Feb 25, 2012

Obama mocks drill, baby, drill: ‘The American people aren’t stupid’

In an address on energy policy at the University of Miami, President Barack Obama mocked the GOP drumbeat for a drill-baby-drill response to rising gas prices. Noting that “it’s an election year,” Obama alluded to Newt Gingrich’s promise to deliver $2.50 gas with a return of drill-everywhere platform. Obama described the “three-point plans for $2 gas”: “Step one is drill, step two is drill, and step three is keep drilling.”

I mean, the American people aren’t stupid. They know that’s not a plan — especially since we’re already drilling. That’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. That’s a strategy to get politicians through an election. You know there are no quick fixes to this problem. You know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we’re going to take control of our energy future, and can start avoiding these annual gas price spikes that happen every year when the economy starts getting better, world demand starts increasing, turmoil in the Middle East or some other parts of the world, if we’re going to stop being at the mercy of these world events, then we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy — oil, gas, wind, solar, and nuclear, and biofuels, and more. We need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use less oil in our cars and trucks, less energy for our buildings and our plants and our factories. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge. [Emphasis added.]

In his speech, Obama also noted the role of Wall Street speculators who now dominate oil markets and called for an end to the “outrageous” billions in tax subsidies the massively profitable oil companies receive from the American people.

Please continue reading By Brad Johnson at:


Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green.

LEGO buys $500 million worth of wind turbines- GRIST

The world’s third-largest toy manufacturer is going to be putting “made with wind power” labels on all those boxes of LEGOs, and not just because they bought their power from utilities with wind turbines. Kirkbi A/S, the family holding company that owns LEGO, will be buying actual wind turbines representing fully a third of an offshore wind farm, reports Reuters.

Please continue reading By Christopher Mims at:

Flashback: Gingrich opposed ANWR drilling, pushed for efficiency instead

Newt Gingrich

Gingrich, explaining that he didn't mean all that stuff he said back in the '80s.

David Roberts- On that note, I would direct your attention to this 1995 open letter to Gingrich from then-Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. Gingrich had just taken over as speaker of the House and Pope was eager to remind him of his environmentalist principles. Yes, really.

It seems that, from 1984 to 1990, Gingrich was a member of the Sierra Club. And he filled out the questionnaire that the Club sends to all politicians. Here are some of the results, from Pope’s letter:

As a Sierra Club member, Mr. Gingrich, you opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, calling it a “188-day quick fix” for America’s energy future. “Fuel efficiency and conservation measures have a greater potential for providing long-term energy security for our nation,” you said in response to a Sierra Club questionnaire. “The dramatic increases in fuel efficiency seen in America’s automotive fleet are evidence of how we can meet energy needs of the future.” The Sierra Club applauded those sentiments then, and the American people would do so now.

You bluntly stated your opposition to the way the U.S. Forest Service manages the national forests. “I oppose below-cost timber sales and uneconomic roadbuilding in our national forests, period,” you said. “Subsidized logging operations, as well as subsidized forest roadbuilding, at the U.S. taxpayer’s expense, should cease. It’s unfortunate that national forest management yields too often to local special interests.”

You also pledged your support for federal programs to protect wetlands. “The ecological significance of freshwater wetlands, and the significance of the rapidly declining acreage of wetlands in the United States, cannot be overemphasized,” you warned. “It is vital that our wetlands are protected.”

In 1988, you joined a majority of your colleagues in pledging support for the tough Clean Air Act that Congress later passed. You specifically advocated strong controls on toxic emissions — controls that would require the EPA to set deadlines for regulating cancer-causing poisons in our air. In all these positions you had the full support of the Sierra Club, leading us to endorse you for election on several occasions.

Bet you didn’t know all that, huh? Even worse than sitting with Nancy on a couch!

Now, some 20 years later, Gingrich is airing a 30-minute ad in which he advocates for scrapping EPA entirely, opening up all of America’s coasts and public lands to drilling, and driving the cost of gas down to $2.50 a gallon (through magic!). 

Please continue reading By David Roberts at:

Industry, environmental groups spar on ballast water rules

...Environmental groups said earlier this week that the EPA's proposed permit on ballast water technology has some positives, but it needs to be strengthened. Groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council have urged the EPA to adopt provisions including a zero-discharge standard for invasive species and a faster implementation timeline for new technology standards.

"The EPA's new proposed permit isn't tough enough to prevent the next harmful invader from slipping into our waters," said Thom Cmar, attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

"The Clean Water Act provides the tools to finally slam the door on invasive species stowing away in vessels' ballast tanks, but EPA is still not proposing the strong federal standards we need to fully protect the Great Lakes and other economically valuable but vulnerable watersheds throughout the country."


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BP Wins Most Pentagon Fuel Awards in Year After Gulf Explosion - (Bloomberg)

“When BP still owes billions of dollars in possible fines and penalties for their spill in the Gulf of Mexico, our military shouldn’t renew lucrative contracts” for the company, said Massachusetts Representative Edward Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. It’s time “for our government to stand up to BP,” Markey said in an e- mail.

(Bloomberg) - The scorn heaped upon BP Plc following the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history in 2010 wasn’t echoed at the U.S. Defense Department. It stepped up purchases from the London-based company, making it the Pentagon’s biggest fuel supplier.

BP’s contracts with the military surged 33 percent to $1.35 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 from $1.02 billion in fiscal 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Government. BP received 49 percent more in defense contracts than the No. 2 fuel supplier, San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp.

To critics, BP’s favored spot at the Pentagon cash window adds insult to the injury caused by the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The incident killed 11 workers, sullied hundreds of miles of coastline and crippled the region’s fishing and tourism industries.

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Virtual Power Plants, Real Power - IEEE Spectrum

...The first virtual power plants came online about 10 years ago, mainly as research projects, says Thomas Werner, a product manager in Siemens’s smart grid division who oversees the company’s virtual power plant projects. But in the last several years, he says, energy market players have come to accept the virtual power plant as a commercially viable alternative to adding new capacity, as well as a way to handle the variability of renewables.


“Rather than having all these 5-kilowatt photovoltaic sources, you have a 100‑MW virtual plant that for the utility is much more manageable,” says Peter Asmus, a senior analyst at the market research firm Pike Research. “And it’s temporary—you might stitch together those resources for just a half hour, to help meet peak demand.” Pike Research estimates that the worldwide capacity of virtual power plants could grow from 45 gigawatts last year to as much as 105 GW by 2017, with revenues of about $6.5 billion.


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Georgia Reactor Project Seems Set for Big Federal Loan Guarantee - IEEE Spectrum

From the ferocity of the opposition to the Vogtle nuclear power plant project in Georgia, the first U.S. reactor project to get a construction permit in decades, you might think that the future of U.S. nuclear energy depends on it. In fact, the project seems set to get a Federal loan guarantee amounting to more than $8 billion, but even if it goes forward on that basis--which is by no means assured--this does not mean that the gates will be opened to a flood of other new nuclear power plant projects.

Feb 24, 2012

Consumer Rates Climb After Deregulation Goldman Sachs Funded - Bloomberg

Bloomberg -  consumers were supposed to get lower electricity rates from deregulation. Instead, they pay some of the nation’s highest prices, partly because of bonds Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) recently sold for a local utility.

The Wall Street bank marketed $1.7 billion of securities for Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc. (CNP) last month at higher yields than most of the company’s similar long-term debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That raised costs borne by 2.2 million Houston-area consumers by about $47 million.

The sale shows how deregulation in Texas backfired, driving up costs for those promised savings. Texans paid some of the lowest rates in the country before the changes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Now they pay the fifth- highest electricity prices. The policy shift toward competition has also misfired in other states including California.
“This whole thing has been tragic for ratepayers,” said Thomas Brocato, a lawyer in Austin for the Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, a group of 34 municipalities served by CenterPoint, whose share price beat the Standard & Poor’s utilities index by about 2-to-1 in the past year. The bond issue’s cost “makes it still worse,” he said.
Began in 2002

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Tired Of High Gasoline Prices Already? We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Forbes

Forbes...Stop your whining. At $3.50 a gallon, fuel makes up just 29% of the total cost of driving. The U.S. Department of Transportation figures that insurance, license, registration, taxes, depreciation and finance charges on the average car come to about $5,600 a year. Enough gas to drive 15,000 miles will set you back just $2,300. I know that’s a lot for many people — but the average family could offset most of that fuel bill by cutting off its cable TV (you can stream the good stuff over Netflix anyways)

Indeed it’s incredible, considering the international sanctions squeezing Iran’s exports, that oil is still as cheap as it is. Yes, gasoline is still cheap in America, thanks to combination frugal driving trends spurred by the Great Recession paired with remarkable growth in domestic supplies.

Gasoline usage has dropped significantly. From 9.29 million barrels per day in 2007 to 8.2 million barrels per day last week (that’s from 390 million gallons a day to 344 million gallons), a plunge of 12%. What’s more, about half of that demand reduction took place in the past year.

We’re driving somewhat fewer miles too — about 100 million miles fewer last year than in 2007. Granted that’s only a 2% reduction in miles, or roughly a half-mile less for each of the 210 million licensed drivers in the U.S.

What’s more, thanks to universal use of techniques like hydraulic fracturing, America’s domestic production of crude oil is on the rise. Since hitting a low in 2008, drillers are pumping 18% higher volumes, totalling 5.8 million bpd. The U.S. now supplies more than half of its petroleum needs from domestic fields.

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'Stupid' and Oil Prices - Obama's Forrest Gump analysis of rising gas prices.- WSJ.com

WSJ.com- 'The American people aren't stupid," thundered President Obama yesterday in Miami, ridiculing Republicans who are blaming him for rising gasoline prices. Let's hope he's right, because not even Forrest Gump could believe the logic of what Mr. Obama is trying to sell.

To wit, that a) gasoline prices are beyond his control, but b) to the extent oil and gas production is rising in America, his energy policies deserve all the credit, and c) higher prices are one more reason to raise taxes on oil and gas drillers while handing even more subsidies to his friends in green energy. Where to begin?

It's true enough that oil prices can't be commanded from the Oval Office, so in that sense Mr. Obama's disavowal of blame is a rare show of humility in the face of market forces. Would that he showed similar modesty in trying to command the tides of home prices, car sales ("cash for clunkers"), or the production of electric batteries.

The oil price surge has several likely sources. One is the turmoil in the Middle East, especially new fears of a supply shock from a conflict with Iran. But it's worth recalling that Mr. Obama also blamed the last oil-price surge, in spring 2011, on the Libyan uprising. Moammar Gadhafi is now gone and Libyan oil production is coming back on stream, yet oil prices dipped only briefly below $90 a barrel and have been rising since October. Something else must be going on.

Mr. Obama yesterday blamed rising demand from the likes of Brazil and China, and there is something to that as well. But this energy demand is also not new, and if anything Chinese and Brazilian economic growth has been slowing in recent months.

Another suspect—one Mr. Obama doesn't like to mention—is U.S. monetary policy. Oil is traded in dollars, and its price therefore rises when the value of the dollar falls, all else being equal. The Federal Reserve throughout Mr. Obama's term has pursued the easiest monetary policy in modern times, expressly to revive the housing market. It has done so with the private support and urging of the White House and through Mr. Obama's appointees who are now a majority on the Fed's Board of Governors.

Chemical exposures cause child IQ losses that rival major diseases. — Environmental Health News

Three common environmental chemicals-- lead, organophosphate pesticides and methylmercury-- may have effects on children's IQ in the overall population to the impacts of major medical conditions such as preterm birth or ADHD – two of the most prevalent in U.S. children. The finding from this reanalysis of published data hints that the societal toll of exposures to these invisible yet widespread contaminants – lead, organophosphate pesticides and methylmercury – may be more severe than what previous studies of individual risk would suggest. 

Lead had the most severe calculated impact, with an estimated drop in IQ of 23 million points in the population. In contrast, the predicted loss due to preterm birth was 13 million points. Any drop in IQ is considered detrimental to people's success and society's needs.

In one of the first studies of its kind, the author analyzed published data from 25.5 million children and compared estimates of population-wide IQ loss from exposures to those of several well-known childhood medical conditions. This new approach to categorizing population risk could help researchers identify the most harmful exposures and evaluate the success of intervention programs.

 

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Minnesota Wind Farm Hearing Focuses On Bats, Birds | Earthtechling

Earthtechling- The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to hear testimony and take action today on the developer’s avian and bat protection plan, which outlines the company’s plans to monitor and minimize the impact on area wildlife. The commission has to approve the plan as a condition of the site permit it issued last summer.

It’s unlikely to be the last word on the wind farm’s wildlife impact, though. AWA Goodhue has also agreed to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on an “incidental take permit.”

While bald eagles are no longer considered an endangered or threatened species, they are still protected under the 1940 Bald Eagle Protection Act.

The permit would let federal officials add conditions to the project in exchange for legal protection in the event that eagles are killed or disturbed by the wind farm. The Goodhue project would be among the first in the country to apply for such a permit.

What’s in the plan?

In its wildlife protection plan, AWA Goodhue describes several steps it says it will take to reduce the risk its turbines will pose to bats and birds. They include:

  • Siting turbines whenever possible in open agricultural fields and away from streams or wooded areas;
  • Minimizing lighting on towers and other structures to avoid attracting or confusing birds and bats;
  • Providing funding to set up a county roadkill disposal site to keep eagle-attracting carcasses away from turbine areas.

The developer also offered to maintain at least a one-mile buffer between any turbine and the nearest eagle nest — half the distance that federal wildlife officials have recommended. The number and placement of active nests has since been a point of contention, with citizens like Hartman documenting and reporting several previously overlooked sites to wildlife officials, who have confirmed some of them.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) raised a long list of questions and complaints last month about AWA Goodhue’s original protection plan document. The January 12 letter accuses the developer of failing to collect and improperly excluding data from its bat surveys so that the results were “misleading.” It says a DNR employee in December observed an adult eagle sitting in a nest the developer’s study marked as “inactive.” And it criticized AWA Goodhue’s claim that it couldn’t predict the collision risk for bald eagles because of alleged “eagle baiting” by the project’s opponents.

Please continue reading at:

Editor’s Note: EarthTechling is proud to repost this articlecourtesy of Midwest Energy News. Author credit goes to Dan Haugen

U.S. Drop In Energy Use: It's A Feature, Not a Bug! | Earthtechling

Earthtechling- Investment advisors like Barron’s are apparently alarmed by a sudden drop in U.S. energy use, and believe that it indicates that our economy must now be in the deep freeze. Money guys—who always equate rise in GDP with rise in energy use—can imagine no other explanation for reduced energy use than that we are now experiencing economic doom, hiding in caves and struggling to work in wheelbarrows instead of our God-given SUVs.

Those of us who read green tech news, of course, know that decoupling energy use from GDP is the holy grail of an advanced low-carbon economy—that the world’s climate-conscious nations are striving to achieve. There’s even a pretty common name for it, “reducing energy intensity.”

Cooling-economy-energy-use

image via Gold-Speculator

For example, we read here how GM cut the energy intensity of its manufacturing plant 30 percednt or that globally, energy intensity has not dropped—mostly because developing nations tend not to do as well as already industrialized ones, and there’s more of them now, with China ramping up.

But it is a given in climate policy circles that cutting the amount of energy used to generate a unit of GDP is a good thing—a target to aim for.

So it is a bit disconcerting (to this green reader, at least) to notice that this is not the typical view. We all dwell in such different walled information-ghettos that the same news means something completely different to others.

Yes, we went through a financial near-depression in 2008. But simultaneously, we had also begun serious climate policy in 2005 that has been yielding great energy news every day on green tech sites for the last four years.

By contrast with our satisfaction with stories of energy efficiency, among the money-centric, there is a hysterical reaction of alarm in response to news of the drop in energy use over the last few years, first fretted about by the Wall Street Journal during the financial shock of 2008. (Perhaps this visceral fear of less energy use is what is behind the antique lightbulb fetish of the Republican Congress?)

GDP-above-2008-now

image via Bureau of Economic Analysis

And even though now our GDP is now back up above 2008 levels, our energy use remains far below 2008 levels. How can that be?

Well, that’s what better building codes, utility efficiency improvements, tighter appliance efficiency advances and higher CAFE standards are all about.

Please continue reading at:

Thermal Storage Gets More Solar On The Grid | Earthtechling

Author Bill Scanlon of National Renewable Energy Laboratory

image via Shutterstock

Peak demand for electricity in the United States typically hits between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., which doesn’t quite line up with the sun’s schedule. It’s fortunate that the sun is high in the sky during many of the hours when the air conditioning is in demand. But in summer, people tend to need air conditioning during the dinner hour and beyond, when kitchen appliances are whirring, lights are on, and TVs are blaring.

To the rescue comes concentrating solar power (CSP), a technology being tested and deployed by utilities in America’s deserts and southern Spain.

New analysis at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has found that CSP, with its greater grid flexibility and ability to store energy for as long as 15 hours, can enhance total solar power generation and actually give photovoltaic (PV) systems a greater presence on the grid.

PV panels convert photons from the sun directly into electrons for electricity — and are grabbing real estate on rooftops across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

CSP technologies use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the sun’s heat. This thermal energy can then be used to drive a steam turbine that produces electricity for utilities.

Thermal Storage Can Even Out the Bumps

Like Edison and Tesla or Dempsey and Tunney, the two major solar energy technologies never meant to play nice. Each had its niche — and its dreams of market share.

But that’s changing, said NREL analyst Paul Denholm, co-author with Mark Mehos of the study “Enabling Greater Penetration of Solar Power via Use of CSP with Thermal Energy StoragePDF.”

Think of power from PV as a roller coaster of highs and lows, and power from CSP, via thermal energy storage, as a gently rolling train.

PV panels and wind turbines contribute electricity to the grid, but without the ability to store that power, they cannot supply the grid after the sun sets, or after the wind dies. Even passing clouds can cause drops in the amount of solar energy that gets on the grid.

Large fossil-fueled and nuclear power plants can’t be quickly stopped or started to accommodate variable energy sources such as solar and wind energy.

CSP can even out these ebbs and flows because it can store power and ramp up output when the amount of direct wind or solar power drops.

Grid Flexibility is the Key

“It all gets down to grid flexibility,” Denholm said. “What sets of grid technologies do you deploy to make the grid respond faster and over a greater range to the input of variable energy such as solar and wind?

“If you can’t respond quickly, you end up potentially throwing away wind and solar energy

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Editor’s Note: EarthTechling is proud to repost this article courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Author credit goes to Bill Scanlon.

CAPTAIN OBVIOUS... Enjoy and Have a great weekend!

demotivational posters - CAPTAIN OBVIOUS

Mercury Rising: Make wise choices for health- cleanwisconsin

cleanwisconsin- A new report by the Minnesota Department of Health underscores the importance of making wise choices at the dinner table.

In a recent study of mercury contamination in newborns in the Lake Superior region, fewer Wisconsin newborns are exposed to mercury pollution than Minnesota newborns. A whopping 10 percent of newborns in Minnesota have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood — one in 10 babies are at risk of lower IQs and reduced memory loss. Wisconsin’s Lake Superior region has a much lower exposure, with 3 percent of newborns showing mercury at dangerous levels.

But even that is too many, and this study serves as a good reminder to everyone, especially for women of childbearing age, to limit consumption of fish that are likely to contain mercury.

Mercury is a neurotoxin that is dangerous for the developing brains of children, babies and fetuses, and it only takes small amounts of this chemical to cause big harm.  It is estimated that 5,000 and 9,000 children born in Wisconsin each year are at risk of having lower IQs and reduced memory as a result mercury exposure. Humans are exposed to mercury a number of ways; it’s found in many everyday objects, such as electronic waste and old thermostats, and is byproduct of burning coal for electricity. When mercury gets into water it changes to methylmercury, which has unique properties that allow it to build up in the bodies of fish. When larger fish eat smaller fish, mercury can build up to high levels in the tissues of the bigger fish. Because mercury binds to meat of the fish, it cannot be removed by cooking or cleaning and gets into humans when they eat the fish.

This year, the EPA introduced the first-ever national rules that limit mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, which are the largest source of mercury pollution. Wisconsin has been in leader in mercury reduction with a mercury pollution law on the books since 2008.  Go Badgers!

Here are some helpful guidelines; also check out the state of Wisconsin’s “Choose Wisely” guide for fish consumption:

  • Choose smaller fish.
  • For local fishing, smaller game fish, panfish, stream trout and salmon are good choices. Avoid large walleyes or northerns from northern lakes.
  • From the ocean, avoid yellowfin tuna, shark, mackerel or orange roughy.

Contributed by Katy Walter, Organizer & Clean Energy Specialist


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Wisconsin Assembly Weakens Wetland Protections

Photo Credit: Mario Quintana

Wisconsin Assembly Weakens Wetland Protections
Fewer wetlands could result in increased flooding, lower water quality

MADISON – In a move that could set the stage for increased flooding, lower water quality and an economic loss for the state’s recreation industry, the State Assembly voted to significantly roll back protections for Wisconsin’s wetlands tonight by passing AB 463/SB 368.

“This is a disappointing vote that could allow thousands of acres of valuable wetlands to be unnecessarily filled and destroyed,” said Amber Meyer Smith, government relations director at Clean Wisconsin. “Destroying wetlands means more flooding, reduced water quality, less habitat for sensitive species, and a hit to our recreation industry in Wisconsin.”

The bill passed today makes it easier to destroy wetlands by allowing developers to fill and mitigate wetlands as a first course of action instead of trying to avoid them.

“Asking developers to first try to avoid destroying wetlands is common sense,” said Smith. “Wetlands are an important part of our environment that reduce flooding and help keep the water in our lakes, rivers and streams clean. We thank those legislators who stood up for wetlands by opposing this bill.”

Wetlands reduce flooding by collecting rainwater and runoff much like a sponge. Wetlands also improve water quality by slowing down and filtering sediment and pollutants from stormwater and snowmelt.

“Wetlands contribute more than $3.2 billion in free services to Wisconsin’s economy each year,” said Smith. “Healthy wetlands are also a key factor in our state’s outdoor recreation economy, a $3.8 billion industry that supports 72,000 jobs. Rolling back protections for wetlands is a shortsighted move that will hurt our economy, not help it."

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Just like the big banks....Bankruptcy judge approves Solyndra bonuses

Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved close to $370,000 in bonuses for certain employees of Solyndra LLC, a solar panel manufacturer that received a half-billion dollar loan from the federal government before declaring bankruptcy.

Read on at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/22/bankruptcy-judge-approves-solyndra...

Scientists did not break speed of light - it was a faulty wire

Einstein’s theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905, states that nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. But researchers at the CERN lab near Geneva claimed they had recorded neutrinos, a type of tiny particle, travelling faster than the barrier of 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second. Now it seems Einstein's reputation has been restored after a source close to the experiment told the US journal Science Insider that "A bad connection between a GPS unit and a computer may be to blame."

Read on at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9100009/Scientists-did-not-br...

Tesla’s Electric “brick” problem - turns elec. car into $40,000 repair bill?

“Tesla Motors’ lineup of all-electric vehicles — its existing Roadster, almost certainly its impending Model S, and possibly its future Model X — apparently suffer from a severe limitation that can largely destroy the value of the vehicle. If the battery is ever totally discharged, the owner is left with what Tesla describes as a “brick”: a completely immobile vehicle that cannot be started or even pushed down the street. The only known remedy is for the owner to pay Tesla approximately $40,000 to replace the entire battery. Unlike practically every other modern car problem, neither Tesla’s warranty nor typical car insurance policies provide any protection from this major financial loss. ” Please continue reading at:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/22/teslas-electric-brick-problem/
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U.S. Prevalence of Obesity* National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009–2010

The figure below shows the prevalence of obesity among adults aged ≥20 years, by race/ethnicity and Sex in the United States during 2009-2010, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Among adults aged ≥20 years in 2009-2010, 35.5% of men and 35.8% of women were obese. Among men, 38.8% of non-Hispanic blacks, 37.0% of Hispanics, and 36.2% of non-Hispanic whites were obese. Among women, 58.5% of non-Hispanic blacks, 41.4% of Hispanics, and 32.2% of non-Hispanic whites were obese
The figure shows the prevalence of obesity among adults aged ≥20 years, by race/ethnicity and Sex in the United States during 2009-2010, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Among adults aged ≥20 years in 2009-2010, 35.5% of men and 35.8% of women were obese. Among men, 38.8% of non-Hispanic blacks, 37.0% of Hispanics, and 36.2% of non-Hispanic whites were obese. Among women, 58.5% of non-Hispanic blacks, 41.4% of Hispanics, and 32.2% of non-Hispanic whites were obese.

* Defined as a body mass index (weight [kg] / height [m]2) ≥30.

§ Includes other races (i.e., Asians and American Indians/Alaska Natives) not shown separately because of small sample sizes, which affect reliability of estimates.

Source:QuickStats: Prevalence of Obesity* Among Adults Aged ≥20 Years, by Race/Ethnicity and Sex — National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 2009–2010 with contributors Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity in the United States, 2009–2010. NCHS data brief no. 82. Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for Health Statistics; 2012.

Fatal Exposure to Methylene Chloride Among U.S. Bathtub Refinishers — CDC

CDC -  In 2010, the Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program conducted an investigation into the death of a bathtub refinisher who used a methylene chloride–based paint stripping product marketed for use in aircraft maintenance. The program identified two earlier, similar deaths in Michigan. Program staff members notified CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which in turn notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In addition to the three deaths, OSHA identified 10 other bathtub refinisher fatalities associated with methylene chloride stripping agents that had been investigated in nine states during 2000–2011. Each death occurred in a residential bathroom with inadequate ventilation. Protective equipment, including a respirator, either was not used or was inadequate to protect against methylene chloride vapor, which has been recognized as potentially fatal to furniture strippers and factory workers (1,2) but has not been reported previously as a cause of death among bathtub refinishers. Worker safety agencies, public health agencies, methylene chloride–based stripper manufacturers, and trade organizations should communicate the extreme hazards of using methylene chloride–based stripping products in bathtub refinishing to employers, workers, and consumers. Employers should strongly consider alternative methods of bathtub stripping and always ensure worker safety protections that reduce the risk for health hazards to acceptable levels. Employers choosing to use methylene chloride–based stripping products must comply with OSHA's standard to limit methylene chloride exposures to safe levels.

The Michigan program is one of nine state Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation programs funded by NIOSH to identify work-related injury deaths, conduct investigations to identify contributory factors, and develop recommendations for preventing deaths in similar situations. The findings of these investigations and subsequent recommendations are summarized in narrative reports broadly disseminated to employer and worker groups and posted at the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation website.*


OSHA Investigation - OSHA and OSHA-approved State Occupational Safety and Health Plans† conduct investigations of worker deaths and enforce compliance with worker safety and health regulations. A review of the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), a database for federal and state OSHA investigations, identified 12 methylene chloride–related deaths associated with professional bathtub refinishing operations during 2000–2011. One of the three deaths identified by the Michigan program was not in IMIS because the decedent was self-employed and therefore outside OSHA's enforcement jurisdiction. The ages of the 13 decedents ranged from 23 to 57 years (median = 39 years) (Table). Twelve were male.

Ten different products were associated with the 13 deaths. Six of the products were marketed for use in the aircraft industry, the rest for use on wood, metal, glass, and masonry. None of the product labels mentioned bathtub refinishing. The percentage of methylene chloride in the products ranged from 60% to 100%.

Toxicology tests from specimens collected at autopsy indicated methylene chloride blood levels ranging from 18 to 223 mg/L

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http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6107a2.htm

Report: Debt will swell under top GOP hopefuls’ tax plans - The Washington Post

The national debt would balloon under tax policies championed by three of the four major Republican candidates for president, according to an independent analysis of tax and spending proposals so far offered by the campaigns.

The lone exception is Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who would pair a big reduction in tax rates with even bigger cuts in government services, slicing about $2 trillion from future borrowing.

According to the report released Thursday by U.S. Budget Watch, a project of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and former House speaker Newt Gingrich would do the most damage to the nation’s finances, offering tax and spending policies likely to require trillions of dollars in fresh borrowing.

Both men have proposed to sharply cut taxes but have not identified spending cuts sufficient to make up for the lost cash, the report said. By 2021, the debt would rise by about $4.5 trillion under Santorum’s policies and by about $7 trillion under Gingrich’s plan, pushing the portion of the debt held by outside investors to well over 100 percent of the overall economy, the study said.

The red ink would gush a little more slowly under former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the report said. Until this week, Romney had paired $1.35 trillion in tax cuts with $1.2 trillion in spending reductions, leaving the debt rising on a trajectory that closely tracks current policies.

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Bill Gates: We Need Genetically Modified Seeds

(World Economic Forum / swiss-image.ch/Photo by Sebastian Derungs)Agence France-Presse reports:

Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Thursday called for a "digital revolution" to alleviate world hunger by increasing agricultural productivity through satellites and genetically-engineered seed varieties.

"We have to think hard about how to start taking advantage of the digital revolution that is driving innovation including in farming," the U.S. billionaire philanthropist said in a speech at the UN rural poverty agency IFAD in Rome.

"If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture. We believe that it's possible for small farmers to double and in some cases even triple their yields in the next 20 years while preserving the land," Gates said. [...]

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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Microsoft+founder+Bill+Gates+urges+digital+revolution+against+hunger/6197206/story.html

Radiation detected 400 miles off Japanese coast - CBS News

(AP)  

SALT LAKE CITY - Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima power plant disaster has been detected as far as almost 400 miles off Japan in the Pacific Ocean, with water showing readings of up to 1,000 times more than prior levels, scientists reported Tuesday.

...The results are for water samples taken in June, about three months after the power plant disaster, Buesseler said. In addition to thousands of water samples, researchers also sampled fish and plankton and found cesium-137 levels well below the legal health limit.

"We're not over the hump" yet in terms of radioactive contamination of the ocean because of continued leakage from the plant, Buesseler said in an interview before Tuesday's talk. He was chief scientist for the cruise that collected the data.

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Another Leaking Nuclear Plant...Radioactive groundwater detected at Va power plant | Mansfield News Journal

USA Today -Dominion Virginia Power is seeking the source of leaking radioactivity at its North Anna nuclear power plant after an elevated level of tritium was detected in groundwater.

Times Dispatch - Dominion Virginia Power has found elevated levels of a weak form of radioactivity in a sampling well at its North Anna nuclear power station.

The radiation poses no hazard to the public, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

On Friday, the Richmond-based utility was notified by its laboratory contractor that water taken from an on-site groundwater sampling point contained an unusually high level of tritium — more than twice the EPA’s standard for drinking water.

***

“There is no evidence that the increased concentration of tritium we sampled was related to the earthquake” on Aug. 23, which shut down the plant for nearly three months, the company told the NRC on Tuesday. “Monitoring of the sample points both inside and outside the protected area and a post-seismic hydrogeological evaluation show this to be the case.”

While it may be tempting to assume that earth quake was  the cause of the tritium leak – AP noted in a report Friday that 75 percent of all U.S. nuclear sites have leaked radioactive tritium.

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And at:
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2012/feb/22/tdmain01-elevated-levels-of-a-weak-form-of-radioac-ar-1706167/

Methanol as an Alternative to Gasoline - NYTimes.com

PRESIDENT Obama recently called the United States the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas” and asserted that it was time for our oil-dominated transportation fuel market to open the door to natural gas. He’s right. It would be cheaper for consumers and reduce the strategic importance of oil. But first we need cars that can run on methanol, a high-octane fuel made from converted natural gas.


We’re producing more natural gas these days than we can use, thanks to new techniques to extract gas from shale. A recent report from the M.I.T. Energy Initiative, “The Future of Natural Gas,” called methanol “the liquid fuel that is most efficiently and inexpensively produced from natural gas.” China has already taken notice. Automakers there, like Chery, Geely and Shanghai Maple, have all introduced vehicles capable of running on methanol. Indeed, methanol is so much less costly per mile than gasoline that illegal fuel blending is rampant in China...The current global spot price for methanol made from natural gas is $1.13 per gallon, without any subsidy. Methanol produces about half the energy per gallon as gasoline, so you need to burn twice as much to go just as far. But it is still cheaper than gas. It would cost approximately $3 today, including taxes, distribution and retail markup, to travel the same distance on methanol as on a gallon of gasoline, according to calculations by the Methanol Institute, a cost that is well below the current national average for gasoline. If the economics of natural gas change, a flex fuel vehicle could still run on methanol made from coal, biomass and possibly recycled carbon dioxide, if that technology proves economical.
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Cleaner Air, but Fate of Laid-Off Workers Clouds Coal Plant Closing

State Line Power Station on the shore of Lake Michigan just across the Indiana border from Chicago was key to powering the once-legendary industries of Chicago, Gary and other Northwest Indiana towns.

The coal-fired plant, which opened in 1929, provided electricity for nearby steel mills, stock yards, refineries and countless other factories, businesses and residences. It also spurred commercial development as workers poured into local eateries and watering holes after their shifts.

The power plant also was central to the lives and careers of hundreds or even thousands of Chicago and Northwest Indiana residents over the years, including multiple generations of some families. But by the end of March the power plant will close, its Virginia-based parent company having decided that cheap natural gas and impending environmental regulations make it too expensive to run.

Now no one will notice the loss of electricity. There are plenty of other electricity sources to power the region, and State Line actually sells its electricity on a wholesale market that includes buyers as far east as New Jersey. But the closure will be devastating for many of the about 100 employees, about 80 of them members of the United Steelworkers Local 12502 and many of them with decades of service at the plant. 


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President Obama Announces Funding for Breakthroughs in Natural Gas and Biofuels as Alternative Fuels

President Obama announced new funding to catalyze breakthrough technologies for two key alternative fuels—natural gas and biofuels—as part of his energy strategy to reduce our reliance on foreign oil.

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Feb 23, 2012

VIC MILK PROCESSING EXPLOSION CAUSES $3 MILLION DAMAGE

Colin Murphy


An explosion at a Victorian milk processing plant in the early hours of this morning has caused more than $3 million worth of damage.


http://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/vic-milk-processing-explosion-causes-3-million-da

Green Remake Gives Nebraska A LEED Landmark | Earthtechling

In Omaha, Nebraska, the Union Pacific railroad has taken steps to green company operations at the Union Pacific Center—a 19-story, 1.3-million-square-foot building completed in 2004 and home to around 4,000 employees. The building recently received LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the largest LEED-certified building in the state and only the second building in Nebraska to qualify for certification through existing buildings branch of the program.

Building managers achieved a LEED Silver rating by implementing a combination of energy efficiency and water conservation measures, as per the LEED for Existing Buildings system. These measures include retrofitting the building for optimized HVAC and building envelope performance, resulting in a savings of 741,455 kilowatt-hours on an annual basis (reducing energy consumption overall by 3 percent). The building’s use of potable water was likewise reduced through low-flow plumbing fixtures, cutting its consumption by 550,000 gallons in 2011 as compared to 2010.

Union Pacific Center

image via Wikipedia Commons

Energy efficient lighting—in the form or reduced-mercury-content CFLs and LED lights—contributed to the building’s leaner and greener energy profile, and a combination of solid waste recycling, green cleaning products, and LEED-approved office furnishings keep day-to-day operations eco-friendly.

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Wind Power Via Your Breath Powers Your Gadgets | Earthtechling

The AIRE mask is a new concept device for recharging  small electronic devices. Instead of solar power, or kinetic energy,  it converts wind (provided by the wearer’s breath) into electricity that can be used to juice your phone or other gadgets.

AIRE Mask

The AIRE mask ... power your devices with renewable energy that you make yourself. Inside the unit there are small wind turbines that convert the energy of your breath into electricity which is then transferred through a cable to your small electronic device.

And lest you get the idea that you’ll have huff and puff like the Big Bad Wolf to juice up your iPhone, the mask’s creator is quick to point out that no such hyperventilation is required:

“AIRE can be used in any situation, indoors or outdoors,” writes João Paulo Lammoglia on red dot online, where his design won a concept award. ”It can be used while you sleep, walk, run, or read a book, for example. Besides saving energy (and contributing to environmental preservation), it also encourages the practice of physical exercise. Its energy is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”

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Why Universities Are Building Superefficient cogeneration power Plants - GOOD

Colleges and universities that are taking advantage of cogeneration technology.

This system lives just below ground, a block off Washington Square Park, underneath a pleasant walkway spotted with local grasses and benches. If you sit and listen quietly, you can hear the noise of the turbines spinning at 13,000 revolutions per minute below. Once, the university created energy in this spot by burning oil. In that plant, you could smell the diesel exhaust fumes, Merrihue, the plant manager, tells me. But this new plant, which opened in 2011, starts by burning natural gas, which produces less air pollution and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. After that fuel produces electricity, the plant takes the leftover energy and uses it over and over again. "That's what gets us the efficiency”—almost 90 percent, says Merrihue. The hot exhaust from two gas-fired turbines fuels a steam turbine, which produces additional electricity. The leftover steam travels to a hot water heat exchanger and then to a chiller, where the last bit of energy is used to cool a 2400-gallon tank of water down to 45 degrees.  

Power plants like this one, which eke every drop of work they can out of their fuel, are called cogeneration or combined heat-and-power plants. The technology isn’t new: Thomas Edison first used it commercially in 1882, at the Pearl Station, where heat from electricity generation went to warm nearby buildings. But it has been underused. In 2008, the Department of Energy called cogeneration “one of the most promising options in the US energy efficiency portfolio” and estimated [PDF] that if these plants accounted for 20 percent of the country’s electricity capacity, they would keep as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as taking 154 million cars off the road would. 

Across the country, cogeneration plants already produce more than 81,000 MW of power, almost doubled the amount of wind power capacity installed. Most of that power goes towards industrial production: those at paper, chemical, and petroleum refining plants in particular find they can make good use of these systems. But among commercial interests, it is large institutions like hospitals, housing projects, and, most of all, colleges and universities that are taking advantage of cogeneration technology.

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'Green' cement modeled on Roman buildings | TG Daily

Engineers have found a way to cut the CO2 and energy footprint of cement by 97 percent - and the recipe's much cheaper, too.

A Drexel University team has created an alkali-activated cement based on  an industrial byproduct, slag, and simple limestone, and which doesn't require heating to produce.

They say their alternative production method and the cheapness of the ingredients makes their version 40 percent cheaper than Portland cement.

"Cement consumption is rapidly rising, especially in newly industrialized countries, and it's already responsible for five percent of human-made carbon dioxide," says researcher Dr Alex Moseson.

"This is a unique way to limit the environmental consequences of meeting demand."

While forms of alkali-activated cement have been around in the former Soviet Union since the 1950s and 1960s, the team was more directly inspired by the pyramids in Egypt, as well as buildings in ancient Rome.

"Our cement is more like ancient Roman cement than like modern Portland," says Moseson. "Although we won't know for 2,000 years if ours has the longevity of Roman buildings, it gives us an idea of the staying power of this material."

"Our results and the literature confirm that it performs as well or better than OPC," says Dr Michel W Barsoum.

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Versatile Wind Harvester breaks from traditional turbine design. -ecoGizmo

Heath Evdemon has designed a new kind of wind turbine based on reciprocating motion that's...

ecoGizmo- From huge kites to sea-bound flywheels and roof-top installations to tree-like art creations, we've seen many different approaches to capturing energy from the wind. One design, though, reigns supreme - the tri-blade turbine tower. It's not exactly a trouble-free life at the top and there are those who do not look upon these monsters favorably, most often complaining about the noise and the not so picturesque view. With support from Nottingham Trent University's Future Factory project, Heath Evdemon is currently building a new type of wind turbine called the Wind Harvester that's claimed to be virtually silent, doesn't need to loom high over the landscape and can operate in a variety of wind conditions... Continue Reading Versatile Wind Harvester breaks from traditional turbine design
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