Beyond Zero Emission

On the last Saturday, I had a chance to meet some people from BZE, who introduced me to an idea of compiling a solution guide to our current climate woe. 

The problem with current approach to climate change is that when face with a daunting task, politicians immediately switch to business-as-usual mode and hence nothing is done. They end up doing little enough to win the next election, but in this case, it is often too little to have meaningful desirable outcome. One example comes to my mind, and that is Kevin's soft target of 5% emission reduction compared to 2000 level by 2020. 

So, if the government lacks a political will to do something we feel deeply about, what do we do? We must provide them with a step-by-step solution. By dividing emission target (which I like 100% reduction by 2020) into smaller set of achievable targets, we can hope to eliminate an initial shock. In doing so, BZE believes that it will provide a framework, which will allow us

1. to convince the government into action, as we have specific achievable short-term projects, which bureaucrats understand;
2. to initiate discussion among environmental organisations towards solutions; and
3. to inform the public and give them hope. 

Convinced by this idea and partly because I have enough of ranting, I decided to join the fun and contribute my crazy ideas. So, feel free to join in at BZE. They have meeting every fortnight. 

Cool conceptual gadgets

Core77 is currently running a design competition for the best "green" gadget. Now, I support the idea that we should search for more innovative design, but I also like to point out there are number of people who misunderstand the real meaning of the word "green". 

Misunderstanding is clearly shown through a number of competing designs. Most relies on the similar idea that if I use cardboard instead of metal, then my design is green. I like to point out that while paper maybe recyclable, but we can't recycle the same paper indefinitely. Further, the process of paper recycling is in fact quite polluting, in particular energy-intensive process is required to clean the waste effluence from the plant. 

One thing that I notice is a lack of imagination. Having said this, there are some interesting concepts:

1. RITI Printer: This is an ingenious idea that uses coffee dregs as an alternative printing ink to normal ink which is toxic and difficult to refill. By moving the ink cartridge left and right, the printer will inscribe the desired image onto the paper. So, it doesn't even require electrical energy apart from when it tries to connect with the computer. If you don't have many pages to print, I think this is one cool little gadget to have. The only drawback to most people is the coffee smell on your paper. However, a math paper infused in smell of coffee is ideal for a mathematician wanabe.
   
   
   
   
   
2.  Zeer: This is a simple yet effective idea that exists for a long time. Quoted by the designer, Nigerian has developed the technique for storing vegetable and fruit. It uses the fact that when water evaporates it absorbs the energy and thus lowering the surrounding temperature. Apparently, a prototype has been tested and found that temperature of 10C can be maintained. As a result, vegetable and fruit can be kept at optimal temperature (normally vegetable should not be kept at 4C in conventional fridge). The drawback of Zeer is that it cannot keep meat. Hence, we still need a fridge, but probably a smaller one.

Australian train...

In the last month, I had privilege to "enjoy" Australian train. The trip was simple: I needed to travel to Wollongong for AMSI summer school. 

To Wollongong:

Interestingly, it was cheaper for me to travel to Sydney first before backtracking down south to Wollongong. Then, it made some sort of sense. Countrylink (the train operator) was having a promotion on the trip between Melbourne and Sydney. This was fine with me, since I wouldn't mind meeting my friend in Sydney. 

Waiting for the train on the platform at Spencer st Station (I refuse to call it Southern Cross), the first impression I get wasn't good. The train was delayed by at least an hour. Now, instead of going faster, the operator decided to go slower. In combination with the track work between Campbelltown and Moss Vale, the train had to do a detour through Wollongong!!! 

Now, I don't know the people who designed the program, but it seems illogical that the train passed through Wollongong, but it refused to stop there. Given that they knew in advance that there will be a track work there and still refused to adapt the program to the new situation, this clearly demonstrates the mentality of those involved in transportation business.  

Ok, I was a little too critical on the fact that I arrived in Sydney three hours late. Nonetheless, I should point out that I never heard of European train that arrives at their destination three hours late.  

Never mind, I should also mention the condition on the train. This should be more of amusing incident rather than anything else. It turns out that the air condition in the compartment that I was allocated was broken. I have my suspicion that its thermostat was broken, which means the machine just kept pumping cold air into the carriage. When I found out about this, it was already in the morning so I decided to be manly (yeah, that's right. It is about a boy trying to be a man) and braved the cold. In any case, that was fun. 

But the return trip was better. 

From Wollongong:

The journey started at 17:20 on Friday 6th. I caught a coach from Wollongong, which arrived in Moss Vale by 19:20. That wasn't too bad a trip despite the fact the train was diverted through Wollongong anyway. Now, here come my problem with the system. On the schedule, if the train was on time, it will arrive at 22:30. Now, I don't know about anyone else but I would assume that during timetable designing process, they would make sure that the commuters don't have to wait three hours for their train. 

Anyhow, that wasn't too bad if the train was on time. Luckily, I got a chance for an ultimate waiting experience in my life. The train ended up three hours late. On the plus side, I managed to read twenty pages of math book (for comparison purpose, this is equivalent to reading 100 pages of any novel.), completed most of math problem I set for myself and still had about an hour left to test my mental strength after I was too exhaust from math. 

The rest of the trip was far from incident-free. I was waken up at 6am to be dropped off at Albury, and forced to catch a coach from there back to Melbourne. I arrived at Spencer st at 11am, which concluded 17:40 hour trip (compare to about 8 hours driving). The best part is that Saturday 7th was the hottest day on record in Melbourne. Someone also told me that apparently on that day Melbourne was the hottest city in the world. 

So, am I happy with train in Australia? Well, they will always continue to surprise me. But sorry, I will take a bus next time.....