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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and
free in a state of civilization, it expects
what never was and never will be..."
Thomas
Jefferson
Can
this not be taken to an even greater level,
to that of preparation and being
independent? We cannot realistically be free
from the control of others if we don't have
the knowledge or the tools to manage our own
destinies. If we can't grow a simple garden
for our food, if we can't utilize food
storage methods to put up food for the
future, if we can't make do without the
trappings of "civilization" such as
electricity or gas, then we aren't really
free at all. [ed]
September 28, 2012
More than 100 million people will
die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 if the world fails to
tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments
said on Wednesday.
Layoffs announced by wind turbine
maker Gamesa Energy USA in Pennsylvania and Siemens Wind Power
in two western states are among cutbacks that are on track to
total about 10,000 jobs in the wind energy industry this year,
the American Wind Energy Association said.
With the election fast approaching,
national security and clean-energy business leaders called for
American politicians to stop treating clean energy "like a
political football" and start treating it like an industry.
The Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean headed the non-profit
group's rankings of nations most vulnerable to the combined
effects of higher carbon dioxide emissions and ocean
temperatures, and the increasing acidity of the world's water.
Nations that depend heavily on seafood as a source of protein
may face increased food insecurity, with shellfish like oysters,
clams and mussels particularly vulnerable, it said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday called for
the end of the "hegemonic" powers of the United States and
Israel, whom he described as "the uncivilized Zionists." He said
the world would "soon" see new "global management" by the
Twelfth Imam, also known as the "Mahdi," and his deputy, Jesus
Christ.
Iran is under threat of military
action from "uncivilized Zionists," a clear reference to Israel,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday, saying
that such threats from big powers are designed to force nations
into submission.
Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®
(PMMS®), showing fixed mortgage rates breaking their previous
average record lows helping to keep homebuyer affordability high
and refinancing strong to support an already improving housing
market. All mortgage products, except the 5-year ARM, averaged
new all-time record lows.
No doubt about it, the less sugar
you include in your diet, the better. But replacing sugar with
aspartame is not the solution, and in fact is likely to be even worse for your health.
Trump's company is developing a
golf course on top of a New York landfill that was closed in
1963, New York's Daily News reported. An increase in methane gas
in surrounding areas has neighboring residents concerned the
volatile gas will leak into their basements, creating an
explosive situation.
Fifty-four percent of CFOs in the
U.S. do not foresee any changes in the health of the economy
during the next six months, according to a survey by Grant
Thornton LLP. Still, most CFOs surveyed are optimistic about
maintaining (45 percent) or increasing (37 percent) their
headcount over the next six months.
This week’s riot at Foxconn, a
Taiwanese-owned factory in China that manufactures electronics
for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and other Western firms, spells trouble
for China, which has seen a recent trend of foreign
manufacturers pulling out of the country and moving operations
to other countries with lower wages. Although Apple probably has
too much invested to pull out of China, the Foxconn riot will
increase international criticism of the company over conditions
in its factories.
Shale gas has jolted traditional
roles in the planet's climate drama, giving cleaner fuel to the
United States, whose displaced coal has headed to Europe to
pollute the old continent.
The glut of natural gas unleashed
by hydraulic fracturing -- and the resulting low prices -- make
it seem like a no-brainer: Ditch coal-fired electric plants,
with all their baggage about air pollution and water
consumption, and switch to natural gas.
Not only liberals can be
environmentalists. Conservatives can be, too. They just see the
solutions to environmental problems differently.
Look, I can tell you from firsthand
experience that being able to cook food and boil water with
multiple different fuel sources is a real gift in a time of
need. Not to mention the Crisis Cooker practically guarantees
that you will be able to keep you and your family safe and
nourished when the SHTF.
We have all likely seen water
dripping down from the back of an air conditioner, but did you
ever think it could saves lives? As it turns out, the same
concept that produces air conditioner condensate could be a
lifesaver to 150 million people without access to drinking
water.
Neighbors fighting plans for a
trash-burning power plant just across the Baltimore City line
are circulating petitions as a final call to action before
Friday's deadline to comment on the controversial project.
An El Nino event, usually
associated with significant changes in rainfall, is likely to
develop this month and next in the Pacific, affecting global
climate patterns, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
said on Tuesday.
The
respected polling firm Gallup asked voters in August what the
most important issue facing the country was, and only 1% cited
energy. That’s down sharply from the 25% of poll respondents who
cited energy as the top issue in the days before the 2008
election, in which Republicans coined the rallying cry “Drill,
baby, drill!” in response to high oil and gasoline prices.
Toxic chemicals, including some
that are so dangerous to children they have been banned from
toys, are widely used in popular flooring materials, and new
research shows that these chemicals can be taken up by infants’
bodies as they crawl along on the floor.
France's national short-term
nuclear power outlook dropped Thursday, after nuclear operator
EDF delayed scheduled restarts of several reactors, data from
grid operator RTE showed.
A proposal to renew a federal tax
credit aimed at encouraging "green power" development is hung up
in Congress, possibly jeopardizing growth of the business and
the players in the U.S. wind energy industry, including
Fairfield-based General Electric Co., experts said.
The Fed has announced that it will
buy $40 billion a month of new mortgage-backed securities for an
indefinite period.
The central bank also said it will
re-invest funds from maturing government securities. And it will
continue Operation Twist, which entails buying long-term
Treasurys and selling short-term Treasury paper.
Put all
that together, and you may get $2 trillion, Goldman economists
estimate in a report obtained by CNNMoney.
Google Maps now lets users
virtually 'walk' underwater in Street View to see panoramic
views of ocean life and coral reefs from around the world
Recently, drought seems to be a
fact of life. As the lead photograph poignantly illustrates,
most of the U.S. has been struggling with serious levels of
drought for the past several years. Worldwide, drought affected
areas include Europe, India and Pakistan, Russia, much of
Africa, South America – the list goes on. But when the rains
start again, everyone expresses great relief, not realizing that
long-term depletion of groundwater reserves is part of the price
for surviving drought.
Demonstrators earlier filled
central Syntagma Square in Athens, opposite the Parliament
House, shouting slogans such as “struggle, clash, overturn:
history gets written by those who disobey.” Police spokesman
Takis Papapetropoulos estimated the crowd at 35,000 people.
Police said 105 people were detained, 21 were arrested and 8
officers were injured.
Utilities are increasingly
realizing that customers want to mitigate the environmental
impact of their electricity use. As the trend continues, more
utilities will turn to green power programs to support these
customers.
Leading Democrats in the US House
of Representatives asked federal agencies Thursday what steps
they may be taking to reduce the "tremendous amount of
electricity" used by data centers.
With a plethora of solar modules and providers on the market,
surely consumers would shop around and go for the cheapest
option? Well think again, says Marco Mangelsdorf...
NASA scientists have directed the Hubble Space Telescope to
inspect a tiny patch of sky with an unusually long exposure time
to obtain the deepest image of the sky ever obtained. The image,
dubbed the Hubble Extreme Deep Field (XDF), reveals the faintest
and most distant galaxies ever detected, shedding more light on
the early history of the universe.
The Iranian government this week
used the controversial anti-Islam YouTube video that contributed
to anti-American protests over the last two weeks as an excuse
to block access to Google, raising concerns that Tehran is on
the verge of blocking all access to the internet and replacing
it with an internal online network. Although the regime will
continue to work to expand internet controls, it will not be
able to completely block access to the internet and still has to
decide whether to risk introducing an internal online system
that would prove highly unpopular and would hurt the Iranian
economy.
“People kept calling for the truth
and, in the end, the administration realized that what they had
tried to put together – blaming it on this movie and having it
as a spontaneous act rather as being a terrorist act – wasn’t
going to sell because it obviously wasn’t true,” Isakson, a
Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,..
Commenting on data released earlier
in the day by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which
showed Japan's Iranian crude imports in August dropped 66.8%
year on year to 101,000 b/d, he said it was "merely to do with
loading schedules."
Libyan officials are working to
break up the violent armed gangs that were behind the attack on
the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and to disarm heavily armed
militias and thugs who refuse to answer to government control.
Protests by the Libyan people against Islamist extremists
provided the government some momentum this week to address the
problem of militias and al-Qaeda-related groups. But it was not
enough. In this piece, LIGNET explains the security situation
inside Libya and the challenges the government faces.
Earth's magnetic field is filled with particles from the Sun
some of which penetrate our planets magnetic defenses. They
enter by following magnetic field lines that can be traced from
Earth's surface all the way back to the Sun's atmosphere.
The November 6 presidential and congressional elections may
dramatically influence stock prices as the markets anticipate
the ramifications to public policy. While uncertainty
surrounding a national election is not a new phenomenon, the
impact of this particular election could be long lasting for the
banking industry and the economy in general.
The continued growth of Marcellus Shale gas production is
bringing two Northeast pricing hubs — Millennium Pipeline, East
receipts, and Texas Eastern Transmission zone M-2 — to the
forefront as these new supplies seek alternative transportation
options.
Medical prices accelerated faster
than some projections last year and the number of uninsured is
rising, according to data that show the U.S. goal of expanding
health care is veering onto a more difficult road.
Astronomers have found evidence
that the Milky Way is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas
extending for hundreds of thousands of light years
A national program to collect and recycle mercury-containing
automotive switches has reached the 4.5 million milestone.
The total equates to more than 5 tons of mercury that has
been collected, recycled and diverted from being released into
the environment, according to a news release.
If your child is struggling in school, you may want to
evaluate his level of physical activity and fitness.
Researchers have repeatedly found connections between fitness
and brain health, which naturally impacts all areas of brain
function, such as cognitive thinking skills and memory.
The Federal Reserve has something
in common with the NFL’s replacement officials, says Pimco CEO
Mohamed El-Erian — expectations that are too high.
If
GMO labels are required in California, it’s extremely likely
that many nationwide food companies will use the same
GMO-labeled packaging in all states.
A non-Earth directed full halo CME
was observed in both STEREO A-B and LASCO imagery early in the
period. slight chance for M-class activity for the next
three days (28 - 30 September). The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at predominantly quiet levels for the next three
days (28 - 30 September).
100,000 Gallons of Water to Produce a Single Megawatt Hour of
Electricity? In a Time of Drought and Growing Water Shortages,
"Business As Usual" Energy Approach Ignore Huge Water and Other
Hidden Costs. Huge demands on increasingly scarce water are a
major hidden cost of a "business as usual" approach to American
electricity generation that needs to be more fully understood by
policymakers and the public...
For the first time ever, researchers have identified a
crucial protein responsible for the decline of muscle repair and
agility as the body ages. Upon this discovery, the scientists
were able to effectively halt muscle decline in mice, giving
hope to similar treatments for humans in the future.
Most pollsters are weighting their
data on the assumption that the 2012 electorate will turn out in
the same proportion as the 2008 voters did. But polling
indicates a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the president among
his core constituency. He'll still carry them by heavy margins,
but the turnout will likely lag behind the 2008 stats.
Purchases of new U.S. homes hovered
in August near a two-year high, adding to signs that the housing
market is on the way to recovery.
Salt marshes around the world's coasts will help slow climate
change until about 2050 by soaking up greenhouse gases but then
risk making the problem even worse as sea levels rise, a study
showed on Wednesday.
Unless policymakers in Congress can agree to a deficit
reduction program by year's end, the federal government will
automatically enact 8.9 percent budget cuts for all
discretionary spending beginning January 3, 2013. These cuts,
commonly referred to as "sequestration," were built into last
summer's negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. As funding for
almost all scientific agencies is classified as discretionary,
the consequences of these cuts for the science and engineering
community would be catastrophic.
15 important facts not included in
LA Times' solar subsidies story.
A Syrian rebel bomb attack reduced
the army headquarters in Damascus to a smouldering wreck on
Wednesday as world leaders, unable to break the diplomatic
deadlock in the conflict, met at the United Nations.
As before, we assess our elected officials according to their
activity in three important issue areas: your right to access
natural health options; your right to choose toxic-free food and
drink; and your right to the healthy food of your choice.
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
can officially say that it now operates the largest
vertical-axis wind turbine installation of its kind in the
United States.
Energy companies should not drill
for crude oil in Arctic waters because the environmental risks
are too high, Total SA Chief Executive Officer Christophe de
Margerie said in the Financial Times on Wednesday.
The United States needs tougher
policies when dealing with China that include GOP presidential
candidate Mitt Romney’s plans to declare the Asian giant as
currency manipulator, said billionaire real estate mogul Donald
Trump.
Big companies have been the beneficiaries of
current Chinese trade policies, while U.S. jobless rates remain
high.
Tunisia has been viewed by the West
as the Arab Spring’s major success story because of its
relatively peaceful democratic transition and election of a
moderate Islamist government. However, the September 14 attack
on the U.S. embassy and an American school demonstrate the
challenges facing the country from a small dedicated group of
radical Islamists who reject democracy and the West and are
determined to turn the country into a strict Islamist state.
Extensive interviews conducted with current and former U.N.
staffers in eight peacekeeping forces who lodged complaints
against higher-ups found widespread frustration over "managers
who committed misconduct and were rarely sanctioned," said the
Washington-based organization, Government Accountability Project
(GAP).
The United Arab Emirates has
arrested 60 Islamists associated with the political and
religious group al-Islah whom it alleges were plotting to form
an armed group in order to seize power and establish a new
Islamist state in the Gulf country. However, it is more likely
that the government’s crackdown on al-Islah, which it claims is
a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, is an attempt to silence critics
of the regime and prevent the formation of a unified domestic
opposition.
The lease sale will include 400
tracts and cover about 4.5 million acres in the NPR-A. The most
recent NPR-A lease sale, held last December, made 283 tracts and
3 million acres available.
Eight members of Congress on
Thursday urged the US Department of Commerce to close a loophole
in its tariffs on Chinese solar panels that allows Chinese
manufacturers to skirt the penalties by simply outsourcing the
production of photovoltaic cells.
Tell someone that you’ve invented a
car that runs on water and they're liable to report you for
fraud. That hasn’t stopped scientists and engineers at the U.S.
Naval Research Laboratory (NSL) who want to run warships on
seawater – or at least, to turn seawater into jet fuel.
Did you know it takes
100,000 gallons of water to produce a single megawatt hour of
electricity? Well according to a new report out today,
it does – unless you’re using wind or solar power that is. So
maybe, with much of the world battling more regular bouts of
drought and water shortages it’s something policy makers need to
start taking more notice of?
As this column has sometimes
pointed out ways in which the effects of global warming are
happening more slowly than predicted, it is fair to record that
this rate of decline in Arctic sea ice is faster than many
predicted. Although an entirely ice-free Arctic Ocean during at
least one week a year is still several decades away at this
rate, we are halfway there after just three decades.
A massive monthly decline in US
durable goods orders in August once again demonstrated the
vulnerability of the US manufacturing sector. The 13% MoM drop
is only rivaled by declines during the 08-09 crisis. Granted, a
large portion of this was driven by aircraft orders, but it is
worrying nevertheless.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
has confirmed that groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming, on the
Wind River Indian Reservation contains contaminants associated
with fracking—linking, for the first time, the
hydraulic-fracturing method of extracting oil and gas from shale
with water pollution.
September 25, 2012
The insider attacks in Afghanistan
that have killed 51 American and other NATO troops this year
appear to be a Taliban tactic to undermine Western resolve and
drive a wedge between international troops and Afghan forces.
Despite a claim by Secretary of Defense Panetta that these
attacks are a “last gasp” by the Taliban, LIGNET believes they
could significantly set back NATO efforts to build an effective
Afghan military that will be capable of assuming responsibility
for domestic security when the NATO-led force withdraws in 2014.
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on Monday disregarded a U.N. warning to avoid
incendiary rhetoric and declared ahead of the annual General
Assembly session that Israel has no roots in the Middle East and
would be "eliminated."
The hole in the ozone layer, the earth's protective shield
against ultraviolet rays, is expected to be smaller this year
over the Antarctic than last, showing how a ban on harmful
substances has stopped its depletion, the United Nations said on
Friday.
But the hole is probably larger than in 2010 and a complete
recovery is still a long way off.
Arctic sea ice, a key indicator of climate change, melted to
its lowest level on record this year before beginning its
autumnal freeze, researchers at the U.S. National Snow and Ice
Data Center said on Wednesday.
The extent of ice probably hit its low point on September 16,
when it covered 1.32 million square miles (3.42 million square
km) of the Arctic Ocean, the smallest amount since satellite
records began 33 years ago.
Local pollution in the Arctic from
shipping and oil and gas industries, which have expanded in the
region due to a thawing of sea ice caused by global warming,
could further accelerate that thaw, experts say.
We're in the midst of several
crises as a country, most notably the news of instability,
unrest, and terrorist actions that are ping-ponging from every
media outlet available. Our embassies are being overrun, our
foreign policy is in tatters, our State Department ignores
threats to our foreign personnel, and our president would rather
play golf than attend his daily security briefings.
Currently serving his second term
as president, Ahmadinejad -- a believer that the Twelfth Imam is
coming soon to annihilate the U.S. and Israel and to set up a
global Islamic caliphate -- is expected to leave office in 2013.
This may be, therefore, the Iranian leader's last address to the
U.N. in his current role. He has spoken about the imminent
arrival of the Twelfth Imam or "Promised One" in every U.N.
speech so far. Will he go further this time?
It was just six
words, but when President Barack Obama gave a shout-out to
global warming in his acceptance speech this month, he
reintroduced an issue that had all but disappeared from the
political debate.
"Climate change is not a hoax," Obama
said, an assertion that brought Democratic National Convention
delegates to their feet, as he pledged to continue approaching
energy policy in a way he said would "continue to reduce the
carbon pollution that is heating our planet."
The Federal Reserve’s decision to
roll out a third round of bond purchases from banks to jolt the
economy reveals the U.S. central bank will do whatever it takes
to fuel job demand, even if it means pumping inflation rates up,
said Axel Merk, president and CIO of Merk Investments and a
Moneynews contributor.
Big Oil knows where the money is,
and its buried with the shale gas. The latest such foray into
that arena is ExxonMobil’s agreement to buy Denbury’s shale
assets in North Dakota’s Bakken field, which is awash in oil and
gas.
House Bill 6213 limits further
taxpayer exposure from the loan guarantee program established
under the Energy Policy Act. The bill would prohibit the
Secretary of Energy from issuing any new loan guarantees for
applications submitted after a specified date. Introduced
July 26 and sent to a committee on energy and commerce.
As of Friday, the solar subsidy for
residential and commercial customers of San Diego Gas & Electric
and Pacific Gas & Electric fell to $0.20 per installed watt,
according to data from the California Solar Initiative (CSI).
This is a significant drop from the original rebate of $2.50 per
installed watt. Southern California Edison is currently offering
a rebate of $0.35 per installed watt of solar.
Ontario environmental officials are blaming a recent mass
fish kill in Lake Erie on oxygen deprivation due to a
temperature inversion that caused carcasses to wash up on a
20-mile stretch of the lake’s coast in early September.
Meanwhile, jurisdiction on cleanup was in question as the
rotting fish—carp, sheepshead, perch, catfish, suckers, big head
buffalo and others—lay on the lake’s beaches and stunk up the
region for more than a week.
At a recent conference in Dubai,
the theme was the relationship among international oil
companies, national oil companies and governments, about job
creation, the severe shortage of skilled manpower to meet a
growing and more diverse energy industry and investment
constraints in the Middle East, where the state-owned oil and
gas monopolies own the resources but where the laws and
regulations governing foreign investment vary from country to
country.
Saudi Arabia’s 41GW by 2032 solar
plan has attracted remarkable attention from the global CSP
industry when it was announced this summer, given that 25GW of
the planned capacity will be generated through CSP.
The worst drought to hit the United
States in a half century expanded in the upper Midwest and
northern Plains states in the past week due to warmer- and
drier-than-normal weather, but loosened its grip on some central
and southern areas of the country
A two-year long French feeding study designed to evaluate the
long-term health effects of a genetically engineered corn found
that rats fed Monsanto’s maize developed massive breast tumors,
kidney and liver damage, and other serious health problems. The
major onslaught of diseases set in during the 13th month
Fuel consumption in new vehicles
could be slashed by half in the next 20 years, helping the world
curb its dependency on oil, provided governments set up bold
policies to boost the use of available technologies, the
International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
While much of the world is turning
its back on nuclear energy, the villagers of Kudankulam, in a
part of India hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, say their
government is gambling with their lives by opening one of Asia's
first new nuclear reactors since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in
Japan.
Scientists reported Sunday that
they have completed a major analysis of the genetics of breast
cancer, finding four major classes of the disease. They hope
their work will lead to more effective treatments, perhaps with
some drugs already in use.
Two global studies commissioned by
Vestas reveal 85% of consumers want more renewable energy and
49% show a willingness to pay more for products made with
renewable energy, while corporations are continuing to show
preference for investing in renewable energy.
Speaker says, 'If you build it
(pretty), recyclers will come'
September
estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show
2012 U.S. corn yields at 123 bushels per acre, down by a fourth
from the 2009 high of 165 bushels per acre. Yields are the
lowest since 1995 and well below the average of the last 30
years. The summer heat and drought also hit U.S. soybean yields,
which are down 20 percent from their 2009 peak.
Recent cyber attacks on the
websites of JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC), and Citigroup (NYSE: C) probably are a sign of increased
capabilities of Iran’s so-called ‘cyber army’ and indicate that
Tehran is escalating its covert war against America and its
Western allies.
Japan's cabinet has approved a new
energy plan to cut the country's reliance on nuclear power in
the wake of last year's Fukushima disaster, but dropped a
reference to meet a nuclear- free target by the 2030s, ministers
said on Wednesday.
Real Clear Politics, September 17, 2012
Methods and locations for the
disposal of nuclear fuel remain unclear as the government
maintains a directionless course over its nuclear policy, which
is full of inconsistencies on eliminating nuclear power by the
2030s.
Teaming up with WaterStep, a
Louisville, Kentucky-based organization that works to provide
solutions to the root causes of waterborne illness through
training and readily-available technology, and Louisville Water
Company, GE employees and retirees have been volunteering their
time to help design a water purification system that is more
affordable, more compact and easier to install in developing
countries, while being manufactured with components and tools
typically available at any hardware store.
Using century-long know-how in nitrogen-based applications
Yara is now entering into the CSP market with research and
development, innovating a new generation of molten salts to be
used for CSP storage purposes.
We're getting answers to some unanswered questions on DHS
Secretary Janet Napolitano's Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) memo that went out in June. And the answers to
those questions, not surprisingly, aren't very good.
While it isn't unusual to hear
about developers in states like California building solar PV
into their home designs, initiatives focused on trying to
achieve net-zero energy are just getting off the ground.
From my perspective, this new
finding is amazing and gives even more evidence outlining an
intimate relationship between our galaxy Milky Way, the Sun, the
Earth, and Humans. Scientists call it "charged particles" - the
Mayans call it "the 5th element - ether."
Researchers at the University of
Nottingham have developed another weapon in the ongoing war to
reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from fossil
fuel-burning power plants. The researchers have created a new
porous material called NOTT-300 that they claim is cheaper and
more efficient than existing materials at capturing polluting
gases, such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, from flue gas.
New study shows a
significant stratospheric impact on the world's ocean
currents. Recurring stratospheric vortex events create
long-duration disturbance at the ocean surface, which penetrate
into the deeper ocean and trigger multi-decadal variability in
its circulation. This leads to the remarkable fact which signals
that strong-wind discharge from the stratosphere crosses the
entire atmospheric-oceanic system.
When it comes to preparedness, you
need a lot of "stuff" in a lot of different categories. It can
be overwhelming at times ... not to mention expensive.
Fortunately, I have a way for you to get your hands on a wide
variety of survival gear, without dropping a ton of money.
Just as the nuclear industry is starting to build reactors
after a 30-year drought, it faces another dry spell.
The industry thought it had what it needed for its rebirth:
federal loan guarantees; a uniform reactor design; a streamlined
licensing process. The nightmares from the 1979 partial meltdown
at Three Mile Island, 1,000 new safety regulations and cost
overruns would be left in the past, industry officials believed.
When President Barack Obama
designated the new Chimney Rock National Monument (Monument)
September 21, he affirmed the area’s centuries-old cultures that
are maintained by today’s tribal descendants. The designation
also carries the potential for increased tourism in the area.
A shipping container was discovered
to contain radioactive material and has been quarantined at an
eastern Pennsylvania landfill.
An overwhelming majority of
Americans believe poverty is a major problem in the United
States these days, a new Rasmussen Reports survey finds.
The leadership of the rebel Free Syrian Army is moving from
Turkey into Syrian territories its fighters seized, its leader
said Saturday.
FSA head Riad
al-Asaad made the announcement in a video posted online. The
move is a milestone for the rebel group, which formed last year.
It grew steadily as soldiers defecting from President Bashar
al-Assad's army signed up to fight against the regime.
Clean tech may create a highly
partisan debate in Washington D.C., but in the rest of country,
it creates jobs. A new report examines the sharp contrasts
between political rhetoric and on-the-ground reality, and shows
that red states – not blue states – are leading clean tech or
“green job” growth.
A trend of insurance companies
backing away from extreme-weather-threatened regions might leave
taxpayers on the hook for more natural disaster cleanup efforts,
according to a report released Thursday.
No Earth-directed CMEs were
observed during the reporting period. a slight chance for
M-class flares. The geomagnetic field was quiet.
Among the policies Romney plans to
push is protecting American intellectual property rights from
what he has repeatedly referred to as "cheaters in China,"
crafting agreements to increase international trade, approving
the Keystone XL oil pipeline and renewing a push for drilling in
the Gulf of Mexico. The goal: to convince Americans that they
would fare better economically under his presidency.
She added: “The important thing
about our study is that it gives a historical perspective to
this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer
rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have
looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of
data.”
The smart grid transformation is
resulting in an enormous volume of data – a data deluge –
flowing into utilities at a high rate. The volume of data is
expected to grow by several orders of magnitude over time.
Utilities must solve data collection and storage challenges and
learn how to analyze and act on new forms of information before
they even get to the point of realizing real returns on their
smart grid investments.
New research powerfully strengthens the
case against soda and other sugary drinks as culprits in the
obesity epidemic.
A huge, decades-long study involving
more than 33,000 Americans has yielded the first clear proof
that drinking sugary beverages interacts with genes that affect
weight, amplifying a person's risk of obesity beyond what it
would be from heredity alone.
Sustainability strategies are gaining a stronger foothold
among CFOs worldwide, found a global survey from professional
services network Deloitte LLP.
The survey, which included CFOs in 14 countries, found more
than half of CFOs have increased their involvement with
sustainability over the past year. Nearly half saw a
"significant link" between sustainability performance and
financial performance, according to the survey.
A Case of "Big Brother Knows Best"?
The undemocratic process adopted by the council received
nationwide media coverage, and for good reason. So far,
citizens have already voted 'no' on water fluoridation for
Portland on three separate occasions, clearly demonstrating
the public will on this subject. This time, more than 275
residents testified at the public hearing, according to
The New York Times, with more than 60 percent of them
speaking out against the practice. The pro-fluoride lobby
were unfairly given a full hour to present their case before
the council, while those in opposition were given no time.
Torence Trammel works 12-hour
shifts transforming pine trees into power.
China is this week poised to take its first step towards a
multi-billion pound stake in the programme to build Britain's
new nuclear power stations.
An announcement is expected to confirm that a Communist
State-run company is set to invest up to pounds sterling 5
billion in two nuclear plants.
Fracking, the use of hydraulic
pressure to release natural gas and oil from shale, has the
potential to meet energy demands with U.S. resources and
stimulate the economy. However, the practice also carries
possible environmental and public health risks, most notably
water contamination.
A University of Minnesota research
team is addressing this challenge by developing innovative
biotechnology to purify fracking wastewater.
The Civil Society Institute and the
Environmental Working Group report titled “The Hidden Costs of
Electricity: Comparing the Hidden Costs of Power Generation
Fuels” found that crop irrigation for a biomass plant can use as
much a 100,000 gallons of water to make 1 megawatt-hour, the
groups said today in a statement. Coal and nuclear use as much
as 50,000 and 60,000 gallons for the same power, respectively.
Federal policies that promote
electric vehicles, such as tax credits or incentives for
carmakers, will cost US taxpayers about $7.5 billion through
2019, and may not result in lower gasoline consumption or
greenhouse gas emissions, the Congressional Budget Office said
in a new report.
The US House of Representatives
approved legislation Friday intended to protect the coal
industry and jobs by reining in federal environmental laws,
drawing swift reaction from environmental groups and political
opponents.
A warming trend has contributed to
a sharp rise in the number and size of wildfires on forest lands
in the U.S. West, where big burns are likely to become the norm,
according to a report released on Tuesday by a climate research
group.
The majority of the world's
population drinks from rivers and streams that have received
discharges from upstream users. In most of the industrialized
developed world, there are treated wastewater discharges that
become a source of drinking water supply for downstream users.
It is nothing new. We've been doing it for centuries. What is
new is that today's technology makes it cleaner and safer. Water
reuse is the key to a sustainable future.
September 21, 2012
For me, I consider attending the
2012 E-Cat conference in Zurich to be one of the top five things
that has happened so far in the decade I have been covering
exotic free energy developments. The quality of the venue was
excellent, as I had anticipated; but the material presented and
the caliber of people attending were above my expectations.
We are on the brink of a major unfolding, as this cold
fusion technology begins to make its way into the marketplace.
According to research from the American Coalition for Clean
Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the total number of coal plant
retirements nationwide is triple the amount EPA had predicted
would be caused by its regulations.
The research shows 204 coal units nationally are spread
across 25 states and represent 31,000 megawatts of electric
generating capacity.
The harassment faced by U.S.-based climate scientists has
been well documented in the media—but not the harassment of
scientists in Europe, Canada or the rest of the world.
That's because there hasn't been much to report.
Each DVD in the
Homestead Blessings series teaches you about one
of the many "arts" of homemaking and homesteading.
Something Is Happening With Earth's Core: New findings
suggest a series of current events are weakening the Earth's
magnetic field. Above the liquid outer core is the mantle; a
solid rock composition which can be molded or shaped due to the
intense heat and high pressure. At the boundary between Earth's
core and mantle at a depth of 2900 km (1,802 miles), there is an
intense heat exchange.
Hard scientific evidence has come forth confirming Earth's
magnetic field is weakening. New research shows a slow
flowing solid mantle and its symbiotic connection with a hot
fast flowing outer core is the central focus as to the cause of
Earth's magnetic field weakening.
In mankind's attempts to gain some
understanding of this marvelous place in which we live, we have
slowly come to accept some principles to help guide our search.
One such principle is that the Universe, on a large enough
scale, is homogeneous, meaning that one part looks pretty much
like another. Recent studies by a group of Australian
researchers have established that, on sizes greater than about
250 million light years (Mly), the Universe is indeed
statistically homogeneous, thereby reinforcing this cosmological
principle.
The rapidly escalating tensions
between China and Japan over control of the Senkaku Islands will
undoubtedly have economic ramifications for the two countries,
particularly over the short term. It is unlikely, however, that
the dispute will spiral into a military conflict given the
importance of bilateral economic ties and China’s paranoia about
social stability. While the United States has taken a position
of neutrality, it will find this position difficult to maintain
the longer the conflict goes on.
China’s vast shale gas reserves are
rapidly gaining the attention of major oil and gas companies,
with ConocoPhillips [NYSE: COP] the latest to express its plans
to expand operations in the country. Last week, ConocoPhillips's
vice president of commercial and sustainable development, Mark
Nelson, announced that the company, which already holds stakes
in Chinese offshore drilling projects, is “looking into
expanding into shale,” following BP [NYSE: BP], Chevron [NYSE:
CVX], Royal Dutch Shell [NYSE: RDS], and Total [NYSE: TOT].
Hydropower is not the only part of
the nation’s energy system that appears increasingly vulnerable
to the impact of climate change, as low water levels affect
coal-fired and nuclear power plants’ operations and impede the
passage of coal barges along the Mississippi River.
Caught in the shelling between
those who think that addressing climate change is urgent and
those who think such action is farcical, voters are thoroughly
confused. The issue has become increasingly partisan with fossil
fuel interests funding one side and green technology providers
bankrolling the other.
U.S. fossil fuel emissions will
rise 2.8 percent next year as higher costs for natural gas
prompt power plant operators to switch to coal, according to a
government energy report released on Wednesday.
The Canadian press recently broke
the story that new research confirms initial findings that the
flu vaccine appeared to actually increase people's risk
of getting sick with H1N1, and cause more serious bouts
of illness to boot.
The National Parks Conservation
Association released a report Tuesday with recommendations on
how federal and state agencies could best move forward with
solar projects in the Mojave Desert with minimal impact on
natural resources and wildlife.
Ernst & Young has released its Global Annual Cleantech
Insights and Trends report, and the results have a strong
message for utilities who are willing to listen.
According to the survey, the largest global corporations are
already tackling potential future energy cost rises through
C-suite engagement and proactive energy strategies. Of
respondents, 42 percent estimate they spend at least $50 million
in energy costs annually; 27 percent estimate spending more than
$100 million annually.
The Dark Energy Camera (DEC) has
captured an initial batch of images as part of an ongoing quest
to afford scientists with a better understanding of dark energy.
The images were taken by the 570-megapixel behemoth from its
location within the Chilean Andes on September 12 while
undergoing a series of tests. Scientists hope it may soon help
answer one of the biggest mysteries in physics: why the
expansion of the universe is speeding up.
Like everyone else, I have to pinch
my pennies. I have to budget for every dime of expense that my
family makes. Gone are the days of blithely tossing stuff into
the buggy at the grocery store (or anywhere else for that
matter). My main focus is only on those things I need, not the
things I want.
U.S. crude oil stocks increased 8.534 million barrels in the
reporting week that end September 14, according to data released
by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday.
The build in stocks far outpaced expectations of analysts
polled by Platts, who Monday expected a 2.5-million-barrel
increase.
Energy efficiency programs approved
by the California Public Utilities Commission resulted in
savings of 5,900 gigawatt-hours of electricity in fiscal year
2010-11, or enough to power more than 600,000 homes for a year.
The biggest savings in the state came through more efficient
lighting.
A September ruling by the German
constitutional court averted a disastrous collapse of eurozone
debt relief and allows Germany to join the European Stability
Mechanism (ESM) – the new permanent eurozone bailout fund.
However, the court’s decisions had strings attached that raise
questions about the long-term viability of the eurozone and
reiterate that there are limitations on Germany’s support for
European integration.
The Justice Department's internal watchdog on Wednesday faulted
the agency for misguided strategies, errors in judgment and
management failures during a bungled gun-trafficking probe in
Arizona that resulted in hundreds of weapons turning up at crime
scenes in the U.S. and Mexico.
Two senior officials left the department, one by resignation
and one by retirement, upon release of the report.
Federal budget analysts expect
policies and tax breaks encouraging the purchase and manufacture
of electric vehicles to cost about $7.5 billion over the next
seven years but say they are unlikely to have much effect on
gasoline use or greenhouse gas emissions in the near future.
Utilities in Idaho must contiue to
buy power from contracted wind power sources even in times of
low load, according to yesterday's ruling by federal regulators.
Financial investment is having a
much greater impact on the prices of commodities like oil than
underlying supply and demand of the commodity, causing price
volatility and allowing prices to become removed from the
fundamentals for long periods of time, according to a report by
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
“Sovereignty disputes are complex
and hard to resolve. No side can easily abandon their claims
without high political costs,” Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong said in a speech in early September in Beijing, and
the only real surprise is that he wasn’t talking about the
rising tension between China and Japan over the Diaoyu or
Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.
Flu season is just around the corner. Better think twice
before visiting your local drugstore for that little shot!
Three years ago, a Canadian research team noticed that people
who received a flu shot were more likely to become infected with
the pandemic H1N1 virus than those who hadn’t received a shot.
Five follow-up studies were done in several provinces, with the
same disturbing results.
Part motivational speaker, part
humorist, part humanitarian, and part political commentator,
former President Bill Clinton was a keynote speaker at the Solar
Power International conference held in Orlando last week.
"Markets are complex," Tabb said on
the sidelines of a US Senate Banking Committee hearing on
computerized trading. "There's a lot of buying interest and a
lot of selling interest and if something all of a sudden gets in
the way of one or the other ... you wind up with these air
pockets."
The human race is the unwitting
participant in a massive science experiment, as presented in
this masterful new documentary by Jeffrey Smith. Smith is one of
the world's leading authorities on the health dangers of
genetically engineered (GE) foods.
An apocalyptic, genocidal death
cult is in power in Iran. The mullahs in Tehran believe we are
living in the end of days and that the way to hasten the coming
of their so-called Islamic messiah known as the Twelfth Imam is
to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it.
Iran's oil minister Rostam Ghasemi
warned on Wednesday that the absence of Iranian crude in the
market will push up prices, the oil ministry's news service
Shana reported.
Balance of price in the global market
depends on Iran's oil supply, Shana quoted Ghasemi as saying.
Sanctions imposed by the US and the EU have not created a
serious problem for Iran's oil industry because the country has
its regular customers who continue to buy its crude, the
minister added.
Utilities across the country could
use highly efficient combined heat and power (CHP) to more
cheaply replace a substantial portion of the coal-fired
electric-generating capacity expected to retire in the near
term, according to research by the American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
[Ed: So focus on placing the solar
panels nearer to where the energy will be used!
Focus, not on the grid, but on homes and
businesses.]
Did you know that many of the
325,000 cases of sudden cardiac death (SCD) each year in the
United States could be prevented? Even in people who have risk
factors for SCD, including being overweight and having stressful
jobs, one simple supplement — magnesium — can give them a
chance.
Most members in OPEC, including
Saudi Arabia, believe that the ideal price for oil is around
$100/barrel and would like to see current oil prices fall
further given a weak global economy, a senior Gulf official said
Tuesday.
The war on drugs has most people
believing there is no legitimate argument for marijuana, causing
it to be highly looked down upon and illegal under federal law
throughout the United States. But there is an exceptionally
large body of research pointing to the positive impact marijuana
can have on various health ailments, with recent research
revealing a link between marijuana and Alzheimer’s – showing
that THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, may be
beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients.
One of modern medicine's most
valuable tools is the X-ray. But it comes with a dangerous
price: ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen.
Mexico’s president-elect, Enrique
Peña Nieto, is seen as continuing the prosecution of the
country’s fight against drug traffickers. In addition, Peña
Nieto’s public statements suggest that he wants to retain close
trade relations with the United States while reducing the
country’s dependence on its neighbor by expanding trade across
Latin America. Nevertheless, change in Mexico could be limited.
Peña Nieto’s major focus is likely to be the narcotics problem
and he is expected to shift tactics in a bid to lessen the
horrific level of violence between rival drug cartels, conflicts
which claimed thousands of lives and terrorized Mexicans and
Americans alike under the exiting Calderón government.
The uptake of home area networks
(HANs) has been quite low to date, with adoption levels in
fractions of a percent. The logical extension of smart meter
deployments, HANs allow devices inside a home to communicate
with the grid and access energy-saving applications. Now, a set
of market drivers around energy efficiency and enabling
technology is starting to coalesce around some common standards,
helping to propel more aggressive levels of growth.
What do you think would have
happened if a Caucasian president had ever produced and
published - a You Tube video for ALL WHITE PEOPLE to unite for a
WHITE PRESIDENT?
He said that 47 percent of
Americans get checks from the government and are likely to vote
for the hand that feeds them: the Democratic Party.
He is
half-right. Of those who get government checks, a bit more than
half (about 30 percent of all Americans) get means-tested
welfare payments through programs like Medicaid, food stamps,
welfare, housing subsidies and such. The remaining 17 percent of
the population do get government checks, but they are Social
Security, Medicare, veterans' benefits or the Earned Income Tax
Credit. They get these benefits because they have paid into the
Social Security and Medicare funds over the years or have served
our country or work for a living but get supplemental benefits
to get out of poverty.
Using a football analogy on Meet
the Press on September 16, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said Iran’s nuclear weapons program is “in the red zone” and
claimed Iran is within six to seven months of having a nuclear
weapons capability. In an exclusive interview with LIGNET,
American Enterprise Institute Iran Team Leader Maseh Zarif
discussed his think tank’s new report on the Iranian program
which has an even more alarming timeline on how soon Iran will
be able to build a nuclear bomb.
The regulations to oversee shale
gas extraction are part of the national presidential debate, but
they are creating an even bigger uproar in New York State. After
a prolonged moratorium on drilling there, the state was rumored
to begin allowing limited exploration. But it debunked that
thinking and will now wait, again.
In the aftermath of the failed
attempt to pass federal cyber security legislation through
Congress last month, the White House is preparing to issue an
Executive Order to help protect the country's critical
infrastructure from dangerous attacks.
Up to a million
people in the UK have "completely preventable" severe headaches
caused by taking too many painkillers, doctors have said.
They said some were trapped in a "vicious cycle" of taking
pain relief, which then caused even more headaches.
The defiant move, they hope, will
prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code amendment that
prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from
making political endorsements. Alliance Defending Freedom, which
is holding the October summit, said it wants the IRS to press
the matter so it can be decided in court. The group believes the
law violates the First Amendment by “muzzling” preachers.
Iran can use various types of sea
mines to devastating effect in the Persian Gulf and effectively
close chokepoints in the Strait of Hormuz without the need for a
conventional naval blockade. While a traditional blockade could
be broken up in days, a mine-only scenario in the strait could
take much longer to clear as the shallow waters and narrow
passageway create ideal conditions for mine warfare.
Residents
in the Concho Valley area off of Highway 61 noticed hundreds of
prarie dogs had died in a short span of time. Prarie dogs are
considered sentinel animals to the fact that plague is in the
area. Officials with Arizona Game and Fish were notified by an
alert resident and further contact was made with health
officials from Apache and Coconino counties, the state health
department, as well as experts at Northern Arizona University.
Science Finally Proves It:
The deadly attack on the U.S.
Consulate in Libya that killed four Americans was directly tied
to al-Qaida and involved a former detainee at the Guantanamo Bay
prison, intelligence sources told Fox News.
Iran has been using civilian
aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of
weapons across Iraqi airspace to Syria to aid President Bashar
al-Assad in his attempt to crush an 18-month uprising against
his government, according to a Western intelligence report seen
by Reuters.
No Earth-directed CMEs were
observed.Solar activity is expected to be at low levels with a
slight chance for M-class activity for the next three days
(21 - 23 September). The geomagnetic field was at
predominately quiet to unsettled levels...
The
average net worth of the 400 wealthiest Americans rose to a
record $4.2 billion, up more than 10 percent from a year ago,
while the lowest net worth came in at $1.1 billion versus $1.05
billion last year, the magazine said. Seven in ten of the list's
members made their fortunes from scratch.
"President Obama's war on coal has
claimed its latest victims with the news that 1,200 workers in
states like Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania will lose
their jobs," Romney said in a statement. "The Obama
Administration's economic and regulatory policies are destroying
jobs across the country and coal communities have been among the
hardest hit. For the sake of so many hardworking Americans and
the families that depend on them, this must change."
Last night, Andrea Rossi read and
explained the third party tests that were done in July on his
hot cat technology. The results evince outputs that approach
nuclear in their power density and peak output levels.
Ten years ago, a business owner who wanted to go green might
have been labeled a tree hugger -- or worse -- in the Palmetto
State.
But those days are gone as global warming awareness rises,
state and national environmental regulations increase and the
opportunity for profit rises.
The nuclear reactor at Seabrook
Station has been powered down since Friday evening, when a water
intake valve was jammed closed by a computer glitch, according
to an announcement by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
San Francisco's legislative branch
is considering a proposal to enter a $19.5 million contract with
Shell Energy North America that would allow regulators to
provide city and county residents the option of 100 percent
renewable energy.
Snakes are able to convert their
venom back into harmless molecules, a finding that could have
important implications for diseases like cancer, according to a
study published Wednesday.
Other than the underperformance of
emerging markets equities, the overall risk aversion seems to be
declining toward multi-year lows. Welcome to the new "new
normal", where central banks set the level of risk appetite -
and right now they simply want risk to be ignored.
Draghi is making the Eurozone banks
grow "fatter". Please just stick to reporting the news. This is
misleading and portions of this article are just wrong. The LTRO
program provided financing relief to a heavily strained banking
system and created a near permanent dependence on central bank
funding. But it had little to do with risk taking by euro area
lenders.
Pennsylvania's top environmental
leader is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
drop its legal action against EME Homer City power plant in
light of a $725 million effort to reduce air emissions at the
Indiana County facility.
Nine out of 10 consumers believe
it's important to recycle electronic devices and 63% of
consumers know where to recycle the items, a study from the
Consumer Electronics Association said.
Using a faulty analytical model has
led the U.S. federal government to significantly underestimate
the costs of carbon pollution, a study suggests.
The solar-power business is expanding quickly in the U.S.,
helping lift the cloud that has surrounded the industry since
the demise of Solyndra LLC a year ago.
A minimum exchange rate between the
Swiss franc and the euro was set over a year ago to stop the
Swiss franc from soaring as the EU’s debt crisis worsened. But
now Switzerland’s economy is showing signs of slowing, too,
making the Swiss franc less attractive to investors and finally
enabling the kind of exchange rate movement that hasn’t been
seen in a year. It appears, now, that it could be the euro that
saves Switzerland from recession – a big reversal of
circumstances and one that is likely to pull Switzerland closer
into the EU’s sphere.
Rebels seized control of a border
crossing on the frontier with Turkey on Wednesday, pulling down
the Syrian flag and sending a stream of jubilant people pouring
across the border into Turkey.
The Artemis Project, a non-profit
dedicated to helping water technology companies emerge into the
world market, is pleased to announce the 2012 Artemis Project
Top 50 Water Tech Listing. The Top 50 identifies the most
promising companies that are applying innovation in the market
to address today’s dire water challenges. The Artemis Project is
awarding the companies at the Cleantech Water Innovation Summit
in Berkeley, California today.
The case for technologies that
harness renewable resources, improve efficiency, and reduce
emissions has never been stronger, and the industry known as
clean tech continues to grow at a staggering pace – global
revenues for the “Big Three” sectors of wind power, solar PV,
and biofuels hit $246.1 billion in 2011 after a decade of annual
growth averaging more than 30 percent.
If you have chronic bronchitis and
or emphysema (“COPD”, “COLD”) SSKI is an invaluable tool. SSKI
“gets into” all body secretions, including often thick and hard
to cough up bronchial secretions, which get infected very
easily.
All across the United States,
people are fighting for their right to choose not to be injected
with vaccines against their will, and this is just the latest
tactic in a coordinated effort aimed at eliminating all vaccine
exemptions.
I will admit it. I've never been
much of a fan of beans. Yes, they're cheap. Yes, they keep. Yes,
they're nutritious. But taste-wise? Meh. Sure, I have a few bags
of dried beans in my survival stash, but they'd be the last
thing I'd go for.
However, two things have happened
simultaneously to change my mind about beans.
Inflationary pressures,
particularly food inflation, continue to percolate across some
emerging markets nations. Central bankers don't like openly
discussing the problem, fearing just talking about it could
raise inflation expectations. But that does not make the problem
any less real.
The Federal Reserve's third round
of bond-buying could ultimately rival the size of its first huge
quantitative easing, which was widely seen as boosting growth.
...
But this time, the Fed has promised
that "if the outlook for the labor market does not improve
substantially," it won't stop buying and could ramp up its
spending further.
One of America's most dangerous
jobs, being a trash and recyclable collector, just got deadlier.
The United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development this week issued an eye-catching report
into the causes of oil price volatility, concluding that
commodity markets in general were increasingly driven by broad
trends in financial investment, and not by their own unique
supply and demand factors.
Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®
(PMMS®), showing fixed mortgage rates at or near their all-time
record lows helping to keep home buyer affordability high. The
average 30-year fixed rate mortgage matched its all-time record
low at 3.49 percent, and the average 15-year fixed fell to a new
all-time record low at 2.77 percent.
Nearly three years after it began, the surge of U.S. troops
to Afghanistan is over.
In December 2009,
on President Barack Obama's order, an additional 30,000 troops
headed to the war-torn country hoping to stabilize it and quash
what was then widely viewed as a Taliban resurgence despite just
more than eight years of war.
The increased use of
mini-submarines to transport cocaine to the United States and
their appearance in Venezuela not only shows the determination
of drug traffickers to evade U.S. drug interdiction, but reveals
a serious threat to national security as these mini-subs could
be used as a way for Venezuelan, Iranian, or Hezbollah
terrorists to surreptitiously enter the United States
It's known as the "solar coaster."
For an industry struggling to compete with cheaper forms of
energy, the volatile trend of tax credits, rebate programs and
other incentives that come and go sometimes feels like an
amusement park ride.
A Wisconsin judge on Friday struck
down nearly all of the state law championed by Gov. Scott Walker
that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most
public workers.
Walker's administration immediately vowed
to appeal, while unions, which have vigorously fought the law,
declared victory.
Current laws and regulations
governing water quality restrict water utilities’ ability to
modify operations to address climate change-related challenges.
However, in the years ahead, the industry most likely will face
new regulations governing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Nuclear power has critical cooling requirements that require
huge amounts of water. Roughly 62 percent of U.S. nuclear plants
have closed-loop cooling systems withdrawing between 700 and
1,100 gallons of water per MWh. Open-loop cooled nuclear plants
have even higher withdrawals of between 25,000 and 60,000
gallons per MWh.
Coal-fired power plants rely on the same closed-loop cooling
systems which withdraw between 500 and 600 gallons of water per
MWh...
Significant water use by
traditional US energy power generating technologies, including
nuclear, coal, natural gas and biomass, are a "major hidden
cost" associated with the fuels, Synapse Energy Economics said
in a report released Wednesday.
Hint: It’s not the flu.
When's the last time you kicked off your shoes and reveled in
the feeling of the Earth under your feet?
Been awhile?
It may sound hard to believe, but engaging in this simple
pleasure could give your health a much-needed boost.
Honeywell recently announced a $35M
renewable energy project for the City of Wilmington, Del., which
will feature a first-of-its-kind facility that converts two
sources of biogas into power and heat for the city’s wastewater
treatment plant.
This week we assess our elected
officials according to their activity in three important issue
areas: your right to access natural health options; your right
to choose a toxic-free environment; and your right to the
healthy food of your choice.
The most famous lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are these:
Water, water, everywhere, Nor
any drop to drink.
Approximately 90 percent of the
world’s electricity is generated by heat energy. Unfortunately,
electricity generation systems operate at around 30 to 40
percent efficiency, meaning around two thirds of the energy
input is lost as waste heat. Despite this, the inefficiency of
current thermoelectric materials that can convert waste heat to
electricity has meant their commercial use has been limited. Now
researchers have developed a thermoelectric material they claim
is the best in the world at converting waste heat into
electricity, potentially providing a practical way to capture
some of the energy that is currently lost.
Since first invented, the effort to
make lasers that can produce shorter and more powerful pulses of
light has been a very active one. One driving force is that if
you want to take a picture of something occurring very rapidly,
you need a very short pulse of light to prevent the image from
blurring. The first ruby laser produced microsecond pulses of
light, but more recently femtosecond optical pulses a billion
times shorter have become common. Still shorter pulses belong to
the attosecond regime - the regime wherein a University of
Central Florida research team is creating optical pulses
sufficiently brief to stop quantum mechanics in its tracks.
September 14, 2012
Do you have a chronic degenerative disease? If so, have you
been told, "It's all in your head?"
Well, that might not be that far from the truth… the root
cause of your illness may be in your mouth.
More than 25 million root canals are performed every year in
this country.
Root-canaled teeth are essentially "dead" teeth that can
become silent incubators for highly toxic anaerobic bacteria
that can, under certain conditions, make their way into your
bloodstream to cause a number of serious medical conditions—many
not appearing until decades later.
The genetically engineered product
dubbed "Agent Orange corn" by its opponents may be closer to
gaining EPA approval after a coalition of farmers dropped its
opposition to the Dow product on Tuesday.
Evidence is mounting that sugar is
the primary factor causing not just obesity, but also many
chronic and lethal diseases.
Three surviving community members,
who were in the forest at the time of the alleged attack,
reported hearing gunshots, explosions and a helicopter,
according to the letter from the HYO. The group said that
members of another community, who had gone to visit Irotatheri,
found the three survivors and saw charred bodies and the remains
of a communal house that had been burned.
U.S. commercial crude oil stocks
increased by 3.778 million barrels to 364.524 million barrels
during the reporting week ended August 24, according to data
released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA).
When Appalachian Power officials
ask to visit with the Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial board,
it usually doesn't end on a happy note for consumers of their
services. During a meeting Tuesday morning with the newspaper
editorial board, Charles Patton, president and chief operating
officer of APCO, predicted that he wasn't there to talk about
rate increases.
As violence outside U.S. embassies
spread to new Arab capitals Thursday, two former U.S.
ambassadors said the slow response Tuesday by Egyptian security
officials in Cairo points to a security lapse that warrants
investigation.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Thursday the
U.S. economic recovery could be in jeopardy if lawmakers can't
stop automatic year-end spending cuts and tax hikes from taking
effect.
Bernanke said potent new central bank stimulus efforts would
not be enough to protect the economy from the twin shocks.
Burnt, buried or frozen and turned to powder are some of the
options for dealing with the remains of a loved one whose last
wishes include lessening death's environmental impact.
Our demise can have a big environmental impact. Around three
quarters of people in the United Kingdom alone are cremated
after they die but cremation uses about the same amount of
domestic energy as a person uses in a month.
For the second straight quarter,
business executives grew sharply more pessimistic about the
outlook for the U.S. economy, according to the third quarter AICPA
Economic Outlook Survey, which polls chief executive
officers, chief financial officers, controllers and other
certified public accountants in U.S. companies who hold
executive and senior management accounting roles. In addition,
senior-level CPAs’ perception of prospects for their own
companies fell to a 12-month low, resulting in a more bearish
view on hiring.
China consumed 449.5 billion kWh of
electricity in August, up 3.6% year on year, data released by
the National Energy Administration Friday showed.
Of the
total, electricity consumption by the industrial sector
accounted for 313.7 billion kWh, up 1.1% year on year.
Some of the big corporate bailouts
by taxpayers from 2008, which so angered many Americans, have
actually ended in a profit for the federal government. But there
is more than $200 billion still owed and outstanding.
Multnomah County Chairman Jeff
Cogen is directing the county health department to review
potential health hazards from coal trains that may run through
the county en route to new Northwest export terminals.
A crude oil market turbulent in
part over talk of possible quantitative easing could come to a
head Thursday, when the US Federal Reserve Bank releases a
much-anticipated statement on its monetary policy.
Another variable remains in the back of traders' minds: rumors
of a possible release from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
continues to stir.
Crude futures have been volatile but
remain tucked into tight ranges with NYMEX front-month crude
confined to $94-$98/b, and Brent between $111-$116/b.
Hot and dry conditions continued to
plague large parts of the U.S. Plains and southern states as the
worst U.S. drought in over five decades expanded its grip on
some key farming states.
Searing droughts in the United
States and Russia will deplete harvests of wheat, corn and
soybeans, the U.S. government said on Wednesday, but global food
supplies were not hurt as badly as many had feared.
Data from two large studies of
Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson's Alzheimer's drug,
bapineuzumab, show the treatment reduced underlying markers of
the disease in some patients, suggesting the failed medication
might work at an earlier stage.
After previously calling for a
‘million-man march’ today against the United States in response
to an anti-Mohammed video, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood suddenly
reversed itself and called off the protests. The Brotherhood’s
back peddling came too late to stop mass protests in Cairo
today, but demonstrations were calmer than yesterday. This
week’s anti-U.S. protests and violence are posing difficult
questions about how post-Arab Spring governments will deal with
extremism as well as whether warnings about the September 11,
2012 attacks on U.S. diplomatic compounds were ignored or
mishandled by U.S. intelligence.
The Energy Department and its cleanup contractor have
launched a series of corrective actions at a site in Idaho that
processes liquid radioactive waste.
An incident in June caused the new waste treatment facility
to shut down, but no radioactive material was released during
the incident.
Recently the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) announced almost $1.5M in funding to
three universities to develop sustainable drinking water
treatment methods. The research grants are funded through EPA’s
Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. These grants, which
supplement last year’s grants to eight other universities, are
intended to provide innovative treatment methods to protect
people’s health by keeping harmful contaminants out of drinking
water.
Republican presidential candidate
Mitt Romney's tax proposals would not only tackle deficits
without increasing taxes but would also stimulate economic
growth, said William Isaac, former chairman of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation and currently a senior managing
director of FTI Consulting.
The third global food price spike in four years may have
peaked after a summer of stunning increases on cereal markets,
as a U.S. government report on Wednesday raised hopes that a
full-blown food emergency could be averted.
Fears of unrest and hunger seen in the 2007/08 crisis emerged
as the worst U.S. drought in over half a century and persistent
dryness in other key grain producing countries sent corn and
soybean prices to successive record highs.
Florida's 75% recycling rate goal
by 2020 is an ambitious one. It's especially ambitious when you
consider the state's current recycling rate is 31%.
More Americans are willing to pay more for a vehicle that
will save on fuel over time and are adjusting how they drive to
make each drop of fuel go further, according to a new survey by
market research firm Penn Schoen Berland.
Drivers are slowing down, coasting more to stops, and even
drafting behind larger vehicles to save gasoline, the study
released Wednesday shows.
France's government begins a review
of the world's most nuclear-dependent country's energy policy on
Friday, strongly in support of its small and ailing renewables
sector.
A day after French President
Hollande made his case for new taxes, the public responded
angrily to a report that its richest man, Bernard Arnault, was
trying to avoid taxes by heading to Belgium.
The automaker said the news agency
incorrectly "allocated product development costs across the
number of Volts sold instead of allocating across the lifetime
volume of the program, which is how business operates."
Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupted
on Thursday, spewing smoke and ash 2 miles into the sky and
forcing the evacuation of thousands of people as lava oozed down
its slopes, local emergency services said.
Fully half of the 400 women given
overnight sleep tests in a new Swedish study turned out to have
mild-to-severe sleep apnea.
The 100 species at greatest risk of extinction were named for
the first time today at the World Conservation Congress being
held on Jeju Island by the International Union for Conservation
of Nature, IUCN.
Many of these species are not useful to humans for food or
medicine or any reason other than their participation in the web
of life on Earth. The scientists who compiled the list say
humans must choose whether to save them for their own sake or
allow them to quietly disappear.
In an ironic twist, scientists, fishermen and
conservationists are urging that hundreds of dormant oil rigs be
left standing in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that a federal plan
to remove them will endanger coral reefs and fish.
While environmentalists might more typically be expected to
oppose artificial intrusions in the marine habitat, those
seeking a halt to the removal want time to study the impact of
rig destruction on the Gulf Coast's economy and to catalog the
species, some rare and endangered, that are clinging to the
sunken metal.
Even if QE was justified in 2010
(some would argue it wasn't), additional monetary expansion
certainly can not be justified in the current environment.
The Japanese government has decided to phase out nuclear
power by sometime in the 2030s and shift the country in the
direction of renewables, energy conservation and natural gas.
There will be a 40-year limit on the lifespan of nuclear
power plants, no new plant construction and no expansion of
existing nuclear power facilities.
Kamakura Corporation reported
Thursday that the Kamakura index of troubled public companies
closed the month of August at 7.02%, while on August 1st the
index was at the 6.99%. The index reflects the percentage of the
Kamakura coverage universe that has a default probability over
1%. The index hit an intra-month high of 7.41% on August 10th,
while the intra-month low of 6.86% was on August 17th.
Katana Summit LLC will likely close
its wind tower manufacturing plants in Columbus and Ephrata,
Wash., if a buyer for the operations can't be found.
Energy Transfer Partners' plan for
converting its 770-mile Trunkline system from natural gas to
crude oil and then reversing its flow from northbound to
southbound tells the story of the new US energy landscape.
It echoes the declining need to send natural gas from
offshore fields into the shale-rich center of the country and
the growing need for oil pipeline capacity from the Midcontinent
to Gulf Coast refineries.
Last Friday's action indeed turned
out to be a good indicator of how markets in the current
environment would react to Fed's balance sheet expansion.
Markets performed as expected: commodities and equities spiked,
the dollar weakened, and the treasury curve steepened.
McCalla explained the utility's total operating revenue is
expected to decline by 23 percent in the coming year to $53.67
million, primarily due to the reduced billing of fuel costs.
"Electric sales are expected to decrease from 2012, primarily
due to the loss of one large customer," McCalla said in a memo
to the board, in reference to Newell-Rubbermaid, which shut its
doors in the spring.
"Congressional leaders dug
in their heels on Tuesday against any quick deal to resolve a
looming fiscal disaster before the election, even as a major
ratings agency warned that it would downgrade the government’s
debt if no solution was found by year’s end.
The AZ Sun Program was approved by
the Arizona Corporation Commission and enables APS to invest in
the development of up to 200 MW of solar photovoltaic plants
across Arizona. APS will finance and own the projects, which are
being designed and constructed by third-party solar developers,
contractors and equipment providers.
The long awaited measures will
apply stringent performance standards to new electricity
generation units and old units that have reached the end of
their economic life. In the first 21 years, the regulations are
expected to result in a cumulative reduction in GHG emissions of
about 214 megatonnes.
Indian Point is a point of
contention. While the nuclear facility located just outside of
New York City is a major energy hub, it is drawing opposition
from those who say it is too close to the population center. Now
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide on whether to
grant it a 20-year renewal license.
According to the research, each
major U.S. wind farm creates almost 1,100 jobs in manufacturing,
construction engineering and management, among others, and
potentially tens of millions in new taxes, as well as lease
payments to land owners and economic development revenues.
The global nuclear industry,
traumatized by Japan's Fukushima accident 18 months ago, needs
to redefine itself to regain public trust and better cooperate
to improve safety, senior executives of the sector said on
Thursday.
As the presidential elections loom
in November, the fossil fuel industry has intensified its
counterattack on Obama's war on coal and the EPA's “job killing
regulations”.
The Little Colorado River and its
unusual milky blue waters where they meet the Colorado River,
the two main rivers in the Colorado Basin. A faltering bill in
Washington would have allotted Little Colorado water to the
Navajo and Hopi tribes.
The CDC and other public health
organizations will advise you to thoroughly cook your eggs to
lower the risk of salmonella, but eating eggs RAW is actually
the best in terms of your health.
On August 17, the U.S. Treasury and
Federal Housing Finance Agency announced "further steps to
expedite the wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." The
steps, we are told, will "support the continued flow of mortgage
credit during a responsible transition to a reformed housing
finance market."
The Department of Energy argued in
a memo sent in March that increases in rates to hydroelectric
power for the country's Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs)
are needed to help with repairs to infrastructure for the
hydroelectric energy grid.
The Portland City Council voted 5-0
during a raucous public meeting Wednesday morning to add
fluoride to Portland's drinking water, ending the city's status
as the only major U.S. city that hasn't approved fluoridation.
To encourage the continuation of necessary incentives as well as
utility participation, the PV industry has promised a consistent
(and significant) reduction in module prices along with "grid"
parity with conventional energy sources. The PV industry has
also promised to do this without subsidies — and it may have to
keep its promises.
A recent study of gamma-ray bursts
(that originate from the collapse of a massive star) finds that
spacetime is smoother on the quantum scale than expected
a long duration C2 event.
filament eruption. The associated CME had an estimated
speed of 536 km/s. olar activity is expected to be low with a
slight chance for M-class flares for the next three days.
Solar wind speeds increased from approximately 290 km/s to 400
km/s due to the effects of a weak coronal hole high speed stream
(CH HSS). The geomagnetic field is expected to increase to
unsettled levels on day three (16 September) with a chance for
active periods due the arrival of the CME associated with
today's filament eruption.
The darkened San Onofre power plant
will not restart even one of its two reactors for months, the
head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who
chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works,
told the five members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
again Sept. 12 that Southern California Edison’s (SCE) San
Onofre nuclear plant should not be allowed to restart until NRC
is satisfied that it is safe.
Shell today announced that it will
go ahead with the first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project
for an oil sands operation in Canada. The Quest project will be
built on behalf of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project joint venture
owners (Shell, Chevron and Marathon Oil[1]) and with support
from the Governments of Canada and Alberta.
Sprout is the name of a new brand
of pencil which comes with a seed in the end – when the pencil
has reached the end of its usefulness, the stub can be planted
in soil
The front and west side of
completed Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility that will be
used to test various high-efficiency and alternative energy
systems, materials and designs.
Tepco President Naomi Hirose had
told Reuters that the company was planning to hire outside
experts as part of plans to persuade residents and the local
authority that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata
Prefecture was safe to restart.
So much for shifting the US
mortgage business into the private markets. Going forward the
Fed will be a buyer of more than half of all new agency MBS
issued. At this point one might as well make the GSEs part of
the Fed or give the central bank a mortgage origination
capability.
Scientists acknowledged three major
mechanisms by which fasting benefits your body, as it extends
lifespan and protects against disease:
Your body is programmed for
nocturnal feeding.
The emerald ash borer, an invasive
beetle that has destroyed millions of trees in North America
since being accidentally introduced from Asia, has been
identified in Massachusetts for the first time, state officials
said on Wednesday...
"The emerald ash borer brings a
very serious threat to our ash trees, and we are not taking its
presence lightly," said Ed Lambert, commissioner of the
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Both Sequoyah and Watts Bar had unplanned reactor shutdowns
last month.
Both reactors had electrical problems that caused the power
plants to scram -- something akin to blowing a safety fuse, said
Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Ray Golden.
Uralkali OAO, the world's
second-largest producer of potash fertilizer, is looking to buy
potash assets as well as a distribution network for its
products, its chief executive said in an interview.
The Biofuels Producers Coordinating Council (BPCC) has urged
President Barack Obama to maintain the Renewable Fuel Standard
(RFS), a series of regulations requiring the blending of
renewable fuel into transportation fuel with a current target of
36 billion gallons by 2022.
A federal court has agreed to hold
in abeyance challenges to the US Environmental Protection
Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards by developers of new
coal-fired units while the agency reconsiders parts of the major
rulemaking that raised industry concerns.
The question mark going into this
week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was not so much
whether a further ease would be introduced but rather how this
accommodation would be implemented. This consensus view of the
need for more stimulus was solidified following the
disappointing August payroll employment report, which indicated
a greater than expected slowing in employment growth.
More than one-half of those
households that are unbanked said they don’t have a bank account
because they think they don’t have enough money or they don’t
want an account.
A Census report signals that for
much of America, the economic downturn has produced not one lost
decade but two. But the data also show that federal safety-net
programs helped keep people out of poverty.
Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey
(PMMS), showing fixed mortgage rates declining or remaining the
same from the previous week amid mixed economic data, and
continuing to hover around their all-time record lows.
Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey
(PMMS), showing fixed mortgage rates holding steady from the
previous week and remaining near their all-time lows. The
average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been below 4.00 percent
all but once this year and the average 15-year fixed, a popular
choice among refinance borrowers, has been below 3.00 percent
since the last week in May.
The
House voted Thursday to put the government on autopilot for six
months, precluding a shutdown through the election and
postponing a potential showdown on GOP vice presidential nominee
Paul Ryan's agency budget cuts until next spring when
Republicans hope to hold more power in Washington.
The attacks on the U.S. embassies
in Libya and Egypt on the eleventh anniversary of 9-11 caught
the United States off guard and appear to have resulted from a
major intelligence failure. It was reported at first that these
attacks were a response to a YouTube video mocking the prophet
Mohammed, but it is now becoming clear that the attacks, in
which U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed,
were planned and perpetrated by al-Qaeda. They are a clear sign
that the governments that have come to power since the Arab
Spring are weak, and unable to control their radicalized Muslim
populations that are determined to wage war on the United
States.
Walmart today launched an expansion
of its solar initiative in Arizona at its Buckeye distribution
center near Phoenix. The distribution center will feature
Walmart's largest solar installation to date with over 14,000
solar panels on a 1,000,000 sq. feet building and parking
canopies that will produce up to 30 percent of the center's
energy needs.
The Water Environment Federation
(WEF) applauds the Democratic and Republican National Committees
for including support for water infrastructure in their party
platforms adopted over the past two weeks.
The staphylococcus aureus
bacteria is a normal strain of bacteria your pet normally
harbors (as do people). It’s found on your dog’s or cat’s skin,
mucous membranes, urogenital and gastrointestinal tracts.
The importance of your gut flora,
and its influence on your health cannot be overstated. It's
truly profound.
Your gut literally serves as your second brain, and even
produces more of the neurotransmitter serotonin—known to have a
beneficial influence on your mood—than your brain does.
Almost half of the entire U.S. corn crop died a parched death
this summer. Over a third of the soybean crop perished. Wheat
took a big hit as well. From June to July alone, corn and wheat
prices skyrocketed - just 25% in a single month. Soybean prices
shot up as well, increasing by 17%.
The government's official position? Food costs have only
risen 1% this year.
Yeah. Right. Have you been to the grocery store lately?
Using a climate model, the research
estimated the amount of power than can be produced from both
near-surface and high-altitude winds. The research concluded
that wind turbines placed on the earth's surface could extract
kinetic energy at a rate of at least 400 terawatts, while
high-altitude wind power could extract more than 1800 terawatts.
Current total global power demand is about 18 terawatts.
In an unprecedented move, the
American Wind Energy Association has ousted Exelon Corp. from
its membership ranks over the company's lobbying efforts to kill
a tax credit the wind industry claims is crucial.
It's not an optical illusion.
The newest wind turbines gracing the nation's countryside
actually are turning more slowly than their older cousins.
The languid pace is the most visible consequence of
new-generation wind turbines that are taller, have longer
blades, capture more wind and produce more power.
Obama aides say the President
simply doesn't have time on his schedule for Netanyahu. The
President reportedly will have time to appear on "The Late Show"
with David Letterman while he's in New York, however. A Wall
Street Journal editorial on Wednesday morning said the White
House message to Israel seems to be, "You're on your own, pal."
"Although we won't see demand
growth like that of 2009-2010, global oil demand growth will
help keep prices above $100/b in the near term," Gelder told the
Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference in Singapore. "This is even if
healthy non-OPEC production and OPEC spare capacity growth
signal prices on the downward trend."
Wyoming Governor Matt Mead on
Thursday urged federal officials to abandon efforts to regulate
hydraulic fracturing, saying states can do a better job of it...
"Wyoming should always have primacy
in this area," Mead said. He said the state has been a leader in
enacting strong measures to regulate fracking and was the first
to require producers to reveal the chemical components of their
fracking fluids.
September 11, 2012
The first day I began reaping the
benefits of my garden, I was ecstatic. It had been a long time
since I had been able to indulge in fresh, hand-raised produce.
The tomatoes were juicier and had a robust flavor, the squash
was to die for, and the mellow taste of the cabbage was
wonderful after the bitter fare stocked in the grocery stores
that I'd had to make do with.
Photovoltaic solar rooftop
installation raises a number of challenges that could slow
widespread adoption among homeowners and businesses, including
maintenance of roof water-tightness; roof warranty; continuous
operation; aesthetics; stability; durability of materials; and
high costs of labor. The benefits to utilities are huge,
including being a low-risk investment that encourages energy
efficiency and conservation, and reduces dependence on the
electricity grid
African farmers are finding new
ways to cope with droughts, erosion and other ravages of climate
change but need to develop even more techniques to thrive in an
increasingly uncertain environment, scientists said on Friday.
Everyone can agree on the central
premise of President Obama’s address to his party’s national
convention -- that the nation now has two fundamentally
different visions of what path the country should take. And,
surprisingly, when it comes to energy, the two political parties
seem to also agree on the potential of shale gas.
Our ancestors had control. Even through the depression, we
seemed to still retain ownership of our nation. We, as a people,
returned to our roots, living off the land, and bartering for
what we could not grow. We, as a people, realized that spending
more than we earned brought on this depression. We, as a people,
took control, and soon our nation was whole again. Soon, our
nation was strong again. We grew as a nation when we went back
to the things that made this United States of America the best
country in the world.
When the largest solar- and
wind-power operator in the United States buys an un-built, 1,000
MW CSP plant and announces plans to convert the whole thing to
photovoltaic, people – particularly local general media outlets
– sit up and take notice.
Mexican police detained a man
accused of fatally shooting a U.S. Border Patrol agent almost
two years ago in Arizona in a botched U.S. operation to track
guns smuggled across the border, the government said Friday.
Championed by the new California Geothermal Heat Pump Lobby
Coalition, AB 2339 recently passed in the state Senate with a
36-0 vote then returned to the Assembly the following day where
it also passed unanimously with a 79-0 vote.
The state’s large-scale solar
fields hit a new peak in production on Friday at nearly 1.1
gigawatts, or 1.1 billion watts, according to the California
Independent System Operator.
China is accelerating a dispute
with the U.S. over solar-energy taxes, moving forward its next
salvo to hit as President Barack Obama faces re-election.
Twenty-twelve was supposed to be a
watershed year for China to roll out energy pricing reforms but
policy changes have moved at a glacial pace, continuing to
negatively impact state oil companies' balance sheets in the
first half.
The Democratic Party’s 2012 platform calls for raising the
minimum wage and pegging it to inflation — and a wage bill
already introduced by congressional Democrats could cost at
least 256,000 jobs, according to a new report.
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut
have proposed raising the federal minimum wage in three stages
to $9.80 per hour — an increase of 35 percent over the current
level — and then annually raising the wage based on inflation.
On the one hand, Americans watching the Democratic convention
this week heard illegal immigration portrayed rather routinely
as just another demographic group deserving -- in Rep. Luis
Guitierrez' words at the podium -- "the expanding embrace of our
democracy and humanity." And in the stock every-four-year media
story about the first this and first that kind of person
addressing one of the conventions, the "first illegal alien
speaker" story was a very bad sign about the national leadership
of one of our country's two major parties.
The platform says Democrats will
pursue efforts to combat climate change through regulations and
market solutions, setting up a continued battle with Republicans
who argue such steps could hold back the economy.
The plant, which was supposed to
begin operation last year, is intended to encase in glass 52
million gallons of radioactive and toxic waste, the article
indicates.
A British plan to drill into a
sunless lake deep under Antarctica's ice in December could show
the risks of quicker sea level rise caused by climate change,
scientists said on Friday.
While today’s jobs data trailed
forecasts, better-than- projected reports over the past three
months have pushed the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index for the
U.S. to an almost five-month high. The index, which measures how
much data is beating or missing the median estimates in
Bloomberg surveys, climbed to 15 today after yesterday rising
above zero for the first time since April.
Exploration and development of
shale gas in Europe could help the EU keep its dependency on gas
imports at 60%, according to one of three studies commissioned
by the European Commission that were published Friday.
New converter architectures let
generators produce power in light breezes.
Energy storage technology might be
moving from a nice-to-have addition to solar and wind
installations to a component that's necessary for project
approval, if developments in California are any indication.
The figures reveal that GHG emission reduction will be higher
than 276,000 tonnes per day, compared to 273,000 in 2011.
In 2011, world ethanol production stood at 8.4 billion litres
and is estimated to have reduced GHG emissions by 99 million
tonnes in total.
FedEx gets a return of $10 for
every dollar invested in its recycling program, and since its
inception in June 2006, the company has recycled 93 million
pounds of material, said Joseph Stearns Jr., the company's
senior environmental compliance specialist.
Like so many living on the Hoopa
Valley Reservation in California’s Humboldt County, Jane is a
good person. She grew up with the love of both parents. But her
childhood was far from easy. She waited in cars outside of bars
and spent months at a time living with other family members
while her parents entertained various addictions. Nonetheless
she was raised to be a strong, productive member of the
community. Even the strong succumb to meth.
European shale gas: who needs it?
Europe, it is true, has made no real progress with shale gas
so far. But its security of gas supply has seldom looked
healthier following a series of major discoveries. The timing of
that is perfect as the continent moves toward liberalized
markets.
Key details of how the accident at
Japan's Fukushima I nuclear plant played out have yet to be
determined and may not be known for five years or more, when
important parts of the plant are safer to enter, officials with
the Japanese and US nuclear industries told a US National
Academies review committee Thursday.
German prompt power prices moved
higher Monday despite an above average wind power forecast as a
lack of solar power output and strong cross-border demand from
France due to the ongoing tight nuclear situation supported
prices, a trader said.
Lucintel is predicting that global
water utilities industry revenue will reach $432 billion in 2017
with a CAGR of 4.2 percent over the next five years, through
2017.
Six Republican senators are asking
Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta personally to intervene to
ensure that U.S. troops stationed away from home get the chance
to register and vote in the upcoming election.
The record amount of US natural gas
in storage is masking a "fundamentally balanced" gas market this
year and one that will be under-supplied in 2013 and 2014, FBR
Capital's natural gas analyst said Friday.
The Energy Department (DOE) missed
out on saving more than $6 million by failing to implement
certain energy-efficiency measures, according to a recent
report.
The first eight months of 2012 have
been the warmest of any year on record in the contiguous United
States, and this has been the third-hottest summer since
record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National Climate Data
Center said on Monday.
Ministers and representatives of
island countries and territories are calling for action on
renewable energy to secure a safer and more prosperous future,
according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The U.S. wind industry has expanded at an unprecedented rate
with 6.8 GW added in 2011 alone, according to Wind Energy
Update. Further, 42 percent of turbines installed in 2011 were
bigger than 2 MW.
The U.S. Department of Energy notes that the size of wind
turbines has increased from 1.67 MW in 2008 to 1.97 MW in 2011.
Manufacturers are producing more large scale wind turbines to
make the industry most cost efficient, according to Wind Energy
Update.
U.S. Treasury holdings are “a
misplaced asset class” and a bubble that should be avoided, said
Leon Cooperman, CEO of Omega Advisors.
The European debt
crisis and a cooling Chinese economy have sent investors
worldwide scrambling to the U.S. Treasury this year, pushing
yields down to around 1.5 percent and even lower earlier this
year.
To me, it’s all about being able to
distinguish between fact and fiction. My documented almost 30
percent annual compounded return in my Dividend Machine
newsletter is proof of my abilities.
For me it’s not
about party but performance.
Small and medium-sized
businesses (SMEs) are missing out on crucial savings because
owners and their staff are not taking responsibility for energy
efficiency in the workplace, according to new research out today
from energy company E.ON.
One of the semifinalists in the
2012 CleanTech Open is developing a unique solar concentrator
that is capable of reducing the surface area needed for
photovoltaic (PV) panels by a factor of 1000, can harvest the
thermal energy generated in its enclosed design, and is made
from 50% post-consumer recycled plastic.
Utilities in New Mexico may soon be
able to participate in a voluntary emissions reduction program
that has been slated for consideration by the state regulatory
commission. The proposal was submitted by Western Resource
Advocates and has the support of 33 environmental groups.
A new solar technology developed by researchers at RTI
International could make solar energy more affordable, and thus
speed-up its market adoption.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
Monday said he will not pressure the state's Department of
Environmental Conservation to release a proposed package of new
natural gas drilling guidelines before they are ready.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) directed its staff on Thursday to start an
environmental review into the temporary storage of spent nuclear
fuel, following a court ruling that led the agency to stop
issuing new reactor licenses.
Here’s a brief capsule of the US
oil market in recent months, as what used to be a fairly
predictable industry has become a suspenseful rocket ride along
a trajectory of activity that has soared to levels not seen in
decades:
An administrative law judge in Salt
Lake City has ruled against two environmental organizations that
are trying to block a Canadian company's plan to open the first
large-scale oil sands mine in the United States.
The 19th Century British
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli has been credited with pointing
out that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and
statistics. While no one knows for sure whether he really said
this, what we do know for sure is that we are experiencing a
devastating and widespread drought in the United States that has
decimated our corn and soybean crops and ravaged our hay and
pasture lands across the Midwest.
Private investors are putting
almost $1 trillion annually into green businesses and
technologies, bringing the total invested worldwide since 2007
to $3.6 trillion as of July, according to the latest update from
Ethical Markets Media.
Economist James Fitzgibbon of the
Highlander Group says that "If we impute the data samplings of
non-working citizens at the labor force rate of January 2009
(when this Obama term began) we would have a Household U-3
Unemployment rate currently of 11.4%."
Today
we remember the heroes of September 11, 2001 — all the
policemen, the firemen, the medics, the military, all the first
responders, and those on board the flight that crashed in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The
world hasn't just become wicked...it's always been wicked.
The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.
occasional C-class flares. An
associated CME was observed over the south pole and had an
estimated plane of sky speed of 420 km/s. This CME is not
expected to be geoeffective at this time, pending further
analysis.
Romney has pushed for increased
government research funding for low-emission technologies —
particularly nuclear energy — and decried President Obama’s push
to regulate carbon emissions.
Last night, Andrea Rossi read and explained the third party
tests that were done in July on his hot cat technology. The
results evince outputs that approach nuclear in their power
density and peak output levels.
Republican vice presidential
nominee Paul Ryan said he backs nominee Mitt Romney in opposing
extension of the wind-energy tax credit.
Continuing with the recent theme of
the US labor markets, consider the chart below. It's the total
US employees on nonfarm payrolls going back to the mid 60s.
We've heard numerous discussions about how the current payrolls
correction is far deeper and will take much longer to recover
than in previous recessions. But there is a pattern in this
chart.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are
the best. Concerned about the lack of fresh water in the
developing world, designer Gabriele Diamanti wanted a solution
to desalinate water that was available to households rather than
relying on giant, centralized plants. He also wanted it to be
something inexpensive that could be made by local craftsman. The
result is a ceramic solar still called the Eliodomestico that
operates like an “upside-down coffee percolator”
Low-income SRP customers upset over a proposed 4.8 percent
rate hike plan to share their stories Monday during the public
meeting of the utility company's board.
SRP, a Valley-based public utility company, announced this
summer it would seek the rate increase, the first since spring
2010.
A bold new study, the Long Island
Clean Electricity Vision, commissioned by Renewable Energy Long
Island (reLI) and environmental, public interest, and other
advocacy organizations, finds that 100 percent clean, renewable
electricity is now possible for Long Island.
Friday's poor employment report has
given us a good window into how financial markets react to
prospects of a monetary expansion. The weakness in the US labor
conditions has significantly increased the probability that the
FOMC will lean toward an outright asset purchase program.
Friday's market reaction to this possible move by the Fed is
shown in the table below.
- The economic picture in Europe is worsening, exposing
flaws in the foundation of the euro compact.
- The European Central Bank is trying its best, but
remains hindered by its charter.
- European policy makers should focus on stabilizing the
situation first, and seeking retribution later.
Just as overfishing impoverishes
the life of the sea, the forgetting impoverishes our own lives.
Researching the history of
ecosystems, it is not long before you make an arresting
discovery. Great abundance of the kind that exists in the
tropics - or existed until recently - was once almost universal.
After six years in the industry and
one year of intense research, CSP Today launched its new Global
Tracker initiative aimed at bringing greater transparency to the
CSP industry
Transocean Ltd is in discussions
with the U.S. Justice Department to pay $1.5 billion to resolve
civil and criminal claims from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Swiss-based company said on
Monday.
The world needs to find the
equivalent of the flow of 20 Nile rivers by 2025 to grow enough
food to feed a rising population and help avoid conflicts over
water scarcity, a group of former leaders said on Monday.
Soaring prices for grains and
soybeans could harm tens of millions of people around the world
in the coming months, the three officials most directly
responsible for feeding the world’s hungriest people warned in a
joint statement today.
Provisions to deal with aquatic
invasive species, habitat degradation and the effects of climate
change are featured in the newly amended Great Lakes Water
Quality Agreement signed by U.S. and Canadian officials today in
Washington.
A release of crude stocks from the
US strategic reserve would be driven by political considerations
not just economic ones, Mine Yucel of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Dallas said Tuesday on the sidelines of the International
Association for Energy Economics conference in Venice.
The U.S. Navy can build a $100
million submarine training range off the coast of Southern
Georgia and Northern Florida, a federal judge ruled Monday,
dismissing a lawsuit by environmental groups claiming the
project would harm the already endangered North Atlantic right
whale.
The amount of photovoltaic solar
panels installed in the United States reached 742 megawatts in
the second quarter of 2012, according to a report released
Monday by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries
Association, up from 512 megawatts in the first quarter.
The 70,000 surviving firefighters,
police officers and other first responders who raced to the
World Trade Center after the attacks of September 11, 2001 will
be entitled to free monitoring and treatment for some 50 forms
of cancer.
Thanks to some forward-thinking pioneers and early adopters
committed to innovation, the wastewater industry is on the
precipice of radical change.
After years of optimistic
pronouncements, haggling with coastal residents and fishermen,
and one project that landed in Davy Jones' locker, a new wave of
Oregon's renewable energy experiment is taking shape off the
coast.
Evidence continues to mount that an Israeli preemptive strike
against Iran’s nuclear program is increasingly likely before the
U.S. elections in November.
The Mayor of Kawasaki City, Japan,
announced at a press conference on September 4, 2012, that
children were intentionally being fed radioactive food
for educational purpose. “Students need to know they live in
danger by [sic] consuming radioactive school lunch.”
A federal carbon cap-and-trade program is dead for the
foreseeable future. So is a once promising national clean energy
standard.
With climate policy paralyzed in Washington, a number of
leading U.S. corporations are going it alone, squeezing big
reductions of climate-changing emissions from their operations
and supply chains. With stakeholder criticism and other
pressures building, more and more are also releasing rigorous
climate data in their financial reports and enlisting
third-party firms to make sure it is accurate.
The Obama administration plans to
seek industry support as it pursues regulation to require public
disclosure of the chemicals used by oil and gas developers in
hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands, a White House
official said Thursday.
Wildfires burning across the
northern Rockies threatened hundreds of homes on Monday in
Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, while firefighters in Washington
state scrambled to battle scores of blazes sparked by weekend
lightning storms across the eastern Cascades.
The World Economic Forum Global
Agenda on Emerging Technologies has listed wireless power as one
of the "top 10 emerging technologies for 2012." It is listed as
number seven and as having the greatest potential to provide
solutions to global challenges.
September 7, 2012
A new technology was deployed by U.S. Geological Survey
scientists to map urban flooding caused by Hurricane Isaac.
Called “terrestrial lidar,” or “T-lidar”, this new capability
will enable scientists to collect highly detailed information in
select population areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
where the hurricane had the greatest impact.
Before the U.S. biofuels boom took off in 2007, the food vs.
fuel debate raged: can we afford to use corn for ethanol in a
starving world?
Five years later, farm bankers ask: can we afford not to?
Despite the ECB's rhetoric
on defending the euro that pushed up global risk asset
valuations, the underlying issues of the Eurozone have not been
resolved. Signs of the run on Spain's banks are once again in
the press. Previously we had Der Spiegel describe the enormous
euro deposit outflows from the Spanish banking system. The
problem has not gone away and here is an update with some
explanations.
Canada's Mackenzie River basin needs better protection as a
vast northern "refrigerator" slowing global climate change,
experts said on Monday.
Canada's longest river also needs a unifying plan to oversee
water quality, wildlife and oil pollution that would be similar
to European Union directives governing rivers such as the Rhine
or Danube, they said.
University of Missouri scientists
have created a new anti-cancer “super” drug in the laboratory
that they said is 10 times more potent than conventional
chemotherapy against breast, lung and colon cancer tumors.
Some people still deny climate
change because there are always people who deny the tough stuff
of science. Others don't deny it but think people don't cause
it. The good news is that more people are deciding that,
regardless, we can and should live smarter on the Earth. As of
next spring, the city will showcase the climate action plan it
initiated in 2006 with the Green Building Alliance to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2023 -- the sixth
floor of the City-County Building.
One of the countless long-running
arguments on No Name Key is whether grid-tied solar energy
systems are greener than the off-the-grid lifestyle residents
have endured -- or thrived on, depending on whom you ask -- for
many years.
From regulating climate systems to
offering food and medicines, to being home to many plants,
animals, and indigenous people, rainforests are not only a local
ecosystem but their benefits extend globally.
God and Jerusalem are apparently
not too popular among some delegates to the Democratic National
Convention. When party officials moved to restore a reference to
God to the party platform along with recognition of Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital, some delegates shouted “no” and later booed,
Fox News reported.
ENSO-neutral conditions persisted during August. However, there
are ongoing signs of a possibly imminent transition towards El
Niño in the atmosphere as well as the ocean.
Strong exports limited the
eurozone's economic contraction in the second quarter of this
year despite falling investment, inventories and private
consumption that point to output shrinking overall in 2012.
The EU's statistics office Eurostat confirmed on Thursday
that gross domestic product in the 17 countries using the euro
fell 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter. It revised the year-on-year
fall to 0.5 percent from a previously reported 0.4 percent.
President Obama has signed an
Executive Order to accelerate Investment in industrial energy
efficiency. The order is estimated to result in energy cost
savings of as much as $100 billion using technology such as
combined heat and power and waste heat recovery.
Games that are played by using your
hands are so last year – why not do something a little more fun?
For instance, why not explode watermelons ... with your mind?
One hackerspace took that idea and ran with it, turning a
mind-reading toy into a melon blasting machine.
The numbers released
quietly by the federal government this year were alarming. A
ferocious germ resistant to many types of antibiotics had
increased tenfold on chicken breasts, the most commonly eaten
meat on the nation’s dinner tables.
Untested, bio-engineered mosquitoes
will likely be released in the Florida Keys.
Arizona
authorities can enforce the most contentious section of the
state's heavily debated immigration law, according to a federal
judge's ruling Wednesday regarding a section of the statute that
critics have dubbed the "show me your papers" provision.
The Fed's goals for the US longer
term unemployment levels are simply unrealistic and will force
the central bank to prolong its easing programs beyond what is
really needed for economic growth. This misguided approach will
be damaging to the economic growth in years to come. Here is
what the FOMC is projecting for the "longer run" unemployment -
a rate that is in the 5%-6% range.
This year, with food prices
spiraling upward, we decided that no matter what, we were going
to plant our garden. There'd be no excuses this year.
Many medical authorities warn that
excess fluoride has been linked to a myriad of health problems
including heart ailments, Alzheimer’s, bone disorders, and
cancer.
But did you know that you can get the
mineral from sources besides toothpaste and
fluoride-supplemented drinking water?
Many products contain fluoride,
including tea, wine, soda, infant formula, and foods with soy.
Americans' confidence in their
economy has tied a low point not seen since January, a Gallup
poll finds.
New innovations and cost reductions are once again building
hype for hydrogen, as new data supports market based solutions.
Is this the tipping point in a clean energy revolution? Angstrom
Advanced Inc.’s Samuel Sterling gives a new take on an old tale.
Wide majorities of Republicans
across the United States and in key “swing states” believe that
advanced energy is important for the nation’s economic future
and want policymakers to focus on fostering these solutions,
according to new surveys of likely voters nationwide and in
swing states. The surveys, conducted for the Advanced Energy
Economy Institute (AEEI), found that 85 percent of Republicans
nationwide and in 12 key swing states believe advanced energy –
defined as energy products, technologies, and services that are
secure, clean, and affordable over the long term – are very
important or somewhat important to America’s future. At the same
time, 88 percent of political independents and 96 percent of
Democrats believe advanced energy is important to America’s
future.
While low prices for PV technology
have led to increasing installations, these prices are also
likely to lower quality technology and installations, possibly
resulting in a global backlash against solar power, Pike
Research contends.
County’s largest landfill is
gearing up for closure, which means that starting in 2013, an
estimated 20,000 tons of trash a day will be taken to a
mega-landfill in the Imperial Valley desert.
A year-old solar panel manufacturer
in northern Minnesota, citing slower-than-expected sales, has
missed its first two payments on a $1.5 million loan from an
Iron Range development agency and is seeking additional
forbearance on the debt, executives and state officials said
Tuesday.
[ED: This is why the
alternative energy business must understand that they are a
business first (customers must be willing and
able to buy. Pushing
alternative energy to people who cannot afford to purchase
anything just doesn't make the best sense.]
Touted for both energy efficiency
and reduced carbon emissions, biofuels have received worldwide
attention in recent years as a viable solution to the global oil
crisis. While these positive qualities have been reinforced by
numerous scientific studies, biofuels still have critics who say
cost-ineffectiveness and poor vehicular performance greatly
hinder its perceived economic value.
The nuclear industry long has drawn
employees from the U.S. Navy, so it makes sense that companies
would look to the Navy again as the industry faces an impending
shortage of skilled workers.
The Department of Agriculture said
in a report that about 5.5 percent of Americans, or nearly 17
million, suffered "very low food security" last year, meaning
they had to skip meals or not eat for a day because of a lack of
money to buy food. That is a rise of 800,000 over the prior
year, it said.
The study, published yesterday in
The Annals of Internal Medicine, concluded that “the
published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods
are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods.
Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide
residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”
New Hampshire is among a group of
states, including Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, that are
required under the Voting Rights Act of 1964 to submit any
election law changes to the Department of Justice for review to
determine whether they would result in racial discrimination.
The state came under the act's purview because of poor voter
turnout in 10 towns in the 1968 presidential election and
because it still had a literacy test on the books at the time.
A panel for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has ruled against issuing a construction and
operating license for a proposed new nuclear reactor in Maryland
because it would have too much foreign ownership.
U.S. firms have gone from worrying
about a Greek exit from the eurozone to taking concrete plans to
prepare themselves in the event the debt-ridden Adriatic country
is shown the door to the currency group.
The Pentagon on Wednesday posted a
website mapping the amount of radiation to which the tens of
thousands of Americans in Japan at the time of last year's
earthquake and nuclear disaster were exposed and said none of
the doses posed health risks.
“No doubt you have … noticed that,
with less than 10 weeks to go until the November presidential
election, our country is in the grip of an increasingly ugly
political campaign," El-Erian wrote in the Project Syndicate
column. "So, with this combination of bad economics and bad
politics, we look to you for direction and leadership. It is
that simple, and that important,” he wrote.
Portugal has been trying to export
its way out of the economic mess that it has been in for some
time. And it has been doing an amazing job, particularly given
its poor export track record and deteriorating economic
conditions in the Eurozone.
This is President Obama’s week to
detail his path for energizing America and to answer GOP-hopeful
Romney’s scathing attacks. And while some of his responses will
be pointed, others will be dulled -- most likely those
discussing the potential of climate change on the U.S. economy.
Implantable medical devices are
becoming more common everyday. The problem is that no matter how
sophisticated the devices are, most still depend on batteries
for power. One solution to this is for the power source to
remain outside the body and to beam the power to the device.
However, that has its own difficulties because wireless power
can’t penetrate very far through human tissue ... until now.
activity was moderate, M1 x-ray
flare, occasional low-level C-class flares. No new regions
were numbered. No Earth-directed CME activity occurred during
the period. Solar activity is expected to be low through the
period (07 - 09 September) with a chance for an isolated
M-class flare on day 1. There will be a slight chance for an
isolated M-class flare during days 2 - 3.
Increasing misuse of chemicals is causing health and
environmental damage especially in emerging economies and
governments must do more to carry out a promised clean-up by
2020, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.
The degree of salinity in oceans is
a driver of the world's ocean circulation, where density changes
due to both salinity changes and temperature changes at the
surface of the ocean produce changes in buoyancy, which cause
the sinking and rising of water masses. Changes in the salinity
of the oceans are thought to contribute to global changes in
carbon dioxide as more saline waters are less soluble to carbon
dioxide.
China's slowing economy continues
to pose a major risk to global growth. Here are a number of
updates to the developments discussed earlier.
Fuel cell technology proves successful in a new position
paper from DNV Research and Innovation, giving hope to a future
of reduced emissions from shipping.
With rising fuel prices and impending environmental
regulations, the pressure is on for more efficient and
environmentally friendly ships. DNV Research and Innovation has
taken a leading role in facilitating the demonstration of safe
and reliable fuel cell applications for ships. In the joint
industry project, FellowSHIP, a 330 kW fuel cell was
successfully installed, and demonstrated smooth operation for
more than 7000 hours on board the offshore supply vessel Viking
Lady.
It didn't take long for the Internet to start buzzing with
conspiracy theories after the Social Security Administration
posted a notice that it was purchasing 174,000 hollow-point
bullets.
Why is the agency that provides benefits to retirees,
disabled workers, widows and children stockpiling ammunition?
Death by sugar may not be an
overstatement—evidence is mounting that sugar is THE MAJOR
FACTOR causing obesity and chronic disease.
The United States' ability to
compete on the global stage has fallen for the fourth year
running as confidence in the country's politicians continues to
decline, an annual survey from the World Economic Forum found
Wednesday.
Giant blades turn systematically some 250 feet above Steve
Schwoerer's farm, coaxing simple air into electricity and dollar
signs.
"When the world is quiet, I can hear them," ...
Here is an excerpt1 from
a paper written by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) meteorologist; "Climate models used for
estimating effects of increases in greenhouse gases show
substantial increases in water vapor as the globe warms and this
increased moisture would further increase the warming." However,
this meteorologist along with the International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) crowd got it backwards about water vapor and CO2
-- they cool the earth like all other gases in our atmosphere!
[ED: Real the analytical
logic. Perceive or read the results of direct observation?
The editor listens strongly to the scientists who are studying
the earth directly!]
Americans are no strangers to
willful denial of the past. American presidents have called for
forgetting the past, not investigating wrongs of prior
administrations, insisting that America is only and always the
“good guy” on the planet. Indeed, this is a core ingredient of
assertions that America is “exceptional.”
Toshiba Corp, Hitachi Zosen Corp,
JFE Steel Corp and three other companies plan to invest 120
billion yen ($1.53 billion) over a decade to set up offshore
wind turbines, the Nikkei reported.
Bottom trawling - dragging nets
across the sea floor to scoop up fish - stirs up the sediment
lying on the seabed, displaces or harms some marine species,
causes pollutants to mix into plankton and move into the food
chain and creates harmful algae blooms or oxygen-deficient dead
zones.
According to the report,
governments and businesses must begin using sustainably
established plantation forests to minimize the toll logging is
taking on tropical forests. Many of the products used every day
by American businesses and consumers are made from tropical
wood, including paper, furniture, building material and shipping
supplies. The destruction of virginal tropical forests for
forestry products should be replaced with sustainable and
repeatable plantation forests.
Analysts expect US gasoline stocks
to have declined by 3.5 million barrels, a direct product of
Gulf Coast refineries shut due to Isaac.
Should this be
the case, US gasoline stocks will be 3.7% below the EIA
five-year average, the lowest level since early June. By
comparison, this same time last year, US gasoline stocks were
almost 2% above the EIA five-year average -- higher by almost 10
million barrels.
Climate scientists are getting
their fair share of surprises this year, from the
record-breaking ice melt in the Arctic to the fact that
first-quarter U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have hit their
lowest point since 1992. CO2 emissions from energy
consumption for the January-March period fell to 1.34 billion
metric tons, down 8 percent from a year ago. While the depressed
economy and rising renewable energy generation have contributed
to emissions reductions in the past few years, the early 2012
low-point is due mainly to a combination of three factors: the
relatively warm winter, reduced gasoline demand, and the
continued decline in coal-fired electricity.
The U.S. Justice Department is ramping up its rhetoric
against BP PLC for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, describing in new court papers examples of what it calls
"gross negligence and willful misconduct."
The court filing is the sharpest position yet taken by the
U.S. government as it seeks to hold the British oil giant
largely responsible for the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
Activity in the US manufacturing
sector contracted for the third consecutive month in August
2012, and the pace of decline accelerated slightly as indicated
by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing index
edging down to 49.6 from 49.8 in July (a reading below 50
indicates the sector is generally contracting).
Scientists knew about the dangers
of cigarettes, DDT, and Agent Orange long before anything
reached the public. The same is true today about genetically
modified food (often referred to as genetically modified
organisms or GMOs). This food is being sold without even a label
identifying it. A genetically modified seed was even created to
allow them to spray a chemical containing Agent Orange on crops
without killing them.
The summer’s extreme weather is
starting to expose cracks in the system.
There have been droughts before,
and it looks like there will certainly be more droughts in the
future. However, the summer of 2012 has been historic in several
ways:
September 4, 2012
The logjam in New Jersey mirrors
the situation up and down the Eastern Seaboard, as the future of
federal price supports falls into doubt and the promise of
clean, renewable power goes up against the high price tag of
installing 400-foot-tall turbines 20 miles out to sea.
According to the information
provided by the consultant and Rossi himself, a single, small
"hot cat" (weighing about ten pounds or 4.5 kilograms) can
produce high temperatures up to 1,200 degrees Celsius or higher.
At the same time, Rossi asserts that a single module can produce
approximately ten kilowatts of power. Most importantly, it is
alleged these temperatures and power output levels can be
achieved with total stability -- along with kilowatts more
output than input.
Ice on the Arctic Ocean could
vanish in summertime as early as 2015 or linger for many decades
after a thaw to a record low this month that is widely blamed on
climate change, according to scientists.
Increased capture of natural gas
from oil fields probably accounts for up to 70 percent of the
dramatic leveling off seen in atmospheric methane at the end of
the 20th century, according to new UC Irvine research being
published in the journal Nature.
Biden used a Labor Day rally in Detroit to encourage
organized labor to take a critical look at Republican
presidential nominee Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan.
Biden says they don't appreciate the role union workers played
in building the country and instead vilify their work.
Biden also says Romney and Ryan don't believe in workers'
rights to collective bargaining.
Industry rather than municipal supply is now the strongest
driver of the desalination market, according to a new report
published today by GWI*. Since the financial crisis of 2008, the
growth of the market for seawater desalination to augment
municipal water supply has slowed to a standstill – but the use
of the technology among industrial water users is accelerating,
with double-digit growth rates expected over the next five
years.
“We have added more traditional
games, more cultural events and opened it up more to our
Cherokee people,” said Lou Slagle, director of the Cherokee
National Holiday. “Every year, we try to do something that is
more related to the tribe.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
today declared the Wyoming population of gray wolves to be
recovered and removed federal protection under the Endangered
Species Act. As of September 30, wolves in Wyoming will be
managed by the state as they are in Idaho and Montana.
Consumer sentiment hit a
three-month high in August as households chipped away at
outstanding debt, though Americans were pessimistic about the
future, a survey showed on Friday.
The US Department of Energy on
Friday announced it is investing $5.6 million in 14 research
projects on methane hydrates, which the agency says could be a
major source of natural gas.
Methane hydrates are
ice-lattice structures with frozen natural gas, and they are
found worldwide, including under the Arctic permafrost and on
the ocean floor.
Tepid economic-growth rates will
threaten President Barack Obama's re-election chances this
November, economists say.
Economic indicators have either
disappointed or have pointed to a sluggish recovery, especially
second-quarter gross domestic product growth figures, which the
Commerce Department recently revised upward to 1.7 percent from
1.5 percent.
Despite facing challenges, the
global electricity market is robust, according to research from
Lucintel. In fact, electricity generation has been increasing
steadily over the past decade and is expected to grow to 28,085
TWh by 2017 – a compound annual growth rate of 4 percent over
the next five years.
The economy needs another shot of
Federal Reserve stimulus and this time around, it needs it
indefinitely, said Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
President John Williams
Since the 2008 financial
meltdown, the Fed has rolled out two round of stimulus measures
known as quantitative easing, which are asset purchases from
banks that pump liquidity into the financial system.
Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest
warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world's
population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian
diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.
Humans derive about 20% of their protein from animal-based
products now, but this may need to drop to just 5% to feed the
extra 2 billion people expected to be alive by 2050, according
to research by some of the world's leading water scientists.
Even though governments across Europe have set goals to
reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, few are truly on their
way to achieving it. France is one of those few, according to
research from GlobalData.
France is reducing its reliance on thermal installed capacity
(at a compound annual growth rate of 1.9 percent through 2020)
while Germany, Italy and the U.K. are predicted to increase
thermal capacity during the same period.
What if we could take a soil
bacteria and tinker with its genes to create a biofuel much in
the same way that a cow produces milk? Well, we can, or at least
a team of scientists has figured out how to do it, and the next
step is figuring out how to make it happen on a commercial
scale.
Congratulations to Harrisburg, the
capital of Pennsylvania, for having the highest per capita debt
of any city in the country.
The town's 50,000 citizens
are on the hook for $1.5 billion according to the NPR article
Inside America's Most Indebted
A combination of loose monetary
policies and stubbornly high unemployment rates could raise the
risk that inflation could strike the economy down the road, says
Harvard economist Martin Feldstein.
A "big and unforgivable" sin. A Western falsehood. An attempt
to deprive developing nations of peaceful nuclear technology.
That's how Iran's supreme leader addresses allegations that
the Islamic Republic seeks atomic weapons.
A new lawsuit filed by an independent American oil and gas
company charges that the Obama administration is blocking
legitimate efforts to find and produce oil from offshore wells.
“Given the challenges still facing the U.S. economy, the
government needs to move aside and let private industry do what
private industry does best: create jobs and increase our oil
supply to help lower the price at the pump,” a report from the
Heritage Foundation states.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port,
which handles 13 percent of foreign crude coming to the United
States, resumed offloading tankers on Saturday morning,
according to a statement issued by the port.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on
Friday that Germany had no interest in starting a trade war with
Beijing over solar exports to Europe, but stressed that China
must take action to address distortions to fair competition in
the sector.
McKubre pointed out several points
that create a negative feedback loop against cold fusion in the
academic world.
It was initially instigated by scientific
laziness. People thought that in three weeks, they could
replicate what it took the foremost electrochemist, Martin
Fleishmann and his associate Pons, three years to accomplish.
And when they couldn't, they assumed that it was because the
recipe was bad. "We now know why they didn't work. There are
certain thresholds in the experiment, none of which were met."
Moody's
put the European Union on notice Monday that its top-notch Aaa
rating is at risk of downgrade, cutting the outlook on the EU's
creditworthiness to "negative" from "stable" because of the
continent's ongoing debt crisis.
Almost 50 of the world's poorest
nations said pledges made by rich countries to provide funds to
help them adapt to a warmer planet risk being overlooked as U.N.
negotiations over a global climate pact to start in 2020 got
underway in Bangkok on Thursday.
North Carolina State University is
leading a four-year federal research effort to evaluate
freshwater sustainability across the southern United States and
develop policy recommendations on what can be done to make the
best use of water supplies in the face of population growth and
the effects of climate change over the next 10 to 30 years.
Arizona State University and the University of Georgia are also
part of the project.
Technological innovations, from the
steam engine to the Internet, have boosted U.S. economic growth
for centuries, but it might be all over, concludes Robert
Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, in a new
research paper published by the National Bureau of Economic
Research.
Gordon's research calls into question the
nearly universal assumption that economic growth will last
forever.
The earthquake and tsunami that
devastated Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in
2011 is still reverberating on this side of the globe.
An oil spill near an ExxonMobil
oilfield off the southeast coast of Nigeria has spread along the
shore for about 15 miles, and locals said it was killing fish
they depend on to live.
Panasonic has unveiled a brand new
refrigerator which the company states is the first-ever
A+++rated two-door refrigerator – making it the most
energy-efficient two-door fridge, worldwide. Named the
NR-B55VE1, it consumes 262 kWh/year of electricity, which by our
reckoning amounts to a mean power consumption of 30 W....
The long debate over storing
radioactive waste next to the Prairie Island nuclear power plant
is boiling up again with an old question: Is the waste ever
going away?
occasional C-class flares. There
were no Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CME) observed
during the period. a chance for isolated M- class
flares. Arrival of the Halo CME observed on 31 August.
This was followed by a geomagnetic sudden impulse.
Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to
active levels on day 1 (04 September) with a chance for minor
storm levels as CME effects wind down. Quiet to unsettled
conditions are expected during days 2 - 3 (05 - 06 September)
Supporters of Obamacare should take note: Since 2008 alone,
more than 8,000 doctors have left Britain to practice elsewhere,
and the chief reason cited is the country’s long-established
system of socialized medicine.
“When a government declares that it will provide ‘free’
healthcare, there is no escaping the fact that such a system
will one day be overwhelmed by demand and the providers — the
doctors and other professionals who are extensively and
intensely trained — won’t be able to keep up
South Africa has stated its intention to increase the amount
of renewable energy in its total portfolio and is on track for
its first off-grid utility-scale solar PV system as part of its
plans to increase power supplies from independent producers.
As global demand for South African coal, platinum, palladium
and chromium increases, so do power supply constraints due to
capacity challenges faced by Eskom, South Africa's utility. The
PV plant will help temper these challenges.
Spain's government made a further
attempt at solving its economic crisis Friday when it approved a
new package of measures to create a "bad bank" to handle the
country's toxic property investments and give the central bank
more powers to shut down troubled lenders.
The vital tasks carried out by tiny "engineers" like
earthworms that recycle waste and bees that pollinate crops are
under threat because one fifth of the world's spineless
creatures may be at risk of extinction, a study showed on
Friday.
The rising human population is putting ever more pressure on
the "spineless creatures that rule the world" including slugs,
spiders, jellyfish, lobsters, corals, and bugs such as beetles
and butterflies, it said.
One sixth of the world's population
live in remote locations or third world countries where they
have never had access to clean drinking water placing them at
risk for death from bacterial diseases like cholera, dysentery
and typhoid. All of that may be changing soon however due to a
remarkable new Swedish jerrycan which purifies water using only
sunshine.
Syrian
President Bashar Assad told the head of the International
Committee of the Red Cross in talks in Damascus on Tuesday that
the group is welcome to operate on the ground in the country as
long as it remains "neutral and independent," state media
reported.
The process in this article can be
used to tan rabbit hides, sheepskins, deerskins, and other
animals that you have hunted for food. There’s no reason to
throw away a perfectly good pelt when you can transform it into
a beautiful hide for projects. You can make cozy rugs, beautiful
purses, and warm winter jackets. Once you have tanned your first
hide, you will be amazed how easy it is, and your friends will
be impressed with your skills.
More than 30,000 Guna Indians live just a few feet above
sea level, in crowded villages on 41 small islands,
which makes them especially vulnerable to the vagaries
of climate change.
For centuries, the Guna (a.k.a. Kuna) Indians have
successfully defended their territory on Panama’s Caribbean
coast. They allied themselves with French pirates to fend off
the Spaniards during the colonial era, and revolted against
Panamanian authorities in 1925 to demand the autonomy that they
now enjoy. Today, they face an unprecedented threat as seasonal
waves and rising seas resulting from climate change slowly
consume the islands out from under them.
It's amazing how some highly
educated people refuse to see the facts in front of them. We
continue to get comments that the reason for the recent rise in
gasoline prices had to do with the hurricane Isaac threatening
US refining facilities in Louisiana.
OK, the hurricane is
gone and there has been no material damage. Why aren't gasoline
prices beginning to decline?
The age of antibiotics is over.
It's history. There are no more patented chemical antibiotics in
the pipeline. The drug companies have all but abandoned
antibiotics research, leaving humanity to suffer the fate of a
wave of drug-resistant bacteria -- superbugs -- that the drug
companies actually helped create.
The Doctrine of Discovery (DOD) was
developed by Roman Catholic Popes beginning in 1452 to justify
and provide a legal basis for European Christian nations to
expand their empires, take the land and resources of non-white
civilizations around the world, and destroy those who would not
convert to Christianity.
'The householder is the victim here
and justice should support them': MP backs homeowner who is held
by police after 'burglars' were shot during break-in
Business activity in the U.S. expanded at a slower pace in
August, indicating companies may hold the line on production
until sales pick up.
The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said its
business barometer fell to 53.0 this month from 53.7 in July.
Just as Democrats are gaveling in
their convention Tuesday, the federal government likely will
announce another dubious milestone — $16 trillion in total
federal debt.
In an election already focused on domestic
issues of jobs, spending and deficits, the $16 trillion number
is likely to underscore just how much is at stake in November
for both parties, which are offering dramatically different ways
to begin to eat away at the deep hole.
Media reports have been focusing on the drought afflicting
much of the United States and the devastating impact it could
have on farmers. But surprisingly, American farmers are heading
for their most profitable year on record.
The reason: High grain prices and payouts from a federal crop
insurance program will compensate for a smaller harvest, the
Financial Times reports.
The Obama administration is close
to a
deal with Egypt's new government for $1 billion in debt
relief, a senior U.S. official said on Monday, as Washington
seeks to help Cairo shore up its ailing economy in the aftermath
of its pro-democracy uprising.
U.S. regulators said 71.5 percent
of daily oil production and 55.62 percent of daily natural gas
output in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico remained
shut on Sunday due to Hurricane Isaac, whose remnants were
drenching sections of the Midwest.
"Waking up" isn't a one-day event, though it often starts
that way. It is an ongoing process of re-learning everything you
ever learned, correcting the brainwashing and seeing the world
through new lenses. But the hardest thing is overcoming the
social ostracism that accompanies observing things radically
differently from those around you.
If you've been following electronic
waste news, or environmental news in general, you've probably
heard of the E.U.'s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Directive (commonly referred to as the "WEEE" Directive). The
initiative officially came under European law in February 2003
and seeks to answer the E.U.'s (not to mention the world's)
growing electronic waste problem. As our society heads into
2013, scrutiny of the program builds around the directive's 2020
goal of collecting 10 million tons (approximately 44 pounds per
capita) of electrical and electronic equipment within the E.U.
America has a nuclear problem. It's
one that exists stateside as well as abroad. Research by the
Heritage Foundation shows that the United States has not
adequately funded its nuclear deterrent program since the end of
the Cold War. Abroad, we have terrorist nations and
nations whose security is at best suspect who either have
nuclear weapons or are acquiring nuclear capability.
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