineers who gave several talks about this technology
being used in Europe. I've always hoped to see biomass-based district
heating as part of the Southwest Park green development (if that project
ever happens). But much better would be to see district heating downtown
for our government buildings, and maybe even some of the Commons retail
buildings, such as Center Ithaca.
Gay
On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 11:14 PM, Margaret McCasland
<[email protected]>wrote:
> Great post! (FYI partial caveat: the the COmmons proposal is a
> rebuild--which is sort of somewhat needed; most of the current concrete is
> cracked and buckled).
>
> But your overall post is very well said and needed saying.
>
> Margaret
>
>
>
> On Dec 12, 2009, at 4:43 PM, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>> I agree. There is no rational reason for drilling Marcellus and no reason
>> not to oppose it. Not only will it lay waste to our region and most
>> likely,poison our drinking water with hazardous chemicals and even
>> radioactive
>> elements. it will contribute to global climate change thereby jeopardizing
>> everyone. In addition to the statistic Martha Robertson quoted the
>> Planning
>> Dep't that operation from one well would have twice the greenhouse gas
>> emissions as the entire operations of Tomp Co government for a year, I
>> have just
>> read in the comments made on the dSGEIS by the Seneca Lake Pure Waters
>> Association that "analyses "carried out during the past year by Rice
>> University in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, results have shown that
>> drilling
>> related emissions of carbon dioxide and two other major greenhouse gases
>> underlying climate change were estimated to be roughly equivalent to the
>> impact
>> from two 750 Megawatt coal-fired plants".
>>
>> _http://www.senecalake.org/_ (http://www.senecalake.org/)
>>
>> As for Ithaca College, it cannot convert all its buildings overnight. The
>> campus has made a considerable commitment to sustainability.
>>
>> Just because we as communities and individuals have not yet achieved Best
>> Practice perfection in all things does not mean that we have to submit to
>> the will of huge corporations in their "drill baby drill" lust for
>> profit. As
>> Tony said why should we or any other community "suffer the same
>> catastrophic fate" as those before us? It will only make the situation
>> worse for
>> everyone. Communities and states (and one would hope nations, finally,)
>> must
>> "draw the line in the sand" for the health,safety, security and
>> protection of
>> all.
>>
>> And, again, all indications are that the extensive energy-intensive
>> operations of hydro-fracturing will accelerate not slow climate change.
>> It is not
>> part of a clean energy transistion.
>>
>> BTW has anyone seen that corporate ad that starts out extolling the
>> virtues
>> of alternatives to oil dependence and ends with the words "natural gas,
>> the best alternative." What a perniciously clever piece of
>> propaganda!....and
>> what do you suppose was the instigation for it???........
>>
>> I do agree that demolishing the Ithaca Commons to build yet more
>> restaurants requiring yet more gas lines would be a horrendous and
>> hypocritical
>> waste, not to mention of course the Commons' importance to the life of
>> the City
>> and County and beyond. That proposal just stuns me. Demolishing the
>> Commons, would, in addition to other impacts, require substantial energy
>> inputs
>> and seriously damage the City/County goal of reducing GHG emissions.
>>
>> Jeanne
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 12/12/2009 1:13:12 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>> [email protected] writes:
>>
>> George,
>> Your arguments are compelling but not persuasive to me. As modern
>> industrial
>> civilization comes down (if it really does come down voluntarily) from
>> its
>> fossil fuel addictions, how much of the water & land is to be plundered?
>> Should we all be suffering the same catastrophic fate as those who had no
>> choice or were ignorant of the hazards, or those who saw only the dollar
>> signs in their mining & drilling? The cliches from Copenhagen, Leave the
>> Oil
>> in the Soil and the Coal in the Hole, I would add, let's pass on the gas.
>> Moral righteouness is not enough to convince me that it's okay to drill
>> and
>> threaten what we have. We only compound the problem locally and then some
>> when we transport the radioactive water to "where?" Let's hold our ground
>> with whatever "relatively" clean water & land we have, anywhere in the
>> world.
>> Tony Del Plato
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 12:57 PM, George Frantz <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> --- On Wed, 12/9/09, Jan Quarles <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> "I hope you're not asking that question as a way, yet again, to say that
>>> protesting fracking is morally wrong as long as the protestors are
>>>
>> heating
>>
>>> with gas. That's a trap that could have a chilling effect on the
>>> learning
>>> curve."
>>>
>>>
>>> +++++++
>>> Sorry, Jan, but that is exactly the point of my question regarding how
>>> IC
>>> heats its buildings.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area,
>> please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
>>
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>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area,
> please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
>
> RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
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> http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
> Questions about the list? ask
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--
----------------------------------------------------
Gay Nicholson, Ph.D.
President
Sustainable Tompkins
109 S. Albany St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
www.sustainabletompkins.org
607-533-7312 (home office)
607-220-8991 (cell)
607-216-1552 (ST office)
607-216-1553 (ST fax)
[email protected]
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area,
please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
[email protected]
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
Questions about the list? ask [email protected]
free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
_______________________________________________
For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please
visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
[email protected]
http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
Questions about the list? ask [email protected]
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