[ExI] Carbon

spike spike66 at att.net
Thu Dec 24 18:40:15 UTC 2009


 > ...On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
> ...
> 
> > We already build our homes mostly of carbon...
> 
> US maybe, in other locations people like nonorganics. 
> Geopolymers in form of mineral foams can be quite cheap and 
> low-carbon...

Well, how ungreen of those other locations.  By building American homes of
carbon, we prevent that carbon from going into the atmosphere in the form of
CO2.  

For a single digit BOTEC, I would estimate the amount of CO2 we exhale and
defecate every day on the order of about a kilo, then estimate the size of
the woodpile needed to build an American prole's home, oh about 10 or more
cubic meters, close enough to 10,000 kg of wood, so the typical American
prole ties up 30 years worth of her exhalations and defecations merely by
virtue of living in an American house.

Eskimos on the other hand build their homes of ice and snow (the igloo
thing) which contributes exactly nothing to sequestering carbon in a
non-greenhouse-promoting form.  How white of those non-greenist eskimos.  On
the other hand, the eskimos' solid waste is less likely to be converted to
CO2 by aquatic microbeasts at the waste treatment plant, so they contribute
to sequestering carbon in the form of solidly frozen fecal matter.
Furthermore, they occasionally slay whales, which carry an enormous carbon
finprint.  But I digress. 

By building American homes of carbon, we also create and nurture a market
for wood products, encouraging the diversion of water out of rivers to
otherwise dry and fallow ground, to grow commercial forests, further
greenifying the planet. 
 
> > better-organized carbon, it would take far less than we 
> currently use. Eugen* Leitl ...

But we want to *use* more carbon, if we use it in that form.

spike






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