The Power of Gratitude: It's About What
You Have, Not What You're Going to Get
With the hustle and bustle of everyday
life, it's easy to forget about what and
who you're grateful for.
April 30, 2013
In December, Seattle was the
first city to announce it
would divest from fossil
fuel investments and now
nine other cities have
joined in.
The nine
cities are: Madison,
WI; Bayfield WI; Ithaca, NY;
Boulder, CO; Rochester, MN;
Eugene, OR; Richmond, CA;
Berkeley, CA; and San
Francisco, CA.
The
goal is to unhook America
from the grip of the
industry, which is
preventing us from
addressing climate change
and forcing the Keystone
pipeline through.
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Water fluoridation has come under
increasing scrutiny as health concerns,
lack of efficacy in preventing tooth
decay and ethical issues of
administering chemicals via the water
supply have surfaced
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Michael Connett, an attorney with the
Fluoride Action Network (FAN),
summarizes 10 important facts about
fluoride that everyone drinking
fluoridated water should know
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Facts uncovered reveal that fluoride
impacts far more in your body than just
your teeth and provides serious risks to
infants, along with little or no benefit
to your teeth, among others
So, notwithstanding a
lackluster demonstration
from the vantage point of
running it long enough to
rule out a hidden battery or
other conventional energy
storage mechanism, here is a
prioritized list of reasons
I think that what Yildiz
demonstrated is indeed an
all-magnet motor, to the
level that I would say that
this is the "most likely"
conclusion:
“It’s just a big, fat, new
revenue stream to build
bigger government which is
not a good idea,” Phillips
said.
“Whenever you
give government bureaucrats
another opportunity to
extract money from the
private sector, they start
coming up with devious ways
to expand it, to make it
more encroaching on people’s
dollars, and it’s not a good
thing,” he said.
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A 2012 nutritional analysis of GMO
versus non-GMO corn shows shocking
differences in nutritional content.
Non-GMO corn contains 437 times more
calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7
times more manganese than GMO corn
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GMO corn was also found to contain 13
ppm of glyphosate, compared to zero in
non-GMO corn. EPA “safe” level for
glyphosate in American water supplies is
0.7 ppm, and organ damage in animals has
occurred at levels as low as 0.1 ppm
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GMO corn contains extremely high levels
of formaldehyde—about 200 times the
amount found toxic to animals
Solar power system designed
to meet approximately 60
percent of the electricity
needs at five schools
The Arctic Athabaskan
Council today filed a
petition to the
Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights, requesting a
declaration that Canada is
undermining the human rights
of Athabaskan peoples by
allowing emissions of black
carbon to warm the Arctic.
Consumers may soon be able
to obtain low-cost loans to
install solar and other
alternative energy systems
and then repay the loans
through the savings on their
electrical bills.
The state would issue
revenue bonds
President Francois Hollande
announced on Monday a series
of measures to encourage the
French entrepreneurial
spirit, including drastic
cuts in capital gains taxes
— up to 65 percent — for the
sale of small companies and
a plan to make France
start-up friendly.
The CIA has delivered tens of millions of
dollars in cash packed in suitcases and
backpacks to the office of Afghan President
Hamid Karzai for more than a decade, the New
York Times reported Monday.
“We called it ‘ghost money’,” Khalil
Roman, Karzai’s deputy chief of staff from
2002 to 2005, told the Times. “It came in
secret, and it left in secret.”
Tzachi Hanegbi, a close,
trusted, long-time personal
friend and confidante of
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, made
remarks on Tuesday at a
security conference in Tel
Aviv that did not make news
in the U.S. But they should
have.
While there are several
recent examples to indicate
that coal-fired generation
has been taking market share
from gas-fired generation as
natural gas prices rise, how
long coal can hang on to
that market share will
depend on a variety of
factors, chief among them
the volatile price of
natural gas.
Defying conventional wisdom
in the era of
Solyndra,
conservatives in Washington
are coming out to back
renewable energy.
In what has become a
familiar sight this spring,
thousands of current and
retired coal miners will
rally in the streets of
downtown Monday morning to
protest wage and benefits
cuts proposed by Patriot
Coal Corp. as part of the
company's bankruptcy.
Egypt’s rapidly expanding
black market for fuel — and
for foodstuffs, other
commodities and U.S. dollars
— may be the most tangible
illustration of just how
badly the economy of this
vast Arab nation is failing,
two years after the fall of
Hosni Mubarak.
States are expected to
continue meeting or
exceeding the targets
contained in their renewable
energy portfolio standards,
with a surplus of qualifying
capacity increasing
"substantially" by 2040 as
renewable power technologies
"become increasingly
competitive with
conventional generation
sources," according to the
U.S. Energy Information
Administration.
Power company NRG Energy Inc said on
Friday a technology it developed with the
University of Delaware has sold power from
electric vehicles to the power grid for the
first time.
The University and NRG said in a
statement that they began work on the
so-called eV2g program in September 2011 to
provide a two-way interface between electric
vehicles and the power grid that enables
vehicle owners to sell electricity back to
the grid while they are charging their cars.
The national poll shows decreases in
behaviors such as:
Replacing incandescent bulbs with
energy-efficient CFLs or LEDs, down 13
percent
Adding sealing, caulking or
weatherstripping, down 17 percent
Purchasing a higher-efficiency/ENERGY STAR
qualified appliance, down 6 percent
Shale gas producers have gotten an
injection of adrenalin by an unexpected
source: The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, which now says that much less
methane is leaked during discovery.
It’s welcome news to the natural gas
industry whose economic revival could be
overshadowed by environmental skepticism.
The FAA has approved battery system
improvements for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner,
clearing the way for the grounded fleet to
resume commercial flights in about a week.
The fuel-efficient Dreamliner has been
grounded since January ...
In wet years, hydropower is plentiful and
contracts are easy to fulfill. During
droughts, when falling water levels reduce
production, the agency must purchase
alternative power elsewhere to fulfill its
contracts.
During fiscal year 2012, the agency spent
$7.6 million in peak replacement energy.
Those costs are expected to be much lower
for the remainder of fiscal 2013 and into
fiscal 2014.
The start-up last week of
Florida Power & Light's Cape
Canaveral combined-cycle,
natural gas-fired power
plant, replacing an older
fuel oil powered plant,
marks the latest move away
from domestic petroleum
power demand in the state.
It is a trend that will
continue, with FP&L set to
replace two more fuel
oil-fired plants with gas
units over the next two
years.
Turns out that when a barely
regulated industry injects
highly pressurized
wastewater into faults,
things can go terribly
wrong.
The FutureGen 2.0 project
would have no impacts on
them, it said,
except for climate and
greenhouses gases.
That category was identified
as having no direct impacts,
though greenhouse emissions
would probably be greater in
the absence of the project.
It is increasingly more
common for a bank to allow
its account holders to use
any of its ATMs for free,
but to charge those who hold
accounts at other banks.
That fee is often called an
out-of-network surcharge.
The Geothermal Energy
Association (GEA) has
released an Air Emissions
Comparison and Externality
Analysis showing that
geothermal energy provides
significant benefits to
public health and the
environment and is one of
the least-polluting and most
environmentally friendly
forms of energy.
Global installations of PV
storage systems are forecast
to grow by more than 100
percent a year on average
over the next five years,
reaching nearly 7 GW in
2017. Germany will account
for nearly 70 percent of
storage installed in
residential PV systems
worldwide in 2013 following
the introduction of an
energy storage subsidy in
Germany. However,
opportunities also will
exist in other regions and
applications in the future
and Germany's share of the
global market will naturally
fall as a result.
Germany's green energy drive is proving
surprisingly good for dirty brown coal as
utilities squeezed by rival renewables and
low wholesale gas prices use more of it.
East Germany was a huge user of brown
coal, or lignite, and Germany remains the
world's biggest producer, but its use poses
a problem for Berlin's environmental plans.
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The documentary A Silent Forest: The
Growing Threat, Genetically Engineered
Trees discusses how genetically
engineered (GE) trees may adversely
impact ecological systems on a grand
scale, with potentially catastrophic
effects
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Trees are being genetically altered to
give them unnatural characteristics,
such as the ability to kill insects,
tolerate toxic herbicides, grow
abnormally fast, or have decreased
lignin for the convenience of the paper
industry
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Genetically engineered trees vastly
differ from annual GE crops like corn
and soybeans because trees can live for
decades and even centuries in the wild;
once GE trees escape the confines of
their plantation, they are extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to
eradicate
Promises made by the
biotechnology industry about
the alleged robustness of
its genetically modified
(GM) crops are proving to be
false, as research out of
the University of Arizona
(UA) uncovers a growing
resistance by pests to even
the most advanced crop
chemical technologies in use
today. Published in the
journal Proceedings of
the National Academy of
Sciences, the new study
explains how multi-toxin GM
crops are quickly losing
their ability to fend off
pests, which could lead to a
complete GMO failure in the
very near future if
alternate interventions are
not enacted.
Renewable energy production and
infrastructure are gaining investor appeal
as they become less dependent on government
support in more European markets, the asset
management arm of insurer Allianz said on
Thursday.
Allianz, Europe's biggest insurer, has
been investing billions of euros of policy
holder funds in renewable energy.
The fact that hardworking
taxpayers were forced to
subsidize the Fisker Karma,
a hybrid electric sports car
catering to the
super-wealthy, is a scandal
in its own right. But such
an expenditure is even more
outrageous when you consider
the administration’s
insistence this week that
sequester cuts forced it to
slow the nation’s airports
and air traffic control
system to a crawl.
The lawsuit blocking
expansion of a Cassville
surface mine has gone to the
state Supreme Court.
Honey can be a
healthy sweetener if used appropriately in
small quantities, but not just any old
honey.
It's not that jar of processed, refined
honey sitting in your pantry. That jar is
just as bad as sugar and those other toxic
artificial sweeteners that I keep telling
you to throw out.
This perfect natural food I'm talking
about is raw unprocessed honey,
humankind's oldest sweetener.
Industrialized nations'
greenhouse gas emissions
dipped 0.7 percent in 2011,
helped by a U.S. shift from
high-polluting coal in power
plants and by Europe's
economic slowdown, data
compiled by Reuters showed
on Friday.
The
public is often amazed at Washington's
inability to solve problems. Some have
attributed that constant impasse to
polarization in Congress - with very little
overlap in attitudes across the party lines.
But is this truly something new or just more
media hype?
The data seems to indicate that
polarization is definitely sharper now
than in the past and is particularly
acute in the House of Representatives.
San Diego is leading the
charge as utilities adapt to
increased penetration of
electric vehicles in their
service area. To better
understand the dimensions of
the challenges and
opportunities before the
utility, I recently chatted
with Michael R. Niggli,
president of San Diego Gas &
Electric.
The analysis cited continued
falling interest rates, which pushed
liabilities to record highs, as the primary
reason for the drop in funded status.
“However, that has been more than
offset by growth in liabilities. Four
consecutive years of declining interest
rates have helped push liabilities 40%
higher and left companies with even larger
deficits than before.”
Three years ago the very
first images from the Solar
Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
were beamed back to earth.
Since then, NASA’s SDO has
effectively had continuous
coverage of the Sun’s rise
towards solar maximum, the
period of the most intense
solar activity in the 11
year solar cycle. NASA has
now provided a fascinating
snapshot of this ongoing
research in the form of a
time-lapse video that
squeezes three years of
solar activity into three
minutes of footage.
Navy contractors are drilling for heat.
Though the ground doesn't warm up the
closer you get to the bottom of
350-foot-deep holes, 48 of them will provide
enough energy to keep a 264-room dormitory
cozy.
Plasma Device Could
Revolutionize Energy
Generation
Scientists at the University
of Missouri have devised a
new way to create and
control plasma that could
transform American energy
generation and storage.
New Risks Created by
Dodd-Frank Noted as Top
Compliance Priorities for
Financial Services Firms
A gunbattle between security
forces and Islamist
insurgents in Nigeria a week
ago killed 228 people, a
local senator said on
Saturday, putting the death
toll six times higher than
the government's estimate.
Police say a homeowner had
to defend himself Sunday
after a man entered his home
on North Broad Street and
began fighting the people
inside. The homeowner shot
the suspect, who later died
at the hospital.
A group formed to back
President Barack Obama's
political agenda has begun a
campaign to challenge U.S.
lawmakers who reject the
science behind climate
change.
As the U.S. Department of
the Interior's Bureau of
Land Management (BLM)
updates rules for oil and
gas drilling on federal
land, the National Parks
Conservation Association
(NPCA) has released new
research examining the
impact of existing, proposed
and potential oil and gas
development on America's
national parks. It also
offers recommendations to
ensure future drilling
safeguards for public health
and the environment.
The Senate really wants the
public to know that it’s
completely behind the
Marketplace Fairness Act, a
bill that would require
online businesses to collect
sales tax from every state
regardless of its location.
The Hill notes that support
for the bill has dropped
considerably as the Senate
has rejected an open
amendment process.
In 2012, for the fourth year
in a row, California topped
the list of states with the
most power outages, followed
by New York and Texas,
according to Eaton's annual
Blackout Tracker.
Angle aKnight represents
Britain's 80-plus
much-criticised energy
companies and has some clear
advice for her members: "Be
upfront, be open with
customers, explain what
you've done, admit if you
have made a mistake and put
it right as soon as you
can."
Plants help to slow climate
change by emitting gases as
temperatures rise that lead
to the formation of a
sunshade of clouds over the
planet, scientists said on
Sunday.
Business confidence
has grown in the United
States, according to new
research from ACCA (the
Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants) and
IMA
(Institute of Management
Accountants). However,
businesses are not yet in a
position to take advantage
of better trading conditions
and easier access to
financing.
Today, more than 100
national, state and regional
organizations delivered a
letter to the leaders of the
House and Senate Agriculture
Committees urging them to
adopt a new Farm Bill with
robust mandatory funding for
renewable energy and energy
efficiency programs.
Sea surface temperatures in the Northeast
Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem during 2012
were the highest recorded in 150 years,
according to the latest Ecosystem Advisory
issued by NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science
Center (NEFSC). These high sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) are the latest in a
trend of above average temperature seen
during the spring and summer seasons, and
part of a pattern of elevated temperatures
occurring in the Northwest Atlantic, but not
seen elsewhere in the ocean basin over the
past century.
The advisory reports on conditions in the
second half of 2012.
Solar activity has been at
low levels for the past 24
hours. The largest solar
event of the period was a C5
event observed. Solar
activity is expected to be
low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (30 Apr, 01
May, 02 May). The
geomagnetic field has been
at quiet levels for the past
24 hours. he geomagnetic
field is expected
to be
at quiet to unsettled levels
on days one and three (30
Apr, 02
May) and quiet
levels on day two (01 May).
Democratic lawmakers are
worried about political
fallout if the final
implementation of Obamacare
next year fails to hold down
premium costs and only ends
up confusing more Americans
about what their options
are.
A bipartisan group of
senators will introduce
legislation this week that
aims to boost renewable
energy development by making
the federal tax code
friendlier to investors.
Sacramento's leaders are
counting on clean technology
-- the business of solar and
wind energy, "smart"
buildings and more -- to
help lift the region out of
the economic doldrums.
Southern California is
taking steps to reduce its
water imports by 40 billion
gallons by 2035, according
to a new analysis by the
Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC). This is
equivalent to the annual
water use of over one
million people.
Are you interested in
building a Tesla Coil to
produce stunning effects
that violate the
"established" laws of
physics, but are somewhat
less than technically savvy
than a rocket scientist?
Then you are in luck,
because this article is for
you!
The Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge symbolizes the
American philosophical
divide, environmentally
speaking. There, advocates
say that huge oil reserves
are waiting to get tapped
while opponents say that the
region is much too pristine
for such development.
After examining six national
databases, scientists
estimated that testosterone
deficiency was affecting
13.4 percent of men between
the ages of 45 and 74. They
also estimated
that
testosterone deficiency is
involved in the development
of approximately 1.3 million
new cases of cardiovascular
diseases, 1.1 million new
cases of diabetes, and more
than 600,000
osteoporosis-related
fractures in the first year
it is present.
Syria: Obama Unlikely to Act
on Chemical Weapons 'Red
Line'
US Ports Not Ready for
Panama Canal Widening
Border Dispute with India
Reflects New Chinese
Aggression
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Two of the most powerful dietary
interventions I know of are limiting or
eliminating processed foods and
replacing non-vegetable carbohydrates
with healthful fats. Replacing carbs
with more protein is not a wise choice
as it can produce similar adverse
hormonal changes as burning
non-vegetable carbs
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Replacing drugs with natural
alternatives, or better yet, addressing
the lifestyle factors that are causing
your health problem in the first place,
are your best bets if you want to avoid
becoming a disease- or
pharmaceutical-mortality statistic
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The vast majority of health problems are
in fact responsive to appropriate
lifestyle changes—the most important of
which are covered in this article
Trees breathe in CO2 and
exhale Oxygen A natural way
to refresh the air or so it
seems. Smog is a form of
pollution. After years of
scientific uncertainty and
speculation, researchers at
the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill show
exactly how trees help
create one of society’s
predominant environmental
and health concerns: air
pollution. It has long been
known that trees produce and
emit isoprene, an abundant
molecule in the air known to
protect leaves from oxygen
damage and temperature
fluctuations. However, in
2004, researchers, contrary
to popular assumptions,
revealed that isoprene was
likely involved in the
production of particulate
matter, tiny particles that
can get lodged in lungs,
lead to lung cancer and
asthma, and damage other
tissues, not to mention the
environment.
On the 27th anniversary of
the world’s worst nuclear
disaster, Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych
today laid flowers at the
Memorial to Heroes at the
Chernobyl nuclear power
plant. He inspected the
shelter being erected to
contain the damaged reactor
and ordered government
officials to increase
financial aid for Ukranians
struggling with medical and
social problems resulting
from the accident.
Wind-generated energy faces
obstacles before it can take
a bigger part the energy
portfolio, but one of those
might be less issue than
imagination.
United Parcel Service Inc
said it will buy about 700
liquefied natural gas (LNG)
vehicles and build four
refueling stations by the
end of 2014, as the
logistics and courier
services company ramps up
its natural gas investments.
Illegal immigrants can get
food stamps on behalf of
their eligible kids —
without having to disclose
their immigration status,
according to documents
uncovered by Judicial Watch.
The food-stamps offer is
spelled out in a Spanish
language flyer provided by
the United States Department
of Agriculture to the
Mexican Embassy.
Freddie Mac(OTCQB: FMCC)
yesterday released the
results of its
Primary Mortgage Market
Survey® (PMMS®),
showing average fixed
mortgage rates moving lower
for the fourth consecutive
week continuing to support
the ongoing housing
recovery. The 15-year
fixed-rate mortgage hit a
new all-time record low at
2.61 percent for the week,
as did the 5-year ARM at
2.58 percent. The previous
record low for the 15-year
fixed was 2.63 percent set
the week of November 21,
2012.
Virgin Galactic’s tourist spacecraft made
its first rocket-powered flight over the
Mojave Desert in California on Monday to
bring space tourism one step closer to
reality.
The SpaceShipTwo was dropped by the
carrier plane WhiteKnightTwo at 46,000 feet
before firing its rocket engine to reach the
edge of space, about 60 miles from the
Earth’s surface, at Mach 1.2 or more than
the speed of sound.
After a week of inconclusive
debate and considerable
frustration vented on the
Senate floor, lawmakers in
the upper chamber have
postponed a final vote on a
controversial online sales
tax bill, with Majority
Leader Harry Reid announcing
plans to put the Marketplace
Fairness Act to a final vote
May 6, when members return
from a one-week recess.
Nuclear power plants do have
a waste management problem
because radioactivity takes
a long time to dissipate and
turn the radioactive waste
into just a non-hazardous
waste. Radioactive wastes
are wastes that contain
radioactive material.
Radioactive wastes are
usually by-products of
nuclear power generation and
other applications of
nuclear fission or nuclear
technology, such as research
and medicine. A new draft
nuclear waste management
bill released today by four
U.S. senators focuses on
establishing interim and
permanent waste repositories
but fails to address current
unsafe waste management
practices at nuclear power
plants across the country,
according to the Union of
Concerned Scientists.
The concept of US
housing shortage is
difficult to fathom, but
people who are on the
transaction side of the
housing business are
beginning to take notice.
More carbon dioxide is
released from residential
lawns than corn fields
according to a new study.
And much of the difference
can likely be attributed to
soil temperature. The data,
from researchers at
Elizabethtown College,
suggest that urban heat
islands may be working at
smaller scales than
previously thought.
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Music triggers activity in the nucleus
accumbens, a part of your brain that
releases the feel-good chemical dopamine
and is involved in forming expectations.
-
Your brain learns how to predict how
different pieces of music will unfold
using pattern recognition and
prediction, skills that may have been
key to our evolutionary progress.
One of the most
controversial pieces of
legislation currently making
its way through the Senate
is the Marketplace Fairness
Act. In essence, it would
allow states to collect
taxes from online purchases
even if the online store
doesn’t have a physical
presence in the state.
Brick-and-mortar stores
claim the bill levels the
playing field with online
retailers while opponents
say it would put undue
regulations on online
businesses while making the
tax code even more
cumbersome. Guess which side
the White House agrees with
In spite of all the
recent stimulus talk, Bank
of Japan continues to battle
deflation.
Deflation remains firmly
entrenched in Japan, figures
showed Friday, as the
central bank projected that
its targeted level for
inflation was still some
years off, underscoring that
there are no quick fixes for
one of the world’s largest
economies.
Croatian inventor, Milan
Condric, living in Florida,
has had his 650+ HP and 10
kW gravity-based
energy-generating machines
third party tested, and is
ready to work on preparing
for commercialization once
he gets a $2 million
investment.
April 26, 2013
Two young Tibetan monks of Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Zoege,
eastern Tibet, immolated themselves in Tibet on Wednesday.
Austin has started canceling the discounts that more than 2,500
low-income households receive on their monthly water and electric bills,
despite well-publicized plans to beef up aid to struggling families.
In a conservative estimate, more than five million electric
vehicles (EV) will be on the road by 2035, according to research
by IEE -- an Institute of The Edison Foundation. In fact,
according to IEE, this figure could actually increase to as much
as 30 million depending on advances in battery technology.
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New research suggests that people with BMIs under 30 but above
normal (the overweight range) had a 6 percent lower risk of
dying from all causes than those who were normal weight, while
those whose BMIs fell into the obese range were 18 percent more
likely to die of any cause
-
The study results imply that carrying some extra weight may help
you live longer, but it used only BMI as a measure of body
composition, and this is a heavily flawed technique
Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to heart attacks
and strokes by speeding up atherosclerosis, or "hardening of the
arteries", according to a University of Michigan public health
researcher and colleagues from across the US.
As the enthusiasm for solar power grows, so does the
generosity. Anonymous donors have been coming forward to fund
solar projects at K-12 schools, universities and municipalities
across the nation. Many donations are graciously accepted;
others are viewed with skepticism.
Attorney General Tom Horne
today announced that Arizona
would receive an additional
$48 million for the
Arizona Health Care Cost
Containment System (AHCCCS)
as a result of a settlement
reached in the pending
tobacco enforcement case.
This is in addition to the
$100 million per year
Arizona normally receives
under the Tobacco
Settlement. The final
installment of $12 million
is expected to be received
today.
National Science Foundation-funded researchers at Purdue University
have discovered that sunlit snow is the major source of atmospheric
bromine in the Arctic, the key to unique chemical reactions that purge
pollutants and destroy ozone.
The new research also indicates that the surface snowpack above
Arctic sea ice plays a previously unappreciated role in the bromine
cycle and that loss of sea ice, which been occurring at an increasingly
rapid pace in recent years, could have extremely disruptive effects in
the balance of atmospheric chemistry in high latitudes.
Recently, the
UN released a report stating that more people worldwide
had access to cell phones than to toilets. The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation has also taken quite an interest in
the topic of toilets and sanitation in developing nations,
funding the
Reinvent the Toilet Challenge last summer in an attempt
to create a better waste disposal system for those who need
it around the world.
Now, a step in the right direction has been taken to improve
these conditions with the release of electronic public
toilets in the urban areas of developing nations.
A Boston-area mosque has refused to bury the body of 26-year-old
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the men allegedly behind the Boston Marathon
bombing,
his aunt tells NBC News.
California environmental officials ordered an automobile battery
recycler to cease operations after an investigation found it was
leaking toxic metals into the soil.
China's gasoil shipments may
rise further this year after
nine straight months of net
exports, as more refining
capacity comes online and
domestic demand growth
weakens, likely exacerbating
the glut in Asia where
consumption has also slowed,
analysts said this week.
The damaging effects that
result from burning coal may
soon be nonexistent. It took
scientists from Ohio State
University 15 years and $5
million, but the clean coal
technique has finally been
developed. They have
discovered a way to obtain
the energy from coal without
actually burning it,
eliminating nearly all of
the pollution.
Last year climate change
became reality for the
United States. New York City
flooded, a historic
drought blanketed the
Midwest, and we saw one of
the worst fire seasons ever
recorded. By July, the U.S.
had shattered over 40,000
daily heat records.
How high can the CO2
concentration in the air go?
It is a bit like looking at
the stock market except that
the CO2 does not go down.
For the first time in human
history, concentrations of
the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide (CO2) could rise
above 400 parts per million
(ppm) for sustained lengths
of time throughout much of
the Northern Hemisphere as
soon as May 2013.
Colorado is closing in on
new legislation that would
more than double the
renewable portfolio standard
(RPS) for the state's rural
electric co-ops, setting a
goal of 25 percent of
generation by 2020.
Nearly a month after the
first reported cases of
people infected with the
bird flu virus, many puzzles
remain about how it made the
jump to humans and adapted
to us, how to prevent
transmission, and how
frequently an infection
causes disease.
The traditional centralized
power generation model is
evolving globally from a
financial and engineering
model relying on large
centralized power plants
owned by utilities to one
that is more diverse in
terms of energy generation
sources and the ownership of
that generation.
After a tumultuous year of
opposition and rebuttals
from members of Congress,
the U.S. biofuels industry
was able to maintain support
from the more-than-willing
U.S. military. The
Department of Energy (DOE)
announced the next phase of
development plans last week
– it granted $18 million to
four biorefineries to
develop pilot-scale drop-in
biofuels projects to meet
military specifications for
jet fuel and ship diesel.
I am not making this up. It
is not an April Fool's joke.
The top legislative
leaders in Congress -- Reid,
Boehner, McConnell, and
Hoyer -- are now "engaged in
high level confidential
talks about exempting
lawmakers and Capitol Hill
aides from the insurance
exchanges they are mandated
to join as part of President
Obama's health care
overhaul" according to
Politico.com.
Opponents of the Plymouth
nuclear power plant are
optimistic about winning
nonbinding ballot questions
and town meeting warrant
articles they have placed
before voters in all but one
Cape Cod town.
Odds are that Ernest Moniz
will replace Steven Chu to
head the U.S. Department of
Energy, or DOE. Like Chu,
Moniz is an academic with
stellar credentials but he
has a bit more political
savvy than the departing
secretary. Moniz showed that
when he testified on Tuesday
to the full Senate Energy
Committee.
When you hear the
phrase "electricity theft,"
you may automatically
picture places like India or
Brazil where the number of
power outages is astounding.
Unfortunately, electricity
thieves can be found in
nearly every country across
the globe, including the
U.S.
ENN Affiliate TriplePundit
reports on an approach to
ending range anxiety for
people who don't want, or
can't keep an internal
combustion engine back up
car around:
Combined heat and power
systems that produce
electricity through a
process called cogeneration
are a great potential market
for natural gas producers,
but experts say outdated
policies and
anti-competitive regulations
are hindering potential
growth.
The FBI searched a New
Bedford, Mass., landfill for
evidence connected to the
Boston Marathon bombings,
according to CBS Boston.
John Norris, a commissioner
at the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, is
highlighting the need for
electric grid planning that
goes far beyond three-year
forward capacity auctions
and into the coming decades,
while at the same time
touting the role hydropower
can play in the future
energy grid.
Currently, 18 states require
some amount of fracturing
chemicals disclosure. Of
those, 11 allow companies to
report chemical use on
FracFocus. The research
found several issues with
FracFocus as a regulatory
compliance tool,...
Japan's crippled Fukushima
nuclear plant halted cooling
of a spent fuel pool at the
site on Monday to remove two
dead rats, the third time
cooling equipment has gone
offline in five weeks
because of rodents.
Georgia's energy future
could be in algae and the
sun. But leaders in the
renewable energy field who
participated in a Macon
panel on Wednesday, while
praising progress in the
renewables industry, said
both technology and
regulation have a long way
to go.
"There have been no new
legal issues, no new
regulatory issues, no new
environmental issues
raised," AquaBounty
Technologies Chief Executive
Ronald Stotish said on the
sidelines of the BIO
International Convention.
"We should have approval
before the end of the year."
On the heels of last year's
defeat on the issue in
California, Sen. Barbara
Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep.
Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., have
introduced a bill to order
the Food and Drug
Administration to mandate
the labeling of genetically
engineered foods.
Look up in the sky, Florida. It's okay.
The odds of getting caught on a state or
local government-operated camera just went
down.
On Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott signed into
law a measure limiting how police can use
unmanned drones for surveillance.
My neighbors don’t garden.
They live in houses with
perfectly manicured lawns
and have no interest in
preparing for disaster of
any kind. They may have a
flashlight and some
batteries, and think they’ve
really done something with
three days worth of food in
the pantry, but the simple
fact remains, when disaster
strikes, they’re
inadequately prepared to
face it, to say the least.
-
Research has linked emotional stress to
a wide variety of health problems,
including physical pain, chronic
inflammation, stillbirths, lowered
immune function, increased blood
pressure, altered brain chemistry,
increased tumor growth and more
-
Ruminating on a stressful incident can
increase your levels of C-reactive
protein, a marker of inflammation in
your body. Increasingly, chronic
inflammation is being associated with
various disorders and conditions
One of the most prominent
[supplement] testing
laboratories does not appear
to us to be either
independent or impartial.
The multi-rotor car can fly
above traffic
IBM is developing an
affordable High
Concentration PhotoVoltaic
Thermal (HCPVT) system that
uses cooling technology from
supercomputers to harvest
solar energy and produce
drinkable water
As the sun reaches the end
of its 11-year cycle, solar
flares will become
increasingly common.
Classified as an M6.5 flare, NASA's Solar
Dynamics Observatory captured a striking
image of the strongest flare emitted from
the sun this year.
Though it's 10 times less powerful than
the strongest flares recorded, which are
labeled as X-class flares, an M-class flare,
like the one pictured below, can still cause
space weather effects near Earth. This
particular flare produced a radio blackout,
categorized as an R2 on a scale between R1
and R5 on the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) space
weather scales, but has since died out.
Earnings for U.S.
banks generally improved
during the first quarter
although these levels will
be difficult to sustain over
the remainder of 2013,
according to Fitch Ratings
quarterly banking report.
The first quarter is
generally the strongest
period, and the industry
still faces unpredictability
on capital markets revenues
and earnings.
At least 41 people died
Thursday on the third
straight day of pitched
fighting between Iraqi
security forces and Sunni
Arabs, as Prime Minister
Nouri Maliki warned the
country was in crisis.
A new year and a new
government, and already the
way the world views the
Mexican economy has
improved. But there are two
sides to the coin when it
comes to the country's
promise.
Water can be found most
anywhere in the solar system
planetary bodies. The
question is amount and
source. Astronomers have
finally found direct proof
that almost all water
present in Jupiter's
stratosphere was delivered
by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9...
The Los Angeles City Council
approved a plan Tuesday to
begin moving away from
coal-fired energy, despite
warnings from a Department
of Water and Power watchdog
that the shift could cost
more than $650 million.
Total new investments in
clean energy in non-Brazil
Latin America rose 127
percent in 2012 compared to
2011 -- reaching $4.6
billion, according to
Bloomberg New Energy Finance
(BNEF). This growth
reverses the first global
decline in new clean energy
investments last year, as
the region became more
active in renewable energy.
A global long-term cooling trend ended
late in the 19th century and was followed
decades later by the warmest temperatures in
nearly 1,400 years, a sweeping study of
temperature change showed.
The study, by a consortium of 78 authors
in 24 countries, said its 2,000 years of
data made it harder to discount the impact
on higher temperatures of increased
greenhouse gases due to human activity.
McConnell will introduce the
Coal Jobs Protection Act,
which is aimed at what he
called the Environmental
Protection Agency's
burdensome regulations.
Small power plants bring
light in a sea of darkness
-- pity there are so few of
them.
There is a small glimmer of
hope. A combination of
reasons (falling solar
prices and rising solar
efficiencies) and grit and
inventiveness of a few
entrepreneurs has led to the
emergence of a model of
rural electrification called
micro grids which can
electrify villages quickly
and with small doses of
capital.
If passed, bipartisan
legislation introduced
yesterday -- the Master
Limited Partnership (MLP)
Parity Act -- could provide
more opportunities
throughout the industry to
mobilize private capital for
clean energy projects.
A newly-developed roof panel
both reflects sunlight, and
emits heat drawn from the
building into outer space
The narrowing of the ICE
Brent-NYMEX light crude
(WTI) contract spread has
become a cause for concern
for refiners and states
dependent on crude oil
production for revenue,
according to a survey of US
refiners and trading
sources.
The bill would create a new
federal agency for the task
of disposing of that waste,
give the new agency direct
access to hundreds of
millions of dollars in
collected waste fees, and
allow an interim storage
facility to be built before
a permanent site is chosen.
Researchers from the U.S.
Department of Energy's (DOE)
SLAC National Accelerator
Laboratory and Stanford
University have designed a
low-cost, long-life "flow"
battery that could enable
solar and wind energy to
become major suppliers to
the electrical grid.
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn on Monday
announced a new alliance of politicians and
tribal leaders opposed to exporting Western
coal to Asia from Washington ports.
"We will stand together ... to tell our
federal and state leaders that we don't want
the coal trains here in the Pacific
Northwest," McGinn said.
In 2012, Plains Exploration
& Production (PXP) Company
contended that research
(funded by PXP) showed that
their oil recovery
operations, including
hydraulic fracturing
(fracking), in the Los
Angeles Inglewood oil field
had no known adverse public
effects. But new research
contradicts these findings.
From its lifts and lodges to
its snowmaking, a new solar
installation has helped the
central Massachusetts family
run ski area, Berkshire
East, become the world's
first ski area to be powered
entirely from on-site
renewables.
Internet sales-tax
legislation racing through
the Senate is likely to face
roadblocks when it moves to
the House, anti-tax activist
Grover Norquist told Newsmax
Tuesday.
Today, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency, Region 10 recognized
federal agencies in the
Northwest and Alaska as
Federal Green Challenge
winners for reducing their
greenhouse gas emissions 5
percent or more in two
target areas - energy,
electronics, transportation,
waste, water, or purchasing.
So many of the unattractive
parts of the personality and
presidency of Barack Obama
are evident in how he has
handled the sequestration
issue -- and it's worth
looking at for what it tells
us about our president and
his administrative style.
Orders for long-lasting U.S.
factory goods fell sharply
last month, dragged lower by
a steep drop in volatile
commercial aircraft demand.
But orders that reflect
business investment plans
rose slightly.
-
Some tea bags are made with plastic,
such as nylon, thermoplastic, PVC or
polypropylene. While these plastics have
high melting points, the temperature at
which the molecules in polymers begin to
break down is always lower than the
melting point, which could allow the
bags to leach compounds of unknown
health hazards into your tea when
steeped in boiling water
-
Paper tea bags are frequently treated
with epichlorophydrin, which hydrolyzes
to 3-MCPD when contact with water
occurs. 3-MCPD is a carcinogen
associated with food processing that has
also been implicated in infertility and
suppressed immune function
Advanced energy is a $1
trillion global market,
growing revenue by 19
percent in 2012. But in
order to take advantage of
this economic opportunity,
the U.S. will need to work
to align federal policy,
according to Advanced Energy
Economy (AEE).
The non-profit Environment
and Energy Study Institute
held one of its many
Congressional briefings, and
on Friday, April 19th, the
briefing was on the
Administration's proposed
FY14 energy budget.
Shareholders of Abbott
Laboratories will vote on
whether the manufacturer of
Similac, a leading brand of
infant formula, should adopt
a policy of sourcing
ingredients that have not
been genetically engineered.
Republicans renewed
criticism of the Obama
administration’s handling of
a 2012 terrorist attack on
U.S. compounds in Libya,
saying officials “willfully
perpetuated a deliberately
misleading and incomplete
narrative.”
The largest solar event of
the period was a C5.
There are currently 6
numbered sunspot regions.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with
a chance
for M-class flares on days
one, two, and three (26 Apr,
27 Apr, 28 Apr). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels.
Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said
Thursday that the Department of Homeland
Security is using roughly 1,000 rounds of
ammunition more per person than the U.S.
Army, as he and other lawmakers sharply
questioned DHS officials on their "massive"
bullet buys.
"It is entirely ... inexplicable why the
Department of Homeland Security needs so
much ammunition," Chaffetz, R-Utah, said at
a hearing.
Rescuers struggled to reach a remote,
rural corner of southwestern China on Sunday
as the toll of the dead and missing from the
country's worst earthquake in three years
climbed to 208 with almost 1,000 serious
injuries.
The 6.6 magnitude quake struck in Lushan
county, near the city of Ya'an in the
southwestern province of Sichuan, close to
where a devastating 7.9 quake hit in May
2008, killing 70,000.
Strawberries and blueberries
contain high levels of
compounds called
polyphenolics, which
researchers say can help the
brain to carry out vital
"housekeeping" functions.
Results of study
indicates a novel approach to improving the
quality of one’s sleep might be forthcoming
While past research on the topic of sleep
indicates that applying a “gentle electric
current” can ease the brain into deep sleep
mode, improve overall sleep quality, and
increase memory retention, the technology
has failed to take off, due in large part
to there being no real audience out there
interested in applying electrodes to their
head for a better night’s rest
Researchers have long been trying to
discover the mysteries of the brain, as well
as target areas within to control behaviors.
For almost 15 years, scientists have
been experimenting with optogenetics, a new
way of studying the brain that uses light to
control precise neural activity in freely
moving animals. The challenge has
been delivering light to exact regions deep
in the brain. Many tests involved invasive
procedures, embedding fiber-optic cables in
the skull and brain and limiting movements
in animals. This method would also affect
natural behaviors and prevent the
observation of social interactions.
For the fourth time since an
explosion rumbled through a
Raleigh County coal mine and
snuffed out 29 lives, Sen.
Jay Rockefeller is trying to
make the industry a safer
place in which to labor.
TVA Chairman Bill Sansom
reiterated his view Thursday
that the TVA business model
is a good one and there
should be no problem with
the Obama administration
conducting a review of
whether TVA should be sold.
“The Obama administration is
making us less safe” by
failing to treat the
surviving Boston suspect as
an enemy combatant, and
losing critical intelligence
that could establish the
bombers’ ties to a larger
terror network, Sen. Lindsey
Graham, R-S.C., tells
Newsmax TV.
The age of massive
hydroelectric dam
construction ended several
decades ago in the United
States, but it could be that
an era of building small
hydro projects is just
beginning.
The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission recently
announced a delay until May
or June in the decision
whether to restart Southern
California's troubled San
Onofre nuclear power plant.
San Onofre's reactors have
not produced electricity
since January 2012.
Mainstream Solar PV research
remains focused on the
development of more
efficient multi-junction PV
cells – and with 50%
efficiencies in sight, it is
easy to see why. But
efficiency at this level
comes at high cost.
Mississippi Power parent
company Southern Company
will absorb $540 million in
costs from the Kemper County
Coal Plant, an experimental
plant under construction
that has experienced several
months of delays. Due to the
delays, the plant has
overshot original project
cost estimates by $1
billion, facing customers
with $3.4 million to $4
million in capital cost
recovery.
Washington and Oregon chapters of
Physicians for Social Responsibility have
commissioned an economic study of the
possibility of shutting down the nuclear
power plant near Richland.
The low cost of power in the Mid-Columbia
could mean that power produced by the plant
could be replaced economically...
Supreme Court justices on
Tuesday wrestled with the
sensitive issue of whether a
thirsty Texas water district
has the right to access
water across the Oklahoma
state line.
The issue is whether
consumers would continue to
pay only for the energy they
use or also would pay extra
-- so-called capacity
payments -- for investors to
build new power plants.
Countries with
indigenous nations usually
also have mixed-blood
nations composed of people
of indigenous descent and
other nations or races. In
an increasingly shrinking
world where ethnicity is a
quantity in flux, it is
sometimes difficult to get a
handle on how they relate to
one another. The two groups
would seem to be natural
allies. But the reality
isn’t that simple.
For more than 100
years electricity generation
and distribution systems
have evolved to become one
of the most reliable
services imaginable - one
which has been the
foundation of the industrial
expansion and prosperity of
the developed world. Our
society is totally dependent
upon this and even
relatively short and
localized interruptions in
the power supply (for
example during the Sandy
superstorm) cause major
disruptions to everyday
life.
The facts are alarming: the
veggies (and fruits) of
generations past were far
more nutrient dense than the
ones we eat today. Between
1950 and 1999, according to
a landmark University of
Texas study, essential
nutrients in 43 different
plant foods took a
nosedive. The minerals
that were reviewed are the
biggies, the ones we depend
upon to stay healthy and
prevent disease. Minerals
like calcium ... potassium
... iron ... and more.
Boston Bombings: Congress
Raising Concerns About
Missed Signals
France: Investigation
Threatens Sarkozy’s Comeback
How Limiting Banker Pay
Could Make EU Banks Stronger
Is Germany Getting Ready to
Re-Arm?
In Cracking Down on Dissent,
Kuwait Takes a Step Backward
Comras: Sanctions Against
Iran Are ‘Too Late’
Somalia: IMF Recognition
Builds Future Hope for
Troubled Present
Foiled Canadian Terrorist
Plot Shows Continuing
Threats from Al-Qaeda and
Iran
Understanding the Boston
Bombing Begins in Chechnya
China-Japan: Downward Spiral
in Relations Likely to
Continue
The shale boom has major implications for
US and other countries’ energy security, not
least possible US disengagement from the
Middle East.
However, the effects of US progress
towards self-sufficiency may be overstated
and the positive external impacts
underrated.
The "spring slowdown"
is here again. As discussed
earlier, the previous three
years saw a strong start in
the US, followed by a
slowdown in economic
activity, particularly in
manufacturing.
For a little over 10 years, groups such
as Mercy for Animals, the Humane Society of
the United States, and Compassion Over
Killing have conducted undercover
investigations into abuses and rules
violations on factory farms, and publicized
what they’ve documented to lobby for change.
It’s worked: Individual campaigns have
resulted in business closures, criminal
charges, and even broader changes in social
behavior. That has got Big Animal Ag scared.
TVA officials were squirming
a bit Monday and a few
cheeks glowed pink at times
as directors and inspectors
with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission plied them with
questions about protecting
Watts Bar and Sequoyah
nuclear plants from a future
monster flood.
An underwater direct-current
electric transmission line
under Lake Champlain has
moved one step closer to
construction.
Indian nations have
been dealing politically
with the imperial momentum
of the United States ever
since the 13 British
colonies along the Atlantic
Seaboard of North America
declared themselves to be
free and independent states
in the late eighteenth
century. Our original free
existence as nations
predates the American empire
and its colonial system, and
that point ought to be the
central focus when it comes
to advocating for our
rights.
U.S. gasoline inventories
plunged 3.93 million barrels
during the week ended April
19 to 217.8 million barrels,
the lowest level since the
week ended December 7,
according to data just
released by the U.S. Energy
Information Administration
(EIA) Wednesday. Analysts
polled by Platts on Monday
had expected a
700,000-barrel decline in
U.S. gasoline inventories.
More than half the U.S. states with laws
requiring utilities to buy renewable energy
are considering ways to pare back those
mandates after a plunge in natural gas
prices brought on by technology that boosted
supply.
Sixteen of the 29 states with
renewable portfolio standards
are considering legislation that
would reduce the need for wind
and solar power,..
The US will offer more than
21 million Outer Continental
Shelf acres in the western
Gulf of Mexico in a lease
sale in August, the Bureau
of Ocean Energy Management
said Wednesday.
Lease
Sale 233 will include 3,953
blocks covering about 21.1
million acres and located
from 9 miles to 250 miles
offshore Texas, BOEM said.
The blocks are in water
depths ranging from 16 feet
to more than 10,975 feet (5
meters to 3,346 meters).
Today solar electricity is rare in
Minnesota because it is so expensive, at
least five times as costly as wind power.
The Legislature is weighing a requirement
that the state's utilities generate 4
percent of their electricity from solar
power by 2025. The bill would also require
utilities to get 40 percent of their power
from renewable sources by 2030.
One of the problems with
wind power is that when
there is no wind then there
is no power. Offshore wind
could provide abundant
electricity — but as with
solar energy, this power
supply can be intermittent
and unpredictable. A new
approach from researchers at
MIT could mitigate that
problem, allowing the
electricity generated by
floating wind farms to be
stored and then used, on
demand, whenever it’s
needed.
Rising natural-gas prices mean American
Electric Power is burning more coal and less
gas compared with a year ago, according to
the company's chief executive.
"Our coal generation has picked back up
considerably," said Nick Akins, the
president and CEO, in an interview.
Plans to protect ecosystems
and help people adapt to
climate change - also known
as ecosystem-based
adaptation (EBA) - must
involve vulnerable groups,
including women and
communities greatly hit by
global warming if they are
to succeed, according to
scientists who met in
Tanzania last month (21-23
March).
Welcome to the government
sugar/industrial/drug
complex.
Sugar—in all its forms—is
considered the primary cause
of type 2 diabetes. It also
suppresses the immune
system, is linked to cancer,
and leads to cognitive
problems, as we reported
last year. Government
subsidies, taking a great
variety of forms, are
increasing rather than
decreasing. Diabetes drug
sales are now $35 billion
with other related illness
sales even higher. Let’s see
how all this connects.
April
23, 2013
Alberta's government will
spend C$206 million ($200.7
million) to fund five oil
sands-related pilot projects
aimed at increasing bitumen
recoveries and reducing
fresh water usage for
in-situ facilities, the
province's Department of
Energy said Friday.
Two Al Qaeda–supported
terrorists planning to
attack Via Rail Canada, the
government-owned rail
system, somewhere between
Toronto and New York City
have been arrested,
authorities from both
countries announced on
Monday.
Would you still eat that
turkey burger if you knew it
contained antibiotic
resistant bacteria? Maybe
not. But if you eat turkey,
there’s a good chance you
are ingesting some of these
potentially lethal “super
bugs”. The same holds true
for beef, chicken, and pork,
according to a recent
analysis from the
Environmental Working Group.
In 1990, Arizona voters
approved the Victims’ Rights
Amendment to the Arizona
Constitution. This was a
landmark achievement that
affords all victims of crime
the opportunity to have a
participatory role in the
criminal justice system and
also extends certain
protections of law to
victims during their
involvement with those
processes.
Politicians continue
to pressure banks' mortgage
servicing businesses...
What some politicians
fail to realize is that all
of a sudden banks are
overwhelmed with the
mortgage volumes they have
to process and service. The
mortgage servicing arms of
banking organizations these
days operate with severely
reduced staff levels and are
simply being overrun by new
loans heading their way.
Dealing with delinquencies
and mortgage modifications
becomes challenging when
departments are facing
sharply higher volumes.
The state's primary electricity grid
serving Central Texas is expected to
tightrope between hot weather and tight
power supplies again this summer.
Power providers -- from the city-owned
Austin Energy to private retailers who serve
the competitive market -- will be risking
greater losses if they can't meet their
obligations and are forced to buy
electricity in the wholesale spot market.
Adding more color to your
diet in the form of berries
is encouraged by many
nutrition experts. The
protective effect of berries
against inflammation has
been documented in many
studies. Diets supplemented
with blueberries and
strawberries have also been
shown to improve behavior
and cognitive functions in
stressed young rats.
The biggest gain in U.S. consumer
spending in two years probably helped the
world’s largest economy accelerate in the
first quarter and housing made further
progress, economists said reports this week
will show.
Gross domestic product rose at a 3.1
percent annual rate after expanding at a 0.4
percent pace in the final three months of
2012, according to the median forecast of 67
economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of
Commerce Department data due Friday. Sales
of new and previously owned houses climbed,
other reports may show.
The two brothers suspected in the Boston
Marathon bombings, who police say engaged in
a gun battle with officers early Friday
after a frenzied manhunt, were not licensed
to own guns in the towns where they lived,
authorities said on Sunday.
In the confrontation with police on the
streets of a Boston suburb, Tamerlan and
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were armed with handguns,
at least one rifle and several explosive
devices, authorities say.
Boston bombing suspect
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev posted
links to Islamic websites
and others calling for
Chechen independence on what
appears to be his page on a
Russian language social
networking site.
BP is reviewing its biggest new oil
project in the Gulf of Mexico, due to rising
development costs across the industry, and
could delay the $10 billion scheme.
British oil major BP said on Friday that
rising costs made the current plan, under
which construction would start this year,
difficult to justify, becoming the latest
company to reconsider the economics of a
major project.
A review of published research has found
that mental exercises — including
computer-based training programs and
one-on-one cognitive instruction in memory
and reasoning — can help to stave off
dementia in older people.
The findings, which are based on a
review of 32 published studies on the
topic involving some 25, 000 people,
also determined there is little evidence
that drugs, herbal products, or vitamin
supplements help prevent age-related
cognitive decline.
-
Our soil and water are becoming
increasingly contaminated and infertile
on a global scale due to poor farming
practices, ignorance and greed.
-
The barren Loess Plateau in
North-Central China, where relentless
grazing of domestic animals caused
widespread erosion, became a model of
how whole ecosystems can be restored
through sustainable agricultural
practices.
Mainers are burdened by some
of the highest energy bills
in the country. Paying
$3,000 to $4,000 a year to
heat a home is not uncommon.
Over the next month, state
lawmakers will try to agree
on specific steps to lower
those costs.
Americans
are being squeezed out of
the political process by
wealthy special interests, a
new Chinese report on human
rights in the United States
said.
Here in the northern
mid-latitudes (much of
Canada and the US, Europe,
and the northern half of
Asia) our weather is
governed by the jet stream.
This high-altitude wind
current, flowing rapidly
from west to east, separates
cold Arctic air (to the
north) from warmer temperate
air (to the south). So on a
given day, if you’re north
of the jet stream, the
weather will probably be
cold; if you’re to the
south, it will probably be
warm; and if the jet stream
is passing over you, you’re
likely to get rain or snow.
If you have ever looked at a
weather map, you’ve a seen
picture of the jet stream,
that wavy west to east line
linking areas experiencing
relatively similar weather.
In the three dimensional
world, jet streams are high
altitude westerly winds that
occur along the boundaries
between air masses of
different temperatures. They
are driven by the
temperature gradient; in the
winter, when the gradient is
steepest, jet streams are
strongest.
The future of coal
generation is about two
months away. That’s when
Duke Energy will fire up its
618-megawatt coal
gasification plant in
Indiana, which can
also run on natural gas.
While the project has
endured cost overruns and
heavy criticism, the company
says that it will be clean,
efficient -- and well worth
it.
“Dammed, diverted, and
drained … to a trickle” and
facing another drought this
summer, the Colorado River
tops American Rivers’ annual
list of America’s Most
Endangered Rivers, the
nonprofit river advocacy
group announced today.
Demand for OPEC crude oil
will recover before the end
of the decade, as a flood of
crude from the US' shale oil
boom will eventually
stabilize and demand looks
set for more growth over the
next seven to eight years,
David Dalton, regional
president for BP in the
Middle East, said Monday.
-
A Staten Island kindergartner has been
barred from attending school because she
hasn’t been vaccinated against
chickenpox—even though her pediatrician
refuses to vaccinate her on grounds that
it may endanger the health of her baby
sister
-
While highly contagious, chickenpox
typically produces mild disease
characterized by small round lesions on
your skin that cause intense itching
that lasts for two to three weeks.
Recovery leaves a child with
long-lasting immunity
After spending months
getting signatures on
petitions, the Cape
Downwinders, a group that
calls for the closing of
Pilgrim Nuclear Power
Station, are now holding
informational workshops
focusing on what they see as
the dangers posed by the
plant.
Duke Energy aims to more
than double the wind, solar
and biomass energy in its
portfolio by 2020, according
to its 2012 sustainability
report.
"The first thing they can do
is take a look at what they
are throwing away," she
said. "And then look at ways
to reduce that."
Justice Minister Ahmed
Mekki's move comes as
Islamists seek to oust
judges deemed to be foes of
President Mohamed Morsi. A
Cabinet reshuffle is
planned.
Just in time for those
warmer months, customers
with East Mississippi
Electric Power Association
and Mississippi Power will
see an increase in their
electric bills soon.
Energy Secretary nominee
Ernest Moniz easily cleared
his first hurdle in the
Senate on Thursday, securing
nearly unanimous support
from the chamber's energy
committee.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) will
take comments on a range of
options to help reduce
mercury, arsenic, lead and
selenium released into
waterways by power plants,
including through coal ash
and air emissions control
waste.
The Obama administration
said Friday it plans to
"align" a long-awaited rule
on the disposal of toxic ash
from coal-fired power plants
with another overdue
proposal that aims to reduce
water pollution from
electrical generation
stations.
Theories about what
triggered gold's recent drop
are “cover stories,” says
Chris Powell, co-founder of
the Gold Anti-Trust Action
Committee (GATA), an
organization focused on
exposing, opposing and
litigating against collusion
to control the price and
supply of gold and related
financial instruments.
Exxon Mobil Corp said on
Friday it was beginning
remediation and restoration
activities as its
transitions from its
emergency response
operations after the crude
oil spill in Mayflower,
Arkansas, last month.
A fire that broke out at the
Hartlepool, England, nuclear
power plant was brought
under control with no danger
to nearby residents,
emergency officials said.
The first-ever simulated
terrorist attack drill at a
nuclear power plant in the
US has been deemed a success
by federal officials,
Reuters reports.
Solid capital markets
revenue trends continued for
the largest U.S. banks in
the first quarter, and
robust fixed-income markets
again provided much of the
top-line support, according
to Fitch. Vibrant bond
market activity and tight
spreads were the key factors
contributing to big
sequential revenue gains in
both the all-important
fixed-income, currency, and
commodities (FICC) trading
revenue category and
investment banking.
New test results are
providing further evidence
that the concentration of
atmospheric carbon dioxide
and Earth's surface
temperature are inextricably
linked. Nearly thirty-four
million years ago, the Earth
underwent a transformation
from a warm and high-carbon
dioxide greenhouse state to
a lower-CO2, variable
climate of the modern
icehouse world. Massive ice
sheets grew across the
Antarctic continent, major
animal groups shifted, and
ocean temperatures decreased
by up to 5 degrees. Various
studies of how this drastic
change affected temperatures
on land have had mixed
results. Some show no
appreciable terrestrial
climate change; others find
cooling of up to 8 degrees
and large changes in
seasonality. Now, a group of
American and British
scientists have used a new
chemical technique to
measure the change in
terrestrial temperature
associated with this shift
in global atmospheric CO2
concentrations.
Investors are dumping gold
funds at the fastest pace in
two years in favor of
equities, compounding a
slump that has wiped $560
billion from the value of
central bank reserves.
Cleaner and more efficient
energy sources don't always
reduce the energy humans
actually use, Richard York,
a former Washington State
University graduate student,
told the first EARThS
conference Saturday morning
in Pullman.
US oilfield services giant
Halliburton posted Monday an
$18 million net loss for the
first quarter of 2013,
compared to a profit of $627
million in the year-ago
period, after taking a
further $1 billion in
pre-tax provisions to cover
a potential settlement over
its involvement in the 2010
Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
America grooves on
schizophrenic sexual
morality
More than 500 people were
killed in Chicago last year.
Yet Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel still found time to
berate the fast-food
franchise Chick-fil-A for
not sharing “Chicago values”
apparently because its
founder does not approve of
same-sex marriage.
On April 22, 1970, the first
Earth Day, there was
virtually no solar energy
powering the grid in the
U.S. Today, there are 7.7
gigawatts (GW) of solar
installed in the U.S. –
enough to power more than
1.2 million American homes –
and 5.2 GW are expected to
be installed this year.
Heritage Foundation security
and defense expert James Jay
Carafano tells Newsmax the
Obama administration is so
eager to declare victory in
the war on terror that it is
“putting its head in the
sand” and ignoring the rapid
growth of non-al-Qaida
terrorist groups.
Forty percent of the crops
grown in the United States
contain their genes. They
produce the world’s top
selling herbicide. Several
of their factories are now
toxic Superfund sites. They
spend millions lobbying the
government each year. It’s
time we take a closer look
at who’s controlling our
food, poisoning our land,
and influencing all three
branches of government. To
do that, the watchdog group
Food and Water Watch
recently published a
corporate profile of
Monsanto.
When Ria Chhabra, a middle
school student near Dallas,
heard her parents arguing
about the value of organic
foods, she was inspired to
create a science fair
project to try to resolve
the debate.
Opponents of TransCanada’s
Keystone XL tar sands
pipeline packed a State
Department public hearing on
its latest environmental
analysis of the pipeline to
warn that it is all risk for
the United States, with no
reward.
More than 1,000 pipeline
opponents – far outnumbering
supporters – packed a
hearing room in Grand Island
Wednesday to deliver that
message to the State
Department officials.
It said Obama had praised
cooperation with Russia on
counter-terrorism, including
after Monday's bombing. The
Kremlin appeared to go
further, saying the two
leaders had agreed they
should now step up their
work together in this field.
Proponents say an ambitious
government plan will
streamline renewable energy
development while protecting
wildlife and natural
resources. But some locals
say it's a land grab that
threatens to carpet the
California desert with wind
turbines and solar panels.
Arwood "invites the nation
to celebrate trash
collectors, dumpster
haulers, sewage workers,
street cleaners and just
about anyone who does the
dirty jobs that we would
rather not do ourselves. ...
Whether it's the people who
empty your fast food grease
traps or deliver your
port-a-potties, these are
the people who make our
lives smell better."
As you journey to a more
self-sufficient and
sustainable lifestyle, don't
neglect the opportunity to
forge friendships with
like-minded individuals. The
ability to connect with
others who share your
interests and values is a
true gift. Our society tends
to view people with our kind
of views as outsiders, but
sharing connections with
others like yourself helps
you realize you really
aren't as alone as you might
think.
Antoine van Agtmael, the
investment pro who came up
with the term "emerging
markets" and aided in
creating the first funds to
invest in those markets, has
found a new darling — the
United States...
The United States is at the
beginning of an industrial
revitalization, according to
van Agtmael.
Citi has identified an
estimated 20 million
barrels/day of world oil
demand which could be
replaced by demand for
natural gas-based fuels,
including 12 million b/d of
oil demand from the
transport sector, said
Morse, who was speaking at
the Middle East Petroleum &
Gas Conference in Abu Dhabi.
-
Research conducted on a new type of GM
wheat showed with “no doubt” that
molecules created in the wheat, which
are intended to silence wheat genes to
change its carbohydrate content, may
match human genes and potentially
silence them.
-
Experts warned that eating the wheat
could lead to significant changes in the
way glucose and carbohydrates are stored
in the human body, which could be
potentially deadly for children and lead
to serious illness in adults.
- [Ed:
We believe that ALL modern wheat already
does this!]
Although the causes of world
hunger are numerous, it
certainly doesn’t help that
factors such as arid
conditions and limited land
space make it difficult to
grow food crops in certain
places. If people in those
areas could eat foods
derived from plants that are
hardy to the region, but
that aren’t considered
nutritious, it would go a
long way towards addressing
the problem. Well, that may
soon be a reality, thanks to
a newly-developed process
that allows cellulose to be
converted into starch.
Desalination plants are typically built
in dry places. But along New York’s Hudson
River a different story is unfolding.
A desalination plant has been proposed by
United Water New York, a private company, to
address the rapid growth of water demand in
the expanding New York City suburb of
Rockland County.
Norway took a major step
towards opening up an
environmentally sensitive
Arctic area to oil and gas
exploration when the ruling
Labour Party gave the
go-ahead on Sunday for an
impact study.
A shipment of highly
radioactive nuclear fuel to
Japan left the port of
Cherbourg in northern France
on Wednesday for the first
time since the Fukushima
disaster, French energy
group Areva said on
Thursday.
The Obama Administration
today released its final
plan for translating the
National Ocean Policy into
actions that administration
officials say will enable
cooperation among the 27
federal agencies that follow
and enforce more than 100
ocean-related laws.
At least seven U.S.
communities that received
stimulus money as part of a
$373 million government
program to educate Americans
about obesity and tobacco
use potentially violated
federal law by using the
funds to lobby for higher
taxes and new local laws,
according to a report by the
nonpartisan group Cause of
Action.
Solar activity has been at
moderate levels for the past
24 hours. The largest solar
event of the period was a M1
event. There are
currently 3 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk. IB.
Solar Activity Forecast:
Solar. Solar activity is
expected to be low with a
chance for M-class flares
and a slight chance for an
X-class flare on day one (23
Apr) and expected to be low
with a chance for M-class
flares on days two and three
(24 Apr, 25 Apr). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels on days one
and two (23 Apr, 24 Apr) and
quiet to minor storm levels
on day three (25 Apr).
Protons greater than 10 Mev
have a slight chance of
crossing threshold on day
one (23 Apr).
The strongest earthquake to
strike Iran in more than 50
years hit the border area
between Iran and Pakistan
Wednesday afternoon at 15:25
hours local time. The
7.8-magnitude earthquake has
claimed the lives of an
estimated 40 people and more
than 180 others were
injured. The number of dead
is still unconfirmed.
"While the administration
has repeatedly pledged to
support an 'all of the
above' energy policy, I
still do not see that
reflected here," Murkowski
told Deputy Energy Secretary
Daniel Poneman at the DOE
budget hearing before the
Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee on
Thursday.
The recent
outperformance of US natural
gas over crude oil has been
quite spectacular - some 25%
just since the beginning of
March-2013.
With solar panel prices plunging and
generous tax credits and incentives still
available, now may be as good a time as any
to go solar.
But shopping for a solar power system can
be a tough task. Consumers face a
bewildering array of options.
The National Park Service
concluded that a
high-voltage power line and
195-foot tall towers across
three federally protected
park units would cause
"severe and enduring
damage," but approved it
anyway, violating three
federal laws and the
agency's core mission,
environmental groups charge
in a lawsuit.
Whether sulfur is a
by-product or a waste
product of oil refinement
and coal combustion depends
on how you slice it.
Certainly, much of that
sulfur can be put to use
producing sulfuric acid,
fertilizer and other
chemicals, but some is left
to accumulate on stockpiles
which are expensive to
maintain (due to the need to
neutralize acidic run-off).
Researchers at the
University of Arizona think
more of that sulfur could
one day be put to use thanks
to a new chemical process
that uses sulfur to make
polymers. The new material
could lead to a new
generation of lighter, more
efficient lithium-sulfur
batteries, the researchers
claim.
For consumers, it means more
money out of your pocket
when you shop online from
your favorite seller or
small business shop owner.
For small business sellers,
it means you would be
required to collect sales
taxes nationwide from the
more than 9,600 tax
jurisdictions across the
U.S.
Hoekstra Discusses Homegrown
Terrorism Threat, Al-Qaeda
Links
Germany: Rise of Anti-Euro
Party Threatens Future of EU
Japan’s Economic Bazooka
Will Not Go Unchallenged
China: Mystery and Fear
Surround Bird Flu Virus
We generally consider
climate changes as taking
place on the scale of
hundreds or even thousands
of years. However, since the
early 1990s, a radical shift
in the scientific
understanding of Earth's
climate history has
occurred. We now know that
that major regional and
global climate shifts have
occurred in just a few
decades or even a single
year. The most recent of
these shifts occurred just
8200 years ago. If an abrupt
climate change of similar
magnitude happened today, it
would have severe
consequences for humans and
natural ecosystems. Although
scientists consider an
abrupt climate change
unlikely in the next 100
years, their understanding
of the phenomena is still a
work-in-progress, and such a
change could be triggered
instantly by natural
processes or by human-caused
global warming with little
warning.
Following the
announcement of a Bill
co-sponsored by Congress
members led by Trent Franks
and Ann Kirkpatrick titled
Keep the Promise Act of 2013
– the Tohono O’odham Nation
released a statement
defending the federally
recognized tribe’s position
in opposing the bill.
A Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) security officer
traded gunfire with a
trespasser at the Watts Bar
nuclear station property
during an incident around 2
a.m. on Sunday, April 21.
If the mother of all Tennessee Valley
floods had occurred last year, results at
Watts Bar or Sequoyah nuclear plants could
have been catastrophic, nuclear regulators
and TVA officials say.
This year, the plants have a better
chance against rising water. And in the next
two years, Tennessee Valley Authority
officials say, the seven reactors at all
three nuclear plants built on the Tennessee
River should be monster-flood proof.
Throughout the next week,
supporters of clean air and
clean cars will gather in
Philadelphia and Chicago to
weigh in on the
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) proposed
rule to cut tailpipe
emissions from our cars and
sulfur from gasoline (the
so-called "Tier 3"
standards). We've made real
progress cleaning up our
cars in recent years, but
passenger vehicles remain a
top source of smog and other
pollutants that fill our air
and aggravate our lungs.
The U.S. dollar is
attempting a comeback,
gaining about 4 percent
since the start of the year
against other major
currencies, in a duet with
the rise in U.S. stocks.
A variety of factors are
pushing the greenback
upward, among them
improvements in the U.S.
economy, eurozone ills and
aggressive monetary easing
by other developed nations
that are deflating their own
currencies, according to the
Financial Times.
The global clean energy
sector is undergoing
geographic and technological
shifts as new markets emerge
and renewable capacity
grows, according to research
released by the Pew
Charitable Trusts. The
sector registered a record
88 GW of additional
generating capacity in 2012,
even though investment
levels declined 11 percent
-- to $269 billion -- from
2011.
Three years after the
devastating Macondo oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico,
activity is soaring above
pre-event levels -- with
dayrates for drilling rigs
matching or exceeding peak
levels five years ago,
improved permitting times
and operators spending more
money than they have in
decades on deepwater
acreage.
A Chicago Bridge & Iron
facility building components
for nuclear plants being
built by Georgia Power and
South Carolina Electric &
Gas had a "chilled work
environment" that prevented
workers from raising safety
concerns, the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission said
in a statement Friday.
While acreage sales in
Ohio's Utica Shale seem to
indicate a less optimistic
outlook for oil production
in the region, the play
still has plenty of natural
gas and liquids to offer,
analysts said.
The Solar Electric Power Association
(SEPA) recently released its Utility Solar
Rankings report, identifying national
leaders in solar energy development.
"In 2012 new installations resulted in
almost 1,500 megawatts of additional new
solar connected to the grid, a doubling in
new solar capacity from two years ago...
The Guernsey-Muskingum Electric
Cooperative annual meeting isn't the proper
forum for a customer to discuss power rates
-- at least according to the utility's CEO.
A customer, Barry Gierard, who lives near
Zanesville, wanted to talk about his rates
because of a Dispatch report on April 7 that
showed Guernsey-Muskingum has the
third-highest residential bills in the
state. He never got the chance.
The yen’s plunge could
herald bad news for Asia,
just as it did prior to the
1997 currency crisis, says
Albert Edwards, chief global
strategist for Societe
Generale.
"It seems
investors may have forgotten
that yen weakness was one of
the immediate causes of the
1997 Asian currency crisis
and Asia's subsequent
economic collapse," he wrote
in a global strategy note
obtained by CNBC.
An F-15E Strike Eagle drops through the
sky on a low-level training mission and
encounters -- a wind turbine.
With turbine blades reaching within 8
feet of F-15s on missions out of Seymour
Johnson Air Force Base, the proposed Pantego
Wind Energy project resulted in a serious
risk.
April 19, 2013
While satellite data has
shown aerosols — tiny
polluting particles in the
air — to be rising over
India, a new study based on
primary data gathered from
measuring instruments
installed in a network of
stations confirms the trend.
As the owner of a fleet of aging
coal-fired power plants, Ameren Corp. is no
stranger to state and federal environmental
regulators issuing new rules.
But the company turned the tables last
week, proposing its own set of regulations
in Illinois -- plans that are already
generating skepticism.
A federal appeals court is
to hear arguments Wednesday
on whether a
first-of-its-kind law that
prohibits licensed mental
health professionals in
California from offering
therapies aimed at making
gay and lesbian teenagers
straight violates the civil
rights of practitioners and
parents.
Citing the need to spare
victims’ families any
unnecessary delay in having
sentences for federal
capital cases carried out,
Arizona Attorney General Tom
Horne today threatened to
sue the Federal Government
if it did not approve,
within 90 days, Arizona’s
application to qualify for
expedited review of such
cases.
Fields northwest of Tucson
that once yielded cotton by
the ton are now producing
clean electrical power, at
the biggest solar power
plant to be connected to
Tucson Electric Power Co.'s
power grid to date.
Immediately after 9/11,
America was united, vigilant
and determined not to permit
a repeat of the slaughter of
the innocents. But since
then, we have let down our
guard.
China accused Japan of
raising regional tensions
with its increased use of
fighter jets to monitor
Chinese aircraft that
approach a cluster of
islands claimed by both
countries.
Cigarette filters are made
from cellulose acetate, a
plastic which is technically
biodegradable. However,
cigarette butts only degrade
under conditions described
by researchers as "severe
biological circumstances,"
such as when filters end up
in sewage. Even under
optimal conditions, it can
take at least 9 months for a
butt to degrade.
Summary: The
controversial cybersecurity
bill has passed the U.S.
House and is now on its way
to the Senate chamber.
Privacy groups believe this
tramples on the Fourth
Amendment.
The development of low-carbon energy is
progressing too slowly to limit global
warming, the International Energy Agency
(IEA) said on Wednesday.
With power generation still dominated by
coal and governments failing to increase
investment in clean energy, top climate
scientists have said that the target of
keeping the global temperature rise to less
than 2 degrees Celsius this century is
slipping out of reach.
The San Joaquin Valley is
North America's most
valuable farming region. The
area's crops such as carrots
and tomatoes are part of
large companies' supply
chains. High-value crops
such as stone fruit,
pistachios, almonds, table
grapes and pomegranates are
shipped across the United
States, Canada and overseas.
And while this basin between
the Sierra Nevada mountains
and Coastal Ranges is a
bastion of agribusiness, the
area is awash with many
family-owned farms—many of
which grow the "local
produce" Bay Area and
southern California
residents score at weekend
farmers' markets.
Scientists are struggling to explain a
slowdown in climate change that has exposed
gaps in their understanding and defies a
rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Often focused on century-long trends,
most climate models failed to predict that
the temperature rise would slow, starting
around 2000. Scientists are now intent on
figuring out the causes and determining
whether the respite will be brief or a more
lasting phenomenon.
Rescuers searched the
smoking remnants of a Texas
farm town Thursday for
survivors of a thunderous
fertilizer plant explosion,
gingerly checking smashed
houses and apartments for
anyone still trapped in
debris while the community
awaited word on the number
of dead.
Police swept across the U.S.
Capitol complex to chase a
flurry of reports of
suspicious packages and
envelopes Wednesday after
preliminary tests indicated
poisonous ricin in two
letters sent to President
Barack Obama and a
Mississippi senator.
San Bernardino County
supervisors and their High
Desert constituents agreed
that residents need to be
much more involved in a
multi-agency effort to
identify which parts of the
desert should be developed
with renewable energy and
which should be set aside
for wildlife and other
natural resources.
Ancient, historic, glorious
Venice became the latest
European location to lob a
brick into the spokes of
diesel’s dominance across
the continent, with a
stage-managed, short-lived
but thought-provoking ban on
all powered vessels using
the legendary Grand Canal.
Is Europe’s most romantic
city signaling the beginning
of the end for Europe’s
diesel love affair?
Less than 5 percent of the
country's 6,500 banks and
lenders are actively
involved in financing solar
projects due to ongoing
concerns about, and
misunderstanding of,
industry risks. Despite a
robust market for solar
installations, lenders
struggle to efficiently
underwrite loans in solar
energy.
Weeks after Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
celebrated his plan to move
the city off of coal-fired
energy, a city watchdog has
attached a giant price tag
to the initiative.
Lead is a nasty poison and
can kill. So can bullets.
Lead ammunition continues to
take a deadly toll on
endangered California
condors that live in and
around the Grand Canyon.
Seven of the 80 wild condors
in Arizona and Utah have
died since December; three
of those deaths have been
definitively linked to lead
poisoning from ingesting
spent lead ammunition
fragments in carrion and
lead poisoning is suspected
in the other four deaths. So
bullets kill and, in this
case, even by ingestion.
The Environmental Protection
Agency is determined and
pugnacious but yet it is
compliant and respectful.
Now those traits are
on trial as EPA decides the
regulatory fate of limiting
greenhouse gases from new
power plants. EPA says that
it has to plow through
thousands of public comments
while industry says that
there is no technology
available to satisfy
regulators’ desires.
Florida legislators
continued to fast-track two
proposals on Tuesday to
rework the unpopular nuclear
fee on customer utility
bills, but activists warned
that the two plans could
have drastically different
impacts on customers.
The German Parliament on Thursday
approved a 10 billion euros ($13 billion)
rescue package for Cyprus by a wide margin.
Lawmakers voted 487-102 in favor of the
bailout deal hammered out last month.
Thirteen abstained.
Cyprus will receive 10 billion euros in
loans after its bloated banking sector
threatened to destroy the economy.
What began as a project for
a student competition may
possibly result in a
breakthrough for the 39
million people suffering
from blindness worldwide.
-
Some forecasters claim the US will
outstrip Saudi Arabia as the world’s
largest oil producer by 2017,
effectively rendering the US
self-sufficient in terms of energy
production. Others analysts warn shale
drilling is the next Big Bubble that
could rival the bank industry bailouts
-
Recently unsealed court records show
fracking activities in Pennsylvania
leaked acetone into fresh water
supplies. Plaintiff’s water supply was
also found to be contaminated with
unsafe levels of acrylonitrile, a highly
flammable and toxic chemical compound
classified as a probable carcinogen
-
Fracking proponents claim it is a safe
and effective drilling method that
reduces the surface footprint of the
drilling operation. However, people
across the US have reported serious
adverse health events resulting from
contamination of air and/or drinking
water
-
Spring allergies affect an estimated 25
million Americans. Airborne pollen is
the most common cause of seasonal
allergies, also known as hay fever or
allergic rhinitis
-
An estimated 80 percent of your immune
system is located in your gut, so
supporting your digestive health is
essential to also supporting your immune
system, which is your primary defense
system against ALL disease, including
allergies and asthma
Solar power holds the
promise of clean, limitless
energy, but it currently
suffers from high costs and
an inherent disadvantage of
not working when the sun
isn't shining. The
Department of Energy's
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory is taking a
best-of-both-worlds approach
by developing a hybrid
solar/gas system that
increases the efficiency and
reduces the carbon footprint
of natural gas power plants.
India is beginning to
supplant the US as the
world's most significant
importer of Nigerian crude
and is fast becoming a key
fundamental in Nigerian
crude trade as the West
African country comes to
terms with its declining
sales into the North
American market, market
sources said this week.
India will seek to double the amount of
renewable energy it can generate to 55 GW in
the next four years, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh said in his inaugural address.
"It is proposed to double
the renewable energy capacity in our
country from 25,000 MW in 2012 to
55,000 MW by the year 2017. This
would include exploiting
non-conventional energy sources such
as solar, wind power and energy from
biomass," Singh said.
Iran's current oil
production capacity stands
at 4.2 million b/d and the
OPEC nation favors an oil
price of $100-120/barrel,
which it considers fair to
both producers and
consumers, the oil
ministry's spokesman said
Wednesday.
The Internal Revenue Service explained today
what developers must do this year to be
considered to have started construction of
new renewable energy projects.
The IRS adopted roughly the same
definition for start of construction
as under the Treasury cash grant
program.
Applying a maxim from
computer science to biology
raises the intriguing
possibility that life
existed before Earth did and
may have originated outside
our solar system, scientists
say.
Escalating his investigation
of the deadly terrorist
attack on the U.S. Consulate
in Benghazi last year, Rep.
Darrell Issa warned CIA and
other government officials
Wednesday to lawyer-up in
preparation for a massive
probe.
China is getting accolades
for its green energy
policies that are attracting
private investors. The Asian
nation, in fact, is once
again the global leader in
terms of the amount of money
it is raising from private
interests.
Japan's "Merchandise
Trade" exports surprised to
the upside this morning. All
of a sudden Japan's export
activity is picking up
steam.
Defense contractor Lockheed
Martin announced plans on
Tuesday to build a green
energy power plant that will
use variations in ocean
water temperature to
generate electricity, taking
a big step toward making the
130-year-old concept
commercially viable.
A 25-year-old hacker with
the group known as LulzSec
was sentenced Thursday to a
year in prison and ordered
to pay $605,663 in
restitution for an attack on
Sony Pictures computers that
began in late May 2011.
The Japanese nuclear disaster two years
ago has gotten people thinking about what
they might do if such an accident happened
in their neck of the woods. Here in the
United States, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency are in charge of
radiological emergency preparedness.
A coalition of public and private
partners teamed up Tuesday to attempt to
bring mini-nuclear reactor development to
South Carolina.
The FBI and the U.S.
Marshals Service said Paul
Kevin Curtis was taken into
custody at 5:15 p.m. for
sending three letters "which
contained a granular
substance that preliminarily
tested positive for ricin."
"The energy market is now
turning to natural-gas power
plants and clean coal
technology. We must explore
our possibilities for both
sectors of energy," Shelly
said.
At the same time that
citizens are cooling on
nuclear power in Fukushima's
wake and both nuclear
regulators and operators are
pushing emergency
preparedness for worst-case
scenarios, the EPA has moved
to update radiation exposure
rules.
Turning the Gulf of Mexico
into a long-term source for
fresh drinking water is the
focus of an unprecedented
study Texas Land
Commissioner Jerry Patterson
and the Guadalupe-Blanco
River Authority (GBRA)
agreed to begin.
A residential group is taking offense to
a proposed solar project that they believe
will threaten the rural character of its
community plan.
"We would prefer Oak Hills to keep its
residential quality...
An angry President Barack
Obama denounced Senate
Republicans on Wednesday for
failing to pass stricter
background checks on gun
purchases, calling it a
“pretty shameful day” for
Washington.
Unprecedented amounts of
domestic oil and natural gas
resources, energy security
concerns, and efforts to
improve the environment and
boost the economy are
turning the nation's
attention toward the oil and
gas industry.
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station remains
powered down after a planned refueling
outage that started Sunday night.
The plant shut off power at 10:17 p.m.
Sunday, said Carol Wightman, a spokeswoman
for Entergy Nuclear, the company that owns
Pilgrim.
A leak-rate test of the plant's primary
containment air lock failed, Wightman said.
The pressure cooker bombs
that were used in the Boston
Marathon attacks have been a
staple of al-Qaida for years
— and the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security has known
about their use by
terrorists since at least
2004.
There’s a perception that diesels are
noisy, smelly and slow. That might have been
true 30 years ago, but it’s incorrect today.
Car manufacturers, especially the Germans —
who know a thing or two about engineering
great vehicles — have improved and refined
diesel engines to the point where they’re
almost indistinguishable from their gasoline
equivalents.
Diesel fuel has changed, too
Protest leader Alexei Navalny accused
Russian authorities of fabricating charges
against him at the start of a trial on
Wednesday that he says is intended to crush
opposition to Vladimir Putin.
The anti-corruption blogger, 36, was calm
and defiant during a 40-minute appearance in
court in the provincial city of Kirov before
Judge Sergei Blinov adjourned proceedings
until April 24 to give the defense more time
to prepare its case.
While it was understandable that
renewable energy investors would hit the
pause button during the 2009 fiscal crisis,
after years of growth and expansion, private
funding for wind and solar is once again
taking a dive. According to a report
released this week by Bloomberg New
Energy Finance, “investment worldwide
in the first quarter of 2013 was $40.6bn,
down 22% on a year earlier.”
And the news only gets worse. First
quarter investments in renewable energy,
energy efficiency, and energy smart
technologies are all down; 38% less than the
final quarter of last year in fact.
Advanced energy CEOs and
senior executives across
America say the nation could
spur faster industry growth
if U.S. policy was designed
to maintain market
stability, create a level
playing field, support a
broad innovation portfolio,
limit the duration of
incentives, and solve broad
problems rather than
prescribe narrow solutions,
according to a new report
released today by Advanced
Energy Economy (AEE).
If the U.S. ceases to burn
coal, shuts down a quarter
of existing nuclear
reactors, and trims its use
of natural gas by 2050, the
resulting increased reliance
on wind, solar and other
renewables will not result
in a less reliable
electricity grid, according
to a major new report
prepared by Synapse Energy
Economics, Inc., for the
nonprofit Civil Society
Institute (CSI).
Researchers from the Georgia
Institute of Technology and
Purdue University have
developed a series of
remarkably efficient solar
cells using the natural
substrates found in trees.
Researchers at Missouri
University of Science and
Technology are tracking and
measuring the movement of
radioisotopes to develop
sophisticated new standards
for the next generation of
nuclear reactors.
The summer ice melt in parts of
Antarctica is at its highest level in 1,000
years, Australian and British researchers
reported on Monday, adding new evidence of
the impact of global warming on sensitive
Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves.
Researchers from the Australian National
University and the British Antarctic Survey
found data taken from an ice core also shows
the summer ice melt has been 10 times more
intense over the past 50 years compared with
600 years ago
San Diego Gas & Electric
(SDG&E) today announced that
it has signed five new
renewable power purchase
agreements for a total of
nearly 62 megawatts (MW) of
solar and wind energy. Two
of these contracts, for a
total of 27 MW of solar
power, will be located in
San Diego County.
The U.S. shale gas revolution is having a
major impact on the energy market, with new
energy production expected to bring the
country closer to energy independence. This
development is also having an impact in a
more surprising area: the smart grid.
The shale gas boom in the U.S. will play
a key role in the development of the smart
electricity grid, affecting almost every
part of utility infrastructure decision
making in the coming decade, according to
research from IMS Research, part of IHS.
For the second time this year, a single
electric industry representative spoke
against solar friendly legislation that is
supposed to make sun panels more affordable
for homeowners.
And for the second time this year,
legislators deferred voting on the measure
-- even though most speakers at a hearing
Wednesday agreed the solar bill would help
lower energy costs for churches, schools and
homeowners.
About 66.7 million tons of
reclaimed asphalt pavement
and 1.2 million tons of
reclaimed asphalt shingles
were collected in the U.S.
during 2011 for reuse in new
pavements, and 19% of all
asphalt produced that year
was made using warm-mix
asphalt technologies,
according to the survey.
Authorities using
interesting tactic to track down system
cheaters
Tax officials in Lithuania announced that
they were able to track down a little more
than 100 suspected tax cheats by looking at
their property using Google’s Street View.
Chechen Connection Suggests
Possible Al-Qaeda Link to
Boston Terror Attack
Can North Korea Really
Launch a Nuclear-Armed
Missile?
Russia: Human Rights
Sideshow Makes Cooperation
With US Less Likely
Iron Dome Not a Panacea for
South Korean Missile Defense
Western Sahara in Danger of
Becoming a Terrorist Haven
Vietnam's Subs to Challenge
China in the South China Sea
Making Tough Demands, North
Korea Wants Talks
As Formula One Race
Approaches, Bahrain Braces
for More Protests
Three Mile Island today is
set to become
the first U.S.
nuclear power plant to be
formally drilled on its
ability to respond to an air
strike or similar attack.
Two rockets fired from
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula
landed on the outskirts of
the Red Sea resort city of
Eilat in southern Israel on
Wednesday, causing no
casualties or damage,
Israeli police said.
The Federal Reserve’s
Summary of
Commentary on Current
Economic Conditions,
otherwise known as the
Beige Book,
compiled using data
collected on or before April
5, 2013 in preparation for
the April 30 and May 1, 2013
Federal Open Market
Committee (FOMC) meeting,
indicated that economic
activity generally expanded
at a moderate pace since
late February.
Fitch Ratings' view on U.S. home
prices remains unmoved despite the continued
rise in the Case Shiller index. The agency
continues to believe national prices are
overvalued by roughly 10% in real terms and
2% nominally (after taking into account
inflation and price momentum).
US initial claims inched up
4,000 to 352,000 the week
ending April 13, 2013, which
was just slightly above
market expectations for a
350,000 reading. The modest
increase in the latest week
followed an outsized 40,000
drop to an upwardly revised
348,000 (was 346,000) the
week ending April 6 that
still more than retraced a
31,000 surge to 388,000 the
week ending March 30.
Freddie Mac(OTCQB: FMCC)
yesterday released the
results of its
Primary Mortgage Market
Survey® (PMMS®),
showing average fixed
mortgage rates moving lower
this week amid data showing
weaker consumer spending.
This marks the third
consecutive week fixed-rate
mortgages have moved lower
as the housing market
continues to recover.
The exhaustive, yearlong
investigation by the Senate
Armed Services Committee
focused on costs and
burden-sharing as the United
States spends more than $10
billion a year to back up
the U.S. military presence
overseas, with 70 percent of
the amount expended in the
three nations. The figure
does not include military
personnel costs.
"As the Senate began voting
Wednesday on nine proposed
changes to a gun control
bill, the centerpiece
proposal on background
checks quickly failed to win
enough support, despite
broad public backing. The
vote on the so-called
Manchin-Toomey amendment was
54 in favor, 46 against —
failing to reach the 60-vote
threshold needed to move
ahead. Four Republicans
supported it, and four
Democrats voted no."
The Solar Electric Power
Association's Utility Solar
Rankings Report highlights
the new utility interest in
solar power.
After years of fits and
starts, utility-scale
solar-generated power is
finally poised to emerge
from the shadows, propelled
by a combination of
technology breakthroughs,
state renewable energy
mandates and lucrative
federal and state grants and
tax incentives, according to
many industry observers.
This year promises to be a
breakthrough one for solar
generation, with a number of
large projects coming on
line.
Perhaps the most
straightforward storage
method of them all, energy
storage flywheels have been
in use for over a century. A
flywheel is usually a heavy
shaft-mounted rotating disc
that absorbs and stores
twisting or spinning motion
and then releases it as
rotational kinetic energy.
taying with the theme
of bearish sentiment in
commodity markets, crude oil
came under severe pressure
recently. Based on today's
data, US crude inventory
actually declined last week,
surprising some forecasters
who expected crude stocks to
continue rising. One would
expect lower inventories to
result in higher prices, but
that did not occur.
Why would the Senate reject
something as evident as the
concept that we shouldn't
let maniacs, criminals, or
those who have been named in
orders of protection buy
guns? Why would they vote
to maintain the artificial
distinction between guns
sold in stores and those
sold in shows when they are
equally likely to kill or
maim?
Is President
Obama correct when he blames
lies from the National Rifle
Association (NRA) for the
rejection? No. The
president has only himself
to blame.
Predictions are that the worst of
gasoline prices for this year may have come
and gone.
If it proves to be true, it will be
good news for consumers who have had to trim
other parts of their budgets to afford the
high cost of fuel to get to where they need
to go.
April 16, 2013
Air pollution is an underestimated
scourge that kills far more people than AIDS
and malaria and a shift to cleaner energy
could easily halve the toll by 2030, U.N.
officials said on Tuesday.
Investments in solar, wind or hydropower
would benefit both human health and a drive
by almost 200 nations to slow climate
change, blamed mainly on a build-up of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from use
of fossil fuels, they said.
People in Nebraska are
asking: If a pipeline that
already exists needs to be
moved in Arkansas, why route
the Keystone through the
Ogallala aquifer?
Two bombs ripped through the crowd at the
finish line of the Boston Marathon on
Monday, killing three people, maiming others
and injuring more than 100 in what a
White House official said would be
treated as an "act of terror."
It was the worst bombing on U.S. soil
since security was tightened after the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and President
Barack Obama promised to hunt down
whoever was responsible for the attack on a
day when tens of thousands of spectators
packed the streets to watch the world-famous
race.
Today, for the first time in two decades,
all four units at Bruce A supplied clean,
low-cost electricity to the people of
Ontario, with the return to service of Unit
4.
Having all four units at Bruce A in
operation is a significant achievement for
the Bruce site, said Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce
Power's President and Chief Executive
Officer.
"Legislation that would
provide funding for
California's substance-abuse
tracking system passed its
first committee on Monday at
the urging of state Attorney
General Kamala Harris. The
state's prescription drug
database allows doctors and
pharmacists to quickly
review patients' substance
history as a way to deter
drug abuse and to make sure
patients aren't taking
harmful combinations of
drugs. Harris wants money to
maintain and upgrade the
database and to pay for
teams of agents that would
track doctors who improperly
prescribe large quantities
of controlled substances."
-
Students who took a mindfulness class
improved reading comprehension test
scores and working memory capacity, as
well as experienced fewer distracting
thoughts
-
Practicing “mindfulness” means that
you’re actively paying attention to the
moment you’re in right now, rather than
letting your mind wander or trying to
multi-task
-
Mindfulness can help you achieve
undistracted focus as well as reduce
stress induced inflammation, which could
benefit people suffering from chronic
inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid
arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease
and asthma
Global warming is
exacerbating political
instability as tensions
brought on by food
insecurity rise. With
research suggesting the
issue can only get worse we
examine the risks around the
world
Texas-based CPS Energy is
"refining" the formula it
uses to incorporate and pay
for increasingly popular
rooftop solar installations
driven by generous rebates
and net metering. The new
formula takes into account
the costs to maintain and
upgrade its electric
transmission and
distribution systems in a
way that is equitable for
all customers, according to
the company.
A new chemical process can transform
waste sulphur into a lightweight plastic
that may improve batteries for electric
cars, reports a University of Arizona-led
team.
The team has successfully used the new
plastic to make lithium-sulphur batteries
and discovered other potential applications,
including optical uses.
-
Dental amalgam is composed of about 50
percent mercury, a well-known neurotoxin
that can also damage your kidneys
-
There is overwhelming evidence showing
mercury is easily released in the form
of vapor each time you eat, drink, brush
your teeth or otherwise stimulate your
teeth. These mercury vapors readily pass
through your cell membranes, across your
blood-brain barrier, and into your
central nervous system, where it can
cause psychological, neurological, and
immunological problems
-
Mercury used in dentistry is a
significant source of environmental
mercury pollution. When you factor in
environmental costs and clean-up costs,
amalgam is the most expensive dental
restoration material in the world
-
Once released into the environment,
dental mercury converts to methylmercury
and contaminates fish, which are the
largest dietary source of mercury in the
US
Earth's magnetic field
(also known as the
geomagnetic field) is
the magnetic field that
extends from the Earth's
inner core to where it meets
the solar wind, a stream of
energetic particles
emanating from the Sun.
Its magnitude at the
Earth's surface ranges from
25 to 65 µT (0.25
to 0.65 G). It is
approximately the field of a
magnetic dipole tilted at an
angle of 11 degrees with
respect to the rotational
axis—as if there were a bar
magnet placed at that angle
at the center of the Earth.
However, unlike the field of
a bar magnet, Earth's field
changes over time because it
is generated by the motion
of molten iron alloys in the
Earth's outer core (the
geodynamo).
Physical gasoil cracks
across Europe were falling
Monday driven by weaker
market fundamentals in NWE
pushing the gasoil-Brent
spread lower.
"Distillate cracks have come
under pressure, with the
gasoil markets steeper
decline driving the cracks
lower," said a trader,
highlighting the different
pace of falls in both the
gasoil and dated Brent
markets.
Ex-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
acknowledged his government secretly signed
off on U.S. drone strikes, the first time a
top past or present Pakistani official has
admitted publicly to such a deal.
Pakistani leaders long have openly
challenged the drone program and insisted
they had no part in it. Musharraf's
admission, though, suggests he and others
did play some role, even if they didn't
oversee the program or approve every attack.
Police transcripts show
Exxon employees arrived on
the scene an hour after the
emergency was first reported
by a resident dialing 911.
Exxon oil spill in Arkansas
demonstrates how quickly
pipeline accidents can turn
into catastrophe.
The Pegasus pipeline, which
can transport more than
90,000 barrels per day of
crude oil from Pakota,
Illinois, to Nederland,
Texas, was carrying Canadian
Wabasca Heavy crude at the
time of the spill. This
grade is a heavy bitumen
crude diluted with lighter
liquids to allow it to flow
through pipelines.
A Florida House committee
signaled its willingness
Thursday to make official
what has already happened in
practice by passing a bill
that could end the future
development of nuclear power
plants in Florida.
"A couple charged with
[reclaiming their children
from government kidnappers]
and sailing with them to
Cuba to elude authorities
have waived their right to a
bond hearing. As a result,
Joshua, 35, and Sharyn
Hakken, 34, will remain in
jail, ...
China, the top foreign owner
of Treasury debt, increased
its holdings 0.7 percent to
$1.22 trillion. Japan, the
second-larger holder,
trimmed its holdings 0.6
percent to $1.1 trillion.
The Dodd-Frank Act is "the
worst financial legislation
I have ever seen in my
life," and the law won't
prevent another financial
crisis, asserts former FDIC
Chairman William Isaac.
"If it had been around
15 years ago, it would not
have prevented the last
crisis and it's not going to
prevent the next crisis,"
Isaac told Newsmax TV in an
exclusive interview.
In recent months, restaurant
owners across the country
have offered special deals
for gun owners. In February
alone, a
Frozen Yogurt shop in Utah
and four businesses in
Virginia all offered
discounts to customers who
brought in their weapons or
concealed carry permits.
Outages caused by storms and
other natural disasters cost
an average of $150 billion
in economic losses each
year. As a result, a variety
of businesses from
telecommunications companies
and banks to hospitals and
data centers are looking to
fuel cells as a reliable
source of backup power,
according to research from
Fuel Cells 2000.
Gold plummeted to its lowest
level in more than two years
as traders rushed to sell
their holdings following a
big price drop on Friday.
The precious metal has
plunged almost $200 over the
past two days and is trading
below $1,400 an ounce for
the first time since
February 2011.
There's plenty of evidence that the
climate has warmed up over the past century,
and climate scientists know this has
happened throughout the history of the
planet. But they want to know more about how
this warming is different.
Now a research team says it has some new
answers. It has put together a record of
global temperatures going back to the end of
the last ice age — about 11,000 years ago —
when mammoths and saber-tooth cats roamed
the planet. The study confirms that what
we're seeing now is unprecedented.
Easing gas prices haven't put a dent in
hybrid sales.
Through the first quarter of this year,
sales of hybrids rose 19% over the same
period a year ago, according to Autodata
Corp.
Do you think you receive
fair value for the money you
spend on taxes? The fact is
you don't, because there is
excessive corruption in both
the way your tax money is
collected and in the way it
is spent.
Many
countries are notorious for
the tax collectors being "on
the take." At the federal
level, it is rare for an
Internal Revenue Service
agent to put his hand out,
but that does not rule out
considerable corruption.
In the last few decades, glaciers at the
edge of the icy continent of Antarctica have
been thinning, and research has shown the
rate of thinning has accelerated and
contributed significantly to sea level rise.
New ice core research suggests that,
while the changes are dramatic, they cannot
be attributed with confidence to
human-caused global warming, said Eric
Steig, a University of Washington professor
of Earth and space sciences.
Analysts fear a dramatic
advance in North Korea’s
nuclear missile technology,
revealed inadvertently
during a Congressional
hearing Thursday, will
quickly find its way to Iran
— forcing Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to fast-track a
long-contemplated attack
against Tehran’s
nuclear-enrichment
facilities.
German researchers have
found a way to overcome one
of the problems with
renewable energy -- the fact
that it is not always
available -- by linking
different options in a
unified system.
The Hydrogen Superhighway
isn't much more than a dirt
path right now, with just 27
hydrogen refueling stations
installed in the entire
world last year, Green
Car Reports says,
citing Fuel Cell Today.
North America was home to
eight new hydrogen stations,
and five stations were added
in Germany. The 27 stations
mark a 15-percent increase
from 2011 totals.
Kansas wind energy, which has struggled
to deliver its potential, is finally flexing
its muscles.
The American Wind Energy Association in a
report released Thursday said that in 2012
only two other states -- Texas and
California -- built more wind generation.
Kansas more than doubled its production
capacity during the year.
Every once in a while
a really nice example of
institutional racism emerges
from the corporate media and
gives us a chance to expose
unexamined assumptions that
make truth impossible.
I've been thinking a lot about the idea
of setbacks lately. Maybe you're lucky
enough to have never experienced one, but I
highly doubt it: setbacks are as much a part
of life as the rising and the setting of the
sun. (But despite this, we always seem to be
surprised when they come along, oddly
enough.) Whether it involves a job,
relationship, finances, your health, or
something else, you've probably already
suffered dozens of setbacks in your life.
Even successful people have setbacks.
World is unprepared for
changes that will see parts
of Africa turned into
disaster areas, say food
experts
Over the last two years,
growing sales of plug-in
electric vehicles (PEVs)
have fueled a burst of
activity in electric vehicle
supply equipment (EVSE)
infrastructure development.
To realize the economic and
environmental benefits of
electrified transportation,
national and local
governments across the globe
are backing deployments of
PEV charging stations in an
effort to increase consumer
interest in PEVs. According
to a new tracker report from
Navigant Research, there are
currently 48,705 public
charging stations around the
world.
The seas do rise and fall
over the ages. Lands sink
and rise depending on the
weather. Dynamic modeling of
sea-level rise, which takes
storm wind and wave action
into account, paints a much
graver picture for some
low-lying Pacific islands
under climate-change
scenarios than the passive
computer modeling used in
earlier research, according
to a new report.
Oahu households can expect
to see a decline in their
April electrical bills due
largely to the resumption of
production at a coal-fired
plant that provides the
island's lowest-cost source
of power, Hawaiian Electric
Co. reported Friday.
President Barack Obama's
proposed 2014 budget would
raise $50 billion over 10
years by increasing monthly
premiums for wealthier
Medicare recipients and
tweaking the sliding scale
on which the premiums are
calculated, according to
details released on Friday
by the agency that runs
Medicare and Medicaid.
Oklahoma solar users could be in the
shade when it comes to excess electricity
generated from their photovoltaic panels.
Just ask Enid resident Kyle Clark. The
Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. customer spent
about $50,000 to install 30 solar panels on
his house. Lured by tax credits and the
promise of lower electric bills, Clark
wanted to be able to reverse his meter and
push power back into the grid.
OPEC's crude basket has
fallen below $100/barrel for
the first time in nine
months, dropping to
$98.56/barrel on April 15
from $100.63/b on April 12.
The 12-crude basket last
stood below $100/b on July
16, 2012.
Pacific Gas & Electric
(PG&E) will pay $390,000 to
settle a regulatory
investigation into its 2012
smart meter "spying"
scandal.
Sinopec and Kuwait
Petroleum have plans to
build a refinery in southern
China. Beyond that, how this
project is going to turn out
is anybody’s guess. In this
week’s Oilgram News column
Petrodollars, Song Yen Ling
discusses the “bumpy” path
the project has taken.
Concern about global warming
is rising among U.S.
residents, according to a
Gallup poll released Monday.
A combined 58 percent
worry either a “great deal”
or a “fair amount” about
climate change, according to
the survey conducted in
March.
The Government of Japan has ordered Tokyo
Electric Power Co. to fix fresh radioactive
water leaks at its damaged Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant.
Leaks in three underground storage pits
at Fukushima Daiichi have released an
estimated 32,000 gallons of radioactive
water since Friday, TEPCO officials report.
The largest solar event of
the period was a C1 event.
There are currently 6
numbered sunspot regions on
the disk. Solar activity is
expected to be low with a
chance for M-class flares on
day one (16 Apr) and
expected to be low with a
slight chance for an M-class
flare on day two (17 Apr)
and likely to be low on day
three (18 Apr). The
geomagnetic field has been
at quiet to unsettled levels
for the past 24 hours.
Senate Democrats are holding
up a resolution to honor
former British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher,
who died on Monday at age
87, a Heritage Foundation
affiliate reports.
The resolution was to pass
late Wednesday in the
Democratic-controlled upper
chamber, said Katherine
Rosario of Heritage Action
for America.
Sen. Marco Rubio insisted on
Sunday that the immigration
plan currently being
negotiated by the "Gang of
8" won't give illegal
immigrants anything other
than the chance to access
the legal immigration
system, but will make the
border more secure than it’s
ever been.
A kidney "grown" in the laboratory has been
transplanted into animals where it started
to produce urine, US scientists say.
Similar techniques to make simple body
parts have already been used in patients,
but the kidney is one of the most
complicated organs made so far.
Across the world’s great
deserts, a mysterious sheen
has been found on boulders
and rock faces. These layers
of manganese, arsenic and
silica are known as desert
varnish and they are found
in the Atacama desert in
Chile, the Mojave desert in
California, and in many
other arid places. They can
make the desert glitter with
surprising colour and, by
scraping off pieces of
varnish, native people have
created intriguing symbols
and images on rock walls and
surfaces.
Complying with the tax code
costs the United States
roughly 2 to 3 cents for
every dollar of economic
activity and represents
about 20 percent of federal
income and payroll tax
revenue received.
Simplifying this system
could add as much as
one-half of 1 percent growth
each and every year,
according to a recent study
conducted by The Laffer
Center.
Solar power or natural gas
power? How about both?
Natural gas power plants can
use about 20 percent less
fuel when the sun is shining
by injecting solar energy
into natural gas with a new
system being developed by
the Department of Energy's
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory. The system
converts natural gas and
sunlight into a more
energy-rich fuel called
syngas, which power plants
can burn to make
electricity.
A solar proton event (or
proton storm) occurs when
protons emitted by the Sun
become accelerated to very
high energies either close
to the Sun during a solar
flare or in interplanetary
space by the shocks
associated with coronal mass
ejections. Besides protons,
the events can include other
nuclei like helium ions and
HZE ions, meaning that the
event is sometimes a solar
particle event. These high
energy protons and ions
cause several effects. They
can penetrate the Earth's
magnetic field and cause
ionization in the
ionosphere. The effect is
similar to auroral events,
the difference being that
electrons and not protons
are involved. Energetic
solar protons are also a
significant radiation hazard
to spacecraft and especially
astronauts, who can receive
large amounts of absorbed
dose from the ionizing
radiation.
Several dozen states are
looking for an alternative
to the GED high school
equivalency test because of
concerns that a new version
coming out next year is more
costly and will no longer be
offered in a pencil and
paper format.
Solar energy systems at
roughly one-third of
Stockton Unified's 50-plus
facilities could start to go
online in a little more than
one year, an initiative
officials say would produce
a first-year savings to the
general fund of more than
$600,000.
The world spent less on weapons and
military services in 2012 than the year
before, the first annual drop since 1998, a
Swedish think tank said on Monday.
But despite the overall decrease, driven
mainly by budget cuts in the Western
countries, China and Russia both boosted
spending last year, the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI) said.
The department said the
water, which spilled into
the river after a pipe froze
and broke on March 25, was
fatal to rainbow trout in a
96-hour test because of high
concentrations of naphthenic
acid.
Staying out of a raging national debate
over guns, the Supreme Court on Monday
declined to weigh in on whether gun owners
have a constitutional right to carry
handguns outside the home.
The court decided not to hear a challenge
to a New York state law that requires those
who want to carry a concealed handgun to
show they have a special reason before they
can get a license.
The UN Refugee Agency says
heavy fighting in southern Syria has sent
thousands of new refugees across the border
into Jordan.
Syrian rebels have won significant ground
recently around the southern city of Daraa,
but a government counter-attack forced
between 1,500 and 2,500 new refugees to flee
into Jordan over the weekend.
This spring, these little
critters will emerge from
the ground once again. In
fact, the cicadas are
probably starting to plan
their escape right now, as
several weeks before
emerging, they start to
build small cones that stick
above the soil.
For the Amount Spent on the
Iraq War the US Could be
Generating 40% to 60% of its
Electricity with Renewable
Energy
Could Al Qaeda Be Behind the
Boston Marathon Bombings?
Capriles Won the Election,
Says Former US Ambassador
Sudan-South Sudan: Progress
on Fragile Peace Accord
North Korea: Kerry Shows
Flexibility in Overture to
Jumpstart Talks
Venezuela: Narrow Win for
Maduro May be End of Chavez
Legacy
Bitcoin Virtual Money Opens
Door for Terror Finance
Tax Evasion Data Dump
Rattles European Governments
Theodore Roosevelt IV, the
great grandson of early 20th
century trust-busting
President Theodore "Teddy"
Roosevelt, said some of
America’s largest banks
might be too big and
downsizing may be warranted.
“The five largest banks
in the U.S. have more than
60 or 65 percent of the
nation’s deposits,”
Roosevelt told Newsmax TV in
an exclusive interview.
Among the bets that
may end up backfiring later
this year is the recent bet
by investors on US retail
shares. Just this year the
S&P Retail Index has
outperformed the S&P500 by
nearly 6%.
MANY Americans assume that
the chemicals in their
shampoos, detergents and
other consumer products have
been thoroughly tested and
proved to be safe.
Every month, like clockwork,
the U.S. government updates
us on the unemployment rate.
In March it was 7.6 percent.
We see the headlines, but we
rarely stop to ask an
important question: 7.6
percent of what? The answer
may surprise you.
The White House will decide in coming
weeks whether to attempt to blunt low prices
in the U.S. sugar market by buying hundreds
of thousands of tons of surplus sugar and
selling it at a loss to ethanol makers.
If approved, it would be the first time
the sugar-for-ethanol program, created in
2008 and known as the Feedstock Flexibility
Program, has been put into operation.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission should look at
evacuation plans for areas
beyond a 10-mile radius
around America’s nuclear
power plants, the
independent research branch
of Congress advised
Wednesday.
The average US retail price
for regular grade gasoline
dropped 6.6 cents to
$3.542/gal in the survey
week ending Monday, the
Energy Information
Administration said.
With that decline, the
national average is 3.8
cents lower than that of the
corresponding survey week a
year ago.
Falling demand for gasoline
in the US East Coast and the
ever-present promise of more
supply to come from the US
Gulf Coast look likely to
slam the door on lucrative
spot exports of gasoline
from Europe to the US over
the next few years,
prominent US-based oil
economist Philip Verleger
said in a weekly analysis
distributed on Sunday.
More and more utilities are
offering customers "green"
alternatives to their energy
needs.
Vancouver expects to nearly
double its collection of
organic waste to nearly
50,000 tons annually, and
needs to build a new
organics transfer facility
to handle the material.
-
Research suggests that eating oily fish
once or twice a week may increase your
lifespan by more than two years, and
reduce your risk of dying from
cardiovascular disease by 35 percent
-
Compared to those in the lowest
percentiles, those with omega-3 blood
levels in the highest 20 percent were 27
percent less likely to die of any cause;
40 percent less likely to die of
coronary heart disease, and 48 percent
less likely to die of an arrhythmia
Wind energy grew 28
percent in America last
year, setting a new
installation record and
confirming its status as a
mainstream energy source,
according to the American
Wind Energy Association's
U.S. Wind Industry
Annual Market Report for
2012, released today on
a webinar for association
members and reporters.
A global goal for limiting
climate change is slipping
out of reach and governments
may have to find ways to
artificially suck greenhouse
gases from the air if they
fail to make deep cuts in
rising emissions by 2030, a
draft U.N. report said.
April 12, 2013
The White House proposed $145.8 billion
in funding, a 5.9 percent decrease, for the
U.S. Agriculture Department in the upcoming
2014 fiscal year.
The Obama administration, as part of its
sweeping budget proposal, proposed
eliminating direct payments, cutting crop
insurance subsidies and better targeting
conservation funding. The budget would
target investments in renewable energy,
rural development and research.
Soil samples across China
have revealed remnants of
toxic heavy metals dating
back at least a century and
traces of a pesticide banned
in the 1980s, an
environmental official said
on Wednesday, revealing the
extent of the country's
pollution problems.
Sandra Mize confronted an intruder
breaking into her north Spokane home early
Wednesday morning. She fired one shot in his
direction and held him at gunpoint until
officers arrived. Police arrested the man
and said they do not believe it was his
first burglary of the night.
Sandra Mize has a motto: "You don't get
do-overs."
That's why the 63-year-old grandmother of
10 keeps a gun by her bed..
The first study of its kind
to calculate the amount of
nutrients entering and
leaving the Arctic Ocean has
been carried out by
scientists based at the
National Oceanography
Center, Southampton. Their
results, which are published
this month in the Journal of
Geophysical Research, show
that there is a mismatch
between what goes into the
Arctic Ocean and what comes
out.
Rampant over-prescribing of
drugs contributes to a
system that is better at
producing disorders than
rectifying them.
"Standard psychiatric
diagnoses… do not correspond
to meaningful clusters of
symptoms in the real world"
and can counter-productively
result in "further stigma,
discrimination and social
exclusion" for their
recipients
Proposed fracking
regulations have passed
their first step in
California, winning approval
Tuesday in a 6-2 vote by the
state's Senate Natural
Resources and Water
Committee.
A court ruling that the U.S.
government must consider the
environmental impact of
"fracking" on federal lands
leased to oil companies
offers opponents of the
technique a useful weapon in
the fierce public debate in
California and other parts
of the country.
China's National Development
and Reform Commission will
not adjust the regulated
prices of gasoline and
diesel in what would have
been the first such exercise
following the new pricing
mechanism introduced late
last month, the NDRC said
Wednesday.
Citizens who want to become
more energy efficient have a
variety of options, from
replacing their windows to
choosing a different kind of
light bulb.
Coal-fired power generation
rose 21 percent in March
2013 compared to March 2012,
according to a recent report
released from Genscape’s
Generation Fuel Monitoring
Service. The report links
the rise of coal-fired
generation to rising prices
for natural gas.
While energy consumed by the
manufacturing sector in the US dropped by
17% between 2002 and 2010 (according to a
report released by the Energy Information
Administration last month), in Asia it’s a
slightly different story.
According to a report released by the
Asia Development Bank (ADB), due to the
continent’s exponentially expanding energy
demand, Asia may—as Bloomberg
reports—“account for 44 percent of global
GDP by 2035 and consume more than 51 percent
of its energy.”
New details have emerged about
"self-cleaning" effects in the Gulf of
Mexico witnessed in the wake of the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Researchers reporting at the American
Chemical Society conference revealed details
of a cascade of micro-organisms that spring
into action to degrade oil.
Research has also outlined how chemical
"dispersants" used in clean-up efforts
actually frustrate these processes.
Dubai’s Electricity and
Water Authority (DEWA) has
opened its ‘M Station’ in
Jebel Ali that has a
generation capacity of 2,060
MW and can produce 140
million imperial gallons
(MIG) of desalinated water
per day.
Wall Street is far too
optimistic about prospects
for an economic recovery,
cautions Dean Baker,
co-director of the Center
for Economic and Policy
Research in Washington, D.C.
Look for the
unemployment rate to remain
essentially unchanged this
year, he notes.
The U.S. Department of Energy would
receive an 8 percent boost in funding over
2012 levels in the Obama administration's
2014 budget proposal.
The $28.4 billion for 2014 would
"position the United States to compete as a
world leader in clean energy and advance
manufacturing, enhance our energy security,
respond to the threat of climate change, and
modernize the nuclear weapons stockpile and
infrastructure," the White House said in its
proposed budget released Wednesday
The Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program serves a
vital, life-saving role by
helping needy customers
afford to keep their homes
warm in the winter and cool
in the summer. But funding
of the federal program has
dropped by more than a third
from its 2009 level of $5.1
billion to $3.3 billion
today. Low-income advocates
from Entergy Corporation
(NYSE: ETR) are urging
congressional leaders to
better protect vulnerable
families struggling to meet
basic needs, including
heating and cooling costs.
Europeans no longer see the
kind of pollution that
within living memory killed
thousands of Londoners in
the Great Smog of 1952, but
the air they breathe still
bears invisible threats
scarcely less deadly, and
little more controlled.
Fifteen militants and one soldier were
killed on Thursday when the Pakistani
military mounted another operation in a week
of fighting designed to seize control of a
remote but strategic valley in the
northwest, the army said.
The military has faced fierce resistance
from the Taliban and its allies in the Tirah
Valley in the Khyber region since troops set
out to dislodge insurgents from
strategically important heights above the
valley six days ago.
France has begun withdrawing
troops from Mali, the
military said on Tuesday,
confirming that a first
group of around 100 soldiers
had already left the country
at the end of March.
A project to capture methane
gas at the city landfill and
convert it to electricity is
moving forward.
Germany's nuclear power
operators are not ready to
bear the estimated Eur2
billion ($2.6 billion) cost
for identifying and building
a new nuclear waste
depository, the German
Atomic Forum said Tuesday
after the federal government
reached a compromise with
states and opposition
parties to re-open the
search for such a site.
Germany exported more energy in 2012 than
at any point over the previous five years in
spite of the ongoing shutdown of all of its
nuclear energy generation facilities thanks
to the country's renewable energy industry.
Renewable energy accounted for 23 percent
of Germany's power usage in 2012 and 9.3
percent more energy generation than in
Global PC shipments* plunged 14 percent
in the first three months of 2013, according
to newly released figures from
market research firm IDC.
It's the steepest decline since 1994,
when IDC began keeping records for the
device.
“Looking at the details
[and] looking at the history
of the numbers, what was
evident is that you had a
series of methodological
changes that have been made
by the government over time
that have put upside bias
into the economic statistics
and downside by the
inflation reporting,”
Williams told Newsmax TV in
an exclusive interview.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry tells
Newsmax that he attributes
the “Texas Miracle” — the
Lone Star State’s relatively
robust economy during the
economic downturn — to a
“light” tax burden and a
favorable regulatory
climate.
The Minutes of the
March 19 and 20, 2013
Federal Open Market
Committee (FOMC) meeting
(which were released ahead
of schedule as a result of
an inadvertent early release
to some Congressional
staffers) provided the
details of the discussion
surrounding the Committee’s
decision to leave its
monetary policy stance
unchanged.
Because homeopathic medicines are
protected at the federal level, the attempt
to eliminate them is coming at the state
level.
Homeopathic medicines are protected as
legal drugs under the Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act (FD&C)—which means homeopathic
manufacturers can make disease claims.
West Virginia State
residents hoping to use a
$7,500 tax credit to buy a
plug- in hybrid car or some
other types of alternatively
fueled vehicles have until
Monday to do so, under
legislation advancing in the
House of Delegates.
-
New research suggests that as much as 20
percent of the substantial weight loss
achieved from gastric bypass (weight
loss surgery), is actually due to shifts
in the balance of bacteria in your
digestive tract
-
Previous research has found that daily
intake of a specific form of lactic acid
bacteria can help prevent obesity and
reduce low-level inflammation. Gut
bacteria have also been shown to impact
weight in human babies, and may help
mothers lose weight when taken from the
first trimester through breastfeeding
-
Antibiotics are routinely fed to
livestock not only to fight infection,
but to promote weight gain. This can
have a significant and long-term impact
on your gut flora and overall health. It
also drives the rise in
antibiotic-resistant disease
-
Making cultured and fermented foods a
regular part of your diet is an ideal
strategy to optimize your body's good
bacteria
-
A classification system called the Resin
Identification Code, which is the number
printed on the bottom of most plastic
bottles and food containers, describes
what kind of plastic resin the product
is made out of.
-
The most toxic plastics are #7, #3 and
#6, while those that may be somewhat
safer include #1, #2, #4 and #5.
-
Ninety-five percent of all plastic
products tested were positive for
estrogenic activity, meaning they
contain chemicals that can potentially
disrupt your hormones and cause other
adverse health effects.
-
If at all possible, seek to purchase
products that are not made from or
packaged in plastic.
An experimental drug that spurs the
immune system to fight cancer appeared
to be safe and demonstrated anti-tumor
activity against a variety of cancers in
a small early stage study, researchers
said.
The drug, called MPDL320A, was
discovered and is being developed by
Roche's Genentech unit. The Phase 1
trial of the drug in 30 patients with
advanced cancer was designed as a dose
escalation study to test for toxicity at
higher doses.
Germany’s economy will
probably be in a recession
by elections scheduled for
the end of September because
monetary policy officials in
the euro area aren’t
providing the necessary
stimulus, said billionaire
investor George Soros.
Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co said on
Monday it does not have enough tank space
should it need to move contaminated water
from storage pits that started leaking over
the weekend at its wrecked Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant.
Two years after the worst nuclear
disaster in a quarter of a century, Tepco is
struggling with breakdowns and glitches in
its jerry-rigged cooling system to keep
reactors and spent fuel pools in a safe
state known as cold shutdown.
"A Florida couple who
allegedly [reclaimed custody
of their two
government-abducted
children] last week and fled
to Cuba by sailboat were
returned to the United
States and jailed early
Wednesday on kidnapping and
child neglect charges.
Joshua Hakken, 35, and
Sharyn Hakken, 34, were
booked into the Hillsborough
County jail in Tampa, Fla.,
where the ordeal began last
week with the [rescue] of
his sons, Cole, 4, and
Chase, 2."
A New Hampshire jury on
Tuesday found Exxon Mobil
Corp liable for $236.4
million in a civil lawsuit
that charged the oil company
had polluted groundwater in
the state with a gasoline
additive used to reduce smog
in the 1970s and 1980s.
The amount of wind energy generating
capacity in Kansas more than doubled in
2012, boosting the state into the top 10
states for wind power, according to a new
report by a wind energy trade group.
The American Wind Energy Association,
which officially released its report on
Thursday, said Kansas installed 1,441
megawatts of wind generating capacity last
year -- third among states for growth -- and
now has 2,713 megawatts of capacity.
As if loads of toxic
algae weren’t enough, Lake
Erie has come up as the most
plastic-laden of the five
Great Lakes. Plastic as in
Great Garbage Patch.
The LIFESAVER Jerrycan is a
large water purification jug
that could be of great use
to everyone from campers to
inhabitants of remote
villages. The Jerrycan
incorporates a built-in
filtration system which can
purify 18.5 liters (4.9
gallons) of water at a time,
along with an integrated
shower attachment that lets
you use the water for
cleaning as well as
drinking.
Water softeners set with
appropriate salt efficiency
do not harm septic systems
and may actually help them,
according to a new study
released today at WQA
Aquatech USA.
Spring has barely sprung,
but you wouldn't know it
from the snow still finding
its way across the east
coast and Midwest.
Traditionally warm,
snow-free states are already
beginning to experience
unseasonably warm
temperatures not helping the
drought conditions that last
year's below-average
rainfalls and above-average
temperatures brought to
nearly two-thirds of the
U.S.
Misrepresentation in
English law is an area
of English contract law,
which allows a person to
escape a contractual
obligation or claim
compensation for losses. If
one person can show that he
entered an agreement because
of another person's false
assurances, then the other
person will be unable to
enforce the agreement
against him, and may have to
pay him damages.
[Editor: Does this
apply to ObamaCare?]
It’s being called the straw
that broke the camel’s back.
Bloomberg, The New York
Times, Politico—media of all
political persuasions—ran
searingly critical articles
about the biotech rider that
the Senate slipped into the
Continuing Resolution
despite messages pouring
into Congress via our and
others’ alerts. The Daily
Show mocked Congress, which
may have gotten more
attention than all the
articles. Facebook and
Twitter were ablaze with
people like you telling
their friends and neighbors
about the provision, and the
outrage was even greater
once the legislation was
passed.
MSNBC host Melissa
Harris-Perry lit a fuse
among critics when she
recorded a commercial saying
children should belong to
their communities, not their
families.
It takes a lot to melt metal
— you generally need some
sort of heavy-duty torch and
a whole lot of time to
spare. But if you’re
familiar with the
application of electrical
energy and have a basic
comprehension of science,
you can actually melt metal
rather quickly using a bit
of electricity and some
wire.
The Defense Intelligence
Agency has concluded with
"moderate confidence" that
North Korea might have a
nuclear weapon that's small
enough to be placed on a
ballistic missile. But the
DIA also says that if that
is the case, the reliability
of the missile would be low.
In less than 40 years,
drinking wine could have a
major toll on the
environment and wildlife,
according to a new study in
the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences
(PNAS). The study finds that
climate change will likely
force many vineyards to move
either north or to higher
altitudes, leading to
habitat loss, biodiversity
declines, and increased
pressure for freshwater.
Some famous wine-growing
areas could be lost,
including in the
Mediterranean, while
development of new wine
areas—such as those in the
Rocky Mountains and northern
Europe—could lead to what
the scientists describe as
"conservation conflicts."
Investigative reports and
on-the-ground testimonies
have made it public
knowledge that far more
people than al-Qaida leaders
are killed by drone strikes.
The U.K.’s Bureau of
Investigative Journalism
(BIJ) estimates that in
Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia
over 1,o00 civilians may
have been killed by U.S.
drone strikes. The Obama
administration has long
maintained, however, that
strikes are only ever
authorized to target
“specific senior operational
leaders of al-Qaida and
associated forces.”
Documents obtained by
McClatchy newspapers suggest
that these claims are false.
President Barack Obama proposed a dramatic
increase in clean-energy spending on
Wednesday as he sought to expand U.S.
government support for electric cars, wind
power and other "green" technology despite
persistent Republican criticism.
EU-listed and large private
oil, gas and mining
companies will be forced to
reveal more about their
payments to governments
under new EU rules agreed
informally late Tuesday by
EU negotiators.
Some
big oil companies, including
Shell, had lobbied Brussels
hard to water down the
proposed new rules, arguing
that forcing EU companies to
report payments to
governments at project level
would be costly and
artificial without helping
to promote good governance.
OPEC’s output has been
dropping for months, but
mostly because Saudi Arabia
has been taking on the role
of swing producer and
cutting its production in
line with weaker demand. In
March, it was other
countries that saw their
production decline, but it
wasn’t demand-driven.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG),
the Company behind consumer
brands including Gillette®,
Ariel®, Tide®
and Pampers®
today announced that 45 of
their facilities have now
achieved zero manufacturing
waste to landfill, which
marks a major step towards
the Company’s long-term
vision of sending zero
manufacturing and consumer
waste to landfills. Over the
past 5 years, P&G's work to
find worth in waste has
created over $1 billion in
value for the company.
The impact of Hurricane
Sandy on electrical power
systems was widespread and
in many areas extensive. The
key to many restoration
efforts was information.
Beyond using basic
information about the extent
of outages derived from
traditional sources, some
utilities and grid
operations were able to get
more granular and more
detailed information about
specific problems by using
some relatively new
technologies. This included
using mobile devices in the
field to more accurately
assess damage and leveraging
data from smart grid systems
in order to better
understand the geographical
extent of outages.
An analysis revealed that
retiring and replacing the
plant would save customers
$1.32 billion in retrofits.
This is not an uncommon
conclusion, as utilities
nationwide find that
retiring aging coal-fired
plants and replacing them
with renewable energy
sources and energy
efficiency measures saves
consumers money and meets
environmental standards.
The agency reported in its
March Energy Infrastructure
report that 1,880 MW of
power has come online in
2013 through March 31, with
renewable energy accounting
for 1,540 MW of that number.
The other 340 MW of
installed power so far in
2013 came from three units
of natural gas.
The largest solar event of
the period was a M6 event.
There are currently 6
numbered sunspot regions on
the disk. Solar
activity is expected to be
low with a chance for
M-class flares and a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(12 Apr, 13 Apr, 14 Apr).
The geomagnetic field has
been at quiet levels for the
past 24 hours. Protons
are expected to cross
threshold on day one (12
Apr), have a chance of
crossing threshold on day
two (13 Apr) and have a
slight chance of crossing
threshold on day three (14
Apr).
The motor ran from 10:28 am
to 2:50 pm GMT, nearly 5.5
hours.
It started at
2600 rpm, then went up in
speed to 2673, then down and
up that range for about 3
hours.
Then, a magnet
was "loose", and the motor
began to slow. Then, he said
that the magnet alignment
malfunction began to cascade
so that 3 were out of line.
By 2:21, the speed was 2064.
A noise could be heard from
the motor, so he turned it
off.
Then, at 3:10
pm, he turned it on again,
and it went to 1930 rpm,
then began dropping rapidly
1734 rpm at 3:12
1522 at
3:15
He stopped it at
3:16 pm
Here are some natural ways
to stop your body’s reaction
and relieve your suffering!
According to the Harvard
Health Letter, seasonal
allergies are starting
earlier every year, and
pollen counts are rising. At
least 36 million people are
affected by seasonal
allergies each year in the
US.
Back in 2011, scientists
reported the creation of the
“world’s first practical
artificial leaf” that mimics
the ability of real leaves
to produce energy from
sunlight and water. Touted
as a potentially inexpensive
source of electricity for
those in developing
countries and remote areas,
the leaf’s creators have now
given it a capability that
would be especially
beneficial in such
environments – the ability
to self heal and therefore
produce energy from dirty
water.
Shell said it reduced by 50%
the volume of oil spills
from its onshore operations
in Nigeria's Niger Delta in
2012 compared with the
previous year, but that oil
theft from the company's
facilities remain a
long-term challenge.
As in the electricity
meter market, gas meters for
residential and commercial
locations are shifting to
advanced metering
infrastructure (AMI)
technology, which enables
remote, automated interval
meter reads as well as
offering command and control
features, increased
accuracy, and the potential
for enhanced energy use
management. According to a
recent report from Navigant
Research, annual revenue
from smart gas meters will
grow from $258 million in
2013 to more than $1.5
billion in 2020.
Spectrolab has achieved a
record 37.8 percent
efficiency with a new
multi-junction solar cell
The spleen’s job is to
filter our blood. When
people are critically ill or
have received traumatic
injuries, however, the
spleen alone is sometimes
not able to remove enough of
the pathogens on its own –
potentially-fatal sepsis is
the result. In order to help
avert such an outcome in
those situations, scientists
from the Wyss Institute for
Biologically Inspired
Engineering at Harvard
University are developing a
device known as the
spleen-on-a-chip.
A team of researchers
replicate the hive behaviors of schools of
fish in robots
Research is being
conducted at the Sheffield Center for
Robotics to develop fundamental artificial
intelligence that could someday have
military, medical, and industrial
applications. Dr. Roderich Gross, head of
the natural robotics lab, says his team has
been working to program 40 robots to
accomplish tasks as a collective swarm.
The head of Syria's jihadist Al-Nusra
Front has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda
chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, but distanced his
group from claims it has merged with
Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Al-Nusra's announcement on Wednesday is
likely to bolster assertions by President
Bashar al-Assad's regime that it is fighting
"terrorists" who want to impose an Islamic
state.
It sounds like simple
advice: "Eat your fruits and
veggies." But it's not so
easy. Our country
spends too much money
subsidizing crops like corn
and soybeans that get turned
into processed junk food,
instead of expanding access
to foods that are healthier
for us and the planet.
Now we have the chance
to begin to reorient how our
federal dollars are spent.
The Texas Combined Heat and
Power Initiative (TXCHPI) is
working to provide policy
leaders with solutions to
ease water shortages and
improve power supply in the
face of continued drought
conditions and increasingly
steep water usage fines.
Imagine not having to change
a lightbulb for the next 40
years, as well as being able
to cut your electricity
costs for lighting in your
house by 90%. Now imagine
that when you actually do
need to change a lightbulb,
you only need to replace a
tiny LED inside the
lightbulb, with virtually
nothing to discard or
recycle. That's what could
happen if you installed the
new Firefly LED bulbs in
place of incandescent or CFL
bulbs.
Néret-Minet Tessier &
Sarrou, a Parisian auction
house that I’m sure
perceives itself as catering
to only the “best people,”
is about to auction off
cultural patrimony looted
from the Hopi Nation...
The question becomes
whether the urbane and
sophisticated French can
similarly understand the
American Indian holocaust
and the looting that
accompanied it?
The
Internal Revenue Service
could be reading your emails
without obtaining a warrant,
according to a new document
uncovered by a Freedom of
Information Act request. In
it, the IRS reveals that it
still doesn’t believe people
have a reasonable
expectation of privacy in
their emails.
North Korean Missile Launch
Imminent; Mixed Signals from
China
South Korea Will Recover
Quickly from North’s
Economic Warfare
Libya’s Recovery Threatened
by Militias
Islamists Could Force France
to Take Long-term Mali Role
Portugal’s Rejection of
'Austerity' the Latest
Headache for EU
North Korea Could Conduct
Missile Tests on April 15
Bank of Japan Stimulus a
Double-Edged Sword
Amazon Rainforest the Latest
Example of China Energy Grab
But lest we forget,
Seasons with large Tropical
Storm counts can have
minimal USA landfall impact
[e.g. 2010 did not have a
single storm > 40 knots make
USA landfall] and Seasons
with modest Storm totals can
have devastating impacts
[e.g. 1992].
The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season will
be "above average" with 18 tropical storms,
nine of which will intensify into
hurricanes, forecasters at Colorado State
University predicted on Wednesday.
Four of the hurricanes will be major with
sustained winds of at least 111 miles per
hour, the leading U.S. storm research team
said.
Angry over what he views as
U.S. kowtowing to the
Chinese, Donald Trump
declared Tuesday that China
"is our enemy" and "wouldn't
exist" without America as
the biggest market for its
products.
The U.S. energy market is
full of potential and
growing daily. But Asia --
and China in particular --
looms even larger for U.S.
energy companies interested
in raising their businesses
to the next level. Asia's
booming population requires
reliable energy generation
and a heightened focus on
energy efficiency and
renewable sources. But while
the region is primed for
expansion, U.S. companies
face a number of challenges
to tapping this new market.
In spite of the Fed's
ongoing monetary expansion,
the US Department of Energy
is projecting a moderate
decline in crude prices over
the next couple of years..
Non-OPEC supply growth,
particularly in North
America, is expected to keep
pace with world liquid fuels
consumption growth and
contribute to modest
declines in world crude oil
prices.
A bill to prevent the sale
of E15 gasoline, which has
15% blend of ethanol, until
a new scientific study of
mid-blend fuels in done,
passed a House committee
Thursday.
Freddie Mac (OTCQB:
FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its
Primary Mortgage
Market Survey®
(PMMS®), showing average
fixed mortgage rates edging
down for the second
consecutive week following
weak employment reports. The
average 30-year fixed-rate
mortgage at 3.43 percent
this week remains near its
65-year record low and
continues to provide support
for the housing recovery.
A proposed rule to regulate
hydraulic fracturing on
federal lands is "imminent"
and will be announced "in
the very near future,"
outgoing Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar said Thursday...
The rule, among other
things, would require that
companies publicly disclose
the chemicals used in
fracking of oil and gas
wells on public and Indian
lands. Two other components
would relate to wellbore
integrity and the flowback
of water used in fracking
operations.
Even as its civilian leaders
publicly decried U.S. drone
attacks as breaches of
sovereignty and
international law,
Pakistan’s premier
intelligence agency secretly
worked for years with the
CIA on strikes that killed
Pakistani insurgent leaders
and scores of suspected
lower-level fighters,
according to classified U.S.
intelligence reports.
"Congress' most serious
[victim disarmament] effort
in years cleared its first
hurdle Thursday as the
Senate pushed past
conservatives' attempted
blockade under the teary
gaze of families of victims
of December's Connecticut
school shootings. The
bipartisan 68-31 vote
rebuffed an effort to keep
debate from even starting,
giving an early victory --
and perhaps political
momentum -- to President
Barack Obama and his [victim
disarmament] allies."
Growing competition for
water, increasing
populations, more volatile
stream flows, energy
development and municipal
demands, and the uncertain
effects of a changing
climate amplify the need for
a better understanding of
water use and availability.
The National Water Census is
being developed at the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) to
address this critical need.
NV Energy surprised the nation last week
with an announcement that it's divesting
from coal and investing in natural gas and
renewable energy.
While many applauded the move away from
coal, the announcement also spurred
criticism that it would precipitously raise
rates.
Phase one of the London
Array usurped the UK's
Greater Gabbard to become
the largest operational
offshore wind farm in the
world when its final turbine
(its 175th) was commissioned
on Saturday afternoon.
Though construction was
completed back in December,
it is only now that all of
the farm's turbines are
supplying the UK's national
grid with electrical power.
The array has a total
capacity of 630 MW.
Businesses and environmental
organizations have thrown their hats into
the ring to support the legislation, which
is designed to make improvements to Xcel
Energy's popular rooftop solar rebate
program, giving consumers more access to
solar energy while protecting Colorado jobs.
Customer demand for the Xcel solar
program in Colorado is currently on track to
outweigh its annual funding levels in 2013
and beyond.
On Friday, April 12,
Néret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou
in Paris is scheduled to
auction 70 Native American
masks dating between 1880
and 1940. The auction
catalogue describes each
mask, provides a photograph,
details the materials used
in its construction, and
identifies the tribe that
used the mask in its
religious ceremonies...
“Right of possession”
is a key concept in US
property law, as American
museums, auction houses, and
collectors are well aware.
NAGPRA defines the term to
mean possession obtained
with the voluntary consent
of an individual or group
that had authority of
alienation.
April 9, 2013
-
Happy people tend to follow a certain
set of habits that sets them apart from
their sad and stressed out peers. By
implementing them in your own life, you
can become a happy person, too.
-
“Happy” habits include letting go of
grudges, expressing gratitude, treating
others with kindness and regarding your
problems as challenges
-
Living in the present, waking up at the
same time each morning, eating right and
exercising are other “secrets” that
happy people tend to embrace
A movement to knock down
existing renewable portfolio
standards is now afoot.
While those efforts are
trying to get legs, they are
getting blow back from green
organizations that are
intent on cleansing
America’s energy use.
For 4.5 billion years, the sun has
provided life sustaining heat and light to
the galaxy through nuclear fusion, a process
in which it burns the hydrogen found in its
expansive core.
While earth's favorite yellow dwarf has
kept the lights on in the milky way since
the beginning of time, it's only been in the
last century or so that man has found a way
to harness minute amounts of that solar
power to keep the lights on in the living
room.
-
The vast majority of the food produced
in the United States comes from factory
farms or CAFOs (concentrated animal
feeding operations) that put profits
above all else
-
Massive rivers of waste that pollute
surrounding waterways with toxic
bacteria and release noxious gasses into
the air commonly stem from CAFOs’ “waste
lagoons”
-
CAFOs serve as ideal breeding grounds
for diseases ranging from influenza
viruses to antibiotic-resistant
superbugs, which can infect the animals,
farm workers and the general public
-
Like many other industries, agribusiness
uses intensive lobbying, strong-arm
tactics and other abuses of power to
keep regulations well in their favor
The Arizona House of
Representatives recently voted
44-14 to create an official
National Day of the Cowboy to
honor the role cowboys have
played and continue to play in
the Grand Canyon state.
Anglo versions of the history of the west
traditionally laud the country as being
discovered and settled by pioneers,
ranchers, and cowboys. If you’re an American
Indian, your understanding of that history
is a bit different.
People may not realize
how many tribes and Native
peoples existed before being
decimated by the disease and
warfare brought on by the
Conquistadors. With the
priests looking on, Spanish
explorers took out the
aboriginal Floridians with
massacres in the name of
God. And they sent the good
news back to the King! But
we can only speak for
ourselves. The Florida
Indians of long ago could
illustrate what happened,
but they didn’t write books
and journals.
Arizona utilities are taking
full advantage of the
state's most prolific
resource -- the sun.
According to the Solar
Energy Industries
Association's (SEIA) 2012
U.S. Solar Market Insight
Report from, Arizona ranks
second nationally for solar
installations and is first
for the most utility-scale
solar technology installed.
The Texas Senate unanimously
passed Senate Bill 981
Thursday, which will allow
electric providers to
establish discount programs
for military veterans who
have suffered severe burns
in the line of duty.
On Friday, Boeing completed
the final certification test
required by the United
States Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) for
approval of the company’s
lithium-ion battery
modifications for the 787
Dreamliner aircraft. The
test flight was made using a
Boeing-owned production
airplane built for LOT
Polish Airlines with the
company reporting that the
test was “straightforward
and the flight was
uneventful.”
The explosion of solar photovoltaic
installations in Hawaii has put the state
near the top nationally in terms of PV
electricity generation on a per capita
basis.
But the boom has left behind a sizable
segment of the population that, for a
variety of reasons, has not been able to tap
Hawaii's abundant sunshine as an energy
source
Global business optimism
increased strongly from 39%
to 50% over the past three
months according to the
Grant Thornton International
Business Report, a quarterly
survey of more than 3,000
businesses in 44 countries.
Wind power is gaining speed.
The California Independent
System Operator Corporation
(ISO) reports a new record
was set when turbines
spinning within the ISO
power grid combined to
produce a new record of
4,196 megawatts (MW) at 6:44
p.m. on Sunday. The ISO is
the main operator for the
state’s high voltage
network, serving about 80
percent of the Golden State.
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has just
released the
results of its Public
Interest Energy Research
(PIER) program highlighting
the state's advances in
clean energy designed to
improve the reliability of
the state's electricity
supply, boost energy
efficiency of buildings and
appliances, and increase
renewable sources of power.
“The reality is that the Chinese own a
very small amount of the debt.”
At the end of 2011, when America’s gross
public debt stood at $14.3 trillion, China’s
holdings amounted to just $1.2 trillion, or
8.4 percent of the total.
Sept. 25, 2012, started out like any
other day for Randy Smith.
A section foreman with more than 33
years' experience underground, Smith headed
to work at Metikki Coal, a mine owned by
Alliance Coal near Mt. Storm in Grant
County.
If you're going to be
involved in government in
the United States,
citizenship is a must. To be
a Senator or Representative,
you must be a citizen of the
United States. To be
President, not only must you
be a citizen, but you must
also be natural-born.
Defkalion is tackling around
20 major applications of
their LENR reactor through
contracts with several
licensees, including some
major players. Price point
expected to be around 1/10
of what we presently pay for
power. First product
expected by second quarter
2014. Public reactor demo
expected for NI Week in
August.
Senate aides say a
Democratic and a Republican
senator are working on a
compromise expanding
required federal background
checks to gun shows and to
online firearms sales.
he U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) will fund its three
Bioenergy Research Centers
for an additional five
years, subject to continued
congressional
appropriations.
Dominion Energy has agreed
to pay a $3.4 million civil
penalty and spend
approximately $9.8 million
on environmental mitigation
projects to resolve Clean
Air Act violations,
according to the Department
of Justice and the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency.
Drought conditions are
retreating slowly in the
Plains, according to a
report issued Thursday by a
consortium of state and
federal climatologists.
Egypt's cities are
erupting in protests once
again. Commentators have
been focused on the nation's
politics and the
government's attempts to
suppress certain freedoms.
After all that's what
usually makes for great
news. The reality however is
grounded in Egypt's
deteriorating economic
conditions. It goes back to
James Carville's "it's the
economy, stupid" that helped
Bill Clinton win the
presidential election.
The spot is, quite literally, in the
middle of a corn field off County Road
2150N, west of the Oakwood Junior High
School.
On the right is a tall wind turbine; on
the left are two more wind turbines. And in
the middle is Greg Hansbraugh -- disputing
complaints against the turbines not with his
words, but simply the sound of his voice.
A 2011 record-breaking algae
bloom in Lake Erie was
triggered by long-term
agricultural practices
coupled with extreme
precipitation, followed by
weak lake circulation and
warm temperatures,
scientists have discovered.
The researchers also
predict that, unless
agricultural policies
change, the lake will
continue to experience
extreme blooms.
Colorado, and apparently
Texas (next) are being
targeted with an attempt to
set up a federal authority
framework that will enable
Secret Service agents (not
just those guarding the
president), and others of
the U.S. Secret Service
including uniformed division
officers, physical security
technicians and specialists,
and other ‘special
officers’, to arrest and
remove an elected sheriff
for refusing to enforce the
law (or anyone breaking the
law).
The country of Mexico has
been a de facto narco-state
for years, as competing drug
cartels bought off the
police, judges, local
officials and journalists
they could, killed those
they could not, and battled
each other for turf.
Throughout it all, the
collateral damage has been
heavy; in the past decade
alone, tens of thousands
have died, including scores
of civilians, though the
exact number is unknown
because authorities say they
are sure all of the victims
have yet to be discovered.
A beach-ravaging winter
storm on the Outer Banks
could help power homes
thanks to a billboard-size
fiberglass paddle that
generates electricity as it
moves to and fro in the sea
currents.
Southern Company subsidiary
Georgia Power is celebrating
the success of the first
phase of its Advanced Solar
Initiative (ASI), which will
significantly increase
Georgia's solar investment
over the next three years.
The rapid growth of the
solar power industry over
the past 10 years may have
worsened the global warming
situation it was meant to
ease, as the energy used to
manufacture the millions of
solar panels now generating
electricity around the world
came from burning fossil
fuels.
Some people have had it with TV. They’ve
had enough of the 100-plus channel universe.
They don’t like timing their lives around
network show schedules. They’re tired of
$100-plus monthly bills.
A growing number of them have stopped
paying for cable and satellite TV service,
and don’t even use an antenna to get free
signals over the air.
Apart from heating and
cooling the house, water
heating is one of the
biggest energy drains in the
average home. But what if
you could literally use cold
water to create hot water?
That’s just what San Diego
inventor Hal Slater claims
to have done with the
creation of a water heater
system that promises to
improve water heating
efficiency by as much as 50
to 100 percent.
Investors who finance the U.S. water
infrastructure are posing clear challenges
to U.S. water utilities.
These investors -- who purchase bonds
that pay for pipelines, treatment plants and
other key infrastructure -- want better
information on how water utilities are
managing risks like aging infrastructure,
climate change, tighter water supplies and
uncertain water demand.
Radioactive water has
apparently leaked from
another underground storage
tank at the crippled
Fukushima Daiichi power
plant, Tokyo Electric Power
Co said on Sunday.
The ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit filed by
the Ecological Rights Foundation (ERF)
arguing that utility poles discharge wood
preservatives and are in violation of the
EPA Clean Water Act. The complaints date
back to 2009, but the case was dismissed
previously due to what judges viewed as a
lack of proof by ERF about the harmful
effects of the utility poles.
-
Researchers have discovered that a gene
that is essential for producing critical
immune cells in your gut, responds to
the food you eat—specifically leafy
green vegetables
-
Vegetables contain an array of
antioxidants and other disease-fighting
compounds. Some plant chemicals can
reduce inflammation and eliminate
carcinogens, while others regulate the
rate at which cells reproduce, get rid
of old cells and maintain DNA
-
Sprouts can contain up to 100 times more
enzymes than raw fruits and vegetables,
allowing your body to extract more
vitamins, minerals, amino acids and
essential fats from the foods you eat
Fewer than 2 out of 10
Hawaii homeowners who are
considering installing solar
photovoltaic panels said
they would do so if the
availability of state
renewable-energy tax credits
was "reduced considerably or
eliminated," according to a
survey published Thursday.
A deadly algae bloom that killed a record
number of manatees has dissipated, though
the death toll for the endangered sea
mammals continues to rise, Florida wildlife
officials said on Thursday.
Red Tide has killed 241 manatees this
year...
Former British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher,
a towering figure in postwar
British and world politics
and the only woman to become
British prime minister, has
died at the age of 87.
A bill to overhaul the U.S.
immigration system would
likely be completed by the
end of this week, two senior
U.S. senators said on
Sunday.
As the U.S. healthcare system changes
dramatically over the next few years due to
Obamacare, increasing numbers of doctors are
planning to retire or scale back the hours
they work, a new survey reveals.
The annual poll of 600 physicians by
Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found
that six out of 10 doctors believe it is
likely that many physicians will retire
earlier than planned in the next one to
three years.
More energy developments
getting health checkups.
"Our new grantees will use
health impact assessments to
uncover opportunities to
improve health in a wide
range of policy decisions,
as well as to identify and
avoid potential unintended
consequences," said Aaron
Wernham, director of the
Health Impact Project
The US Navy has been
pursuing solid-state laser
weapons capable of setting
other vessels on fire for
years, but now one is almost
ready to actually be put out
to sea. The Office of Naval
Research (ONR) today
announced that it is aiming
to "field and test a
solid-state laser prototype"
in early 2014 aboard the
USS Ponce. The Ponce
is a transport vessel from
the 1970s that was recently
upgraded into a hi-tech
floating base and is
stationed in the Persian
Gulf, in range of Iranian
attack boats.
The U.S. government is getting its bill
for the damage a Navy minesweeper did to a
Philippine coral reef, and it's less than
expected.
Philippine officials say the USS Guardian
damaged 2,346 square meters (25,252 square
feet) of Tubbataha Reef after it ran aground
January 17. That's down from the original
estimate of about 4,000 square meters
(43,000 square feet).
For Jayme Williams, solar
farms, for all their quiet
efficiency, are not
compatible with the rural
life.
A new ordinance has ironed
out options for residents of
Monroe Township, New Jersey
to install wind and solar
systems on their property.
Nuclear plants across the country are
walking a perilous tightrope.
At least that's the argument of a report
released in March by the Union of Concerned
Scientists. The report, written by the
director of UCS's Nuclear Safety Program,
Dave Lochbaum, tallies a list of what the
UCS defines as "near-misses" in 2012 -- 14
to be exact.
It seems to me that more and
more people are "getting
it." I meet the most
unlikely folks in Lowe's or
the local co-op, purchasing
materials to build a chicken
coop or the wiring needed to
put up a fence. I watch men
in shirts and ties debating
over seed packets with their
impeccably dressed wives.
I'm stopped at Walmart in
the canning aisle by people
who ask me if I know
anything about canning or
what they need to purchase
to put up vegetables from
their garden.
Climate change could get worse quickly if
huge amounts of extra heat absorbed by the
oceans are released back into the air,
scientists said after unveiling new research
showing that oceans have helped mitigate the
effects of warming since 2000.
Heat-trapping gases are being emitted
into the atmosphere faster than ever, and
the 10 hottest years since records began
have all taken place since 1998. But the
rate at which the earth's surface is heating
up has slowed somewhat since 2000, causing
scientists to search for an explanation for
the pause.
Raising capital in today’s
economic climate is a
challenge. To that end,
energy companies are at a
crossroad -- to invest
solely in their core
operations or to expand the
boundaries and to venture
into ancillary areas.
To most Americans, New York
City is a very crowded place
— but by the standards of
the world’s other large
urban areas it’s far from
densely populated.
Researchers at the
University of Leeds may have
solved a key puzzle about
how objects from space could
have kindled life on Earth.
While it is generally
accepted that some important
ingredients for life came
from meteorites bombarding
the early Earth, scientists
have not been able to
explain how that inanimate
rock transformed into the
building blocks of life.
There have been many
theories. There is no
standard model of the origin
of life on Earth. This new
study shows how a chemical,
similar to one now found in
all living cells and vital
for generating the energy
that makes something alive,
could have been created when
meteorites containing
phosphorus minerals landed
in hot, acidic pools of
liquids around volcanoes,
which were likely to have
been common across the early
Earth.
Pacific Investment
Management Co.’s Bill Gross,
manager of the world’s
biggest bond fund, said the
U.S. economy won’t expand
more than 2 percent this
year even with one or two
quarters of faster growth.
Public Service Company of New Mexico
(PNM) is announcing a significant increase
in customer savings from its 2012
energy-efficiency programs.
According to PNM, its business and
residential customers saved 79 million kWh
per year from energy-efficiency programs
implemented in 2012, representing a 38
percent increase over 2011. Further, the
efficiency measures installed in 2012 will
save customers $36 million on utility bills
over the lifetime of the measures, taking
into consideration the cost of the measures,
PNM's program costs, and a performance
incentive to which the utility is entitled.
Technology visionary Bill
Gates is actively backing a
new approach to nuclear
power that he believes will
play a huge role in our
energy future. The
technology being developed
by TerraPower, where Gates
serves as chairman, will run
on depleted uranium fuel,
addressing the waste issue
head on and creating energy
safely and cleanly, backers
say. We recently caught up
with John Gilleland, chief
executive officer of
TerraPower, at an industry
gathering. We discussed his
past work on international
fusion research and the
future of nuclear energy.
"The all-of-the-above energy
strategy so many in
Washington support will
require a tax code that
gives clean energy
technologies the same
advantages the oil and gas
industries have gained over
many decades," Senator Coons
said.
Here’s a simple solution
that some people say could
solve our budget problem, or
at least largely solve it.
Instead of
increasing taxes or cutting
entitlement benefits like
Social Security, change how
the cost-of-living increases
for these benefits are
calculated.
Changing
how inflation is computed
would change cost-of-living
adjustments for Social
Security as well veterans’
benefits and government
military and civilian
pensions.
Solar activity is likely to
be low with a slight chance
for an M-class flare on days
one, two, and three (09 Apr,
10 Apr, 11 Apr). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days one
and two (09 Apr, 10 Apr) and
quiet levels on day three
(11 Apr).
A new report belies the view that the
United States has to a large extent felled
its forests for farmland and paved them over
for towns and cities.
The surprising fact is that forests today
cover about 72 percent of the area that was
forested way back in 1630 — 10 years after
the landing of the Mayflower.
If you could choose just one
crop to grow to feed your
family in tough times, we
recommend the humble potato.
When it comes to ensuring
food security, they're
superstars. Here are eight
reasons why:
After striking again early
Sunday morning, a Beaumont
serial robber has finally
been caught, but not before
he targeted a victim who
fought back.
A new form of bird flu is
alarming Chinese and World
Health Organization
officials. Since March 29,
when human infection with
the influenza A(H7N9) virus
was first reported, a total
of 24 cases have been
confirmed; seven people have
died.
The best way
to resist shingles is to
keep your immune system
strong. This is done by
taking
astaxanthin, lycopene,
buffered vitamin C, and a
balanced multivitamin every
day. Taking beta-glucan (250
mg twice a week) on an empty
stomach will also strengthen
the cellular immune system,
which is your primary weapon
against this virus.
Most previous methods of
producing methanol from
carbon dioxide have involved
lots of electricity, high
pressures and high
temperatures, and used toxic
chemicals or rare earth
elements like cadmium or
tellurium. A team of
researchers at the
University of Texas at
Arlington (UTA) has
developed a new method they
claim is safer, less
expensive, and simpler than
current approaches and can
be scaled up to an
industrial scale to allow
some of the CO2 emitted from
electrical power plants to
be captured and converted
into a useful fuel.
The US money
indicators have been showing
something odd in the last
few months. While the
monetary base (M0) has been
rising sharply due to
increasing bank reserves
(the liability side of the
Fed's balance sheet), the
broader money supply has
stalled.
Billionaire investor George Soros said China
has a “couple of years” to control risks
from nontraditional financing whose
expansion has parallels with the cause of
the global financial crisis.
“The rapid growth of shadow banking has
some disturbing similarities with the
subprime-mortgage market in the U.S. that
caused the financial crisis of 2007-2008,”..
A bill is heading to
Colorado Gov. John
Hickenlooper’s desk that
Republican lawmakers say
would give members of the
Secret Service broad arrest
powers in the state and
could provide a framework
for federal agents
eventually to enforce gun
restrictions.
Whole Foods' next New York
outlet looks set to become a
supermarket with a
difference. The supermarket
chain will partner Gotham
Greens to open a supermarket
in Brooklyn sporting a
20,000 sq ft (1,860 sq m)
rooftop greenhouse growing
produce to be sold on the
premises. "This project
takes the discussion from
food miles to food
footsteps," said Gotham
Greens Co-Founder, Viraj
Puri.
Several states have placed
restrictions on undercover
investigations into cruelty.
Tax Freedom Day, when
Americans have earned enough
money to pay all their taxes
for the year, will fall on
April 18 in 2013 — five days
later than last year.
North Korea: New Nuke Test
Downplayed; Missile Test
Likely
Hayden: Arm Some Syrian
Rebels, Create No-Fly Zone
Near Turkey
Record Unemployment Rate
Crushes Hopes of Euro
Recovery
Seven Early Warning Signs of
Global Inflation
Hayden Doubts Use of Force
Against Iran Can be Avoided
North Korea: Despite
Escalation, U.S. Continues
to Seek Face Saving Way to
De-Escalate Tensions on the
Peninsula
Levitt: Cyprus Case ‘Outs’
Hezbollah, Pressures EU
As public concern mounts
over Fed Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke's policy of
unlimited and unrestrained
printing of currency, the
political focus on gold is
increasing. Each month now,
our currency expands by over
$80 billion. Each year, the
amount that comes into
circulation equals the total
money supply that was in
circulation in 2007 before
Bernanke went crazy with the
printing press.
It's clean, economical and
plentiful. What is it? It's
water, the key component in
hydrogen power. Hydrogen and
oxygen combine to create an
electrical current that has
the potential to provide
enough power to light up a
building. So, why not
harness the same energy to
run a train?
According to an Environmental Defense
Fund (EDF) report, the Texas grid faces
pressure from a shrinking water supply,
growing population and rising summer
temperatures.
The ongoing drought puts Texas' power
plants at risk, threatening rolling
blackouts but solutions like demand
response, energy-efficiency programs and
increasing renewable energy sources, all
consume almost no water and can be built
faster than gas and coal plants, according
to EDF.
The Electricity Storage Association (ESA)
has solidified its commitment to increasing
the commercial deployment of electricity
storage into the grid with a formal
announcement.
"… we believe 2013 is poised to be a
banner year for electricity storage.
Fortunately, our mission is no longer just
concerned with establishing the science
behind electricity storage -- that's been
proven. Rather, we've seen a dramatic
increase in interest across the country --
especially the California Public Utilities
Commission decisions -- to use energy
storage to make our electric grid more
reliable and cost effective," said Brad
Roberts, executive director of ESA.
Tyson Foods has agreed to
pay a $3.95 million fine to
settle alleged violations of
federal clean air
regulations covering the
prevention of chemical
spills at facilities in
Kansas, Missouri and two
other states.
Tyson foods is all about
chickens. Well that is not
quite so. The U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the U.S.
Department of Justice
announced a Clean Air Act
(CAA) settlement with Tyson
Foods, Inc. and several of
its affiliate corporations
to address threats of
accidental chemical releases
after anhydrous ammonia was
released during incidents at
facilities in Kansas,
Missouri, Iowa, and
Nebraska, resulting in
multiple injuries, property
damage, and one fatality.
Ammonia, in this case is
often used for refrigeration
systems.
The government must suspend the use of
dangerous pesticides linked to the death of
bees, a committee of MPs said on Friday.
The Environmental Audit Committee said in
a report that the government was relying on
"fundamentally flawed" studies on the issue
and that two-thirds of honey bees have
suffered population declines in the UK.
Carbon dioxide emissions
from energy consumption in
the United States during
2012 fell to the lowest
level since 1994, finds a
new report from the U.S.
Energy Information
Administration, a branch of
the Department of Energy.
The assessment concludes
that some 5.3 billion metric
tons of CO2 were emitted
from coal, natural gas, and
oil consumption during the
year, a 3.7 percent decline
relative to 2011 and 12.1
percent below the peak of 6
billion tons hit in 2007.
The EIA cited increased use
of natural gas and falling
consumption of coal as the
primary reason for the drop
in emissions of the
greenhouse gas.
Sharma, author of “Breakout
Nations: In Pursuit of the
Next Economic Miracles,”
told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria
that the BRICS — the
emerging economies of
Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa — that
boomed during the past
decade are running into
their own domestic problems.
In an unexpected trade-off, the
cultivation of cotton that has been
genetically engineered to reduce caterpillar
damage by producing its own insecticide has
been linked to higher numbers of another
pest — aphids.
Previous studies had linked the increase
in aphids to reduced insecticide use by
farmers cultivating Bt (Bacillus
thuringiensis) cotton.
The top U.S. military
officer said Sunday the
Pentagon had bolstered its
missile defenses and taken
other steps because he
"can't take the chance" that
North Korea won't soon
engage in some military
action.
The Obama administration is inching ahead
with a plan that would allow wastewater from
fracking to be shipped on barges, fueling a
debate whether it is safer than other
transportation modes or risks polluting
drinking water.
The Coast Guard last month quietly sent
to the White House's Office of Management
and Budget a proposal to allow the barging
of fracking wastewater.
In the wake of increasingly severe
weather, microgrids, a critical building
block of the smart grid, are becoming a more
and more attractive alternative to the power
grid.
"At this point in time, microgrids can
provide a quality and diversity of services
that incumbent utilities have been unable to
match," said Peter Asmus, principal research
analyst with Navigant Research...
NorthWestern Energy, the
state's largest electric
utility, is attempting to
use the courts, the
Legislature and state
regulators to severely
restrict any new power it
must buy from small,
independent wind-power
projects in Montana.
The MS Tűranor PlanetSolar,
the world's largest
solar-powered boat, took to
the seas once more on
Thursday – this time, in the
name of science. Equipped
with unique instruments, the
Tűranor will carry a team of
scientists who will monitor
the air and water of the
Atlantic Ocean's Gulf
Stream, a current which
influences the climates of
North America's east coast
and Europe's west. The goal
is to gain understanding of
the processes which regulate
climate.
In an effort to keep the lights on for
one of the state's major energy exports, one
WVU researcher is working on a few different
research projects.
Xingbo Liu, assistant professor of
mechanical and aerospace engineering in the
Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering
and Mineral Resources, researches ways to
better use coal -- which is abundant in the
state.
On April 10-14, Muammer
Yildiz plans to demonstrate
his all-magnet motor at the
Inventors Expo in Geneva.
Each night, when the event
closes, Yildiz plans to keep
the motor running in a
parking lot, to continue the
demonstration.
Like so many other illicit
drugs, cocaine can be
extremely, destructively
addictive. Recent research
suggests, however, that
ridding people of such
addictions may be as simple
as zapping them on them
scalp. In a study conducted
at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), and at the
Ernest Gallo Clinic and
Research Center at UC San
Francisco, scientists were
able to turn cocaine
addiction on and off in rats
via pulses of laser light to
their brains.
April
5, 2013
Increasingly countries and regions are
leapfrogging timid renewable targets and
moving toward full 100 percent integration
of renewables into electricity supply. Some
thought leaders, politicians, and advocates
are moving even further, suggesting 150
percent, even 300 percent renewable
electricity generation to meet not only
electricity supply but also heat and
transport.
"With time, we should be
able to tell you whether it
drops off very quickly, in
which case it will be the
result of dark matter
collisions - which means
we've found dark matter; or
that it drops off very
slowly which means the
positrons come from
pulsars," Prof Ting
explained. "At the moment we
do not have enough particle
events."
The hacking collective
Anonymous has said it has
been "hacking" and
vandalising social
networking profiles linked
to North Korea...
As part of action which the
loosely organised collective
has called "Operation Free
Korea", the hackers have
called for leader Kim
Jong-un to step down, a
democratic government to be
put in place - and for North
Koreans to get uncensored
internet access.
An APS filing at the Arizona Corporation
Commission underscores the company's
essential role in making Arizona one of the
top solar energy markets in the nation.
Governor Jan Brewer announced last month
that according to the 2012 U.S. Solar Market
Insight Report from the Solar Energy
Industries Association (SEIA), Arizona now
ranks second nationally for solar
installations, and the state topped the list
with the most utility-scale solar technology
installed.
A judge has granted both TVA and those
suing it over the 2008 Kingston coal ash
spill an extra 120 days to mediate a
settlement.
U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan filed an
order March 21 giving the parties 120 days
to continue mediating a case in which more
than 800 plaintiffs are suing TVA for
damages related to the spill.
AP Stylebook editors sat
down with a number of groups
who were concerned about
their entry on the the term
in recent years and 'sought
the views of a cross section
of AP staffers' on the
issue, according to Colford.
Kathleen Carroll also noted
in the Tuesday blog post
that the AP prefers to label
'behavior' rather than
'people,' writing that
instead of using the term
'schizophrenic,' the AP now
prefers saying that one is
'diagnosed with
schizophrenia.'"
Downtrodden US East
Coast refiners will thrive this year as
refining margins begin to rally thanks to
increased rail shipments of cheap light
sweet crude from the Bakken Shale in North
Dakota.
The influx could soon result in a “major
shift” of East Coast refinery margins up the
curve of US refiner profitability, Baker O’
Brien analyst Charles Kemp said, adding that
regional utilization rates should also
improve.
The bald eagle found shot near a Rhode
Island landfill in February was discovered
to have permanent brain damage by her
caretakers and had to be euthanized, WLNE-TV
reported.
The eagle, known as Eleanor, was
initially treated for the shot wounds by the
Wildlife Rehabilitators of Rhode Island and
then transferred to the Raptor Trust in New
Jersey.
On its first official day in
bankruptcy, the city of
Stockton now must grapple
with the hard part of
reorganizing its financial
affairs - how to share the
financial burden equitably
among creditors while
meeting its massive state
pension obligations.
The Government of Canada is
quietly withdrawing from the
UN Convention to Combat
Desertification, UNCCD, the
only legally binding
international treaty that
addresses desertification,
land degradation and
drought.
China will spend 100 billion yuan ($16
billion) over three years to deal with
Beijing's pollution, an official newspaper
reported on Friday, as the government tries
to defuse mounting public anger over
environmental degradation.
Beijing's government has pledged to
improve sewage disposal, garbage treatment
and air quality, as well as crack down on
illegal construction, the China Daily
newspaper said, citing a three-year plan
released on Thursday.
Growing energy consumption is a global
problem. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), worldwide energy use will jump
49 percent between 2007 and 2035.
Cogeneration
Clean energy generating Combined Heat and
Power (CHP)
units -- or co-generation systems -- produce
electricity using the generator engine,
converted diesel, to turn a standard
generator. The exhaust from the engine is
used to make hot water or hot air by putting
a heat recovery unit on the engine's exhaust
pipe. Another method is to use fuel to heat
a boiler that makes steam which makes a
steam turbine run. Turbine-based systems can
use anything from coal to biomass as fuel.
It was never going to be
easy to face the ecological
crisis. Even back in the
1970s, before climate took
center stage, it was clear
that we the prosperous were
walking far too heavily.
And that “environmentalism,”
as it was called, was only
going to be a small
beginning. But it was only
when the climate crisis
pushed fossil energy into
the spotlight that the real
stakes were widely
recognized. Fossil fuels
are the meat and potatoes of
industrial civilization, and
the need to rapidly and
radically reduce their
emissions cut right through
to the heart of the great
American dream. And the
European dream. And,
inevitably, the Chinese
dream as well.
SolarReserve, a U.S.
developer of large-scale
solar power projects, today
announced completion of the
assembly of the molten salt
receiver panels that sits on
top of the 540 foot solar
power tower for its 110
megawatt (MW) Crescent Dunes
Solar Energy Plant located
near Tonopah, Nev. Utilizing
the most advanced solar
thermal technology
worldwide, the Crescent
Dunes Plant will be the
nation's first
commercial-scale solar power
tower facility with energy
storage and the largest
power plant of its kind in
the world.
Years ago, Lee County's zoning board
decided that a proposed wind farm would have
no effect on the character of the
neighborhood.
A West Brooklyn couple disagrees.
As major floods, hurricanes,
and earthquakes become more
frequent and more
destructive, it's critical
to have a clean water backup
plan. How will you get clean
drinking water if a major
natural disaster knocks out
the water mains?
-
After eight weeks, people suffering from
tension headaches who had been taught
how to do EFT on their own and tapped
twice a day reduced the frequency of
their headaches by 62 percent and the
intensity of the headaches by 60 percent
-
EFT is a form of energy psychology
technique that is basically a form of
psychological acupressure, based on the
same energy meridians used in
traditional acupuncture but without the
invasiveness of needles
It's almost a cliché that there's a
"friendly debate" pitting utilities against
renewable energy. But concerns on the
utility side of the table are real:
intermittency, potential destabilization at
the feeder level, non-baseload, and peaks in
generation that don't necessarily match
demand peaks. Today's power infrastructure
involves unpredictability in both supply and
demand that is extremely difficult to
manage. The choice comes down to two
options: over-generate so as to not
undersupply, or find ways to better match up
supply and demand.
Most models forecast
Nińo-3.4 SSTs to remain
ENSO-neutral through the
Northern Hemisphere fall,
with dynamical models
tending to predict warmer
conditions
The Sierra Club and four
other environmental groups
Tuesday said they intend to
file a federal lawsuit to
force BNSF Railway and six
coal companies to better
contain the coal being
shipped in open-topped train
cars.
Where most wind turbines
generate electricity through
mechanical energy, the
EWICON (short for
Electrostatic WInd energy
CONvertor) creates potential
energy with charged
particles – in this case,
water droplets. The current
design consists of a steel
frame holding a series of
insulated tubes arranged
horizontally. Each tube
contains several electrodes
and nozzles, which
continually release
positively-charged water
particles into the air. As
the particles are blown
away, the voltage of the
device changes and creates
an electric field, which can
be transferred to the grid
for everyday use.
Newfield Exploration has
made what it called a
"significant" natural gas
discovery in the Block SK
310 Production Sharing
Contract area sited 50 miles
offshore Sarawak, Malaysia,
the company said Tuesday.
Exxon Mobil Corp on
Wednesday was digging out
oiled lawns to replace them
with fresh sod in an
Arkansas neighborhood where
a crude oil pipeline
ruptured last week, but the
line remained shut with no
estimate of when it would
restart, the company said.
It couldn’t be because it
brings in over $1 billion in
sales each year, could it?
A recent CDC study claims
that unpasteurized milk and
products made with
unpasteurized milk cause 150
times more outbreaks than
pasteurized milk or products
made from pasteurized milk.
After careful analysis, The
Weston A. Price Foundation
(WAPF) finds the CDC study
to be substantially flawed
and misleading.
At a TEDx event last month
at the National Geographic
Society in Washington, D.C.,
experts explored the
technical hurdles and
ecological and ethical
ramifications of reviving
extinct creatures.
Proponents say that they are
driven, in part, to right
historic wrongs, but many
are preaching caution.
Global warming is expanding the extent of
sea ice around Antarctica in winter in a
paradoxical shift caused by cold plumes of
summer melt water that re-freeze fast when
temperatures drop, a study showed on Sunday.
An increasing summer thaw of ice on the
edges of Antarctica, twinned with less than
expected snowfall on the frozen continent,
is also adding slightly to sea level rise in
a threat to low-lying areas around the
world, it said.
The order itself states that
“repeated cyber intrusions
into critical infrastructure
demonstrate the need for
improved cybersecurity. The
cyber threat to critical
infrastructure continues to
grow and represents one of
the most serious national
security challenges we must
confront. The national and
economic security of the
United States depends on the
reliable functioning of the
Nation's critical
infrastructure in the face
of such threats.”
n the TED Talk above,
ecologist Allan Savory
explains how we're currently
encouraging desertification,
and how to not only stop it,
but reverse it, by
dramatically increasing the
number of grazing livestock.
According to Savory,
rising population, land
turning into desert at a
steady clip (known as
desertification), converge
to create a "perfect storm"
that threatens life on
earth. Most people think
technology is required to
solve the problem.
Not so, he says. While we
do need novel technology to
replace fossil fuels,
desertification cannot be
reversed with technology.
For that, we need to revert
backward, and start
mimicking nature and the way
things were in the past.
According to Savory, we
not only can, but indeed
MUST, use grazing livestock
to address desertification.
Marubeni Corp., the biggest investor in
electricity generation among Japan's trading
houses, is working on how to revive the
geothermal industry and tap heat that powers
volcanos as an alternative to nuclear
reactors.
The effort would draw pools of
underground heat with a potential of
double the current capacity of
geothermal projects operating
worldwide. That would help Japan
shift away from atomic reactors that
provided 30 percent of the nation’s
power before the accident in
Fukushima two years ago.
Despite assurances from the
White House and little
traction from Democrats in
US Congress, a key
Republican senator believes
that a carbon tax is
President Barack Obama's top
priority.
"That is
the ultimate goal of this
president," said Senator
David Vitter, a Louisiana
Republican, in an interview
with WND.com, a conservative
news outlet.
At least 25 states are
working on laws that would
require labeling of foods
containing genetically
modified organisms (GMOS).
Here’s a rundown of the
bills and their status
The term mad scientist gets
thrown around quite a bit,
but in the case of one Matt
Denton it most certainly
applies. His company,
Micromagic Systems, has been
working steadily over the
past four years to design
and build a walking robot
that's big enough to carry a
human passenger. The
resulting beast is described
as "the biggest, all-terrain
operational hexapod robot in
the world."
The amount of energy we use
to manufacture the products
we use every day is a
significant part of the
energy needed to support out
lifestyle. As the planet
gets more and more
populated, can we continue
to make manufacturing more
efficient, or are thee
limits to this?
A majority of Americans support
legalizing marijuana, a new poll indicates,
with the change driven largely by a huge
shift in how the baby boom generation feels
about the drug of their youth.
By 52% to 45%, adult Americans back
legalization, according to the survey
released Thursday by the Pew Research
Center.
Renewables fund managers,
facing slower growth in
Europe, are looking to new
markets to tap expanding
economies and accelerating
power demand. While Asia’s
biggest emerging nations for
clean energy are China and
India, others such as South
Korea and Thailand are
starting to attract more
investment.
President Barack Obama wants
U.S. scientists to pursue an
"all-of-the-above" strategy
in developing new sources of
domestic energy.Agricultural
Research Service agronomist
Paul Adler is providing
complete cost-benefit
breakdowns for using
switchgrass pellets instead
of fuel oil to heat homes
and businesses in the
Northeast.
Water resources are becoming
more constrained. Obta ining
surface or groundwater
withdrawal permits is
becoming increasing
difficult . Often times deep
well total dissolved solids
(TDS) is often very high
which requires pret reatment
to reduce TDS thereby
increasing operating cost.
Salt water intrusion is
occurring in coastal
regions. Droughts routinely
impact water quality and
availability. Mu nicipal
waste water is becoming a
viable option:
Boron neutron capture
therapy can kill tumors
without harming healthy
neighboring tissue
Boisterous call-and-response chants begun
by anti-nuclear activist Diane Turco of
Harwich, and echoed by her peers, punctuated
the tense atmosphere at a less-than-friendly
open house hosted Tuesday night by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"NRC, uphold your mandates! Close down
Pilgrim!" they chanted.
With both cash and summer
forward natural gas prices
averaging well above
year-ago levels so far this
year, some markets could
surpass last year's seasonal
highs when the mercury rises
this summer as pipeline
maintenance, low hydro
supplies, strong demand and
a host of other issues
underpin markets, a Platts
analysis shows.
US President Barack Obama on
Tuesday announced a $100
million project to map the
intricate inner mysteries of
the human brain, targeting
cures for diseases like
Alzheimer’s.
Fishes residing near oil
platforms in southern
California have similar
contaminant levels as fishes
in nearby natural sites,
according to two recent
reports by the U.S.
Geological Survey, which
were conducted to assist the
Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (BOEM) in
understanding potential
consequences of offshore
energy development. Since
the underwater portion of
many offshore oil and gas
platforms often provides a
habitat to a large number of
fishes and invertebrates,
some stakeholders have
called for ocean managers to
consider a "rigs-to-reefs"
option during the
decommissioning phase of a
platform. This option would
maintain some of the
submerged structure to
function as an artificial
reef after oil and gas
production has ended. The
findings of this study
address questions regarding
how the industrial legacy of
this kind of artificial reef
may affect local fish
populations.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric
Co. is facing a possible
federal lawsuit and civil
fines over a series of
upgrades to two Oklahoma
coal plants in the past 20
years.
OPEC secretary general
Abdalla el-Badri said
Thursday that current oil
prices of around $107/barrel
would not harm the global
economy but supported what
he called the world's future
energy path.
"We
believe current oil prices
support the energy future
and will not harm the world
economy," he said.
Across the U.S., large and small-scale solar
power development is booming, yet many
projects still face the threat of permitting
and construction obstacles.
Indeed, the solar
industry as a whole is evolving to
favor the growth of land-based
systems over building mounted
installations.
Isn’t it time the EPA
listened to the science and
not the insecticide
manufacturer?
Since 2006,
up to 40% of the bee
colonies in the US have
suffered Colony Collapse
Disorder (CCD), in which
honeybees die, disoriented,
far from their hives. In
2010 we wrote about the
disappearing honeybee and
how this situation
threatened much of our human
food supply, including our
vegetables and fruits, which
must be pollinated by bees.
Back then we noted that
there have been very few
reported bee losses among
organic beekeepers, and
suggested that the principal
difference between them is
the use of pesticides. We
said at the time that this
fact should lead anyone to
the most logical conclusion:
pesticides are likely
responsible for CCD.
When T. Boone Pickens takes
a notion to invest in
something, he tries to make
sure that everybody else
takes the same notion. So,
when he announced that he
was putting his money behind
LNG filling stations in the
US for long-haul trucks,
people took notice.
One of the leading voices on
the environment said the
only way to address global
climate change and the
growing demand for energy
was to invest in renewables.
He said while the price of
solar energy continued to
fall, other options
including nuclear energy
were unreliable and
expensive.
Rainfall over the next two weeks in the
U.S. Plains and Midwest will help ease
drought stress on the winter wheat crop but
also slow spring fieldwork and early corn
plantings, an agricultural meteorologist
said on Tuesday.
"It will be good for the Plains but not
so good for the Midwest," said Andy Karst,
meteorologist for World Weather Inc.
The largest solar event of the period was a C1 event observed at 04/0957Z from Region 1713 (N09W06). There are currently 7 numbered sunspot regions on the disk.
Solar activity is likely to be low with a slight chance for an M-class flare on days one, two, and three (05 Apr, 06 Apr, 07 Apr). The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet levels on days one and three (05 Apr, 07 Apr) and quiet to unsettled levels on day two (06 Apr).
Two Russian bombers, capable
of carrying nuclear cruise
missiles, circled the U.S.
island of Guam in the
Western Pacific this week,
U.S. military officials told
NBC News. U.S. Air Force
F-15 jets scrambled from
Andersen Air Force Base on
Guam to intercept the
bombers.
Salt has long been
villainized by doctors –
alongside fat and sugar – as
among the worst things you
can eat. We have been
warned that salt raises
blood pressure and increases
the risk of stroke and heart
problems. As a result, there
is a whole food industry
devoted to low-sodium
products and to salt
substitutes. But some
experts have started to
express doubt about whether
salt deserves its bad
reputation.
U.S. scientists say their method of
extracting large quantities of hydrogen from
any plant could create a low-cost,
environmentally friendly fuel source.
Researchers at Virginia Tech said they
have succeeded in using xylose, the most
abundant simple plant sugar, to produce a
large quantity of hydrogen in a method that
can be performed using any source of
biomass.
Break out those tissues and symptom
relief pills, allergy season is upon us.
And unfortunately, experts are saying
that as the weather warms this spring,
allergy sufferers are likely to be more
affected than in past years.
Attempting to regulate the
$60 billion global small
arms trade on Tuesday, the
measure is likely to be dead
on arrival in the U.S.
Senate as Republicans have
repeatedly voiced concerns
that such a measure is a
backdoor attempt to usurp
Second Amendment gun rights.
"UN Arms Treaty should
be rejected outright by US
Senate," tweeted Texas Sen.
Ted Cruz on Tuesday. "It is
international gun
regulation, plain and simple
& it must never be
ratified."
As communities around the
world come to terms with
water scarcity, aging water
infrastructure, and the need
for water conservation,
smart water technologies are
rapidly gaining investor
interest. Investors are
looking to back solutions
designed to improve water
distribution networks,
optimize metering
infrastructure, and increase
the overall operating
efficiency for utilities.
As the market continues to
gain creditability, it is
attracting new breeds of
investors, increasing the
investment opportunities for
smart water technology
companies.
Pharmaceuticals commonly
found in the environment are
disrupting streams, with
unknown impacts on aquatic
life and water quality. So
reports a new Ecological
Applications paper, which
highlights the ecological
cost of pharmaceutical waste
and the need for more
research into environmental
impacts.
Manufacturer-run programs for recycling
mercury thermostats may be failing to keep
the neurotoxin out of landfills in most
states, according to a report released April
2 by the Mercury Policy Project, an
environmental interest group.
Of the 10 states with laws requiring
mercury thermostat collection, only two –
Maine and Vermont – had programs more
effective than in states with no program at
all, according to the report.
It is widely believed that
the rebels are close to
seizing control of the two
border posts with Jordan _ a
significant gain that would
bolster arms shipments to
the rebels.
US May Have Miscalculated
How to Handle North Korea
UK Prime Minister Could Be
Ousted
Brazil Likely to Become a
Major Energy Exporter
Hayden: Situation With North
Korea ‘On the Edge’
Regions of Drug-Ravaged
Mexico Tip Toward Mob Rule
Ahead of Obama Visit
Pakistan: Musharraf’s Return
a Sideshow Distraction
Yesterday, the United Nations General
Assembly approved a global arms treaty to
regulate the international arms trade. The
goal of the Arms Trade Treaty is to control
the flow of everything from battle tanks to
small arms in order to keep them out of the
hands of insurgents, terrorists, and
organized crime.
First, the good
news.
The U.N. General Assembly can only
suggest and recommend. Their approval of the
Arms Trade Treaty does not carry the force
of law.
Next, the
potentially bad news.
The Arms Trade Treaty would require the
nations who sign it to create domestic laws
that address these issues. And while the
treaty does not overtly affect U.S. domestic
law and the rights of its citizens to own
guns, we've all learned the hard way that
when the U.S. passes sweeping laws, the
devil is the details.
Overcapacity, tightening
margins, intense demand
fluctuations, uncertain
subsidy support and severe
price competition: wind
turbine manufacturing isn't
for the faint-hearted these
days. Wind turbine original
equipment manufacturers
(OEMs) are now redesigning
their businesses from the
ground up to compete
effectively in today's
ultra-competitive global
marketplace.
Recent news of the
Klamath Tribe’s victory in a
water rights battle after 38
years of court proceedings
came as no surprise to the
Hoopa Valley Tribe. Hoopa
knows that tribal water
rights and tribal trust are
the most powerful tools for
restoring the West’s salmon
rivers. The Endangered
Species Act (ESA) only
prevents extinction, but
tribal trust goes further by
requiring restoration of
abundance.
One often ignored
consequence of global
climate change is that the
Northern Hemisphere is
becoming warmer than the
Southern Hemisphere, which
could significantly alter
tropical precipitation
patterns, according to a new
study by climatologists from
the University of
California, Berkeley, and
the University of
Washington. What this means,
over time, is that rain that
falls in one place may shift
to another place. What is
desert now may become green
while other lands languish.
"The U.N. General Assembly
overwhelmingly approved the
first international treaty
regulating the
multibillion-dollar global
arms trade Tuesday, after a
more than decade-long
campaign to keep weapons
from falling into the hands
of terrorists, warlords,
organized crime figures and
human rights violators. Loud
cheers erupted in the
assembly chamber as the
electronic board flashed the
final vote: 154 in favor, 3
against and 23 abstentions."
Bosch, one of the world's largest auto
parts suppliers, blames the U.S. fracking
boom in shale gas for hurting demand for
energy-efficient green technologies, its
chairman told a German newspaper.
The Stuttgart-based company recently
decided to discontinue its photovoltaic
solar energy activities at the cost of
roughly 3,000 jobs - due largely, but not
entirely, to a glut in capacity built up in
China.
Freddie Mac (OTCQB:
FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its
Primary Mortgage
Market Survey®
(PMMS®), showing average
fixed mortgage rates dipping
for the week amid recent
data which indicates the
manufacturing industry is
slowing. The average 30-year
fixed-rate mortgage has
seesawed around 3.5 percent
for the past two months,
providing ongoing help to
the housing recovery.
The Obama administration is inching ahead
with a plan that would allow wastewater from
fracking to be shipped on barges, fueling a
debate whether it is safer than other
transportation modes or risks polluting
drinking water.
The Coast Guard last month quietly sent
to the White House's Office of Management
and Budget a proposal to allow the barging
of fracking wastewater. If the plan is
pushed forward, it would become a proposed
rule open for public comment and could be
finalized sometime in the near future.
US utilities generated
71,839 GWh in the week that
ended Saturday, up 4.6% from
68,650 GWh generated in the
corresponding week of 2012,
the Edison Electric
Institute said Wednesday.
The veteran scientist,
who has been arrested at
least four times at rallies
against the Keystone XL oil
pipeline project, will step
down this week, NASA said in
a statement on April 1. For
the past 46 years Hansen has
worked at the agency’s
Goddard Institute for Space
Studies (GISS) in New York
City, from which perch he
has spread the word about
the changing climate and its
effect on future
generations. He has headed
the institute since 1981.
Ever since the construction of a
hydro-electric dam in the Draa Valley nearly
40 years ago, Sahara nomads have faced
further desertification of the region,
taking a heavy toll on water supplies.
More than 330 million people in
sub-Saharan Africa, or around 40 percent of
the population, do not have access to clean
drinking water, according to a report
published by British NGO WaterAid.
While there are wells throughout the
region, they often contain undrinkable
brackish water that is inundated with salt.
-
New preliminary research findings
suggest excessive salt consumption
contributed to 2.3 million heart-related
deaths worldwide in 2010; 42 percent
from coronary heart disease and 41
percent from stroke
-
However, previous research has NOT found
strong evidence that cutting salt intake
reduces the risk for heart attacks,
strokes or death. In fact, salt
restriction increased the risk of death
in those with heart failure
-
Salt is an essential nutrient required
for blood pressure regulation,
transportation of nutrients into and out
of your cells, ion exchange, and
brain-muscle communication. But all
salts are not equal, in terms of their
impact on your health. Processed (table)
salt is health harming, while natural
unprocessed salt is not only healing,
but in fact essential for many
biological functions
-
Potassium deficiency may be more
responsible for hypertension than excess
sodium, and too much sodium along with
too little potassium has been found to
more than double your risk of death from
a heart attack, compared to eating about
equal amounts of both nutrients
While debate in the media rages on
whether the UK’s green energy policies will
raise electricity bills or not, Ed Davey, UK
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate
Change, has said that onshore and offshore
wind power together cost householders only
Ł10 a year in total, according to a Guardian
article.
Moreover, Davey said that wind power is
needed for the UK’s energy mix to insulate
it from global gas prices: “Global gas price
hikes are squeezing households.
April
2, 2013
In South Dakota, voters recently rejected
a one-penny increase in sales tax. “I feel
we’re taxed enough already,” explained
Kristi Schnider, a 35-year-old assistant
manager at Applebee’s, to the Argus
Leader.
The irony is that South Dakota residents
are being hit with another, far greater,
hidden tax—the cost of climate disruption.
Last year’s prolonged and severe drought,
which reduced corn yields by 18 percent and
led ranchers to sell off their cattle and
sheep, cost the state an estimated $1.7
billion. That cost would be the equivalent
of tripling South Dakota’s sales tax rate,
from 4 percent to more than 12 percent--a
far greater hurt than that politically
unachievable penny. And last year’s extreme
weather wasn’t confined to South Dakota. It
hit nearly every state in the nation, with a
cost equivalent to raising sales tax rates
across the country by an average of 2.7
percentage points.
Oil, nuclear, and coal are
more popular with
Republicans and in the South
No fewer than two in three
Americans want the U.S. to
put more emphasis on
producing domestic energy
using solar power (76%),
wind (71%), and natural gas
(65%). Far fewer want to
emphasize the production of
oil (46%) and the use of
nuclear power (37%). Least
favored is coal, with about
one in three Americans
wanting to prioritize its
domestic production.
President
Barack Obama's plan to use federal
agencies, and the Environmental Protection
Agency in particular, to drive his
second-term climate change agenda might be
in peril if he cannot fill vacant seats on
the federal court that has jurisdiction over
major national regulations, legal experts
say.
Obama is the first full-term president in
more than a half century not to have
appointed a single judge to the powerful
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit.
Opponents of genetically
modified food are outraged
over a provision they have
dubbed the “Monsanto
Protection Act,” which was
signed by President Barack
Obama after being added to
an essential spending bill
without congressional
hearings.
The rider
strips the power from
federal courts to halt the
sales and planting of
genetically modified foods
even if health concerns
arise, according to Food
Democracy Now, a food-safety
advocacy organization.
Summary: How
important is the Chinese
market to Apple? Enough to
apologize to.
Researchers at the Pacific
Northwest National
Laboratory have found that
nearly 14 percent of land in
the continental United
States, or roughly the
combined area of Texas and
New Mexico, could be used
for converting algae to
transportation fuels.
The European eggheads who
attempted last week to seize
insured bank deposits in
Cyprus did us all a favor.
Their ham-handed money grab
exposed a near-fatal flaw —
a flaw present in every bank
worldwide, and even here in
the United States. Today
I’ll explain how their
legalized trickery works.
Advances in technology that
have made the US awash in
oil and natural gas reserves
also boost the risk of
disaster, a panel of experts
said in a television
interview with Platts Energy
Week airing Sunday in the
US.
Industry and
government regulators must
work together to see that
complex technology is
managed safely, the panel
said on the third
anniversary airing of the
program.
A new report published by
Bloomberg New Energy Finance
analyzed wind and bioenergy
resources in the U.S. and
Brazil using a lifetime
production method, allowing
for more accurate
comparisons to oil and gas
reserves. According to the
analysis, wind and bioenergy
reserves in the U.S. and
Brazil are “significant
compared to oil and gas.”
The protestors ended their
occupation March 22 after
the plant's operator, Norte
Energia, agreed to discuss
additional compensation with
local groups.
-
It’s official. Even the conservative CDC
states the latest stats show one in 50
US kids now has autism,
-
Boys are also four times as likely to be
diagnosed with autism as girls,
according to the new data
-
This means there’s one child with autism
on just about every school bus (one
school bus holds about 50 kids).
-
The majority of autism cases appear to
result from environmental factors that
activate the expression of a number of
different genes, along with multiple
epigenetic factors that produce the
traits of autism
Although just the one
commercial-scale cellulosic
biofuels facility is now
operating in the United
States at present (KiOR’s
small commercial plant in
Columbus, MS), at least ten
projects exceeding 20
million gallons per year are
expected to begin operations
by 2014.
The divergence between
the two US manufacturing
gauges is making market
participants uneasy - again.
The Markit PMI measure (both
seasonally adjusted and
unadjusted) for March was
clearly in growth territory.
Factory activity grew at the slowest rate
in three months in March, suggesting the
economy lost some momentum at the end of the
first quarter as the effects of tighter
fiscal policy started kicking in.
Data so far this year had shown little
sign that higher taxes, and the $85 billion
in across-the-board government spending cuts
that took effect March 1 known as the
"sequester," had weighed on economic
activity.
The euro zone bail-out
agreed for Cyprus means that
the worst possible outcomes
have been avoided: the
country's banking system has
been pulled back from the
brink of collapse and
Cyprus's future in the euro
zone appears to have been
secured, for the time being.
Some initial missteps were
reversed, with the
authorities abandoning a
plan to impose a levy on
deposits below the insured
limit of €100,000
(US$128,000).
The Economist has been
fairly consistent in its
stand that carbon dioxide
emissions from man-made
sources are the chief cause
of global warming. But in an
editorial this week, it
sounds less certain.
Global warming predictions
haven’t panned out as
predicted in the past
decade, but the why is a bit
fuzzy, the magazine admits.
As part of the Obama
Administration’s commitment
to revitalizing America’s
manufacturing sector, today
the Energy Department
launched the Clean Energy
Manufacturing Initiative
(CEMI), a new Department
initiative focused on
growing American
manufacturing of clean
energy products and boosting
U.S. competitiveness through
major improvements in
manufacturing energy
productivity. The initiative
includes private sector
partnerships, new funding
from the Department, and
enhanced analysis of the
clean energy manufacturing
supply chain that will guide
the Department’s future
funding decisions.
The U.S.-Mexico border has been gaining
attention lately, but not for what you might
expect. Solar Energy, Inc. is
attempting to build a massive hollow tower
reaching 2,250 feet in height and 500 feet
in width. If approved, this colossal
structure would be able to generate 600
megawatt hours of electricity!
Solar Wind Energy is planning to build
this structure, known as a downdraft tower,
right on the border of Arizona and Mexico.
The worker was evidently caught beneath a
piece of heavy equipment that fell during a
planned lift.
The industrial accident at the plant
resulted in the death of one employee and
injuries to eight others. The injured
employees were transported to a local
hospital. Six employees were treated and
released. Two remain hospitalized for their
injuries.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency announced
Friday that it has finalized
the Mercury and Air Toxics
Standards for new coal- and
oil-fired power plants,
setting mercury limits
slightly higher than the
previous rule set in
December 2011.
-
The US government has proposed the need
for a trial in children of anthrax
vaccine, framing it as a necessary step
in protecting them from the effects of a
potential future bioterrorism attack
using weaponized anthrax
-
The Alliance for Human Research
Protection (AHRP) is in strong
opposition to the trial and has
submitted an exposé to Amy Gutman, PhD,
Chair of the Presidential Commission for
the Study of Bioethical Issues
-
Experimenting on the most vulnerable
members of our society with a dangerous
vaccine without the promise of any
benefit to them is heartless, unethical
and unnecessary, not to mention violates
a number of federal regulations
protecting children
-
The entire premise that we are at high
risk for a bioterrorist attack is
erroneous, and the idea that a vaccine
is needed is ludicrous when antibiotics
have proven 100 percent effective for
anthrax exposure
The so-called nuclear
renaissance got its wind
about a decade ago. That’s
when the scientist and
energy policymakers started
to give the early warnings
about global warming. It’s
before the whole shale gas
rush and it’s before coal
started getting clobbered.
Until recently, many people
were willing to give nuclear
energy a fresh look. After
all, the fuel form is
relatively emissions free
and the uranium used to fire
the reactors is ample.
Freeing America from its
dependence on oil from
unstable parts of the world
is an admirable goal, but
many of the proposed
solutions—including the push
for more home-grown biofuels
and for the construction of
the new Keystone XL pipeline
to transport Canadian tar
sands oil to refineries on
the U.S. Gulf Coast—are
harmful and simply
unnecessary. Gasoline use in
the United States is
falling, and the trends
already driving it down are
likely to continue into the
future, making both the
mirage of beneficial
biofuels and the
construction of a new
pipeline to import
incredibly dirty oil seem
ever more out of touch with
reality.
North Korea and the U.S.
continue tough talk and
making a show of preparing
for confrontation.
As discussed earlier
the French economy continues
to struggle. The nation's
consumer recession is now
thought to be worse than
Italy's.
“France has overtaken
Italy as having the worst
performing retail sector of
the three largest euro area
economies. Sales fell at
a survey-record pace, as did
employment. Italy registered
another steep drop in sales,
while German retailers
witnessed a flat trend in
March.”
Sovereign currency
manipulation can be severely
curtailed if we require the
currency to be backed by
real reserve assets, such as
gold and silver.
The
reserve requirement would be
similar to that used by
banks to guarantee they have
adequate capital to cover
future losses. These bank
losses can arise from loan
defaults, poor
asset/liability
transformation and
inadequate investment
strategies.
Some in the industry have touted home
energy management systems (HEMS) as the next
smart grid killer app. However, no one told
homeowners and other residential energy
consumers.
In the U.S., only 5 percent of adults
expect to purchase a home energy management
system over the next 12 months, according to
Zpryme research. Currently, just 6.8 percent
own or use home energy management systems.
Without education, engagement and targeted
marketing by utilities, HEMS adoption will
remain flat over the next year.
Crews recovered about 12,000 barrels of
oil and water after a crude oil pipeline
ruptured in central Arkansas, officials said
Saturday.
An ExxonMobil pipeline sprung a leak
Friday afternoon in Mayflower, a small city
about 20 miles northwest of Little Rock.
...how that wild pollinators
are also a vital part of our
crop systems. In more than
40 important crops grown
worldwide, wild pollinators
improved pollination
efficiency, increasing fruit
set by twice that
facilitated by honeybees.
There has been global
outrage about the proposal
from the Cyprus government
to have a significant
one-time tax on those who
have deposits in Cypriot
banks. It has been correctly
called a theft of private
capital. What many fail to
realize is that from the
beginning, governments have
been engaged in this type of
theft, including the U.S.
government.
As the
debt crisis deepens,
governments are likely to
increasingly engage in
various forms of capital
expropriation despite the
fact that such activities
are economically destructive
and morally offensive.
Despite scientific evidence
indicting certain common
pesticides, the EPA
continues to allow their
use.
If you like almonds, then
2013 brought some bad news.
Each year, honeybees from
across the country make the
trek to California, which
grows 80 percent of the
world’s almonds, to
pollinate the almond crop.
But bees have been dying in
unusually large numbers for
several years now, and this
year appears worse than
most.
The US$1.5 billion project
will impound the Bakhtiari
River within the Zargos
Mountains and is also slated
to include a 1,500 MW
hydroelectric powerhouse.
Kamakura Corporation
reported Monday that the
Kamakura index of troubled
public companies ended the
month of March at 7.43%, a
decrease of 0.44% since the
end of February. The index
reflects the percentage of
the Kamakura 30,000 public
firm universe that has a
default probability over 1%.
An increase in the index
reflects deteriorating
credit quality. The index
hit an intra-month low of
7.03% on March 15 and an
intra-month high of 7.80% on
March 4. The index improved
during the first half of the
month before deteriorating
over the last half.
The electricity generated from solar
power, plus tax savings, can make the panels
pay for themselves in seven years or less.
And South Carolina's climate makes it one of
the better states for solar power.
So why does it currently rank near the
bottom?
It's a complicated story, but the prime
holdup is a question of how solar's rise
would affect utilities that, even with a
solar boom, still would provide the vast
majority of the state's electricity.
Highlights this week
include: Rossi's third party
testing is completed,
results positive, report
pending; Military E-Cat 6x
run-time accumulates 8,000
hours; household E-cat years
away; Miley's LENUCO nearly
wins Future Energy contest;
Ugo Abundo Demonstrates
Simple Experiment; LENR
CFLs?
We have been warned in time
for what’s likely to happen
in the future when banks in
the eurozone will be obliged
to reveal other “black
holes,” which are surely out
there.
No, the
crisis is not over. I’m
still convinced it will
remain extremely difficult
for the euro, in its actual
concept, to remain
“irreversible.”
Never looking through rose colored
glasses it is obvious that we have
monumental environmental concerns both in
the nation and on the planet and are in need
of serious solutions.
The U.S. government has all the abilities
to perform state-of-the-arts environmental
management and yet we continue to fail.
The land management agencies have
hard-working people and they put in sincere
time to perform their work. However if the
Vernal Field Office is representative, there
is cause for concern in the implementation
of the Bureau of Land Management’s mission.
As renewable energy gets
cheaper and machines and
buildings become more energy
efficient, a number of
countries that two decades
ago ran on a fuel mix much
like America’s are
successfully dialing down
their fossil fuel habits.
Thirteen countries got more
than 30 percent of their
electricity from renewable
energy in 2011, according to
the Paris-based
International Energy Agency,
and many are aiming still
higher.
A continually rising GDP is
not necessarily possible –
or even desirable. So why do
policymakers obsess over it?
The tide of economic growth
that has flowed since the
second world war may finally
be ebbing. For politicians
and most economists, this is
like saying the sky is
falling. Growth has become
guidepost and grail, the
sine qua non of
economic existence. Growth
is necessary to job creation
and the health of
businesses. Without growth
the rolls of the homeless
and jobless swell, requiring
governments to shoulder more
responsibility; yet at the
same time tax revenues fall,
making both new and existing
government debt unbearable.
What the heck has happened
to the nation we grew up in?
For millions of Americans,
the land of opportunity has
turned into the land of
despair. Far too many
hardworking, middle-class
Americans now barely earn
enough to put food on the
table ... much less buy a
home or send their kids to
college. Instead of the
limited government
envisioned by our
forefathers, our government
today regulates every aspect
of our lives. Meanwhile,
they protect and enable
giant corporations that
violate our trust, destroy
our health, and swindle us
out of our money.
Climate change is expanding Antarctica's sea
ice, according to a scientific study in the
journal Nature Geoscience.
The paradoxical phenomenon is thought to
be caused by relatively cold plumes of fresh
water derived from melting beneath the
Antarctic ice shelves.
This melt water has a relatively low
density, so it accumulates in the top layer
of the ocean.
Am I the only one who feels
like our country is caught
in a weird sort of perpetual
April Fool's Day? Laws
limiting how much soda
adults are allowed to drink,
saying it's okay for your
gun to shoot ten bullets but
not eleven, and furloughing
and firing middle-class
Americans while the
triple-digit-earning goons
who got us in this mess sit
pretty in Washington... it
continues to prove that the
truth really is stranger
than fiction.
- More than 285 GW of wind power now
installed globally
- 45GW of new capacity added in 2012,
including 1.1 GW from offshore wind
- The United States surpassed China as
the largest market in terms of new
installations in 2012
- Europe lost its position as the
largest world region in terms of new
installations
- Wind installations in the Americas
grew by 12.3 percent compared with 2011
Risks of using an aging
pipeline network for
Canadian heavy oil,
well-known to industry and
discussed over many years,
have never been addressed.
Obama's tour of the Port of
Miami tunnel project and a
subsequent speech were aimed
at convincing members of the
U.S. Congress to back
proposals that would siphon
billions in taxpayer dollars
into public road, bridge and
other infrastructure
projects.
All across the country,
people are rising up and
demanding that the foods
they eat be properly
identified and honestly
labeled. And the
constituency of the state of
Oregon is no exception,
where a trio of legislative
bills recently introduced
would require that all
genetically-modified
organisms (GMOs) be properly
labeled, as well as prohibit
the import and sale of GM
salmon, the first transgenic
animal to ever be
preliminarily approved by
the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for
human consumption.
Pharmaceuticals commonly
found in the environment are
found in streams, with
unknown impacts on aquatic
life and water quality. So
reports a new Ecological
Applications paper, which
highlights the ecological
cost of pharmaceutical waste
and the need for more
research into environmental
impacts. Pharmaceuticals, or
prescription and
over-the-counter medications
made for human use or
veterinary or agribusiness
purposes, are found often in
the environment.
Antibiotics,vitamins,
supplements, and sexual
enhancement drugs are
contained in this group.
These products typically
enter the environment when
passed through the body and
then entering into the
ground or sewer lines, or
when disposed of in the
trash, septic tank, or
sewage system.
The impressive stock market
rally is “artificial,” being
driven by central banks’
super-low interest rates,
says Mohamed El-Erian, CEO
and co-CIO of Pimco.
Going forward, the
market will need more
“genuine growth” in the form
of strong corporate balance
sheets and robust economic
activity and less “assisted
growth” from central banks,
El-Erian writes in a blog
for CNBC. That transition
will probably occur in the
United States, but not in
Europe any time soon.
Bertrand Piccard was flying
from Morocco to Spain last
year -- finishing up another
highly successful test of
Solar Impulse, the
revolutionary airplane he
helped design that gets all
its power from the sun --
when he made a profoundly
disturbing discovery: he was
actually flying backwards.
In political circles where
everything is polarized, it
can be difficult to find
common ground. But in the
real world where there are
no clear answers, such
diplomacy is a must. And it
is especially true when it
comes to developing energy
policy and when leveraging
public and private funds.
The pound had its biggest quarterly drop
against the dollar in more than four years
as the economy’s contraction in the three
months through December fueled concern of an
unprecedented triple-dip recession.
Sterling declined against all but two of
its 16 major counterparts in the quarter
ended Thursday. Gross domestic product fell
0.3 percent in the final three months of
last year...
Prosperity is understood as
a successful, flourishing or
thriving condition: simply,
a state in which things are
going well for us. Every day
the system in which we live
tries to persuade us – via
TV news, politicians'
speeches, corporate
pronouncements, inducements
to consume and so on – that
our prosperity is intimately
linked to whether or not
gross national product is
growing and whether stock
markets are riding high.
The U.S. economy is in a bubble inflated
by “phony money” from the Federal Reserve
and will burst within a few years, warned
David Stockman, who was budget director for
President Ronald Reagan.
In an essay published in the New York
Times, Stockman wrote that the Fed’s
quantitative easing policies in the
aftermath of the credit crisis have flooded
stock markets with cash even while the “Main
Street economy” remains weak. The
combination, he wrote, is “unsustainable.”
Whenever we see polls on how
Americans view renewable
energy, the results are
always the same. A vast
majority want an emphasis on
renewables, but Democrats
want them a lot more than
Republicans.
Interestingly, this split
can also be seen in peoples'
behavior. People that live
in Red states use a whopping
55% more energy on
average than those in Blue
states, according to a study
by CO2 Scorecard.
And Red states have an even
more spectacular 80% higher
carbon emissions per capita.
Forty bills and two major
court cases are alive that
would repeal RPS targets
fully or partially, as
public support for
renewables grows...
Despite little success
so far and growing support
nationally for clean energy,
a multi-pronged campaign to
undercut renewable power
mandates in the states is
showing no signs of letting
up.
Cancer rates in California's Sacramento
County have decreased since the shutdown of
the Rancho Seco nuclear reactor in
Sacramento County in 1989, a new study
claims.
But the study, the first long-term
analysis to examine population health
impacts from a U.S. nuclear reactor's
closure, stops short of making a direct
connection between those lower rates and the
plant's closure.
Warns unchecked climate
change may unleash damage
along Eastern Seaboard far
exceeding Hurricane Sandy
People who were stunned and
sobered by how much damage
was caused by Hurricane
Sandy ought to be even more
worried about global climate
change, which could cause up
to $2 trillion in damage
along the stretch of the
Eastern Seaboard from Boston
to Baltimore, according to a
new report.
Al-Qaida wants to join
forces with Russian and
Chinese hackers to launch a
series of devastating
cyberattacks on the United
States, national security
columnist Bill Gertz says.
“An al-Qaida website
recently posted a notice
calling for major attacks on
vital U.S. infrastructure,’’
Gertz tells Newsmax TV’s
“The Steve Malzberg Show.’’
Senate votes on climate change and the
Keystone XL oil pipeline laid bare divisions
among Democrats — and underscored why the
White House, not Congress, will be where the
critical climate decisions reside in
President Obama’s second term.
Several votes during the freewheeling
debate over a nonbinding budget plan
provided a political barometer of where the
chamber, including vulnerable Democrats,
stand on the topics.
-
According to the nonprofit ocean
protection group Oceana, nearly 60
percent of fish labeled "tuna" in the US
is not actually tuna. A shocking 84
percent of “white tuna” sold in sushi
venues was actually escolar, a fish
associated with acute and serious
digestive effects if you eat just a
couple of ounces
-
One-third of all fish samples tested
across the US were found to be
mislabeled; substituted for cheaper,
less desirable and/or more readily
available fish varieties
-
87 percent of fish sold as snapper was
actually some other type of fish
In the more than half a
century since the 91st
Avenue Wastewater Treatment
Plant was constructed near
the Salt River outside of
Phoenix, it has grown and
evolved to meet the changing
needs of the burgeoning
communities it serves - a
far cry from the original
plant built in the 1950s and
handling 5 million gallons
of sewage a day. Today,
after its latest expansion,
the plant can treat over 230
mgd, providing
environmentally sound
wastewater disposal and
protecting the public health
for more than two million
customers.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a
chemical compound that is
used to make polycarbonate
resin, a component of many
plastics including food and
beverage containers.
Scientists recently examined
the association between BPA
concentration and body mass
outcomes in children, and
published their findings in
the September 19, 2012,
issue of the Journal of the
American Medical
Association.
After sharpening their view
of the planet's rocky inner
workings for almost a
century, scientists are
finally glimpsing how the
Earth engine as a whole is
working. Since the plate
tectonics revolution,
researchers have recognized
surface geology for a cold,
rocky scum of continent
carrying,
ocean-crust-covered tectonic
plates. But the nature of
whatever might be carrying
heat and material back
toward the surface has been
hotly debated for 40 years.
Could towering plumes of
hotter-than-normal rock be
rising like lava lamp blobs
from near the core? Decades
of study now appear to be
paying off.
Growth of Nuclear Energy to
Drive Up Price of Uranium
Expert Sees High Likelihood
of North Korean Attack
Iran’s Newest Warship to Tip
Balance of Power in Caspian
Iranian Shadow Over Latin
American Terror, Crime
North Korea: Potential for
Conflict Rises After Stealth
Bomber Flights
Pope Francis Is Positioned
to Transform Latin America,
But Will He?
North Korea's Threat to
Re-Start Nuke Plant Is a
Bluff
Elites Trying to Kill Off
the Middle Class, Says
Former British MP
We are currently mired in a
frantic debate about the
rights of gun owners. One
example should suffice to
prove that the debate has
become hysterical: Second
Amendment supporters, one
prominent but less than
articulate member of
Congress alleges, have
become “enablers of mass
murder.” -- Imprimis
The US Environmental
Protection Agency on Friday
finalized its mercury and
air toxics standards for new
power plants, setting
emissions limits for
mercury, particulate matter,
sulfur dioxide, acid gases
and certain metals.
EPA said the rule would
"require new power plants to
be among the most modern and
cleanest ever built."
Everybody knows that the
sense of smell to a large
extent governs our appetite.
Neurologist Dr. Alan Hirsch
has taken this simple truth
and used it to help people
lose weight without
suffering hunger pangs.
"Our sense of smell and
our appetite are closely
related," says Dr. Hirsch,
author of Dr. Hirsch's Guide
to Scentsational Weight
Loss. "More than 90 percent
of taste is smell.”
Natural gas production in
the US Lower-48 states in
January fell to 72.1 Bcf/d,
down 0.9%, or 670,000 Mcf/d,
from December's output, the
US Energy Information
Administration said Friday
in its monthly gross
production report.
January output was down from
a revised 72.77 Bcf/d
average production in
December, EIA said.
The US exported crude oil to
China for the first time
since November 2005 in
January, according to data
the Energy Information
Administration released
Thursday.
US crude
oil exports to China
averaged 9,000 b/d in
January, the EIA's data
showed, representing 12.3%
of the US's total crude
exports.
The other
87.7% of US crude oil
exports -- 64,000 b/d -- was
sent to Canada.
Renewable energy sources and
natural gas have expanded
rapidly over the last four
years ending in 2012
compared to the same
timeframe ending in 2008,
according to U.S. Energy
Information Administration
(EIA) data.
Methane gas from Victoria's landfill will
soon provide a nearby chemical plant with
alternative energy and the city with a new
revenue stream.
Through a contract with Renovar Energy
Corp., the city is selling the landfill's
methane gas -- which would otherwise be
flared off -- to Ineos. The company will
dilute natural gas with methane and use the
mixture in its boiler system, said Victoria
Environmental Services Director Darryl
Lesak.
Recycling would require as
much as one-quarter of the
high-pressure steam that
could otherwise be used to
drive turbines and make
electricity -- a phenomenon
known as "parasitic" power
loss, which will drive up
the cost of electricity by
lowering the amount of
electricity a plant can
produce for sale.
-
Confined Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs), play a key role in this
impending disaster, as large-scale
factory farms also directly contribute
to environmental pollution
-
According to estimates, grazing large
herds of livestock on half of the
world’s barren or semi-barren grasslands
could take enough carbon from the
atmosphere to bring us back to
preindustrial levels
-
A holistic management and planned
grazing system has already been
implemented in select areas on five
continents, with dramatically positive
results
GHPs are used for space
heating and cooling in
buildings. The temperature
in the ground remains
relatively constant
throughout the year. A GHP
can transfer heat from the
ground into the building
during the winter and
transfer heat back into the
ground during the summer.
Thus, the ground acts as a
heat source in winter and a
heat sink in summer.
The largest wind energy
battery project in the world
attached to a wind farm was
touted by executives and
government leaders
Thursday...
"It shook the renewable energy industry
awake that storage is here and it's
available," O'Keefe said.
The 153-Megawatt wind farm in Notrees now
has a 36-MW battery facility, which O'Keefe
said will hold enough electricity to power
more than 10,000 homes.