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September 28, 2010
For instance, the dollar broke its seven-month
rally about two months ago. Last week, the Bank of Japan started
intervening in the Japanese yen to change its direction. (Their
interventions will work in the near-term but not in the
long-term.)
Commodities have also been surging lately.
Agricultural commodities have been increasing as “food
inflation” starts to rise. But that commodity group isn’t alone.
Gold, silver and other commodities are also hitting new highs.
In fact, gold is hitting a new all-time-high.
Stocks
have even begun to put in a “higher low” recently. That shows
that stocks are likely to bounce at least through the elections.
(Isn’t that coincidental?)
Hawaii Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said yesterday that he
would put the state on track to reduce by half its dependence on
fossil fuel by 2018.
Aiona, the Republican candidate for governor, said the target
would be achievable by accelerating renewable projects already
being planned by utilities and others. The state has already
committed to getting 70 percent of its energy from renewable
resources by 2030 under the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.
Canada and a number of European countries
including the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, France and the
U.K. are gearing up subsidies for photovoltaics. The new efforts
will surpass subsidies offered by Spain and Germany that
generated a gold rush from 2007-2010.
Australian environment activists closed down
operations at the world's largest coal port on Sunday, after
entering three terminals and attaching themselves to loaders,
the terminal operator and the protesters said.
Water wheels are generally
perceived as being inefficient energy converters which belong to
the past, with no role for the future. But as Gerald Müller,
Klemens Kauppert and Rüdiger Mach explain, they can actually be
efficient and cost-effective in low head micro hydro
applications.
For two years, energy industry leaders and environmentalists
have implored Congress and the Obama administration to deliver
on promises to wean the U.S. off foreign oil.
But plans to expand offshore drilling, cap greenhouse gas
emissions and use federal dollars to spark a nuclear power
renaissance have collapsed on Capitol Hill amid partisan
bickering and entrenched regional disputes.
While the federal government invests billions of
dollars in electric cars, the former top adviser to President
Barack Obama on auto issues is saying he doubts that an
all-electric car company can succeed.
A lot of energy has traditionally been flushed
down the exhaust pipe of the internal combustion engine and it's
interesting to see that a number of companies, most notably BMW
and Toyota until now, have been working on harvesting that power
thanks to the imperatives of the energy crisis.
There are many levels in the ocean. In some places it is very
deep while in other sites there is only the shallow continental
shelf. There have been several reports on global warming in
terms of land and surface water temperature, Now come reports
from deeper depths. Scientists analyzing measurements taken in
the deep ocean around the globe over the past two decades find a
warming trend that contributes to sea level rise, especially
around Antarctica.
Global warming is occurring. Over the past few decades, at
least 80 percent of this heat energy has gone into the ocean,
warming it in the process.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman
Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) on
Tuesday will announce a new push for a renewable power mandate
during this Congress.
The U.S. EPA is preparing to regulate dental offices to prevent
discharge of mercury from old fillings into the environment.
The agency announced today that it will propose a rule to
reduce mercury waste from dental offices in 2011. The rule,
expected to be finalized in 2012, will require dentists to use
of mercury separating technology by 2014.
Widespread adoption of electric cars could
reduce U.S. oil demand and the need for imported oil more than
creation of a national mandate for renewable power such as wind
and solar, according to research from Rice University's Baker
Institute for Public Policy released on Monday.
Elevated concentrations of nitrogen and
phosphorus, nutrients that can negatively impact aquatic
ecosystems and human health, have remained the same or increased
in many streams and aquifers across the Nation since the early
1990's, according to a new national study by the U.S.Geological
Survey.
The economic pall doesn't seem to dissipate. But
it will. Experts are saying that once conditions improve,
utilities and other related businesses will start expanding
operations and hiring more people.
It’s more important for the U.S. to cut its
budget deficit than to extend tax cuts currently set to expire
at the end of this year, former Federal Reserve Governor Alan
Greenspan said in an interview on PBS.
These fast-shrinking subterranean reservoirs are
essential to daily life and agriculture in many regions, while
also sustaining streams, wetlands, and ecosystems and resisting
land subsidence and salt water intrusion into fresh water
supplies. Today, people are drawing so much water from below
that they are adding enough of it to the oceans (mainly by
evaporation, then precipitation) to account for about 25 percent
of the annual sea level rise across the planet, the researchers
find.
As you probably know, Iran's President Mahmoud
Ahmedinejad threatened the already struggling Obama
administration with a "war without borders" if Iran's nuclear
facilities get attacked.
The majority of executives and consumers polled
in a survey in July do not think the majority of businesses are
committed to "going green." Only 29 percent of executives and 16
percent of consumers polled think that the majority of
businesses are committed to "going green." Almost half (45
percent) of executives and 48 percent of consumers think that
only "some" are businesses committed to sustainability.
The number of officially poor is now higher, at
nearly 44 million, than at any time in the 51 years of this
count. Yet these recent Census numbers hide as much as they
reveal.
At first, "passive barriers" to prevent the
spread of underground coal-mine explosions sound a bit like the
old practical joke where you balance a bucket of water on a
partly opened door, and the first person who walks through gets
drenched.
John Duncan’s appointment in August as the new
Minister of Indian Affairs was greeted with praise and hopeful
expectation from many mainstream indigenous organizations.
Magma has worked its way up to just under the
surface in a remote region of northwest Saudi Arabia, causing a
flurry of small to moderate quakes and threatening to form a new
volcano, researchers said Sunday.
The paper, focused on the costs of electricity
in North Carolina (US), describes the solar photovoltaic (PV)
business, summarizing its history of sharply declining prices,
along with the very different path taken in recent years by
nuclear power, whose costs have been steadily rising.
Dr. Donald Berwick is a man who loves socialized medicine. He
is in favor of rationing. And he has a “love affair” with the
NHS, which is the healthcare system in place in England where it
can take more than18 weeks to be admitted to a hospital.
If you aren’t familiar with him by now, you may want to get
to know the man in charge of implementing Obamacare.
A 680-mile natural gas pipeline from Wyoming to
Oregon has been praised by Colorado’s governor, the state’s
resource-rich Ute tribal nations, and the Council of Energy
Resource Tribes, but the project irks some residents on at least
four reservations who say it disturbs cultural resources and
they were excluded from decision-making.
Expanding the number of electric vehicles on
U.S. roads would take a big bite out of oil use, according to a
collection of studies released by Rice University's Baker
Institute for Public Policy, but plans to impose a national
quota for renewable energy would barely make a dent.
A majority of Americans are pessimistic about
the public education system with nearly six out of 10 saying
schools need either major changes or a complete overhaul,
according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
"Scotland has unrivalled green energy resources
and our new national target to generate 80 percent of
electricity needs from renewables by 2020 will be exceeded by
delivering current plans for wind, wave and tidal generation,"
Salmond said.
Speaking to a packed room of reporters barely a
week after the pipeline explosion that killed seven people and
wiped out a San Bruno neighborhood, Pacific Gas & Electric CEO
Peter Darbee made a painful observation.
Senators backing a bi-partisan bill that would
make big utilities begin embracing renewable electricity believe
they can get enough votes to pass it without having to add oil
or nuclear incentives to the measure, a Congressional aide said
on Friday.
IMS Research’s recently published report has
revealed that shipments of small three-phase inverters rated
around 10-20kW are forecast to grow by around 170% in 2010.
Inverters rated at over 500kW are projected to grow at a similar
rate but capturing a smaller share of the market.
According to the results of the new UK PV Market
2010 report published by market analysts, Solarbuzz, the solar
photovoltaic (PV) feed-in tariff (FIT) program introduced by the
United Kingdom in April 2010 has catapulted the UK into the
mainstream of global PV market activity.
Nine days after Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch
Mine blew up, Gov. Joe Manchin issued an executive order that
tightened West Virginia's requirements for mine operators to
control explosive coal dust in underground mines.
Laurie and Bob Brown didn't care, frankly, if they ever got
electricity.
In their Upton camp-turned-home, they were perfectly happy
reading by gas lamps, using a propane stove and running a
generator to power her wood-burning tools. It was a simple,
close-to-the-Earth lifestyle, and they loved it.
"I've had so many people (say), 'This is the way to live,'"
Laurie Brown said.
But without electricity, the Browns couldn't get a regular
mortgage after their construction loan matured.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
sent enforcement letters warning food makers that they cannot
label their products as free of genetically modified or
genetically engineered ingredients
So far this year we have seen:
* GM's return to the market with natural gas Express/Savana
cargo van options,
* Honda's doubling of Civic GX production,
* Hundreds of new CNG stations built with DOE stimulus
funding,
* Return of the Fuelmaker home and fleet refueling
appliances,
... the list goes on...
Americans shouldn’t be skeptical. They should be fearful.
The years ahead will be wrought with financial hardship and
the public safety dangers that will be left in the wake of this
unconstitutional act.
An act that has been sold to us as “reform.”
But this is not “reform.” It’s an attack on your safety, your
freedoms, and the vision our Founding Fathers had for this great
country.
Two-thirds of people in this country are
overweight or obese; about a third of adults - more than 72
million - are obese, which is roughly 30 pounds over a healthy
weight.
In the U.S., we have heard no such talk. In
addition, the Fed is talking of QE2 (printing money to prop up
equity prices) which just devalues the dollar more.
Right now, every level of the federal government doesn’t care
about the dollar.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a
bill on Tuesday that would require utilities to generate minimum
levels of renewable power which environmentalists welcomed but
analysts said had slim chances of passing this year.
A team led by a North Carolina State University
researcher has shown that water-gel-based solar devices,
"artificial leaves", can act like solar cells to produce
electricity.
September 24, 2010
As Congress fights over whether to
extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy, President Obama's
stimulus tax cut for middle class workers is in danger of
expiring if lawmakers don't act by the end of the year.
Despite a bruising ballot battle over the California's landmark
climate change law, the state is forging ahead with plans requiring
electric utilities to obtain a third of their supply from renewable
energy sources.
The California Air Resources Board today unanimously adopted a
regulation raising California's Renewable Energy Portfolio
Standard to 33 percent by the year 2020.
A phased-in approach provides for interim targets that lead to the
requirement that by 2020, one-third of the electricity sold in the state
must come from clean, green sources of energy.
The MSNBC cameras unwittingly -- and probably unwillingly -- captured a
Joe the Plumber moment during Monday's town hall meeting called by
President Obama to discuss the economy. Expressing the frustration of
tens of millions of Americans on a day during which the economists
called the recession over, Velma Hart, a self-described CFO, wife,
mother and veteran, expressed her "deep disappointment" with Obama's
economic record -- to his face.
After decades of progress in terms of coal mine safety, a series
of coal-mine related tragedies in the first decade of the 21st
Century has forced coal operators to take a new look at the way they
address coal mine safety.
A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), Community
Solar Power: Obstacles and Opportunities, examines nine community solar
projects, the policies that made them possible, and the substantial
barriers that remain.
Typhoon Fanapi, the 11th and strongest typhoon
to hit China this year, has brought the heaviest rains in a
century to southern Guangdong Province, causing landslides in
some cities, said the official Xinhua news agency. Thirteen
people have died and 42 others are missing.
A new Android app analyzes air pollution in its
user's vicinity
Fly or coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal for energy. It
contains heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, that can
endanger health through water and air.
Fear of that danger led hundreds of neighbors of the golf course
in March 2009 to sue Dominion and others..
House Republicans will announce an expansive agenda on Thursday
called a "A Pledge to America" that proposes to shrink the size of
government and reform Congress, offering a conservative plan of
action they will pursue if they win a majority in the
midterm elections.
The primary cause of homelessness is government
regulation in the form of zoning restrictions, building codes,
and construction moratoriums, which raise housing prices above
what many can pay...
Consequently, homelessness is higher in cities that have more of
these regulations.
EXTERA
ENERGY RESOURCES IS CONSIDERED A DOMINANT
player in both wind and solar power generation. The company's
president, Mitch Davidson, 47, is out to grow the business well
beyond its current reach, which encompasses revenue of about $9
billion a year, 18,000 megawatts of generation and a workforce
of 4,500.
According to the most recent quarterly survey of U.S. investment
managers conducted by Russell Investments, managers appear ready
to put the “risk trade” back on despite the fact that the
markets have been weighed down by slowing economic data.
The National Center for Policy Analysis finds in
its report that “to meet this growing demand nuclear energy
remains one of the safest [sic]and more reliable forms of energy
available—it also emits no greenhouse gases
France is leading the nuclear revolution right
now. But it may also headline the nuclear fusion
movement.
The energy crisis of the 1970s never did pass.
It's still here, although today it centers on feeding an
ever-growing global population with cleaner fuels.
A cold snap in northern oceans around 1970 may have caused a dip
in world temperatures that briefly interrupted a trend of global
warming, scientists said on Wednesday.
Many experts had previously explained a slight global cooling
around 1970 as a side-effect of a slow build-up of sun-dimming air
pollution from factories, power plants and cars that cleared up in
later years with stricter air pollution laws.
The fine particles of pollution that hang in the
air can increase the risk for sudden cardiac arrest, according
to a new study conducted by a team from Long Island Jewish (LIJ)
Medical Center and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.
A federal proposal that would impose tough new controls on coal
fly ash disposal was endorsed by environmentalists and people living
near ash impoundments at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
public hearing in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
executive summary of original stimulus plan
ith national climate initiatives in neutral, the
states are now advancing the cause. The western, Midwestern and
northeastern regions are taking the lead. While the movement in
those areas is relatively modest, it could still pave the way
for the federal government to follow suit if they prove
successful.
Nearly three months after the United Nations
imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday banned selling S-300 air
defense missiles to Iran.
Russia is staking its economic future on its controversial
territorial claim to a huge slice of the fast-melting Arctic, which
holds up to a quarter of the world's untapped energy resources, and
is set to launch an unprecedented diplomatic campaign to achieve its
goals.
Misplaced hope in shale gas may
lead to higher prices, a think tank has warned.
Shale gas deposits are abundant, and have been
successfully exploited in the US, leading to hopes it
will become a major energy source in the future.
However other countries may face prohibitive
geological, economic and environmental problems, said
foreign affairs analysts Chatham House.
Efforts to clean up and protect the North East Atlantic have made
some progress since 2000 but new threats are looming such as ocean
acidification linked to climate change, a study said on Thursday.
Southern Company has captured carbon dioxide from one of its
power plants for the first time, a milestone that significantly
advances the development of technology considered crucial to
reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power generation.
When a new political movement emerges, it can follow a number of
different courses after its moment of passionate intensity. It can
lose its focus or relevance and fade into nothingness, like an
anti-war movement when the war ends. It can become
institutionalized, with professional organizations leading a cause
that started from the grass roots, like the environmental movement
has. Or it can be co-opted and absorbed by something larger.
We all know that solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is too
expensive. Although technological advancements and economies of
scale in manufacturing have lowered the cost of PV dramatically
over the past decade, PV-generated electricity today is more
expensive than power produced from conventional generators
fueled with coal or natural gas.
The US military is one of the biggest supporters of renewable
energy in the country.
The government is unable to confirm reports of a miles-long plume
of oil lurking beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico from BP
Plc's giant oil spill, a government scientist said on Tuesday.
"The fact-finding mission concluded that a series of violations of
international law, including international humanitarian and human rights
law, were committed by the Israeli forces," said the 56-page report.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.37 percent with an
average 0.7 point for the week ending September 23, 2010, unchanged
from last week when it averaged 4.37 percent. Last year at this
time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.04 percent.
Environmental groups that want government to regulate disposal
and storage of coal ash will square off today at a Downtown hearing
against utilities that generate the byproduct of burning coal to
generate electricity and companies that rely on it to make products.
Water scarcity is a growing issue in many
regions around the globe. Many cities, large and small, are
experiencing water stress (i.e., deterioration in water quality
and growing shortage in water quantity). Reuse of treated
municipal wastewater offers an attractive solution to the water
stress problem.
When a
caterpillar grows up, it becomes a beautiful butterfly. When curious kid
David Inouye grew up, he became an ecologist. It's the kind of
metamorphosis our world could use more of.
Madison firefighters wash their trucks with rainwater collected
in giant cisterns. Eighth-graders in Fort Atkinson swim in a pool
heated by the sun and the earth, but without a furnace or boiler.
And the Sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton worship in the
greenest building in the country.
World leaders will next week consider a target
for halting extinctions of animals and plants by 2020 that many
experts rate impossibly ambitious given mounting threats such as
climate change and loss of habitats
Three out of five global investors (59%) say the
world economy has weathered the financial crisis and has stabilized two
years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
September 21, 2010
The Governors' Wind Energy Coalition sent a letter today to
Senate leadership of both parties outlining the urgent need for
passage of a strong national renewable energy standard.
The Coalition consists of 29 governors from both parties and all
regions of the country.
A global clamour for cuts in emissions, growing investor appetite
for energy sector projects and sound government policies could help
Africa make strides in green energy generation in the next few
years.
HOMER Energy will be working with the Alaska
Energy Authority (AEA) to analyze wind-diesel systems for remote
native communities. Until recently these communities have relied
entirely on diesel for their energy needs, but fuel costs are
rising rapidly.
More than 500 years after Spanish priests brought wheat seeds to
Mexico to make wafers for the Catholic Mass, those seeds may bring a
new kind of salvation to farmers hit by global warming.
...a ballot initiative that would give state
residents a perpetual right to bear arms in the Kansas
Constitution. It's a measure Stoneking says is absolutely
necessary.
Gun control
advocates are calling it absolutely redundant.
The combination of green energy and a tax incentive increase has
resulted in a rare instance of congressional bipartisan cooperation.
Successful integration of biofuels and combustion engines is
vital for biofuels to be successful, says Sandia-led report.
Gulf Oil Spill Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen finally said
what millions along the Gulf Coast have been waiting to hear; The BP
well that polluted the Gulf of Mexico with 5 million barrels of oil is
dead. The official announcement came on Sunday, 2 days after the relief
well, which was started on May 2, reached the casing of the blown-out
Macondo oil well responsible for the worst oil spill disaster in
American history.
Cameron travels to some of the most remote locations in the world to
study the icy interior of glaciers.
Detailed studies of ice cores have clearly
shown that humans are now a major driver of climate change.
Wake's science is sound—the problem is making his voice heard among the
ideological rhetoric that makes headlines these days.
China will produce half of the world's solar
panels this year, muscling its way into a young but
sure-to-be significant generation resource in coming
decades. And it will also produce half of the
globe's wind turbines this year, dominating an
already important segment of the power industry.
Florida homeowners who spent thousands of dollars on energy-efficient
air conditioning units expecting state rebates may be left hanging.
Congress may be stalemated when it comes to any
new climate change policies. But some utilities
think the writing is on the wall and have therefore
decided to curtail their coal consumption.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is really an
academic. But he's is learning the art of politics
while on the job. The Nobel-prize winning scientist,
who had once called coal his "worst nightmare,"
spoke to a largely pro-coal audience in West
Virginia.
You may have heard that North Dakota is producing a lot more
oil. Yeah, they've got a real boom up there.
Federal Reserve officials debating whether to boost stimulus
are under pressure to avoid creating confusion among investors
about any new effort to spur the U.S. recovery.
Ready for your morning bowl of crazy? Five years
ago, Congress set aside millions of acres of public land in the
Southwest for the development of solar farms. This was primo
real estate for solar, considered one of the best spots in the
world. So far not one solar panel has been erected.
Researchers in Norway believe that with help from oil and gas
extraction technologies, geothermal energy could be tapped more
readily.
House GOP leaders are set to unveil a new “Contract with
America” this week that will define the goals of the Republican
Party and lay out in detail the agenda they will pursue if they
win control of the House and possibly, the Senate. Party
spokesmen confirmed to
The Hill Monday that they will unveil the new contract in
Virginia on Thursday.
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world's
best-selling weedkiller Roundup, causes malformations in frog
and chicken embryos at doses far lower than those used in
agricultural spraying and well below maximum residue levels in
products presently approved in the European Union.
The problem lies in biased and often-manipulated government
reporting.
The FBI gave inaccurate information to Congress
and the public when it claimed a possible terrorism link to
justify surveilling an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh, the Justice
Department's inspector general said Monday in a report on the
bureau's scrutiny of domestic activist groups.
The rate of illegal-drug use rose last year to
the highest level in nearly a decade, fueled by a sharp increase
in marijuana use and a surge in Ecstasy and methamphetamine
abuse, the government reported Wednesday.
Four years after JEA delivered mountains of power plant ash to road
crews in Charlton County, Ga., the utility is spending millions to haul
what's left of that to a landfill.
Next time they try to mug someone, rob a convenience store or
take a person's car at gunpoint, the would-be victim or victims also
could be carrying a weapon.
Economy, public health, ecosystems threatened without new
direction in freshwater management by public and private sectors,
panel cautions
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.37 percent with an
average 0.7 point for the week ending September 16, 2010, up from
last week when it averaged 4.35 percent. Last year at this time, the
30-year FRM averaged 5.04 percent.
The first eight months of 2010 tied the same
period in 1998 for the warmest combined land and ocean surface
temperature on record worldwide. Meanwhile, the June–August
summer was the second warmest on record globally after 1998,..
After years of talking up the nuclear renaissance, Progress
Energy concedes it may never build new nuclear reactors in North
Carolina.
Although still not as widely accepted as in Europe and Asia, the
use of ozone for water treatment has gained increased application in
North America's plants, especially those dependent on large
reservoirs, rivers and other surface sources for their raw water
supply.
A C2 X-ray event was observed, maintained a bi-polar magnetic configuration. Solar activity is expected to be very low to low with a slight chance of M-class activity for the next three days (21 - 23 September).The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels, with isolated active periods, for day one (21 September).The increase in activity is due to a large, recurrent coronal hole high speed stream.
There are mountains on land and there are
mountains under the sea. The vast ocean seems flat but under
that water are mountains, valleys and plains. These mountain
chains rival the Alps, the Andes and the Himalayas in size and
little is known about seamounts, the vast mountains hidden under
the world's oceans.
The U.S. Senate Monday approved a bill intended to help 100
million people around the world gain access to clean water and
sanitation during the next six years.
More home builders are putting solar panels on new homes and have
come up with a novel way of making solar more affordable for buyers.
The nation’s premier state-led climate programs are under
attack by a growing coalition of industry, tea party and
conservative activists.
Fluoride avoidance reduced anemia in pregnant
women, decreased pre-term births and enhanced babies'
birth-weight, concludes leading fluoride expert,
AK Susheela and colleagues, in a study published in Current
Science (May 2010).
A far-right party entered the Swedish Parliament
for the first time in elections yesterday, spoiling the
center-right government’s victory and majority and plunging the
country into political disarray, preliminary results showed.
I was starting to think that switching from heating oil (the
primary US Northeast heating source) to natural gas might be a
good thing for my Long Island home. ...One problem: my street is relatively small, it isn't a through
street to get anywhere else, so a pipeline was never built under
it. I asked the local utility what it would cost to hook me up.
To run a line from the nearest "junction" would be about
$16,000. Not surprisingly, I decided to pass.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P.
Jackson will join ministers from the Methane to Markets Partnership
countries in Mexico City on Oct. 1. At the meeting, the United
States will work with partner nations to encourage global action to
reduce methane emission sources and identify possible additional
resources to achieve this goal. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas
(GHG) that is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming
the atmosphere.
Tens of thousands of Germans surrounded Chancellor Angela
Merkel's office Saturday in an anti-nuclear demonstration that
organizers said was the biggest of its kind since the Chernobyl
disaster in 1986.
...given the exploding federal debt burden —
about 60 percent of GDP — it’s probably fair to say that House
and Senate members are managing their personal finances better
than the country’s.
Power bills for TVA residential customers will increase for billing
periods startingas the utility passes along the eighth straight monthly
fuel cost adjustment.
Britain will need to slap stiff penalties on climate-warming
plants or radically change the way the power market works if it
is to get new nuclear plants to cut carbon emissions and keep
the lights on.
The United Steelworkers union on Thursday accused China of illegal
trade practices that threaten U.S. clean energy jobs and urged President
Barack Obama's administration take action to stop them.
"Green jobs are key to our future," Leo Gerard, president of the
steelworkers union, told reporters.
This year marks the third lowest Arctic sea ice extent since
sattellite monitoring of seasonal sea ice melt began, according to the
National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, continuing the
trend toward an ice free summer for the Arctic. Thus far 2010 is tied
with 1998 as the warmest year on record. The disappearing ice and
warming climate is bad new not only for walrus, but polar bear and other
marine mammals that depend on the northern ice.
Falling Behind: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote
a disquieting
piece the other day about the
strides China´s government and business community are making in areas
such as clean technology innovation, creation of green jobs, pollution
reduction, energy efficiency, energy conservation, and
producer-responsibility legislation.
It is said, when empires fall, one of the first
signs of decline is a debasement of the currency.
Long before the Roman Empire fell, its leaders debased the
currency. The debasement was small at first, but over
time, precious metals were watered down and coin sizes shrank.
Pavilion Energy Resources -- a 40 percent partner in a joint venture
-- is planning to build a new wind turbine manufacturing facility in
Idaho to mass-produce three to five megawatt accelerating wind turbines
for a $100 million turbine order.
September 17, 2010
In 2008, the traveling public flew 4.28 trillion
passenger-kilometers on airplanes, a 1.3 percent increase from
2007. The distance that passengers travel has increased every
year except 1991 and 2001 since statistics were first recorded
by the International Civil Aviation Organization
A brand new
bill has just been introduced in the Senate. It’s supposed to hold
accountable those who taint our food supply on purpose. But as
drafted, it actually gives license to the FDA to target supplement
and natural health product companies.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
should adopt federally enforceable regulations governing coal
ash disposal to prevent costly environmental and public health
impacts, says a group of investors representing over $240
billion in assets under management in a public comment letter
submitted to the EPA today.
Violent crime declined 5.3 percent last year, the third straight
annual fall, the FBI reported yesterday.
The drop was accompanied by a 4.6 percent drop in property crime,
marking the seventh consecutive year that nonviolent crime has
dropped. The figures challenge theories among some criminal analysts
that crime tends to rise in times of uncertain economies.
Ecuador is launching a one-of-a-kind initiative to protect a
jungle reserve that contains not only a huge variety of plants and
animals but 20 percent of the country's crude oil.
On August
13, egg producers issued a
recall of over half a billion eggs that were contaminated
with salmonella. Many brands were involved and it sounded like a
national problem.
But it
wasn’t: all of those 550 million recalled eggs came
from just two farms. This underscores our point
above that the safety problem is not in the small farms and
operations, which will be so adversely affected by the food
safety bills. It will increase the concentration in huge
industrial farming CAFOs—Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations—where the sanitary problems are overwhelming.
The power sector may have another tool in its
kit to meet tomorrow's energy demand. It is the recycling of
wasted energy that scientists say could supply much-need
generation capacity while also limiting the release of
heat-trapping emissions.
New York knows the spotlight. But the heat it's now feeling is
tied directly to keeping the lights on. Transmission system
operators there say that the state's citizens consumed more
electricity in July than ever before.
Gold hit record highs above $1,270 an ounce on Tuesday in its
biggest one-day rally in four months, as the U.S. dollar
declined broadly after upbeat data failed to convince investors
to shift into risk-linked assets.
Climate change is exposing reindeer hunting gear used by the
Vikings' ancestors faster than archaeologists can collect it from
ice thawing in northern Europe's highest mountains.
"It's like a time machine...the ice has not been this small for
many, many centuries," said Lars Piloe...
The buzz right now is centered on all-electric
cars and the latest hybrids. But down the road, the hope is that the
hydrogen economy will arrive. Those fuel cell powered vehicles would
have no pollution with the only emission being distilled water.
Facing the worst outbreak of forest fires in three years, cattle
ranchers and indigenous tribesmen in the southern Amazon have teamed up
to extinguish nearly two dozen blazes over the past three months,
offering hope that new alliances between long-time adversaries could
help keep deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon on a downward
trajectory.
President Obama's most notable legislative
victory is under attack by government auditors. Billions that
have been targeted to rebuilding the nation's infrastructure are
still sitting on the sidelines.
Allegheny Energy Inc. has violated state and federal law and harmed
the health of people in five states for the past 15 years by refusing to
bring three Western Pennsylvania power plants into compliance with air
regulations, an attorney representing Pennsylvania and four other states
said yesterday.
The utility played "hide and seek" with state regulators to avoid
having to spend millions of dollars on pollution-control technology for
the coal-fired power plants,..
Scientists have warned that avoiding dangerous climate change
this century will require steep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.
New energy-efficient or carbon-free technologies can help, but what
about the power plants, cars, trucks, and other fossil-fuel-burning
devices already in operation? Unless forced into early retirement,
they will emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for decades to
come. Will their emissions push carbon dioxide levels beyond
prescribed limits, regardless of what we build next? Is there
already too much inertia in the system to curb climate change?
Who is driving the Big Apple? Well, at least
475 compressed natural gas buses, to be exact.
That's the plan now that the New York's transit
authority has inked a deal for $216 million with New
Flyer of America to provide the buses.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center today
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court
decision that allows uranium mining in the Four Corners region
of New Mexico. The appeal claims the mine would contaminate
drinking water used by some 15,000 Navajo people.
Despite significant challenges, Canada is among 15 countries
worldwide considering nuclear reactors in a resurgence of the energy
resource - the largest since the 1980s, Ernst & Young revealed today
at the World Energy Congress.
The state Department of Environmental Protection on Monday announced
the start of a tritium cleanup at Oyster Creek Generating Station.
Tritium occurs as a by-product of nuclear power plant operations, and
tritium leaks are not uncommon at nuclear power plants nationwide.
Pollution, coupled with stresses from climate change, is making
U.S. coastal waters sicker by the year, new research by leading U.S.
environmental and scientific agencies concludes.
So-called "dead zones," caused primarily by runoff from
agricultural fertilizers, sewage and landscaping, are occurring 30
times more frequently than they did 50 years ago, the report, issued
by the White House, concludes. Dead zones have a condition called
hypoxia — areas so low on oxygen that fish and other sea animals
either die or become unable to reproduce.
The ozone layer that shields life from the sun's harmful rays is
projected to recover from harmful chemicals by mid-century, but it
will take longer over the polar regions, a United Nations study said
on Thursday.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled beyond the Arctic
Circle on Monday to look into evidence for climate change after a
record heatwave ravaged central Russia this summer.
New Region 1108
(S29E69) was numbered today and produced multiple B-class events.C-class
events are likely for the next three days (17-19
September). There is a slight chance for an isolated M-class event
from Region 1108.he geomagnetic field is
expected to be predominately quiet to unsettled with a slight chance
for an isolated active period on day one (17 September). Days two
and three (18-19 September) are expected to be quiet.
Heeding a call from residents alarmed at news that three Vinalhaven
wind turbines had exceeded noise regulations, Town Councilor Michael
Ireland called on fellow councilors Monday to withhold a building permit
from the developers of the proposed $130 million Rollins Mountain wind
project.
Rising oil prices and a declining supply will
create an enormous problem in the U.S. unless other energy
sources are found and made affordable, Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu said Tuesday in Butte.
Several blocks from the emperor's palace, three
gleaming taxis quietly slip down a side street several times a
day. They glide up a track, stop, and wait as robotic equipment
in an adjacent garage snaps into action. In 52 seconds, the
battery depleted of electric charge is removed, a fully-charged
replacement is installed and the driver is on his way.
America is a great inventor. Think of it: the cotton gin,
the airplane, the polio vaccine, the Internet, the laser.
And American workers, the people who build the planes and
manufacture the medications, are the
most
productive in the world.
All eyes will be focused on a Pensacola, Fla., courtroom
Tuesday as Justice Department lawyers try to convince a federal
district court judge to throw out a lawsuit by 20 states
alleging that President Obama's healthcare reforms are
unconstitutional.
Serengeti National Park's locally and globally
significant ecosystem is driven by migration of wildebeest,
elephant and zebra; and will be utterly devastated by the plan,
as will be local livelihoods and well-being.
The FDA is uncomfortably close to approving AquaBounty’s
AquAdvantage®
GE salmon for our kitchen tables, and they are trying to move
the process along rather quickly. While the agency is downplaying
the potential dangers of bringing GE salmon to market, there are
legitimate concerns that every consumer should consider.
That's because most Americans still believe we have no
alternative to the food produced by agribusinesses who care as
little about our health as they do about the health of the
chickens, turkeys, cows and pigs, so tightly packed in pens and
cages on factory farms that the floor is scarcely visible, and
where visible, is covered with excrement.
If energy storage holds the key
to the fates of wind and solar energy, then Beacon Power Corp.
thinks it has the answer. It has just been awarded most of the
money it needs to store up to 20 megawatts of power that it will
deliver in New York State.
The nation
urgently needs an energy-rich, low-carbon energy
system that's cheap and efficient. Carbon capture
and sequestration allows us to take advantage of the
high-energy density of fossil fuels and the built
infrastructure, and to deeply cut emissions very
quickly. It draws on two domestic resources: lots of
deep geological formations that can hold CO2
indefinitely, and ingenuity to drive down the costs
through rapid technology commercialization.
Controversial plans to develop a
bauxite mine on sacred tribal land in India have been cancelled
by India's environment ministry. The Dongria Kondh’s – an
indigenous tribe who have lived since time immemorial around the
mountain Niyamgiri in the Indian state of Orissa – demands have
been met, and the area will remain wild, lush and sacred.
Squabble Over Surcharge: City officials in Palo Alto, Calif.,
are getting ready to enact a garbage collection
surcharge for residents who live
in "hard to service" areas such as on steep hills, on narrow private
streets and in alleyways. About 700 residents would have to pay the new
$14.42-a-month surcharge.
Energy. In practice, generating it and transmitting it is hard. Even
harder is writing energy policy that takes into account the local
environment, carbon emissions reductions, costs, benefits, individual
state laws, federal law and, oh yeah, rising customer demand.
Decades of overfishing have deprived the food industry of
billions of dollars in revenue and the world of fish that could have
helped feed undernourished countries, according to a series of
studies released on Tuesday.
September 14, 2010
Thoughts from market experts including senior fellows and members of
the
board of directors of International Association of Financial Engineers
(IAFE)
(a synopsis)
BP believes compensation claims related to its
Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be less than the $20 billion the
oil giant has put into an independent claims fund, analysts at
Citigroup said, following a meeting within coming Chief
Executive Bob Dudley.
After decades of controversy over the air pollution and safety
hazards of field burning, Oregon grass-seed growers hope to start
spinning their ocean of post-harvest straw into gold.
Among the questions to ask yourself: What kind of home charging
system does the automaker advise you to get? How many miles do you
expect to drive each day? What time do you expect to start charging
your car? Most important, have you told your utility company you
plan to get one?
As a child, Chester Cayou experienced the abuses
of the residential school system. As a World War II Army
draftee, he witnessed the brutality of war.
Yet, he never lost faith in the capacity of humankind to love. He
saw it in his culture, in everyday expressions of caring, in
commitment and hard work to meet the needs of others.
The three wind turbines that were designed to lower and stabilize the
unpredictable electric bills of Vinalhaven and North Haven islands also
have brought some sleepless nights to those who live closest to their
giant blades and the noises they make.
Whenever the American economy hits even a small
snag, queries often emerge about whether it will suffer the same
stagnation and deflation of Japan’s lost decade. For years now, the
answer of “not likely” seemed right and was right. Though America and
Japan share occasional similarities, the differences were always more
pronounced. In this latest, more difficult time, that same conclusion
still seems right, but there are more similarities now than in the past.
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) today announced the creation of
100 new, full-time jobs to support the development of its revolutionary
DOW(TM) POWERHOUSE(TM) Solar Shingles at its facility in Midland,
Michigan.
The
Fraunhofer research organization is concerned about the world’s fresh
water supply. According to the statistics put forth by groups
like the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century, that
concern is justified – over 450 million people worldwide
currently face severe water shortages, and as much as two thirds
of the world’s population could be “water-stressed” by 2025.
Likewise, a study by the UN has predicted that water is due to
become more strategically important than petroleum; in other
words, wars could be fought over it.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of the U.S. State of California
launched a new clean energy jobs website on Thursday, the first of its
kind in the nation.
Regulators probing the stock market "flash crash" last May still have
not uncovered a single cause but will point to "stub quotes" and other
previously identified issues as having exacerbated the market's dramatic
drop, according to two sources familiar with the probe.
Follow the epic journey of an intrepid bag as it travels hundreds
of miles to join the thriving community of plastic known as the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This spoof is produced by
Heal the Bay
and narrated by actor Jeremy Irons in support of a bill to ban
single-use plastic bags in California.
Noticeably absent from President Obama's latest economic-stimulus
package are any further attempts to create jobs through "green" energy
projects, reflecting a year in which the administration's original,
loudly trumpeted efforts proved largely unfruitful.
The key to averting a global food crisis may simply be a matter
of storing more water, according to a
new report released yesterday at
World Water Week in
Stockholm.
Earthy or musty odors, along with visual
evidence of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, may
serve as a warning that harmful cyanotoxins are present in lakes
or reservoirs.
Conversion projects could be anything from lawn mowers, farm
equipment, family cars, to high performance dragsters. It is evident
that any of these applications would require an individual design
approach using different sets of components. Because of the
diversity of personal interests in hydrogen conversions, we have offered
conversion courses in the past which explored all the pertinent subjects
and addressed specific application questions.
Jordan and the US are closing in on a nuclear cooperation
agreement (NCA) with a deal expected "within months", according to a
senior government official.
A gas-to-energy plant at the Reichs Ford Road landfill will be a
moneymaker for Frederick County, according to officials.
But the success stories come with concerns that the boost in
weatherization funding comes amid an expected drop in federal block
grant funds that allow poor people to keep the heat and lights on as
winter approaches.
According to the Pentagon, improvised explosive
devices, or IEDs, are the number one killer and threat to troops
in Afghanistan. Now a new tool that shoots a blade of water
capable of penetrating steel is headed to U.S. troops in
Afghanistan to help them disable these deadly devices.
From nuclear weapons to wind turbines, the
Energy Department has a singular focus: security. Much of the
department's investment centers on the research and development
necessary to reduce the nation's dependence on petroleum, which is
inherent in improving economic stability. But most of its budget,
however, remains firmly committed to securing the nation's nuclear
stockpile and vulnerable nuclear material around the world, as well
as cleaning up the radioactive waste that is the legacy of Cold War
nuclear programs.
You probably buy organic food because you believe it’s better for
your health and the environment but you also may have heard criticism
that “organic cannot feed the world.”
Biotech and chemical companies have spent billions of dollars trying
to make us think that synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) are necessary to feed a growing population.
But science indicates otherwise.
A research project at Glasgow Caledonian
University is currently taking a close look at why a certain
piece of music evokes a particular emotive response. It is hoped
that the research may lead to music being used to bring folks
out of a depression or even help with pain management.
A slight chance for C-class activity is
possible from Region 1106 (S19E44) for the next three days (14 - 16
September).The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet levels for days one and two (14 - 15
September). Quiet to unsettled conditions, with isolated high
latitude active periods, are possible on day three (16 September)
due to the combined effects from the 11 September CME and a weak
coronal hole high speed stream.
...besides exposing the atrocities lurking in
Obamacare, a world-renowned medical panel also will provide you
with immediate steps you and your family should take with your
doctor and lifestyle to help prepare for the future.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has
spent 15 years remaking the stock market into 11 competing
exchanges and hundreds of computer-driven traders. In the
process it has virtually eliminated the traditional market
makers who bought and sold stocks when no one else would.
The explosion took place during the venting of hydrogen gas,
spokesman Roger Hannah said. It was in a non-regulated area of
operation, meaning outside the handling of yellow-cake uranium, which
the plant processes into uranium hexafluoride -- which is then sent to
facilities around the world for enriching as a nuclear fuel.
Participants at the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm urged the
High Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs
to fully recognise and act upon the fundamental roles of water
resources, drinking water, sanitation and water for all.
There is nothing wasteful about the green waste from the severe
thunderstorm that struck Yuma.
Since the storm, area residents have been bringing their uprooted
trees, broken branches and other plant debris left behind by the storm
to a collection site set up by the city.
For many scientists who know about such things,
the question isn’t whether the first person to live forever has
been born, but how old they are. The basis for this belief is
that, if a person can survive the next 20 or 30 years, then
breakthroughs in biotechnology will easily allow them to extend
their lifespan – not to mention their quality of life – to 125
years.
Money won't make you happy, or at least, not as happy as you
might think. A study by Princeton University researchers has shown that
the link between earning more money and day-to-day happiness is a
tenuous one – and extra dollars in your pocket doesn't necessarily
translate to spending more time doing the things you enjoy.
Aluminum can recycling has reached 57.4% in the U.S. last year,
according to several trade groups working to increase landfill diversion
of the containers.
The United States would be the loser if it
touched off a trade war by labeling China a currency manipulator
or imposed import duties to offset perceived undervaluation of
the yuan, a government researcher said on Tuesday.
The United States reiterated on Friday that it was committed to
cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 even though the Senate has
failed to pass legislation.
Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical
engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more
than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas
that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller
and more powerful solar arrays.
Just over two months ago when I joined with the League of American
Voters in a national campaign to have the Bush tax cuts fully renewed,
things looked rather bleak.
President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid insisted they would not fully renew these tax
cuts, and promised to jack up taxes on the "wealthy" and cut out many
tax credits that even help working families.
How times change!
The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is on
track for a record increase on President Barack Obama's watch,
with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that
led to the national war on poverty.
Four of California's utilities want preapproval to bill their
customers for wildfire expenses that exceed the utilities' insurance
coverage, according to their joint application to the California
Public Utilities Commission.
No business can exist without fresh water
Parallel to the public sectors' increased application of business
models in water resource management, businesses are realising that
the availability of their financial, human and material resources is
threatened by unsustainable use of water, posing a high risk for
water-dependent industries.
Debates have long been waged over whether erupting and shaking in the
area over the last few millions of years — and a track marked out by a
chain of volcanic calderas along the Yellowstone Snake River Plain in
Idaho — could be the work of a column of hot rock rising up from deep
within the Earth's mantle. The mantle is the layer of hot, viscous rock
beneath the planet's crust.
September 10, 2010
The state claimed Thursday that the Interior
Department illegally halted offshore drilling in Artic waters,
even though the department said there's no such moratorium in
place.
Why have the numbers of autism diagnoses ballooned in
recent decades? Researchers have long claimed that changes to the way
the condition is diagnosed are the main cause. But now a series of a
studies have shown that diagnostic changes alone cannot account for the
increase. They suggest that other causes, perhaps environmental factors,
are also contributing to the rise in cases.
NPR just did a great piece on
spare the air days and in it they link spare the air
days with an increase in likelihood of an asthma attack in
kids. So why not combat asthma by
going solar?
The Bank of Canada today announced that it is
raising its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one
percentage point to 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 1/4
per cent and the deposit rate is 3/4 per cent.
No single factor but "a sequence of failures
involving a number of different parties" caused the explosion
and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig leased by BP in
the Gulf of Mexico, the company said in a new report issued
today.
In an internal report released Wednesday, BP
blames itself, other companies' workers and a complex series of
failures for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the
drilling rig explosion that preceded it.
A new low-cost etching technique developed at the U.S. Department
of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory can put a trillion
holes in a silicon wafer the size of a compact disc.
China has succeeded the US as the most attractive location in
which to invest in renewable energy projects, according to Ernst &
Young's latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Wednesday urged West Virginians not to
fear the Obama administration's energy policies and to embrace carbon
capture and storage technology as the way to continue burning coal while
fighting global warming.
A power plant in Russell County is among two in Virginia causing
water quality problems from the storage of coal ash, according to a
study released this week by three environmentalist organizations.
Areas of the United States with the highest concentration of coal
plants bear a disproportionate share of negative public health impacts,
a report says.
There was a time in the South when
planting kudzu was not viewed as botanical vandalism, but as a
community-spirited gesture. The vine, imported from Asia, was
intended to control erosion and provide forage for livestock.
Some things just don't work out.
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than
expected last week to a two-month low, while the trade deficit
narrowed sharply in July, hopeful signs for the stuttering
economic recovery.
The chance that Israel will launch a pre-emptive attack on
Iran's rogue nuclear-weapons facilities is now 50-50 and appears
to be rising steadily, says Middle East expert and award-winning
journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave.
While a variety of styles were on display at
this year’s
Eurobike show, commuting ebikes were by far the most common. An electric
drive makes sense on a commuter – you still get some exercise
and don’t have to register it as a scooter, yet you also don’t
arrive at your destination all hot and sweaty.
We have seen a marriage of the energy efficiency and solar energy
industries as the US has worked to green its buildings. In fact, some
financing programs require that all cost-effective efficiency be pursued
before solar panels are installed.
There was the sun and the wind -- and now comes the power of water.
If the promise of this fledgling energy technology holds true, it could
eventually be as affordable and viable as fossil fuel and nuclear power.
In an address to the 17th regular session of the
Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson announced cleaning up e-waste as one
of the EPA's six international priorities.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has issued
voluntary information requests to nine natural gas service
companies regarding the process known as hydraulic fracturing.
Concerned about the health and environmental
dangers of coal ash dumps, hundreds of residents from four
states packed a U.S. EPA hearing in Dallas Wednesday, urging the
agency to adopt the stronger of two plans to regulate the waste
from coal-fired power plants.
Is the global economy out of the woods?
Two years after near-meltdown, with the U.S. looking sluggish,
equity markets groggy and Europeans fighting a debt crisis,
experts gathered in Italy offered a generally gloomy outlook —
especially for the United States and much of the industrialized
world.
You may have read that eating more
omega-3 fatty acids doesn’t help heart patients. You absolutely
will not believe what the researchers did to arrive at this
result.
For centuries science has made our world a
better place. But recently, organized interests are attempting
to turn science, especially climate science, into a political
football. Those who seek to delay desperately needed action to
reduce global warming pollution have manufactured controversies
and misrepresented the facts. Why?
Coming to you soon—and you probably won’t
know that you’re eating it.
Genetically modified salmon—the first GMO animal
for human consumption—is reaching the final stages in its approval.
Most terrifying: they might not have to tell us if our fish is GM or
not!
As worldwide population increases by 40 percent
over the next 40 years, sparsely populated Canada, Scandinavia,
Russia and the northern United States will become formidable
economic powers and migration magnets...
Nearly half of all Americans who claimed the
first-time homebuyer tax credit on their 2009 tax returns will
have to repay the government.
Hybrid vehicles certainly cut air pollution, but they don´t cut consumer
costs, according to CarGurus, which describes itself as an online
automotive community.
A coal-fired ethanol plant in Iowa will be converted to burn biomass
feedstock thanks to a government grant.
Jordan and Japan will sign a long-awaited nuclear cooperation
agreement (NCA) this weekend, paving the way for expertise exchange and
technology transfer, according to the Kingdom's atomic energy
commission.
Nearly all models
predict La Niña to continue at least through early 2011 .
However, the models continue to disagree on the eventual
strength of La Niña. Based on current observations and model
guidance, we expect the SST anomalies in the Niño-3.4 region to
either persist near the present strength, or to strengthen into
the winter as is consistent with the historical evolution of La
Niña.
...according to a report from a team of
astrophysicists based in Australia and England, that could be
exactly what happens in different parts of the universe. The
report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants
of Nature appears not to be constant after all.
About 2,500 leading water experts are convening
in Stockholm for the 20th annual World Water Week, which opened
this morning with calls for better facilitated efforts
addressing escalating global water challenges.
The use of salt to deice pavement can leave urban streams toxic
to aquatic life, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study on
the influence of winter runoff in northern U.S. cities, with a
special focus on eastern Wisconsin and Milwaukee.
Describing a situation of escalating violence, Sen. John
McCain of Arizona invited President Barack Obama to visit the
U.S. border with Mexico to see for himself how much the security
situation has deteriorated.
Using the same technology that allowed them to accurately
detect the brain signals controlling arm movements that we looked at
last year, researchers at the University of Utah have gone one
step further, translating brain signals into words.
Everyone knows all good movies need a villain and despite a few
quiet voices not-so-helpfully reminding us that accidents happen
and we should remain stoic in the throes of fate, Americans
crave the simplicity and uncomplicated drama of the white
hat/black hat narrative.
OPEC said September 9 global demand for oil could weaken over the
remainder of this year as government stimulus packages are wound down,
noting that the slowing economic recovery was already hitting growth in
oil consumption.
World demand for OPEC's oil will be lower than expected this
year and next due to a slowing economic recovery and higher
supplies from non-member countries, the group said on Thursday.
The monthly Platts survey pegged total output from OPEC’s 12 members
at 29.11 million b/d in August. OPEC’s own estimate, derived from
secondary sources, is 29.147 million b/d. Both the Platts and OPEC
estimates represent drops from July, when the Platts number was 29.22
million b/d and that of OPEC 29.19 million b/d.
Hungry
microbes feasting on spilled BP oil caused a drop in oxygen levels in
the Gulf of Mexico, but did not create a marine "dead zone" near the
wellhead, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday.
The amount of oxygen decreased by 20 percent from the long-term
average in areas where oil from the broken BP Macondo wellhead was
detected by government and independent observers
Leaders of Pacific Island States along with
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a coalition of non-profit,
intergovernmental and academic institutions will call for collaborated
action on ocean threats across the Pacific on Wednesday September 8th in
San Francisco, California (USA).
In support of the Energy and Climate Partnership
of the Americas (ECPA), the Department of State will provide $1
million to fund Peace Corps volunteer efforts that increase
rural access to energy, mitigate the effects of climate change,
and support the use of renewable energy and energy efficient
technologies in Central and South American communities.
The apocalpytic End Times theology of Iran’s leaders and their
feverish pursuit of nuclear weapons — not the Palestinian
people – pose an existential threat to the State of Israel
Some local officials are feeling better about planning for renewable
energy projects that could pop up in federal waters south of the Cape
and Islands.
Solar activity is expected to be very low for the next three days (10-12 September). The geomagnetic field has been quiet to unsettled. Solar wind velocities, as measured at the ACE spacecraft, indicated a solar
wind speed enhancement to around 450 km/s during the period. Quiet to unsettled conditions, with a slight chance for an isolated active period, is expected for day three (12 September), as a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream becomes geoeffective..
One of the problems with harvesting sunlight and
converting it into stored energy is that the sun’s rays can be
highly destructive to many materials, leading to a gradual
degradation of many systems developed to do just that. Once
again, researchers have turned to nature for a solution.
Even if the U.S. and European economies manage to avoid a
double dip, it will still feel like a recession, while more than
half of the 800-plus U.S. banks on the "critical list" are
likely to go bust, economist Nouriel Roubini warns.
The ranks of food resisters are now expanding rapidly. Driven by
increasingly harsh crackdowns by local and federal agencies on
small producers and distributors of unpasteurized (raw) milk and
other nutrient-dense foods, growing numbers of individuals
involved in this part of the food chain are publicly refusing to
abide by government edicts and shutdown orders.
Are megabucks of drug company advertising
buying major media silence about shoddy practices?
Experts at the World Water Week in Stockholm
discussed today means to address water pollution and its effect
on ecosystems by finding the source of pollution "upstream."
Australian environmental groups are rejoicing as
the new head of Tasmanian timber company Gunns Limited announced
the company will move away from logging native forests and
develop plantation-based products.
The 11th annual Sustainable Living
Fair is a solution-driven, hands-on, family- oriented event
designed to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about:
renewable energy, alternative transportation, sustainable
agriculture, green building, natural health, environmental &
social responsibility, local economies and more.
It’s no secret that as gas prices soar and
battery technology evolves, electric bikes are fast becoming the
next big two-wheeled thing. That trend is clearly evidenced by
the strong showing ebikes are making at this year’s Eurobike
trade show...
At its cruising speed of 30-50 km/h (19-31 mph),
that range extends to 160-200 kilometers (99-124 miles).
The worst wildfire in Boulder County history is
blazing uncontrolled in rugged, steep terrain west and northwest
of the Boulder City limits.
A bright spot in the nation's flickering economy is that
Americans used less energy last year than in 2008, according to
the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which recently
published its findings online.
The Obama administration is changing the federal immigration
enforcement strategy in ways that reduce the threat of deportation
for millions of illegal immigrants, even as states such as
Arizona,
Colorado, Virginia, Ohio and
Texas are pushing to accelerate deportations.
The Fed’s Beige Book report, compiled
using data collected on or before August 30 in preparation for
the September 21 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting,
characterized U.S. economic activity as continuing to grow but
with “widespread signs of deceleration.”
I thought now might be a good time to put up a
few graphs regarding US electricity generation, showing where we
are now. Most of the graphs are summaries of data from the
Energy Information Administration website, either from the
renewables section, or the electricity section.
S.F. To Recycle H2O:
The San Francisco
Chronicle
reports that San Francisco water
officials will today unveil a plan to build the city´s first large-scale
water recycling facility.
Waste and recycling collection continues to fight an image as being
among the dirtiest jobs in America. Even more significantly, it has
historically been one of the unsafest jobs.
But that's been changing fairly consistently, and the industry
deserves a lot of credit for making it happen.
What would happen if cars, trucks, power plants and factories
that now give off climate-warming carbon dioxide were allowed to die
after their expected lifespans, and no new ones were built?
Anyone who wants to follow the renewable versus traditional
energy debate needs to know what we mean when we say "watt."
Here, then, is a brief crash course in energy lingo.
The Obama administration's emphasis on clean energy and the fight
in Congress over energy legislation is creating some tension among
certain sectors, including the natural gas and wind power
industries.
September 7, 2010
There's nothing like a good salmonella outbreak
to inspire FDA inspectors to deliver blunt, graphic reports from
inside the industrial food system.
Drought has cut Peru's Amazon River to its lowest level in 40
years and it is already below the minimum set in 2005, when a
devastating dry spell damaged vast swaths of South American
rainforest in the worst drought in decades.
A perfect storm of economic reversals, including Friday's
news that August unemployment rose to 9.6 percent, has pushed
Democrats to the brink of losing both the Senate and the House
in the midterm elections, leading political analysts say.
It's been almost a year since TVA executives and Roane County
mayors stood on the courthouse steps to announce a huge payment.
"We basically have secured this well," retired Coast Guard
Admiral Thad Allen said. "We have essentially eliminated the
threat of discharge from the well at this point."
Under the direction of the federal science team
and U.S. government engineers, BP has lifted the damaged blowout
preventer from its position atop the cemented Deepwater Horizon
well in the Gulf of Mexico and replaced it with a fully
functioning and tested blowout preventer.
China plans to boost its installed hydroelectric power capacity
to 300 million kW by 2015 from the current 200 million in an effort
to cut carbon dioxide emissions, according to wire reports.
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to revise a Bush administration recovery plan
for the threatened northern spotted owl, and the agency said
today it intends to release a draft of the revision next week.
Increasingly erratic rainfall patterns related to climate change
pose a major threat to food security and economic growth, water
experts said on Monday, arguing for greater investment in water
storage.
EMP is shorthand for Electro Magnetic Pulse.
It is a rather unusual and frightening by-product when a
nuclear bomb is detonated above the earth’s atmosphere.
We all know that our atmosphere and the magnetic field which
surrounds our planet is a thin layer which not only keeps us alive,
but also protects us from dangerous radiation from the sun.
On a fairly regular basis there are huge solar storms on the
sun’s surface which emit powerful jets of deadly radiation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will roll out more
regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help
fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action
by Congress, a senior administration official said.
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and
will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason
there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why
we exist," Hawking writes.
Designed in the shape of a traditional long house, the
First Peoples
House is a source of pride and a focal point for Native students
and staff. It is a sign of the University of Victoria’s progressive
approach – the most advanced in Canada – to fostering indigenous
programs and encouraging Native students, indigenous teaching and
research.
Kamakura index of troubled public companies deteriorated
slightly in August, rising 0.22% to 9.85%. The reversal was
rare, in that the index has improved in 13 of the past 16
months. Kamakura’s index had reached a recent peak of 24.3% in
March, 2009.
The case alleges violations of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and
the Administrative Procedure Act.
Legislation outlawing ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the
European Union has produced an unexpected wave of panicked buying as the
ban takes effect.
Greg Kimber knows his U.S. senators care about the environment,
but he's upset that they haven't done more to pass a comprehensive
energy measure addressing climate change and curbing greenhouse gas
emissions.
For decades, the Mississippi River has been a key passageway for
barges and other vessels that move millions of tons of coal and
petroleum to help power the nation's economy.
These days, developers are looking to the river itself as a power
source.
A report issued today by key environmental and scientific federal
agencies assesses the increasing prevalence of low-oxygen "dead
zones" in U.S. coastal waters and outlines a series of research and
policy steps that could help reverse the decades-long trend.
Rep. Barney Frank appeared on “The
Tonight Show” Tuesday night and, among other issues, strongly
reiterated his support for reforming our failed marijuana laws. Jay Leno
countered that “Smoking marijuana is essentially legal now. You can get
it anywhere, and if you get caught, it’s the most minimum
[consequences]…”
A “dangerous” court ruling holds that government agents can sneak
onto your property, attach a tracking device to your car, and monitor
your every move — without a warrant.
...the Pakistan Christian
Congress says the afflicted Punjab region is a “hotbed” of
Islamic extremist organizations that view Christians as
infidels, and local officials who fear the extremists have been
barring Christians from tent camps set up for flood victims.
Alberto
Pizango, leader of 350,000 Amazon Natives, faces accusations in Peru
ranging from rebellion to homicide, and said tribal chiefs across
the rainforest will create a party to help protect traditions,
dignity and above all, rights to millions of acres of forest
increasingly targeted by oil, gas, lumber and gold extraction
groups.
The issue of “anchor babies” — children who automatically become
citizens upon their birth to illegal aliens in the United States — has
become a hot topic as their numbers continue to soar.
Specifically, the Gulf is an oceanic hostage to a
terrestrial threat that dominates the “heartland” of the Lower
Forty-eight: modern industrialized agriculture. And if ever there was an
ecological wolf in sheep’s clothing, this is it: “conventional” farms
throughout the vast Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio basin produce nitrogen and
phosphorus runoff on a massive scale that creates a Gulf “dead zone”
depleted of oxygen and inimical to aquatic life.
Outfitting a house with solar power panels might cost you
$40,000.
But it won't raise your tax bill a dime, Property Appraiser Jim
Overton is telling Duval County homeowners.
Fluoride avoidance reduced anemia in pregnant
women, decreased pre-term births and enhanced babies'
birth-weight, concludes leading fluoride expert...
One fateful day back in 1984, I read an article in Popular
Science entitled “Pedal-power slingshot.” It was about a vehicle
called the Cyclodyne, which was a recumbent human-powered
tricycle enclosed in a full polyester-and-epoxy streamlined
shell. The writer claimed that he had easily got the thing up to
30 mph (48 km/h), and that it was designed to reach 53 mph (85
km/h) on flat ground.
The U.N. climate panel should make predictions only when it has
solid evidence and should avoid policy advocacy, scientists said in
a report on Monday that called for thorough reform of the body.
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the planned mosque near New
York’s ground zero comes the disclosure that American taxpayers are
funding the construction and renovation of mosques around the world.
With a surge of renewable energy projects in the pipeline,
Hawaii's electric utilities are working overtime to modernize their
generation systems that for decades have relied on traditional
oil-fired power plants.
A woman in Tacoma, Washington who apparently died of poison on
April 1 may have been killed by hemlock after gathering the
leafy green weed and using it on a salad.
Her death was no isolated incident, say weed experts.
Although not much that is newsworthy usually happens at the
annual Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo.,
something did come out of the recent summit that is worth
contemplating.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke essentially said that he
will do whatever it takes to keep the economy from declining.
Since the main power Mr. Bernanke has is to print money,...
September 3, 2010
12 Most Toxic Fish (For Humans and the Planet)
Here's Food & Water Watch's "dirty dozen" list of seafood
that failed to meet at least two of the group's criteria. For
more details, plus a list of alternatives for each verboten
species, check out the
guide. In no particular order:
All-electric Ford Focus to use liquid
cooled/heated lithium-ion battery system
One of the downsides of the lithium-ion battery systems used
in
electric vehicles is that their performance, reliability,
safety and durability can be negatively affected by extreme
temperatures. When the all-new Ford Focus Electric debuts later
this year in the U.S. it will be powered by a lithium-ion
battery � no news there. What is interesting, however, is that
the battery system will use cooled and heated liquid to regulate
battery temperature, which should extend battery life and
maximize driving range.
Another Oil Platform Explodes in Gulf of Mexico
n explosion ripped through an offshore oil
platform in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of central
Louisiana at about 9:19 this morning CDT, throwing 13
crewmembers into the water.
APS Seeks Solar Installers for Small Solar
Projects
With a goal of helping Arizona move toward a cleaner energy
future, Arizona Public Service Co. has issued a request for proposal
that seeks solar electric systems for five high-profile government
and non-profit organizations. Each location, which requires its own
individual proposal, will be fitted with a 10- to 30-kilowatt
photovoltaic system.
BP's Internal Probe Faults Its Own Engineers: Report
BP Plc's internal probe of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has
placed some of the blame on mistakes by its engineers while
finishing the deep sea oil well, Bloomberg reported, citing a person
familiar with the report.
Total of 70 Problem Sites
Identified by Groups Since February Is
Over and Above the 67
EPA-Acknowledged Sites
Dems Unlikely to Repeal Bush Tax Cuts
Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 expire at the end of this
year. President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional
leaders have been eager to extend the breaks for individuals who
earn less than $200,000 annually and joint filers who make less
than $250,000. Those who earn more would pay higher, pre-2001
rates starting next year.
Duke might retire old coal plants
Duke Energy said today it might close seven coal-fired units at
its Carolinas power plants within five years as environmental
regulations intensify.
Eco-activists, regional groups joining forces over fly ash
Environmental activists and groups in the region are joining
forces in their push for federal regulation on the disposal of fly
ash, the byproduct of coal-burning power plants.
Feds hear 2 sides of coal ash debate
Environmental activists urged the federal government Monday to regulate
toxic ash from coal-fired power plants as hazardous waste, arguing that
federal standards are necessary because the states have done a poor job
of regulating coal-ash disposal.
Fuel Tanker Runs Aground In Canadian Arctic
A fuel tanker loaded with 9 million liters (2.4 million gallons)
of diesel fuel has run aground in Canada's Far North but none of the
fuel has spilled, the Canadian Coast Guard said on Thursday.
Geothermal power gaining attention
The heat in the upper six miles of Earth's crust contains many
times the energy found in all the world's oil and gas reserves
combined, experts say.
Despite the abundance, researchers say, only 10,700 megawatts of
geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed
worldwide, Inter Press Service reported.
Geothermal: Getting Energy from the Earth
The heat in the upper six miles of the earth�s crust contains 50,000
times as much energy as found in all the world's oil and gas reserves
combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal
electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide.
'Hunger, Homelessness and Desperation' in Pakistan
"There is a triple threat unfolding as this crisis widens and
deepens," said Sheeran. "People have lost seeds, crops and their incomes
leaving them vulnerable to hunger, homelessness and desperation - the
situation is extremely critical. We urgently need continued and
strengthened commitment to the people of Pakistan in this time of
crisis."
Hydrogen cars to roll into state in November
General Motors said yesterday it will bring 20 hydrogen-powered
vehicles to Hawaii later this year as part of a partnership with the
Gas Co. to grow the state's green-energy automobile market.
Iraq to spend $13B on U.S. arms, equipment
Iraq is preparing to buy as much as $13 billion
in American arms and military equipment, a huge order of tanks,
ships and hardware that U.S. officials say shows Iraqi-U.S.
military ties will be tight for years to come.
Is the Tea Party Becoming the New Grand Old
Party?
Tea Party Victories Force GOP to Revamp
The grass-roots network of fed-up conservative-libertarian
displayed its power in its biggest triumph of the election year:
the toppling of Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska's GOP primary.
Political novice Joe Miller is the fifth tea party insurgent to
win a GOP Senate nominating contest, an upset that few, if any,
saw coming.
Making Waves with Tidal Energy
The first-ever federal license to proceed with a
utility-scale tidal energy project in this country has been
issued in Oregon. After an extensive permitting process,
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given
the thumbs up to Ocean Power Technologies.
Marine Animals Suggest Evidence for a Trans-Antarctic
Seaway
This new finding, published this month in the
journal Global Change Biology, leads the science team to
conclude that these animals could have spread across both seas
only by means of a trans-Antarctic seaway through what is now a
2 km solid layer of ice.
Modest Inflation Expectations Allow US Mortgage Rates
to Once Again Set New Record Lows
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.32 percent with an
average 0.7 point for the week ending September 2, 2010, down from
last week when it averaged 4.36 percent. Last year at this time, the
30-year FRM averaged 5.08 percent.
As their name suggests, most existing water purifying filters
clean the water by physically trapping or filtering out bacteria.
Stanford researchers have now developed a new kind of water
purifying filter that isn't really a filter at all. Instead of
trapping bacteria, the new filter actually lets them pass right
through.
New Lab Results Raise Questions About Gulf Seafood's Safety
In the wake of the massive oil spill, is seafood from
the Gulf of Mexico safe to eat? The government says yes, but
a Boston lab says its findings cast doubt on that assertion.
Next steps in your renewable energy training
Do you have previous solar energy training? Have
you ever wondered how your solar skills fit into the bigger
picture of building energy and design, or even beyond borders in
the developing world? Solar Energy International has the
answer...
No 'teachable moment' after Obama meets with
Bloomberg
When word came that President Barack Obama was
going to have an impromptu meeting with Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Aug. 27, many in Indian country were hopeful. Hopeful that a
president who has sometimes made it his business to call
attention to issues tinged by race, religion, and other 'hot
button' forces would talk to the New York City leader about a
racially-charged comment he had recently made involving Native
Americans.
Offshore Oil Platform Explodes in Gulf of Mexico,
But No Leak Found
An explosion on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico early
today ignited a fire that caused workers to evacuate into the water, but
the U.S. Coast Guard said that all the workers survived and there are no
oil leaks reported near the platform.
Perry: Texas an energy state
Texas is a great place, just ask Gov. Rick Perry.
The air in Texas is cleaner than it was a decade ago and the
state may one day lead the nation in the production of jobs, he
said.
Poll: Ariz. Voters Favor Immigration
Enforcement
The survey conducted on behalf of Arizona State
University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy found
81 percent of voters approved of requiring people to
show documents indicating they're in the country
legally.
Research in Practice
You can't miss it -- 213 solar panels and a battery the size of a
tractor trailer sit alongside one of Duke Energy's electric substations
on Charlotte, North Carolina's Highway 51.
And that is intentional,...
Researchers unveil prototype implantable
artificial kidney to replace dialysis
End-stage renal disease, or chronic kidney
failure, affects more than 500,000 people per year in the U.S.
alone, and currently is only fully treated with a kidney
transplant.
Residents express concern over wind turbines
Talk early, talk often. That was the message during Tuesday's
public meeting in Melrose to discuss the findings and
recommendations of a joint land use study.
Rooftop CSP: Greening the cities
Green building certification is gaining traction in many countries as
a means of energy management.
Santa Cruz Mountains lures cash for trapping carbon
PGandE is handing over tens of thousands of dollars to the nonprofit
Sempervirens Fund to protect a 425-acre stand of redwoods once slated
for logging deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Senator asks EPA to hold coal ash hearing in
Tenn.
"The Kingston spill dumped 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash in Roane
County and may cost TVA ratepayers as much as $1.2 billion in cleanup
costs. Having hearings on coal ash without asking Tennesseans what they
think would be like having hearings on Katrina without asking people in
New Orleans what they think or on the oil spill without asking people
who live on the Gulf what they think," said Alexander.
Sheriff: Mexican Cartels Control Parts of Arizona
The federal government has posted signs along a major
interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the
U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because
of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican
drug cartels now control some parts of the state.
State Department official says U.S. shale-gas
boom has 'transformed global energy markets'
A senior State Department official said Tuesday that the U.S.
boom in producing natural gas from shale rock formations could pave
the way for other countries to expand development that allows
displacement of carbon-heavy coal.
Strategist: Sovereign Debt Worries Will Last 10
Years
'There are significant long-term risks from high levels of
public debt sector debt. In particular, there are potential
funding problems, crowding out effects and sovereign debt rating
concerns for a decade to come,' he said on CNBC.
Student researchers at MIT develop
small scale CSP plant
In a bid to bring affordable energy solutions to off-the-grid areas of the
world,
student researchers at MIT have
developed a small scale CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) system that can generate
up to 5KW of green power.
The Environmentalist's Paradox
The signs are all around. Many places in the world show degradation of
the air, water, and soil. Species becoming extinct as natural habitats
are being destroyed. The emissions of greenhouse gases that can alter
the planet's climate are unacceptable. All the environmental issues put
together amount to a very serious threat to human welfare. Yet at the
same time, all accepted measures of well-being show that, on average,
quality of life is improving around the globe. How does an
environmentalist call society into action under such conditions?
The Facts About Wind Energy and Emissions
Recent data and analyses have made it clear that the emissions savings
from adding wind energy to the grid are even larger than had been
commonly thought. In addition to each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of wind energy
directly offsetting a kWh that would have been produced by a
fossil-fired power plant, new analyses show that wind plants further
reduce emissions by forcing the most polluting and inflexible power
plants offline and causing them to be replaced by more efficient and
flexible types of generation.
Top Climate Skeptic Reverses Course, Now Urges Bold
Action
No matter what they think of his views, nobody
denies that Bj'rn Lomborg has shaken the environmental movement
to its core."
U.S. Climate Bill Is Dead While So Much Life on Our Earth Continues
to Perish
Imagine you live in New York City, and one fine morning you
awake to the realization that 90 percent of all the buildings
that were more than five stories tall have been destroyed. You
will hardly have the words to talk about this devastation, but
I'm sure you will walk around the rubble to make sense of it
all.
U.S. Proposes Grading Cars On Emissions, Efficiency
Gasoline misers like the Toyota Prius would get an 'A-' while
muscle cars -- including the Ferrari 612 -- would get a 'D' under a
labeling program proposed by Obama administration, which wants to
convince consumers to buy vehicles that use less energy.
U.S. Test Shows Water Problem Near Natgas Drill
Site
U.S. government officials urged residents of a Wyoming farming
community near natural gas drilling sites not to use private well
water for drinking or cooking because of chemical contamination.
US Manufacturing Sector Growth Unexpectedly Picked Up
in August
The ISM manufacturing index
indicated that the sector grew for the thirteenth-consecutive
month, and the pace of expansion unexpectedly increased as shown
by the index rising to 56.3 in August from 55.5 in July (a
reading above 50 indicates the sector is generally expanding).
Warmer Temperatures In China To Reduce Crop Yields
With the climate set to get warmer from greenhouse gases, Chinese
scientists predicted on Thursday that freshwater for agriculture
will shrink further in China, reducing crop yields in the years
ahead.
Where is America's outrage?
When New York Mayor Bloomberg
asked Gov. Patterson to act like a cowboy to shut down the Seneca
tobacco industry, little was heard from mainstream America to
condemn such an outrageous statement.
Why Conservatives Are Bad on Energy
Conservatives, let's talk about energy. And why so many conservatives
are so wrong -- so liberal, even -- on wind and solar energy.
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