Catherine Mohr builds green

[danielperry12387]

Nice video. Keep posting more videos.Thanks

[Pieisforsk8ers]

How much extra would it cost to use all this "green" materials, considering everything with "green" smacked on it costs more, lol.

[K0lsyr4]

OMFG. She have a psychological disorder !!!

[ashtonnesmith]

Those are really nice boobs.

[Apeiron242]

The cake is a lie.

[nbarrasse]

the most efficient way to clean that yogurt would to use your tongue or a small animal....

[pooh1234567890]

@nbarrasse Lol that made me laugh, a small animal, true though.

[nbarrasse]

@pooh1234567890 you got it! it took me only reflecting back and telling a friend about this to realize, wait a minute! i hope your having a great day:)

[trafficlightblind]

"I'm very suspicious of all these well-meaning [youtube commenters] -- people long on moral authority and short on data!"

[KertIwbo]

The cake is a lie ! (Y)

[helpvidz]

This guy is a true BADASS! lol

[Silverstarlightt]

Haha I like the beginning xD

[globalbankfraud]

Don't you mean the technology behind the grid was stolen by Edison from Tesla? Not to mention the miss-use of Tesla's genious for HAARP. Don't worry TED honors humanitarian scientists.

[globalbankfraud]

how much extra embodied energy did your brain use thinking over this stuff?

[howler12311]

anyone else notice the cake is a lie?

[jaredthree]

The notion that we don't have to recycle is absolutely fucking ludicrous. We are on a planet with finite resources, making things out of finite resources. Eventually there will be no more materials out of which to make things. Not recycling is not the answer. If we could recycle things using clean renewable energy sources that would be a solution. But i do agree that we should also use things that are designed and built to last instead of to be thrown away. But capitalism drives the market.

[Kan2209]

Like recycling. It takes much more energy to recucle all the waste than just make new ones, and trash doesn't take as much room as some people tell us. There is plenty of oom on earth for people to do this. Recycling is a good idea to use things you can again, but not put so much effort and energy in using something unusable again, when making a new what ever uses so much less energy and pollutes so much less.

[liquidminds]

@Kan2209: a 100 yrs ago, people were buying stuff to keep their whole life, maybe even to pass it down through generations.

Nowadays, if you buy something to last for 1 or more years, people consider it to be a long-time-investment.

Buy a phone.. throw it away month later...

If we would change our society to use less "throw-away"-goods and buy less crap, the waste-problem would be far smaller.

But I agree on energy-wasting recycle-methods. using stuff again at any cost isn't the solution.

[madman3891]

Everyone here is assuming that she thinks eating organically is green, some of you continuously use the yogurt example, but organic yogurt based from cows, just means that the cows were fed the regular cow diet, which is grass. Now organic milk farming is far greener than the opposite end (which is how most do it). How exactly is having a cow being fed with corn with growth hormones, injected growth hormones, injected with immunizations and cowded (pun) better for the environment and people.

[sevenahm]

She didn't really mention adobe, underground housing, or total strawbale.

[Doazic]

The organic yogurt is more evil than the paper towel.

[thesimulacre]

that commercial at the end makes me nervous on some level.

[M1ST3RHYDE]

Biggest (. Y .) on the biggest geek iv ever seen. She is gorgeous. Her reasoning is the same reason that I never get ANY Thing done, Thinking too much is not always so Awesom but she plays it just right.

[589216001]

She is wearing a portal shirt LOL!!

[Mrmoc7]

Biggest geek ever...but she's got huge knockers though.

[DancingHorses26]

Straw bales are NOT zero embodied energy. Petroleum based fertilizers go into growing that straw, fuel goes into the machines that cut it and bale it, and fuel is burned to transport the bales to the house.

There is no such thing as a material that is zero embodied energy.

[revesvans]

@DancingHorses26 What if an animal similar to the dung bill, e.g the straw beaver, deposited naturally grown straw bales next to the building site? ^^

[Cineenvenordquist]

FTW fertilizing (with petroleum-feedstock stuff...) for straw!? Why not render your harsh criticism duties on nannites mining the house from mineral rock on site (tech TBA, but I can smell the uncitable vitriolic tendrils of your nay from here.)

Nice counterpoint, revesvans! More beaver utilities, n.p.

[chernobila]

@DancingHorses26 she is some average freak who does not deserve spot in TED conference

[seahawkers101]

smart grid thing was bettwe

[seahawkers101]

@seahawkers101 better*

[lihavahko]

Eats organic food AND relies on data and facts.. umm...?

[smokeystriper]

think of the energy she could have saved if she skyped in her lecture instead of flying.

Like the shirt nice Portal reference. the cake is a lie.

[Pinkizmahomegurl]

Its awesome what you can do to save energy, however, I'm sure all of that technology is very expensive and most people couldn't afford that.

[chernobila]

Why does Ted waste time on people like her?

She is average 'Save the world' and talk too much about it person. What this people dont realize is that they do not matter. Only thing that really matters on planet scale is corporate businesses and and if you are truly concerned about planet you have to go up against them and make them change their ways. Rest of it is just pretending.

[TKDWolf]

And as a consumer, how do you do that?

[chernobila]

@TKDWolf

you dont. You cant.

[organic59]

@chernobila you keep waiting for the revolution, everyone else will continue to see how they as an individual can contribute to positive change. deal?

[chernobila]

@organic59

No. no waiting. All I am saying is to be stop being delusional that this kinds of things matter. Its all about big money makers. I just dont want to start this conversation in here.

[LokiClock]

@chernobila Yes houses have no connections to any type of business they just kind of grow in an economic vacuum.

[chernobila]

@LokiClock

What are you talking about? I did not say that. All I said was changing our ways is not changing anything. And whats more not everybody can do that. Long story short. What matters is that when companies go green not some individuals.

[LokiClock]

@chernobila Carpentry, masonry, etc., are industries. Since, I suppose, the suburban development of WWII, houses have been essentially mass produced. Eco-friendly housing in particular is a rather lucrative niche market. If people, either the producers of the houses or the consumers favoring houses of these materials, figure this information into their choice of building materials, then with every new house that is made you have the potential to save the amount of energy and water she described.

[chernobila]

@LokiClock

You are precisely right. But not everybody, in fact vast majority of people do not have ability and opportunity to rebuild their current house. As for the new houses I 100% agree that it should be built eco-friendly.

But the point I was making was something else. It was about TED and it was about this lady. When it costs $6000 to attend this conference I think it is some what ripoff to sit and listen to her. She is very average "I Love My Planet" person. Thats it. No TED for her

[LokiClock]

@chernobila She's a prototype. Not as good as Mark Roth or Dean Kamen, who have also achieved production, but definitely demonstrating her point, as well as making that research available.

[chernobila]

@LokiClock

Ok I get your point but you have to agree as well that she does need to be on TED. BTW straw bales are NOT zero embodied energy. Lots of petroleum goes in that straw. That makes me suspicious how accurate her numbers are. Probably not so much since she likes to count them on her favour. At the and she just ends up being "wannabe"

[LokiClock]

@chernobila Good points, and maybe she shouldn't quite get a TED talk, but I'll still bet she's doing a lot better than the average ecohouse for energy expenditure, so she shouldn't be dismissed entirely.

[chernobila]

@LokiClock

I think we have come to conclusion which we both agree 100%

BTW it was nice talking to reasonable person for once. Which is very rare on youtube. Thanks

[LokiClock]

@chernobila {{{chernobila}}}

[jaileeworthy]

@chernobila you say that whatever we as consumers do and buy is irrelevant compared to large scale corporations, but the only way to stop these corporations is by boycotting them on a large scale through many people not buying their product, see? you can pretend what we do doesn't make a difference but if individuals don't act in the way they idealize larger groups of people acting then the movement is doomed to fail from the start.

[chernobila]

@jaileeworthy

You may be right at some sense but the main point I was making was that this lady is a hypocrite and she does not deserve to be on TEDs conference. After all it cost $6000 to attend. She has lost of data which is not accurate in any way. Straw bales are NOT zero embodied energy. Lots of petroleum goes in that straw. Organic food is nowhere close to be green. and portal T shirt? really?

As for the doing the part as a consumer that is little different discussion we can do as well

[jaileeworthy]

@chernobila it is just a 5-minute talk, after all. in any case she was only trying to bring to our attention the importance of embodied energy in calculations, so there is something to be gained out of it...

[Mat2DaW]

so.....she basically wants me to micromanage....everything -_-

[derman077]

now come on guys, someones got to do the research. now we have the figures so we can do the calculations and start building. its already tomorrow, you just dont know it yet.

[googoo120]

sucks

[cullensaquarium]

PORTAL Tshirt FTW!!1

excellent talk

[no1saphead]

Have a smaller house.

[chernobila]

@no1saphead

your comment is great but it would have been excelente if you added at the and the word "bitch"

[Thestralsxxx]

YAY! Good for her. Great. Awesome.

[BallinTrollin]

where's the hemp? oh wait....it is STILL ILLEGAL IN US....oh ignorant about it? oh lol.

[joebobfrank666]

Organic food is the biggest fail.

[shad0wblade2]

The cake is a lie

[funnyguise]

my faucet is always in the cold position.

she should have used hemp concrete and insulation.

[swiminthesoil]

Oh that shirt is from Portal. It's true, the cake is a lie!

[DBrownofdc]

her lisp is distracting

[RazielKain]

the cake is a lie....

[quackerzdb]

organic food is not green

[funnyguise]

@quackerzdb right. permaculture food is!

[cosy18]

i loled hard

[organdva]

FAIL!!!. Read about the ''Jevons paradox''.

[JPRubber2]

Economics has always trumped available technology as well as max performance and efficiency. She neglected to indicate the overall cost of the new house construction. If you cannot afford the up-front, it won't matter how efficient it is in the long run. Also monolithic domes are still more efficient and the cost of construction is falling in line with stick framing. OCD, yup

[Nogard229]

@JPRubber2 I wouldn't call economies efficient. One pretends all resources are unlimited, and the other doesn't know how to allocate it's resources properly.

[JPRubber2]

@Nogard229 You are correct, economies are anything but efficient! They are the cheapest thing at the time which is usually also the most convenient. We are coming into a time, the first time in history where humans are running into resource and energy limitations on a global scale. Part of what I'm seeing here is a lack of scientific method (hypothesis, scope,theory, evidence and conclusion) and engineering methods (which include cost analysis) along with resource allocation.

[JPRubber2]

@Nogard229 I also had to agree with another comment about whether this fits in witth the TED Talks theme. I dont get the impression that she's any sort of expert with thorough knowlege. Just common sense and stretches of logic. Lol, another question is, where's the limit of returns? How much effort does one really want to agonize over paper towels...let the cat lick it up? :)

[Nogard229]

@JPRubber2 The cat poops it out later, clean up will use up more energy.

[JPRubber2]

@Nogard229 lol, true. Everything takes energy, just a matter of what you want to spend it on...

[franczazou]

Very geek indeed but interesting ..if you're a geek too!

[vassilmihailov]

this is so wrong on so many levels....

[chernobila]

@vassilmihailov

I going try to name all of them. Help me out if I forget to mention some.

1) organic food is not green

2) get a smaller house

3) straw bales are not zero embodied energy

4) skype your talk inset of flying

5) portal T shirt? seriously?

fill me in if I forgot something

[kght222]

final thoughts, she doesnt not seem to understand what energy is

[kght222]

first few minutes response: she forgot that she has to wash laundry anyway, and one washcloth wont make it take more energy (it will do the same thing regardless of the content, a little more energy for weight, but how much does a wash cloth weigh in comparison to a load of laundry)

[IdoloR]

wooow (O_O)

[GiveandTike]

environmental OCD.

[Machine0141]

All very interesting.

How much did the house cost you compared to the sample caparitive home though?

[robzrob]

Lick the yogurt up - or hold the cat over it?

[isellsoap1]

@robzrob, right? Why even use a paper towel or cloth, I use my dog to lick spills up. Its called doggie dessert.

[pudicus2]

Interesting, but the lecture wasn't very informative

[Shadowstray]

Cats are neither sustainable or eco-friendly.

[M1ST3RHYDE]

@robzrob

You are A Genius :) But if she did that and posted the title as that more people would have watched & the Mwh's of CPU usage would have went thru the roof.

[boqallaf]

come on... who cares!

[danben72]

Yes Ms Catherine Mohr you may sound funny and knowledgeable but everything you said is common sense with a little bit of reading. TED, not that this is not useful to know, but doesn't this just show how "specialized stupid" most of human kind has become. Everybody is a specialist at something but can't see the forest because of all the trees. If this is what everybody takes away from this lecture I think TED accomplished something useful.

[JPRubber2]

@danben72 Very well put!

[awesomeSkins]

Soooo many things she said make me want to punch her. One: Organic is bullshit, so are pesticide etc, but GM ftw. Two: She made her house out of twigs... ever heard the story of the three little pigs? I'll huff and ill puff and I'll blow your house down. Three: If she cared, her house would be made with more glass (less heating required) and it would create all its energy needs (which can be done and has been done before). Four: She needs to concentrate more on the bigger picture.

[seomoz]

i wont waste time on thinking about that... sorry

[supermaucat]

She should pray every night that the house she built doesn't catch on fire... because it does, nothing will save it due to choice of materials.

[Notsorandomnumbers]

Isnt the first example about washing a towel kind of wrong? Cuz you dont wash one towel, you wash a bunch at once.

[ionz75]

Interesting, but there are other things which impact the environment besides embodied energy.

[Shaireece]

I like how she can be self-ironic :D

[Maladath]

So the cake is a lie. Hmm, how about that?

[ChalleFoV3]

i want that t-shirt!!! the cake is a lie!

[taeyeonlover]

i'm not sure if she has taken everything into consideration, such as the durability of the materials, but even if she didn't, i think it's a pretty good analysis in the short run.

[abyssquick]

Just use the damn paper towel. Then compost it.

[TheZooDork]

Holy shit shut the fuck up and enjoy life you idiot, stop wasting your time worrying about .13 FUCKING GALLONS OF WATER. The world will not explode if you use a paper towel instead of a washcloth nor will it pollute it.

[rabbitwho]

Surely a carpet saves you on heating bills?

And maybe this is the height of ignorance but shouldn't money be considered a form of "embodied energy" seeing as how people have to work for hours and hours and hours to earn money? I guess maybe she doesn't so she doesn't see it that way?

[Katfellow]

So she wasted a ton of energy, created pollution & tore down a house just to show that she can save energy, live green, & have a house?

That's awsome. lol

[oregonmotorcyclist]

Paper towels should be made from Hemp not trees,,

[shakyl008]

Ideas indeed worth spreading!

[ch0p86]

Shes talking shit, and only 20 seconds in!!

"Long on moral authority and short on data"?

Look in the mirror sweet-tits!!

I thought corporate hippies from california was just a cliché!

[wdbirk]

How does haybales have zero embodied energy. It has to be cut, turned to dry, bailed, stored, delivered. That's alot of diesel being burned.

I do respect her skepticism about "green", it's mostly hype and BS.

[kriztufer2001]

there is too much analysis involved in trying to determine what is the most environmentally friendly way to do something. this lady basically just spent 8 minutes trying to make herself look smart

[briansmobile1]

@kriztufer2001 Her analysis is worthwhile if it's shared with others. I wish I would spend little more time analyzing say my finances or what I buy and own. I liked it. I also thought that she dressed humbly and admitted to her own faults humbly. I don't think she's in danger of being an ego maniac any time soon.

[HayashiKaiji]

The cake is a lie, the cake is a lie, the cake is a lie.

I love her shirt, she definitely has played Portal before.

[LordNapalm]

I think she needs to calm down :P

[erp2k]

hehe, interesting!

but.. haven't you heard what Penn said, Cat? Organic is bullsh*t ;)

[abyssquick]

@erp2k - read my comment below on this exact point.

[abyssquick]

@erp2k

I feel the phrase "organic is bullshit" isn't accurate. The assessment depends on perspective of what organic means. Some aspects of it are bullshit indeed - I don't disagree. I.E. "greenwashing"

Most books on "organic" method cover two main topics - nutrition profiles (of soil, and of food grown in it), and sustainability of 'organic' itself. The word encompasses a broad idea of responsibility. There are so many stipulations and permutations of "organic" these days.

[erp2k]

@abyssquick Yeah, I guess once again marketing has ruined something. I just can't help to think about the BS part when someone mentions they're into 'organic', but it's cos 99 out of 100 only know what the ads have mistaught them.

[fandennis]

Look at the Life Cycle of the house. When you choose to use wood instead of aluminum, how often are you going stain the wood, treat the wood? And when it decomposes what about the energy used to replace the wooden frame?

These things should also be kept in consideration when construction energy costs are being evaluated for any building.

This is the Life Cycle Analysis.

[gr1283]

organic food is bunk

[abyssquick]

The purpose of organic methodology is best embodied in "permaculture" - the practice of sustainable farming. Somehow, through marketing, it has been turned into some sort of food/garden religion.

Don't confuse 'sustainability' with marketing rhetoric - "better nutrition, no pesticides" etc. Those claims are tenuous at best. Farming companies & the media have led the public think of "organic" strictly in terms of body health. It's not. That's not even supposed to be front and center.

[gr1283]

@abyssquick agreed

[erp2k]

@abyssquick What does one have to do with each other? seems like two different things to me.

I'm all for sustainable farming btw, but how does transgenic crops and synthetic products oppose that?

[tecnoblix]

I don't care how "green" and efficient you are trying to be. If you start out building a square house you fail. A dome is the most energy efficient structure. You failed before you even started.

[Compact3]

She's funny and smart and delivers action, not just words.

Great woman.

[kriztufer2001]

the solution is to make more energy not to try and use less.

[erp2k]

@kriztufer2001 Half true. Energy efficient devices/machines are the way to go aswell.

[rcmen231]

they fixed it

[NewgroundsOwnSBB]

no pizza :(

[yousefamar]

Good stuff.