As our conference speaker Daniel Lerch from the Post Carbon Institute iterated yesterday, our problems are following an exponential pattern of growth. While his point that renewable energy and high tech solutions is not sufficient to handle our environmental and energy problems, this graph gives me hope. And it a relief to know that, despite the recession, PV installation is following that exponential growth. If our problems are growing fast, at least it's good to know that our solutions are growing fast also. If our political system is broken, or simply not meeting our needs, it's uplifting to see that communities are taking up creative solutions to get their needs met. People coming together to help each other. I like the idea of distributed PV because it provides some of the resilience that Daniel talked about. A home or community that produces and manages it's own energy needs is one more step to being sustainable and resilient. It can withstand stocks to the entire system more readily. Energy is one component of a community that needs to be resilient - other areas are food and waste.
Here perhaps is where I can get on board with biodegradable products. From an industrial perspective, we want the larger system to be able to recapture reusable materials and biodegradable materials are not reusable - they are broken down and used as nutrients to life. However, if a community needs to handle it's own waste, or is cut off from the larger industrial system, it's products must be able to degrade and not pollute the environment that the community depends on.
Other good news...
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/09/why-solar-will-make-or-break-its-own-future?cmpid=rss
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/25565/