Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken & Amory Lovins & L. Hunter Lovins

Author:Paul Hawken & Amory Lovins & L. Hunter Lovins [Hawken, Paul & Lovins, Amory & Lovins, L. Hunter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics, General, economics, BUS069000
ISBN: 9780316031530
Google: rcllruPmBr8C
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2007-10-15T00:23:27.332523+00:00

FARM-GROWN EFFICIENCY

Resource productivity on the farm—the first principle of natural capitalism, and the easiest to apply—comes from many small, simple applications of farmers’ native inventiveness, as a few examples show. For instance, crop-drying, which is often needed to keep crops from mildewing, uses about 5 percent of direct U.S. on-farm energy. But in Kansas City, Kansas, in the 1980s the late Bill Ward invented a zero-energy way to dry grain in the silo.38 He simply bored a hole in the top of the structure, atop which a hollow shaft connects into the hollow blades of a small windmill. As the prairie wind spins the blades, centrifugal force slings the air out the holes at the ends of them. The resulting vacuum pulls a slow, steady draft of air up through the grain from small, screened vents at the bottom of the silo. This gradually dries the grain—and evaporatively cools it, making any insects infesting it too sluggish to move and eat. This in turn means that no chemicals are needed to prevent mold or kill bugs.39 Ward’s process not only saves chemical costs but also keeps organically grown grain uncontaminated so it can fetch a premium price.

Many do-it-yourselfers have built effective solar hot-air dryers for fruits and vegetables, grains, herbs, and even lumber. But since crops are mostly water and often perishable, it may make more sense to bring the solar dryer directly to the fields. In the 1980s, Marcello Cabus, a Hispanic entrepreneur in Delta, Colorado, developed a semitrailer that unfolded into a complete fruit-and vegetable-processing and -drying plant. He’d drive it to any farm that had a distressed crop—perhaps ripe fruit that couldn’t be gotten to market quite in time or couldn’t command the desired price. The crop would be washed, peeled, sliced, and given any other necessary preparation. Spread on shallow racks and bathed in solar-heated rising air, the produce would dry to an exceptional quality. Backpackers, snackers, families who want to store food at home for emergencies, and people allergic to common sulfur-based preservatives—solar-air-dried food needs none—would pay high prices for such quality produce. And in countries like Korea, challenged to preserve nourishing food for the harsh winters, the method could greatly improve both farm income and public health.

The same innovations that save energy in houses can often be applied to livestock barns, too. The physical principles are the same; only the architecture and the occupants differ. Lighting chicken houses with compact fluorescent lamps instead of incandescents can increase a North Carolina chicken farmer’s income by one-fourth. It even slightly increases egg production, perhaps by reducing overheating. Using big, slow fans instead of small, fast ones makes less noise, saves most of the fans’ energy, and improves their reliability. Air-to-air heat exchangers can cleanly recover into fresh air 90-plus percent of the heat or coolth that would otherwise be lost in ventilation air. Insulation, weatherstripping, building orientation, and even simply making the roof the right color can greatly improve indoor comfort in a barn just as in a passive-solar house.

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