Day 71, 72: CO Pt II: Nilar, SIPS, more green building and NCAR

So, Part 2 of the Colorado blog found YERT at the headquarters of Nilar Batteries, where we got to sit with Neil Puester (founder), Norman Vickers (Pres)and Johan Edin (CEO) and learn about how Nilar is using new technology to make batteries safer, lighter, more compact, and much more economical. Here is Neil on one of the scooters we also got to test drive...they really do zip right along. In the scooters, the Nilar battery pack takes up about half the space of the conventional lead acid battery, and twice the range. Their website states, "Compared to traditional batteries which cannot withstand repeated deep cycling and require periodic replacement, Nilar Membrane batteries should last the life of the scooter essentially making it a maintenance free vehicle." We give them a thumbs up for sustainability and another thumbs up for zippy emissions-free travel. Nilar batteries are also being used for the converted Plug-in Priuses. Prii. (Somebody please help me with the plural.)

We next met green entrepreneurs Robbie Jenkins and Rick Felton near the REI flagship in Denver, and got a sneak peak at their new patented green building technology - insulatory SIPS panels flanked by concrete that can be used all the way down into the foundation providing better structural support and a solution re: thermal mass and insulation working together. So good they plan to build their own homes with it! Go boys, go!

YERT footage is building daily due to generosity and passion of friends old and new who are connecting with us, sharing their homes, their thoughts, their hopes, their maps (Thank you, Jack Cox)...and we are editing it as best we can so it can be shared with all who are interested...

Colorado wouldn't have been complete without the assistance, once again, of magnanimous and fun Eco-broker Stu Galvis, who this time brought YERT to a home he's showing in Solar Village, an affordable green community in Longmont where the streets are named things like Ionosphere and Tenacity, Confidence and Half-Measures Drive and Incorrigible Circle. The condos are solar-powered and finished without the use of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's), meaning that tenants can afford to live and breathe easy, knowing that their chosen abode is not harming them or the environment. I am personally VERY encouraged by this trend in commercial development, since urban sprawl is, I think, evidence of ZERO planning for the future.
p.s. Sierra Club has a really cool Smart Growth demo they call "community transformation examples." Watch as buildings grow upward to share space with stores, bike lanes and light rails appear and trees line the street...they also show people walking, which is maybe most important of all...

After Stu spun off for his next appointment, YERT trekked uphill to the National Center for Atmospheric Research where we were, quite frankly, blown away. First we talked with NCAR scientist and lead author of the latest report from the IPCC (InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Beth Holland. Beth gave us several interesting points to ponder: 1. Our last remaining wild places are our only 'sinks' for the pollution we are emitting on a daily basis. If we lose them, we will have nothing to soak up the Carbon, etc. we are putting into the atmosphere. 2. Acidification of our Oceans is making them unable to help with the carbon load. 3. We have already "purchased" Global Climate change, since atmospheric Carbon does not break down but stays in the atmosphere for a very long time. (The question becomes how many more generations do we want to purchase?) 4. Scientists are incredibly reticent to come to agreements on anything but they are all coming to the same conclusions about global climate change as a very real phenomenon that is being affected by humans. None of the models that the scientists built were able to come up with the kind of climate changes we are seeing EXCEPT when human actions are built into the equation.

We were also welcomed into the office of Lawrence Buja, who showed us the most recent computer data and graphs regarding what scientists know about the earth and present climate change. Like an update to the Inconvenient Truth. And just as compelling. We will share those just as soon as we are able. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to take a look at the scientists' Summary for Policymakers. We're just getting to look at them ourselves - they are FULL of information. There are several because there were several different working groups, working towards slightly different ends. All reports are important and all are available to the public. Final report due November 6th. I am going to go immerse myself in some summary before I hit the hay here in Moab...

Special thanks to Tim Barnes for teaching me that lightning usually starts in the ground...cheers for now...julie