Contents

Cover

Half Title page

Title page

Copyright page

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background

1.2 The Deficiency of Current Engineering Practices

1.3 The Zero Waste Approach

1.4 Scope of the Book

1.5 Organization of the Book

Chapter 2: A Delinearized History of Time and Its Impact on Scientific Cognition

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The Importance of The Continuous Long-term History

2.3 Delinearized History of Time and Knowledge

2.4 A Reflection on The Purposes of Sciences

2.5 About The “New Science” of Time and Motion

2.6 What is New Versus What is Permitted: Science and The Establishment?

2.7 The Nature-Science Approach

2.8 Conclusions

Chapter 3: Towards Modeling of Zero Waste Engineering Processes With Inherent Sustainability

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Development of a Sustainable Model

3.3 Observation of Nature: Importance of Intangibles

3.4 Analogy of Physical Phenomena

3.5 Intangible Cause to Tangible Consequence

3.6 Removable Discontinuities: Phases and Renewability of Materials

3.7 Rebalancing Mass and Energy

3.8 ENERGY: Existing Model

3.9 Conclusions

Chapter 4: The Formulation of a Comprehensive Mass and Energy Balance Equation

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy

4.3 Avalanche Theory

4.4 Aims of Modeling Natural Phenomena

4.5 Simultaneous Characterization of Matter and Energy

4.6 A Discussion

4.7 Conclusions

Chapter 5: Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): The Case for a Science of Intangibles and Zero Waste Engineering

5.1 Introduction

5.2 The Need for the Science of Intangibles

5.3 The Need for Multidimensional Study

5.4 Assessing the overall performance of a process

5.5 Facts about Honey and the Science of Intangibles

5.6 The Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy

5.7 CCD In Relation to Science of Tangibles

5.8 Possible Causes of CCD

5.9 Nature Science Approach and Discussion

5.10 A New Approach to Product Characterization

5.11 A Discussion

5.12 Conclusions

Chapter 6: Zero Waste Lifestyle with Inherently Sustainable Technologies

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Energy from Kitchen Waste and Sewage

6.3 Utilization of Produced Waste in a Desalination Plant

6.4 Solar Aquatic Process to Purify Desalinated/Waste Water

6.5 Direct Use of Solar Energy

6.6 Sustainability Analysis

6.6 Conclusions

Chapter 7: A Novel Sustainable Combined Heating/Cooling/Refrigeration System

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Einstein Refrigeration Cycle

7.3 Thermodynamic Model and the Energy Requirement of the Cycle

7.4 Solar Cooler and Heat Engine

7.5 Actual Coefficient of Performance (COP) Calculation

7.6 Absorption Refrigeration System

7.7 Calculation of Global Efficiency

7.8 Solar Energy Utilization in the Refrigeration Cycle

7.9 The New System

7.10 Pathway Analysis

7.11 Sustainability Analysis

7.12 Conclusions

Chapter 8: A Zero Waste Design for Direct Usage of Solar Energy

8.1 Introduction

8.2 The Prototype

8.3 Results and Discussion of Parabolic Solar Technology

8.4 Conclusions

Chapter 9: Investigation of Vegetable Oil as the Thermal Fluid in a Parabolic Solar Collector

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Experimental Setup and Procedures

9.4 Results and Discussion

9.5 Conclusions

Chapter 10: The Potential of Biogas in the Zero Waste Mode in the Cold-Climate Environment

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Background

10.3 Biogas Fermentation

10.4 Factors Involved in Anaerobic Digestion

10.5 Heath and Environmental Issue

10.6 Digester in Cold Countries

10.7 Experimental Setup and Procedures

10.8 Discussion

10.9 Conclusions

Chapter 11: The New Synthesis: Application of All Natural Materials for Engineering Applications

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Metal Waste Removal with Natural Materials

11.3 Natural Materials as Bonding Agents

11.4 Selection of Adhesives

11.5 Conclusions

Chapter 12: Sustainability of Nuclear Energy

12.1 Summary

12.2 Introduction

12.3 Energy Demand in Emerging Economies and Nuclear Power

12.4 Nuclear Energy Options

12.5 Status of Global Nuclear Energy Development

12.6 Nuclear Research Reactors

12.7 Global Estimated Uranium Resources

12.8 Nuclear Reactor Technologies

12.9 Sustainability of Nuclear Energy

12.10 Nuclear Energy and Global Warming

12.11 Global Efficiency of Nuclear Energy

12.12 Energy from Nuclear Fusion

12.13 Some Considerations

12.14 Conclusions

Chapter 13: High Temperature Reactors for Hydrogen Production

13.1 Summary

13.2 Introduction

13.3 IS Process

13.4 Solar Energy for High Temperature Reactor

13.5 Sustainability of the Process

13.6 Conclusions

Chapter 14: Economic Assessment of Zero Waste Engineering

14.1 Introduction

14.2 Delinearized history of Modern Age

14.3 Insufficiency of conventional economics models

14.4 The New Synthesis

14.5 The new investment model, conforming to the Information Age

14.6 Economics of Zero waste engineering projects

14.7 Conclusions

Chapter 15: Conclusions and Recommendations

15.1 Conclusions

Reference

Index

Zero Waste Engineering

Scrivener Publishing
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Salem, MA 01970

Scrivener Publishing Collections Editors

James E. R. Couper

Richard Erdlac

Norman Lieberman

W. Kent Muhlbauer

S. A. Sherif

Ken Dragoon

Rafiq Islam

Peter Martin

Andrew Y. C. Nee

James G. Speight

Publishers at Scrivener

Martin Scrivener (martin@scrivenerpublishing.com)

Phillip Carmical (pcarmical@scrivenerpublishing.com)

Copyright © 2012 by Scrivener Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Co-published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey, and Scrivener Publishing LLC, Salem, Massachusetts.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Islam, Rafiqul, 1959-
Zero waste engineering / M. Rafiqul Islam.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-62604-7
1. Waste minimization. I. Title.
TD793.9.I85 2012
628.4—dc23
2011043326
ISBN 978-0-470-62604-7

Preface

The modern age is synonymous with wasting habits. Nature, however, does not produce any waste. The fundamental notion that mass cannot be created or destroyed dictates that only the transformation of materials from one phase to another phase takes place. However, the mass balance alone does not guarantee zero waste. Nature is perfect, which means it operates at 100% efficiency. This postulate necessitates that any product that is the outcome of a natural process must be entirely usable by some other process, which in turn would result into products that are suitable as inputs to the process. A natural system is 100% recyclable and therefore has net zero waste. Such a process will renew zero waste as long as each component of the overall process also operates along the lines of zero waste.

The information age offers a unique opportunity for 1) transparency (arising from monitoring in space and time); 2) infinite productivity (due to inclusion of intangibles, zero waste, and transparency); and 3) custom-designed solutions (due to transparency and infinite productivity). When one compares these features with the essential features of Nature, viz., dynamic, unique, and strictly non-linear, one appreciates that the information age has given us an opportunity to emulate nature. This book outlines how to develop a zero waste way of living that follows natural pathways that are surmised to be truly sustainable. Initially, it is established that New Science is insufficient to account for natural phenomena. Mathematical models are developed in order to provide one with the basis of a truly sustainable process. A new mass and energy balance consideration amounted to a paradigm shift in designing environmentally sustainable technologies for both energy and materials applications. The resulting mathematical models can distinguish between sustainable and unsustainable energy and material resources. Also, processes that would result into mass and energy pollution can be distinguished from processes that would result into greening of the environment.

This book provides a guideline to model a truly sustainable lifestyle. A mathematical model is proposed that recasts the mass and energy balance equations in such a way that both energy and mass sources are characterized based on their sustainability. As applications, direct solar energy usage, sustainable desalination and biological waste conversion into value-added products are studied. This book analyzes the pathways of different existing systems and identifies efficient sustainable solutions with maximum utilization of mass and energy

A number of novel designs, including biomass energy, solar energy, desalination processes associated with solar aquatic water treatment processes, and natural adsorbent and adhesives, are presented. Each of these processes fulfills the scientific sustainability criterion.

In this book, an integrated loop system was investigated for one hundred apartment buildings. The system includes an anaerobic digester, which is the key unit of the integrated process. This book emphasizes the use of solar energy directly, such as direct heating or cooling through absorption-based refrigeration units.

This book has introduced a new way to calculate coefficient of performance (COP) following the true pathway to compare different cooling systems. Solar absorption refrigeration/cooling/heating systems have been developed with some modification of Einstein’s absorption refrigeration system. This book suggests that the modification of the fin structure of a solar collector can increase the solar absorption efficiency from 41% to 77.8%. A major experimental finding of this study is to introduce vegetable oil use as a solar heat transfer oil.

In continuing with the theme of sustainable products, this book introduces an array of adsorbents and adhesives, derived from natural sources. Several natural adsorbents were found attractive sustainable solutions to remove lead from aqueous waste streams. This is followed by an economic evaluation and a sustainability analysis in order to determine feasibility of the whole zero waste concept.

Before the disastrous tsunami off the coast of Japan in 2011, nuclear energy was being promoted as a clean source of energy. This myth is deconstructed in this book that presents a thorough sustainability study of nuclear energy. This is followed by the possible “greening” of high temperature gas reactors (HTGR) that have generated renewed interest in recent years.

Finally, an economic analysis technique is presented. This technique addresses the short-comings of current economic models and shows how zero waste engineering can be best assessed with new approaches.

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background

The modern age is synonymous with waste generation. In industrialized countries, there is a direct correlation between the standard of living and generation of waste (McBean et al., 1995). However, it is becoming increasingly clear that such a lifestyle is not sustainable (Khan and Islam, 2007a). Issues ranging from global warming to toxic shock continue to confirm that the 3Rs (reduction, reuse, recycling) approach is not sufficient and an alternate approach to technology development must be introduced.

It is well known that nature produces no waste. The fundamental notion that matter cannot be created or destroyed dictates that only the transformation of materials from one phase to another phase can take place. However, the conservation of mass alone does not guarantee zero waste. Human intervention with natural processes can alter 100% of the recyclic nature of matter. Only natural processes operate in a zero waste mode, meaning that any product that is the outcome of a natural process must be entirely usable by some other process, which in turn would result in a product that is suitable as an input to the first process. Such a process will remain zero waste as long as each component of the overall process also operates within the principle of zero waste. That is why the emulation of nature is a necessary and sufficient condition that can lead us towards a truly sustainable lifestyle.

In this process, it is of the utmost importance to understand the nature of Nature. Khan and Islam (2007a) described the characteristic features of Nature. This is listed in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Typical features of natural processes as compared to the claims of artificial processes (reproduced from Khan and Islam, 2007a).

Nature (Δt → ∞) (Real) | Artificial (Δt → 0) (Aphenomenal)
Complex | Simple
Chaotic | Steady, periodic, or quasi-periodic
Unpredictable | Predictable
Unique (every component is different) | Non-unique, self similar
Productive | Reproductive
Non-symmetric | Symmetric
Non-uniform | Uniform
Heterogeneous, diverse | Homogeneous
Internal | External
Anisotropic | Isotropic
Bottom-up | Top-down
Multifunctional | Single-functional
Dynamic | Static
Irreversible | Reversible
Open system | Closed system
True | False
Self healing | Self destructive
Nonlinear | Linear
Multi-dimensional | Unidimensional
Infinite degree of freedom | Finite degree of freedom
Non-trainable | Trainable
Infinite | Finite
Intangible | Tangible
Open | Closed
Flexible | Inflexible/rigid

With the first premise of ‘Nature is perfect’, any technology that conflicts with natural traits will not be sustainable. Table 1.2 shows the contrast between a sustainable process and an unsustainable process. Anytime an artificial scheme is implemented, the overall process is bound to be unsustainable, in which the original intention of the process will never be achieved (beyond δt = 0). This process starts with the intention. If the intention is natural (real), and the process that is followed is natural (real), only then the stated objective will be achieved. By emulating nature (from source, i.e., intention to the process, i.e., the pathway), this approach of obliquity will indeed make sure all objectives, short-term or long-term will be achieved.

Table 1.2 The true difference between sustainable and unsustainable processes (reproduced from Khan and Islam, 2007a).

Sustainable (Natural) | Unsustainable (Artificial)
Progressive/youth measured by the rate of change | Non-progressive/resists change
Unlimited adaptability and flexibility | Zero adaptability and inflexible
Increasingly self evident with time | Increasingly difficult to cover up aphenomenal source
100% efficient | Efficiency approaches zero as processing is increased
Can never be proven to be unsustainable | Unsustainability unravels itself with time

For a process to be environmentally sustainable, it has to be natural. This means the fundamental features of natural processes as outlined above (in Tables 1.1 and 1.2) are not violated. This is the only technology development mode that can assure sustainability.

1.2 The Deficiency of Current Engineering Practices

Non-renewable energy sources are predominantly being used today. Nearly 90% of today’s energy is supplied by oil, gas, and coal (Salameh, 2003). The burning of fossil fuel accounts for more than 100 times greater dependence than the energy generated through renewable sources (solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energy). However, fossil fuels are limited. According to the present consumption level, known reserves for coal, oil, gas and nuclear correspond to a duration of the order of 230, 45, 63 and 54 years, respectively (Rubbia, 2006). Moreover, today’s atmospheric pollution is derived from their combustion that produces many toxic by-products, the most devastating being plastics (Khan et al., 2007c). In addition, most existing processes are energy inefficient, which is why much attention is needed to increase energy efficiency. Moreover, past chemical engineering practices led to the generation of extremely high volumes of wastes, which pose serious long-term problems due to the presence of toxic materials. However, most of the technologies in use today are not beneficial to living beings. Even after extensive development of different technologies from decade to decade, it is evident that the world is becoming a container of toxic materials and is continuously losing its healthy atmosphere. That is why it is necessary to develop truly sustainable technology for mankind.

1.3 The Zero Waste Approach

In order to address the aforementioned problem, the main objective of this book is to deconstruct the aphenomenal assumptions behind numerous ‘laws’ and numerical solution schemes that are touted as the only solutions to engineering problems and to develop a design evaluation framework that combines energy technologies with mass and energy efficient techniques to create a new generation of zero waste mass and energy efficient life styles. In an ideal, zero waste scheme, the products and by-products of one process are used for another process (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Schematic of a zero waste energy and mass consumption scheme.

The process involves a number of novel designs, including biomass energy, solar energy (refrigeration and other applications), a desalination process, a solar aquatic water treatment system, and a number of useful products derived from natural sources. In this study, various approaches are advanced that would reposition all energy technologies in a zero waste mode. The overall goal is to devise new solutions that are convergent over long periods of time so that the natural ecosystem is not disturbed.

1.4 Scope of the Book

As the need for environmentally safe solutions to chemical engineering problems arise, natural alternatives to existing systems are being studied extensively. The use of waste and naturally occurring elements as potentially valuable assets help move this process in the right direction. This process brings in triple dividends, namely, reuse of waste materials (waste elimination), reduction of environmental degradation by avoiding artificial additives, and an economic boon of waste conversion (Zatzman and Islam, 2007b). Furthermore, this scheme decreases the ever-increasing demand for fossil fuel and reduces dependency on foreign natural resources. Finally, the technology can be coupled with fossil fuel production and consumption in order to create synergy and ‘greening’ of the fossil fuel usage (Vaziri et al., 2007). There is a definite possibility of expanding production and consumption for human needs on the basis of a net-zero waste of mass or energy, either at the input or output level of any process. Following this, it becomes feasible to propose approaches to zero waste living in an urban setting, including processing and regeneration of solids, liquids and gases.

1.5 Organization of the Book

Chapter 1 introduces the book and its layout. This chapter also outlines the problem statements, objectives, scope and the content of the book.

Chapter 2 reviews the development of a scientific approach that makes it possible to incorporate intangible elements during the engineering analysis of a process. This chapter points out unexpected or hitherto unconsidered strengths of certain alternative approaches, long buried or dismissed either as religious hocuspocus or “uncivilized”, i.e., non-European in origin. This chapter examines the first premise of all major theories and ‘laws’ that were introduced in the so-called ‘New Science’ of post-Renaissance Europe and thenceforth to the rest of the world. This section also deconstructs the spurious assumptions behind numerous ‘laws’ and numerical solution schemes that are touted as the only solutions to engineering problems.

Chapter 3 provides one with a guideline for sustainability using mass and energy balance that is essential to modeling sustainable engineering practices. In this chapter, a detailed analysis of different features of sustainability is presented in order to understand the importance of using the concept of sustainability in every technology development model. This is followed by the presentation of a new theory on combined mass and energy balance. The potential application of the new theory to nano technology is discussed. Materials are characterized based on their sustainability, thereby making it easy to determine the long-term outcome of a particular technology. This equation is solved for a number of cases and is shown to be successful in discerning between various natural and artificial sources of mass and energy.

Chapter 5 presents a case study of a recently identified crisis, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Serious concerns about the sustainability of the modern lifestyle have emerged ever since the outbreak of the CCD syndrome. This chapter presents a study of this problem and highlights the need for addressing the causes rather than the symptoms - a modus operandi that has become synonymous with post-renaissance world order. This chapter also shows that the so-called New Science is incapable of deciphering the causes of the CCD crisis. Finally, this chapter provides one with a guideline for determining root causes of such crisises and offers solutions that would pre-empt future occurrence of these crisises. Finally, Chapter 5 presents a framework for the science of intangibles, showing that the incorporation of intangible elements is necessary as a precondition for the development of truly sustainable technologies.

The content of Chapters 3 through 5 opens up the scope to model a truly sustainable life-style. Chapters 6 and 7 follow up on this concept and elucidate a guideline of ‘zero waste sustainable living’, using several sustainable technologies. The process involves a number of novel designs, including biomass energy, solar energy (refrigeration and other applications) and a desalination process.

One of the important tools for sustainable living is to maximize the utilization of solar energy, which is indeed the only true source of energy suitable for the planet earth. However, indirect usage of solar energy, for instance, the use of photovoltaics, can reduce both the efficiency and the quality of solar energy. It is important to determine the efficiency of a proposed system. Chapter 6 introduces a novel solar absorption cooling system that incorporates Einstein’s absorption refrigeration system. In order to avoid difficulties associated with conventional analysis that are only applicable to non-zero waste schemes, this section introduces a new method for calculating the coefficient of performance (COP) of a cooling system. With the help of this revised COP, it is shown that the COP of absorption refrigeration system is higher than that of a vapor compression refrigeration system. This section also deals with energy characterization for choosing the sustainable energy applications.

Some experimental results are necessary to support some of the concepts presented in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 presents experimental findings of a number of parameters associated with a solar parabolic collection. This parabolic collector uses vegetable oil as a thermal oil. This chapter introduces a new design of a solar collector with some significant improvements of the fin structure that increases the efficiency of the collector. This chapter also provides one with an alternative to inherently toxic synthetic thermal oil that is commonly used in engineering applications.

The zero waste concept, both in mass and energy, are further consolidated in Chapter 10. In this chapter, the performance of biogas production from kitchen wastes in anaerobic digesters is presented. Experiments were conducted under low to moderate temperatures with and without any bacterial inoculums. In all experiments, the addition of any synthetic material or modified microorganisms was avoided. This information is useful to design a ‘zero waste life style’.

A zero waste lifestyle must accompany a sustainable water purification technique. Chapter 11 shows an experimental example of purifying waste water using natural materials, thereby preserving the true sustainability of the process. In this chapter, mango stone is used to adsorb lead from waste water, offering a technique for the reduction of heavy metal from an aqueous stream. Different experimental criteria are shown to find out its applicability and usefulness. This technique offers a sustainable means of decontaminating water without resorting to potentially toxic adsorption materials (e.g. synthetic resins) or questionable irradiation processes (e.g. UV, ozonation).

In this book, a number of ways are sought to maximize the utilization of sustainable technologies. Any sustainable lifestyle must accompany the use of non-toxic materials for daily activities. The use of synthetic products can severely affect our ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The latter (does he mean later or latter?) section of Chapter 11 identifies the utilization of synthetic adhesives in our day to day lives in various ways and points out their long term detrimental effects. This chapter also provides a search of natural adhesives to replace detrimental synthetic adhesives. A number of naturally occurring products are mixed together and their adhesive properties are investigated. This chapter finally introduces a number of solutions as alternatives to synthetic adhesives and suggests their uses in different applications. Even though these products are immediately useful for environmentally sensitive people, they offer tremendous potential for future mass production and common use for everyone.

Recently, nuclear energy has been promoted as the new ‘clean’ source of energy and even oil rich countries are being told to brace for a nuclear surge. Chapter 12 studies the sustainability of nuclear energy. Chapter 13 analyzes the use of solar energy in the thermochemical reactor (a very high temperature reactor) which will produce hydrogen from water to utilize in hydrogen fuel cells. This chapter suggests a number of solutions for high temperature reactors to make those reactors efficient following a sustainable path.

This book introduces a paradigm shift in engineering analysis. Any engineering analysis is not complete without a study of economical factors that would dictate feasibility of a newly proposed scheme. Such investigation, however, must accompany a new approach as the conventional economic analysis is not suitable for study of truly sustainable (e.g. zero waste) techniques (Zatzman and Islam, 2007b). Chapter 14 introduces a new approach to comprehensive economic analysis, which includes long-term considerations that are only captured through intangible elements. This chapter proposes a guideline of economic evaluations that will identify the best processes among different processes for both short-term and long-term applications. As an example, this chapter evaluates the merit of a sustainable technology that is applied within the framework of renewable energy sources.

Conclusions are made in Chapter 15. This is followed by 50-plus pages of comprehensive lists of references in Chapter 16.

Chapter 2

A Delinearized History of Time and Its Impact on Scientific Cognition

2.1 Introduction

The modern age has been characterized as being both a time of “technological disaster” (as per Nobel Laureate Chemist, Robert Curl), and of “scientific miracles” (as the most predominant theme of modern education). Numerous debates break out every day, resulting in the formation of various schools of thoughts, often settling for “agreeing to disagree”. At the end, little more than band-aid solutions are offered in order to “delay the symptoms” of any ill-effects of the current technology developments. This modus operandi is not conducive to knowledge and cannot be utilized to lead the current civilization out of the misery that it faces, as is evident in all sectors of life. In this regard, the information age offers us a unique opportunity in the form of 1) transparency (arising from monitoring space and time); 2) infinite productivity (due to inclusion of intangibles, zero waste, and transparency); and 3) custom-designed solutions (due to transparency and infinite productivity). When one compares these features with the essential features of Nature, viz., dynamic, unique, and strictly non-linear, one appreciates that the information age has given us an opportunity to emulate nature. This gives us hope of correctly modelling effects of man-made activities on the global ecosystem. In our earlier work (Islam et al., 2010 Chhetri and Islam, 2008), we identified that almost all the theories and “laws” of the modern age have spurious assumptions behind them. It was also established that New Science is insufficient to account for natural phenomena, thereby making it impossible to design processes that are inherently sustainable unless a narrow definition of sustainability is used. As a remedy to this impasse, it was proposed that a true paradigm shift be applied to sustainability studies, starting from fundamental theories and mathematical models. The resulting mathematical models can distinguish between sustainable and unsustainable energy and material resources. Also, processes that would result in mass and energy pollution, could be distinguished from processes that would result in more of a greening of the environment. With this new theory, one can determine conclusively the practices that need to be avoided.

At present, numerous debates break out in favor and against any technology that is proposed. Both sides use New Science to make their points, without questioning the validity of the “laws” and theories of New Science. In this book, the premises behind all of these laws and theories are challenged, before entering into any discussion of sustainable technology development. The most prominent debate takes place in the context of global warming. In this debate, the recent groundbreaking work of Chilingar and his associates (Sorokthin , 2007), offers the first scientific discourse. However, the engineering applications lead to several conclusions that support the status quo, drawing sharp criticism from the sponsors of “alternate energy” sources. Ironically, scientists who promoted that “chemicals are chemicals”, meaning carbon dioxide is independent of the sources or the pathways, are the same ones that have become the most ardent proponents of the “carbon dioxide from petroleum is evil” mantra. How could this be? If carbon dioxide is the essence of photosynthesis that is needed for the survival of plants that themselves are needed for sustaining the entire ecosystem, how could the same carbon dioxide be held responsible for “destroying the planet”? No amount of doctrinal sermon can explain these contradictions, particularly as the same group, which promotes nuclear as “clean” energy, considers genetically modified, chemical fertilizers and pesticide infested crops derivatives processed through toxic means as “renewable”. This same group also proclaims that electricity collected with toxic silicon photovoltaics and stored with even more toxic batteries –all to be utilized through the most toxic “white light”—as sustainable. In the past, the same logic has been used in the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” culture that saw the dominance of artificial fat (transfat) over real fat (saturated fat) as geared toward creating a similar crisis involving water (CBC, Dec. 19, 2008; Icenhower, 2006). The addiction to artificial continues.

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