Though there has been some head way on developing new energy sources (batteries) that are less harmful in the disposal phase.

One thing that worries me, is the human aspect, we always pick convenience, take the case of printing in a office, a user writing a proposal, would print drafts after drafts for correction, because it seems easier, while wasting paper, and energy, just because of a perceived convenience, modern printers have a draft mode (i think that’s how it’s called) that prints at lesser quality, saving ink, and supposedly energy, but still a huge amount of paper is wasted. Taking the human out of the equation might help, but how to achieve that is another problem that needs solving.

Thanks! It was quite a ride and an amazing learning experience. One of the most important takeaways was to realize most of our so-called “green choices” are really not so green after all. People usually neglect life-cycle costs. How can we be truly sure if we disregard all the implications our choices have?

For instance, let’s say I buy a Prius because I’m tired of driving the Earth-destroying SUV I bought a couple of years ago. Would the Prius really be a smarter choice in the long run? Yes, the Prius will consume less fuel, but will the end-of-life cost of disposing a Prius, with its especial batteries and all its materials, be really cheaper than the traditional, big and old SUV? When I say cheaper, I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about the impact on the environment. There aren’t any studies showing which car would be actually “greener” throughout an entire life cycle (i.e. manufacturing, acquisition, use, upkeep, and disposal). No empirical data. We tend to make uninformed decisions like this all the time. With better software and computational models, we’d be able to distill our reasoning and confirm or refute our choices.

So there’s indeed a lot of potential here. I’m hoping I’ll get to explore this area further down the road.

What is proposed is a huge undertaking, and truly hope a good solution can be found.

Congrats.