UW Madison Center Guides Patients Through Life-Threatening Diseases.

Via David Schaller - Sustainable Practices

Since 2001, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Patient Partnerships has helped nearly 2,000 people negotiate insurance and employment issues, find second opinions and locate clinical trials, and move past the paralysis of a frightening diagnosis. The center operates on a simple principle: people facing life-threatening or serious chronic disease can't go it alone, but that doesn't mean they should turn over decision-making to doctors. The center also provides an "unparalleled clinical learning experience for students studying law, medicine, social work, pharmacy, public health, and nursing, who work as patient advocates." Advocates don't give orders, and patients are regarded as the captains of their health care team. At any given time the center is assisting 30-40 clients with long-term advocacy. It charges nothing for help and relies primarily on donations. 

Read more about thier program here


 

It's Groundwater Awareness Week

WDNR - Water officials' annual reminder to private well owners to test their water to make sure it's safe to drink carries added emphasis this year.

DNR recommends you test your well water every year to make sure it's safe for your family to drink.
WDNR Photo

Groundwater Awareness Week, March 7-13, focuses on encouraging private well owners to schedule their water tests, following a recent Wisconsin study suggesting that the vast majority of Wisconsin well owners do not take this important step.  And over 20% of U.S. water systems violated the Safe Drinking Water Act

"We're glad that Groundwater Awareness Week is shining the spotlight on testing because it's something that all private well owners should do, but often don't," says Steve Ales, Department of Natural Resources drinking water and groundwater supervisor for south central Wisconsin.

"Most private wells provide safe drinking water, but conditions can change with time and well owners should regularly test their water to make sure it's bacteria free."

The Test Your Private Well Water Annually page of the DNR Web site features information on what contaminants to test for, a video showing how to properly collect a water sample for accurate testing, and links to lists of laboratories that can do the testing, as well as brochures describing different contaminants.

Public Service and Announcement Provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

This Tiny Crustacean Menace Could Fuel the World

The gribble -- thorn in the side of harbormasters, plague of the age of sail -- might just be good for something after all.

They don't exactly look like the saviors of our energy economy, but that's exactly what some researchers think they could be. Gribbles -- tiny crustacean pests with a knack for digesting wood -- have long been considered a marine parasite for the destruction they cause to wooden hulls and piers. But the enzymes gribbles use in to break wood fibers down into sugars could make them the next biofuels breakthrough.

Essentially, gribbles are blessed with a digestive process unparalleled (to our knowledge) by other wood-consuming insects and animals. Their digestive enzymes can break down woody cellulose and even lignin -- the normally indigestible part of woody plants -- creating sugars that are more or less ideal for fermenting into alcohol-based fuels.

A biofuel factory based on the gribble's digestive biology could yield energy-dense sugars for biofuel production in an efficient manner. But of course there's a give-and-take in the equation that involves feeding woody plant materials -- like trees -- into the process as fuel. But by pushing forward with more efficient means to convert woody cellulose into fuels -- and perhaps by engineering woodier trees -- we reduce the amount of organic matter we need to feed in to get the combustible stuff out.

Please read full at PopSci - Via Times Online

Oh Yeah! A Car Runs on Coffee Waste - Finally

A converted 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco that downs about 56 espressos per mile, the Daily Mail reports.

The concept came out of the BBC1 science program called "Bang Goes the Theory," and will go on a 210-mile drive between Manchester and London that consumes about 11,760 espressos. But coffee aficionados shouldn't scream just yet -- the fuel comes from waste coffee grounds provided by a branch of Costa Coffee.

Linked via PopSci

Wheres my milk from?

Type in the code onto the milk carton to find out where yours is from!

Find out about your milk, yogurt, chocolate milk, soy and organic milk, coffee creamer, cottage cheese, ice cream...see full list

Future of urban wind use is so 1800's

Thoughts of Bucky this morning (see via peak energy)

I am planning out sustainable urbanism for low income communities and was inundated with Bucky thoughts that brought me to this:
How about a 'pneumatic transport system' using air generated by direct and stored wind power. 

Berkeley - Pneumatic transportation uses compressed air for propulsion; air is blown through an airtight tube, propelling a capsule, canister or other vessel. It has had some success, although efforts to use it to transport people have failed.

Seriously off peak wind and tidal storage is not a 'issue',
just a resource to be managed.

That is sooo 1800's tech ;-)

Green or Not, I want this guitar

I signed up for the new GMG, not sure if this is just a 'green media wash' yet from the 'typical' global warning group by media moguls and celebrities??? but one of these signed sustainable guitars would make my son and I giddy.

My father made his first guitar which my son and I both play still and a late 1800's mandolin made by our ancestors...   can't get much more sustainable than that ;-)

The GMG Challenge
Coming in March 2010, GMG Founding Artists will be asking YOU to take a series of environmental challenges. By completing these challenges, you'll qualify to win one of several very cool prizes; things like free concert tickets, guitars, bikes, music catalogues, and more are all up for grabs. Check back in the coming weeks to learn more about the GMG Challenge.

You'll also be entered to win 1 of 3 guitars signed by founding members: a Martin Sustainable Wood Series, a First Act Bambusa, and a G

McD's goes 'green'? or Greenwash

Can a mass consumer fast food distribution chain 'ever be green'?

Well McD's is giving it a shot for you to get a few green burgers ;-)

LogoGuru- the McDonald's franchises in Europe are playing their part in environmental awareness through their new logo design.  The world famous yellow-colored "M" logo design is going on a hunter green background.

Vice Chairman of McDonald's Germany, Mr. Hoger Beek said
"With this new appearance we want to clarify our responsibility for the preservation of natural resources. In the future we will put an even larger focus on that,"
 
McDonald's who has been facing external pressures from various environmental groups on several counts, like its improper use of packaging and deforestation. While on the other hand, environmental activist Greenpeace also eulogized the management of McDonalds for environmental efforts such as introducing refrigerators without harmful chlorofluorocarbons and conversion of used oil into bio-diesel fuel.

Read on at LogoGuru

Link source designyoutrust

New Review?, a Giant Meteorite DID Cause Dinosaur Extinction

I like Gary's theory better ;-)

PopSci - decades of debate on the cause of the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs and a slew of other species on Earth 65.5 million years ago. Now, after reviewing 20 years worth of data and research, an international team of scientists concludes that it was a a huge meteorite strike that caused an explosion on Earth that was a billion times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The material that blasted into the atmosphere triggered a global winter, and researchers say much of life on Earth was gone within days... triggered the extinction.

A paper on the study appears in the March 4 issue of the journal Science.

Waste 2 Energy Hack - building generators that run off of syngas

Lovin the EcoHacks - 'spent the weekend building generators that run off of syngas.'

[Nanomonkey] All Powers Lab produces Gasifier Experimenter Kits to convert raw material to energy. The kits use Gasification to make a "natural gas like" fuel from materials such as wood chips, walnut shells, construction debris or agricultural waste.

So is this the Mr. Fusion that powered the DeLorean? This Honda fitted with a GEK sure makes it look that way. But all joking aside, this looks like a great way to turn waste in heat or electricity. There's tons of info on the site to dig- VIA HackAday

Math rule of thumb #1710

EXPLAINING A MATHEMATICAL THEOREM
If you can't explain a mathematical theorem to a ten-year-old, you don't understand it yourself.

G.S. Tahim, mathematician, Bloomington, Indiana

V2G will sustain microgrid

Car is my power station

Micro-grids could operate reliably without the need for a national grid backup if they tapped the vast amounts of power stored in the batteries of electric and hybrid vehicles, to balance out fluctuations in supply and demand.

Vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, technology, which will enable electric car owners to make money while storing power for their local micro-grid, was unveiled at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The first experimental V2G system went live last year at the University of Delaware, the Christian Science Monitor reported. At Delaware,  electric cars are connected to the grid whenever they are not being driven.
Read full at off-grid

George Monbiot - a green turn-off against micro-generation?

Monbiot anti-micropower rant is anti-green

Everybody in UK eco-circles is talking about George Monbiot this week, which is just the way he likes it.

George Monbiot is an unashamed cheerleader for big power – his column in the Guardian has previously come out in favor of large nuclear power stations, and this week he spoke out against micro-generation.  George Monbiot is also in favor of large, centralised wind farms and other forms of renewable energy, and sets himself firmly against micro-generation –which he caricatures as a middle class subsidy.

The occasion for his latest outburst was the introduction of the UK government-backed Feed-in tariff (FiT), which will reward householders and others who generate renewable energy back into the grid.  Ignoring the fact that the FiT was enormously successful in Germany, which has become a European leader in micro-generation,  "the only renewables policy that makes sense," says George, " is to build big installations where the energy is – which means high ground, estuaries or the open sea – and deliver it by wire to where people live."George Monbiot has missed several points here  – the most important is that the reasons for installing micro-power are not entirely financial – it is also good for energy security if each house has its own power supply, and it is empowering (literally) for communities, to know they are collectively able to generate power independently of the grid.

Read full at offgrid

27cty/36hwy mpg 5 pass truck... 30 years old FAIL

5th in my series 'future energy fail'

1980 datsun KingCab (Via PopSci)
 
 

Your daily dose of irony

The USDA is advising consumers to stop using "Bee-Shield" and "MD Quality" brands of hand sanitizer, as both are harboring high levels of an infectious bacteria. The brands are sold only in Puerto Rico, but the irony can be felt everywhere. (Via Microbe World) - Linked via the Boing2

What Does an Organic Label Mean?

Food, Farms, and Famine posted about what the label "organic" means. The specific wording, and where on the package the statement is placed, is an indication of just how "organic" the product might be:

Read full including video from Sociological Images

10 Companies Reinventing Our Energy Infrastructure

Here are 10 companies that caught our attention. Any one technology is unlikely to solve the looming climate change and peak oil problems, but working together within the larger system, they could tilt the globe away from catastrophe and towards a sustainable future.

Wired has a look at some of the companies searching for solutions to peak oil and global warming - 10 Companies Reinventing Our Energy Infrastructure - featuring cellulosic ethanol company Agrivida, high altitude wind power company Makani, transmission line company Superconductor Technologies, geothermal energy company Potter Drilling and others.

When most people think about changing the way America uses energy, they imagine new ways of generating electricity like solar farms or new nuclear reactors.

But at an innovation summit organized by the Department of Energy's high-risk, high-reward research branch, ARPA-E (modeled after Darpa), it's not just power generation that's getting a makeover. The companies hawking their ideas there, which all received grant money from ARPA-E or were finalists, are trying to reinvent the entire energy system. Everything is getting a technological re-evaluation from the actual wires that power is transmitted on to the waste heat produced in industrial processes.

And of course there are also new ways of making electricity beyond just burning some rocks or oil to create steam to drive a turbine.

Via PeakEnergy - GAV

Even Shell’s CEO Expects Electric Cars to Dominate

Gas 2.0 has a post on a speech by Shell CEO Peter Voser on the electric car market (I think he's being overly optimistic that a significant proportion of cars will still be running on petrol in 2050) - Even Shell's CEO Expects Electric Cars to Dominate.

Speaking at a conference in Santa Barbara, CA, Shell CEO Peter Voser said that by 2050 he fully expects 40% of all vehicles in the world to be some kind of electric car. Shell has calculated that by 2050 there will be 2 billion cars in the world, up from today's 1 billion.

Voser, contrary to what you might think (but clearly calculated to represent a marketably more caring Shell) was quoted in a Reuters article as remarking that over the next 40 years the world will also need to develop more low-carbon fuels, more efficient engines, and more hybrid vehicles to account for the remaining 1.2 billion vehicles that are not electric in 2050.

In order to ensure that Shell doesn't become a dinosaur in the future economy, Voser said that they have been investing heavily–25% of their research budget–in alternative energy such as wind, solar and biofuels.

Clearly, with 1.2 billion cars still running on combustion in 2050, Big Oil doesn't feel like they have much to be worried about in terms of lowered demand for oil. They may not see much of an increased demand in 2050, but they still envision that they will have plenty of people to sell their oil to. What remains to be seen is if there will be any oil left to sell and if we've been able to avoid the worst effects of climate change so that a market still exists.

VIA the BigGAV

Didn't David Hone say this last year? 

Ouch... single payer and affordable DOA

Who will win in healthcare reform? Hint -It is a number$ game... not you.

Read more here

• Why are they rejecting single payer?   (AKA H.R. 676)
  
• Health Care Reform? Not about health and no one cares....
  
• Billions gone and never mind over 20,000 Americans die every year...
• True Health Care Reform: 10 Missing Pieces

IS H.R. 676 dead?

Unsustainable debt - 20-40% more than previously projected....

Preliminary Analysis of the President's 2011 Budget

Read the full blog post  from CBO Director >

Energy News for Major Energy Companies, Fourth Quarter 2009

Energy Information Administration has released "Financial News for Major Energy Companies, Fourth Quarter 2009 (The News)." 

Net income for these companies increased 4-fold over that of the fourth quarter 2008 (Q408).
Higher crude oil prices and increased production of oil and natural gas contributed to higher profits.
Net income for the oil and natural gas production business segment was substantially higher, rising $15 billion from Q408. The refining and marketing business segment, however, lost $2 billion in the fourth quarter 2009.

The News is available at EIA linked here

Haase - Good sign of recovery in some critical sectors

OSHA: We’re serious about the “new sheriff in town”

Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health riffed on OSHA's theme as the "new sheriff in town" at the New Jersey Occupational Safety and Health Education Program (OSHEP) Conference held in East Brunswick, New Jersey Wednesday, February 24, 2010.

"I know you've all heard Secretary Solis' statement that "There's a new sheriff in town." Dr. Michaels and I take this phrase seriously. It isn't an abstract wish; it's a description of how OSHA is now working," said Barab (pictured left via usw.org)

"We can see this new focus in the egregious citations OSHA recently issued to a chemical waste processing facility in Houston after it killed a worker in a terrible, preventable explosion - this employer's third fatality in less than a year. The proposed fine in this case is almost $1.5 million.

"In Pittsburg we cited a building contractor over half a million dollars after a worker was killed falling off the roof. We later found that workers had been asking for fall protection equipment and, although the employer had the equipment on hand, he refused to allow the workers to use it.

"Here in New Jersey, as a result of our National Emphasis Program for Refineries, OSHA issued citations to four refineries in the last year - totaling more than half a million dollars.

"It's unfortunate but true that we need to issue a sizable fine to get the attention of employers who do not respect the lives of their workers.

"Under this administration, OSHA is returning to the original intent of the OSH Act. We're a regulatory and enforcement agency and we're going to act like it. We're also a public health regulatory and enforcement agency. Our authority stems directly from the need to prevent events and exposures that maim and kill American workers."
Please read full via ISHN

EIA announces 2010 Energy Conference: Short-Term Stresses, Long-Term Change

Secretary Steven Chu and Lawrence H. Summers to be keynote speakers at EIA/SAIS Energy Conference
April 6 & 7, 2010. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, DC,

Please see the EIA website for full details:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/conference/2010/

A lot of eyes in the sky turning to e-waste

Really look and think about orbiting space debris... epic.

If you are concerned, they have a Cell Phone Radiation Guide

Download the EWG Guide to Safe Cell Phone Use.

While I am far more concerned about the 'true threat levels' of radiation I can not easily avoid... EWG has dove into the obvious and is here to help the panic stricken.



They produced a list of the 10 Best Phones ranked by low radiation.

You can also see all available phones ranked by radiation.

1.Sanyo Katana II [Kajeet]
2.Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837) [AT&T]
3.Blackberry Storm 9530 [Verizon Wireless]
4.Samsung I8000 Omnia II [Verizon Wireless]
5.Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627) [AT&T]
6.Samsung SGH-t229 [T-Mobile]
7.Helio Pantech Ocean [Virgin Mobile]
8.Sony Ericsson W518a Walkman [AT&T]
9.Samsung SGH-a137 [AT&T, AT&T GoPhone]
10.LG Shine II [AT&T]

 

Haase -  The real threat of Cell Phone's are caused by the inattentiveness and alienation they create.   Should I tell them how much radiation the WiFi in their laptop or wireless router produces?   
 (Source link 'Cindy  Pawelski  e-council' ;-)

Bill to up workplace safety fines dies in state Senate

Cal-OSHA Quote of the day:

"These people are trying to be safe. They need help. Raising the fines doesn't help them."
Wyoming Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton

The Senate voted 15-15 on House Bill 93, which was one of a few measures the governor's Workplace Safety Task Force recommended to deal with Wyoming's worst-in-the-nation record for workplace fatalities.

 

"I think it sends a message that we don't care about worker safety," said bill sponsor Rep. Mary Throne, D-Cheyenne. "No one (in industry) is against this bill because they recognize the importance of safety -- except 15 members of the Senate."

Killing it, Sessions said, sends the message to the "people on the bottom rung of the mineral industry" that they are "throwaway people."

There are 17.1 deaths per 100,000 workers in the state; the national average is four per 100,000.

Sen. Eli Bebout, however, said the fines would be unfair and crippling to small businesses. 

Throne said the fines were to be an incentive to get employers interested in bringing in safety regulators to collaborate on safety needs.

The fines proposed in the bill were the same as fines in a pending bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The federal legislation would raise fines imposed by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The state of Wyoming, under agreement with OSHA, operates an occupational safety and health program. The program operates under the umbrella of the Worker Safety and Compensation Division within the Wyoming Department of Employment.

If Congress raises the fines, Wyoming will be forced to raise its fines, Throne said

Go to the full story in Wyoming Tribune Eagle (via Cal-OSHA)

Coral reefs around the world are predicted to disintegrate

Coral reefs in the Red Sea, north of Jeddah. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AFP/Getty Images

The world's coral reefs will begin to disintegrate before the end of the century as rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere make the oceans more acidic, scientists warn.

"The world's coral reefs will begin to disintegrate before the end of the century as rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere make the oceans more acidic, scientists warn."

"The research points to a looming transition in the health of coral = ecosystems during which the ability of reefs to grow is overwhelmed by the rate at which they are dissolving."

"More than 9,000 coral reefs around the world are predicted to disintegrate when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach 560 parts per million. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today stands at around 388ppm, but is expected to reach 560ppm by the end of this century." Via The Boing2 ala-algore

Haase - Perhaps a little green fear mongering?
Yet the largest percent of life on earth resides in the oceans and seas we use as our primary dumping grounds... without the typical 'carbon/warming scare tactics' our oceans will require vast protective measures if we want to continue calling this planet 'home' . 

DOE announces $30 Million Electrofuels Grant

ARPA-E* is seeking new ways to make liquid transportation fuels - without using petroleum or biomass

 - by using microorganisms to harness chemical or electrical energy to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuels.
ARPA-E requests innovative proposals which can overcome these challenges through the utilization of metabolic engineering and synthetic biological approaches for the efficient con version of carbon dioxide to liquid transportation fuels. ARPA-E specifically seeks the development of organisms capable of extracting energy from hydrogen, from reduced earth-abundant metal ions, from robust, inexpensive, readily available organic redox active species, or directly from electric current. Theoretically such an approach could be 10 times more efficient than current photosynthetic-biomass approaches to liquid fuel production. View full announcement here

EXAMPLE depicted in above photo of  Sandia researcher Rich Diver assembling a prototype device intended to chemically reenergize carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which ultimately could become the building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

*The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is a new agency of the Department of Energy. ARPA-E was authorized by the America COMPETES Act (PL 110-69) and charged with the mission to fund projects that will develop transformational technologies that reduce Americas dependence on foreign energy imports; reduce U.S. energy related emissions, including greenhouse gases; improve energy efficiency across all sectors of the U.S. economy; and ensure that the United States maintains its leadership in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.

The answer? GE Hitachi Plans to Turn Nuclear Waste into Fuel...

President Obama's recent announcement that the U.S. government will offer $8 billion in federal loan guarantees for the first new nuclear plant in the country in 30 years upset clean energy advocates for a number of reasons. One of the biggest problems: all that radioactive waste. Now GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, one of the world's biggest suppliers of nuclear reactors, claims that it can safely turn nuclear waste into fuel. Goodbye, Yucca Mountain.

Read the rest of GE Hitachi Plans to Turn Nuclear Waste into Fuel

Americas First Wave Farm

America is getting its very first wave power farm! Ocean Power Technologies, a New Jersey-based firm, is currently installing giant buoys off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon. Once all ten buoys are in place, developers hope to use them to harness the energy of wave motion and generate power for hundreds of area homes. Contiune reading at Inhabitat

First of dozens of nuclear powers stations to be decommissioned

Haase - I want to be wrong about this.
The reality and the gravity of the situation is dire... regardless if you 'perceive' nuclear energy as the carbon neutral messiah or support the current 'Nuclear Renaissance', at the rate that current energy plants are required to be decommissioned (due to safe working lifespan) we will be shutting down more facilities in the next decade faster than we could theoretically build them. - Unless we make reckless safety or epic cost choices, these plants and their 'thirty year old radioactive waste' will continue to plague the heart our nations energy future.


Inhabitat: Vermont may soon become the first state in America to shut down a nuclear reactor. During a meeting tomorrow, the state senate is likely to deny a request to extend the life of the 38-year-old Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The reactor site has come under scrutiny in recent years because of safety issues and leaks of tritium, a radioactive isotope linked to cancer. Read more at the Inhabitat

Rolling back the Carbon

Inhabitat

IMAGE: Walmart Announces that It Will Cut 20 Million Tons of Greenhouse Gases

Wal-Mart announced today their goal to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain. According to the mega-retailer, these changes will be equivalent to removing 3.8 million cars off the road for one year. Considering how immense the environmental impact Walmart's global supply chain has, this news represents a serious commitment on their part to reduce emissions.

Waukesha tries to tap $100 million grant for water projects

The Waukesha utility faces a 2018 deadline to lower radium levels in its drinking water supply. The utility's wells are contaminated with radium, and on days of heavy water demand, the utility distributes water that exceeds U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits.

The utility's cheapest option for a new supply is to spend $164 million to build a pipeline, pump stations and other infrastructure to buy Lake Michigan water and pump it to Waukesha.

Without state or federal grants, the project is estimated to increase the average Waukesha household's annual water payments from $268 to $568. If the utility gets $50 million from the Army Corps, the bills are estimated to rise to $492.

The potential rate increases emerged last week during a water plan hearing as the main point of concern for Waukesha residents.

"Given that the radium is a federal mandate," Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson said after the hearing, "it makes sense that federal funds should help us meet the mandate."

Read full from DailyReporter

A polar viewpoint

Cooling LEDs by heating the water saves on electricity

Another 'EcoHack' ...  swapped out his twin-tube florescent aquarium lights for LEDs. By running tank water through the aluminum LED mounts he's transferring excess heat into the water in the tank, in turn saving some of the electricity that would have been used to heat the tank. Couple this with roughly 35 Watts saved by moving away from fluorescent tubes and he's got a great energy-saving hack. The LEDs used in the last aquarium light conversion were cooled by heat sinks and fans.

'We'd love to see this concept incorporated into that design.' - HackAday

Coal Ash Waste Contamination Study – 31 New Water Pollution Cases

The case for the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to stop sitting on a delayed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coal-ash site contamination rule is even stronger than it first appeared to be, according to a major new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and Earthjustice. The analysis by EIP and Earthjustice identifies 31 additional coal-ash contamination sites in 14 states, which, when added to the 70 in the EPA's justification for the pending rule, brings the total of coal-fired power plant waste storage sites with poisoned water to 101.

With data showing arsenic and other toxic metal levels in contaminated water at some coal-ash disposal sites at up to 1,450 times federally permissible levels, the EIP/Earthjustice report identifies 31 coal-ash waste sites where groundwater, wetlands, creeks, or rivers have been polluted with "wastes (that) contain some of the earth's most deadly pollutants, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, selenium, and other toxic metals that can cause cancer and neurological harm (in humans) or poison fish." The 31 sites are located in the following 14 states: Delaware (1); Florida (3); Illinois (1); Indiana (2); Maryland (1); Michigan (1); Montana (1); Nevada (1); New Mexico (1); North Carolina (6); Pennsylvania (6); South Carolina (3); Tennessee (2); and West Virginia (2).

U.S. coal-fired power plants generate nearly 140 million tons of fly ash, scrubber sludge, and other combustion wastes every year. The EPA has indicated that coal ash dumps significantly increase risks to both people and wildlife. For example, EPA's 2007 risk assessment estimated that up to one in 50 residents living near certain wet ash ponds could get cancer due to arsenic contamination of drinking water. Full Report

Source linked  From Shil Kennedy DocuTicker

Landowners threaten We Energies' attempt to build 90 turbines

Resistance from Columbia County landowners threatens We Energies' attempt to build 90 turbines for the Glacier Hills Wind Park.

Randolph resident Pete DeBoer, for instance, said the utility offered him $2,000 per year and a $5,000 bonus to a sign a contract waiving his right to sue if the sound from two nearby turbines exceeds 45 decibels after they are built. The utility will install equipment on his house to measure decibels.

VIEW THE DAILY REPORTER'S WIND FARM PROJECT PROFILE PAGE

"As far as I can tell, if you sign anything with them, they can come and go as they please on your property," DeBoer said. "It's about what they want, when they want it and where they want it.

"I told them no, and so far they've left me alone but I've heard they're harassing other people."

We Energies spokesman Barry McNulty said the utility is trying repeatedly to contact property owners, but only because representatives either are calling or arriving at homes to no answer. "It's a process," he said. "Sometimes it can take several months to try to get communication going, but I wouldn't call it harassment."

When the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approved the estimated $434 million Glacier Hills project in January, commissioners required the company build turbines 1,250 feet from properties unless the owners signed waivers allowing smaller setbacks. Commissioners also set a 45-decibel night noise limit.

...If landowners do not sign off on waivers or easements, Manthey said, We Energies still will find a way to finish the project. But, he said, there is no justification to local concerns the utility will use eminent domain to take the land. "We're not anywhere near that," he said. "We feel pretty confident about getting the turbines up and getting the contracts we need." Please read more and follow story at DailyReporter

Which Health supplements are SnakeOil? - interactive guide

ViaBoing2

BoingBoing isn't the only place trying out new design ideas today. Information is Beautiful has given us an exclusive preview of a new interactive infographic, designed to make it easy for anybody to parse the data on dietary supplements.

Each bubble represents a specific use—or group of uses—for a dietary supplement. The bigger the bubble, the more popular the supplement is, as measured in Google hits. The higher on the chart, the more solid the evidence supporting that particular supplement for that particular use. David from IiB reviewed nearly 1000 studies to put this baby together, using studies with large numbers of subjects or meta analysis of multiple studies whenever possible.

You can read more about the methodology on the site.

Much Awesomeness Guys!

DOE triples projections for Nation's Wind Energy Potential

Department of Energy Releases New Estimates of Nation's Wind Energy Potential for wind-generated electricity, tripling previous estimates of the size of the nation's wind resources. The new study, which was carried out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and AWS Truewind, finds that the contiguous 48 states have the potential to generate up to 37 million gigawatt hours annually. By contrast, total U.S. electricity generation from all sources was roughly 4 million gigawatt hours in 2009. The estimates show the total energy yield that could be generated using current wind turbine technology on the nation's windy lands. (The estimates show what is possible, not what will actually be developed.)

Along with the state-by-state estimates of wind energy potential, NREL and AWS Truewind have developed wind resource maps for the United States and for the contiguous 48 states that show the predicted average wind speeds at an 80-meter height.

Click on a state to view individual state maps. Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not have 80-meter wind maps available but have 50-meter wind maps.

More alerts for the month of Feburuary (good month for DOE ;-)

• DOE Webinar March 18, 2010: Getting to Net Zero Today Through a Performance-Based Design/Build Process
• Department of Energy Releases Report on Potential Environmental Effects of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technologies
• DOE Guides Data Centers in Standardizing Their Energy Efficiency Metrics
• Geothermal Technologies Program Database Details More Than 170 Projects

Read more at EERE

Waste Energy Generators HACKaDay - Much love

HackAday brings us another awesome 'EcoHack'
Looks a lot like the one I installed in my sons room for lighting (via heating duct ;-)

[Peter Wirasnik] has been casting his own aluminum heat sinks. He's working on capturing the heat from a car's exhaust system and turning it into electricity, kind of like the candle generator. In the photo above a standard heat sink is bolted to one side of a Peltier cooler with [Peter's] own casting on the bottom. That casting will connect to the exhaust pipe and transfer heat to the Peltier while the other heat sink keeps the opposite side relatively cool. What results is a voltage between 600mV and 1V. Please read, credit and spread the love from hackaday

Also see Energy recycling prosthetic foot:

At first, we thought that this energy recycling prosthetic foot was going to be a power generating device to harvest some energy using our weight in the heel compression. Actually, it is showing off a fancy micro controller based system for reproducing our naturally springy step.

These guys even hacked the "Steorn Orbo"

Reader [Hjhndr] ran across an interesting set of tests and wanted to know if they're brilliant or just a load of bull. We're not making the call on that, but the tests on a Steorn Orb motor replica are worth looking at.Keep in mind, people used to think the earth was flat and scientists of the time would have sworn up and down that's the way things were.

The Steorn Orbo is a motor that generates more power than is put into it. At least according to Steorn Limited that's what it does. An independent panel of scientists said otherwise a few years back but that didn't stop the company from showing off the concept a few more times, most recently a showing in Dublin ended this month.

So anyway, [Jean-Louis Naudin] took what he saw from those demonstrations and built a replica. He's made several papers about the principle as well as his testing available online. There's a lot of math, a little bit of smoke and mirrors, and several videos.  Take a look and let us know what you think in the comments

DOI Launches WaterSMART Initiative

The "SMART" in WaterSMART stands for "Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow."
    "The federal government's existing water policies and programs simply aren't built for 21st century pressures on water supplies," Salazar said. "Population growth. Climate change. Rising energy demands. Environmental needs. Aging infrastructure. Risks to drinking water supplies. Those are just some of the challenges." ... the 2011 budget proposed by President Obama for the Department of the Interior doubles the current enacted 2010 appropriations for water programs to move the initiative forward. It includes $72.9 million for the WaterSMART program, which is a total increase of $36.4 million over 2010. Read more from U.S. Department of the Interior

Linked from Shirl Kennedy DocUticker

Ultimate respect for electrical safety training

This footage was taken outside of Thunder Bay , Ontario.

These guys are checking hydro tower insulators.

Listen at the end for the three things he is afraid of... classic.

VIA email from Jim Crowley/Chip ;-)

Ironic my son and I were going over "electrical safety" for his school homework last night.