Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Future
- All Subjects: Water-supply
- Creators: Allenby, Braden
Description
There is growing concern over the future availability of water for electricity generation. Because of a rapidly growing population coupled with an arid climate, the Western United States faces a particularly acute water/energy challenge, as installation of new electricity capacity is expected to be required in the areas with the most limited water availability. Electricity trading is anticipated to be an important strategy for avoiding further local water stress, especially during drought and in the areas with the most rapidly growing populations. Transfers of electricity imply transfers of "virtual water" - water required for the production of a product. Yet, as a result of sizable demand growth, there may not be excess capacity in the system to support trade as an adaptive response to long lasting drought. As the grid inevitably expands capacity due to higher demand, or adapts to anticipated climate change, capacity additions should be selected and sited to increase system resilience to drought. This paper explores the tradeoff between virtual water and local water/energy infrastructure development for the purpose of enhancing the Western US power grid's resilience to drought. A simple linear model is developed that estimates the economically optimal configuration of the Western US power grid given water constraints. The model indicates that natural gas combined cycle power plants combined with increased interstate trade in power and virtual water provide the greatest opportunity for cost effective and water efficient grid expansion. Such expansion, as well as drought conditions, may shift and increase virtual water trade patterns, as states with ample water resources and a competitive advantage in developing power sources become net exporters, and states with limited water or higher costs become importers.
ContributorsHerron, Seth (Author) / Ruddell, Benjamin L (Thesis advisor) / Ariaratnam, Samuel (Thesis advisor) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Williams, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Public awareness of nature and environmental issues has grown in the last decades and zoos have successfully followed suit by re-branding themselves as key representatives for conservation. However, considering the fast rate of environmental degradation, in the near future, zoos may become the only place left for wildlife. Some scholars argue that we have entered a new epoch titled the “Anthropocene” that postulates the idea that untouched pristine nature is almost nowhere to be found. Many scientists and scholars argue that it is time that we embraced this environmental situation and anticipated the change. Clearly, the impact of urbanization is reaching into the wild, so how can we design for animals in our artificializing world? Using the Manoa School method that argues that every future includes these four, generic, alternatives: growth, discipline, collapse, and transformation , this dissertation explores possible future animal archetypes by considering multiple possibilities of post zoo design.
ContributorsAlshaheen, Rua (Author) / Hejduk, Renata (Thesis advisor) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Finn, Ed (Committee member) / Petrucci, Darren (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
A fundamental component of Transhumanism, radical life extension is the process of utilizing ever increasing technologies to further extend the average life span of humans. This iterative process has continued to increase in speed since the digital age. As society develops a larger knowledge base, and scientific fields combine their knowledge bases, the capability of medical professionals continues to increase at an exponential rate. Through an understanding of these technological trends the social, legal, logistical and economic implications can be better understood. Scenarios can be used to better categorize these implications based on the evolution of these technologies. By considering biological, non-biological and linear life extension technologies a broad analysis of the varied implications can be constructed. Based on these scenarios one can conclude radical life extension technologies will have significant impacts on the current social definitions of what it means to be human and how society organizes itself. Continued research towards radical life extension technologies comes with high social implications which must be considered in tandem.
ContributorsLightholder, Jack Anthony (Author) / Allenby, Braden (Thesis director) / Brian, Jennifer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
ContributorsFerrell, Janet (Author) / Spierre, Susan (Author) / Chester, Mikhail Vin (Author) / Arizona State University. School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (Contributor) / Arizona State University. Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management (Contributor)
Created2012-05
Description
Raising future generations is a culturally diverse, universally technological human project. This research brought the everyday work of raising children into the domain of sustainability scholarship, by first proposing a model of childrearing as a globally distributed socio-technical system, and then exploring the model with participants in two nodes – an elementary and middle school, and a children’s museum. In the process, the research objective shifted towards using methods that were less academic and more relevant to childrearing agents. The focus on participatory survey data was abandoned, in favor of autoethnographic documentation of a long-term engagement with a third node of the system, a child welfare setting. This approach yielded unexpected findings that fit the proposed model, identified characteristics of a Zone of Mutual Oblivion (ZMO) that exists between childrearing and sustainability, and clarified ways in which people prioritize their own needs and responsibilities, the developmental needs of children, the potential needs and capacities of future generations, and the functional integrity of ecological systems.
ContributorsCazel-Jahn, Angela (Author) / Blue Swadener, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Lobo, Jose (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019