The common windmill design used to capitalize on air currents, while centuries old, operates at around 1% efficiency in terms of the power it harvests from the wind, due to the deflective blade design and friction losses. But a new technology unveiled last year in China seeks to dramatically boost the output of wind-driven generators by using the virtually frictionless advantages of magnetically levitated turbines. Since there’s virtually no touching of moving parts, the MagLev wind turbine requires far less servicing than a traditional windmill – which dramatically lowers the operating costs to under five U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. If projections are accurate, giant 1-gigawatt versions of these machines could have a 12-month ROI – a scenario sure to catch the eye of investors worldwide.

Magnetic levitation uses the repelling properties of magnets to lift an object off the ground. In this case, the object is a wind-harvesting fan. The benefit of having it floating in midair is that it cuts down on the friction that causes so much inefficiency in the traditional windmill-style wind energy harvester we see dotting our coastlines. Friction is also the key factor necessitating frequent maintenance of windmill turbines, adding considerably to the cost of running them.

Without rotational friction to overcome, a wind turbine generator can begin to harvest power from air speeds as low as 1.5 meters per second.

AEVIA Reveals the Source

Leonard Opel, the founder and one of the owners of Meadowood Industries, has discovered a way to make a beautiful, durable panel out of rye grass straw without using any formaldehyde or other toxic chemicals to bind the straw. In 1976, Leonard and a partner, Dale Rose, began doing some preliminary research and test-ing to see if rye grass straw could be used to make durable boards.

“We bought ourselves an old clothes dryer, and that’s how we mixed our first batch of straw and sprayed the resin in on it,” recounts Leonard. Dale worked in the local plywood mill, Lebanon Plywood, so he was familiar with the techniques involved and brought in others from the mill to help. “We went down to the plywood mill and they made us a four by four foot sheet in their lab. They really encouraged us to go on with it. So we went up to a plywood and panel equipment sales company in Portland and found an old plywood press in the trash heap. They refurbished it and sold it to us for $21,000, half of the $40,000 plus we had been quoted by others. Then we got an old fertilizer mixer from an outfit over by Corvallis and revamped it so we could filter the fines out of the straw and spray resin in and mix it togeth-er.” With this bootstrapped equipment, Meadowood Industries was in business, officially incorporating in 1977.

Leonard is careful to explain that strawboard is an interior, not exterior product and will not replace wood. “All we’re doing is making our wood products go farther. If they hadn’t come up with particleboard, we’d already be out of timber. Now let’s use the straw.”

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A simple list of links to sustainable agriculture resources is available on the web and is maintained by ExperienceBank.com as a public service. The list includes International, U.S. National, U.S. Regional and U.S. State web sites. The consulting group is a sponsor of this web log and the rest of the Practical Peace Makers series.
As the group engages in specialized research for private clients, it does so with the understanding that certain tools developed under contract, such as any refined catalogs of public resources, will be placed in the public domain at the conclusion of the project.

Web Resources for Sustainable Agriculture

AEVIA Reveals the Source

Historical evidence traces an ebb and flow of concern for stewardship and long-term food production over the years. As social, economic and environmental conditions evolved, so did the issues impacting sustainable use of resources. It is not surprising that particularly difficult times and places spawned the most dramatic “learning curves” in terms of both successful and failed practices and systems.

If we listen, voices of these forebears do several things for us. They teach us practical lessons about problems and problem solving. They provide an historical context for understanding contemporary challenges. And they inspire us with their passion. Most importantly, they remind us that history is a continuum. History describes where we have been, defines the aspirations and limitations of our current endeavors, and carries us into the future.

Challenges to a sustainable, global food system that will carry us through the coming years and into the next century are daunting. However, we have access to a storehouse of tools with which to work: a diverse agricultural knowledgebase; interdisciplinary research and expertise; cutting-edge technology applications; and a global communication system with which to share information.

AEVIA Reveals the Source
Direct Link to the “Tracing” Bibliography

Agricultural exports of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are on the rise. The Americas are the world’s leading net exporter of agricultural products, although the hemisphere’s share of world agricultural trade has been declining since 2000 due to a slowdown in its agricultural exports (which grew by 7.1% per year between 2000 and 2005). The Americas mainly export commodities and import increasingly large amounts of processed agricultural products. International prices of agricultural products rose by an average of 6.5% per year between 2002 and 2007, and coffee and sugar prices by over 13%. The outlook for international agricultural trade in the Americas is very good, with world demand expected to increase.

Markets are increasingly demanding and differentiated. There is a sustained, marked evolution in consumer tastes and preferences, to which producers and agribusinesses must adapt. The demand for healthy food is growing, with increasing emphasis on denomination of origin and processed or convenience foods. Two trends are particularly important: the first is the growing demand for guaranteed food quality and safety (in 2005 alone, nearly OS$190 billion in agricultural exports and OS$130 billion in imports had to meet a sanitary or phytosanitary standard of some kind). The second trend is the strong growth of the world market of organic products, with sales reaching around US$30 billion, over 1500 organic products available in the marketplace and an average rate of growth of 9% per year.

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“The survey results demonstrate a tremendous commitment to innovation in the Canadian agriculture and agri-products sector,” said CSTA President Dorothy Murrell. “And the commitment to the future is even stronger.” CSTA members report that by 2012, they plan to be investing $106.4 million in research and development.

The CSTA survey indicates that canola tops company investment in 2007, accounting for 74% of total investment. It is followed by corn at 9% and soybeans at 7%. In 2012 companies expect to invest 75% of their total research dollars in canola research and development; 12% in soybean research and 9% in corn. While CSTA member companies will invest 3.3 million (6% of the total) in cereal research in 2007, that is projected to fall to 2.7 million or 2% of total investments in five years.

“Seed driven innovation is the past, present and future of the Canadian agriculture and agri-products sector,” said Murrell. “Continued and expanded research improves productivity and helps overcome environmental challenges for farmers. It contributes to the health of the environment through the development of crops that make better use of water, fertilizer and that require fewer crop protection products. Seed driven innovation delivers the specific qualities and traits required by end users and processors, and brings health benefits to consumers. CSTA’s members are proud of their accomplishments in the past and are fully committed to the future.”

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Truth, beauty, and goodness are qualities of divinity. At the same time, they are qualities that we can live. They infuse the nitty-gritty of our everyday existence. Living these values does not turn us into God, but they represent what we can comprehend of God. Everyone, whether religious or not, has tasted supreme truth, beauty, and goodness at one time or another.

Consider the alternatives. Who would not prefer a life based on truth? Sensitive to beauty? Dominated by goodness? To cultivate that takes a philosophy of living. How does character grow? It is not particularly a self-conscious and deliberate affair. Why does love grow as we pursue truth, beauty, and goodness?

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Ask nine out of ten people what the purpose of art is, and they will say, “to express yourself.” In fact, art has many purposes, and self-expression is one of the least important. No one could mistake “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “Ave Maria” for expressions of self.

When we look out upon the world, we see two apparently contradictory principles at work: on the one hand, we see a bewildering welter of events seemingly without rhyme or reason; on the other hand, we see beauty, order, and the obedience of nature to laws systematically related to one another in a unity beyond the creations of painter or pianist. A work of art makes sense of its confusing and chaotic materials and gives us hope that the confusion and chaos so distressingly prevalent in the world ultimately make sense. The unity of a work of art reflects the unity of God.

A work of art, like any genuine intellectual activity, is a reflection of God. It is a participation in God. It derives its being from God.

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THE True, the Beautiful, the Good — through all the ages of man’s conscious evolution these words have expressed three great ideals: ideals which have instinctively been recognized as representing the sublime nature and lofty goal of all human endeavour. In epochs earlier than our own there was a deeper knowledge of man’s being and his connection with the universe, when Truth, Beauty and Goodness had more concrete reality than they have in our age of abstraction. Anthroposophy, or Spiritual Science, is able once again to indicate the concrete reality of such ideals, although in so doing it does not always meet with the approval of the times. For in our age men love to be vague and nebulous whenever it is a question of getting beyond the facts of everyday life.

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Goodness, Beauty and Truth, I call this the ancient triad. The classical culture of Greek civilisation called this the triumvirate. It’s interesting to see this triad existed in other civilisations. There is something Trinitarian in the function of these three, existing together as one. They seem to belong together, just like an American BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich.

Goodness, Beauty and Truth are not ultimate realities, they each point beyond themselves to God. C. K. Chesterton put it so well, “God is not a symbol of Goodness: Goodness is a symbol of God.” Each member of this triad is a symbol, a signifier which tells us something about God. They are reminders of him, pointers to him. This is the reason why we should love them.

So, wherever we encounter Goodness, we see something which points to the essence of God himself. We glimpse it in the smile of a stranger. Because God is personal, goodness is also personal. Not some cold code of ethics, this was the Roman ideal of goodness. The same is true of Beauty—every dimension of it is a symbol which points us to God. He is not beautiful, he is Beauty. All that is beautiful in some way reflects him. It acts as a kind of icon which is a pale reflection of who he is.

And in the same manner, all that is true points to God. The English puritans were fond of saying, “All truth meets at the top.” All truth points to the one who is himself the Truth. Truth is not propositions, mere statements of fact, it is also personal.

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