Nov 28, 2011

Alberta oilsands algae could be greenhouse gas solution

Carbon-catching algae have been chosen as one of four "flagship" projects at the council, which has of budget of almost $1 billion and 4,000 staff across Canada.

"The idea behind a flagship," said McDougall, "is to do something really important that would be substantial in scale and make a real difference to Canada if you could pull it off."..And algae, he said, have the potential to take a sizeable bite out of this country's emissions and gobble up millions of tonnes of emissions a year.

"If it works, you're looking perhaps at as much as 15 to 20 per cent of carbon dioxide could be dealt with," said McDougall. He also sees international opportunities, noting Canadian algae-growing technology and know-how could be exported.

McDougall said there are challenges with mass-producing "super slime," as the fast-growing algae are described in one NRC report.

But the benefits are potentially "so enormous that it is worth spending a little money to find out," McDougall said in a recent interview, suggesting it could take $50 to $100 million to find out if using algae is a viable way to capture carbon.

McDougall said there could be all kinds of possible applications...


Read more: http://www.canada.com/technology/Alberta+oilsands+algae+could+greenhouse+solution/5774533/story.html#ixzz1f0IQh2xu

Dispatch #70 - Why Do the Chinese Eat Everything ?

Dispatch #70 - When I was in Guangzhou, the former Canton and China’s ivory carving and trading capital, I learned that there is a special market for cats. You pick your cat and they kill it and butcher it on the spot for you to take home and eat, and another one that specializes in wild animal meat like snakes and rats. There is an expression that the South Chinese eat anything with wings except a plane and anything with legs except a chair. I asked Grace Gabriel, the head of the Beijing office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) about this curious ominivorousness and she emailed,

“Tracing Chinese cultural history back a few thousand years, respect for nature and compassion for other beings are values that have been cherished in religious beliefs, as cultural heritage and guiding principles. The concept of ‘living in harmony with nature’ was reflected in art, literature and up until the beginning of the last century, China still had rich biodiversity in many regions. People lived sustainably with the long term view of leaving something for future generations. Unfortunately, the political turmoil of the last hundred years in China have decimated most of these beliefs. Wars, foreign invasions and occupations, civil conflicts and then Mao political movements stripped away basic trust between people, compassion and empathy and long term view. Today, there is no dominant religion in China. The society is ruled by one principal only: Make Money for Me. On the way to make riches for oneself, there is no concern for anything including other people and theenvironment, let alone animals. Unfortunately what was the depiction of one group of people ‘eating everything in sight’ [the South Chinese] is adopted by a lot more people now. And Chinese have the ability to travel all over the world now. Especially in countries where law and order are not wellestablished these Chinese feel that they can eat anything. With elephant ivory, there are some laws which may have deterrence effect. But to animals such as dogs and cats, there is no law in China that protect them. So, in addition to the demand reduction campaign to end wildlife trade, IFAW has been involved in research and draft of an anti-cruelty legislation in China, in the hopes that the law can cover companion animals as well.

As to eating giraffe’s bone marrow, it couldn’t be traditional medicine as there are no giraffes in China! There is a saying about eating whatever part of the animal helps the same body part on a person. This saying quite often is taken very literally, I am afraid... Big sigh..

Read on if you can (warning to PETA and vegan fans :-) http://blog.dispatchesfromthevanishingworld.com/?page_id=1756

Where Is All Of That Coal Ash Going From the We Energies Bluff Collapse? - Caledonia, WI Patch

Manthey - “We are working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard in our clean-up efforts,” Manthey said “…We’re still not sure what the root cause and contributing factors were in the bluff collapse.”

Back in the 1950s, there was a ravine along the shoreline, which was filled in with coal ash and soil.

 “It was a common practice in the 1950s,” Manthey said. “But I think the lines are being blurred that we’re not doing that now.”

Now that coal ash that slid down the ravine is being put into the landfill, Manthey said it’s not clear whether the coal ash will be recycled because it’s mixed with dirt and debris. The utility recycles 100 percent of the coal ash they produce, he said.

“Still, there may be quite a bit of energy still in the coal ash and sometimes the utility has re-burned the old coal ash,” Manthey said. “When they put it back in the ravine, it probably still had a lot of energy left.”

pleas read full at: 

FDA Continues to Caution - Chicken jerky treats from China are causing illness in dogs.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is again cautioning consumers that chicken jerky products for dogs (also sold as chicken tenders, strips or treats) may be associated with illness in dogs. In the last 12 months, FDA has seen an increase in the number of complaints it received of dog illnesses associated with consumption of chicken jerky products imported from China. These complaints have been reported to FDA by dog owners and veterinarians.


FDA is advising consumers who choose to feed their dogs chicken jerky products to watch their dogs closely for any or all of the following signs that may occur within hours to days of feeding the products: decreased appetite; decreased activity; vomiting; diarrhea, sometimes with blood; increased water consumption and/or increased urination. 


Nov 27, 2011

The fleecing of America: The United States Covered Bond Act of 2011

“what the hell were you thinking?”...Never has this been quite as extraordinary as it is in the Covered Bond Act of 2011, a bill that is intended to avoid the hassle and exposure of public debate over bailing out the criminals while leaving the country twisting in the wind.  Of course this will be supported by the full faith and credit (me & you) of the United States.

This bill will just confirm the practice of privatizing profits while nationalizing the losses, as a legal response to criminal activity.

From the folks over at Patrick.net: “The United States Covered Bond Act of 2011 is designed to allow bundling of any kind of debt including derivatives, into marketable securities guaranteed at full face value by the FDIC.”

Derivatives?  Weren’t those instruments the same ones that caused the near collapse of the system?  So what are they, exactly?

Avery Goodman from seekinglapha.com explains them this way:
“Derivatives are highly volatile financial instruments that are occasionally used to hedge risk, but mostly used for speculation. They are bets upon the value of stocks, bonds, mortgages, other loans, currencies, commodities, volatility of financial indexes, and even weather changes. Many big banks, including Bank of America, issue derivatives because, if they are not triggered, they are highly profitable to the issuer, and result in big bonus payments to the executives who administer them.”

This should make your eyes explode from your head:
 Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

75 TRILLION?  75 trillion worth of hedges, bets and speculation? I can’t help note the word “obligation”. 
Whose obligation?  Ultimately mine and yours...

Read on and comment at: The PPJ Gazette and also see: http://www.hagan.senate.gov/files/111109_CoveredBond_BillText.pdf

Here You Go: It's Over - MarketTicker

CNBC is reporting that there are now clients running out of the markets entirely because they do not believe their customer funds are safe.

The market is done folks. ...Oh sure, there will be rallies and there will be selloffs.  But there is no longer a market, there is no longer a thing to trade, and there is no longer a reason to believe that superior analysis will lead to profit or even safety.

This isn't just about speculators - it is also about farmers, shippers, airlines, manufacturing concerns, everyone in business who has a need to hedge.

More than four years ago I said that the government had to step in and demand that both off-balance sheet games be ended permanently and in all forms and that all derivatives had to be put on an exchange, without exception, and that every dollar of underwater position had to be backed by an actual dollar of capital in real money, held and known to be safe.

The regulators refused and now it appears that what was put up on a regulated exchange was effectively stolen.

Well folks, then none of your investment accounts -- not your IRA, 401k, not even your bank account -- is safe.

California "economic headshot" ....Going Ahead With Bullet Train

Despite all logic..."[California state leaders] have rallied around a plan to build a 520-mile high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco, cutting the trip from a six-hour drive to a train ride of two hours and 38 minutes. And they are doing it in the face of what might seem like insurmountable political and fiscal obstacles. The pro-train constituency has not been derailed by a state report this month that found the cost of the bullet train tripling to $98 billion for a project that would not be finished until 2033, by news that Republicans in Congress are close to eliminating federal high-speed rail financing this year, by opposition from California farmers and landowners upset about tracks tearing through their communities or by questions about how much the state or private businesses will be able to contribute."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to challenging social issues

ScienceDaily — The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

"These studies were designed to help understand the so-called 'ignorance is bliss' approach to social issues," said author Steven Shepherd, a graduate student with the University of Waterloo in Ontario. "The findings can assist educators in addressing significant barriers to getting people involved and engaged in social issues."

Through a series of five studies conducted in 2010 and 2011 with 511 adults in the United States and Canada, the researchers described "a chain reaction from ignorance about a subject to dependence on and trust in the government to deal with the issue."

In one study, participants who felt most affected by the economic recession avoided information challenging the government's ability to manage the economy. However, they did not avoid positive information, the study said... The participants who received the complex description indicated higher levels of perceived helplessness in getting through the economic downturn, more dependence on and trust in the government to manage the economy, and less desire to learn more about the issue.

"This is despite the fact that, all else equal, one should have less trust in someone to effectively manage something that is more complex," said co-author Aaron C. Kay, PhD, of Duke University. "Instead, people tend to respond by psychologically 'outsourcing' the issue to the government, which in turn causes them to trust and feel more dependent on the government. Ultimately, they avoid learning about the issue because that could shatter their faith in the government."

Participants who felt unknowledgeable about oil supplies not only avoided negative information about the issue, they became even more reluctant to know more when the issue was urgent, as in an imminent oil shortage in the United States, according the authors. For this study, 163 Americans, with a mean age of 32 (70 men and 93 women), provided their opinion about the complexity of natural resource management and then read a statement declaring the United States has less than 40 years' worth of oil supplies. Afterward, they answered questions to assess their reluctance to learn more.

"Beyond just downplaying the catastrophic, doomsday aspects to their messages, educators may want to consider explaining issues in ways that make them easily digestible and understandable, with a clear emphasis on local, individual-level causes," the authors said.

The sciencedaily story is reprinted from materials provided byAmerican Psychological Association, via Newswise.

State and Local Erosion Sudies and Hazard Maps

Examples of State and Local Erosion Sudies and Hazard Maps Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency The document provides a historical perspective on state and community efforts to conduct erosion studies and develop hazard zone maps. It provides the designer with two things: 1) a description of 31 coastal erosion reports, databases, and references covering all 

Perkins+Will, WM Launch Building Material Database, Recycling Tracker · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader

Design firm Perkins+Will has launched a free, universally accessible database aimed at educating people on building materials that are, or are suspected of being, hazardous to human and environmental health.

The database is based on the “precautionary principle,” the idea that in the absence of scientific consensus, an action merits precautionary treatment if it has a suspected risk of causing harm to humans or to the environment.

Included in the site is a list of substances which are known or suspected to be common asthma triggers, sourced from governmental lists, and a list of flame retardants, featuring original research by the Green Research Policy Institute. The list details the content of asthma triggers and flame retardants by cataloging these substances and their known or suspected health and environmental impacts.

Toxic-waste dump worries Clermont Co. - Cincinnati.com

Toxic-waste dump worries Clermont Co.
The county's biggest concern is that the landfill poses a potential threat to Harsha Lake, a main source of the county's drinking water. While the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the landfill's owner say measures to protect the environment are ...and more »

Josh Kopelman: “I Think 2012 Will Look More Like 2008 Than 2011″ | TechCrunch

Kopelman

Remember, R.I.P Good Times ...a number of factors are making some startup investors wary. “I think 2012 will look more like 2008 than 2011,” warns First Round Capital’sJosh Kopelman. His pace of investing has not slowed down.  He’s just being realistic...on the larger economic front, things don’t look so rosy. Overall economic growth remains sluggish at (a recently downward-revised) 2 percent last quarter, unemployment remains at a very high 9 percent, and governments around the world (including the U.S.) are in the throes of major debt and deficit crises. Both consumer and enterprise spending on technology is directly tied to the economy.

Kopelman is right.  It’s not R.I.P Good Times quite yet, but be prepared to see some bloodletting.

Dare I say, I think he is right... Please read on and comment at: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/26/josh-kopelman-i-think-2012-will-look-more-like-2008-than-2011/

Analyst: U.S. Tariffs, Solar Price Rises ‘Likely’

Analyst: U.S. Tariffs, Solar Price Rises ‘Likely’As the Chinese solar power industry considers filing a retaliatory trade case against the U.S., IDC research manager in renewable energy Jay Holman said American companies’ actions against China were likely to succeed. But he warned that such a result would raise module prices and make it harder for developers to get projects done. “http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/11/23/analyst-u-s-tariffs-solar-price-rises-likely/"

Taking a Value Approach to Sustainability

Taking a Value Approach to SustainabilityAt the 2011 Green Initiatives Conference Jim Weinbauer, vice president, director of sustainability at AECOM, bringing avalue approach to a sustainability business opportunity mindset.

Read on: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/11/23/taking-a-value-approach-to-sustainability/

DOE Cuts Scope 1 and 2 GHGs 13% in Two Years

DOE Cuts Scope 1 and 2 GHGs 13% in Two YearsThe Department of Energy reduced its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent from its FY 2008 baseline of 4.6 million mTCO2e, to 4 mT in FY 2010, putting it on course to beat its target of a 28 percent reduction by 2020, according to the DOE’s 2011 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. ...read on at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/11/23/doe-cuts-scope-1-and-2-ghgs-13-in-two-years/

China records biggest reduction in emissions.

China reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 billion tons between 2006 and 2010, the biggest decrease of any country in the period, according to a new report. The country's energy intensity, or energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product, dropped 19.1 percent last year from the level of 2005.


Environmental programs fall victim to budget cuts.

Conservation programs and environmental regulations have been pared back significantly in many states that have grappled with budget deficits in recent years. Because environmental programs are just a sliver of most state budgets, the cuts often go without much public notice.

In the Future, the Internet Will Heat Your House - NY Times

.... tens of thousands of power-gobbling servers. Concentrated in one place, the servers produce enormous heat. The additional power needed for cooling them — up to half of the power used to run them — is the steep environmental price we have paid to move data to the so-called cloud.
Enlarge This Image
Nick Iluzada

Researchers, however, have come up with an intriguing option for that wasted heat: putting it to good use in people’s homes.

Two researchers at the University of Virginia and four at Microsoft Research explored this possibility in a paper presented this year at the Usenix Workshop on Hot Topics in Cloud Computing. The paper looks at how the servers — though still operated by their companies — could be placed inside homes and used as a source of heat. The authors call the concept the “data furnace.”

...in the coldest climate, about 110 motherboards could keep a home as toasty as a conventional furnace does.

The rest of the year, the servers would still run, but the heat generated would be vented to the outside, as harmless as a clothes dryer’s...

Read on at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/business/data-furnaces-could-bring-heat-to-homes.html

HAASE- Obviously, I think this heat should be used as electricity and year around hot water ...

Reducing meat and dairy consumption: easier said than done, or easier done than said?

In his 2011 ASSA Cunningham Lecture this month, food policy expert Professor Tim Lang suggested that we “experiment” with alternative diets to reduce our meat and dairy consumption. Lang suggested that an evidence–policy gap exists in relation to food and discussed the range of urgent and persistent failings of our current food systems.

What do we know?

We know that livestock production has a range of negative environmental impacts. These include:

  • biodiversity loss
  • surface soil loss
  • salinity
  • pollution of waterways
  • eutrophication of seas.

We know that livestock products, and in particular dairy, have a high virtual water content. We also know that we live in the world’s driest continent and are likely to face future droughts and increased stress on water supplies into the future.

We know that the livestock sector globally is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions ... This is despite the recent findings that the Australian northern cattle herd emit 30% less methane than previously thought.

Processes in the food and agriculture system that lead to greenhouse gas emissions and population health outcomes (click for larger image). Friel S et al, The Lancet 374(9706)

We know that phosphorus scarcity presents a considerable threat to our food security and that producing meat products require 10 times more phosphorus than is required to produce vegetable-based products.

We know that overfishing is leading to extreme pressures on marine ecosystems. And we know that fishstocks worldwide are over-exploited or depleted, requiring urgent reductions in fishing if there is to be any chance of recovery.

At the same time, we now know that well-planned plant-based diets, including vegan diets, are healthy and nutritionally sound at all stages of the lifecycle. We also know that replacing meat with more plant foods helps prevent diet related diseases such as cancer, obesity and heart disease...

But isn’t it all too hard?

Public discussion of sustainable diets is often plagued by an underlying belief and expectation that plant-based diets are too difficult to achieve. There’s an idea that transitioning as a nation to a new dietary and food regime is likely impossible.

This is akin to giving up before trying.

Isn’t it rather too convenient to assume that social change is just too hard? Our high levels of meat and dairy consumption are recent historical facts, which suggests otherwise.

Americans Spend More in the Search for Happiness—And It's Not Working - Lifestyle - GOOD

“Money within reason can make you happy,” Roberts says. “Spending money on others or vacations with family and friends will bring you happiness, but a mad rush to spend will only get you another day older and deeper in debt.”calvin
Recession? What recession? The National Retail Federation estimated that as many as 152 million people braved wild crowds to shop on Black Friday yesterday, 14 million people more than in 2010. They battled early morning crowds (and occasional outbreaks of violence) in hopes of finding the perfect gifts at the perfect cost. Research shows that Americans' spending has increased over the past few decades as people literally try to buy happiness. Unsurprisingly, it's not working.
“[Shopping] is like a drug,” says James Roberts, a marketing professor at Baylor University. “Our brains releases chemicals like dopamine and serotonin which actually produce feelings of pleasure, and we can become addicted to those feelings. But money and material possessions will not bring you happiness, and not only that, they can cause more harm than good.”
In Roberts’ new book, Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy, he explores the psyche of spending and ways of curbing our nation’s collective bad habits. According to the General Social Survey, people report the same level of happiness today (about half are “pretty happy”) as they did in 1972, even though our national spending per capita increased by 96 percent during that time. More people say they are stressed, anxious, and depressed today, too. Roberts says many national problems come back to our nation’s attitude toward material possessions.
“Our spending is a reflection of our increased materialism,” Roberts says. “When we are materialistic our priorities become possessions and not people. What I don't think people understand is that the impact of materialism goes well beyond just our pocketbook.”
Today, one in three people are poor or "near-poor," and though our average savings has increased slightly since the recession officially ended, Roberts doesn’t have much hope that the economic downturn will change people's habits....

Nov 26, 2011

CO2 may not warm the planet as much as thought

New Scientist: The climate may be less sensitive to carbon dioxide than we thought "“ and temperature rises this century could be smaller than expected. That's the surprise result of a new analysis of the last ice age. However, the finding comes from considering just one climate model, and unless it can be replicated using other models, researchers are dubious that it is genuine. As more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere, more heat is trapped and temperatures go up "“ but by how much? The best estimates...


Keeping Wind Turbines Spinning Is The Goal | EarthTechling

Here’s something you might not have considered when it comes to wind power: The amount of time, money and productivity that is lost to repairing and maintaining the turbines. Turbine-manufacturing giant GE has thought about it, and says costs are “skyrocketing.” To try to get things under control, the company is working with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) on a two-year study that “will focus on helping wind farms to reduce maintenance costs and improve availability through predictions of impending problems.”

“Wind farms need to know ahead of time what needs to be fixed – and what doesn’t,” Stacey Kacek, GE Intelligent Platforms’ general manager, said in a statement. “If they have credible early warning of impending equipment problems, the farms can prioritize tower inspections, optimize crane usage and leverage resources in remote locations. Being able to avoid surprises and take control of maintenance in a proactive way translates to significant cost savings for the industry.”

MSHA should scrap any plan to wait for OSHA action on respirable crystalline silica

Before too long the US Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies should be issuing their annual regulatory plans and semi-annual agendas. These documents serve as official public notice of agencies' regulatory (and deregulatory) priorities. The Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order (EO) 12866 direct agency heads to release these documents in April (agenda) and October (plan and agenda), but the Obama Administration doesn't have a good track record meeting those deadlines.

I'm not going to predict when the next agenda and plan will be issued or, as I did in the Spring, on what will be in DOL's agenda on worker safety protections. I'll only say that I'm going to pay close attention to what the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says about its plans to propose a rule to protect workers in the mining industry from respirable crystalline silica. It's a hazard that is associated with the progressive, fibrotic lung disease silicosis, as well as lung cancer, and autoimmune and kidney disorders. I'm going to cringe if the next regulatory agenda MSHA issues suggests that progress on its proposed silica rule is linked to OSHA's efforts to address the same hazard.

Read the rest of this post... From thepumphandle

A fifth of global energy from biomass without damaging food production says scientists at the UK Energy Research Centre | UK Energy Research Centre

A new report suggests that up to one fifth of global energy could be provided by biomass (plants) without damaging food production.

The report reviews more than 90 global studies...The report finds that the main reason scientists disagree is that they make different assumptions about population, diet, and land use. A particularly important bone of contention is the speed with which productivity improvements in food and energy crop production can be rolled out.

"If we make the best use of agricultural residues, energy crops and waste materials then getting one fifth of current global energy supply from biomass is a reasonable ambition," says Dr Raphael Slade, the report's lead author and a Research Fellow at Imperial College London. The report finds that getting more than this is technically possible but requires assumptions about food production and changes in diets that look increasingly challenging, especially as people in Asia and Latin America begin to adopt a high meat western diet as incomes rise.
"The more bio-energy you want the harder it becomes to reconcile demand for food, energy and environmental protection" says Slade. Replacing all fossil fuels with biomass would be equivalent to all of global agriculture and commercial forestry combined, and would only be possible if we can grow more food on less land.

"The main mistake is to think of this as all or nothing. There's plenty of scope for experimentation to make sure we get it right," says Dr Slade.

"Ensuring bio-energy, food and forests don't compete for land won't be straightforward. But, if we use land more productively, and make better use of available plant material, we should be perfectly capable of producing bio-energy, feeding a growing population, and conserving the environment all at the same time."

Read full here: http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/support/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=1606

Smart phones power consumption cut by more than 70 percent

This is big...Researchers have designed a network proxy that can cut the power consumption of 3G smart phones up to 74 percent. This device enhances performance and significantly reduces power usage by serving as a middleman for mobile devices to connect to the Internet and handling the majority of the data transfer for the smart phone. Historically, the high energy requirements of mobile phones have slowed the adoption of mobile Internet services in developing countries.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111125161025.htm

Regulators Investigate Chevrolet Volt Battery - NYTimes.com

Federal safety regulators are investigating the Chevrolet Volt after the battery caught fire twice in crash tests...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/business/regulators-investigate-chevrolet-v...

McFeatters: Return with us now to those pre-EPA days » Ventura County Star

Somehow I don't think those 16 senators have thought this deregulation thing through; certainly they don't intend any of the consequences coming to their backyard...

"Smog" is the light pollution that Los Angeles has. In Pittsburgh, during a good winter inversion, it would be nighttime all day, sometimes for several days. Cars had to use their headlights and the streetlights were on.

In 1948, a smog in Donora, just down the river, killed 20 people right away and dozens of others more slowly. If the 16 senators had their way, the official government response would be: What do you expect living next to a zinc plant? Saving their lives would be a "job-killing measure."

The dead hand of federal regulation had yet to forestall the more exciting industrial accidents. We were at our perch on the hilltop minutes after the big passenger steamer Island Queen blew up in 1947, killing 21, and taking the rest of the day to burn to its water line.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/nov/25/mcfeatters-return-with-us-now-to-those... - vcstar.com

Cesium levels hit tens of billions of becquerels at river mouth.

Researchers have sounded the alarm over river water containing cesium levels at tens of billions of becquerels a day flowing into the sea near Fukushima Prefecture, site of the crippled nuclear power plant.

Nov 25, 2011

Fed Minutes: Bernanke Firmly In Control Of FOMC, QE3 Coming - Forbes

With the Fed failing at both of its objectives, and projections for the situation to remain pretty much the same next year, it seems like Bernanke will have pull on the trigger on QE3.

This is BAD news.... Read on with tissues: 

China power plants fined for pollution violations - Yahoo! News

SHANGHAI – China has ordered fines for eight coal-fired power plants accused of violating pollution limits and in some cases, falsifying emissions data.
...China is the world's largest polluter, relying on coal to supply about three-quarters of its surging electricity generation. Controlling pollution from power plants is a priority in its effort to reduce carbon emissions.
The plants were ordered to fix the problems by the end of the year. The agencies also ordered the withdrawal of subsidies paid to the companies for reducing carbon emissions.
The plants were found to have exceeded limits on sulfur dioxide emissions in 2010. In some cases, operators had disabled pollution control or emissions monitoring equipment, along with fabricating data to avoid punishment.
Read on : http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_pollution

Researchers Create New “Everlasting” Battery That Could Charge The Grid

everlasting battery, long lasting battery, longest lasting battery, ion battery, durable battery, most durable battery, battery technology, energy storage technology, power storage technology, green energy storage, sustainable energy storage, eco energy storage, renewable energy storage, grid energy storage, grid power storage

Researchers at Stanford are hard at work trying to create a battery that could keep wind and solar energy flowing even when the sun isn’t shining and the air is still. They’ve just released information about their current project, a promising new electrode that could make batteries that would last through at least 40,000 charges and discharges — as compared to current battery technology which degrades irreparably after just 400 charges and discharges. In addition to being durable, long lasting and incredibly strong, the battery that they are working on hits another prime target as well – it is really cheap to build.

Read the rest of Researchers Create New “Everlasting” Battery That Could Charge The Grid

Brace Yourself: The World Could End In 2012 - NPR

Brace Yourself: The World Could End In 2012
NPR - Some people predict catastrophe in 2012, based on Mayan forecasts. Anthropologists now say there are two, not just one, ancient references to December 2012. But they warn modern forecasters of doom have "twisted the Mayan cosmovision. ... and more

Boffins find new 2012 Cryptic 1300-yr-old inscription ≠ Mayan doomsday, they insist

The Register - The Mexican archaeology institute says that a second possible reference has been found to a date in December 2012 as the end of a 5,200-year Mayan calendar cycle after which "the cosmos is regenerated". Reportedly the glyph in question is carved into the back of a brick found in ancient temple ruins - suggesting that it was a hidden secret, not meant to be seen.

The Tortuguero glyph is well known, and is the source of much of the hoopla regarding the Mayan calendar and possible doomsday in 2012. The Comalcalco glyph, probably inscribed in the 7th century AD, is less commonly known and many experts doubt that it refers to December 2012 at all: it might refer to the same point in a different 394-year-long "Baktun" during the present 5,200-year long count.

Intriguingly, however, the AP reports that the Comalcalco brick shows signs that its cryptic glyphs were actually on the inside or covered in stucco, so hidden from view while the temple of which it was part still stood.

The Mexican archaeological institute seeks to downplay the significance of the expiration of the thirteenth and final Baktun of the current long count on or about December 21 next year....Similarly US space agency NASA has issued several rather equivocal denials that there's any truth to the 2012 apocalypse theories, saying that while mega solar flares and/or colossal "super volcanoes" most likely won't destroy the entire Earth, they could certainly cause titanic disasters and suffering on an immense scale.

Goldman Sachs predicts that U.S. will be world’s largest producer of oil in 2017

The Oil Drum - On Sunday, September 11, 2011, The Sunday Times quoted a Goldman Sachs (GS) report also summarized by Rigzone that predicted the United States will become the world's largest oil-producing country. This astonishing production increase is accomplished by changing the definition of oil and by using optimistic projections of liquids-rich shale production.

...The claim was that U.S. daily production will increase from 8.3 to 10.9 million barrels of oil per day (Mbopd) by 2017. This would surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia according to press reports. While these reports did not mention that Saudi Arabia claims it can produce as much as 12 Mbopd, they did state that Russia would not increase its current production of 10.7 Mbopd by more than 100,000 bopd by 2017. It is curious that the announcement was apparently not carried by any of the major business- or energy-oriented journals (Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Oil & Gas Journal, etc.) nor was it featured on the GS website..

...It is unclear how GS arrived at 8.3 Mbopd*. According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), daily U.S. production in June 2011 was 5.6 Mbopd (Exhibit 1). I assume that GS included natural gas liquids (NGL) and liquefied refinery gases (LRG) as liquids, but that only gets us to 7.8 Mbopd. It is possible that GS also included some fraction of biofuels as oil to arrive at 8.3 Mbopd.


Exhibit 1. U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas Liquids, Liquefied Refinery Gases, and Other Liquids Production June, 2011. Data from EIA.

 It seems highly speculative to extrapolate from current rates of about 14,000 to 750,000 bopd by 2015....Some will undoubtedly interpret the Sunday Times article citing Goldman Sachs to mean that energy concerns for the U.S. are over and that, as the biggest oil producer in the world, we will no longer depend on foreign oil. The most optimistic increase in oil production will mean that the U.S. still will have to import more than half of our oil based on present consumption levels.

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Soot mitigation is cheap and the World will back into it as India and other poor countries get riche

Soot mitigation is a far easier and faster method of reducing climate change than targeting CO2. The soot only stays in the air for a few weeks so once we reduce the generation of soot it will have immediate impacts.

Five hundred million Smoke free cookers could be acquired for $50 to 100 billion (one year of the budget your propose). This would save lives from reduced indoor air pollution and alleviate the equivalent of 9% of global CO2.

I recognize that the world will end up backing into this action as one of the main countries that uses the wrong cookers is India. Over the next 10 to 15 years as India's per capita income heads to two to four times higher, they will replace the cookers. This process could be accelerated and 1.9 million indoor pollution deaths/year could be prevented and global warming could be reduced sooner.

Open burning of forests and savanna (42% of the soot production from open burning) to get more farmland could also be reduced as nations become wealthier. 


Soot is linked to all kinds of health impacts.

Air pollution also increases droughts and floods

Stronger air pollution standards for cars and trucks.
Adding about $2000 per vehicle. for 50 million new cars and trucks would be $100 billion. This would reduce soot by about 40%.

Major emission sources of black carbon

* 42% Open biomass burning (forest and savanna burning)
* 18% Residential biofuel burned with traditional technologies
* 14% Diesel engines for transportation
* 10% Diesel engines for industrial use
* 10% Industrial processes and power generation, usually from smaller boilers
* 6% Residential coal burned with traditional technologies

Other technologies for reducing black carbon emmissions

For diesel vehicles in particular there are a several effective technologies available. Newer, more efficient diesel particulate filters (DPFs), or traps, can eliminate over 90% of black carbon emissions, but these devices require ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD).

Another technology for reducing black carbon emissions from diesel engines is to shift fuels to compressed natural gas. In New Delhi, India, the supreme court ordered shift to compressed natural gas for all public transport vehicles, including buses, taxis, and rickshaws, resulted in a climate benefit, “largely because of the dramatic reduction of black carbon emissions from the diesel bus engines.” Overall, the fuel switch for the vehicles reduced black carbon emissions enough to produce a 10 percent net reduction in CO2-eq., and perhaps as much as 30 percent.

Slash-and-char is an alternative to slash-and-burn that has a lesser effect on the environment. It is the practice of charring the biomass resulting from the slashing, instead of burning it as in the slash-and-burn practice.

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