On quantifying the outreach potential[edit source]
CCAT Mobile Energy Operations Wagon (MEOW) energy analysis#Results says:
- "I don't see an appropriate application for the MEOW when looking at the energy side of things, but there are qualitative benefits as an outreach tool that are hard to quantify. People are drawn to the MEOW at festivals and CCAT events, which brings awareness the pending energy crises and the need for us to transcend into renewable energy."
For raising awareness to have objective value, it must translate into personal and/or collective actions which prevent some fossil fuels from being burned which would otherwise have been burned. One method to manifest awareness into action might be to configure the MEOW as a kiosk for selling Renewable Energy Certificates.W When people look at the MEOW and feel inspired, right then may be an opportune time to sign them up to purchase RECs. The opportunity to purchase should be present alongside the MEOW or integrated into it, to harvest the impulse before the potential buyer walks away and forgets. The additionality of the MEOW, then, would be some fraction of the incremental purchase of RECs which would not have occurred in the absence of the MEOW. As a marketing tool it must have convinced someone who was not otherwise going to buy RECs to buy them. One could then credit the MEOW with a share of the carbon savings from the RECs. This would at least indicate the amount of additional RECs one would have to sell to break even on EROI. The MEOW might stimulate other carbon-saving behaviors, but quantifying the additional RECs would put a number on the behavior changes necessary to justify building it. How would this quantity of RECs compare to the quantity of RECs currently purchased by electricity consumers in the locality where the MEOW is displayed?
We really should try to establish metrics for all of our indirect attempts to reduce our fossil fuel burn. Nature mercilessly keeps track via the Keeling Curve.W Merely thinking we have burned less fossil fuel will not impress the melting glaciers and permafrost, the rising sees, the warming oceans and atmosphere. They respond to the amount we actually burn.
Incidentally, I was not surprised to see the negative EROI result for the MEOW. One could guess as much by looking at all that metal supporting the comparatively modest solar collector area. Industrial-scale solar power plants have much less supporting structure relative to collector area, and even they have lower (but positive) EROI than large wind turbines. Large wind turbines do better because most of the swept rotor area is empty space. Also we might compare the MEOW to a typical solar-powered vehicle, which has a much lighter structure using bicycle technology. The low energy density of harvested sunlight requires downscaling of the vehicle technology optimized for energy dense liquid hydrocarbon fuels. --Teratornis 13:30, 17 January 2011 (PST)
- In case that sounded too critical, I applaud this great study. Too many environmental initiatives lack any attempt to quantifiably answer the question, "Are we doing net good?" Urban agriculture comes to mind. I'm all for it, and I've volunteered on an urban agriculture project, but nobody I talked to could begin to estimate whether the project was saving any fossil fuels, let alone how much. It's unfortunate that fewer people feel inspired by actions that make clear and huge differences, such as turning off the heat and living in a cold house. --Teratornis 13:55, 17 January 2011 (PST)