Lesson on TATAKalikasan Ateneo de Manila University
87.9 FM Radyo Katipunan, 11 to 12 a,m, Thursday May 30, 2024
Renewable Energy from Wastes
Dr Abe V RotorCo-Host with Fr JM Manzano, SJ and Prof Emoy Rodolfo AdMU
with special guests from Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan:
Dr Shielyn S Paclijan, and Dr Maria Theresa Isla-Cabaraban
Part 1 - Sustainable Farm Productivity through Recycling
Part 2 - Energy shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy
Part 3 - Energy Direct from Plants
Part 4 - Practical Composting
Part 5 - Don't throw away rice hull or "ipa."
Part 6 - 50 Tips to Save Energy
I. Introduction
Everything on earth and in the universe undergoes a cycle, a beginning and an end, and in between a period of growth, stability and senescence. Yet no cycle could succeed unless it is part of an interrelationship with and among other cycles in the biological and physical world, each lending a vital role aimed at a holistic and perpetual oneness apparently designed by an unknown hand.
Cycle and recycle is the principle key to homeostasis that maintains the integrity of the biosphere, and the whole Planet Earth . Everything is tuned to a cycle - the passing of seasons, alternation of generations, food web and food chain, “natural” clocks, ecosystem seres, etc. And none of these can work without being part of a complex pattern of inter-relationships.
II. Recycle Farm Wastes
1. The moist common materials for composting in the farm are rice straw, peanut and mungo hay, banana stalk, corn stover, Azolla, ipil-ipil, wood and coconut shavings, livestock wastes and chicken droppings, pond scum, water lily and weeds.
2. Actually we get so little of the fertilizer value we put into a crop as shown by this typical fertilizer efficiencies.
3. There are more nutrients removed from the soil that go into the straw than the grain. Here is a comparison. (Grain versus straw, kg nutrient/MT)
4. Rice straw contains 85-90 percent of potassium (K) of the biomass. Thus much greater amounts of K must be applied to maintain soil supply where straw is removed.
5. Small Water Impounding Projects (SWIP) are popular in many parts of the world where water is seasonal. Bigger ones can even generate electricity for locality.
6. Recycle crop residues to raise livestock. Our Philippine carabao is perhaps the most efficient feed converter. Of the ruminant animals it has a digestive system that can extract sufficient nutrients from roughage, enabling them to survive long dry spells.
7. Recycling with poultry makes use of farm by-products such as rice and corn bran, and reduces wastage in crops. Upgraded native chicken are more resistant than pure breeds, and are more resistant to pest and unfavorable weather. These chickens thrive on palay and corn; they forage in the filed, and glean on leftovers. They are therefore, more economical to produce, tastier and free of antibiotic residues and artificial growth hormones.
8. Recycling with goats makes use of farm by-products and plants. Practically anything that grows in the field is food for goats, be it weed or crop. Thus they are very destructive to plants that they must be restrained in pens or tethered.
9. Recycle wastes from market and kitchen Vegetable trimmings, and waste from fish and animals require efficient collection, segregation and processing into biogas and organic fertilizer.
10. Recycling leads to the development of many products. Fruits in season that otherwise go to waste are made into table wine of different flavors. Typhoon or drought affected sugarcane make excellent natural vinegar and molasses.
11. Another recycling project is vermiculture, the culture of earthworms for game fishing and protein supplement in feeds. Earthworm casting are excellent soil additives and conditioners for ornamentals and garden crops.
12. Hydroponics or soiless culture of crops, and organic farming are becoming popular worldwide. Strict quality control is required, insuring consumers that the products were not treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and should not contain a trace of toxic metals, radiation and dangerous contaminants.
13. Don’t throw away Nature’s Gifts, but tap them instead. Examples: Lantana camara as natural pesticide; oregano as natural medicine cough and sore throat; chichirica as drug against cancer; pandan as spice and condiment; eucalyptus as liniment and cold drops; bunga de China for toothpaste, lagundi for fever and flu. Many of these plants are taken for granted and many of them are considered weeds.
How to make compost with wild sunflower
Wild Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) has enzymes that cuts down composting time to half or third of the usual time. On a well-drained area, build a compost pile 2m x 4m, with chopped rice straw (or/with corn stover, mungo or peanut hay, others), 20cm thick, followed by chopped sunflower plant, animal manure and garden soil half the thickness of the rice straw.
Repeat making this composite layer four to 6 times until the compost is breast high. Erect 4 vertical “breathing tubes” made of perforated bamboo. This serves also as posts.
Water pile regularly, maintain 60 to 70%, cover with plastic sheet. Harvest compost after 3 to 4 weeks. Test if compost is ripe: pile has shrunk about half original volume, no foul odor, inside temperature same as outside, loamy, dark and soft.
III. Recycling in Nature
1. Lightning is Nature’s quickest and most efficient converter and recycler, instant manufacturer of nitrates, phosphates, sulfates; it burns anything on its path, recharges ions. Lightning sustains the needs of the biosphere, it is key to biodiversity.
2. Fire is the Nature’s second tool. While fire is indeed destructive, in the long run, fields, grasslands and forests are given new life by it. Fire is a test of survival of the fittest. It is the key to renewal and continuity of life.
3. Volcanoes erupt to recycle the elements from the bowels of the earth to replenish the spent landscape, so with submarine volcanoes that keep the balance of marine ecosystems.
IV. Non-biodegradable and Toxic Wastes
1. Recycling is not recommended where pollution is heavy and unabated such as this mudflat. Silt in clean environment is excellent garden soil.
2. Watch out for toxic materials
3. Oil Spill Recycling? Not with hydrocarbon compounds; not in the case of oil spill. The Petron oil spill in Guimaras in 2005 destroyed thousands of hectares of marine and terrestrial irreversibly upsetting ecosystems and depriving the residents of their livelihood.
4. Chemical pesticides are concentrated in food chains by biological magnification
I am reminded of a friendly encounter with an old man living by a pocket lake atop Mt Pulog in Benguet in one of my biology field trips. It is a local scenario of Henry David Thoreau, the great American philosopher who left town to live alone by the Walden Pond in a nearby forest.
Sitting by the lake with Ka Inti I asked him, “What is the best way to preserve nature?”
“Leave Nature alone.” He quipped.
I expected a different answer because I thought man is the guardian and custodian of living things - and all creation for that matter.
Ironically man has not succeeded in his obligation as guardian of the earth. Direct confrontation between man and nature has been without respite throughout the ages – from the long period of hunting-gathering, shifting to agriculture, and ultimately leading to today’s accelerating industrialization.
Modern living or the so called good life, has farther wedge nature and man apart. Before it was nature that was the “enemy” of man; now it is man who is nature’s enemy. I wrote this verse to highlight it as a challenge to all of us.
Nature’s ways are God’s ways, and God’s ways are Nature’s ways. Thus the ways of Nature and Man are one. ~
1. Solar or sunlight is the most plentiful energy source; virtually no place on earth is without sufficient supply throughout the day in all seasons of the year. Sunlight has many applications, from domestic (eg laundry) to agriculture (eg drying grain and fish). Here is a short list of utilizing solar energy
Plant residues and farm wastes, as firewood substitute (eg rice hull, coconut coir and sawdust), generation of biogas and composting into organic fertilizer. Landscape supplies, QC
Can we harness energy from plants, rather than harvest energy from their products?
As a simple review, only plants - green plants (those containing chlorophyll which include algae and relatives) - have the ability to capture solar energy and convert it into chemical energy. That is, the light of the sun into sugar (calories), by means of photosynthesis.
Sugar (CHO) is either transformed into energy for the use of the plant itself, or transferred to animals that feed on the plant.
Otherwise this primary product is stored into complex sugar like starch, oil, and more importantly protein (CHON) which is used as "building blocks" in growth and development. Post-photosynthetic processes are specific in the production of resin, gum, cork, wood, and many other organic compounds, which when taken by animals are converted into energy, and compounds needed in their growth and development. Otherwise the unused materials remain at store, or may be lost through oxidation though biological (e.g. fermentation) and physical means (e.g. burning).
Energy is a continuous, incessant flow in the living system, moving in and out in the process. Biologists explain it in terms of metabolism (catabolism or energy-gain, and anabolism or energy loss or respiration), whereas ecologists draw the lines of interrelationships of participating organisms as food chains forming food webs, and food pyramid to indicate hierarchy in energy utilization.
But as a basic principle plants are autotrophs (photosynthesizers), while animals are heterotrophs (consumers in hierarchical order, with man being the ultimate consumer in most cases).
With this in mind, how can we the harness solar energy in the plant during photosynthesis?
How can we create a short circuit in directing the electrons before they are used in the final stage of photosynthesis - and instead, convert it directly into electricity?
We can - theoretically - if we can only develop a method to “interrupt” photosynthesis and redirect the electrons before they are used up to make sugars. So instead of harvesting sugarcane, and make alcohol, and burn it to produce light and heat – or electricity - we might as well invent a living solar panel and directly "harvest" electricity for our domestic and industrial needs.
Sounds futuristic, isn’t? Well, it is. But remember, no one believed in splitting the atom a century ago and produce nuclear energy. There are now hundreds of nuclear plants all over the world, producing electricity to as much as 50 percent of a country’s electricity need. Such is the case of France, Germany and Japan.
How about hydrogen fuel? There are cars - thousands of them running on Hydrogen fuel. And the byproduct is not smoke that add to pollution. It is H2O or water.
Now, hear this. During photosynthesis, the photons that are captured by the plant are used to split water molecules into the component parts of Oxygen and Hydrogen. By doing so, they produce electrons. The electrons are then utilized by the plant to create sugars that are then used by the plant (and the animals that eat it) for growth and reproduction.
Architecturally the leaf is like a battery.
"The technology involves separating out structures in the plant cell called thylakoids, which are responsible for capturing and storing energy from sunlight. Researchers manipulate the proteins contained in the thylakoids, interrupting the pathway along which electrons flow.
These modified thylakoids are then immobilized on a specially designed backing of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures that are nearly 50,000 times finer than a human hair. The nanotubes act as an electrical conductor, capturing the electrons from the plant material and sending them along a wire." (Reference: Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the University of Georgia and the author of a paper published in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science.)
Harvesting electricity directly from plants may be weird and wild an idea as in Jules Verne fiction novels. But now we can go Around the World in Eighty Days - and even reach the moon and explore outer space. We can now go deeper than Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and even reach the ocean floor.
And how about coming up with a perpetual machine, elusive dreamchild of science?
Compost commonly contains 2 percent nitrogen, 0.5–1 percent phosphorus, and about 2 percent potassium. It promotes healthier growth of plants, and balances soil density, increases retention of soil moisture, and discourages pests, diseases, and weeds.
Compost is cheap and can be made at home from farm and home wastes, as compared to chemical fertilizer which is expensive, and a poor farmer can barely afford it. Compost is environment friendly. Chemical fertilizer on the other hand, is harmful to the environment. It pollutes waterways and increases acidity in soil which is harmful to most crops. Compost harbors beneficial soil organisms like nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and earthworm. On the contrary, chemical fertilizer, which is often used with chemical pesticide, destroys these organisms. ~
Agricultural byproducts make good animal feeds, as follows:
• Rice straw, corn stovers and sugarcane tops, the most common crop residues in the tropics, contain high digestible nutrients, and provide 50% of the total ration of cattle and carabaos.
• Rice bran and corn bran are the most abundant general purpose feed that provides 80 percent of nutritional needs of poultry, hogs and livestock, especially when mixed with copra meal which is richer in protein than imported wheat bran (pollard).
• Cane molasses is high in calorie value. Alternative supplemental feeds are kamote vines for hogs and pineapple pulp and leaves for cattle.
Here is a simple feed formula for cattle: Copra meal 56.5 kg; rice bran (kiskisan or second class cono bran) 25kg; molasses 15kg; Urea (commercial fertilizer grade, 45%N) 2.0kg; salt 1.0kg; and bone meal 0.5kg. Weight gain of a two-year old Batangas cattle breed fed with this formulation is 0.56 kg on the average,
These are byproducts which have potential feed value: These are byproducts or wastes in the processing of oil, starch, fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. The abundance of agricultural by-products offers ready and cheap feed substitutes with these advantages.
• It cuts down on feed costs,
• reduces the volume on imported feed materials,
• provides cheaper source of animal protein,
• provides employment and livelihood, and
• keeps the environment clean and in proper balance.
Protect nature through environment-friendly technology.
Top: Cross-section of rice grain; closeup of grain. Middle: Rice hull stove, building block of rice hull and clay. Bottom: rice hull as litter; newly built vegetable plots. Acknowledgement: Google search, Wikipedia, Internet images
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The bean weevil is a cosmopolitan insect whose grub lives inside the bean, eating the whole content and leaving only the seed cover at the end of its life cycle. When it is about to emerge the female lays eggs for the next generation. Whole stocks of beans may be rendered unfit not only for human consumption, but for animal feeds as well. It is because the insect leaves a characteristic odor that comes from the insect’s droppings and due to fungal growth that accompanies infestation
Part 4 - Practical Composting
Part 5 - Don't throw away rice hull or "ipa."
Part 6 - 50 Tips to Save Energy
Part 1
Sustainable Farm Productivity through Recycling
"Everything on earth and in the universe undergoes a cycle, a beginning and an end, and in between a period of growth, stability and senescence. And the cycle is repeated ad infinitum." - avr
Idyllic Country Life
Unthreshed rice harvest and hay are piled in the open. The mandala is still popular on the countryside. The hay is utilized for roughage, mulch, compost, including fuel. (Acrylic painting by AV Rotor 2003).
I. Introduction
Everything on earth and in the universe undergoes a cycle, a beginning and an end, and in between a period of growth, stability and senescence. Yet no cycle could succeed unless it is part of an interrelationship with and among other cycles in the biological and physical world, each lending a vital role aimed at a holistic and perpetual oneness apparently designed by an unknown hand.
Cycle and recycle is the principle key to homeostasis that maintains the integrity of the biosphere, and the whole Planet Earth . Everything is tuned to a cycle - the passing of seasons, alternation of generations, food web and food chain, “natural” clocks, ecosystem seres, etc. And none of these can work without being part of a complex pattern of inter-relationships.
II. Recycle Farm Wastes
1. The moist common materials for composting in the farm are rice straw, peanut and mungo hay, banana stalk, corn stover, Azolla, ipil-ipil, wood and coconut shavings, livestock wastes and chicken droppings, pond scum, water lily and weeds.
2. Actually we get so little of the fertilizer value we put into a crop as shown by this typical fertilizer efficiencies.
· 30 to 60 % for N,· 10 to 35 % for P, and· 15 to 30% for K.
3. There are more nutrients removed from the soil that go into the straw than the grain. Here is a comparison. (Grain versus straw, kg nutrient/MT)
· Nitrogen: 10.5 - 7.0· Phosphorus: 4.6 – 2.3· Potassium: 3.0 – 17.5· Magnesium: 1.5 – 2.0· Calcium: 0.5 - 3.5
4. Rice straw contains 85-90 percent of potassium (K) of the biomass. Thus much greater amounts of K must be applied to maintain soil supply where straw is removed.
5. Small Water Impounding Projects (SWIP) are popular in many parts of the world where water is seasonal. Bigger ones can even generate electricity for locality.
6. Recycle crop residues to raise livestock. Our Philippine carabao is perhaps the most efficient feed converter. Of the ruminant animals it has a digestive system that can extract sufficient nutrients from roughage, enabling them to survive long dry spells.
7. Recycling with poultry makes use of farm by-products such as rice and corn bran, and reduces wastage in crops. Upgraded native chicken are more resistant than pure breeds, and are more resistant to pest and unfavorable weather. These chickens thrive on palay and corn; they forage in the filed, and glean on leftovers. They are therefore, more economical to produce, tastier and free of antibiotic residues and artificial growth hormones.
Community Garden
Residents of Barangay Valencia, a marginal community transformed an
estero of San Juan River into a vegetable garden making use of compost as fertilizer. QC
Sasso Chicken
This type of chicken is a crossbred of our own native breed with chicken from Southern France from which it got its name. Teresa Farms, Rizal owned and managed by Mr. Bobby Inocencio.
A Herd of Philippine Carabao
Carabaos beat the long hot summer along streams where they wallow in herd. (San Marcelino, Zambales)
8. Recycling with goats makes use of farm by-products and plants. Practically anything that grows in the field is food for goats, be it weed or crop. Thus they are very destructive to plants that they must be restrained in pens or tethered.
9. Recycle wastes from market and kitchen Vegetable trimmings, and waste from fish and animals require efficient collection, segregation and processing into biogas and organic fertilizer.
10. Recycling leads to the development of many products. Fruits in season that otherwise go to waste are made into table wine of different flavors. Typhoon or drought affected sugarcane make excellent natural vinegar and molasses.
11. Another recycling project is vermiculture, the culture of earthworms for game fishing and protein supplement in feeds. Earthworm casting are excellent soil additives and conditioners for ornamentals and garden crops.
12. Hydroponics or soiless culture of crops, and organic farming are becoming popular worldwide. Strict quality control is required, insuring consumers that the products were not treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and should not contain a trace of toxic metals, radiation and dangerous contaminants.
13. Don’t throw away Nature’s Gifts, but tap them instead. Examples: Lantana camara as natural pesticide; oregano as natural medicine cough and sore throat; chichirica as drug against cancer; pandan as spice and condiment; eucalyptus as liniment and cold drops; bunga de China for toothpaste, lagundi for fever and flu. Many of these plants are taken for granted and many of them are considered weeds.
How to make compost with wild sunflower
Wild Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) has enzymes that cuts down composting time to half or third of the usual time. On a well-drained area, build a compost pile 2m x 4m, with chopped rice straw (or/with corn stover, mungo or peanut hay, others), 20cm thick, followed by chopped sunflower plant, animal manure and garden soil half the thickness of the rice straw.
Repeat making this composite layer four to 6 times until the compost is breast high. Erect 4 vertical “breathing tubes” made of perforated bamboo. This serves also as posts.
Water pile regularly, maintain 60 to 70%, cover with plastic sheet. Harvest compost after 3 to 4 weeks. Test if compost is ripe: pile has shrunk about half original volume, no foul odor, inside temperature same as outside, loamy, dark and soft.
Life’s more than the sum of its parts,Dying as each creature departs;Synergy its secret of unity,Its harmony and mystery.- AVR
Wild sunflower hastens composting of rice hay and other farm residues. Painting by AV Rotor
Kinds of Recycling
• Biological – Trichoderma, a fungus, to hasten composting• Enzymatic – Wild sunflower in composting, urea in hay• Mechanical – Shedding, decortication, grinding• Fermentation – Silage, retting, biogas digester• Burning – Rice hull ash, wood• Combination of two or more of these methods. Ex. Mushroom production, mulching and composting using rice hay
III. Recycling in Nature
1. Lightning is Nature’s quickest and most efficient converter and recycler, instant manufacturer of nitrates, phosphates, sulfates; it burns anything on its path, recharges ions. Lightning sustains the needs of the biosphere, it is key to biodiversity.
2. Fire is the Nature’s second tool. While fire is indeed destructive, in the long run, fields, grasslands and forests are given new life by it. Fire is a test of survival of the fittest. It is the key to renewal and continuity of life.
3. Volcanoes erupt to recycle the elements from the bowels of the earth to replenish the spent landscape, so with submarine volcanoes that keep the balance of marine ecosystems.
4. The Laws of Nature always prevail with the seasons, weather and climate. They govern the life cycle and alternation of generations of organisms; the food chain, food web, and food pyramid. The same applies to long term phenomena such as Continental Drift and Ice age.
5. Naturally occurring cycles govern the physical and chemical properties pf the earth’s chemical elements and compounds, principally Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen (CHON), which are essential to life.
6. Nature recycling of organic materials in through the action of microorganisms: bacteria, algae, protists (amoeba, diatoms), fungi, blue green algae. Fibrous materials are broken down by fungi. Other than roughage and fuel, rice hay is used as substrate for mushroom growing. The spent materials decompose easily into organic fertilizer.
7. Recycling in nature through the action of microorganisms. Top left, clockwise: bacteria (dark sports) attacking a cell; algal bloom (note evolution of CO2 gas); phosphate bacteria glow in the dark; protists (amoeba, diatoms, blue green algae). Recycling of fibrous materials with fungi. Other than roughage and fuel, rice hay is used as substrate for mushroom growing. The spent materials decomposes easily into organic fertilizer.
8. Recycling by animals also helps in controlling the destructive ones such as the mosquito, which is food of fish, spider and bat.
9. Nature’s nutrient converters. Simple life forms such as lichens, algae, mosses and ferns silently work on inert materials, convert them into nutrients for higher organisms.
10. Nature’s recycling with waterways Mekong river in Vietnam (below), Pasig River in the Philippines, Great Britain, Danube and Rhine in Europe, the Nile, Mississippi, Amazon, Yangtze, Tigris-Euphrates. Rivers, lakes, swamps, basins – they provide many basic needs of man. They are arteries of life, the ecological bridge between the living and the non-living world. It is said that no civilization exists without a river.
The 7 Rs in Waste Management
Recycling is integrated in a total management system.
5. Naturally occurring cycles govern the physical and chemical properties pf the earth’s chemical elements and compounds, principally Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen (CHON), which are essential to life.
6. Nature recycling of organic materials in through the action of microorganisms: bacteria, algae, protists (amoeba, diatoms), fungi, blue green algae. Fibrous materials are broken down by fungi. Other than roughage and fuel, rice hay is used as substrate for mushroom growing. The spent materials decompose easily into organic fertilizer.
7. Recycling in nature through the action of microorganisms. Top left, clockwise: bacteria (dark sports) attacking a cell; algal bloom (note evolution of CO2 gas); phosphate bacteria glow in the dark; protists (amoeba, diatoms, blue green algae). Recycling of fibrous materials with fungi. Other than roughage and fuel, rice hay is used as substrate for mushroom growing. The spent materials decomposes easily into organic fertilizer.
8. Recycling by animals also helps in controlling the destructive ones such as the mosquito, which is food of fish, spider and bat.
9. Nature’s nutrient converters. Simple life forms such as lichens, algae, mosses and ferns silently work on inert materials, convert them into nutrients for higher organisms.
10. Nature’s recycling with waterways Mekong river in Vietnam (below), Pasig River in the Philippines, Great Britain, Danube and Rhine in Europe, the Nile, Mississippi, Amazon, Yangtze, Tigris-Euphrates. Rivers, lakes, swamps, basins – they provide many basic needs of man. They are arteries of life, the ecological bridge between the living and the non-living world. It is said that no civilization exists without a river.
The 7 Rs in Waste Management
Recycling is integrated in a total management system.
1. Reduce - plan to limit potential waste2. Replace with environment-friendly materials3. Regulate depends on effective governance4. Recycle - re-use in original or new form.5. Replenish. “Pay back” what you get from nature.6. Reserve for tomorrow, next generation, posterity.7. Revere - reverence for life, respect creation.
IV. Non-biodegradable and Toxic Wastes
1. Recycling is not recommended where pollution is heavy and unabated such as this mudflat. Silt in clean environment is excellent garden soil.
Mudflat: sediments of debris, silt, garbage and other pollutants
2. Watch out for toxic materials
• Toxic metals: Cadmium, Mercury, Lead• Hospital and medical wastes, including radioactive materials• Pesticide residues, especially dioxin• Industrial wastes, like acids, Freon, alkalis
Pollution is a serious threat to wildlife, second to the destruction of natural habitats.
3. Oil Spill Recycling? Not with hydrocarbon compounds; not in the case of oil spill. The Petron oil spill in Guimaras in 2005 destroyed thousands of hectares of marine and terrestrial irreversibly upsetting ecosystems and depriving the residents of their livelihood.
4. Chemical pesticides are concentrated in food chains by biological magnification
Mandala, European style, a painting by Vincent van Gogh
Jatropha for Biofuel
Highly poisonous plant Jatropha or Tubang Bakod for biogas production poses danger to environment. Left to right: Dr, Domingo Tapiador of FAO-UN, veteran journalist Dell Grecia, and Dr. Abe V. Rotor
Agro-Ecology Model
The traditional country home: a painting by AV Rotor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------“How wonderful is creation when we realize in a minisculethe universality of the simple linked to the complex,where every living thing is part of life’s interrelating;like a chain, its strength shared by each link cooperating.” AVR
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1. Recycling helps moderate global warming, the buildup of heat in the environment from increased human activity in a postmodern world. Recycling offers opportunity to everyone in doing his part in combating global warming, and the effects of El Niño
2. Recycling corrects the growing imbalance of acidity and alkalinity of the soil and water (pH value). Too acidic or alkaline conditions lock up available nutrients useful to life, affect the physiology of living things. Recycling buffers acid rain which is responsible for the death of whole ecosystems like forests, coral reefs, and destruction of fields, pasture, seas, and even valuable pieces of art.
3. Recycling is not ideal where monoculture is practiced, thus it aims to lead farming back to a system of multiple cropping and integrated farming. Tri-commodity farms – production of crops, animals and fish – are best suited to recycling, and guarantee the gains in recycling itself.
4. Self-contained farming is therefore an important condition for recycling to succeed - and that recycling in return insures the success of the other. It is in principal and practice imitating nature. There is no formula in keeping our environment healthy and balance. This is indeed the answer to spiraling prices if farm inputs, and the decreasing productivity of farms.
Recycling: Key to Self-reliance, Homeostasis and Sustainability
2. Recycling corrects the growing imbalance of acidity and alkalinity of the soil and water (pH value). Too acidic or alkaline conditions lock up available nutrients useful to life, affect the physiology of living things. Recycling buffers acid rain which is responsible for the death of whole ecosystems like forests, coral reefs, and destruction of fields, pasture, seas, and even valuable pieces of art.
3. Recycling is not ideal where monoculture is practiced, thus it aims to lead farming back to a system of multiple cropping and integrated farming. Tri-commodity farms – production of crops, animals and fish – are best suited to recycling, and guarantee the gains in recycling itself.
4. Self-contained farming is therefore an important condition for recycling to succeed - and that recycling in return insures the success of the other. It is in principal and practice imitating nature. There is no formula in keeping our environment healthy and balance. This is indeed the answer to spiraling prices if farm inputs, and the decreasing productivity of farms.
Lightning
Nature’s quickest and most efficient converter and recycler, instant manufacturer of nitrates, phosphates, sulfates; burns anything on its path, recharges ions. Lightning is key to Biodiversity; it humbles the spirit as well.
5. E. Schumacher pointed out in his thesis and book, Small is Beautiful, that being small after all, is the alternative to corporate failure, the inability of bigness to adjust to change, analogously like “dinosaur syndrome”, which explains the failure of these primitive giants to survive abrupt change of their environment.
Recycling with Fire.
Fire is indeed destructive. In the long run, fields, grasslands and forests give way to new life, spread of pests are controlled It is the key to renewal and continuity of life.
I am reminded of a friendly encounter with an old man living by a pocket lake atop Mt Pulog in Benguet in one of my biology field trips. It is a local scenario of Henry David Thoreau, the great American philosopher who left town to live alone by the Walden Pond in a nearby forest.
Sitting by the lake with Ka Inti I asked him, “What is the best way to preserve nature?”
“Leave Nature alone.” He quipped.
I expected a different answer because I thought man is the guardian and custodian of living things - and all creation for that matter.
Ironically man has not succeeded in his obligation as guardian of the earth. Direct confrontation between man and nature has been without respite throughout the ages – from the long period of hunting-gathering, shifting to agriculture, and ultimately leading to today’s accelerating industrialization.
Modern living or the so called good life, has farther wedge nature and man apart. Before it was nature that was the “enemy” of man; now it is man who is nature’s enemy. I wrote this verse to highlight it as a challenge to all of us.
“The ultimate test of any civilizationis not in its inventions and deeds;but the endurance of Mother Naturein keeping up with man’s endless needs.” - AVR
The wisdom of the old man by the lake is deep. Leaving nature alone is not to be literally interpreted. Rather it is in knowing and respecting the laws and rules of Nature, and not in insisting ours. This is where the conflict lies. Similarly Thoreau saw that the problem lies in human nature - of not responding to his conscience, of not listening to his inner self - (The Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s novel, to quote
“It is only through the heart that one speaks clearly.“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Nature’s ways are God’s ways, and God’s ways are Nature’s ways. Thus the ways of Nature and Man are one. ~
Part 2
Energy shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy
Giant wind turbine in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, at your finger tips.
- General drying
- cooking
- sterilization
- disease control
- heating of homes
- natural lighting
- desalination (saltwater to potable water)
- solar battery (computer)
- solar car
- electricity generation
- arts, photography
- sailing
- ship mast
- farm windmill
- home ventilation
- wind tunnel
- winnowing
- kite flying, gliding
- land surfing
- electricity generation
3. Biofuel. This includes ethanol from corn, sugarcane and cassava. Biogas from farm waste (piggery, ranch, poultry, organic wastes ( domestic) constitute 4.5 percent of the total energy production in the US, up from 2 percent in 1973. The US subsidy for biofuel is $6.6 billion in 2010.
- alcogas
- ethanol
- methane gas
- gasoline substitute
- lubricant
- drug, medicine
- sludge (organic fertilizer)
- bio fertilizer (Azolla, Nostoc, Anabaena)
Burning rice hay is waste of energy and potential fertilizer and forage
- firewood (gathering)
- firewood (farmed)
- crop waste (bagasse, rice hull, corn stover, hay)
- sawdust
- particleboard
Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water; '
of watershed destruction. Photo taken in December 2011
- steam power
- electricity generation
- bath, resort
- manufacturing, industry
- SWIP (Small water impounding project) irrigation and electricity
- water transport
- submersible turbine (electricity)
- water impounding
- rain harvesting
7. Other renewable sources of energy
- tide (high-low cycle)
- wave action
- labor-saving devices (pendulum principle)
of watershed destruction. Photo taken in December 2011
Part 3 - Energy Direct from Plants
Can we harness energy from plants, rather than harvest energy from their products? How can we harness solar energy in the plant during photosynthesis?
Architecturally the leaf is like a battery.
Intricate network in a leaf through which energy and materials flow and
interact during photosynthesis, resulting in the production of sugar.
UN-FAO scientist Domingo Tapiador and author (left), examine nuts of bitaog or palomaria (Calophylum inophylum) at the UST Botanical Garden.
Nuts contain oil as substitute of fossil-based lubricant and fuel.
Hanga (Pittosporum resiniferum} or resin cheesewood
or petroleum nut. Ripe berries burn bright yellow.
DENR Loakan, Baguio City.
Veteran journalist Dell H Grecia and Dr Domingo Tapiador
examine a stand of stick plant (Euphorbia tirucali) at
UST Botanical Garden, Manila. The extract is
processed into diesel fuel and motor oil.
Green charcoal from talahib (Saccharum spontaneum)
Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Ilocos Sur.
Can we harness energy from plants, rather than harvest energy from their products?
As a simple review, only plants - green plants (those containing chlorophyll which include algae and relatives) - have the ability to capture solar energy and convert it into chemical energy. That is, the light of the sun into sugar (calories), by means of photosynthesis.
Sugar (CHO) is either transformed into energy for the use of the plant itself, or transferred to animals that feed on the plant.
Otherwise this primary product is stored into complex sugar like starch, oil, and more importantly protein (CHON) which is used as "building blocks" in growth and development. Post-photosynthetic processes are specific in the production of resin, gum, cork, wood, and many other organic compounds, which when taken by animals are converted into energy, and compounds needed in their growth and development. Otherwise the unused materials remain at store, or may be lost through oxidation though biological (e.g. fermentation) and physical means (e.g. burning).
Energy is a continuous, incessant flow in the living system, moving in and out in the process. Biologists explain it in terms of metabolism (catabolism or energy-gain, and anabolism or energy loss or respiration), whereas ecologists draw the lines of interrelationships of participating organisms as food chains forming food webs, and food pyramid to indicate hierarchy in energy utilization.
But as a basic principle plants are autotrophs (photosynthesizers), while animals are heterotrophs (consumers in hierarchical order, with man being the ultimate consumer in most cases).
With this in mind, how can we the harness solar energy in the plant during photosynthesis?
How can we create a short circuit in directing the electrons before they are used in the final stage of photosynthesis - and instead, convert it directly into electricity?
We can - theoretically - if we can only develop a method to “interrupt” photosynthesis and redirect the electrons before they are used up to make sugars. So instead of harvesting sugarcane, and make alcohol, and burn it to produce light and heat – or electricity - we might as well invent a living solar panel and directly "harvest" electricity for our domestic and industrial needs.
Sounds futuristic, isn’t? Well, it is. But remember, no one believed in splitting the atom a century ago and produce nuclear energy. There are now hundreds of nuclear plants all over the world, producing electricity to as much as 50 percent of a country’s electricity need. Such is the case of France, Germany and Japan.
How about hydrogen fuel? There are cars - thousands of them running on Hydrogen fuel. And the byproduct is not smoke that add to pollution. It is H2O or water.
Now, hear this. During photosynthesis, the photons that are captured by the plant are used to split water molecules into the component parts of Oxygen and Hydrogen. By doing so, they produce electrons. The electrons are then utilized by the plant to create sugars that are then used by the plant (and the animals that eat it) for growth and reproduction.
Architecturally the leaf is like a battery.
"The technology involves separating out structures in the plant cell called thylakoids, which are responsible for capturing and storing energy from sunlight. Researchers manipulate the proteins contained in the thylakoids, interrupting the pathway along which electrons flow.
These modified thylakoids are then immobilized on a specially designed backing of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures that are nearly 50,000 times finer than a human hair. The nanotubes act as an electrical conductor, capturing the electrons from the plant material and sending them along a wire." (Reference: Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the University of Georgia and the author of a paper published in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science.)
Tree-planting project, Mt Makiling, Laguna
This research is important, because photosynthetic plants function at nearly 100% quantum efficiency. Almost every photon of sunlight captured by the plant is converted into an electron. And what do we get in our solar cells today? A measly fraction - 12 to 17 percent. This huge difference propels us to research towards this direction, away from fossil fuels, and even from the circuitous biomass fuel generation.
Harvesting electricity directly from plants may be weird and wild an idea as in Jules Verne fiction novels. But now we can go Around the World in Eighty Days - and even reach the moon and explore outer space. We can now go deeper than Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and even reach the ocean floor.
And how about coming up with a perpetual machine, elusive dreamchild of science?
The answer may lie in Plant-Based Energy Generation. ~
Part 4 - Practical Composting
"Composting is Nature's recycling, organic to inorganic matter,
breaking compounds back into elements, for the use of the new set of living things." - avr
Converting dead parts of living things like leaves, into soil is the key to composting. All you have to do is help Nature do the process. Don't interfere by burning, or throwing them as waste. Rather, provide the necessary conditions. Take the case of composting mango leaves as shown in these photos.
Rake the leaves into a pile under the trees, and keep the file damp. The rainy season favors composting. This is pile composting, in situ, which keeps the nutrients in place. Do not ever build fire on the pile. Meantime, prepare a pit nearby. Dump the undecomposed leaves after harvesting the mature compost pile. Continually replace the pile every time you rake the surroundings. Your pit compost will soon be ready for harvesting. See photos.
Composting is a continuous process. Include other compostable materials like stems, fruits, weeds, stalks, but never plastics and glass. Composting continues in the sacks. Partially decomposed leaves will soon catch up in time. Avoid exposing harvested compost to direct sunlight. Don't allow compost to dry up in the sacks. Use soonest you can. Ideal compost has the typical earth smell. Foul odor and signs of heat mean the compost is not mature, or done by installment. There is a saying, "garbage in, garbage out." Composting is an art, it is a virtue to convert potential waste into a valuable product - more so, in helping Mother Nature keep the environment clean, healthy and balance. This is a key to sustainability, which in the long term is called homeostasis. ~
Compost is cheap and can be made at home from farm and home wastes, as compared to chemical fertilizer which is expensive, and a poor farmer can barely afford it. Compost is environment friendly. Chemical fertilizer on the other hand, is harmful to the environment. It pollutes waterways and increases acidity in soil which is harmful to most crops. Compost harbors beneficial soil organisms like nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and earthworm. On the contrary, chemical fertilizer, which is often used with chemical pesticide, destroys these organisms. ~
Practical Composting helps in reducing pollution and global warming, and their attendant ill-consequences. It is also a personal and collective means in contributing to food production, and keeping our environment balance, healthy and clean.
Get rid of waste by utilizing them.
Agricultural byproducts make good animal feeds, as follows:
• Rice straw, corn stovers and sugarcane tops, the most common crop residues in the tropics, contain high digestible nutrients, and provide 50% of the total ration of cattle and carabaos.
• Rice bran and corn bran are the most abundant general purpose feed that provides 80 percent of nutritional needs of poultry, hogs and livestock, especially when mixed with copra meal which is richer in protein than imported wheat bran (pollard).
• Cane molasses is high in calorie value. Alternative supplemental feeds are kamote vines for hogs and pineapple pulp and leaves for cattle.
Here is a simple feed formula for cattle: Copra meal 56.5 kg; rice bran (kiskisan or second class cono bran) 25kg; molasses 15kg; Urea (commercial fertilizer grade, 45%N) 2.0kg; salt 1.0kg; and bone meal 0.5kg. Weight gain of a two-year old Batangas cattle breed fed with this formulation is 0.56 kg on the average,
These are byproducts which have potential feed value: These are byproducts or wastes in the processing of oil, starch, fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. The abundance of agricultural by-products offers ready and cheap feed substitutes with these advantages.
• It cuts down on feed costs,
• reduces the volume on imported feed materials,
• provides cheaper source of animal protein,
• provides employment and livelihood, and
• keeps the environment clean and in proper balance.
Protect nature through environment-friendly technology.
Part 5
Don't throw away rice hull or "ipa."
Here are 5 practical uses.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
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Rice hull is the outer cover of the rice grain which comprises 25 percent of the total weight. The cover is made up of a pair of hull-shape structures - lemma and palea - which are tough and impregnated with silica and cellulose. Considered waste in rice producing areas, now there are uses which this article would like to share - and recommend.
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1. Rice hull ash protects mung-beans from bean weevil.
Burnt rice hull (ipa) contains silica crystals that are microscopic glass shards capable of penetrating into the conjunctiva of the bean weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus. Once lodged, the crystal causes more damage as the insect moves and struggles, resulting in
infection and desiccation, and ultimately death.
This is the finding of Ethel Niña Catahan in her masteral thesis in biology at the University of Santo Tomas. Catahan tested two types of rice hull ash, One is partly carbonized (black ash) and the other oven-burned (white ash). Both were applied independently in very small amount as either mixed with the beans or as protectant placed at the mouth of the container. In both preparations and methods, mungbeans – and other beans and cereals, for that matter – can be stored for as long as six months without being destroyed by this Coleopterous insect.
infection and desiccation, and ultimately death.
This is the finding of Ethel Niña Catahan in her masteral thesis in biology at the University of Santo Tomas. Catahan tested two types of rice hull ash, One is partly carbonized (black ash) and the other oven-burned (white ash). Both were applied independently in very small amount as either mixed with the beans or as protectant placed at the mouth of the container. In both preparations and methods, mungbeans – and other beans and cereals, for that matter – can be stored for as long as six months without being destroyed by this Coleopterous insect.
2. Preheated rice hull is used to incubate balot eggs.
Simulating the way the mother duck incubates its eggs old folks bury duck eggs in rice hull (ipa) heated under the sun until they become penoy (incipient embryo) or balot (full grown embryo). For commercial production the eggs are held in bundles made of simamay or fishnet), placed in large holding boxes filled with rice hull. They are harvested in batches to meet market schedules.
3. Rice hull compost is good soil conditioner for the garden.
Mix rice hull with other farm residues that are ordinarily used in making compost at varying proportions but not exceeding fifty percent of the total volume. These include animal manure and chicken droppings, dried leaves, peanut "hay" or tops, scums (lumot, Azolla and Nostoc from ponds and rice fields). Add equal amount of top soil to the final product. This is excellent medium for potted plants and for germinating seeds, bulbs, and cuttings. When buying commercial potted plants, examine the medium used; the rice hull is still partly visible.
4. Rice hull as fuel
There are stoves designed for rice hull as fuel. One has a continuous feeding system for commercial use, otherwise ipa is hand-fed for typical kitchen stoves. Rice hull has a high thermal value because it contains silica that increases temperature level. This means faster cooking. To make full use of this advantage, rice hull must first undergo thorough drying usually under the sun. It is then stored in sack for ready use. With the spiraling cost of LPG and electricity - and the dwindling supply of firewood - rice hull as fuel is the best alternative in rice-based areas.
5. Rice hull as litter of livestock and poultry
To solve muddy animal sheds and corrals, spread rice hull for time to time. This is also good for range chicken, and holding pens of animals in the market. Rice hull binds the soil and other materials such as grass and rice hay. When the litter becomes thick and old, replace it with a fresh one. The old litter is a good fertilizer for the orchard and garden. ~
Part 6 - 50 Tips to Save Energy
Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor
List down your views and experiences,
and share them in your school and community.
- Switch to renewable energy in your household
- Turn off the lights and electrical appliances when not using them
- Use energy-efficient LED lightbulbs
- Use less water and wash clothes in cold water
- Shut doors and close curtains to keep the heat or cold in
- Use appliances during off-peak times to lower your electric bills
- Move your thermostat to an ideal temperature and avoid over-heating or cooling your home
- Compare energy deals and switch to a cheaper or greener provider
- Measure your electricity. Strive to reduce your monthly bills.
- Shut doors and close curtains. Manage your heating and cooling.
- Get the best energy deal.
- Insulate your roof.
- Save money with solar energy.
- Unplug devices.
- Replace your air-con's air filters once every three months
- Ensure your fridge and freezers are fully closed
- Shower with cooler water
- Don't leave lights on during the day
- Turn off your air-con when you’re not in the room
- Recycle whenever possible — most of what we recycle is used to produce more energy
- Plant trees for shade
- Open windows at warm night to capture the cool breeze
- Use shades, blinds, and drapes to block the sun
- Avoid opening refrigerator/freezer doors to browse
- Let hot foods cool before placing in refrigerator/freezer
- Clean the back of refrigerator regularly
- Wash and dry only full loads of clothes
- Avoid over drying clothes. Hang clothes to air dry
- Take shorter showers
- Take a shower instead of a bath, uses less hot water
- Turn water off while brushing teeth
- Check faucets and toilets for leaks
- Avoid overwatering with sprinkler system
- Water garden and/or yard early morning or late afternoon to avoid high evaporation
- Landscape with drought tolerant plants
- Mulch around plants to help conserve water
- Utilize spring for irrigation on property (if applicable)
- Minimize vehicle washing
- A properly tuned and oiled vehicle with correct tire pressure will get better mileage per gallon
- Trade in gas vehicle for an electric or hybrid vehicle
- Ride a bike
- Walk instead of driving
- Carpool or rideshare
- Use public transportation
- Shop local and online
- Wear season/weather appropriate clothing
- Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones
- Use cloth towels and napkins instead of disposable ones
- Cover bare floors for heat retention
- Make use of natural light from windows and skylights
Limit electric and electronic usage.
Don't use more energy than you need.
Acknowledgement with thanks:
Internet references and cartoon images.
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