The Eco Sustainable S.E.E.E.D. Cycle

Sustainable Education, Economy & Energy Development

Sustainable energy development uses solar in all its forms. The sun is the source of all energy and we are learning the many ways to harvest. Watly is the best example - a new technology that harvests water and electricity using solar and solar thermal energies.

The economic cycle starts with a specific plant - the hemp grows to maturity in 3 months with just sun and water, (no artificial fertilisers) - can produce 50,000 products - and on expiry returns back to the earth, enriching the soil completing the cycle. I wish to point out the extraordinary properties of the hemp plant that allows us to move into a sustainable path.

To goal of supplying electricity, water, food, clothing and shelter is achieved from the above 2 systems. Watly and Hemp.

A precursor, the Seawater Pipeline design uses solar thermal to desalinate drinking water from ocean water in a transportation system (a pipe) while using heat exchange to cool or chill the pure drinking water made. Watly has a modular and more cost effective approach. It may require someone with a bucket to pour dirty water into it, but that will fulfil the needs of millions of people. Adding some solar panels is a nice touch.

Watly is an invention, it's a nice looking box. It uses solar to heat and make electricity and power internet connectivity. That in itself is unremarkable since we do that every day. What is remarkable is it sets the standard of water energy and connectivity for the 21st Century because it is autonomous - it does not need the grid. .. and it is scaleable, so it can be daisy-chained. This will lift the poverty line. All that needed left is food, clothing and shelter.

It will become obvious why we have chosen Hemp seeds. Hemp grows to maturity in 3-4 months. Hemp usually only needs sun and water, unless the soil is nutrient deficient which can be added. After the first crop the soil will recover when the roots are left fallow. Artificial fertilisers actually robs the eco cycle from performing since it's all connected. The plant receives nutrients from the additives - which costs money in dependency - and the microbes don't have a job anymore. Industrial Hemp is the ideal plant to grow for S.E.E.E.D. Cycle. It is low cost and high yield - can provide highly nutritious food, quality clothing and oil energy, without damaging the planet, in fact it replenshes the earth. Indeed it is a miracle plant.

The practice of adding artificial fertilisers weakens the soil, and sets up a losing cycle both nutritionally and financially poor as the soil always requires "more". The microbial population (a single teaspoon (1 gram) of rich garden soil can hold up to one billion bacteria) plummets releasing their CO2 into the atmosphere. And like an engine without oil, soil grinds to a halt, solely dependant upon the additives. It's a losing pattern leading to lifeless soil. You see easily the difference between dry and rich soil. Also artificial fertilisers contribute to run-off into rivers [Eutrophication] and oceans and leads to all sorts of problems. For the hemp plant, no chemicals or artificial fertilisers are needed, other than feeding the soil to promote microbial activity.

Eutrophication is one of the most widespread environmental problems of inland waters, and is their unnatural enrichment with two plant nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen.

The short story - CO2 is the Oil of Soil - just like an engine needs oil to run, soil needs CO2.

Dry soil has given up its' CO2 just like water! The water returns back to the water cycle, but where is the CO2? It joins the carbon cycle. What is the carbon cycle? Simply put: as we breath out, we breath out carbon dioxide or CO2. All animals do. Trees breath it in and exhale the oxygen that we need to breath in... but our whole world complex is made of chains of carbon atoms, everything, we are carbon lifeforms living on a carbon planet. So where has the CO2 gone that the soil has breathed out? It's joined the atmosphere. Is more CO2 the cause of climate change? Well, it is a greenhouse gas. Is it man-made? In this case it is. It contributes to warming, and we can change our farming technology and/or include practices from Permaculture - so, from that viewpoint it is man-made, since our actions are to apply "additives". Can it be reversed? How much CO2 has the soil expelled? There has been more CO2 released from the soil than all the power stations.

Back to the hemp seed which grows to maturity in 3-4 months depending on warmth activity, harvested, cleaned and prepared, which can be made into just about any product - some say 50,000 uses - all of which can be returned to the earth without harm (since it was grown without chemical, artificial fertilisers, weed kill etc.), indeed, replenishing or returning to the soil the nutrients it originally bore. This is the cycle of sustainability.

At the same time, hemp breathes in CO2 and converts into growing - storing the CO2 in the plant - until it is burnt. There is a technique to add limestone and other ingredients as a binder that petrifies hemp over time, locking in the CO2. This is a sort after technology with many millions of dollars researching how to develop CCS - CARBON CAPTURE & STORAGE - to capture the CO2 emissions from a coal fired power plant, to reduce CO2 emissions, to fulfil climate change agreements... but with limited success! Ecological CARBON CAPTURE & STORAGE (eCCS) performs the same function of CCS only eCCS is eco safe as it locks CO2 into petrification.