Post on 13-Jan-2016
On becoming less
unsustainable
On becoming less
unsustainable
David SmernoffDavid Smernoff
ToP Environmental Sustainability
September 6, 2013
Personal Journey• Childhood
• Outdoor playtime = No Nature Deficit Disorder
• Parents: value education!
• HS Activism - Nuclear power
• Education
• MS Environmental Management
• Ph.D. Ecology
• NASA- Ames Research Center Closed Ecological Systems: Mass and energy balance
Community• Public Service (elected)
• Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
• Los Trancos County Water District
• Community Service (volunteer)
• Ames Environmental Conservation Committee
• Bay Area Action
• Acterra
• Outgrowth of Earth Day 1990 staff/volunteers
• Invented organizational structure
• Reluctant leadership role
• Project-based Environmental Activism
• Redwood Summer
• 100th Monkey - Stop Nuclear Testing
• Electric Vehicle Conversion
• Urban gardens
• Arastradero Stewardship Project
“If it Ain’t Fun, it Don’t get Done!”
• Negotiated contract with City of Palo Alto
• Community-based Stewardship
• Ecological Restoration
• Environmental Education
• Trail improvements - GIS mapping
• Starts 1997 - Current Acterra program has >12 sites, multiple contracts, native plant nursery
Gateway Facility
• Deconstruct - salvage materials
• Straw bale, Solar PV & water
• Native Landscaping
• Stewardship program benefits
• Volunteerism
• Program effectiveness
• Funding
• Created by merger in 2000
• Common values
• Significant cultural challenges
• Executive Director 2000-2003
• Managed 20+ programs
• Significant Issues
• Governance
• Finance
• Administration
• Program renaissance
EducateEngageEmpower
Stewardship
Be the Change
Environmental Leadership
Business Environmental Awards
Carbon Reduction
“Social Change organization masquerading as an
Environmental Group”
• Searching for solution to fossil fuel pollution/climate change
• Apply microbiology expertise
• Incorporate sustainability values into business model
• Non-profit and government agency experience helps
• Turning ideas into economically viable reality challenging
10
Cyanobacteria:What have you done
for us lately?• First O2 producing photosynthesizers• Gave us our O2 atmosphere! 2.5 BYA• Highest photosynthetic efficiency• Worldwide distribution, robust, prolific• Excrete sugars and nitrogen compounds• Can they help us protect our atmosphere?
2µ
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CO2N2
Fermentable Sugars:monosaccharides
disaccharidespolysaccharides
Nitrogen compounds
sugars & NH3
How does it work?
SeawaterSeawater
EthanolButanol
Renewable Chemicals
Fermentation
Marine cyanobacteria community
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Production process schematic
Lipids/Biodiesel
Laboratory
Cyanobacteriapropagation ponds
Lowest costSeparation
TechnologiesSugar
feedstock
ResidualBiomass
Feedstock Production
Pumps
Seawater
Brine
Production Ponds100 tons/acre/yr
Electrical energy (pumps, distillation, etc.)
CO2
Aquaculture
Pumps
Post-Production
Fermentation& Distillation
Processes
Compost
Anaerobic Digesters
Ethanol
AlgalGrowthPonds
Water
Pre-Treatment
Chemicals
Fish, shrimp, etc.
To ponds, other processes
Solar PV or Wind TurbinesTo other power needs
Staying on the path
Staying on the path
My education and engagement with issues and my community has empowered me.
Solutions are out there, we all have to work together to create the future our
children deserve
My education and engagement with issues and my community has empowered me.
Solutions are out there, we all have to work together to create the future our
children deserve"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." Rachel Carson