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March
30, 2011
Remember:
Walking on
unpredictable and uneven surfaces can improve balance and help reduce
risk of falling.
This is an unexpected edition with some gaps in coverage.
We have published ahead of our normal publishing time because we
wanted to give you the opportunity to participate in an event
that is scheduled to happen on Thursday, the 31st.
*****
Hoping this reaches you in time. It just came.
March 31, 12:00 noon in each time zone,
Dr. Masaru Emoto, water scientist of Japan, is asking
you
to meditate and pray for water.
He understands
that water has a consciousness
and can be helped when it is
in trouble.
Let us form a great mass consciousness for
helping the water.
WE CAN HELP.
Dr. Emoto asks you to say the following
phrase:
"The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant,
we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank
you, and we love you."
With your hands together in
prayer, he asks you to repeat the phrase three times, either
saying it aloud or in your mind.
http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/hado_commentary110324.html
has a photograph of poisoned water and a photograph of a pure
water crystal after it has been given Love.
(Remember much of his works are found in
ArizonaEnergy.org's "Water Energy, please check these articles
for reference.)
As a reminder, the Pacific Ocean not
only has radiation in it
because of the March 11 earthquake,
but it also has other poisons
in it because of the tsunami
that pulled wreckage into the water.
At 12 noon, when you
are giving Love to the water, please also think
about Love
removing the other poisons.
Peace, Love, and Light,
Anne Beaumond
*****
Trump said he is asking for Obama to make his birth certificate
public, though he was not suggesting he believes the President
was born outside of the country.
U.S. researchers say they've developed a battery that can generate
electricity from the difference in salinity between fresh water and
seawater.
The bill that would take the state's sole coal-fired plant offline by
2025 continued its path to the House floor for finalization Monday
morning.
Food prices are rising, and food companies are concealing
price increases by selling smaller amounts for the same amount
of money.
Consumers themselves are noticing they're buying less food for
the same prices.
Highly contaminated water is escaping a damaged reactor at the
crippled nuclear power plant in Japan and could soon leak into
the ocean, the country’s nuclear regulator warned yesterday.
(SEE ABOVE REASON FOR OUR EARLIER EDITION OF NEWSLETTER.)
American foreign aid appropriations have escalated from about
$20 billion in 2000 to $50 billion today. Almost every single
nation on earth gets our foreign aid.
The U.S. EPA has agreed to grant a petitionfiled by a trio of
NGOs to withdraw the agency’s approval to use the super
greenhouse gas HFC-134a for air conditioning installed in new
automobiles.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently released a study
which indicates that levels of naturally occurring arsenic and
uranium exceed drinking water standards in some private drinking
water wells in central and northeastern Massachusetts.
One of the take-home messages of Solar Tech’s
report on
why we’re not marketing solar well is that we're failing to
convey that solar is now affordable. Only 11% of the
survey's respondents believed solar to be affordable, while 82%
perceived solar as expensive.
Europe burns heaps of garbage, getting lots of electricity and some
heat. The United States does not. Proponents say incineration shrinks
the waste and produces heat and electricity while reducing the need for
landfills and the diesel-drinking trucks tasked with taking trash to
often-distant burial grounds.
Toxic air pollutants from power plants—mercury, lead,
arsenic, and others—are linked to health problems such as
cancer, heart disease, neurological damage, birth defects,
asthma attacks, and even premature death. Mercury, for example,
is a potent neurotoxin that poses a threat to fetal and infant
brain development. And coal plants are far and away the greatest
source of mercury air emissions in the United States.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry Wednesday insisted that it was on track to
achieve a crude oil production target of 6.5 million b/d by 2014, and
disputed a recent IMF report suggesting a lower output rise because of
infrastructure challenges.
Japan's leader insisted Tuesday that the country was on "maximum
alert" to bring its nuclear crisis under control, but the spread of
radiation raised concerns about the ability of experts to stabilize the
crippled reactor complex.
President Barack Obama is under pressure from Congress to spell
out an exit strategy for the U.S. military in Libya and provide
a clear plan to end Col. Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year rule as the
American public remains fiercely divided over the war.
After reaching
orbit around Mercury on March 17,
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has sent back its first image of our
solar system's innermost planet.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have
developed a system that uses microwaves to convert waste oil
into vehicle fuel
Japanese and global automotive production is being hit by
the lack of an airflow sensor, according market research firm IHS
Automotive. Global automobile production is likely to see a further
marked drop in vehicle production – beyond that due to missing
Japanese production – within a matter of weeks, the analyst said.
A hybrid, a gas/electric car, an all-electric vehicle, a plug-in
hybrid — what do all those words mean? Turns out, most Americans
don’t know the answer. Even though a new hybrid or electric car
seems to be launching on a weekly basis these days, a survey
conducted by research firm Synovate finds that a majority of new-car
buyers are still confused about the varied options available and
that the lack of knowledge could prove a significant barrier to
sales.
A massive wave of defaults in the U.S. municipal bond market never
materialized, but fears of such have sent investors scurrying from local
debt and freezing up the market in the process, experts say.
With each of his policies, Obama takes a gamble. If they work,
he's OK. If they don't, he's on the hook for the outcome.
Consider the extent of his exposure:
President Barack Obama will call later Wednesday for US oil imports
to be cut by one third within the next 10 years, senior White House
officials said.
Isolated B- and C-class flares were observed. no significant CME activityA geomagnetic sudden impulse (SI) was observed at 30/0018Z (12 nT, as measured by the Boulder USGS magnetometer). ACE solar wind data indicated the increased activity
Geomagnetic activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels during days 1 - 2 (31 March - 01 April) with a chance for brief active levels due to recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream effects. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels on day 3 (02 April) as coronal hole effects subside.
The United
States is quickly losing its international posture
with respect to investments in clean energy. That’s
the finding of the Pew Center, which says that China
and Germany have surpassed this country when it
comes to pursuing such things as wind and solar
energy.
A smoking motor in a service elevator at NextEra Energy Seabrook
nuclear power plant late yesterday morning led officials to declare an
"unusual event," although no flames ever sparked.
Representatives of The Citizenre Corporation, executives of the
Redding Electric Utility and members of the Redding City Council
gathered at a special event today to share the successful
results of a recent solar leasing initiative in Redding,
California
The Florida Senate unveiled its plan Monday to allow Florida's
electric companies to raise average customer bills $1.40 to $2.60 a
month to build solar and biomass energy plants for the next five
years.
The “brewery” model in algal biofuels ventures is known for
low-cost, high tech production using standard industrial
fermenters
Where there is cheap sugar, and cellulosic sugars from ag and
industrial waste, these commercial ventures will find
advantages. Where lower-cost, economically advantaged sugars are
available in the U.S., EU, China and India, expect increasing
military use for collaborative R&D deployment tests.
Generating electricity from river currents,
ocean waves and tides is a budding industry with great promise.
The Earth’s oceans and rivers could supply us with a lot of
clean energy, in theory.
The Conference Board’s measure of U.S. consumer confidence
dropped 8.6 points in March 2011 to 63.4 from February’s
surprisingly strong level of 72.0 (initially reported as 70.4).
Market expectations were for a more moderate decline in the
index to 65.0.
With all the media frenzy around the Japanese nuclear
situation, one topic hasn't been covered much: Why don't the
Japanese love fossil fuels? Not only have they pushed hard into
nuke but they're also world-beaters in photovoltaics, electric
vehicles, and energy efficiency. How come?
Spent nuclear fuel was improperly loaded into storage containers at
Dominion power's North Anna and Surry power plants, but company
officials say the public was not at risk.
A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday barred state officials from any
further implementation of a law that strips most public workers
of nearly all their collective bargaining rights.
The annual survey of cell manufacturers
published in the March 2011 issue of PHOTON International shows that the
PV industry increased global cell production to 27.2 gigawatts (GW) in
2010, which is as much as the output of the previous 4 years combined.
This incredibly large volume means an increase of 118-percent over the
12.5 GW produced in 2009 – the highest annual growth rate since PHOTON
International started tracking cell production in 1999.
Wafer thin and flexible - Wysips film technology allows light
to pass through a semi-cylindrical lens onto thin strips of
photovoltaic cells below, while also allowing the surface
underneath to show through
March
29, 2011
Remember:
Walking on
unpredictable and uneven surfaces can improve balance and help reduce
risk of falling.
The movement for labeling genetically modified foods is growing
as was illustrated in protests held in at least 20 cities
throughout the US this past Saturday. Here in Washington,
protesters gathered outside the White House to vocalize their
demand for the right to know if the foods they purchase are
genetically modified.
New nanomaterials research from the University at Buffalo could
lead to new solutions for an age-old public health problem: how to
separate bacteria from drinking water.
Spring has sprung, and so has the bear.
KRTV in Montana reports that bear tracks have been observed
in the snow at Glacier National Park, which means the bears are
emerging from hibernation.
What do Florida and Iowa have in common when it comes to
animal agriculture? They've both been hot spots, past and
present, for the movement to combat some of the worst abuses in
industrial agribusiness. And now the factory farming industry is
fighting back in both states-and their latest methods represent
their biggest overreach yet.
Astronaut and Professor Brian O'Leary says that burning uranium
and hydrocarbons is very, very bad for our health and the
environment, and is utterly unnecessary. Clean breakthrough
energy is on its way with the Rossi Cold Fusion Energy Catalyzer
likely to come first.
We are awash in a sea of toxins, many of
which have never, until recent years, come in contact with the human
body. One such toxin, bromine, is found in a variety of everyday
items, including foods. It is also widely used as a flame retardant
in the United States.
Warren Buffett, the billionaire who urged Congress in 2009 to
guard against inflation, said investors should avoid long-term
fixed-income bets in U.S. dollars because the currency’s
purchasing power will decline.
Donald Trump, who has been making television appearances calling
for President Barack Obama to release his official birth
documents, released his birth certificate exclusively to Newsmax
on Monday.
“It took me one hour to get my birth certificate. It’s
inconceivable that, after four years of questioning, the
president still hasn’t produced his birth certificate. I’m just
asking President Obama to show the public his birth certificate.
Why’s he making an issue out of this?"
What if you could make fuel for your car in your backyard for less
than you pay at the pump? Would you?
European Union governments may begin talks in the coming months
on a proposal to promote greener fuels, potentially black-listing
fuels whose production is more polluting, according to Europe's
climate chief.
It's certainly an established fact that electricity can cause
fires, but today a group of Harvard scientists presented their
research on the use of electricity for fighting fires.
Germany is determined to show the world how abandoning
nuclear energy can be done.
The world's fourth-largest economy stands alone among
leading industrialized nations in its decision to stop using
nuclear energy because of its inherent risks. It is betting
billions on expanding the use of renewable energy to meet
power demands instead.
GREEN ENERGY, WHICH THE OBAMA
ADMINISTRATION hailed as the solution to
American unemployment, may instead become the
battleground of a new trade war.
You may have heard about water-as-fuel, or HHO, also known as
“Brown’s Gas”, “hydroxy” etc. Engineer/author King has been tying
together what is known about it. While
hobbyists worldwide are doing water electrolysis to make that
gas, a few university scientists are analyzing it.
Highly radioactive water has been found at a second reactor at a
crippled nuclear power station in
Japan, the plant's operator said, as fears of contamination
escalated two weeks after a huge earthquake and tsunami battered the
complex.
Slowly but
surely, the energy landscape in America and around the globe is
changing. Crude is still king, but oil and gas companies are
increasingly folding in more and different assets.
Shell (RDSA), for example, has purchased and developed tons of
natural gas assets, even though the commodity sells for cheap in
the current market. To get some insight into Big Oil's strategy
for the future of energy, Fortune spoke with President of Shell
Oil Company, Marvin Odum.
In 2010, line
losses in the U.S. grid cost about $26 billion; the power
generation to feed those losses emitted 160 million tons of
carbon dioxide. Those line losses rise dramatically during
peak hours and tie up a huge amount of generation and
transmission capacity. That limits new wind and solar generation
access.
More than 28,500 people are dead or missing after the earthquake
and tsunami that struck Japan's northeast coast on March 11.
The future of 30 proposed nuclear reactors in the United States,
including a second at Ameren Missouri's Callaway plant, has been
thrown into limbo while the world anxiously watches efforts to
control the spread of radiation half a world away.
Japan's cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami, which shattered towns
and altered its coastline, may also have an impact on time in the
country.
The town of Sedgwick, Maine, population 1,012 (according to the
2000 census), has become the first town in the United States to
pass a Food Sovereignty ordinance. In doing so, the town
declared their right to produce and sell local foods of their
choosing, without the oversight of State or federal regulation.
Millions of Americans may be
disabled and not even know it, according to some legal experts.
The Guardian reports that Ohio University’s Gerardine Botte has
invented a way to create hydrogen fuel from urine. Ammonia and urea,
two compounds found in urine, are also a source for hydrogen.
Placing an electrode in the wastewater and applying a current
creates hydrogen gas.
The bill outlines three "starter" products- mattresses,
paint, and medical sharps- all of which pose significant financial
and environmental burdens on RI cities and towns.
The Fukushima crisis continues to worsen by the day, with
nuclear experts around the world finally realizing and admitting
we've all been lied to. "I think maybe the situation is much
more serious than we were led to believe," said Najmedin
Meshkati of the University of Southern California
If the Obama
stimulus program had been cast as an energy bill,
the Center for American Progress maintains that it
would have been the single-most important clean
energy legislation in our history.
C1 X-ray event, filament eruption ,a CME, this CME, it is not Earth-directed. A chance exists all three days for isolated M-class activity. ACE solar wind velocities remained low and steady, only varying between 340 km/s to 370 km/s. The geomagnetic field is
expected to be quiet for day one (29 March). By days two and three
(30 - 31 March), quiet to unsettled conditions, with isolated active
periods, are expected due to the arrival of a recurrent coronal hole
high speed stream.
Leaves – the kind that grow on trees – create energy from
sunlight and water through the process of photosynthesis. For
over a decade, scientists have been kicking around the idea of
creating an "artificial leaf." Such a device would use sunlight
to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which could then be
stored in a fuel cell and used to create electricity. A
functioning artificial leaf has been created before,
but was impractical due to the fact that it was made from
expensive materials, and was highly unstable. Now, however,
scientists are reporting that they have created a
cost-effective, stable artificial leaf.
Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Sen. Lisa
Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced bipartisan legislation to
accelerate the deployment of hydroelectric power projects across the
country.
Supercapacitors.
Just like Zenn and the troubled EEstor supercapacitor firm, Tesla
CEO Elon Musk thinks that batteries are so last century.
It is almost cliché, the term of measurement called Seven
Generations (the idea that the decisions we make today
must be weighed by its effect on the seventh generation to
come). Thinking in Indian, A John Mohawk Reader teaches
what the phrase actually means.
A Seneca Nation elder, thinker and activist, John Mohawk
(Sotsisowah) challenged readers to reset and then reboot their
value systems—to consider the obvious that we are trained in
school to ignore. Expediency is replaced by patience and common
sense, an approach not promoted very much in this technological
era.
As workers struggle to control the unstable Japanese nuclear
reactor that was damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami,
the head of the UN agency that coordinates global nuclear safety
today called for a high-level conference to strengthen safety
measures and emergency responses.
The sandy black gold arrives by rail every day, and piles up in
giant mounds on a spit just off shore. From there, it's loaded onto
ships bound for Asia.
March
25, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
On the evening of March 23rd, Sterling Allan, CEO of PES Network, Inc.,
had an opportunity to appear on the show to discuss the latest exotic
energy technologies. It was his second time on the show, the first
having been a couple of years ago. This time around Andrea Rossi (the
inventor of the
Cold Fusion Energy Catalyzer) joined the conversation to answer
questions about his game changing product.
Even at its biggest, Arctic sea ice extent this winter was among
the smallest ever seen, apparently tying with 2006 for the least
amount of ice covering the region around the North Pole, U.S.
researchers reported.
Desalination involves the process of removing salt from sea or
brackish water to produce drinkable water. According to the
International Desalination Association, there are over 13,000
desalination plants worldwide producing more than 12 billion gallons of
water a day. Although this may seem like a lot, this represents only 0.2
percent of global water consumption.
It's nice to see that mass-market daily drivers aren't the only
vehicles going electric. Improvements in battery and materials
technologies have opened the door for high performance electric
vehicles
A package found by a security guard at a U.S. federal office
building in Detroit sat three for weeks before someone thought
to screen it and found it was a bomb, an official who represents
unionized guards said on Wednesday.
Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted its biggest
profit since 2007 last year, said the U.S. economy is “getting better
month by month,” aided by government stimulus and the strength of
capitalism.
“The most important factor is the really underlying resilience of
capitalism,” Buffett said at a recent news conference in Bangalore.
Buying your groceries from local farmers is
clearly the way to go. You get the freshest, tastiest produce at bargain
prices while supporting your local economy and forming personal
relationships with the people growing your food. Meanwhile, the Earth
benefits from NOT having thousands of trucks carting groceries around
the country. It's a win-win situation!
California's effort to curb global warming, which was put on hold
by a court decision, will be able to proceed on schedule once
officials conduct a new environmental review, according to attorneys
analyzing the case.
While the world keeps its attention on the nuclear
problems in Japan, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been
making the rounds in Congress talking to lawmakers about the
future of American energy policy.
Coal is not in
crisis. It’s in transition. With a host of regulations building,
utilities that operate coal fleets will have to rethink their
business strategies: Do they install expensive upgrades or build
advanced coal reactors or do they retire their older units and
replace them with those fired by natural gas?
In the past two seasons, there
has been a huge uptick in interest in vegetable gardening.
There are plenty of good reasons to garden right now
State regulators on Tuesday gave Duke Energy the go-ahead to
offer customers free home charging stations for plug-in electric
cars.
According to a recent United Nations report, forested areas in
Europe, North America, the Caucasus, and Central Asia have grown
steadily over the past two decades. While tropical areas have steadily
lost their forests to excessive logging and increased agriculture,
northern areas have seen increases caused by conservation efforts.
However, the long-term health and stability of northern forest lands may
be imperiled by the effects of climate change.
Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm will lead a campaign for a national
clean energy policy that promotes and helps fund wind, solar and
advanced battery industries in the U.S.
Gold rose to within a whisker of its all-time high Wednesday, as
record-low U.S. new home sales stirred talk of extended central banks'
accommodative policies, and a possible collapse of Portugal's government
rekindled euro zone debt worries.
Green roofs - roofs that are covered with vegetation -are hot, and
for good reason.
Radioactive waste decaying down at the dump needs millions of
years to stabilize. The element Neptunium, a waste product from
uranium reactors, could pose an especially serious health risk
should it ever seep its way into groundwater - even 5 million
years after its deposition. Now, researchers at the University
of Copenhagen have shown the hazardous waste can be captured and
contained. The means? A particular kind of green goop that
occurs naturally in oxygen-poor water
A drug which
the FDA approved more than half a century ago—which doctors have
been prescribing for their patients with high-risk pregnancies
through compounding pharmacies with great success—was designated by
the FDA an “orphan drug.” Now KV Pharmaceutical has been given the
exclusive right of production and sale (not to mention drug trial
tax breaks!). They immediately raised the price from $10 per dose to
$1,500—simply because they could.
The full impact of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resultant
tsunami in northeastern Japan on March 11 remains to be
determined. But the impact on the country's nuclear power sector
and wider energy market will be profound.
Italy has declared a one-year moratorium on plans to re-establish a
nuclear power industry, in response to a Japanese nuclear crisis that
has raised concerns across Europe about the safety of the technology.
President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that the people of Afghanistan no
longer desire to see international forces defend their country for them.
Gen. Colin Powell's enduring contribution to American foreign
policy is the Powell Doctrine, defining when and how American
military power should be used. The doctrine has three main
precepts: Avoid mission creep, clearly define your goals, and
plan an exit strategy before you go in. Obama's Libya
intervention flunks on all three counts.
Libya is now under three sets of international sanctions that do
not directly target its exports of oil and gas but are likely to
keep any shipments to a negligible volume or rule them out
completely.
The United States imports approximately one million barrels
of oil per day from Canada, which is about twice the amount that
it gets from Saudi Arabia. A large percentage of that oil comes
from tar sand deposits, in which bitumen (a tar-like form of
crude oil) is found combined with sand. The tar sands – also
known as oil sands – are hugely controversial, as many people
state that the process used for extracting the oil from the sand
is too ecologically-unfriendly. A new technique being pioneered
at Penn State University, however, could drastically reduce the
environmental impact of that process.
The toll of living in polluted environments and consuming
foods spiked with chemicals has lead to a dramatic drop in male
fertility. The problem can be linked largely to estrogen imitators
that can be found in anything from plastics, pesticides,
pharmaceuticals to the unfermented soy products that infiltrate the
vast majority of processed foods.
The measurement tool, a reference sample for volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), would be a boon to testers of indoor air
quality and to manufacturers of paints, rugs, cleaners and other
building products.
In under two weeks, Nigeria will hold elections that may be the
most fiercely contested polls since the end of military rule
ended in 1999 but politically motivated violence is escalating,
and the vote itself is expected to be just as contentious as
previous polls
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Friday that the
government now does not rule out the possibility that Tokyo Electric
Power Company's Fukushima-1 No 3 reactor container may be damaged, after
it detected higher radiation levels than normal inside the reactor
building.
The recent earthquake in Japan and subsequent loss of 10% of Japan's
electric power due to failures and explosions in at least two
nuclear power plants, demonstrates the frailness of relying on any
"one" energy source, particularly one that holds the extremely high
risk of contaminating the air and water, and could be a target for
terrorist acts.
In 1987 amendments to the nuclear waste law, Congress designated
Yucca as a repository site to dispose of used commercial nuclear power
fuel and high-level radioactive defense waste, including Hanford's
high-level waste.
The government has spent $10 billion developing the Yucca site, but
Obama has stripped money for it from his last two budget proposals to
Congress.
A magic pill for controlling obesity is a dream that many have.
Researchers exploring human metabolism at the University of
California, San Francisco, have uncovered a handful of chemical
compounds that regulate fat storage in worms, offering a new
tool for understanding obesity and finding future treatments for
diseases associated with obesity. Such compounds may allow
chemical control of obesity.
Bargain hunters looking for opportunities in muni bonds should
be mindful of peak oil.
Gary Magrattan's PEMM Electric motor is said to harness the
phenomenon of electron avalanche across a spark gap to boost current,
voltage, and power. A unique method of harnessing back EMF adds to it's
novelty as it nears production.
Disturbing photos show northern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes
moseleyi) hit hard by an oil spill from a wrecked cargo ship on
Nightingale Island in the Southern Atlantic. Already listed as
Endangered by the IUCN Red List, the oil spill threatens nearly half of
the northern rockhopper population according to BirdLife International.
Already conservation workers say 'hundreds' of penguins have been oiled.
The poll by CBS News found 43 percent of those surveyed would support
new construction.
Support for building new plants has dropped 14 percentage points
since 2008, CBS News reported. Almost two-thirds, 62 percent, said they
would oppose building a nuclear plant where they live, and only 35
percent would support one.
7.0 Mw - MYANMAR
one theory ... is that all life on Earth descended from
organisms that originated on the Red Planet before hitching an
interplanetary journey aboard meteorites to Earth...developing
an instrument to compare the genetic makeup of Martian microbes
with that of terrestrial life. If they find correlations between
the two it could prove that we are all descended from Martians,
which would make us invaders from Mars.
During a detailed analysis of four west coast RadNet air monitor
filters, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
identified trace amounts of radioactive iodine, cesium, and
tellurium consistent with the Japanese nuclear incident. These
levels are consistent with the levels found by a Department of
Energy monitor last week and are to be expected in the coming
days.
Radiation above the legal limit has been detected in a vegetable
grown in Tokyo, Japan's health ministry said today. This is the
first time that elevated levels of radioactive cesium have been
found in a Tokyo vegetable since the damaged Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant began spewing radioactivity into Japan's
air, water and soil.
...an isolated impulsive M1/1F flare at 24/1207Z associated with minor radio emission and a partial-halo CME
...chance for another M-class flare...ACE solar wind data indicated Earth remained under the influence of a coronal hole high-speed wind stream. Solar wind velocities were variable in the 419 to 500 km/s range.
U.S. researchers say they've made a breakthrough in the
development of low-cost hydrogen fuel cells that one day could power
electric cars.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland say
catalysts made of carbon nanotubes dipped in a polymer solution can
outperform traditional platinum catalysts in fuel cells at a
fraction of the cost.
Japan is in crisis
but its predicament is presenting an opportunity to
discuss what it means to be a responsible corporate
citizen. The notion of serving one constituency at
the expense of others is giving way to the
recognition that a company’s mission extends beyond
its immediate borders.
Nuclear power is a gift from the earth, but recent disasters clearly
demonstrate that we have chosen a very dangerous way to harness its
power. The spent fuel rods currently close to meltdown in the
Fukushima fuel pool should have been left in the earth.
Nuclear decay inside the earth continually generates all
of the energy we need, heating all but the top .1% of the
earth’s crust to temperatures hot enough to boil water. As
we go deeper into the earth, temperatures go as
high as 6,000°C, hotter than the surface of the sun!
Researchers from the University of Minnesota have announced a
breakthrough in the quest to create a viable
fuel alternative using greenhouse gases. The process uses
two types of bacteria to create hydrocarbons from sunlight and
carbon dioxide. Those hydrocarbons can in turn be made into
fuel, which the scientists are calling "renewable petroleum."
Whenever gas prices skyrocket, Democrats in Congress know
exactly who to blame.
"It's time to crack down on financial speculators who
artificially drive up the price of oil to pad their own
profits," said US Representative Maurice Hinchey, a New York
Democrat, in a statement Tuesday
Over Half of U.S. Adults Now Back Moratorium on New Reactors ...
Three Out of Four Oppose More Taxpayer-Backed Federal Loan
Guarantees, Favor Increasing Emphasis on Renewables, Would Make
Companies Liable for Fukushima-Style Disaster Clean Up Costs.
The need for energy storage is being driven by the inherently
intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, such as solar
power and wind.
As more intermittent power generation comes on-line (wind, solar
power), it makes sense to store the energy for times when the
wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining.
Imagine healing your spirit by training in your martial art. At
this unique retreat, you'll arise to chant and sit with the Zen
monks. Train morning, noon and night with renown instructors in
aikido, tai chi, and qigong. Learn new techniques and develop
what you know. Meditate as you walk paths among the pine trees,
while sounds of birds and breeze clear your mind.
Donald Trump is not backing down from his demand that President
Barack Obama produce his birth certificate and stepped up his
criticism by questioning why he has not released other personal
records, including college transcripts and legislative papers.
In a surprisingly fast decision, the Judge in the Morningland of
the Ozarks LLC’s case has ruled in favor of a “stay of
execution” on destruction of the cheese in the farmstead cheese
company’s refrigerated cave. Yesterday at 1pm, there was a
teleconference regarding Morningland counsel’s request for a
stay on the State’s desire to destroy all of the cheese that has
been held under embargo since August 26th.
The United States on Tuesday added 14 companies owned by Libya's
National Oil Corporation to its sanctions list, including the
Benghazi-headquartered Arabian Gulf Oil Company which has broken away
from NOC and allied itself with the rebels fighting the forces of Libyan
leader Moammar Qadhafi.
It was
meant to be “The People’s Department.” But today’s USDA
routinely sides with big agribusiness over “the people,”
heedless of safety and nutrition concerns or the needs of small
independent farmers.
The failure of the underwater blowout preventer that led to the
massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by the
inability of attached cutting devices to shear and seal the pipe of
the leaking well, the U.S. government said on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and World Bank President
Robert Zoellick Tuesday signed an unprecedented memorandum of
understanding that harnesses their strengths to improve water
security in developing countries and reduce tension between
nations over shared waters.
U.S. new home sales plunged for the second straight month,
plummeting 16.9% in February to 250,000 annualized units. This
amount represents the slowest pace of sales since recordkeeping
began in 1963.
The United States' top nuclear regulator came under fire Tuesday
for extending a 20-year license to an ageing power plant in the US
state of Vermont, even as a nuclear crisis at a Japanese power plant
continued.
When the first U.S. nuclear power plants went on line more than half
a century ago, utilities built small cooling pools next to the reactors
to store their radioactive waste, like the ones at Japan's Fukushima
plant that overheated and probably leaked radiation into the
environment.
U.S. officials Thursday announced the signing of an agreement to
extend nuclear security cooperation with Russian nuclear
agencies for seven additional years
The nuclear crisis in Japan has laid bare an
ever-growing problem for the United States - the enormous amounts of
still-hot radioactive waste accumulating at commercial nuclear reactors
in more than 30 states.
March
22, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
This FAQ covers Andrea Rossi's technology, which combines
small amounts of ubiquitous and safe Nickel and Hydrogen in the
presence of proprietary catalyst under pressure and heat to generate
a large amount of heat. It also addresses questions about the
commercialization under way.
‘What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of
imposing a no-fly zone,’ said the Arab League’s Amr Moussa.
The White House sought Thursday to show it is on top of
the Japanese nuclear crisis with a Rose Garden statement and
a presidential-ordered review to ensure nothing like the
Fukushima Daiichi disaster happens here at home.
There's a positive story that has been underreported. The
wind turbines in and around the quake/sunami area.
For decades, packaged-food companies have been reducing fat and
calories in their products. More recently the industry undertook
a broad-based effort to eliminate trans fats, and even
high-fructose corn syrup. But today, big food is at a
crossroads.
Alstom currently has six major carbon capture and storage pilot
installations in operation and another two under construction.
We even have second-generation technology at an advanced stage
of development in our laboratories.
Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn warns Social Security
solvency should not be contingent on the federal government’s
continuing ability to borrow money and previous Congresses have
“stolen” the trust fund intended to make the American people secure
in retirement.
Oil prices swung wildly this week, rising
to near 30-month highs after Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain, then
plummeting to less than $100 a barrel on expectations that an
earthquake-ravaged Japan would demand less oil.
News stories about fuel prices are usually about that day's fuel
prices. Consumers want to know why the at-the-pump price is what
it is. Why consumers want to know is simple: So they can budget
for it. The why behind the per-gallon cost of gasoline is not so
simple.
Yes, it can.“A fair use, then, is defined for digital content
exactly as it’s defined for all other content,” he added. “It’s
a use that benefits society generally but does not unreasonably
interfere with a copyright holder’s right to exploit and protect
its creative output (a right which is itself intended to
encourage the creation of more creative output for the ultimate
benefit of society).
Could anyone have predicted the political storm that in just
a few short weeks has shaken the Arab world and knocked down
some of its most diehard leaders like kings on a chess board,
overpowered by undervalued pawns?
A global treaty to fight climate change may still be a far cry
but India has come up with an ambitious plan to adopt greener
technologies, to help people save more for each unit of power
they consume. A green road map for the 12th plan is almost
ready, with a Planning Commission expert group on low carbon
economy for inclusive growth focusing on energy efficiency for
consumers, better public transport system and incentives the
government should give to adopt cleaner technologies.
EPA is undertaking a series of major CAA rule makings.
EPA’s latest rule would establish the first nationwide standards
for power
plant
emissions of mercury, arsenic and other HAPs, with numeric
limits based upon maximum available control technology as
required under the 1990 CAA Amendments.
An emergency meeting called by EU energy ministers because of the
nuclear crisis in Japan failed Monday to agree on strict and binding
criteria for testing the bloc's 143 nuclear power plants.
Experts and diplomats are predicting Japan's recent deadly
earthquake and tsunami, along with its ongoing nuclear reactor
crisis, will not have too much of an effect on Japan itself in the
long-term, but rather on energy policies in other countries. During
a discussion Friday in Washington, they said a scaling down of
nuclear energy projects could have a damaging effect on efforts to
curb pollution from other energy sources.
This year, the globe experienced the 17th warmest February since
record keeping began in 1880, as the climate phenomenon La Niña
continued to be a significant factor. Last month’s average Arctic sea
ice extent tied with 2005 as the smallest extent for February in its
32-year period of record.
Out of sight, out of mind- right? Well that’s what Big Ag
companies in Florida are hoping for. SB 1246 introduced on the
8th by Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa would make it a first-degree
felony to photograph a farm without consent.
Constraining
transmission hits consumers the hardest. It’s constricts
supplies, which causes the price for all goods and services to
rise. But despite that reality, getting new wires built is
probably the most onerous task a utility faces.
Hawaii's push to boost
electric vehicle infrastructure. AeroVironment's $820,000
contract will see up to 320 of its EV charging docks rolled-out
on the islands while the $854,000 awarded to Better Place will
support the introduction of EVs to a rental car fleet as well as
installation of charging stations.
Dengue in Texas. Malaria in New York.
Hypertoxic pollen in Baltimore. Climate change is making disease and
other humanitarian threats ever more challenging.
Expect a move from 'all-of-the-above' to specific legislative
proposals to expand domestic drilling.
House Republicans rejected amendments offered Tuesday by
Democrats that called on Congress to accept the scientific consensus
that climate change is occurring, it is caused in large part by
human activity and it is a threat to human health.
The United Nations should promote "hydro-diplomacy" to defuse
any tensions over water in regions like the Middle East and
North Africa where scarce supplies have the potential to spark
future conflicts, experts said Sunday
There was a frog pond out front and a play structure out back.
The trees were full of chickadees and nuthatches. We had weighed
many considerations in the decision-making process, and we all,
Faith included, were happy about it.
That is, until I discovered that, like many of its kind, the
school's beloved play structure -with its wooden gangway,
turrets, and tunnels -was made out of pressure-treated lumber,
which, at the time, contained arsenic, a carcinogen.
Now for the grim truth: Radioactive material is leaking and
escaping into the air, hundreds of thousands have already been
evacuated. This disaster now effects us all as this radioactive
plume “will eventually travel thousands of miles towards Canada
and the United States and then circulating the planet.”
Our dollar today is crashing. The Federal Reserve, socialist
policies, and our militaristic notions are the driving forces
behind the U.S.' problems.
Bill Miller sued in 2010 after police
responded in 2008 to a report of a man at South Shore Scenic Park
carrying an openly displayed handgun around his waistband. According to
a news release, officers made consensual contact with Miller to
determine if he had any intention of harming himself or someone else
with the weapon.
Medicare and Medicaid combined dished out at least $70.5 billion
in “improper payment in 2010 alone — more than the combined
budgets of Homeland Security aand the State Department
NASA has reported that its MESSENGER spacecraft is now in
orbit around the planet Mercury – the first ever mission to
achieve this feat. More than 40 years on from the
first moon landing in the age of the
Mars rovers and
space tourism, it's easy to overlook just what a remarkable a
feat this is
Renewable power is on the rise across the country. But for
states with ambitious clean energy goals like California, it
isn't growing fast enough. That has them turning to a new kind
of renewable project — midsized solar farms. Many are calling it
the Goldilocks of renewable energy.
As an international coalition
pounds armed forces still loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar
Gadhafi, intelligence experts said that despite fears of a
desperate terror attack on Americans, Gadhafi likely no longer
has the means to carry out such an attack.
Of all the criticisms of electric vehicles, probably the most
commonly-heard is that their batteries take too long to recharge
– after all, limited range wouldn't be such a big deal if the
cars could be juiced up while out and about, in just a few
minutes. Well, while no one is promising anything, new batteries
developed at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign do
indeed look like they might be a step very much in the right
direction.
People who want to eat healthy and live sustainably have a new
way to measure their impact on the environment: a Web-based tool
that calculates an individual's "nitrogen footprint."
Doing the laundry probably isn't high on anyone's list of fun
things to do, so anything that speeds up the chore, while also
cutting down on the amount of water and energy used, is going to
be welcome.
Located in Chek Kang village in the Sangri County, Shannan
Prefecture, Tibet, the solar power plant will be one of the highest
on earth at around 4,000 meters above sea level. With target
completion by the middle of the 2011, the facility will generate
around 20,000MWh of renewable electricity per year to help
facilitate sustainable economic development in Tibet.
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station's plan to extend its
operating license to keep the plant running past 2022 could face new
hurdles in light of the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan.
Six states and New York City have filed papers urging the U.S.
Supreme Court to uphold states’ rights to sue power companies over
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
A little more than a year ago, power-industry officials promoted
a new generation of nuclear reactors as a clean source of
electricity that wouldn't contribute to climate change.
That was then. Today, as Japan's nuclear crisis grows, so has
criticism of the United States' proposed "nuclear renaissance."
The nation's 104 nuclear-power stations, including two in Ohio,
face more scrutiny and federal inspections.
Coalition jets patrolled the no-fly zone over Libya on Monday
but launched no new strikes after scattering and isolating
Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's forces with a weekend of
punishing air attacks, Pentagon officials said.
6.6 M - OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.6 M - OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
From coast to coast, demand for green infrastructure is higher
than ever. That's the finding of "Putting Green to Work:
Economic recovery investments for clean and reliable water," a
new report by American Rivers, detailing the $1.2 billion
allotted to green infrastructure, water and energy efficiency,
and environmental innovation through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act
Moammar Qadhafi, fighting for survival in the face of an
international military assault, vowed March 20 to arm his people
for a long war and said the US and its allies would never lay
their hands on Libya's oil.
Pressure levels rose then stabilized Sunday in one of the crippled
reactors at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant in Japan, government and
industry officials said.
Region 1175 continued to grow in areal coverage and produced the
largest event of the period, a B7 X-ray event at 20/0733Z. Surging
and low-level B-class X-ray emissions...a chance for C-class events for
the next three days (21 - 23 March). A slight chance for isolated
M-class activity exists all three days..Solar wind velocities at the ACE
satellite remained low, averaging about 350 km/s.
Underground quartz deposits worldwide may be behind earthquakes,
mountain building and other continental tectonics, a discovery that
may aid in predicting tremblers, according to a study released on
Wednesday.
Michigan researchers have built a prototype of a
new auto motor that does away with pistons,
crankshafts and valves, replacing the old internal
combustion engine with a disc-shaped
shock wave generator. It could slash the weight
of hybrid cars and reduce auto emissions by 90
percent.
Tax-free shopping is under threat for many online shoppers as
states facing widening budget gaps increasingly pressure
Amazon.com Inc. and other Internet retailers to start collecting
sales taxes from their residents.
For the first time, Eau Claire's city government has a complete
tally of energy it uses to power buildings, run vehicles and keep
utilities going.
Food prices in the United States could rise 6 percent in
2011, well above the government's forecast for a 4 percent
increase from 2010, private analysts say.
An especially large moon will appear to rise on Saturday in the
most extreme example of a so-called super-moon phenomenon in nearly
20 years, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
The Supreme Court let stand Monday a ruling that the
U.S. Federal Reserve must disclose details about its emergency lending
programs to banks during the financial crisis in 2008.
Will the
new fermentation technologies completely shatter
preconceptions about biofuels and bio-based products
– and redefine the way in which Western Civ
approaches the production of fuel, food, feed, and
fiber? The new Brew Barons are working hard to make
it so.
Will the new fermentation technologies completely shatter
preconceptions about biofuels and bio-based products and
redefine the way in which we approaches the production of fuel,
food, feed and fiber?
TO BEGIN, consider one of the most important measures of property,
the kilogram. It’s a measure of mass or, for non-scientific purposes,
weight. According to the papers last week, a global scramble is under
way to define this most basic unit after it was discovered that the
standard kilogram—a cylinder of platinum and iridium that is maintained
by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures—has been losing
mass.
Climate change is the result of a complex multi-faceted process of
consumption. Concern over creating a sustainable future for the planet
is a driving force of the 20th century. Purchasing decisions, both at
the corporate and consumer level, are increasingly driven by perceptions
of service and product providers approach to limiting their carbon
footprint.
Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi held a public demonstration
on January 14, 2011 of Rossi’s ECat (energy
catalyzer) boiler, a nickel-hydrogen fusion reactor, at
the University of Bologna (Italy). A group of about 50 scientists
from the university and the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica
Nucleare (INFN, the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics) were
on hand to examine the device.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing a
list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the greatest number of
energy-efficient buildings that earned EPA’s Energy Star
certification in 2010. The list of 25 cities is headed by Los
Angeles; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Chicago; New York;
Atlanta; Houston; Sacramento; Detroit; and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Several top Yemeni army commanders have declared their
support for anti-government protesters seeking the resignation
of the country's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
A bill introduced Thursday by two US Senators would call upon other
nations to enhance their nuclear power safety programs and transparency.
The United Nations Security Council on March 17 approved the
setting up of a no-fly zone over Libya and the use of "all
necessary measures" to enforce it, paving the way for air
strikes against the military forces of Libyan leader Moammar
Qadhafi.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the three kinds of lies are lies, damn lies,
and government statistics. Governments lie, particularly about
economic stats in the middle of a recession and the Obama Bureau of
Labor Statistics has refined misrepresenting our economic situation to a
high art form.
The U.N. Security Council on Monday rejected a Libyan request for an
emergency meeting to halt what it called "military aggression" by
France and the United States, saying it would wait for a briefing
Thursday from the secretary-general.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.76 percent with an
average 0.7 point for the week ending March 17, 2011, downfrom last
week when it averaged 4.88 percent. Last year at this time, the
30-year FRM averaged 4.96 percent.
We're No. 1!
But that's the bad news. After a reign as the nation with the second
highest corporate income tax rate, the United States is set to move into
first place when Japan lowers its rate next month.
The U.S. on Sunday claimed initial success two days into an
assault on Libya that included some of the heaviest firepower in
the American arsenal — long-range bombers designed for the Cold
War — but American officials said Sunday it was too early to
define the international military campaign's endgame.
Existing home sales in the US fell 9.6% in February 2011 to 4.88
million annualized units, thereby retracing almost all of the
gains seen in the last two months that pushed the pace of sales
to an eight-month high of 5.40 million annualized units in
January (previously reported as 5.36 million). The decrease was
much larger than expected, with market expectations for sales to
decline only to 5.11 million in the month.
The February’s Consumer Price Index CPI report showed another
large monthly increase rising at a slightly stronger than
expected pace of 0.5% following a 0.4% gain in January.
Expectations were for a 0.4% gain in February. Excluding the
volatile food and energy components, prices rose a more moderate
0.2%, yet this was also above market expectations of a 0.1%
increase.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement
Friday said it has issued a deepwater drilling permit to to ATP Oil &
Gas Co., the BOEM's third deepwater permit since the Interior Department
rescinded its ban, enacted following the April 2010 Macondo blowout.
Even the most moderate trends in climate change, if continued,
will present new national security challenges for the U.S. Navy,
Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, finds a new study released
Thursday by the National Research Council.
U.S. nuclear plants use the same sort of pools to cool spent
nuclear-fuel rods as the ones now in danger of spewing radiation at
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, only the U.S. pools hold much more
nuclear material. That's raising the question of whether more spent
fuel should be taken out of the pools at U.S. power plants to reduce
risks.
More deepwater permits in the Gulf of Mexico will be forthcoming "in
the next few days," Michael Bromwich, the director of the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement told a House
subcommittee Thursday.
Today is a public holiday across Japan - Vernal Equinox Day,
transformed by law in 1948 from an ancestor worship festival to
a day for the celebration of nature. Many visit family tombs to
honor their ancestors, and today thousands will be mourning
those lost in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
It's been unquestioned conventional wisdom.
Eventually, everybody knows that the US State Dept. will
approve the Keystone XL pipeline. It will take lots of crude
coming out of Canada's oil sands on a journey down through
Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska on its way to Cushing,
Oklahoma. From there, a spur will open up a new route to bring
the growing Cushing surpluses to the Gulf of Mexico. All the
growing opposition will be ignored. Right?
Water as an "urgent security issue" tops the agenda this year for
a council of 37 former heads of state and government convening in
Canada 10 weeks from now, with a preliminary meeting of
international experts this week on the prospect of future water
conflicts.
What is the one natural substance that is MOST vital to life on
Earth? Water. Without water, life is impossible for most
creatures and plants. Clean water is essential to life, and as
the Earth’s population grows, water is becoming more and more a
limiting factor to human life.
Wave energy development in Oregon added a new company to the
research mix recently as Texas-based Neptune Wave Power
announced it is testing its technology at Oregon State
University’s (OSU)
Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory.
...the world also needs to understand that there is an emerging
nuclear energy technology that offers a completely safe and
economically attractive alternative.
The force of Japan's largest earthquake in decades has turned the
hypothetical into an unfolding reality, forcing a nuclear industry
banking on a lucrative future to grapple with a new what if: What if
this sets us back another 30 years?
Just as the
nuclear renaissance was getting its legs, the earth crumbled
beneath it. But will the industry rise again and if so, when?
For many years, a small handful of countries dominated growth in wind
power, but this is changing as the industry goes global, with more than
70 countries now developing wind resources. Between 2000 and 2010,
world wind electric generating capacity increased at a frenetic pace
from 17,000 megawatts to nearly 200,000 megawatts
Wind turbine installations may rise 20 percent this year worldwide
and double by 2015, the Global Wind Energy Council said in a statement
today.
Africa's cities are growing at a faster rate than anywhere else
in the world, stressing drinking water supplies and sanitation
services, says a new UN report released to mark World Water Day
2011.
Yemen's president has fired his entire Cabinet amid escalating
protests demanding his ouster.
The fate of the once-divided state of Yemen was at a crossroads
Monday as senior military and political leaders resigned from their
positions and joined a growing anti-government protest to demand the
ouster of veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
March
17, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
(For personal reasons, we must publish early...although
events could certainly merit an early publishing date.
Global warming will intensify if leading carbon emitter China
drops the world's most ambitious nuclear power building program and
Germany shuts down its nuclear plants amid panic over Japan's atomic
energy crisis.
God is trying to get our attention through the traumas in Japan & the
Mideast.
NGVAmerica congratulates the Wyoming Legislature, which has
responded to the ever increasing gasoline and diesel prices by
passing a law directing two state agencies to begin switching
their fleets to natural gas.
BP is seeking access to the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer so it
can runs tests the company says the joint investigation has failed to
perform..
China's vast nuclear push is likely to slow after the government
ordered a safety crackdown on Wednesday in the aftermath of Japan's
nuclear crisis.
Clean Edge Jobs is the premier source for clean-tech job
seekers, employers, and recruiters. Search current openings
among the job categories listed below.
Could it happen here?
As Japan's nuclear crisis unfolds, Californians are asking
whether the state's two active plants, as well as a number of
shuttered facilities still holding radioactive waste, are vulnerable
to the same sort of chain reaction that has brought the world to the
brink of a nuclear cataclysm.
Japan's nuclear crisis has brought new urgency to the debate over
nuclear power -- a debate that heated up Tuesday in Wisconsin when
Democrats and Republicans disputed whether the state's long-standing
moratorium on nuclear plant construction should be lifted.
Balancing demand for energy with timely
production is a juggling act that is
particularly relevant to renewable sources such
as wind and solar. Because the wind isn't always
blowing and the sun isn't always shining, the
energy produced by these systems needs to be
stored efficiently so it can be used when it's
needed.
“If ever there was a time for life style change,
coupled with a demand for clean, unadulterated
food and the protection and support of the
supplements that you need now and will need for
the rest of your life, it is now. And if ever
there was a time to call for the total banning
of the two most dangerous misapplications of
science in human history, GMOs and nuclear
power, that time was yesterday. We missed
yesterday so today is the time, and tomorrow and
all the tomorrows that these disasters still
allow us.”
Energy amazes me; the ramifications from elementary school physics
of converting potential energy into kinetic energy. It's happening
everywhere around us, and can have far reaching ramifications. An
example is the potential energy in the form of pressure built up
under Japan in plate tectonics before the recent earthquake, turned
into land shaking, country moving, tsunami creating kinetic energy
that reaches across the world. There are other forces, lets call it
society energy, that can create financial shock waves in the energy
industry including political, religious, and inaccurate supply curve
assumptions.
If natural gas is to reach its potential, then
producers must be willing to give a little. If
they don’t compromise, then the community uproar
that now surrounds their discovery methods will
prompt new regulations targeting them.
German renewable industry lobby BEE said on Wednesday it would be
able to supply 47 percent of German power requirements by 2020,
joining a debate on how to replace nuclear generation capacity.
We've all seen them in newspapers and magazines, on TV and the
Internet -- cheerful people in glossy, picturesque ads claiming
that by taking a little magic prescription pill their lives were
immeasurably improved.
As the TV ad fades, a cautionary voice quietly recites a host of
"risk factors," potentially catastrophic consequences that could
result from taking the magical pill. One can't but wonder if the
cure is worse than the ailment.
The Individual Gunshot Detector (IGD) uses the sound
waves generated by enemy gunfire to pinpoint its location..
During a special airborne mission to study the air-quality
impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill last June, NOAA
researchers discovered an important new mechanism by which air
pollution particles form. Although predicted four years ago, this
discovery now confirms the importance of this pollution mechanism
and could change the way urban air quality is understood and
predicted.
The Bloom Box provides a plug-and-play approach
to on-site electricity, using natural
gas-powered fuel cells to provide stable,
on-demand power. While it competes
favorably with solar PV, its cost is competitive
in just a few states with high electricity
prices
Society appears to be exiting the age of extreme economic
competition and entering the transformation to a culture of
cooperation. Nature and humanity must start getting along
together, as our ancestors did for so many millennia before the
dominant order started its relentless take-over several thousand
years ago.
Ever since Gov. Scott Walker signed his reform bill into law on
Friday, Obama’s bloated public unions have sought frantically to reverse
it.
Using a complex model to perform a theoretical calculation
based on a U.S. Geological Survey, Richard Gross of
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has determined that by
changing the distribution of the Earth's mass,
the earthquake that devastated Japan last Friday
should have sped up the Earth's rotation,
resulting in a day that is about 1.8
microseconds (1.8 millionths of a second) shortt
As Japan struggles to cope with the aftermath of last week's
devastating earthquake and tsunami, one area which could give it
some relative comfort is oil-fired power generation, where it
has more than enough spare capacity to offset the nuclear plants
currently off line, according to analysis by the International
Energy Agency.
In an interview with Sterling, spiritualist Sharón Lynn Wyeth,
whose guides predicted more than a dozen years ago the Japanese series
of earthquakes above 7 on the Richter scale, describes the coming
massive Earth changes, which she says this marks the beginning of; and
discusses temporal and spiritual considerations.
Nuclear experts say America needs to rethink at least two things:
Are we planning for big enough earthquakes and natural disasters,
and should we be contemplating using hotter and more dangerous fuels
blended down from old nuclear warheads in nuclear power production.
A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city
of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami
thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.
Low concentrations of
radioactive particles are heading eastwards from
Japan's disaster-hit nuclear
power
plant and are expected to reach North America in days,
a Swedish official said on Thursday.
One of the most underappreciated marvels of
science — the process of transforming sewage
into drinkable water — gets the well-deserved
spotlight in the latest episode in the American
Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning Bytesize Science
podcast series.
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have
created a composite material that they claim can
store hydrogen densely and safely, yet that also
allows it to be easily accessed for creating
electricity.
Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently
initiated massive
ozone
depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a
record loss of this trace gas that protects the
Earth's
surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This
result has been found by measurements carried out by an
international network of over 30 ozone sounding stations spread
all over the Arctic and Subarctic
The nuclear reactor crisis in Japan has captured the attention of
North Carolina's largest energy companies.
However, officials with Duke Energy Corp. and Progress Energy
Inc. said Monday that the crisis is not dampening their commitment
for building a nuclear power plant in the Carolinas.
Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia –
To date much of the focus on tidal power has been on the Eastern
side of the Atlantic with demonstration projects in Scotland and
Northern Ireland. Over on the Western side however, the Canadian
Province of Nova Scotia looks set to give the old country a firm run
for its money.
The combination of high oil and gasoline prices, rising food costs,
higher health insurance premiums and the likelihood of future inflation
has jarred consumer confidence, creating a major crisis for the Obama
administration.
The collapse has been sudden and dramatic.
...as many pundits and politicians have
noted, the current tragedies unfolding in Japan have shone a
spotlight on nuclear power. In light of world events—as well as
the fact that nuclear power has experienced a resurgence as of
late—it makes sense to discuss nuclear power; especially as it
relates to clean energy and efficiency.
PepsiCo says it has developed the world's first 100
percent plant-based PET bottle.
When it comes to
crafting a comprehensive energy policy, America’s
leading utility executives all agree on one thing: It
won’t happen.
6.5 M
Mississippi has one nuclear power plant, Grand Gulf at Port
Gibson, about 200 miles from the Coast. And that plant has only one
reactor.
If the containment at the nuclear power plant damaged by Japan's
devastating earthquake fails, a potential radiation plume from a
full core meltdown could reach Tokyo, a U.S. scientists'
organization said on Tuesday.
Everyone understands
the Big Recession. Almost no one in the lay world
comprehends the legislation crafted to try and prevent
another one.
Dodd-Frank, as it is called, is a mammoth law that has
been in effect for more than six months and is supposed
to be fully implemented in another six months. But that
progress will be delayed.
A study by SBI Energy shows that the thermal and digestion
waste-to-energy market is to be unaffected by the global economic
downturn, forecasting the annual global market for all technologies
combined are to exceed US$27 billion by 2021.
For three of the 11 years I lived in Tokyo, I called on the
three largest power companies in Japan for Lehman Brothers. I
visited Tokyo Electric Power 150 times, and I’ve spent time at
one of their largest power plants.
New nuclear reactor designs would have stood a much better chance
against the type of natural disaster Japan's power plants just
encountered, said nuclear engineering experts on Tuesday.
Lawmakers and elections officials in at least six cash-strapped
states are hoping to move or replace their stand-alone 2012 presidential
primaries, sacrificing some influence over who wins the nominations in
favor of saving millions of dollars.
Tired of rising oil prices?
Try something new, say those companies that can grow algae and
then transform it to make transportation fuels. All it needs is
a little sun, water and carbon dioxide.
Dubbed "The Pearl," the standout features of the elegant domed
structure are its integrated solar panels which can be adjusted
to different angles to provide additional shade and optimize
energy collection through the changing seasons.
According to the US Geological Survey,
it is the first documented case of an invasive species establishing a
self-sustaining population in the region. Once confined to the Indo-West
Pacific
Ocean, lionfish are now spreading throughout the West
Atlantic.
Billionaire and potential presidential candidate Donald Trump finds
it “incredible” that the United States is not moving forward with oil
drilling considering the catastrophic events in Japan. Trump Tuesday
also told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto that oil cartel OPEC is “absolutely
salivating” as it watches U.S. reticence.
Judging by how the exercise went, smartphones could soon be
showing up on battlefields everywhere.
Once again, the Fed maintained the fed funds target in the range
of 0% to 0.25% and reaffirmed the commitment to buy the entire
$600 billion in longer-term Treasury securities by the end of
the second quarter of 2011 and reinvest principal payments as
the securities on the balance sheet mature. The Fed also
reiterated that the low level of interest rates is likely to be
maintained for "an extended period."
US oil product inventories tumbled 6.857 million barrels during the
week ending March 11, bringing the year-to-date decline to 39.348
million barrels, data released Wednesday by the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) showed. This analysis and commentary is provided by
Linda Rafield, Platts senior oil analyst and editor of the weekly
Futures and Derivatives Review
The public, however, is likely to demand more scrutiny of the
industry -- and the permit for Vogtle -- in the wake of Japan's
tsunami-induced nuclear crisis, according to critics.
Budgets are tighter than
ever, and recycling isn't always a priority project.
But if the nominations for the Green City Awards are any indication,
there's a lot of innovative thought out there to communicate, educate
and maximize communities' recycling effort.
...the answer to our question is of earth shattering importance:
GMOs and Nuclear Power stations both threaten all life on Planet
Earth. They both contaminate and change DNA down stream from
their manufacture in unforeseen, unpredictable and deadly ways.
They both cause cancer, infertility, birth defects, immune
system failure and other nightmare diseases while garbed in the
profitable, but threadbare cloaks of “science” and “progress”
and “good for humanity technology”.
Japanese officials and nuclear experts have said they cannot rule
out the possibility of a nuclear meltdown at a Japanese nuclear
power plant that was badly damaged by last week's earthquake and
tsunami. Here is a quick guide to the nuclear process, what can go
wrong, and how to prevent catastrophe.
Last year, Stephen Currie bought an electric car, the Wheego
Whip, "probably for the usual reasons."
The Atlanta resident said he wanted "to help the environment,
lower our carbon imprint and reduce our dependency on foreign oil."
His purchase was also an experiment.
"I wanted to see," he said, "if electric cars were viable."
March
15, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
While the world frets about what the Libyan civil war could do
to oil prices, government spending in reneweable energy sources
such as wind and solar power is set to create Rs
30,000-crore-worth opportunities in 2011-12 alone.
Times of change can be drastic -- revolutions topple dictators,
extreme weather kills tens of thousands and market crashes plunge
people into poverty -- but for scientists studying complex systems
they are fertile ground.
Weekly oil data from the US Energy Information Administration and the
American Petroleum Institute should show a build of about 2.1 million
barrels in US commercial crude stocks for the reporting week ended March
11, analysts polled by Platts said Monday.
The Army has begun administrative punishments against nine
officers for what it calls "administrative and leadership failures
relating to the career of
Maj. Nidal Hasan," the alleged shooter in the
Fort Hood, Texas, shootings that killed 13.
The disastrous decline in bees that pollinate most of the
world's food crops will continue unless humans profoundly change
their ways, warns a United Nations report released today. More
than a dozen factors are linked to the worldwide loss of bees,
from the disappearance of flowering plants and the use of
memory-damaging insecticides to the global spread of pests, air
pollution and climate change.
If the cost of production has been so affected by
ethanol, then why are these companies raking in record
profits?
In the words of baseball legend Yogi Berra, “This is déjà
vu all over again.”
Coast dwellers are accustomed to the daily rhythm of the tides,
which are primarily lulled in and out by the gentle
gravitational tug of the moon. Some scientists wonder whether
the moon's tugging may also influence earthquake activity.
Ten months ago, an entrepreneur came to Columbus to tout his
plans for Coda Automotive, and the city greeted him with an eager
embrace.
Consumer confidence fell last week to the
lowest level in a month as surging gasoline prices soured Americans’
outlook about their finances and the economy.
The million dead sardines that surfaced in Redondo
Beach Harbor last week in southern California point to
an ecosystem that’s sorely out of balance, tribal
leaders said on March 10, as state officials tested the
fish seeking a cause.
The March 11, magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan may have shortened
the length of each
Earth
day and shifted its axis. Using a United States
Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the
earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA's
Jet
Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex model to
perform a preliminary theoretical calculation of how the Japan
earthquake-the fifth largest since 1900-affected Earth's
rotation.
Foreign troops arrived Monday in the strategically and
financially important Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain after a
month of citizen protests, the Bahraini government said.
Global NES, Inc.
is redefining waste operations for America's landfills. They have
developed a unique processing system that takes MSW (Municipal Solid
Waste) through a series of steps that transforms waste matter into a
viable energy-producing by-product.
View special clouds over Japan.
Honeywell International Inc. pleaded guilty in Federal Court in
Illinois to criminal charges connected to the illegal storage of
hazardous waste at its Massac County, Ill., facility near
Metropolis, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said.
After breaking into an Oregon residence last night, Timothy Chapek,
24, barricaded himself in a bathroom after the owner unexpectedly
arrived home. Chapek, you see, was worried that Hilary Mackenzie might
be armed (or that her barking German Shepherds could prove problematic).
In its race to join the club of international powers, India has
reached another milestone - it's now the world's largest weapons
importer.
ocean traps carbon through two principal mechanisms: a
biological pump and a physical pump linked to oceanic currents.
A team of researchers from CNRS, IRD, the Muséum National
d'Histoire Naturelle, UPMC and UBO (1) have managed to quantify
the role of these two pumps in an area of the North Atlantic.
Contrary to expectations, the physical pump in this region could
be nearly 100 times more powerful on average than the biological
pump.
Many prominent organizations and
agencies like FDA release information with an embargo on it. In other
words, news organizations will agree not to publish this information
until a certain date. This gives the journalists time to research and
write their articles, so that their more detailed investigation—often a
deeper perspective on a complex story—can appear at the same time as the
organization’s press conference.
The Earthquake in Japan follows a week of exceptional skip in the
Amateur Radio bands. This means that the Ionosphere was exceptionally
energized and the reception at exceptional ranges indicated that the Sun
had extraordinary influence on this event.
Japanese Prime Minister
Naoto Kan called for calm as the government battled to cool
three quake- damaged nuclear reactors with seawater while
Tokyo
shoppers stockpiled supplies.
It was hard to get excited about
IBM’s Watson besting two humans in the TV game show
Jeopardy and walking away with a $1 million prize last
month. After all, thanks to the entertainment industry,
we’ve seen robots and computers win in all kinds of ways,
from HAL duping the smart astronauts in 2001: A Space
Odyssey to R2D2 disabling the Death Star. What’s the
big deal about racking up some trivia points?
Direct observation of sunspots has, more or less, been going on
continuously since they were first observed in the seventeenth
century. So, you can imagine the puzzled expressions on the
faces of astronomers the world over when the phenomena all-but
disappeared from view for a couple of years recently.
Nigerian militants said Monday they will begin bombing oil
installations in the Niger Delta and other targets in the country's key
cities, to protest the government's failure to address the lack of
development in the region.
President Barack Obama is calling for more
stringent enforcement of existing gun laws,
citing the "awful consequences" of gun violence
in American society.
Six delayed or now-dead energy projects have cost Ohio's economy
$29 billion and more than 51,400 jobs, according to a new study
released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
OPEC crude production has been climbing steadily alongside
rising oil prices and the latest Platts survey shows a 230,000
b/d jump to 29.8 million b/d in February. This despite a 190,000
b/d average drop in Libyan production over the month.
It has taken a while for the United States to catch up to the
rest of the Western world in renewable energy production, but that's
changing -- and Colorado is leading the way, a group of panelists
said Thursday morning.
The devastating 9.0 earthquake that rocked northern Japan and the
ensuing tsunami have already claimed an estimated 10,000 victims.
But the worst may be yet to come. Experts estimated that the next 48
hours will be crucial in determining whether Japan's nuclear
disaster unfolds like the U.S. Three Mile Island accident in 1979 or
like the meltdown at Russia's Chernobyl plant in 1986.
Jack Coles is extremely Sorry for the loss of life in Japan. 24
hours before the quqke he received enormous main signals so
large they indicated a shift from Alaska to the coast of
Japan. What would have indicated an Alaska quake was pointing
to Japan.
Japan could need to buy an extra 210,000 b/d of oil and other
feedstocks to make up for 12 GW of lost power from the shutting
of three nuclear plants after Friday's earthquake, Barclays
Capital said in a report issued late Monday.
chance of an M-class event from Region 1166 for the next two days (16-17 March).The geomagnetic field was quiet. Observations from the ACE spacecraft show solar wind velocities are averaging around 400 km/s..
For the first time, BESC researchers have succeeded in
producing isobutanol directly from cellulosic plant matter using
bacteria. Being a higher grade of alcohol than ethanol,
isobutanol holds particular promise as a gasoline replacement as
it can be burned in regular car engines with a heat value
similar to gasoline.
One of the nation’s senior scientists alerted the federal
government to a newly discovered organism that may have the
potential to cause infertility and spontaneous abortion in farm
animals, raising significant concerns about human health.
Saudi Shiite protesters wearing masks chant slogans during a
protest in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, March 10, 2011. Saudi
police have opened fire at a rally in the kingdom's east in an
apparent escalation of efforts to stop planned protests.
Solar power may generate only a fraction of the nation's energy,
but for some local businesses and homeowners, the sun produces big
savings.
A category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm occurred on 11 March due to the
mixed effects of a coronal hole high-speed stream and the arrival of a
coronal mass ejection
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a first-of-its-kind
economic study yesterday identifying 351 stalled energy projects
nationwide that in aggregate are costing the American economy
$1.1 trillion in GDP and 1.9 million jobs a year that could be
created during the construction phase of these projects alone.
As the cost of oil, along with
diesel and gasoline
prices,
is expected to remain high for the foreseeable future, state
governments are stepping up legislative efforts to promote
alternative fuel use in the U.S. – especially natural gas.
The United States continues to slumber while a catastrophe lies in wait.
Increasing numbers of analysts and policymakers are warning of another
super price spike for oil and the likelihood of "peak oil" more
generally.
The pow wow season is under way, and the sound of drums—the
universal “heartbeat of the nation”—will reverberate in dance
arenas around the country.
With some concept tests thorium used as a nuclear fuel could
end energy as a problem issue and shift the economy into a new
growth phase. All the conversation in the media, politics
and the economy could be moved to building the next centuries
energy production with thorium and the various ways to use the
metal as a fission power source.
The chemical and biological agents used in the gulf created a
toxic stew of death. Victims both human and animal continue to
suffer to this day. Air Force unit "awarded" for helping spray
the toxins.
As Japan, and indeed the world, struggles to comprehend the
devastation resulting from the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and
tsunami that struck on March 11, countries around the world have
rushed to offer support in a number of ways.
The American Chemical Society registers twelve thousand new
substances every day. And according to their records, there are
nearly 45 million different commercially available chemicals
sold worldwide. But data on the potential hazards these
chemicals pose is available for only a very small percentage.
The Obama administration’s push for construction of nuclear power
plants, financed with taxpayer-backed loan guarantees, faces new
uncertainty in the wake of the Japanese disaster and new questions
about safety of such facilities.
International coal markets were mixed on news of Friday's
catastrophic earthquake in Japan, even as many participants tried to
assess the potential effects of the disaster and resulting tsunamis.
Tokyo Electric Power
began injecting sea water into a reactor at its Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant Saturday in an effort to maintain
cooling of the unit, which lost power following an earthquake
and tsunami Friday.
One of the nation’s leading economic analysts, Yale University
professor Robert Shiller, believes the Japanese earthquake could
spark a huge worldwide stock market drop as early as this week.
March
10, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
The 2010 Russian heat wave that killed thousands and cut into that
country's grain harvest was primarily due to natural variability, not
human-spurred
climatechange, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday.
Airlines are facing tough decisions to protect their profits under
pressure from the strength in jet fuel outright prices since the unrest
in the Middle East that started in Tunisia in early January, market
sources said.
More than half of Americans say they have concerns about the
quality of their water as more people become educated about
specific contaminants and take action in their homes.
The cause is an unprecedented disconnect between the most visible
price of oil -- crude oil futures contracts on the New York
Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) -- and the real cost of physical barrels
pumped from the Gulf of Mexico, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
John Hess did it again. Three years
ago, at the 2008 CERA meeting with the price of oil heading
toward its (so far) peak of just under $150/b, he said there was
an oil crisis coming, and there wasn't much that could be done
about it.
To the surprisingly inventive uses for banana peels — which
include polishing silverware, leather shoes, and the leaves of house
plants — scientists have added purification of drinking water
contaminated with potentially toxic metals. Their report, which
concludes that minced banana peel performs better than an array of
other purification materials, appears in ACS's journal Industrial &
Engineering Chemistry Research.
Mass deaths of bee colonies in many parts of the world may be
part of a wider, hidden threat to wild insect pollinators vital to
human food supplies, a U.N. study indicated on Thursday.
In the 1950s and '60s, Boulder's population more than tripled.
More residents meant more growth, and development began to spill out
from the heart of town.
The need for Congressman Peter King's hearings on Muslim radicalization
in America is amply demonstrated by the backlash against them. If
anyone really understood the vast effort underway - through most of
America's mosques - to indoctrinate young Muslims in the ways of radical
jihad, there would be no doubt of the need for these hearings.
In a New York courtroom today, oil giant Chevron Corp. won a
halt to enforcement of an $18 billion judgment for oil pollution
of the Ecuadorian Amazon imposed by a court in Ecuador.
Renewable energy could supply 26.7% of China’s energy consumption by
2030, although the more probable middle scenario sets the share at
20-22%, according to the Centre for Renewable Energy Development (CRED).
Breaking a seven-year moratorium, Chinese officials plan to dam
the nation's last free-flowing river in a remote canyon that is home
to almost as many species of plants as in the whole of the USA and
shrink a fish refuge on the Yangtze River to make room for another
dam.
If a Clean Energy Standard is
enacted, what will that mean for fossil fuels? Interestingly,
the emphasis on the development of sustainable fuels is not at
the exclusion of coal and natural gas.
Progress accelerates as a year long study of Andrea Rossi's
Nickel-Hydrogen Cold Fusion technology (energy catalyzer) at the
University of Bologna is announced. The birthplace of higher education
has become the developmental womb for a game changing technology!
The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a
global phenomenon, scientists working for the United Nations
have revealed.
Lately there’s been a surge of disconcerting news regarding
external factors that delay childhood development.
New 3D games can sicken children and alter eyesight development,
a standard American diet can lower IQs, and now there is telling
evidence that insecticide use during pregnancy will cause the
child’s IQ points to drop.
So-called weight-loss drugs are
huge business, but they’re going from bad to worse. The newest
include antidepressant ingredients—and most users won’t even
know they’re there—with more really awful side effects
There's an old saying that if you don't like the weather in New
Mexico, wait five minutes. Maybe it should be amended to 10,000
years, according to new research.
Nutritious and delicious, apples now have more
promising benefits to impart: increasing lifespan by up to 10%. Research
published in ACS's Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry reports
that, "consumption of a healthful
antioxidant substance in apples extends the average
lifespan of test animals, and does so by 10 percent. The new results,
obtained with fruit flies — stand-ins for humans in hundreds of research
projects each year — bolster similar findings on apple antioxidants in
other animal tests."
The Chevy Volt and other electric cars may be novelties now, but
the companies that will supply their power think that will soon
change.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today congratulated a team of
researchers at the Department's BioEnergy Science Center who
have achieved yet another advance in the drive toward next
generation biofuels: using bacteria to convert plant matter
directly into isobutanol, which can be burned in regular car
engines with a heat value higher than ethanol and similar to
gasoline.
US lawmakers Wednesday again failed to pass legislation to fund the
federal government for the remaining six months of the current fiscal
year, as political differences over federally funded energy and
environmental programs once again contributed to the stalemate.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposal Monday
to require three of Oklahoma's oldest coal-fired power plants to
switch to cleaner-burning natural gas or install technology to
control pollution.
ExxonMobil plans to drill in the US Gulf of Mexico this year, it said
Wednesday, as the company looks to resume activity in the aftermath of
Macondo-related disruptions that slowed the industry.
A new report predicts that the global wind turbine market will
expand in 2011, with an estimated growth of 18%, after the global growth
in new grid connected wind capacity slowed in 2010.
The frequently restive Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii
spewed a plume of lava 160 feet tall on Wednesday, more than twice
as high as molten rock shot into the sky when eruptions flared anew
on Saturday.
Republicans in the House of Representatives said on Thursday they
would seek to combat rising oil and gasoline prices with a series of
bills this year aimed at spurring domestic energy production.
This is an interesting question because it highlights how a bit of
truth—in this case, that the percentage of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the
atmosphere is small—can be distorted to seem to support something
inaccurate. The truth is that the CO2 currently in our atmosphere is
already having dramatic effects on Earth’s climate.
At some point, the Administration will run out of cuts that it can live
with and the Republican House will have to decide whether to shut down
the government by refusing to vote for ongoing Continuing Resolutions.
The decision will be easy: either shutdown or shut up! There is no
way the GOP can have any ongoing leverage if it refuses to close things
down once Obama says no to further budget cuts.
Billionaire Carl Icahn will return all the money managed for
outside investors in his hedge funds, ending a six-year
experiment in which he sought to use their cash to gain
influence over companies he targeted for change.
Sen. Jim Inhofe tells Newsmax that the Obama administration
is “trying to kill oil and gas” by refusing to allow the United
States to exploit its abundant natural resources in an effort to
drive the country toward green energy.
The Internet has changed the way the world communicates. The
verdict is still out, however, on whether this change is for the
better or worse. On the upside, digital technology has
introduced new ways to instantly reach millions of job seekers
and research potential candidates.
Senate Republicans omit financial provisions from legislation to
curb public workers' collective bargaining rights, skirting a
requirement that a quorum be present.
This was written by a woman born in Egypt as a Muslim.
This is not hearsay, and it will scare the life out of
you.
Under heightened security, Rep. Peter King opened hearings
Thursday into Islamic radicalization in America, dismissing what
he called the "rage and hysteria" surrounding the hearings.
La Niña continued to weaken during February 2011 as reflected by
the reduced strength of the negative surface and near-surface
temperature anomalies across much of the equatorial Pacific
Ocean
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman says the
United States and its allies should arm the Libyan rebels, even
though we are not exactly sure who they are, because we do know
despot Moammar Gadhafi, and we can’t “stand by and watch a
government massacre its people.”
Lyme disease – chances are, even if you have never heard of
it before, you know someone who has had it. Since 1991, the number
of cases of Lyme disease has doubled, and the Center for Disease
Control estimates that there are nearly 325,000 cases every year.
These numbers are staggering and make Lyme disease an epidemic
larger than AIDS. What is even more frightening, is that a large
percentage of those infected don’t know they have it, and probably
know nothing about it.
In a new study, researchers have demonstrated that a memory in
rats can either be enhanced or erased long after it is formed by
manipulating the activity of the brain enzyme PKMzeta.
Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose last week, reflecting
gains in purchases and refinancing that signal the housing market
may be stabilizing.
Does "natural" mean non-GMO? Not likely. Many breakfast cereals
labeled natural are likely to contain ingredients from
genetically modified corn, soy, canola, and sugar beets.
Hydrogen has great potential as a clean fuel source for powering
our cars
and
airplanes, but it also poses some big hurdles – namely production,
distribution infrastructure and storage. Storing hydrogen in gas
or liquid form onboard a vehicle raises difficulties in terms of
volume and pressurization – a hydrogen gas tank for a car would
need to be around four times larger than current petroleum tanks
The news just seems to be getting worse and worse coming out of the
Arctic and Antarctic. The melting of ice is not appearing to let up, and
is in fact, getting faster. A new NASA-funded satellite study shows that
the two biggest
ice
sheets on Earth — Greenland and Antarctica — are losing
mass at an accelerating rate.
Concordia University professor, Benjamin Fung, has developed an
effective new technique to determine the authorship of anonymous
emails.
Since March 4, Pyongyang has been trying to disrupt
GPS receivers critical to
South Korean military communications apparently in
protest of the ongoing joint military training exercises
between South Korean and U.S. forces. Strong jamming
signals were sent intermittently every five to 10
minutes.
The nuclear folks say
they have answers to global energy woes. And they are
positioned to provide them now that regulators may
finance a key project.
The non-invasive, innovative, and self-powered OilClean system
automatically distributes oil-eating microbes, nutrients, and oxygen
and features onsite and remote system management capabilities.
OilClean combines biological and patented technologies to
naturally degrade oil and restore oil-polluted ecosystems.
The increase more than offset the drop in Libyan supplies, estimated
to have averaged 190,000 b/d over the month, as the deepening conflict
hit the North African country's oil production and exports in the final
week of February.
It's a familiar sight. Over the past few weeks, we've seen gas
prices shooting up at the pumps.
Due in large part to the uprisings across the Middle East, oil
prices recently topped out at more than $100 a barrel, and if
the security situation worsens, prices could rise significantly
more
Green energy needs more access to
financing. That’s why the banking industry will be critical to its
growth. But government support remains vital.
There is a lot of speculation that the
dollar is losing ground to the Chinese renminbi and that sooner or later
the Fed will share the global stage with Chinese monetary authorities.
Chinese government officials and Jeremiad western economic forecasters
who claim that the renminbi will replace the dollar as the world’s
premier currency certainly have not helped assuage American fears.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King warns
radicalization is coming from within the Muslim American
community — because terror groups such as al-Qaida know it’s the
best way to strike at the United States — and his upcoming
hearing is absolutely essential as he will have family members
testify on how their children have been turned against America.
Pimco’s star bond manager Bill Gross has offered a bearish
view on Treasurys in his latest market commentary and remarks to
the media. And according to a report on ZeroHedge.com, he acted
on this bearishness in January, selling all of the Treasury
holdings in Pimco’s Total Return Fund, the world’s largest
mutual fund.
Birds do it, fleas do it but when bees do it, the value is $212
billion to the world economy.
That's why scientists are seeking a way to stem mass deaths of
the world's primary pollinator -- the honeybee -- which affect more
than 30 percent of bee colonies in the United States and more than
20 percent in some European countries.
Saudi Arabia's oil minister on Tuesday denied the surge in
oil prices reflects a shortage of crude on the market but said
the kingdom is committed to tapping excess supplies if needed.
As much as 60%
of the electrical energy produced in the United States is wasted. IT can
cut waste and reap rewards for consumers and energy companies alike.
Coast to coast, from Maine to Marin County, Calif., the number of
homes being outfitted with smart meters that keep a close eye on
homeowner electricity use is on the rise. And so is the number of
folks who think smart meters are a dumb idea.
Under our feet and ubiquitous, lowly soil can be easily
overlooked when it comes to addressing climate change and
population growth. But in the January-February issue of the Soil
Science Society of America Journal, a team of scientists say
soil is an essential piece of the biosphere and more attention
should be paid to protecting it. Strategies for doing so include
refocusing and boosting research, and communicating its
importance to the public.
Climate change and other stresses are limiting the availability of clean
water and cheap energy. A large amount of energy is expended to supply,
treat and use water, meaning that water-oriented strategies can result
in significant reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
This report explores the energy and carbon emissions embedded in the
nation's water supplies.
Tomorrow's wars will be fought not just with guns, but with the click
of a mouse half a world away that will unleash weaponized software that
could take out everything from the power grid to a chemical plant.
In the wake of the USDA’s deregulation of GM Alfalfa in January
came the approval of two more bioengineered crops in February;
Ethanol Corn and Sugar Beets. The news is a great disappointment to
those who have been fighting against the GMO takeover for years and
to consumers who are, more than ever, mindful of their food’s
origin. Wherever the GM crops are planted the soil will be pummeled
with chemicals. Bioengineered food continues to penetrate the food
supply of the country, furthering a decline in health.
Part II we will see more specifically what these approved crops
mean for your health and environment. Be sure to sign the
petition linked at the bottom of the article and check out the
documentaries highlighted to learn what a future of GM food
means for the world.
Heading away from the use of polluting fossil fuels towards
sustainable clean energy, we are discovering more and more novel
ways to
use or
harness the wind. Even though solar panels have become
almost commonplace, we're still seeing the technology being
pushed into
new ground.
For journalists covering oil, it's been enhanced by the
up-and-down price of crude (though it's all been up most
recently). And this has brought the researchers, the analysts,
the data watchers and number crunchers into the limelight. For
everyone wants to know: what the heck is going on?
Sixty-five not so short years ago, the U.S. Public Health
Service intentionally infected 1,500 involuntary human
subjects in Guatemala with syphilis to determine if
penicillin could prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
UPS recently announced it has purchased another 48 heavy tractor
trucks equipped to run on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG),
bolstering its continuing effort to reduce the emissions of its
truck fleet while taking a step toward energy security.
The U.S. and its NATO allies edged closer Monday to formulating
a military response to the escalating violence in Libya as the
alliance boosted surveillance flights over the country and the
Obama administration signaled it might be willing to help arm
Moammar Gadhafi's opponents. Europe, meanwhile, kick-started
international efforts to impose a no-fly zone.
The U.S. solar power sector grew 67 percent in 2010 but still
lagged European markets by a wide margin in installing solar
systems, the industry's trade group said on Thursday.
The U.S. market for solar energy reached $6 billion in 2010, up
from $3.6 billion the previous year, according to the Solar Energy
Industries Association.
Tax in Sheep’s Clothing: Legitimate trash fee or tax in
disguise? That question lies at the heart of a case being heard by the
Michigan Supreme Court this week that could have important implications
as cash-strapped governments seek ways to create new revenue streams to
help them bridge budget deficits.
The news abounds with arguments and even riots over so-called
austerity measures. Whether in the Middle East, Europe, or even certain
US states, the public is realizing just how deep a hole various
governments have dug for themselves. In this article I'll outline Uncle
Sam's position and then explain why it's such a problem.
March
4, 2011
(For personal reasons am putting out this newsletter ahead of
normal.)
The word on the street in D.C. is that passing a clean energy
standard will be more difficult than it might appear.
FLAGSTAFF - Wednesday conservationists, scientists, industry
representatives, community leaders and the U.S. Forest Service signed an
historic agreement to restore ponderosa pine forests in four national
forests in northern Arizona.
Who knew? The Arctic has its share of
coral just like the Caribbean. Only here,
it’s under the ice.
Analyzing 16 global climate models starting in 1950 and ending at the
close of the 21st Century, researchers found that the tundra of
North America, Europe and Asia will be increasingly
encroached upon by pine and deciduous forest.
The old saying “breast is best” is taking on a new
significance for some American Indian mothers, who see that
breast-feeding is not only a responsible course for raising
healthy babies, but also a culturally significant one.
The United States will put improved relations with Beijing at
risk if it does not stop selling arms to Taiwan, China's Foreign
Minister said on Monday.
Coal consumption is increasing in many parts of the world, driven
by skyrocketing energy demands in rapidly developing countries like
China. But with coal comes pollution: from climate-changing carbon
dioxide to coal ash, the powdery toxic waste left over from burning
coal to produce electricity.
U.S. electric car maker Coda Holdings will make its first
all-electric sedan in China and start selling it in the United
States in the second half of this year, a report said on March
3.
The legislative debate over the future of alternative energy in
Florida has come down to, not surprisingly, jobs. The question is
whose jobs.
Thousands of organizations around the world are working towards
protection of ecosystems, yet the sharing of data is extremely
limited and often localized – swathes of information that could
be important are unknown, unpublicized and from a global
perspective, wasted.
It's also been a dramatic weekend in Egypt, where activists took
control of several locked offices belonging to the former
regime's secret police.
The Obama administration does not plan to finalize new
regulations on the handling and disposal of toxic coal ash before
the end of 2011, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said
this week.
House Republicans can claim "bipartisanship" in their bid
to handcuff the EPA's climate change rules.
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) told POLITICO on Wednesday
that he will be co-sponsoring the legislation from House
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) that puts a freeze on EPA's
regulatory agenda for major industrial polluters like power
plants and petroleum refiners.
During the past few weeks, several financial-market pundits
warned investors that crude oil prices could rise above $200 and
that gasoline prices could spike to more than $5 per gallon as a
result of the political unrest in North Africa and the Middle
East.
U.S. consumer confidence last week held
close to the highest level in almost three years as more Americans said
their finances were in good shape.
The Iraqi Marshlands, which were pushed to the brink of extinction
under the Saddam era, are slowly being restored to their former glory
The current spike in oil prices sparked by unrest in the Middle
East is not the first one to hit the United States. Traditionally,
higher prices have prompted calls for American energy independence
through alternative energy. But skeptics say such calls amount to
little more than talk in a nation heavily dependent on cheap foreign
oil.
Electric wagons powered by heavy batteries quietly zipped through
the streets of Baltimore, carrying beer, milk, fruit and other goods
from wholesalers to shops and homes. Some delivery companies
installed their own charging stations or used a downtown garage
maintained by the local utility to charge their wagons overnight.
Kamakura Corporation reported Wednesday that the Kamakura index
of troubled public companies rose slightly in February just six
weeks after setting an all time low of 4.36% on December 17. The
index jumped 0.07% to reach 6.01% in February.
The House Republican in charge of the Environmental Protection
Agency’s budget said Thursday he would be willing to drop a rider
blocking funding for the agency’s climate regulations if the
provision gets in the way of a compromise on a government-spending
bill.
When western medicine began evolving
with safer surgeries and readily available "advanced"
pharmaceuticals to treat disease, doctors grabbed hold and the
practices of traditional medicines and midwifery became obsolete
during formal medical training.
Still positively charged from
his victory, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel pledged Thursday to
make clean energy innovation the focal point of Chicago’s
economic growth. He also promised to advance the city as
global center for green technology in the process.
We are not alone in the universe -- and
alien life forms may have a lot more in common with life on Earth than
we had previously thought.
That's the stunning conclusion one
NASA scientist has come to, releasing his groundbreaking revelations
in a new study in the March edition of the Journal of Cosmology.
Native Americans are clashing with the federal government over
plans to fast-track approval and construction of massive solar
energy projects that the Indians fear will harm sacred and
culturally significant sites in Western deserts.
In 2016, the Navy expects to launch an aircraft
carrier group — up to six ships — running on “green” fuel. That
means an algae blend in ship engines and a version of mustard seed
oil for aircraft.
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs)
are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to
Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with
our planet, although astronomers are finding
new
ones all the time.
Nigeria's security forces have destroyed another 500 illegal
refineries in the Niger Delta area, in the latest move by the country to
combat vandalization of oil pipelines and wellheads that disrupt
production, a military spokesman said Monday.
Barack Obama may be forced to order a
two-year delay in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action on
climate change to try to avoid a complete government shutdown, an
environmental conference has been warned.
With nearly 2,000 Oahu residents expected to go without power a
second straight night, Hawaiian Electric Co. and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 agreed yesterday to
meet with a federal mediator today to try to resolve a heated
contract dispute that has at least one community up in arms.
6.6 M - SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
6.6 M - SOLOMON ISLANDS
Libyan troops loyal to Muammar Qaddafi
used artillery and helicopter gunships to block the rebels’
advance west from the oil hub of Ras Lanuf toward the leader’s
hometown of Sirte.
245 MHz Bursts, 2MeV Flux: 17195 pfu
Regions 1164 (N24W46), 1165 (S20W68), 1166 (N11E27), and a new region numbered today as 1169 (N21E56) have all produced C-class events in the past 24 hours. chance for a M-class event.The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at high levels throughout the period.possible arrival of the CME observed on 03 March.
The video “Fire on the Mountain” posted by the
PyramidCenter.org reveals indigenous peoples, elders,
shamans and healers from Asia, Africa, the Americas and
Australia, performing rituals and sharing common concerns.
Hydropower is the largest renewable source of power generation
and currently accounts for about 20% of the world’s total
electricity supply. Hydropower became a source of electricity
generation in the late 19th century.
Local permitting costs for solar
installations are costing the average homeowner about $2,500 and most of
that could be eliminated by the adoption of a standard set of rules and
practices.
Electron Events can persist for days, but the flux values observed at
geosynchronous orbit follow a strong diurnal cycle due to the geometry
of the Earth’s magnetic field. Maximum values generally occur near local
noon locations on the daytime side of the Earth.
Sunspots 1164 and 1166 are so
large, people are noticing them at
sunrise and
sunset when the sun is dimmed by clouds and haze. The dark cores of
these regions are many times wider than Earth, so they are
conspicuous even from a distance of 93 million miles
A tiny fraction of that ice cap still exists. Surveys in the 1880s
estimated that glaciers covered about 20 square kilometers on the
mountain. From 1912 to now, the glacier area on Kilimanjaro has
decreased from 12 square kilometers to less than two.
The Semper Vivus was a series electric hybrid with its two
engines charging the batteries and Porsche electric hub motors
delivering the power. More details as they come to hand, though
an excellent photo gallery in the meantime.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.87 percent with an
average 0.7 point for the week ending March 3, 2011, downfrom last
week when it averaged 4.95 percent. Last year at this time, the
30-year FRM averaged 4.97 percent.
Optimism has increased among U.S. senior
fixed income investors with views turning more constructive on economic
growth, lending, and fundamentals across multiple asset classes,
according to the most recent Fitch Ratings/Fixed Income Forum (FIF)
Survey of Senior Investors. The survey was conducted from mid-January to
mid-February, 2011.
A rebounding economy and growing pool of deep-pocketed investors
could drive the U.S. solar industry to double its installations
for a second year, but the capital costs for the clean energy
systems remain huge.
In advance of the monthly unemployment statistics that the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics will release tomorrow, Environment
America released an estimate of the jobs supported in the solar
and wind industries last year by a federal renewable energy
grant program.
March
4, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
Researchers in Germany claim to have achieved new peak efficiency
for large-area easy-to-fabricate silicon solar cells.
An algal bloom is an explosion of growth and population of
algae, which typically consist of one or a small
number of phytoplankton, the foundation of the food chain. These blooms
occur all over the world, even in the icy waters of the Arctic
Ocean.
The time to secure our clean car future is now. The federal
government and California are collaborating on new emissions and fuel
economy standards (aka “clean car standards”) which will cover vehicles
from model years 2017-2025. These standards will help break America’s
dangerous addiction to oil and are a significant piece of the Union of
Concerned Scientists’ plan to cut our nation’s projected oil use in half
by 2030.
The U.S. could see as many as 10 GW of offshore wind capacity
installed by 2020. But it won't be easy, say industry experts.
House Speaker John Boehner declares that President Barack
Obama’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) in court is “outrageous” and vows that Republicans will
intervene in the next few days.
Chinese human rights activists have been disappearing ever since
a call went out last month on the Internet for a "Jasmine
Revolution" similar to the uprisings against authoritarian
regimes in the Middle East — a call that was made again this
week.
City officials hope to improve the energy efficiency of 8,500
homes -- nearly 10 percent of Stockton's housing stock -- over the
next three years, under a draft ordinance set to go before the City
Council this month.
Global food prices are likely to keep rising as production
struggles to match demand and extreme weather events become more
frequent, a climate-change advisor to the Australian government
said on Wednesday.
Crude stocks at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) futures
contracts delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, hit an all-time high of
38.57 million barrels during the week ending February 25, the US Energy
Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.
Washington, D.C., leads the country in having the most green
building space per capita, according to the U.S. Green Building
Council.
More than two decades after the Exxon Valdez supertanker struck
a reef and unleashed the nation's biggest tanker spill, a
lingering legal dispute about the disaster heads back to court
on Friday
Marine scientists are debating whether 80-plus bottlenose dolphins
found dead along the U.S. Gulf Coast since January were more likely to
have perished from last year's massive oil spill or a winter cold snap.
The Asian share of solar photovoltaic (PV) production could reach
nearly 85% by the end of the year, according to IMS Research.
Europe is the biggest energy junkie in the world. The EU is addicted
to external energy sources, currently getting more than 50% of its
energy from outside the region and that percentage is set to rise.
This winter's heavy snowfalls and other extreme storms could well
be related to increased moisture in the air due to global climate
change, a panel of scientists said on Tuesday.
Three-quarters of Queensland, Australia's coal mines are still
pumping rainwater from their open-cut pits and coal producers are
growing concerned at the effect more forecast rainfall could have on the
industry's recovery, coal industry body the Queensland Resources Council
said Thursday.
Persistent U.S. fiscal deficits would hurt the economy and
pressure the Federal Reserve to loosen monetary policy, Kansas
City Fed President Thomas Hoenig warned Wednesday.
Italian inventor Andrea Rossi claims to have a commercial ready
cold fusion technology that can produce large amounts of energy dirt
cheap from nickel and hydrogen. The technology is supposed to be safe
and reliable. Recent testing hints this might be the case. If true what
does this mean for our future?
Two quick observations about gasoline demand in the US, one
scientific, the others completely antecdotal:
Paul Deane-Williams Fund managers are bullish about the
prospects for public equities and emerging markets in 2011, but
have bearish views of nominal government bonds according to a
survey of investment managers conducted by global professional
services company Towers Watson...
On the back of last year's record demand, there are growing concerns
that photovoltaic (PV) module supply is set to outstrip demand
throughout 2011, leading to significant oversupply in the industry.
But are these concerns founded? And if they are, what impact might
the oversupply have on the global PV industry?
Attorney General Tom Horne, speaking at the Border Security Expo
and Conference in Phoenix, said today that the United States and
Mexico need to work in cooperation to combat the organized
criminal enterprises that control drug traffic into the U.S.
These criminal enterprises could threaten the Mexican
government, and it is very much in the interests of the U.S. and
Arizona to help Mexico.
Turtles and tortoises have survived on Earth for 220 million
years, but their armored shells no longer protect them from
extinction within the next few decades, finds a new
report from the Turtle Conservation Coalition, which names the
world's 25 most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles.
For many years people have been boosting their gas mileage by using
hydroxy systems. By utilizing electrolysis you can break apart water
into a mixture of gases called hydroxy and mix them with the fuel burned
in an internal combustion engine. The result can be an increase in fuel
efficiency, reduced emissions, more torque, and a smoother running
engine. However, it has been a challenge to get the "mainstream" to take
"hydroxy boosting" seriously. The approval of Ali Can Yilmaz's master's
thesis should help boost the credibility of this topic to the next
level.
As the story goes, someone asked an economist how his wife was
doing, and the economist answered "compared to what?"
Joking aside, this is one of the most important questions one can
ask when dealing with many economic problems.
Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has said that
his country plans to cooperate with Iran on uranium mining.
"Zimbabwe has rich uranium reserves, but is faced with shortage
of funds and does not possess the technical knowledge and
equipment needed for extracting rich uranium ores,"..
Close neurological ties between reward-processing and
pain-processing regions in the brain may allow love to provide
effective pain relief (Image: Chris Rorden, rendered with
MRIcroGL)
As science continues to unravel the mysteries of ourselves
and the world around us at a furious pace, it can sometimes feel
like the boffins are proving things that many of us feel we
already know or take for granted.
The
US Army has brought an additional 22 charges against Pfc. Bradley
Manning related to the WikiLeaks releases, including allegations
of transmitting classified documents for release to “the enemy.”
If the price of oil, currently at $99 per barrel, shoots
much above $100 on continuing political and social
change in the Middle East, this will be the U.S.'s third
oil shock since 1970 -- the fourth if you count the
surge to $147.27 on speculative buying in 2008. The
first two shocks were in 1973 and 1979.
Whether this
is the third or fourth shock is academic because either
way it's bad news for the country.
During the
last year, using exploration technology similar to British Petroleum's
[BP] three mile deep oil well [my BP Oil Spill live TV interview CBS12
Sunday June 27, 2010], trillions of cubic feet [TCF] and billions of
cubic feet [BCF] of natural gas have been discovered in the
Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. This find makes Israel energy
independent -- assuring its continued growth and prosperity.
Excessive electricity prices under electric deregulation have
cost Texans an additional $15.5 billion, according to a
comprehensive new report on the deregulated market.
Hawaiian Electric Co. has introduced a tiered rate structure for
its residential customers on Oahu that increases the cost of
electricity per kilowatt-hour as usage goes up.
The White House on Wednesday proposed a
new commission tasked with finding billions of dollars in savings by
figuring out what to do with the federal government's bloated real
estate inventory. p;
“Peace
at all costs!” Really? Then give up socialism you silly lefties!
We all want peace in our lives. Nobody wants to live in a war
zone. Simple ideas, yet most people overlook what is likely to be
the main cause of Revolution, War, and Crime of the next 50 years.
If you really want peace in our time… Fix the money! Fix the
money! Fix the money!
Arguments still rage on, but it's generally accepted that we
need to roll out more sustainable power solutions and break away
from our reliance on fuels that are going to disappear one day.
As advances in solar, wave and wind technologies gather pace,
Dutch design house NL Architects has been looking at ways to
bring wind turbines closer to where the power they produce is
needed, instead of being located on remote hillsides.
245 MHz rong Bursts
State regulators heard a dissonant mixture of adulation for Duke
Energy's corporate citizenship and disgust with a proposed 19
percent electricity rate hike at Tuesday's field hearing in Kokomo,
as they continue gathering evidence on the Edwardsport power plant
project.
I wanted to get in touch regarding the waste problems facing North
America at present.
It’s no secret that disposal of municipal solid waste is a problem in
North America, particularly on the East Coast and near urban
conurbations.
Solar activity was low. Region 1164 (N25W06) produced a C5/1N
flare. An earth-directed CME was observed. Solar
activity is expected to remain
low for the next three days (04-06 March) with a chance for an M-class
event.
Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to major storm
conditons. The storms were confined to high latitudes while middle
latitudes experienced quiet to active levels. The disturbed
conditions were the result of the continued influence of the
recurrent coronal hole high speed stream that became geoeffective
earlier in the week.
A trio of top solar scientists said on Wednesday they had solved
the mystery behind the disappearance of sunspots, a phenomenon that
has stumped astrophysicists worldwide for more than two centuries.
Health Freedom Alliance Health & Wellness Foundation CHAD
Foundation's list.
Some of Antarctica's ice sheet is formed by water re-freezing
from below not just by snow falling on top as was traditionally
thought, findings showed on Thursday that will help scientists
project effects of climate change.
The US oil industry breathed a collective sigh of almost
palpable relief earlier this week when the federal Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement
green-lighted the first deepwater drilling permit since two
back-to-back moratoria hit the Gulf of Mexico last May.
The southern town of Arab Salim is looking forward to being fully
solar-powered after its residents approved the launch of a pilot
project under the supervision of their municipality, in an attempt
to save electricity and reduce pollution.
With gas prices spiraling ever higher, former GOP
presidential candidate and Forbes Magazine Publisher Steve
Forbes slammed the Obama administration’s reluctance to drill
for oil on Wednesday, accusing the administration of having
“anti-energy policies.”
TEP Solar is buying two solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in Italy from
BP Solar.
Soy is everywhere, from plastics to cosmetics and saturates
the food supply in everything from infant
formula to prison
food to “health” food. It’s inexpensive to grow, and the U.S., with
the help of Monsanto, is pumping it out at a dizzying and
unfortunately, sickening rate.
When Jefferson Keel, newly elected president of the National
Congress of American Indians (NCAI) delivered the
9th Annual State of Indian Nations Address on January 27,
2011, he opened his remarks with the notion of an “Era of
Recognition,” of “Responsibilities Met, or of Promises Kept.” He
said, “it brings us closer than ever to the true Constitutional
relationship between the United States and Indian nations. …to
what the Constitution calls a ‘more perfect union.’””
Despite recent headlines that might suggest otherwise, leading
installation and manufacturing players are losing market share.
We believe this is a healthy indication of both market growth
and increasing acceptance of solar as "mainstream" in the eyes
of both contractors and homeowners
U.S. Marines battling the Taliban in this insurgent stronghold
in southern Afghanistan are increasingly dubious about prospects
for a high-profile peace deal struck two months ago between the
government and the area's largest tribe.
The U.S. government could save tens of billions of dollars a
year by streamlining a bloated federal bureaucracy, according to
a report Tuesday from the Government Accountability Office.
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday reiterated President Barack
Obama's stance that the US has no plans to tap the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve despite unrest in Libya and the Middle East causing oil prices
to rise.
Last year, the reductions in fine particle and ozone pollution
from the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments prevented more than
160,000 cases of premature death, according to U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency estimates released Tuesday.
Opposition to the US Department of Energy's fiscal 2012 budget
request grew louder Thursday, with Republicans on the House of
Representatives committee that oversees DOE research spending Thursday
blasting the Obama administration's fiscal 2012 budget request for
wasting money at a time of economic turmoil.
The eastern cougar, a large and elusive tawny wild cat that once
prowled over wilderness in 21 states, is now extinct, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service said on Wednesday.
The productivity of U.S. workers increased in the fourth quarter
at a faster pace as companies sought to pare costs to preserve
profits.
The measure of employee output per hour rose at an unrevised 2.6
percent annual rate after a third-quarter gain of 2.3 percent,
figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Labor
expenses fell for a second straight year.
Vitamin D is essential for the formation, growth, and
repair of bones and for normal
calcium absorption and immune function. It is obtained
primarily through exposure of the skin to ultraviolet radiation in
sunlight, but it can also be obtained from some
foods and dietary supplements. Some recent research
suggests vitamin D may be able to stop or prevent cancer. Now, a
new study finds an enzyme that plays a role in metabolizing
vitamin D can predict lung cancer survival.
A proposed energy park in northern Weld County that Weld
commissioners will consider this month could feature energy storage
facilities, 200 acres of solar panels and an area that could be used
to recycle water pumped from oil and gas wells.
When it comes to
integrating wind into the transmission lines, system
operators say that they are challenged. While they
understand and appreciate the reasoning, they are
saying that the networks lack the flexibility to
handle wind variation.
Wyoming has become the fourth state to allow citizens to carry
concealed guns without a permit.
Billionaire real-estate magnate Sam Zell warns that Americans
should brace for a "disastrous" 25 percent decline in the
standard of living if the U.S. dollar’s reign as the global
reserve currency ever ends.
March
1, 2011
REMEMBER:
The natural world is the source of human life. We live from
the earth,
from the plants and animals, from the fire, the rain, and wind,
the rocks and sea, the sacred places,
and the voices of the ancestors.
The world is alive with feeling, awareness, and wisdom.
It has deep medicine.
To be on good terms with the natural world
is to be on good terms with your own life.
Not too long ago, a surge in oil prices such as this week's would
have caused a groan of misery from the U.S. farm belt, forced to pay
higher prices for tractor fuel and fertilizer. Today, farmers are
far more likely to cheer.
New nanomaterials research from the University at Buffalo could
lead to new solutions for an age-old public health problem: how to
separate bacteria from drinking water.
When people in the United States and around the world need to
know how the wind may blow and the sun may shine -- and how to best
harness that to power wind turbines or solar cells -- many turn to
the expertise inside a two-story office building off New Karner
Road.
One of the potentially limiting characteristics of solar power
is the fact that it takes up a lot of space. Solar panels
obviously aren't going to be of much use if they're stacked one
on top of the other, so instead must be spread out side-by-side,
so each one can soak up the sun's rays.
While
extreme
weather conditions and unusually cold temperatures
have gripped much of North America and Europe this
winter, unusually warm temperatures farther north
produced the lowest Arctic sea ice extent ever recorded for the
month of January,
This week represents, perhaps, the most important week of
lobbying for tribal nations since the end of the termination
era. At a variety of meetings in Washington, D.C., including the
National Congress of American Indians, leaders from Indian
country will fan out across Capitol Hill and make the case to
Congress against deep spending cuts.
Power in a small box? Skeptics say that
fuel cells will never multiply to the point of offering an alternative
to centralized, large, power-generation plants.
Nuclear power is too difficult to finance in today's economic
climate.Sunshine may be free but solar power is far from being
commercially viable.
Safe drinking water is becoming more and more of an issue in
California, with up to 8.5 million residents forced to rely on
water supplies that have been deemed unsafe more than five times
in a single year.
China faces acute environmental and resource strains that
threaten to choke growth unless the world's second-biggest economy
cleans up, the nation's environment minister said in an unusually
blunt warning.
A Commerce Department inspector general investigation into the
“Climategate” controversy finds that government scientists at the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did not manipulate
climate change data.
It’s the latest investigation to clear scientists of manipulating
climate data after thousands of e-mails from the University of East
Anglia’s Climate Research Unit were leaked in 2009.
Ireland’s ruling Fianna Fail party suffered a crushing defeat in
elections dominated by the economic collapse and an EU-IMF bailout,
exit polls showed yesterday, with the opposition poised to take
power.
Crude oil futures showed more volatility in European trade Monday,
with the wide trading range early in the session making for a choppy
market.
While unrest in North Africa and in the Middle East kept the Brent
contract trading above $110/barrel, news that OPEC is ready to raise
crude production in the event of a supply shortage pushed the
front-month contract down from the highs seen last week.
Erie Boulevard Hydropower LP has reached a settlement agreement
with St. Lawrence County and environmental and government groups
that paves the way for a new 40-year license to operate six
hydropower dams on the Oswegatchie River.
An experiment scrapped by General Motors nearly a decade ago now
is being charged up in Chandler to help motorists combat the rising
costs of gasoline.
When politicians tout the benefits of public subsidies for
electric vehicles, the argument inevitably comes down to two words:
Chicken. Egg.
It works like this: Consumers won't buy electric vehicles without
somewhere to charge them. But no one will build charging stations
without electric vehicles to use them.
Energy drinks are still a relatively new trend, so the health
risks do not become apparent until chronic use (or abuse)
manifests itself with dangerous side effects and in some cases
death. The potential danger lies in how youth are lulled into
thinking there is great value in drinking multiple cans a day,
guzzling quickly, or mixing with alcohol.
Residents of a
flood-prone Ohio city brightened as the waters crested Tuesday, a
day after wicked storms lashed the eastern half of the nation with
heavy rain and tornadoes, killing at least four people.
Canada took another major step towards greening its economy
today with an investment of $52 million to support the
commercialization of clean technologies
The U.S. Forest Service has grant money available for five more
north country entities to have free preliminary biomass
feasibility studies
The death toll of dolphins found washed ashore along the U.S.
Gulf Coast since last month climbed to nearly 60 on Thursday, as
puzzled scientists clamored to determine what was killing the marine
mammals.
Relatively harmless microbes which pass through water treatment
systems could be allowing dangerous bacteria, such as Legionella, to
reproduce in drinking water supplies, researchers have warned
following an international study.
The House early Saturday approved an Oklahoma Republican’s
amendment to federal spending legislation that would
thwart EPA from proceeding with a program to allow use of
higher amounts of ethanol in newer vehicles.
Professor Steven L. Winter based the title to his book A
Clearing in the Forest on a story told by William James
about his experiences in the forest in the mountains of South
Carolina. One day, James came across one of those large openings
in the forest that the “pioneers” had created by cutting down
all the trees to create a clearing. To James the areas looked
scarred and quite ugly.
After the boom and bust of the past few years, infrastructure
investments are regaining their image as safe and sound, in
addition to being looked upon as a solution to the world’s
economic woes, as outlined in the first of the two-part article
published last month. In this second part, recent developments
underlining the short-term positives, negatives and
uncertainties are highlighted.
At the request of U.S. Sen. Inhofe, the Department of Commerce
Inspector General conducted an independent review of the emails
stolen in November 2009 from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at
the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and found no
evidence of impropriety or reason to doubt NOAA’s handling of
its climate data.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave government ministers
100 days to deliver results and eliminate corruption or be
fired, the government announced after an emergency cabinet
meeting Sunday.
Pharmaceutical companies will try to profit any way possible,
and the recent push to place millions on statin drugs in the
name of high cholesterol has been the latest goal to peddle
drugs to healthy people. Although this time, even the mainstream
media has discovered the intent, publishing studies that reveal
the ineffectiveness and dangers of such unnecessary medications.
Scientists at
Yale
University have done what materials scientists have been trying
to do for decades – create a material that boasts the look,
strength and durability of metal that can be molded into complex
shapes as simply and cheaply as plastic.
New Zealand's earthquake-shattered city of Christchurch prepared
to bury the first victim on Monday of last week's devastating tremor
that killed at least 148 people as aftershocks forced the evacuation
of scores of people in hillside suburbs.
Companies that genetically engineer crops have a lock on what we
know about their safety and benefits.
Soybeans, corn, cotton and canola -- most of the acres
planted in these crops in the United States are genetically
altered. "Transgenic" seeds reduce the use of some insecticides.
But herbicide use is higher, and respected experts argue that
some genetically engineered crops may also pose serious health
and environmental risks. The benefits of genetically engineered
crops may be overstated.
Federal researchers with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said
Thursday that a proposed study of cancer risks around nuclear
facilities could improve the public's trust in existing evidence
that radiation doses emitted from those plants aren't harmful.
6.0 M - BIO-BIO, CHILE
By the fall, half a dozen wind turbines should be churning away
atop the Circus Tree Center building on Scotts Valley Drive, the
first of what could be dozens perched on structures across the city.
Region 1164 (N27E46) produced several C-class events. An associated CME was observed.
he geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on day one (28 February). Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected for days two and three (01-02 March) due to the effects of a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream.
Russia's nuclear energy agency says the order to remove fuel from
the Russian-built nuclear plant in Iran came because of concerns
that metal particles might be contaminating fuel assemblies.
Questions about the safety of a popular herbicide made by
Monsanto Co have resurfaced in a warning from a U.S. scientist that
claims top-selling Roundup may contribute to plant disease and
health problems for farm animals.
Psammaplin A is a naturally occurring chemical found in the sea
sponge that has been found to block several components that are
involved in the growth and division of cancer cells.
US Senator Sherrod Brown Monday asked the White House to assess the
economic impacts of federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions on
the electric power sector and manufacturing and explore a settlement
with energy-intensive industries.
I'm awarding two black eyes-one for Xcel Energy
and one for the Colorado Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC)-for failure to manage a smart grid pilot.
Years of planning, hard work and anticipation were reduced to a
single turn of a dial.
As a small switch was turned Thursday in west Porterville, the
state's largest utility-owned solar voltaic station was connected to
the Central Valley power grid.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 (Minor) level are likely.
Geomagnetic
storms reaching the G1 (Minor) level are expected.
Ten eastern states in a greenhouse gas reduction program have
invested more than half of their carbon permit auction proceeds, or
about $404 million, in energy efficiency, the group said on Monday.
With violence raging in the streets of Libya and turmoil
across the Arab world from Tunisia to Oman rattling oil markets,
and with Brent crude at its highest price in two years,
renewable energy companies would seem poised to cash in on fears
about security of energy supplies.
The public power producer creates tritium to boost the explosive
power of the nation's warheads at one of its nuclear plants. It
wants to test mini-nuclear reactors, an untried concept.
The U.S. agency that tracks complaints of criminal activity
on the Internet reported Thursday that fewer people complained
about Internet fraud in 2010 than in the previous year.
The second, or preliminary, estimate of U.S. fourth-quarter 2010
GDP growth was revised down to an annualized 2.8% from the 3.2%
advance estimate, disappointing market expectations for a
revised 3.3% growth rate. The second estimate of fourth-quarter
2010 consumer spending growth was revised down to a still solid
4.1% from the 4.4% advance estimate, marking a slightly larger
downward revision than market expectations for a 4.2% rate.
Pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Wyeth are happy, no
doubt, with the recent Supreme Court decision protecting them
from liability in vaccine-injury claims. The ruling was a blow
to the Bruesewitz family who had been fighting for most of their
daughter Hannah’s life to receive monetary damages when Hannah’s
development noticeably slowed after some early vaccines.
Call it global warming, climate change,
greenhouse gas effects or just plain wacky weather – no matter what
you name it, explaining these concepts is challenging. Now the Yale
Forum on Climate Change & the Media has searched internationally and
collected an array of
interactive graphics and links that provide some fascinating ways to
visualize climate-related changes such as water depletion,
rising seas, monumental flooding and worldwide CO2 emissions.
“It’s never been easy to report on climate change or many other
environmental topics, for that matter,” writes Deborah Potter
for the Forum. “The issues are not only complicated, they’re
often invisible.”
Why do we listen to manufactured, trumped-up, faux-authorities
on health? WHO, the AMA, countless front groups, and now the
self-proclaimed Institute of Medicine? Do you notice the trend
in vitamin bashing? The bent towards programming Americans into
thinking vitamins are toxic or unnecessary to our well-being
should scare us more than the possibility of taking too many.
The following article connects the dots in the recent “vitamins
are bad” web of lies.
"Over the last couple of generations, there has been a huge
amount of groundwater pollution worldwide, and this has had a
negative impact on our drinking water supply," says Barbara Sherwood
Lollar, Canada Research Chair in Isotope Geochemistry of the Earth
and the Environment at the University of Toronto.
It is so painful to watch the horror show underway
in Libya right now. Estimates tell us that at least 1,000
Libyans are dead. Many more are wounded. Some 100,000 people
have apparently fled Libya in recent days as the situation goes
from bad to worse.
Tens of thousands gather in the streets of Sa’na, demanding the
ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh—it’s the Yemeni edition of
the Great Arab Awakening sweeping the Middle East and toppling
governments
previously
counted as US allies. Aside from framing events within this rather
broad narrative, however, what is really going on inside
Yemen—and why is it important to the rest of the world?
It's tough t o be a trailblazer.
Just ask Luis Cordero and his wife Christine.
It's been two years since the retired Navy veteran sought
permission from South Whitehall to erect a small barn in his
backyard which he hoped to eventually top with energy-creating solar
panels.
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