FAIL - 2011 electric car is half as fast as the 1830 stage coach

Progress??? The 2011 electric car is half as fast as the 1830 stage coach
 In its obsessive desire to promote the virtues of electric cars, the BBC proudly showed us last week how its reporter Brian Milligan was able to drive an electric Mini from London to Edinburgh in a mere four days — with nine stops of up to 10 hours to recharge the batteries (with electricity from fossil fuels).

What the BBC omitted to tell us was that in the 1830s, a stagecoach was able to make the same journey in half the time, with two days and nights of continuous driving. This did require 50 stops to change horses, but each of these took only two minutes, giving a total stopping time of just over an hour and a half.

Al Gore just called to say that he's very concerned about the stage coach's carbon hoofprint. ;-)

Source: Telegraph UK

Possibly related posts

• Obama loans $465 million to company that's building a $109,000 green car no one can afford in recession

FAIL - Madrid's air has never been cleaner!

The Financial Times reports from Spain:

When Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, the mayor of Madrid, boasted of big reductions in air pollution since he had taken office in 2003, it seemed a moment for the city's residents to celebrate an environmental breakthrough.

"Today we have better air quality in Madrid than ever before," Mr Ruiz-Gallardón proclaimed.

Fabulous! That's great news! Couldn't be better! But it could be a bit, shall we say, misleading.

Unfortunately for him and for the 3.3m inhabitants of the Spanish capital, investigators concluded the improvements in air quality were an illusion.

The state prosecutor's office found that in 2009 the Madrid municipality had quietly moved nearly half its pollution sensors from traffic-clogged streets in the city centre to parks and gardens.

This is, unfortunately, the way it is with environmental reporting.

One day we hear that a graph of the world's average temperature has never been higher. The next day we learn that a huge number of weather stations in frozen Russia have been decommissioned and scientists say … well … ahem … perhaps so, but that surely has nothing to do with our funding … uhhhh … we mean … our results.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, "There are lies, damn lies and people getting federal grants."

Source: Financial Times

Possibly related posts by I hate the media

• "It's for the children" has fallen on hard times, replaced by "It's for the environment."
• White House science czar wants America to surrender to a "planetary regime"
• What green jobs look like in black and white
• United Nations Environmental Ambassador building a 20,000 square foot mansion
• Twidiot of the Day

FAIL 2010 highest mpg's worst than 1985 mpg's

AutoBlogGreen presented the  "ACEEE Greenest Vehicles of 2011"
These are "Epic Fail" compared to 1985 - Think of consumer price and environmental impact to produce these... then the lifetime maintenance and gas - FAIL!

I only noted these cars, because I drove them all over the years loaded with friends, family, pets and gear. Safely and reliably.

1985 CHEVROLET SPRINT    
City    39 mpg
Hwy    48 mpg 
Combined 43 mpg

1985 NISSAN SENTRA    
City    38 mpg
Hwy    45 mpg
Combined    40 mpg

1985 FORD ESCORT    
City    36 mpg
Hwy    47 mpg
Combined    40 mpg  

1985 TOYOTA COROLLA    
City    32 mpg
Hwy    43 mpg
Combined    36 mpg

Find out more MPG fail at fueleconomydb.com

U.S. could be the 'Persian Gulf of Wind Energy'

Not just the Midwest ... but why the Mid-Atlantic Can Be the 'Persian Gulf of Offshore Wind Energy' 
The region could provide nearly a third of U.S. energy demand with wind turbines...a vision that goes far beyond rhetoric to encapsulate a future of limitless, clean, healthy, secure and 100-percent American energy. It's the "Persian Gulf of offshore wind energy" and it describes a little known area of the eastern seaboard otherwise known as the Mid-Atlantic Bight, which runs from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

In the annals of energy discoveries, the discovery of the Bight's wind energy potential could rank right up there with the discovery of oil beneath the sands of the Arabian Peninsula. A 2007 joint Stanford University-University of Delaware study found that fully developed with over 166,000 wind turbines, the Bight's waters could produce as much as 330,000 megawatts of power, or effectively one third of U.S. energy demand. Even more exciting, the researchers concluded that full-scale development of the resource was well within the realm of technological possibility...The project not only has the benefit of eliminating the need to build a separate shore link for every single wind farm, but will help overcome another concern associated with wind power in general -- intermittency. It's true that wind doesn't blow all the time in any given location, but one advantage of the Mid-Atlantic Bight is that it's so big there's always a steady breeze blowing somewhere along its 600-mile length. Connected by the Google transmission backbone, farms up and down the Bight could thus provide clean, reliable power, 24/7 for consumers in the Northeast.

It so happens that building in federal waters also happens to provide environmental benefits. Among the commonly expressed concerns about wind energy is the impact on bird and other local wildlife populations. While these concerns are overblown in regards to land-based turbines, they're even more negligible when it comes to turbines built 10 to 12 miles out to sea. According to evidence from over 40 existing offshore wind parks in Europe and a rigorous federal environmental-impact assessment of the Cape Wind project, sea-based turbines pose no significant impact to birds or marine life. The Cape Wind study was so convincing that the Massachusetts Audubon Society fully endorsed the project in 2010.

A big job that means big-time jobs
The true promise of the Bight lies not only in the fact that it's a clean energy resource that can meet the scale of our energy needs, but that it's one which can match the expectations about a "green jobs" revolution.... numbers from the Maryland Energy Administration show that a 500-megawatt wind farm could result in the creation of up to 2,000 short-term manufacturing jobs, and 400 permanent jobs. That works out to about five jobs per megawatt, or well over 1.5 million jobs through the Bight's full-scale 330,000 megawatt development.

Please read full 'why the Mid-Atlantic Can Be the 'Persian Gulf of Offshore Wind Energy'

Haase - Nice study but we can't forget the Hard, cold and inarguable facts about the energy in  one cubic mile of oil....
One cubic mile of oil (CMO) equals the oil that the world consumes every year.
Three CMOs equal ALL the energy that the world consumes every year.

China/Japan decades ahead on Nuclear programs.

Just like peak OIL, China has a plan for depleting uranium and mounting nuclear waste problems.

Register UK - China has committed itself to establishing an entirely new nuclear energy program using thorium as a fuel, within 20 years. The LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) is a 4G reactor that uses liquid salt as both fuel and coolant. China uses the more general term TMSR (Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor).
A private company founded by Kazuo Furukawa, designer of the Fuju reactor, called International Thorium Energy and Molen-Salt Technology Inc (iThEMS) aims to produce a small (10 MW) reactor within five years. Furukawa is aiming for a retail price of 11 US cents per kWh (6.8p per kWh). The Capital of IThEMS is expected to increase to 50 million Japanese yen soon (US$600,000, but they need $300 million to push ahead)
The UK Guardian describes the move by China to develop thorium nuclear reactors
Thorium Energy Conference- The Chinese announcement refers to a 20 year program, but rapid progress can be expected in the next 5 years towards a demonstration plant. China's program is well funded but Japan's is not well funded. Japan and other countries could be motivated to step up funding with true competition from China.

MiniFUJI
Development of the micro-mini thorium molten-salt power plant 'miniFUJI'.
Since smaller thorium molten-salt power plant is easier to construct, we will develop the 10,000kW micro-mini thorium molten-salt power plant 'miniFUJI' within five years. This micro-mini power plant is planned as a local power plant to meet the high need of power supply for servers in information industry and for the stations of charging electric vehicles.

Scaling thorium up to global scale
A Road Map for the Realization of Global-scale Thorium Breeding Fuel Cycle This describes a 5-7 year doubling time for the Uranium 233 that is needed to start the molten salt thorium reactors.

The Thorium Molten-Salt Nuclear Energy Synergetic System [THORIMS-NES], described here is a symbiotic system, based on the Thorium-Uranium-233 cycle. ...FUJI reactor and the AMSB can also be used for the transmutation of long-lived radioactive elements in the wastes, and has a high potential for producing hydrogen-fuel in molten salt reactors. The development and launching of THORIMS-NES requires the following three programs during the next three decades: (A) pilot plant: miniFUJI (7-10 MWe): (B) small power reactor: FUJI-Pu (100-300MWe). (C) fissile producer: AMSB for globally deploying THORIMS-NES

Chloride fast reactors and highly enriched uranium and plutonium can be used to start a lot of reactor

How much uranium-233 do we need? Well, most of the studies done by Oak Ridge in the 1960s indicated that we could start a one-gigawatt thorium reactor with about 1 tonne of uranium-233. How much do we have right now? About one tonne. So we could only start one reactor, right? With uranium-233, yes, but we need to go about quickly "converting" our fissile materials into uranium-233 so we can start more. 

We don't have to limit ourselves to just uranium-233 to start these thorium reactors. We can use the highly-enriched uranium that we're recovering from all of the nuclear weapons that we are decommissioning to help us. We can use the plutonium we're recovering from those weapons. We can use the plutonium that's been generated in our reactors over the last sixty years to help us. By using slowed-down neutrons and thorium, the startup power of this fuel is magnified by about 1000 to 1500% over a fast reactor...a fast reactor that is a cousin to the liquid-fluoride thorium reactor, except it will be one that will use liquid-chloride salts that are chemically stable as a fuel and coolant, not the liquid-sodium-metal that is currently proposed. Again, just like other fast reactors it will take 5-10 tonnes of these transuranics to produce a gigawatt of power. So what have we bought by this approach? Just this—in these liquid-chloride reactors we will jacket the reactor with a thorium blanket and make new uranium-233 even as we are destroying plutonium. That means that for each year we burn plutonium, we'll make enough uranium-233 to start a new LFTR. Compared to the fast reactor approach where you're trying to breed plutonium to build more fast breeders, and it takes 20-30 years to produce enough new fuel in a fast reactor to start another one, we won't be using these chloride fast reactors to start other fast reactors. We'll be using them to make the fuel to start fluoride thorium reactors that use slowed-down neutrons.

With this approach, plutonium from weapons and reactor fuel will start about 70 chloride fast reactors. Each one will make enough uranium-233 each year to start 70 new LFTRs at a gigawatt each. That means that in less than 20 years we could have 1000 LFTRs online, generating all of the energy our nation needs, all the while we're burning down and destroying the plutonium we've generated over the last 60 years for weapons and from reactor operation. Compare that to the standard fast breeder approach where in 20 years the 70 fast breeders we started have generated enough new fuel for another 70 fast breeders and you can see really quickly how fast uranium-233 and slowed-down neutrons can let you move ahead and replace coal and other fossil fuels.

So a country like say China that has Plutonium and highly enriched Uranium and was less concerned about using it, can start up a lot of Thorium reactors... if China was primarily concerned with making an energy transition off of coal which was killing almost one million Chinese per year from air pollution.

Read full from NBF -  "China's Thorium Reactor and Japan's targets 10 MW thorium miniFuji for 2016"

Haase - Someone may want to ask Clinton and Congress what happened to the future of Fast Reactors in the U.S. Spoiler "We would already have them online, with no coal crisis and no waste to put in Yucca." 

Read more on this site about thorium tech

• Thorium theory - giving dumb nuclear a brain and a chance...
• Bill Gates and Google looking to Invest in Thorium Energy
• Fast Breeders are Key to Fertile Nuclear Future
• Uranium Is So Last Century... Enter Thorium
• Dismantle military stockpiles and power future beyond 30 years
• 1/2 cost of current reactors & uses almost all nuclear fuel.
• US Energy Independence by a thorium nut
• Unless new breed of reactors are used 'peak uranium' will implode nuclear renaissance

Converting waste plastic into oil - so 1960's

This has been done for decades.... does "figure out" mean read and produce same results?

Mrs. Robinson, "the future is plastics" ; -)

The majority of the time the process requires more energy and raw materials than beneficial, but scale and application is everything.

PopSci - A Japanese inventor has figured out a way to convert plastic grocery bags, bottles and caps back into the petroleum from whence they came, providing a ready fuel source for individual homes that also diverts waste from landfills.

Akinori Ito's plastic recycling machine heats up waste plastic, traps vapors in a system of pipes and water chambers, and condenses the vapors into crude oil, explains the website Clean Technica. It's not the first machine to do this - a massive plant outside Washington, D.C., is testing the process, for instance - but it's small enough for household use.

Ito's machine turns two pounds of plastic into a quart of oil, using only one kilowatt-hour of energy. The crude oil can be used in some types of generators or it can be further refined into gasoline, Clean Technica reports.

Ito is selling it through his Blest Corp., but buyer beware: As of now, it will set you back about $10,000. Ito hopes the price will drop as demand and production increase.

Ito's invention is interesting because it puts the plastic back into the pipeline, as it were.

[Clean Technica via Cosmic Log]

Related? Crude Oil No Longer Needed for Production of Plastics

President Announces Plan for Community-Based Conservation through the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative (HQ)

U.S. EPA News -  President Barack Obama today announced the administration's action plan, under the America's Great Outdoors Initiative, to achieve lasting conservation of the outdoor spaces that power our nation's economy, shape our culture, and build our outdoor traditions.

"With children spending half as much time outside as their parents did, and with many Americans living in urban areas without safe access to green space, connecting to the outdoors is more important than ever for the economic and physical health of our communities," said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "Through the America's Great Outdoors Initiative, this administration will work together with communities to ensure clean and accessible lands and waters, thriving outdoor cultures and economies, and healthy and active youth."

"It's about practical, common-sense ideas from the American people on how our natural, cultural, and historic resources can help us be a more competitive, stronger, and healthier nation. Together, we are adapting our conservation strategies to meet the challenges of today and empowering communities to protect and preserve our working lands and natural landscapes for generations to come."

"America's farmlands and woodlands help fuel our economy and create jobs across the rural areas of our country," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "This plan seeks to work in partnership with landowners, conservation groups, states and others to conserve our working lands and our public lands and to reconnect Americans – especially our nation's youth – with opportunities to stay active. This blueprint was developed with input from the over 100,000 Americans in all corners of our country who joined our national listening sessions and who contributed their ideas online."

"This initiative is an effort to reconnect Americans with the valuable resources all around them and shape a 21st century plan for protecting our great outdoors," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "It is important that our waters, lands and greenspaces are brought back into our daily lives. President Obama's initiative will help make these critical resources a national focus once again, and involve people of every background in conservation of the places that we hold dear." Additional information is available at: http://www.americasgreatoutdoors.gov

Haase Spoiler alert, if this is true...

Then the America's Great Outdoors will change drastically when the proposed budget calls for cutting aid to states for water quality by 27 percent and cutting off funding to restore the Great Lakes.

If investing in our most "valuable resources", gives the U.S. a competitive advantage why would we remove basic and fundamental protection of the most important resource - clean water????

GREAT LAKES RECOVERY IS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCKS

The great lakes initiative would give industry and job growth a boom in the Great Lakes region, home to about 40 million people, Studies estimate that every dollar spent on restoring the lakes will generate twice as much in long-term economic gains,

"It may not be obvious, but what is good for the ecosystem is also good for the economy,"

$9 Billion Award, But Ecuador Must Look Elsewhere for Payment

Historic news of Chevron was fined nearly $9 billion, one of the largest awards for environmental damage ever, for polluting the Ecuadorean Amazon with more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater. But the New York Times ran an interesting story today about how the case is not going to be a simple matter of paying that money out and being done with it.

Not that it is ever that simple. But this case is extra complicated. It's been dragged out for nearly 20 years, the company no longer operates in Ecuador, various parties have gotten involved from across the globe, and questions arise over whether Chevron will actually pay the money. (It says it will not.)

If Chevron doesn't also publicly apologize within 15 days, Time reports, the judge said the fine would be doubled.

The Times explains more about the international controversy:

Chevron has much larger operations elsewhere in Latin America, and the plaintiffs' strategy of pursuing the company across the region could open a contentious new phase in the case -- one that would test Ecuador's political ties with its neighbors and involve some of Washington's most prominent lobbyists and lawyers.

Advisers to the plaintiffs said Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela would be obvious candidates to pursue Chevron assets, but they acknowledged it would not be easy. Venezuela, for instance, is a close Ecuadorean ally and its president, Hugo Chávez, is a frequent critic of the United States. But Chevron has extensive operations in Venezuela and enjoys warmer ties with Mr. Chávez's government than just about any other American company.

For now, the Times reports, the case will proceed in courts in Ecuador, where both sides are planning to appeal—Chevron appealing the ruling, the other side the amount of the award, which they say is inadequate for the extent of the damage caused to people's health and to the environment.

Eventually, the final appeal will go to a national appeals court, at which point the battle may go overseas. The Times wrote, "Advisers to the villagers and forest tribes said they hoped to extract Chevron money from many countries until they reach the final judgment total."

Read more from a hugger on Chevron and Ecuador

"Bread Basket of Mexico," destroyed after freeze

The countryside of northern Mexico Hardest hit was the northwestern state of Sinaloa, known as the "Bread Basket of Mexico," where about 750,000 acres of corn crops were reportedly destroyed after unusually cold temperatures blanketed the north of the country in January and early February.

Altogether, more than 1.5 million acres of corn, vegetable, citrus and other crops were either damaged or destroyed in Sinaloa, with a preliminary economic loss of approximately US$1 billion.

The source of about 30 percent of Mexico's grains and vegetables, Sinaloa also exports food products to the United States.

Other northern states also experienced the widespread destruction of winter crops. In Sonora, more than 130,000 acres were reported lost, including 45 percent of the acreage planted in winter wheat. In Tamaulipas, nearly 800,000 acres in corn and sorghum were impacted, while crop losses in Chihuahua were calculated in the US$100 million ballpark.

"This is not a common catastrophe," Calderon said in a February 11 speech in Culiacan. "It is not a routine crop loss, if you will, but truly an emergency situation."

Meanwhile, as crop damage assessments began flowing in, prices for tortillas continued on the upswing, reportedly reaching $13 pesos per kilo in places like Chilpancingo, Guerrero. The price is more than 50 percent higher than the $8 peso ceiling the Calderon administration pledged in 2007.

Read full from  - Via (Harvest Dream)

What??? Sunspot AR1158 poses a threat for Earth...

NASA - Earth-Directed Solar Flare... Sunspot AR1158 is growing rapidly and poses a threat for Earth-directed M-flares - NASA

Einstein was right - honey bee collapse threatens global food supply

Einstein was not always wrong...Telegraph

The bee crisis has been treated as a niche concern until now, but as the UN's index of food prices hits an all time-high, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our food security. Almost a third of global farm output depends on animal pollination, largely by honey bees.

These foods provide 35% of our calories, most of our minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants, and the foundations of gastronomy.  Yet the bees are dying – or being killed – at a disturbing pace.

... the numbers of US bee colonies failing to survive each winter has risen to 30% to 35% from an historical norm of 10%. The rate is 20% or higher in much of Europe, and the same pattern is emerging in Latin America and Asia.

Albert Einstein, who liked to make bold claims (often wrong), famously said that "if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live"...animal pollination is essential for nuts, melons and berries, and plays varying roles in citrus fruits, apples, onions, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, avocados, cucumbers, coconuts, tomatoes and broad beans, as well as coffee and cocoa.

This is the fastest growing and most valuable part of the global farm economy. Between 80% and 90% of pollination comes from domesticated honey bees. Moths and butterflies lack the range to penetrate large fields.

The reservoir of bees is dwindling to the point where ratios are dangerously out of kilter, with the US reaching the "most extreme" imbalance. Pollinated crop output has quadrupled since 1961, yet bee colonies have halved. The bee-per-hectare count has fallen nearly 90%.

The US agriculture department's Bee Research Laboratory has found evidence that even low levels of these pesticides reduce the resistance of bees to fungal pathogens... and documents from the Environmental Protection Agency confirm that clothianidin used on corn seed is "highly toxic", may pose a "long-term risk" to bees, and that previous tests were flawed.

Read full at Telegraph

Food Inflation Pushes Millions Into Extreme Poverty

A sharp rise in food prices since June has pushed 44 million people in developing countries into extreme poverty — having to live on less than $1.25 a day — according to a new study by the World Bank.

The bank's price index soared 29 percent from January 2010 to January 2011 (15 percent just from October to January). Wheat, maize, sugar and edible oils have seen the sharpest price increases in the last six months, with a relatively smaller increase in rice.

The rising prices have increased the vulnerability of economies, particularly those that import a high share of their food and have limited capacity for government borrowing and spending.

Read more at NY Times

Perspective of Priorities

The proposed budget cut to remove home heating assistance for low income is about the same as the cost of fighting one more week in Afghanistan. Although when you add in the many hidden costs like increased long-term veteran's health care due to the conflicts, their sacrifice is probably only really going to cover maybe half a week. - Jon Walker

Health Quote of the Week - HollyWood Style

"I exercise regularly. I eat moderate amounts of healthy food. I make sure to get plenty of rest. I see my doctor once a year and my dentist twice a year. I floss every night. I've had chest x-rays, cardio stress tests EKGs and colonoscopies. I see a psychologist and have a variety of hobbies to reduce stress. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I don't have crazy, reckless sex with stranger. If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I'm gonna be really pissed. " - Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre

Charlie Sheen response - "Chuck, I will outlive you. I will piss you off," 
 - NY Mag

Residential Energy Storage with Flywheels... so 1970's

A cryptogon reader asked if there was a better way of storing energy for an off grid house than the ancient and familiar lead acid battery bank. Knowing that there really isn't, I thought I'd try to be funny, so I said, "How about a big flywheel?"

To my surprise, the guy wrote back and asked, "Do you know anyone who builds residential scale flywheel systems?"

I looked and, as far as I can tell, there isn't anyone who offers a flywheel system for residential use, at any price. There are several companies that sell flywheel based UPS systems for data centers. I may be wrong, but it appears that those systems are designed to run for only about ten seconds while a backup diesel generator starts up.

I spent a few minutes looking into whether or not anyone had tried to use flywheels in a residential context.

Look at this: Popular Science, October 1979, Basement Flywheel Stores Solar Energy at 15,000 RPM:

Millner is building a one-tenth capacity working model of the giant system shown on our cover. The 500 pound flywheel will store up to four kilowatt hours. (A house-sized system would store about 40 kWh to meet the 25-kWh daily demand of an average home. Mechanical losses siphon off an extra five kWh. The rest remain in the wheel.) The flywheel will be suspended by six magnetic bearings (see diagram) when energy is being stored. Current from the solar array will drive an advanced permanent-magnet motor generator mounted on the flywheel shaft to accelerate the flywheel. When energy is to be withdrawn, the motor generator, plus a sophisticated semiconductor circuit, will convert mechanical energy storred in the spinning mass into a steady supply of AC for use in the house.

The entire assembly—bearings, motor generator, and flywheel—will be enclosed in a sealed vacuum container that doubles as a safety enclosure. This will be lowered into a concrete pit below the garage of a solar-powered test house MIT is building.

Isn't it weird how an article that's over three decades old reads pretty much like one written today when it comes to the topic of people being able to store energy that they collect on their own properties?

Anyway, so what happened? How did this project turn out?

This is from, Performance Testing and Economic Analysis of a Photovoltaic Flywheel Energy Storage and Conversion System:

A subscale prototype of a flywheel energy storage and conversion system for use with photovoltaic power systems of residential and intermediate load-center size has been designed, built and tested by MIT Lincoln Laboratory. System design, including details of such key components as magnetic bearings, motor generator, and power conditioning electronics, is described. Performance results of prototype testing are given and indicate that this system is the equal of or superior to battery-inverter systems for the same application. Results of cost and user-worth analysis show that residential systems are economically feasible in stand-alone and in some utility-interactive applications.

I felt pretty frustrated after reading all of this. Why can't I buy this?!

So, I searched again and found Regenerative Power and Motion. Their goal is to actually build these underground flywheel systems for homes and businesses. As of right now, though, it's still not an option.

In 2011, are we any closer to being able to buy what MIT built and demonstrated to work all the way back in 1979?  I guess not. - cryptogon

All about nothing... millions can't save trillions

All the talks are just talks until we choose to make the choices to save ourselves from ourselves.
See BRILLIANT chart by Doug Ross below
The Blaze - We are still five days away from the unveiling of the President's 2012 Budget, yet the number-crunching and long-term analysis are in full swing.  Senator Rand Paul has been making the rounds this week, touting his proposal to slice $500 billion dollars from the budget while White House Budget Director Jack Lew penned a piece for the New York Times that let us all know the President made some "tough choices" when cutting an estimated $775 million from the 3.8 TRILLION dollar budget.  (By the way, $1.5 Trillion of that is CBO estimated deficit spending, or money we will have to borrow from someone.) Of course there are some savings to be had if the five year spending freeze is accomplished, estimates say $400 Billion over 10 years.

The 3.8 Trillion dollar number is staggering enough, but looms even larger when you consider it against the President's proposed $775 million dollars in tough choice cuts.  Doug Ross (a real person and not George Clooney's "ER" character) posted these charts to help us understand.

It is difficult to see the cuts, so Doug zoomed in a little for us.

Still can't see the cuts?  Zooming in another 10xs

There it is!  $775 million.  Wow, that's some serious budget cutting on display

Proposed 13% cut in EPA budget

Bloomberg  The new budget proposed cutting the Environmental Protection Agency's budget 13 percent to $8.97 billion as the agency faces Republican demands to limit its funding and authority.

The fiscal 2012 budget proposed today is a $1.3 billion reduction from 2010, the last time federal agencies had an enacted budget. It calls for cutting aid to states for water quality by 27 percent to $2.54 billion and reducing funds to restore the Great Lakes by 26 percent to $350 million.

Is there a cure for cement production being 4% of global CO2?

JetsonONgreen  "material of the year award  for Novacem's "carbon negative" cement.  The product is being touted with increasing frequency and — it would seem from the literature — has the potential to change the world of concrete in 2014-15 when it hits the market.

One impressive aspect of Novacem cement is that it's supposed to perform at the same level as commonly used Portland Cement.  It's also supposed to cost about the same.

Novacem cement is made using a magnesium silicate mixture instead of calcium carbonates, according to Material ConneXion.  Also, the low-energy production process allows for the use of biomass as a fuel.

But what sets it apart from all of the competition, including slag and fly ash varieties of cement, is the fact that "the creation of magnesium carbonates from magnesium silicates involves absorption of CO2," according to Novacem.  Thus, the production process is carbon negative... cement is not currently available for purchase.

Geothermal energy... the benefits of nuclear - with none of the problems

The Department of Defense recently estimated that the geothermal potential on U.S. military facilities alone is a cool 926 gigawatts. ... geothermal could play a significant role in our domestic energy future.

A new geothermal power plant has come online in Nevada - New Geothermal Power Plant Shows What the U.S. Can Do.

A new 15 megawatt, utility scale geothermal power plant has just come online in Jersey Valley, Nevada.The project is significant because according to its host company, Ormat Technologies, it was the only utility-scale geothermal plant to be completed in the U.S. within the past year or so. Geothermal is reliable, renewable, clean energy produced right here in the U.S., and it's not subject to global market fluctuations or political turmoil overseas — say, shouldn't we be building these things at a rate of more than just one per year?

Geothermal energy from the new plant in Nevada will be purchased by NV Energy, which already has an extensive geothermal energy portfolio dating back to the 1980′s.

Read more from BigGav over at Peak Energy

Protesters face year in jail - in Los Angeles, not Egypt

Wow protesting not welcome from the national state of hippies???
LA Times = Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is throwing the book at dozens of people arrested during recent political demonstrations — a major shift in city policy that has him pressing for jail time in types of cases that previous prosecutors had treated as infractions..in a Westwood rally last year in support of the DREAM Act, protesters face up to one year in county jail...all but one of 12 students arrested at a protest over fee hikes at UCLA... 

"Our policy was that this is an exercise of 1st Amendment rights, and if this was your first time, you would get a hearing," said Delgadillo, who said his policy was based on the belief that a protester demonstrating for a political cause is different from a typical criminal.

HatTip - UNDERNEWS

Is Brown the California turnaround?

Is it possible California is taking and turn in the right direction?
Regardless, he is making a show of it.

Passengers did a double take on Southwest Flight 896 from Sacramento to Burbank on Thursday when they saw California Gov. Jerry Brown sitting among them - sans entourage - on his first trip to Los Angeles since being sworn in last month. The Democratic governor was in budget-cutting mode, sitting in an economy seat after he opted not to pay the $16 extra for Southwest's "business select" seating.

That's not all: Sources say Brown also relishes taking the airline's senior discount. Brown traveled without the accoutrements that Californians have come to expect from the executive who runs the world's eighth-largest economy: He had no press aides, no security and even lacked the company of his chief adviser, wife Anne Gust Brown. - SF Gate

Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) budget for Congress.

The growing nation debt and budget numbers are hard to grasp in an era of insurmountable debt, loss of entitlements, jobs and homes.

Not only is the property of our nation at risk, but the very foundation of the people who defend our rights to freedom and liberty if we do not make choices that support peaceful resolutions to end three decades of trillion dollar conflicts at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.

Yet history has proven that the rise of world tyranny, communism and fascism can cost the lives of millions more and global insolvency.

These are decisions no one wants to make, but some have to.  Pray they choose wisely.

CBO.gov  ...the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), associated with the budget that it submits to the Congress...Over the 10 years from 2012 to 2021, DoD would need a total of $680 billion (or 13 percent) more than if funding was held at the 2010 level.

CBO's projection of the total cost of the FYDP through 2015—at $2,874 billion—is $41 billion (or about 1 percent) higher than the department's estimate. Much of the difference derives from an assumption that recent trends in the costs of weapon systems, medical care, and other support activities persist.

Indeed, Secretary of Defense Gates announced on January 5, 2011, that DoD will trim its plans by a total of $78 billion (or about 3 percent) from 2012 to 2016 in recognition of the fiscal environment.

Please read full CBO  PDF here

How biofuels contribute to the food crisis

Each year, the world demands more grain, and this year the world's farms will not produce it.
Washington Post - World food prices have surged above the food crisis levels of 2008. Millions more people will be malnourished, and hundreds of millions who are already hungry will eat less or give up other necessities. Food riots have started again.

Nearly all assessments of the 2008 food crisis assigned biofuels a meaningful role, but much of academia and the media ultimately agreed that the scale of the crisis resulted from a "perfect storm" of causes. Yet this "perfect storm" has re-formed not three years later. We should recognize the ways in which biofuels are driving it.

Demand for biofuels is almost doubling the challenge of producing more food. Since 2004, for every additional ton of grain needed to feed a growing world population, rising government requirements for ethanol from grain have demanded a matching ton. Brazil's reliance on sugar ethanol and Europe's on biodiesel have comparably increased growth rates in the demand for sugar and driven up demand for vegetable oil.

Agricultural production is keeping up in general with the growing demand for food - but it keeps up with the added demand for biofuels only if growing weather is good. A good growing year in 2008 helped end that year's crisis, but average-to-poor weather since then has stressed inventories and confidence. Higher fuel costs for farmers and a weaker dollar contribute to higher prices, but prices soar only when large consumers, fearing that production will continue to fall short, bid up prices to secure their supplies.

Much of today's discussion focuses only on the challenge of meeting rising food demand because of factors such as rising meat consumption in China and long-term underinvestment in agricultural research. Droughts in Russia and floods in Australia over the past year may be early harbingers of climate change. But if it is hard to meet rising food demands, it must be harder to meet demands for both food and biofuels.

So why has attention shifted away from biofuels? The answer probably lies in the confusing explanations of 2008, when the problem and its "cause" were defined in different ways.

...The good news is that relief is possible. The same economic studies imply that food prices should come down if we can just limit biofuel growth. Corn ethanol is nearing Congress's requirement for 15 billion gallons a year, and lawmakers need to hold it there. Similarly, Europe must rethink its mandates. For "advanced biofuels" required by Congress, the Obama administration needs to focus on fuel sources that do not compete with food, such as garbage and crop residues, and not grasses grown on good cropland. Otherwise, the sequel to the food crisis is likely to turn into a series.

Read full at the Washington Post

Chinese Hackers Strike Energy Companies

"Chinese hackers working regular business hours shifts stole sensitive intellectual property from energy companies for as long as four years using relatively unsophisticated intrusion methods in an operation dubbed 'Night Dragon,' according to a new report from security vendor McAfee." - SlashDot

Air Force Researchers Capture Wave Energy With 99% Efficiency??

IF you could prove you achieved 99% Efficiency... they would give you a Billion dollars.
PopSci Dr. Stefan Siegel reviews the wave height in the Aeronautics Laboratory's 1:300 scale experimental wave tank at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Department of Energy has funded additional testing at a larger scale.

Using a small tank of water in a Colorado laboratory, Air Force researchers have captured 99 percent of the energy of a model ocean wave, proving it's possible to use aeronautical principles to harness the power of the oceans.

The researchers used a cycloidal turbine, a lift-based energy converter, to grab the energy of a simulated deep-ocean wave. It can change direction almost instantly, and its structure is similar to that of a Voith Schneider propeller, which is used to power tugboats.
It involves a main power shaft and a few hydrofoils whose angle of attack can be adjusted to meet the wave. The main shaft is aligned parallel with the wave crests, according to a paper describing the system presented at an American Society of Mechanical Engineers conference.
The research is part of a National Science Foundation-funded project to build the world's first free-floating submerged wave energy converter. In a series of experiments, the system was able to convert 95 percent of an incoming wave's energy into mechanical energy, driving the shaft. The rest of the energy was lost to harmonic waves. But after some tweaks, the Air Force team, led by Dr. Stefan Siegel, was able to improve the energy conversion rate to 99 percent. The work was performed in a small tank, a 1:1300 scale version of the system's size in the ocean.

Isn't 99% Efficiency is impossible?
Unless we ignore the law of physics...
But, most do when they boast they have the next "energy salvation"

And I can always demonstrate 80-90% Efficiency and ROE in a lab, never does that translate in use or scale.

Icelandic Volcano 'Set to Erupt'

Eyjafjallajoekull emitted an estimated 15,000 tons of CO2 a day and shut down air traffic for weeks...What do you think this could do?

The Telegraph - Geologists detected the high risk of a new eruption after evaluating an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island's second largest volcano.

....he said there was "every reason to worry" as the sustained earthquake tremors to the north east of the remote volcano range are the strongest recorded in recent times and there was "no doubt" the lava was rising.

"This is the most active area of the country if we look at the whole country together," he told the Icelandic TV News. "There is no doubt that lava there is slowly growing, and the seismicity of the last few days is a sign of it.

"We need better measurements because it is difficult to determine the depth of earthquakes because it is in the middle of the country and much of the area is covered with glaciers."

The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910, although volcanologists believe its last major eruption occurred in 1477 when it produced a large ash and pumice fallout.

It also produced the largest known lava flow during the past 10,000 years on earth.

DOE Webcast March 3: Energy Savings Performance Contracts

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) will present a webcast on Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) on Thursday, March 3, 2011. 

If you are a Federal energy professional and have heard about ESPCs – but thought they were too complex or beyond your reach - tune in for a comprehensive introduction. This training will show you how easy it can be to get started, and how FEMP resources can keep you on track.

The training includes guidance on:

• Learning how ESPCs can help fund major energy and facility improvement projects at your site.
• Understanding the benefits and potential results of ESPC contracts and building a team to support your efforts.
• Identifying the key steps for screening projects as the best candidates for an ESPC.
• Evaluating energy conservation measures (ECMs) and determining the best candidates for a successful ESPC.
• Locating FEMP financing specialists and project facilitators in your region to answer questions and provide up-to-date guidance.

The 90-minute training is free of charge, but you must register in advance to obtain an Internet URL for the presentation. The broadcast will take place Thursday, March 3, 2011, from 1:30 to 3:00 Eastern Time and is titled, "Energy Savings Performance Contracts."

Register to attend the seminar

Free Webinar on Lean, Energy & Environment Programs (LE2)

Join the p2tech next week for a free web inar.
The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has undertaken a new initiative to assist the manufacturing sector in reducing their energy and environmental costs.  The Lean, Energy and Environment (LE2) program consists of utilizing engineering tools to demonstrate new energy-efficient technologies for use in New York State's industrial sector.  For each project, the LE2 team consists of a NYSP2I engineer, energy industry expert, and one of the ten Manufacturing Extended Partnerships (MEPs) located throughout NYS.  The LE2 Program has served 15 NYS manufacturers thus far and the majority of projects have the potential for energy and/or environmental cost savings.  Anoverview of the LE2 program along with specific case studies will be the focus of this webinar.

How to Connect:
Date:  Tue., Feb. 15, 2011
Time:  3:00 pm EST, 2:00 pm CST, 1:00 p.m. MST, 12:00 pm PST
Website:  https://ced096465.uta.edu/r99719463/
Dial in # 877-531-0114, *1576220* (make sure to include a star before and after the number)


Brief BIO on Speakers:
Robert German is a Senior Staff Engineer at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology. GIS provides engineering support to organizations interested in implementing sustainability related technology and methodologies for product or market support.
Read more about Thomas on his bio page.


Dr. Thomas A. Trabold is an Associate Research Professor at RIT, with primary research focus in development of alternative energy technologies in the Center for Sustainable Mobility, including fuel cells, batteries, alternative non-petroleum fuels, and electric drive
trains. Read more about Thomas on his bio page.



Kathleen Kosciolek, serves as Business Manager of the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology. Working closely with the Director, she assists with the development and implementation of the work plan, marketing plan, program strategy, and budget.

Read more about Kathleen on her bio page.

1billion hungry - just ignore it keep selling food as fuel...

Somewhere in Denmark a renewable energy future is happening

Here is a waste-to-energy power plant in Copenhagen, Denmark, that blows smoke rings and has a ski slope.


Source

Ethanol Still a good idea when we can't feed 50 Million Americans?

Just when you thought you had nothing more to give.
First investors made a run on your home, then your 401k... your pantry is next.

"Today, the government decides and they misdirect the investment to their friends in the corn industry or the food industry. Think how many taxpayer dollars have been spent on corn [for ethanol], and there's nobody now really defending that as an efficient way to create diesel fuel or ethanol. The money is spent for political reasons and not for economic reasons. It's the worst way in the world to try to develop an alternative fuel." - Ron Paul

Goldman -  Investors should maintain bets on higher prices for soybeans, cotton and corn, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. 

Fueling corn's relentless rise  Financial Times

Summary Box: Higher food prices ahead after corn reserves latest commodity
LOW RESERVES!

US corn stocks ratio nears low set in Depression

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The US government slashed its forecast for corn stockpiles

Ethanol Soars to 30-Month High as Report Shows Smaller Corn Crop

Bloomberg - Ethanol futures soared to the highest price since July 2008 after a government report showed the US corn

All 145 related articles to "the importance of subsidizing ethanol over feeding our nations and worlds families" 

Great charts from marketoracle