By Mike Robbins
Hydrogen -- Star Gas, Everywhere, Yet Unseen. Sunlight is its Child.
(Haiku by Stephen Wetlesen)
September 27, 2013
Mortgage rates dropped
big last week, according to
Freddie Mac's weekly Primary
Mortgage Market Survey
(PMMS). The average
conforming 30-year fixed
rate mortgage rate fell 0.18
percentage points last week
to 4.32%, on average,
marking the biggest one-week
mortgage rate improvement
since June 2009.
The 30-year fixed has
moved to a 10-week low.
Well, they’ve done it again.
And no, I’m not talking
about the mainstream media
(for once!). By “they,” I
mean “we.” You and me.
Responsibly armed Americans
who have once again refused
to allow anti-gun
bureaucrats to continue
their push for ridiculous
anti-gun legislation.
Public Service Company of
New Mexico says forecasting
models indicate a mix of
nuclear, natural gas and
solar power would be the
most cost-efficient and
reliable way to replace
coal-fired electricity while
meeting demand growth over
the next 20 years.
The global energy industry
must play a greater role in
the transition to
sustainable energy systems
if United Nations'
development goals are to be
met, according to the World
Energy Council's (WEC) 2013
World Energy Trilemma
report. The report, produced
in conjunction with global
management consulting firm
Oliver Wyman, concludes that
without increased private
sector support, billions of
people could lose out on the
benefits of sustainable
energy systems in future
decades
In the end, it came
down to one simple strategy:
Waiting. As Dusten Brown
faced the Damocles Sword of
jail time and a felony
warrant, Matt and Melanie
Capobianco only had to wait.
The Clean Coalition has
launched the Clean Resource
Hub, which provides tools to
help policymakers,
utilities, and advocates
expand the wholesale
distributed generation (WGD)
market segment throughout
the United States.
Consumers Energy (NYSE: CMS)
has received approval to
delay the retirement of 950
MW of coal-fired generating
capacity in Michigan because
of increased power demand in
the state, according to a
report from Platts.
A new report issued by the
Clean Energy Finance and
Investment Authority (CEFIA)
and SmartPower, a non-profit
that engages communities in
energy efficiency and clean
energy to promote behavior
change, reveals a way to
reduce the soft costs that
have traditionally been an
obstacle to residential
solar power. The report
calls the model "proven" for
dramatically reducing the
cost barrier that has stood
in the way of wide-scale
adoption of residential
solar power in the United
States.
Major advances in the war on
cancer over the past two
decades have reduced the
U.S. death rate dramatically
and meant that being
diagnosed with the disease
is no longer a death
sentence for millions of
Americans. But are we any
closer to curing cancer?
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover
has detected no methane on
Mars after more than a year
of extensive testing of the
Martian atmosphere using the
robot explorer’s Sample
Analysis at Mars (SAM)
laboratory. Since methane is
a key indicator for the
presence of biological
activity, its absence throws
into question the notion
that there may be life on
Mars today.
Among federal agency
purchasing decision makers,
74 percent believe energy
efficiency is among the most
powerful means of meeting
increasing energy needs,
achieving cost savings and
reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, according to a
survey conducted by Zogby
International and sponsored
by the Alliance to Save
Energy and Schneider
Electric.
The eurozone’s economy has
begun a fragile turnaround
since European Central Bank
head Mario Draghi announced
late last year that the
institution would do
“whatever it takes” to
backstop the euro. For the
first part of 2013, that
meant the economy was still
losing ground – but at a
slowing rate.
Sosa is being charged with
lying on his American
citizenship application
about his alleged role in
the Guatemalan military and
involvement in a 1982
massacre during Guatemala’s
civil war. His trial is
scheduled to start Tuesday,
Sept. 24, 2013, in federal
court in Riverside, Calif.
Sosa claims he was not in
the village during the
killings.
It took him watching smoke
belch out of a Tampa power
plant chimney and dump
trucks hauling spent coal
ash from the plant to change
his mind on how he got his
electricity to power his
home.
Google Inc. (GOOG), owner
of the world’s largest
search engine, tried to
persuade a judge that
digitally copying millions
of books for online searches
without authors’ permission
is protected by copyright
law.
The company argued today
in federal court in
Manhattan that the fair-use
provision of the Copyright
Act shields it from
liability for infringement.
Authors and a trade group
oppose the project, claiming
Google has taken away their
rights for its own gain
without compensating them.
Most likely you already know
the term "ham radio." If you
don't, let me take a moment
to educate you. Ham radio is
the act of using a specific
section of the radio wave
spectrum for recreational
use. No commercial entities
are allowed. Something about
the fact that it is
completely "free" really
gets people's juices
flowing. Every operator
takes great pride in their
equipment -- equipment that
is, more often than not,
cobbled together from pieces
found in the trash and
repaired.
“Human influence on the
climate system is clear.
This is evident in most
regions of the globe,” finds
a new assessment by the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, IPCC,
released today.
“It is extremely likely
that human influence has
been the dominant cause of
the observed warming since
the mid-20th century. The
evidence for this has grown,
thanks to more and better
observations, an improved
understanding of the climate
system response and improved
climate models,” states the
report, the latest in a
series issued once every
seven years.
More evidence that marriage
may benefit overall health
comes from findings that in
the first year after having
blocked blood vessels
leading to the heart
cleared, married patients
fared much better than their
unmarried counterparts.
Electric car advocates have
an important hurdle to
overcome to get more drivers
to buy the vehicles:
expanding the number of
recharging stations, so
drivers don't have to worry
about running out of juice
while away from home.
The solar thermal power
market continued its
expansion in 2012.
Altogether, 712MW of
additional power capacity
was connected to the grid, a
substantial increase in
comparison to 2011's 440MW.
Cumulative installed
capacity by the end of 2012
grew to 2.42GW.
The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has
identified flaws in how
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
(MHI) used its computer
codes to design the failed
steam generators at the San
Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station (SONGS) and is
issuing a "Notice of
Non-Conformance" against MHI
for its flawed computer
modeling in the failed
design. The NRC is also
citing Southern California
Edison (SCE) for failing to
ensure that MHI's modeling
and analysis were adequate.
Richard Myers, vice
president of policy
development, planning and
supplier programs, said the
greatest threat to nuclear
energy in the U.S. is the
lack of value placed on
inherent qualities in
production.
Critics say new Obama
administration rules to
regulate power plants'
greenhouse gas emissions
will have 'devastating
impacts' on the coal
industry. But EPA chief Gina
McCarthy disagrees.
Americans will pay an
average premium of $328
monthly for a mid-tier
health insurance plan when
the Obamacare health
exchanges open for
enrollment next week, and
most will qualify for
government subsidies to
lower that price, the
federal government said on
Wednesday.
“Asking the FDA to rule on
voluntary labeling of GMOs
is a bad idea, plain and
simple,” said Ronnie
Cummins, national director
of the Organic Consumers
Association. “There’s a good
chance, based on past FDA
rulings, that if the FDA
finalizes its guidance on
voluntary labeling, it could
mean the end of states’
rights to label GMOs, and
the end of existing,
legitimate certified non-GMO
labels.
Power plants are the largest
concentrated source of
greenhouse gas emissions
(GHG) in the U.S.,
accounting for about
one-third of all domestic
GHG emissions. Last week,
the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) issued new
proposals for carbon
pollution standards for new
power plants.
The poll shows that 82
percent of Americans believe
that nuclear energy will be
important to the country’s
future electrical needs,
while 85 percent said they
think nuclear’s importance
in meeting U.S. electricity
needs will increase or
remain the same, with half
saying more reactors will be
needed.
Solar activity has been at
very low levels for the past
24 hours. There are
currently 4 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk.The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one and two
(27 Sep, 28 Sep) and quiet
to unsettled levels on day
three (29 Sep).
Vampires are not the only
ones who should avoid holy
water. The same advice
applies for anybody who does
not want to get sick.
New research shows that,
in Austria at least, holy
water is contaminated with
fecal matter. Here is a link
to the study, conducted by
scientists at Vienna
University Medical School's
Institute of Hygiene and
Applied Immunology,
suggesting that holy water
is not safe to drink.
For nearly a year, research
leaders have been warning
that the 5% budget cut known
as the sequester would have
dire consequences for
research. But as the end of
the 2013 fiscal year
approaches on 30 September,
it appears that—in many
cases—the bark was worse
than the bite. Still,
scientists remain very
worried about the future, as
political wrangling makes it
unlikely that Congress will
undo cuts any time soon.
Citing the rapid progress
renewables have made in
recent years, he concludes
that “Many of the debating
points we hear today are
based on outdated facts and
assumptions that don't hold
up anymore.”
Of the six myths he
covers, it is Myth #2
— “Renewables Can Replace
All Fossil Fuels” — that is
especially salient.
While it is possible to have
high levels of renewables,
he notes it would be “a
long, tough slog.”
Basic laws of supply
and demand dictate that as
global demand for energy
continues to rise, the price
of energy will rise as
well. These expected energy
price increases, along with
environmental and security
concerns, have led to an
explosion in the renewable
energy industries,
especially at the individual
consumer level.
A strong showing from global
solar photovoltaic (PV)
installations, coupled with
a sharp fall in new wind
capacity, has led to solar
growth outpacing wind this
year – for the first time
ever.
An independent scientific
review panel has concluded
that the mass stranding of
approximately 100
melon-headed whales in the
Loza Lagoon system in
northwest Madagascar in 2008
was primarily triggered by
acoustic stimuli, more
specifically, a multi-beam
echosounder system operated
by a survey vessel
contracted by ExxonMobil
Exploration and Production
(Northern Madagascar)
Limited.
South American nations are
jointly exploring the
creation of a communications
system to curtail U.S.
spying in the region,
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister
Ricardo Patino said on
Wednesday.
The state intends to appeal
a court decision that the
federal government must go
forward with a hearing on
licensing Yucca Mountain as
a high-level nuclear dump in
Nevada.
Summer’s revelations about
the National Security
Agency’s domestic
surveillance have given the
tinfoil hat crowd a boost.
In a post-Edward Snowden
world, it’s harder to label
privacy obsessives as simply
paranoid: the government
actually is
listening--or at least
collecting data. We learned
that a lot of the technology
that protects our online
activity, like the
widely-used SSL encryption
protocol, may not be
completely secure. It’s
enough to give even
techno-optimists like me the
heebie-jeebies.
An elemental
phosphorus plant owned by
the FMC Corp., on the
Shoshone-Bannock homelands
in Idaho, has been abandoned
for more than a decade. But
its legacy of pollution
remains – and it’s
jeopardizing economic
progress, public and
environmental health on the
reservation and in
surrounding communities.
Tokyo Electric Power Co
took an initial step forward
on Thursday in its plan to
recover from the Fukushima
nuclear disaster by winning
approval from a previously
reluctant local governor to
apply to restart a plant in
northwestern Japan.
Getting the green light
to seek safety approval for
the Kashiwazaki Kariwa
facility, the world's
largest nuclear plant, is a
core element of the
utility's turnaround plan as
it struggles to contain
contaminated water at the
wrecked Fukushima plant.
China's renminbi is
making solid headway towards
becoming a regional
currency. Use of the
renminbi, which is sometimes
known as the redback, is now
common in trade dealings
with many neighbouring
markets. Nevertheless,
although tight controls on
capital-account transactions
using the currency remain in
place, the renminbi is
unlikely to usurp the
US dollar's "exorbitant
privilege" as a global
currency.
Steve Taranovich at EDN has
posted an article outlining
the events leading up to the
major power grid failure in
the northeastern and
mid-western US and parts of
Canada in 2003. The article
includes an actual timeline
video and images of the 2003
outage as well as the
sequence of events that the
Genscape Real-Time North
American Power Product
(Power RT) captured,
recorded, and identified as
the blackout was happening.
Despite concerns over the
approaching federal debt
limit and lagging power
sales, the Tennessee Valley
Authority still was able to
borrow money Wednesday at
one of its lowest rates
ever.
A U.N. panel of global
climate scientists were set
to work through Thursday
night to ensure that their
strongest case yet for
man-made global warming
would make sense to the
widest possible audience.
A new proposal from the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency would place tighter
limits on carbon dioxide
emissions from new
coal-fired power plants
built in the United States.
It also would require plants
to capture and store some of
the emissions. Carbon
capture and storage (CCS)
technologies, however, are
still in the early stages of
development, and few have
been tested at commercial
scales. Meanwhile, many
planned CCS research
projects have been canceled
or delayed—including a major
planned CCS project that
Norway's government killed
last week.
As technology develops and
the U.S. garbage crisis gets
more difficult to deal with,
creative minds continue to
explore ways to use garbage
and byproducts as a
never-ending source of
renewable energy. The
technology to burn a
multitude of biomass in
pellet stoves exists, and
people across the U.S. (not
to mention the world) are
embracing ways to heat their
homes for significantly
less; with fuel that was
once earmarked for landfill.
Underscoring the Obama
Administration's efforts to
double energy productivity
by 2030 and help businesses
save money and energy, the
Energy Department today
recognized more than 120
manufacturers
(http://www.doe.gov/downloads/better-plants-fall-2013-progress-update)
that are making smart
investments to save on
energy costs, cut greenhouse
gas emissions and improve
their bottom lines.
As the US Department of the
Navy (DON) continues to
emphasize the need for
energy security, the Office
of Naval Research (ONR)
announced earlier this month
that it will increase its
support for Energy
Excelerator, a Hawaii-based
program that funds
development of new and
innovative energy ideas.
The United States, the
world's largest arms dealer,
has joined 106 other nations
in signing a treaty that
regulates global arms
trading, but there is strong
resistance in the Senate,
which must ratify it.
An armed robbery victim
turned the tables on the
three men who targeted him
outside a South Florida
night club when he chased
after them with a firearm,
authorities said.
September 24, 2013
A new study confirms
that even low levels of
arsenic in drinking
water can impair lung
function – and
researchers say some 13
million Americans may be
at risk.
Arsenic, a notorious
poison, is a naturally
occurring element that
seeps into groundwater
from surrounding soil
and rock. For many years
its presence was
dismissed by public
health officials as
presenting little risk.
No more.
"A South Carolina couple who
vowed last month to not
leave Oklahoma unless they
went home with a 4-year-old
Cherokee girl they have been
trying to adopt since her
birth were given custody of
the girl Monday night after
the Oklahoma Supreme Court
said it didn't have
jurisdiction over the child.
... Cherokee Nation
spokeswoman Amanda Clinton
confirmed that Veronica was
handed over to the
Capobiancos hours after the
Oklahoma Supreme Court
dissolved a temporary court
order leaving the child with
her father and his family."
Bank of America Corp heads
to trial this week over
allegations its Countrywide
unit approved deficient home
loans in a process called
"Hustle," defrauding Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, the
U.S. government enterprises
that underwrite mortgages.
-
Garlic has long been
hailed for its healing
powers, especially
against infectious
diseases like cold and
flu. It has immune
boosting effects, and
fresh garlic is also a
potent antibacterial,
antiviral and
anti-fungal agent
-
Studies have
demonstrated more than
150 beneficial health
effects of garlic,
including reducing your
risk for heart disease,
high cholesterol and
high blood pressure, and
various cancers such as
brain, lung and prostate
cancer
-
Research has shown that
those taking garlic
daily for three months
had fewer colds than
those who took a
placebo, and, when they
did come down with a
cold, the duration of
illness was shorter
-
Garlic must be used
fresh to give you
optimal health benefits.
To stimulate the process
that catalyzes the
formation of allicin,
compress a fresh clove
with a spoon prior to
swallowing it, or put it
through your juicer with
other veggies
Thanks to an uptick in
demand for dark chocolate as
more health-conscious
consumers seek out the
commodity, chocolate prices
are expected to hit record
highs this year.
But what exactly is
brown fat, why is it
getting so much
attention, and what can
you do to put it to work
for you?
“The reason we are
hearing about brown fat
now is because until
recently it was believed
that brown fat was found
in rodents and human
infants who use the
brown fat as a method of
staying warm,” Vandana
Sheth, a registered
dietitian and
spokesperson for the
Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics, tells Newsmax
Health.
As you read this, the eyes
of the astrophysical world
are focused on about
one-trillionth of the sky,
watching as the calm
existence of G2, a
three-Earth mass gas cloud
near the galactic center, is
viciously disrupted by a
close encounter with
Sagittarius A*, the galaxy's
supermassive black hole.
Careful observation of this
rare event is expected to
provide an enormous amount
of information on the
environment of the central
light month (about 6,000 AU)
immediately surrounding the
black hole.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover
has detected no methane on
Mars after more than a year
of extensive testing of the
Martian atmosphere using the
robot explorer’s Sample
Analysis at Mars (SAM)
laboratory. Since methane is
a key indicator for the
presence of biological
activity, its absence throws
into question the notion
that there may be life on
Mars today.
Muslim Brotherhood members
and supporters of ousted
president Mohammed Morsi
light up flares during a
demonstration against the
military backed government.
An Egyptian court on Monday
banned deposed President
Mohamed Mursi's Muslim
Brotherhood and ordered its
funds seized, a crippling
strike in the campaign to
crush the Islamist movement.
The rule would limit carbon
dioxide (CO2)
emissions from a new large
natural gas-fired plant to
1,000 pounds of CO2
per megawatt-hour, while
small gas-fired turbines
would need to meet a limit
of 1,100 pounds of CO2
per MWh. New coal-fired
units would need to meet a
limit of 1,100 pounds of CO2
per MWh, but would have the
option to meet a somewhat
tighter limit if they choose
to average emissions over
multiple years.
One set of economic
data that shocked some
economists last week was the
existing home sales report.
In spite of sharply higher
mortgage rates, sales rose
in August....
Sales of existing houses
climbed 1.7 percent in
August to a
six-and-a-half-year high,
and factories grew busier in
the mid-Atlantic region this
month, providing signs that
rising borrowing costs are
weighing only modestly on
the economy.
Google Inc. (GOOG), owner
of the world’s largest
search engine, tried to
persuade a judge that
digitally copying millions
of books for online searches
without authors’ permission
is protected by copyright
law.
The company argued today
in federal court in
Manhattan that the fair-use
provision of the Copyright
Act shields it from
liability for infringement.
Authors and a trade group
oppose the project, claiming
Google has taken away their
rights for its own gain
without compensating them.
Jaspal Subhlok, a
computer science professor
at the University of
Houston, thought his
1920s-era Montrose bungalow
was ship-shape when it came
to electricity efficiency.
Subhlok, who has owned
the house since 2004,
typically keeps his house at
a moderate 78 degrees in the
summer. He bought an
energy-efficient
refrigerator, energy-saving
light bulbs and installed
double-layered window shades
for his front windows, to
keep out the worst of
Houston's wilting summer
heat.
Scientists are more certain
than ever that greenhouse
gases from human activities
are heating the planet, the
head of the UN's climate
panel says.
-
The advent of the
television era was
instrumental in changing
the way Americans regard
food, snacking and the
family dinner, and may
have triggered the
obesity epidemic that’s
facing the US today
-
As television watching
became the national
pastime, food makers
changed their products
to be ‘TV friendly’ and
advertisers used popular
celebrities and TV
characters to promote
their processed foods
-
Snacking and TV dinners
in front of the
television replaced the
traditional family
dinner
-
Obesity has doubled
among US adults between
1990 and 2010, while
annual medical care
costs related to the
condition are estimated
to be $147 billion
Lois Lerner, a key official
in the IRS’s tea party
controversy, resigned Monday
morning as an
internal-review board was
preparing to call for her
removal on the basis of
“neglect of duties,”
according to congressional
aides from the House Ways
and Means Committee.
-
The US Food and Drug
Administration’s (FDA)
Food Safety
Modernization Act
consists of new
food-safety rules and
laws that make it
extremely difficult, and
incredibly prohibitively
expensive, for small
farms to comply
-
Small farms were
supposed to be exempt
from the burdensome
regulations, but the FDA
has said it can force
small farms to comply
-
The proposed draft
guidelines do not
recognized that the
riskiest practices to
food safety come from
industrial concentrated
animal feeding
operations (CAFOs) and
have a strong bias
against organic
agriculture
-
You can sign and add
your comments to help
protect small family
farms; the Cornucopia
Institute is going to
hand-deliver the letters
to the FDA
Critics say new Obama
administration rules to
regulate power plants'
greenhouse gas emissions
will have 'devastating
impacts' on the coal
industry. But EPA chief Gina
McCarthy disagrees.
The use of fuel cells, which
generate electricity by
driving electrochemical
reactions using hydrogen and
air, producing power with
dramatically reduced
emissions compared to
traditional
hydrocarbon-based fuels, is
growing. Hydrogen and fuel
cells offer potential
benefits for the
environment, economy and
energy security but safety
is a concern. Engineers and
scientists at the U.S.
Department of Energy's
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory have developed an
app for that.
Solar activity has been at
very low levels for the past
24 hours. There are
currently 5 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk.
The geomagnetic field has
been at quiet levels for the
past 24 hours.
Engineers at Sandia National
Laboratories are using a
falling particle receiver to
more efficiently convert the
sun's energy to electricity
in large-scale concentrating
solar power (CSP) plants.
Falling particle receiver
technology is expected to
lead to power-tower systems
capable of generating up to
100 MW of electricity.
Saudi women activists have
called for a new day of
defiance next month of the
long-standing ban on women
driving in the
ultra-conservative
kingdom.An online petition
entitled "Oct 26th, driving
for women" had on Sunday
gathered more than 5,800
signatories, as activists
try again to push
authorities to end the
unique ban."I will drive on
October 26," activist Nasima
al-Sada told AFP...
While regulations demand
that wastewater treatment
plants get nutrients out of
the water, the world’s food
supply may demand more —
that we recover and reuse
them...
Aggressive action is
certainly necessary;
eutrophication caused by
nutrients results in hypoxia
(oxygen depletion) and
harmful algal blooms that
kill aquatic life and can
lead to cyanosis (“blue baby
syndrome”) in humans.
The California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC)
has approved a settlement
agreement with Southern
California Edison (SCE) to
resolve issues regarding the
October 2007 Malibu Canyon
Fire and significantly
enhance public safety. The
settlement agreement
provides for financial
penalties for wrongdoing, as
well as increases safety
going forward by requiring
inspections and repairs to
make poles in the Malibu
area better able to
withstand high winds.
An amendment to the Energy
Savings and Industrial
Competitiveness Act
(Shaheen-Portman), the State
Energy Race to the Top
Initiative, has been ranked
#1 in cost-benefit to the
taxpayers and #2 in terms of
potential cost savings for
consumers, according to a
new analysis of the
Shaheen-Portman legislation
and its related amendments
conducted by the American
Council for an Energy
Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
When it comes to
fueling power plants,
natural gas has become the
path of “least resistance.”
But one impediment to
becoming the “fuel of
choice” has been concerns
over excessive methane
releases, which is the most
potent greenhouse gas of
them all. A new study,
though, is easing some of
those worries.
Tucson Electric Power (TEP)
has received the
Environmental Stewardship
Award for its continued
investment in solar energy
at the University of Arizona
Science and Technology
Park's Solar Zone --
designed to facilitate the
construction, testing and
evaluation of various solar
technologies. The Solar Zone
is designed to foster
collaboration among solar
industry, research and
demonstration projects on a
single 200-acre site.
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) exists to
protect our environment and
keep our land, water, air,
and health safe.
But when the EPA's
own scientists found
evidence that fracking was
contaminating water, the EPA
stopped or slowed down its
scientists' work in three
states.
Electric utilities in the
Interior-Southcentral region
known as the "railbelt" are
studying plans for $1
billion in necessary
upgrades to the regional
electrical grid. This is on
top of $1 billion in new
power generation plants that
have been built or are under
construction, state and
utility officials told an
energy conference Sept. 16.
An armed robbery victim
turned the tables on the
three men who targeted him
outside a South Florida
night club when he chased
after them with a firearm,
authorities said.
The Western United States is
setting the bar high when it
comes to renewable energy,
according to the American
Council on Renewable
Energy's (ACORE) Western
Region Report, setting a
lead that other regions
should follow.
Solar panel systems are not
all created alike. Just
because homes have a set of
solar panels on the roof, it
doesn’t mean that they all
are operating similar
systems by any stretch of
the imagination.
The Fraunhofer Institute for
Solar Energy Systems ISE,
Soitec, CEA-Leti and the
Helmholtz Center Berlin
jointly announced today
having achieved a new world
record for the conversion of
sunlight into electricity
using a new solar cell
structure with four solar
subcells. Surpassing
competition after only over
three years of research, and
entering the roadmap at
world class level, a new
record efficiency of 44.7%
was measured at a
concentration of 297 suns.
This indicates that 44.7% of
the solar spectrum's energy,
from ultraviolet through to
the infrared, is converted
into electrical energy. This
is a major step towards
reducing further the costs
of solar electricity and
continues to pave the way to
the 50% efficiency roadmap.
September 20, 2013
I am writing to alert you to
the upcoming
40th anniversary of the 1973
OPEC Oil Embargo
-- which may afford an
opportunity for your
organization to discuss the
nation's energy situation
today and the advances made
by energy efficiency and
renewable energy over the
past four decades.
American Electric Power
(NYSE: AEP) operating unit
Indiana Michigan Power today
announced that it will
retire the 500-megawatt (MW)
coal-fueled Tanners Creek 4
generating unit in
Lawrenceburg, Ind., along
with the other generating
units at the plant.
Scientists say uncertainty
is inevitable at the
frontiers of knowledge but
that policymakers and the
public often mistake it for
ignorance...
Scientists say uncertainty
is inevitable at the
frontiers of knowledge — in,
for instance, calculating
how much of Greenland will
thaw or how fast
temperatures will rise by
2100 — but that policymakers
and the public often mistake
it for ignorance.
President Bashar Al-Assad
has said it will take at
least a year and $1 billion
for Syria to surrender its
chemical weapons, as
Al-Qaeda-linked fighters
tightened their grip
Thursday on a border town.
In a confident interview
with US network Fox News,
Assad insisted Syria was not
gripped by civil war but was
the victim of infiltration
by foreign-backed Al-Qaeda
fighters.
Astronomers have used data
from European Southern
Observatory telescopes to
create a three dimensional
map of the central bulge of
the Milky Way. The gigantic
cloud at the center of our
galaxy contains a staggering
10,000 million stars (or
thereabouts) and resides
around 27,000 light-years
away. Despite the relative
proximity of the area, prior
to these new studies little
had been confirmed
concerning its origin and
structure.
-
A new UNICEF report
reveals that the
organization is tracking
the rise of online
anti-vaccination
sentiments in Central
and Eastern Europe, and
has identified the most
important “anti-vaccine
influencers” on the web
-
Instead of addressing
the evidence of
potential harm of
vaccines, UNICEF is
entering into
ever-deepening
partnerships with
vaccine company giants
like Merck and
GlaxoSmithKline
-
UNICEF devises public
relations schemes to
convince you to ignore
any science that raise
safety questions
-
In the report, UNICEF
infers that I and other
vaccine-safety advocates
are lying about the
situation and therefore
should be ignored
-
In 2009, it was revealed
that Merck had a hit
list of doctors to be
"neutralized" or
discredited for voicing
critical opinions about
the pain killer Vioxx—a
drug that ended up
killing more than 60,000
people before it was
pulled from the market
-
GSK spent more than 10
years covering up
information that proved
they knew about the
serious health dangers
of their blockbuster
diabetes drug Avandia,
as it would adversely
affect sales.
Bahrain's main Shiite
opposition group is defying
a ban by the island's Sunni
government to have direct
contacts with foreign
diplomats...
Bahrain's Western-backed
monarchy earlier this month
banned all diplomatic
contacts by political groups
unless they receive official
permission. The move was
sharply criticized by
Western governments,
including the U.S.
UC3M researchers have helped
design a system that images
the emissions of individual
vehicles in real time, on
highways up to three lanes
wide.
Education and information
about the brain
eating ameba
Naegleria fowleri that
causes encephalitis and
death including frequently
asked questions. [Ed:
multiple events have occured
in several places.]
Recent stream of
positive economic data from
China indicates the nation's
growth has stabilized. There
has been some debate around
the reasons behind this
sudden improvement. One of
those reasons is the
government's recent push
into new infrastructure
projects as well as
additional funding for
existing projects.
The Chinese Ministry of
Commerce has announced that
it will levy anti-subsidy
tariffs on imports of
polysilicon from some U.S.
manufacturers. A preliminary
investigation revealed that
some of the polysilicon
imports were subsidised and
that this had caused
"substantial damage" to
Chinese manufacturers.
In this July 19, 2007 file
photo, an iceberg melts off
the coast of Ammasalik,
Greenland. Scientists who
are fine-tuning a landmark
U.N. report on climate
change are struggling to
explain why global warming
appears to have slowed down
in the past 15 years even as
greenhouse gas emissions
keep rising. Leaked
documents show there is
widespread disagreement
among governments over how
to address the contentious
issue in the Sept. 23-26
stock-taking report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.
More than a decade after
the 9/11 attacks, the
national security state is
built up like never before,
with capabilities the public
has only begun to discover.
Law enforcement, too, has
access to technology that
was unimaginable a
generation ago.
It is alarming that
despite the unprecedented
buildup of data-gathering
power, the apparatus created
to stop mass murder is
incapable even of denying
security clearance to
psychotic mass murderers
within its own ranks.
In a new study funded by the
Alzheimer's Society and
published in the journal
Neuropharmacology,
Lancaster University
researchers found the drug
liraglutide may reverse
memory loss and the build-up
of plaques on the brain
linked to the disease. Mice
with late-stage Alzheimer's
given the drug performed
significantly better on an
object recognition test and
their brains showed a 30
percent reduction in the
build-up of toxic plaques.
Looks like our
assessment has been wrong.
The current FOMC, who has
chosen to stay the course on
securities purchases, is
even more dovish than many
had predicted. The Fed is
following a dangerous path.
Nevertheless the markets
love it.
It’s the quiet before the
storm. Or, stated
differently, tense
negotiations are now
occurring just before the
Obama administration
unleashes it “shock and awe”
campaign on the coal sector
-- an industry that has
fought to retain its throne
and that had tried
desperately to defeat the
president.
The Colorado River has
supported Native people in
the West since time
immemorial. Over the past
century, more people and
more demands have been
placed on this vital—but
limited—resource. There are
29 federally recognized
tribes in the basin that
depend on the waters of the
Colorado River and its
tributaries for many
purposes, including
irrigation, recreation,
domestic, commercial,
wildlife, instream flows,
habitat restoration,
municipal, industrial,
mining, power generation,
cultural and religious
activities. The tribes hold
a significant amount of
water rights, many of which
are the most senior in the
basin. T
Egypt's ousted president,
Mohammed Morsi, told his
wife and children he is in
good health in his first
conversation with his family
since the military removed
him from office and detained
him in a secret location
more than two months ago,
one of his lawyers said
Wednesday.
Feel like your allergies
are getting worse year after
year? They probably are.
This year allergies are
particularly bad, thanks to record
rain in parts of the
South and Northeast.
“The rain is a big
driving factor this year,”..
As summer weather fades
into fall, a new crop of
pollen is set loose across
the country, activating fall
allergy symptoms for an
estimated 40 million
Americans, according to the
Asthma and Allergy
Foundation of America.
Ragweed is the primary
allergen in fall,..
The new report warns that
antibiotic resistance is a
serious threat to public
health and undermines our
ability to treat infectious
diseases in general and
infections acquired at
healthcare facilities in
particular. It notes that
the overuse of antibiotics
is the "single most
important factor leading to
antibiotic resistance around
the world," and that part of
the problem is the routine
use of antibiotics in
livestock.
The heart-breaking news
from Fukushima just keeps
getting worse…a LOT worse…it
is, quite simply, an
out-of-control flow of death
and destruction. TEPCO is
finally admitting that
radiation has been leaking
to the Pacific Ocean all
along. and it’s NOT over….
I find myself moving
between the emotions of
sorrow and anger.
Lopsided growth of the
Earth's core could explain
why its magnetic field
reverses direction every few
thousand years. If it
happened now, we would be
exposed to solar winds
capable of knocking out
global communications and
power grids.
Halliburton Co pleaded
guilty on Thursday to
federal charges of
destroying evidence,
stemming from its role in
the 2010 BP oil disaster
that killed 11 men and sent
more than 4 million barrels
of oil spewing into the Gulf
of Mexico...
U.S. District Judge Jane
Triche Milazzo in New
Orleans accepted the
company's guilty plea from
Halliburton legal counsel
Marc Mukasey, imposed the
agreed-upon maximum fine of
$200,000 and placed the
company on a three-year
probation term.
In a close vote along
party lines – 217 to 210 –
the Republican U.S. House on
September 19 approved $40
billion in cuts to SNAP, the
federal Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance
Program, commonly known as
food stamps.
Iran's new President Hassan
Rouhani has said that his
country will never build
nuclear weapons.
Mr Rouhani also told US
broadcaster NBC he had full
authority to negotiate with
the West over Tehran's
controversial uranium
enrichment programme.
Iraq’s prime minister
appealed to his people for
support for the government’s
fight against insurgents as
bombings in central and
northern Iraq killed at
least six and wounded scores
on Wednesday.
-
The advent of the
television era was
instrumental in changing
the way Americans regard
food, snacking and the
family dinner, and may
have triggered the
obesity epidemic that’s
facing the US today
-
As television watching
became the national
pastime, food makers
changed their products
to be ‘TV friendly’ and
advertisers used popular
celebrities and TV
characters to promote
their processed foods
-
Snacking and TV dinners
in front of the
television replaced the
traditional family
dinner
-
Obesity has doubled
among US adults between
1990 and 2010, while
annual medical care
costs related to the
condition are estimated
to be $147 billion
The devastation of Japan
and its energy
infrastructure caused by a
2011 earthquake and tsunami
has led Japanese officials,
researchers and educators to
Maine as they plan a future
for their nation's energy
supply.
Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe ordered the
operator of the country's
crippled nuclear power plant
on Thursday to scrap all six
reactors at the site instead
of just four already slated
for decommissioning and to
concentrate on tackling
pressing issues like leaks
of radioactive water.
Researchers have known that
ocean temperatures are
rising but up until now
haven't had any way of
measuring the effects of
this rise on Antarctica's
glaciers. New research will
now enable scientists to
determine how quickly ice is
melting under a rapidly
changing glacier.
The only thing natural about
the "natural" label is that
such branding, naturally,
often confuses consumers.
But such misleading terms
such as "natural" and
"healthy" could soon become
history, or at the very
least score a makeover.
Large food companies have
hijacked such terms with
dubious results—and never
mind the fact "natural" is a
loaded term.
Floods in Colorado have
caused 10 leaks and spills
so far in the state's oil
and natural gas patch that
are being tracked, the
Colorado Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission
said.
Mortgage rates dropped
quickly after the Federal
Open Market Committee (FOMC)
adjourned from its sixth
meeting of 2013 this week.
In its post-meeting press
release, the Fed described
the U.S. economy as
expanding "at a moderate
pace" over the past six
weeks. However, the Fed did
not see sufficient economic
improvement to remove its
existing market stimulus.
The financial
analysis I did
recently to determine the
cost of switching 80% of
U.S. electricity production
to wind power, together with
a growing trend towards
reconsideration of
Renewable Portfolio
Standards (RPS) has
raised a serious question in
my mind about the best path
forward. In my blog posting
I came up with a figure of
$3.6 trillion to make the
switch to wind power. What I
didn't state in that blog
post was that I actually
don't think even that amount
of money gets the job done.
A peer-reviewed climate
change study released
Wednesday by the
Nongovernmental
International Panel on
Climate Change finds the
threat of man-made global
warming to be not only
greatly exaggerated but so
small as to be “embedded
within the background
variability of the natural
climate system” and not
dangerous.
Armed with the new
findings, Republicans on the
House Energy and Commerce
Committee grilled
administration environmental
policy officials about the
economic consequences of its
aggressive regulatory
crackdown on the fossil fuel
industry.
The facility will improve
water quality in local
rivers, lakes and streams.
It will also produce
commercial fertilizer from
recovered resources. Black &
Veatch is providing design,
procurement and construction
services. Ostara will
provide the nutrient
recovery system, including
equipment. Ostara will also
provide operations and
maintenance assistance to
the District once the
project is completed.
The market launch of
electric cars depends, among
other things, on how
external factors of
influence develop such as
the price of crude oil or
electricity. Besides these
cost developments, the range
of vehicles offered and the
degree of acceptance of this
new type of mobility will
also be decisive. Under
optimistic assumptions, the
joint goal of the German
government and the German
National Platform for
Electric Mobility of one
million electric cars by
2020 can be reached without
monetary measures. And even
under less optimistic
framework conditions, it
should be possible to get
150,000 to 200,000 electric
cars on Germany’s roads by
2020.
I learned, for example,
thanks to finding a Higgs
boson, physicists now have a
formula they believe can be
used to explain pretty much
any physical behavior in the
world. It's the mathematical
expression of the so-called
standard model of physics in
the slide below.
Currently, 97 percent of the
nation's electricity comes
from thermoelectric or
hydroelectric generators,
which rely on vast
quantities of water to
produce electricity,
according to a report
prepared by Synapse Energy
Economics for the Civil
Society Institute (CSI).
Comparing the production of
coal-fired electric, nuclear
and natural gas to the likes
of intermittent wind and
solar resources, the report
asks the question, "What
will happen when the water
doesn't flow?"
"I think those who have a
terminal illness and are in
great pain should have the
right to choose to end their
lives," Hawking told the
BBC.
-
A study of 13-year-olds
found that the effects
of harsh verbal
punishment may be just
as harmful to kids as
physical discipline
-
When parents used harsh
verbal discipline, the
children were more
likely to continue their
misbehavior and
demonstrate depressive
symptoms and behavioral
problems such as
vandalism or anti-social
and aggressive behavior
-
Experts recommend that
parents communicate with
their children on an
equal level, and explain
the reasons for
consequences or concerns
about their behaviors
calmly
A state senator is demanding
that Southern California
Edison fix what he calls the
"massive, recurring and
unacceptable power outages"
in the South Bay after a
widespread weekend blackout
left more than 100,000
residents without power.
In recent years, a growing
number of water utilities
have installed fuel cell
technology at water and
wastewater treatment
facilities. So, how does the
technology work? What are
the key technological and
operational advantages, as
well as the financial
benefits? Andrew Williams
investigates.
Salt River Project (SRP)
will purchase of 50
megawatts (MW) of geothermal
energy from a number of
plants located in the
Imperial Valley of southern
California near the Salton
Sea. The Salton Sea Known
Geothermal Resource Area is
one of the world's most
prolific regions for the
production of renewable
energy.
In the two years since
the state set up a voluntary
donation fund to make loans
for solar energy projects,
the program has achieved net
contributions of less than a
dollar.
And it has made no loans.
Wind, solar and natural gas
are cheaper electricity
sources than coal-fired
plants if climate change
costs and health impacts are
measured, a U.S. study
found.
Ocean energy (wave and
tidal) still remains at an
early stage, mainly at a
research and development
(R&D) phase with a few
projects going into
demonstration status or
scaling their prototypes up.
It is clear however
that governments are
gaining confidence in
the sector, with new
policies and funding
programmes introduced to
promote industry
development and bring
the technology closer to
a commercial maturity.
Key players in this
regard are the UK,
Ireland, France,
Portugal, South Korea
and Australia.
Tokyo Electric Power Co's
President Naomi Hirose told
Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe that the utility
would secure an additional 1
trillion yen ($10.05
billion) to pay for
dismantling the damaged
nuclear reactors at its
Fukushima Daiichi plant, the
Nikkei reported.
vast underground lake
beneath western Kansas and
parts of seven other states
could be mostly depleted by
2060, turning productive
farmland back to semi-arid
ground, a new study says.
The life of the
Ogallala Aquifer could
be extended several
decades, but only if
water usage is reduced,
a four-year study by
researchers from Kansas
State University found.
One of the prototype boards
shows the components. We
have spent a long time
getting this project to only
have a minimal amount of
components. This should
give The Perpetual Light a
very long life expectancy.
The Perpetual Light
is an LED light that
gets powered by an Ultra
Capacitor which gets charged
by a solar panel.. An
Ultra Capacitor doesn't have
as much power as a battery
but it lasts for about one
million cycles -- or over
2700 years -- of charging in
the sun during the day and
discharging at night!
After 10 weeks of no change,
the market's mortgage rate
momentum is shifting.
Conventional 30-year fixed
rate mortgage rates have
failed to climb since July
and they now appear to be
headed lower through the
rest of September.
Mass-produced CAFO food is
becoming more dangerous than
ever, yet US authorities
seem obsessed with
destroying small farmers and
distributors of raw and
organic foods.
You know your skin is
crawling with bacteria (if
not, sorry to break it to
you), but now researchers
have identified more
microscopic organisms on
your body: fungi.
Remember the feeling you had
one week ago today as an
estimated 880,000 bikers
rolled into Washington D.C.?
Well it would seem that this
historic event may have
inspired more Patriotic
Americans to do their part
to send a loud message to
the tyrants in Washington.
In the aftermath of the
accident many reactor
developers reviewed their
designs following government
guidance and engaged in deep
soul-searching that
continues more than two
years later.
The presidents of America
and Iran may meet briefly
next week for the first
time, marking a symbolic but
significant step toward
easing their countries'
tense relationship. An
exchange of letters between
the leaders already has
raised expectations for a
revival of stalled nuclear
talks, though Iran is still
likely to seek an easing of
international sanctions in
exchange for significant
progress.
The announcement by
the Federal Reserve that it
will make no changes in its
asset purchase program
suggests that U.S. bank
liquidity will remain near
record levels, as securities
held on the Fed's balance
sheet continue to grow. When
a tapering of QE does
eventually begin, Fitch
expects the impact of
reduced bond buying to have
little immediate effect on
banks' lending capacity and
funding costs.
U.S. Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz and Director
General of the Russian
Federation State Corporation
"Rosatom" Sergey Kirienko
have signed an agreement
between the government of
the United States of America
and the government of the
Russian Federation for
cooperation in nuclear and
energy-related scientific
research and development.
Experts had
expected the migratory shift
of marine life due to
warming seas to be slower
than that of land species,
but they said the opposite
is happening.
Warming seas are
forcing marine life to
shift toward the poles
in search of cooler
water at an alarming
rate, according to a new
study.
Though the rain has stopped,
canyon communities in
Colorado remain isolated and
surrounded by rushing water,
and 600 people are still
waiting to be rescued.
Farmers in the United States
are heading for a crisis. In
parts of the country, weeds
resistant to the world's
most popular herbicide,
glyphosate, now grow in the
vast majority of soybean,
cotton, and corn fields.
Weeds that can shrug off
multiple other herbicides
are also on the rise. At an
American Chemical Society
symposium, chemists said
they have little to offer:
Few new weed killers are
near commercialization, and
none with a novel molecular
mode of action for which
there is no resistance.
A hospital death means that
many patients are virtually
tortured during their final
days, as desperate attempts
are made to prevent the
inevitable.
The FOMC's decision to
continue buying securities
at the same pace moved a
number of markets. But who
exactly benefited from these
moves? ..Stock investors got
a nice boost and precious
metals investors enjoyed a
strong spike. These folks
should be quite happy. But
then we also saw copper
spike almost 4%. It's not
difficult to predict how US
manufacturers and building
contractors feel about that.
September 17, 2013
We feel that the best tool
for home defense is actually
a pistol, since most people
are likely to have a pistol
on hand rather than a loaded
shotgun, and also, a pistol
round (especially a hollow
point round) will expand
more, penetrate less, and
therefore not go beyond the
target it strikes. By
contrast, a 12 gauge load of
00 buckshot fires nine
perfectly round .32 caliber
balls, which expand at next
to nothing, and penetrate
deeply, even clear through a
target, and potentially
beyond.
The start of the workweek
began with a series of
bombings across Baghdad and
the Shi’ite south. At least
82 people were killed and
205 more were wounded.
Shootings and bombing also
took place throughout the
country, but most of the
casualties occurred south of
the capital.
“Of the institutions that
failed in 2009 and 2010—the
peak years of the FDIC’s
seizures—the directors and
officers of nearly one third
have been sued or negotiated
settlements with the FDIC
prior to the filing of a
lawsuit. We expect this will
increase as the year
progresses.”
On Monday, 233,000 gallons
of molasses were spilled
into Honolulu harbor. This
might sound like the
beginning of a zany
cartoon, but it’s not.
Molasses is really bad for
wildlife, and the local
officials are dealing with
an environmental disaster.
New Mexico has been swept
up in a roaring national
debate about climate change
and the future of fossil
fuels.
Federal regulations to
control emissions that cause
haze around coal-fired power
plants is forcing Public
Service Company of New
Mexico to shut down half of
its San Juan Generating
Station near Farmington,
ushering in the most
profound changes in the
state's electric system in
decades.
It’s convenient to argue
that women lie about rape,
because otherwise, a
disturbing question comes
up: Who is committing all
these atrocious acts?
Accounting for the
widespread prevalence of
sexual violence means,
essentially, admitting that
perpetrators of sexual
violence must be much, much
more common than we’d like
to think. That is,
unfortunately, the
reality...
Brazil will probably scale
down its plans for new
nuclear plants due to safety
concerns following the 2011
radiation leak in Japan and
pick up some of the slack
with a "revolution" in wind
power, the head of the
government's energy planning
agency said.
-
Dental amalgam is
composed of about 50
percent mercury, a
well-known neurotoxin.
Evidence shows mercury
is easily released in
the form of vapor each
time you eat, drink,
brush your teeth or
otherwise stimulate your
teeth
-
In January in Geneva, at
its 5th and final
negotiation session,
delegates from over 140
nations agreed to a
treaty that will address
mercury. Amalgam is part
of that treaty – every
nation must take
concrete steps to phase
down its use
-
The treaty has a road
map for how to phase
down amalgam: Switch
dental school curriculum
to composites as the
primary material;
re-train dentists,
change insurance to
prefer alternatives;
develop a national plan
to reduce amalgam use
Residents pelted Gulf
Power Company officials and
representatives of the
Florida Departmental of
Environmental Protection
(DEP) Thursday regarding
deep wastewater wells
proposed for the company's
Lansing Smith plant.
Both the power company
and DEP officials were asked
questions regarding
potential for contamination
of the aquifer and possible
home well contamination.
Both the DEP and Gulf Power
officials said the five deep
wells would not impact
drinking water or the
aquifer.
According to a new report
by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), at least 2
million people in the United
States develop serious
bacterial infections that
are resistant to one or more
types of antibiotics each
year, and at least 23,000
die from the infections.
"For organism after
organism, we're seeing this
steady increase in
resistance rates," Dr Thomas
Frieden, director of the
CDC, said in a telephone
interview. "We don't have
new drugs about to come out
of the pipeline. If and when
we get new drugs, unless we
do a better job of
protecting them, we'll lose
those, also."
The cause of water
conservation may have picked
up some surprising new
supporters: beer
drinkers. That's because
water scarcity is weighing
heavily on the brewers of
their favorite beverage.
"Without water, there is
no beer,"...
-
In the next 50 years,
research suggests 70
percent of the High
Plains Aquifer System in
the Midwestern US may be
depleted
-
Water-intensive cattle
and corn crops account
for the majority of
water usage in the US,
and the High Plains
Aquifer supplies 30
percent of US irrigated
groundwater
-
Once the aquifer is
depleted, it would take
an average of 500 to
1,300 years to
completely refill;
farmers would need to
reduce their pumping of
the aquifer by 80
percent for it to be
replenished naturally by
rainfall
-
The adoption of more
sustainable agricultural
practices, including a
return to grass-fed
cattle, will be
necessary to protect
water supplies for
future generations
There is arsenic in rice,
and it's generally higher in
brown rice than in white
rice. Consumer Reports
tested 223 samples of rice
products in 2012 and found
significant levels of
arsenic in most of them,
including inorganic arsenic
(the really toxic kind).
As Consumer Reports
found, it's not unusual to
see arsenic at levels of 200
ppb or more in rice-based
baby cereals.
Monsoon rains have
sent flash floods gushing
through all areas of the
Navajo Reservation,
inundating homes with mud
and mold.
Nongovernmental aid groups
are now targeted by regimes
suspicious of their aims.
In the former Soviet Union,
when officials thought a
citizen was stirring up
trouble, they simply shipped
him off to the Gulag. Today,
authoritarian leaders have
become more subtle about
reining in those who would
challenge the government –
especially nongovernmental
organizations promoting
democracy and greater civil
rights.
Transcending their
disagreements over Syrian
chemical weapons, the G-20
leaders managed to reach
agreement on confronting
climate change in two ways.
They will phase down
refrigerant greenhouse gases
and phase out inefficient
fossil fuel subsidies.
The GoSun Stove uses
parabolic mirrors to
concentrate sunlight onto a
glass tube and cook the
contents inside, allowing it
to act as a portable
convection oven
Hawaii, which is currently
generating nearly 14 percent
of its electricity from
renewable sources and well
on its way to achieving 40
percent clean energy by
2030, is projecting to
eclipse 40 percent and is
looking to set a new goal.
Potentially recoverable
tight oil reserves outside
the United States could
amount to 300 billion
barrels, 175 billion of
which is contained in just
23 plays, leading
consultancy IHS said
Tuesday.
"The world
has large potential
technical recoverable
resources of tight oil
possibly several times those
of North America," IHS said.
"Commercial production of
these resources could equal
and exceed the current
estimates for North America
tight oil output."
The Fukushima nuclear
disaster is driving one of
Japan's biggest industry
overhauls since World War
Two, as new, nimble
suppliers take business from
the big regional power
monopolies, and
manufacturers, from
steelmakers to drinks firms,
generate their own power and
sell what they don't need.
One-hundred and fifty years
after a treaty with England
granted the Miskito people
rights over their land--a
treaty which was never fully
respected--the government of
Honduras has officially
handed over nearly a million
hectares (970,000 hectares)
of tropical forest along the
Caribbean Coast to the
indigenous people. The
Miskito are found along the
eastern coast of both
Honduras and Nicaragua and
number around 200,000.
A wave of coal plant
retirements in the U.S. will
benefit the renewable energy
industry as wind, in
particular, appears poised
to claim market share from
marginal coal and gas
plants,
Barclays Capital
said in a Sept. 4 report.
The normal buzz of the
Washington Navy Yard's 3,000
workers will be replaced by
the meticulous work of
forensics teams, looking for
answers after military
contractor Aaron Alexis
gunned down 12 people and
wounded eight others.
Japan is shutting down its
last functioning nuclear
reactor, with no timetable
for a restart.
Reactor 4 at Ohi in
western Japan will stop
generating electricity in
the early hours of Monday.
Analysts say Japan will
be without nuclear power
until December at the
earliest, the longest
shut-down since the 1960s.
Japan is set to be
nuclear power-free, for just
the third time in more than
four decades, and with no
firm date for re-starting an
energy source that has
provided about 30 percent of
electricity to the world's
third-largest economy.
Kansai Electric Power
Co's 1,180 MW Ohi No.4
reactor is scheduled to be
disconnected from the power
grid late on Sunday and then
shut for planned
maintenance.
"I truly believe it's where
the future of our state
lies," said Sen. Pam Jochum,
D-Dubuque, who co-hosted the
event with Sen. Michael
Breitbach, R-Strawberry
Point. "It not only is good
for the environment, but
just as importantly, it's
good economics. It creates
great jobs."
PPL Corp.'s Susquehanna
nuclear power plant in
Luzerne County declared an
"unusual event" after water
was discovered leaking
inside a room in the plant's
Unit 2 reactor building.
An unusual event is the
first of the four emergency
classifications established
by the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for
nuclear power plants.
"We will conduct a full
investigation of this
incident and make any
necessary changes to be sure
it does not recur," Timothy
S. Rausch, senior vice
president and Chief Nuclear
Officer for PPL Susquehanna,
said in a press release.
Around 1,700 years ago, a
reindeer hunter lost a
well-worn, patched up tunic.
It turned up recently in
Norway, after sections of
the quickly
melting Lendbreen glacier
retreated. As glaciers
around that country melt,
more and more scraps of
ancient clothing are being
revealed. This one, however,
is in especially fine
condition.
A tweak to an automobile’s
engine software can improve
by as much as 20 percent the
estimated fuel efficiency
when using gasoline with
ethanol or methanol,
according to a non-profit
group pushing gasoline
alternatives.
Federal officials have
agreed to open more of Wayne
National Forest to
underground coal mining.
The U.S. Forest Service
said yesterday that an
environmental study
concluded that the forest
would not be significantly
affected by leasing mineral
rights and mining beneath
433 acres in Perry and
Morgan counties, east of the
town of Corning.
The federal government
owns about 41 percent of the
mineral rights beneath the
240,000-acre forest in
southeastern Ohio. There is
one active coal mine beneath
the forest, where a private
entity retained mineral
rights.
-
Fluoride is a toxic
substance that
accumulates in your
tissues over time,
wreaks havoc with
enzymes, and produces a
number of serious
adverse health effects,
including neurological
and endocrine
dysfunction
-
A rider in the 2014
House Appropriations
Bill would cut back a
lot of EPA’s work and
prevent the agency from
phasing out sulfuryl
fluoride, a toxic
fumigant used on food.
Take action now to stop
this rider!
-
Despite being severely
outspent by fluoride
proponents, citizens in
Wichita, Kansas and
Portland, Oregon voted
NO on water
fluoridation;
Connecticut, South
Carolina, and Minnesota
are looking at lifting
mandatory fluoridation
rulings
-
There are now 15
regional councils in
Queensland, Australia
that are either stopping
fluoridation or refusing
to start. Hamilton, NZ
also recently voted to
stop water fluoridation
Mortgage markets improved
last week as
weaker-than-expected
economic data helped to
lower U.S. mortgage rates.
It's a break for home buyers
and would-be refinancing
households.
Since reaching 4.5% ten
weeks ago, mortgage rates
have mostly idled.
Purchasing power remains
strong and millions of U.S.
households are still
refinance-eligible.
This week, mortgage rates
won't likely rise
Some parts of nature and
human society are more
vulnerable than expected to
climate change, according to
a draft of a U.N. report
that adds a new purple color
to a key diagram to show
worsening risks beyond the
red used so far.
It says "unique and
threatened systems" like
coral reefs, endangered
animals and plants, Arctic
indigenous communities,
tropical glaciers or small
island states seem be less
able to adapt to warming
than believed in a last
report in 2007.
Tropical forests are
important globally in
removing carbon from the
atmosphere. It has been
assumed that the tress were
the mechanism that made this
work. New research from
Princeton University has
shed insight on the
importance of bacteria that
co-exist with the trees have
in absorbing atmospheric
carbon.
A new novel adsorbent for
removing emerging
contaminants from wastewater
that is more effective,
reusable and environmentally
friendly, has been developed
by researchers in Temple
University’s Water and
Environmental Technology
(WET) Center
Kenya is no stranger to
adaptation when it comes to
food production. Kenya's
cultural and political
underpinnings are reliant
upon adaptation to current
climatic conditions. Present
predictions are that drastic
adaptation will be necessary
once again.
First of all, if canola oil
is processed from rapeseed
oil, which is highly toxic
to humans, can canola
legitimately be labeled
"organic," just because the
farmers aren't using
pesticides or chemical
fertilizers? Let's go back
to the drawing board on this
one and figure this out
before we all consume a
boatload more of "organic
canola," thinking the coast
is clear.
The Pilgrim plant is in its
sixth day of a full
shutdown. It was taken
offline Sunday because of a
steam leak in a heater line.
In addition to addressing
the leaking problem,
troubleshooters continue to
tinker with circuitry
connected to one of three
major pumps that supply
water to the nuclear
reactor. The pump has been
on the blink since.
Power plants are being
called the "largest
contributors to global
warming pollution" in the
latest report from
Environment New York
Research & Policy Center,
which also ranks New York's
biggest carbon polluters.
Several states are taking
steps to curb power plant
pollution and, subsequently,
global warming that some
scientists say will lead to
more frequent and severe
weather events like
Superstorm Sandy.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(17 Sep, 18 Sep, 19 Sep).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels on day one (17
Sep) and quiet to unsettled
levels on days two and three
(18 Sep, 19 Sep).
It happened around 3am on
the home off Melbourne near
the Eastex Freeway.
The man says he woke and
heard a noise in another
part of the house. He walked
outside to investigate and
walked around the house with
a flashlight. He didn't see
anything at first, but when
he shined the light
upstairs, he saw his window
air conditioner unit moving,
and figured someone was
inside.
At that point he says he
went to get his handgun and
slowly walked upstairs.
An unprecedented power
conservation effort helped
prevent widespread power
disruptions during
unseasonably hot weather
Wednesday, the region's
electricity grid operator
said Thursday.
PJM Interconnection,
which oversees electricity
transmission grid channels
power between utilities
throughout West Virginia, 12
other states and Washington,
D.C., said its demand
response program -- which
pays customers to curb power
use -- played a pivotal role
in keeping the power grid
stable and air conditioners
running Wednesday.
The abundance of ice on the
surfaces of Enceladus and
Europa, which are moons
orbiting Saturn and Jupiter
respectively, could provide
a perfect environment for
the production of amino
acids, when meteorites crash
into their surface, say the
researchers. Their work
further underlines the
importance of future space
missions to these moons to
search for signs of life.
The Scottish government said
on Monday it has given
consent for work to begin on
the largest tidal energy
project in Europe in
Pentland Firth, which
separates the Orkney Islands
from mainland Scotland.
Scientists at the University
of Leeds have solved a
300-year-old riddle about
which direction the centre
of the Earth spins.
The Earth's inner core, made
up of solid iron,
'superrotates' in an
eastward direction — meaning
it spins faster than the
rest of the planet — while
the outer core, comprising
mainly molten iron, spins
westwards at a slower pace.
Yes, heavy rainfall can
always cause flash flooding,
but according to local
meteorologists, what
happened in Colorado was
made worse by climate
change. How? To find the
connection, we have to look
back at the opposite of wet
— the very, very dry weather
that's become all too common
in the Centennial State.
The Syrian government of
President Bassar Al-Assad
has formally acceded to the
international treaty on
banning chemical weapons,
effective October 14.
Simultaneously, U.S. and
Russian diplomats have
agreed on removal and
destruction of all Syria’s
chemical weapons by the
first half of 2014.
On Friday, ICTMN
published an essay, "Fun
Racism Quiz: Would NFL Have
a Team Called Washington
Blackskins?", and
provocative image by Gerard
Miller that he had published
some time ago, as a college
undergraduate. Miller, an
African American, said that
the piece had convinced some
of his fellow students --
ones who didn't care about
the controversy over the
Redskins football team name
-- that it was an issue they
should care about.
As more schools try to
revise US history, it has
been found that Guyer High
School in Denton, Texas is
using an AP History book
that completely changes the
2nd amendment in an attempt
to try to “simplify” what it
says. But with more
educators trying to
brainwash kids into thinking
that gun owners are “evil”
and guns are the real
problem in the world, it’s
clear that these changes to
the 2nd amendment is not a
mistake.
There are many issues
in our world, ranging from
high unemployment rates,
poverty, crime, corruption
and failing cities. It’s
happening all around the
world even in our
communities. Experts claim
that creating more programs,
jobs, and laws will fix
these issues. It will fix
some but not all. Life will
certainly be filled with
issues; our response will
determine our future.
-
There are NO
peer-reviewed scientific
papers establishing the
safety of GMO crops.
There are, however, both
clinical and
peer-reviewed scientific
papers showing the
hazards of GMO crops,
including harmful
secondary effects
-
Epidemiological patterns
show there’s an
identical rise in over
30 human diseases
alongside our increased
usage of glyphosate and
the increased prevalence
of genetically
engineered proteins in
our food
-
Glyphosate is not “just”
an herbicide. It was
originally patented as a
mineral chelator. It
immobilizes nutrients,
making them unavailable
for your body. It’s also
patented as a potent
antibiotic that can
devastate human gut
bacteria
-
The EPA recently doubled
the amount of glyphosate
allowed in food. Soybean
oil is now allowed to
contain a whopping 4,000
times the limit at which
it can impact your
health
A United Nations team
investigating the possible
use of chemical weapons in
Syria has found “clear and
convincing evidence” that
Sarin gas, a chemical
weapon, was used in an
incident on August 21 in the
Ghouta area on the outskirts
of Damascus.
“Veronica’s human
rights as a child and as
member of the Cherokee
Nation, an indigenous
people, should be fully and
adequately considered in the
ongoing judicial and
administrative proceedings
that will determine her
future upbringing,” Mr.
Anaya stressed. “The
individual and collective
rights of all indigenous
children, their families and
indigenous peoples must be
protected throughout the
United States.”
The United Nations on
Monday is expected to
release the much-anticipated
results of an investigation
into allegations of deadly
poison gas attacks last
month near Damascus.
The inquiry report
was delivered Sunday to
Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, the U.N. said.
For "prime" borrowers, it's
getting easier to get a
mortgage...More than 58% of
banks say that demand for
purchase loans has climbed
since last quarter.
"Everybody's talking about
green, everybody says
they're doing it," said
Ujjval Vyas, a Chicago-based
attorney and sustainable
building consultant. "But if
you look at the data and you
look what's being presented
(in support of LEED),
frankly ... well, it just
doesn't pass basic muster,
period, in terms of the
level of analysis they've
done.
There is huge scientific
interest in monitoring how
the ice sheets are changing
because when ice on land
melts it drains into the
ocean, causing sea levels to
rise.
You may be one of the lucky
ones with an ideal cow that
never fusses or kicks, but
likely your cow will have
some issues. Most cows will
not kick at you maliciously
or try to escape, but cows
are immense creatures of
habit; until they are used
to you and the milking
experience they will be
nervous. This phase will
pass quickly, but here are a
few tricks I have learned
the hard way to make the
experience more enjoyable.
...in a paper published
today in PLOS Genetics
a group of researchers have
identified a network of
genes that relate to
handedness in humans. What’s
more, they’ve linked this
preference to the
development of asymmetry in
the body and the brain.
Teachers from one of
Wisconsin’s largest unions
have jumped ship -- voting
overwhelmingly to abandon
the group in the latest in a
string of setbacks for the
struggling labor movement
following Gov. Scott
Walker’s union overhaul two
years ago.
-
Over the past nine
months, the American
Dental Association, a
pro-mercury trade group,
has suffered a
succession of
humiliating defeats --
at the mercury treaty,
in the mainstream media,
and in the public health
community
-
The public health
community, an integral
part of health care in
America, now realizes
the value of
mercury-free dentistry
-
An American Public
Health Association panel
met last month to review
policy proposals and
soundly rejected one
backed by the ADA
-
In January in Geneva, at
its 5th and final
negotiation session,
delegates from over 140
nations agreed to a
treaty that will address
mercury. Amalgam is part
of that treaty – every
nation must take
concrete steps to phase
down its use
-
If you donate to
Consumers for Dental
Choice this week (by
September 21), the
Natural Health Research
Foundation (which I
founded) will match,
dollar-for-dollar, what
you give
September 13, 2013
Approximately 9 million
pounds of abandoned cathode
ray tubes have been found in
Arizona, the Basel Action
Network announced.
Consumers in California pay
an advanced recycling fee
for various electronics to
fund an electronics
recycling program.
In the Milky Way, stars are
produced at the rate of
about one per year, on
average.
If the researchers do
discover dark clouds, they
could be the “missing”
source of gamma rays, which
are produced when
high-energy cosmic rays
interact with the nuclei of
gas atoms or molecules they
bump into when drifting
through space.
“The source of more than
30 per cent of gamma rays
remains unidentified –
another big mystery our
research could throw light
on,” said Professor Burton
Big money just keeps rolling
in to the No on 522
campaign. An initiative that
would force companies to
label all genetically
modified foods (GMOs) sold
to the public at retail
outlets, 522 has a growing
list of deep-pocketed
corporate adversaries, from
Monsanto, which poured in
$4.6 million on Sept. 5
according to a filing with
the state’s Public
Disclosure Commission, to a
$3.2 million contribution
from Dupont Pioneer that was
reported yesterday.
Waves breaking over sandy
beaches are captured in
countless tourist photos.
But enormous waves breaking
deep in the ocean are seldom
seen, although they play a
crucial role in long-term
climate cycles.
When President Obama vowed
to cut greenhouse gases in
the United States, Canadian
officials got increasingly
nervous. Our friends to the
north desperately want to
build the Keystone XL
Pipeline and are now trying
to woo our president with
newfound concessions. Will
it work?
Spartanburg County deputies
said a drunk burglar is
behind bars thanks to an
armed mom and her son.
What do downtown Los
Angeles and a 9,000 foot
summit in the Oregon
Cascades have in common?
Air pollution. While
observers can point to the
vast population and its
accompanying pollution in
southern California, one
must look a bit further away
to explain the causes of
pollution on remote and
pristine mountaintops.
China unveiled comprehensive
new measures to tackle air
pollution on Thursday, with
plans to slash coal
consumption and close
polluting mills, factories
and smelters, but experts
said implementing the bold
targets would be a major
challenge.
Composting food waste is
the next step for cities
hungry to reach recycling
goals and reroute organic
matter back to the soil
instead of landfills and
incinerators.
Compostable plastics are
making the job easier but
there are challenges to
overcome from manufacturers
"greenwashing" products
labels to composters
determining what will
breakdown in an appropriate
time frame given the
temperature and moisture of
their facility.
Ohio coal company
officials repeatedly
complained about new water
pollution limits to Gov.
John Kasich, whose staff
carried those complaints to
the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency.
Documents obtained by The
Dispatch reveal a
still-unresolved dispute
between coal companies and
the Ohio EPA over new limits
set in pending water
pollution permits.
Two Democratic lawmakers in
Colorado, including the
president of the state
Senate, were recalled
Tuesday in elections brought
about by their support for
tougher gun control laws.
The National Grid
underground electric
transmission cables that run
down Derby Street have been
leaking oil into the South
River basin for years,
according to the state
Department of Environmental
Protection.
Although the last
reported leak was four years
ago, there were multiple
reports in prior years,
according to DEP spokesman
Edward Coletta.
Fukushima may turn out to be
the world's worst nuclear
disaster and may continue to
release radiation for many
years. The authorities have
been unclear about the level
of contamination caused by
fukushima in our water
supplies. Authorities have
actively worked to hide
drinking water radiation
levels that were caused by
domestic contamination.
"Texas authorities actively
hid evidence of radiation in
drinking water"
It is obvious we cannot
rely on "authorities" and
government officials to keep
us aware of radiation in our
drinking water.
Electric vehicles can now
be charged faster than an
iPhone--reducing what
previously took four hours
down to less than one hour.
This new fast-charging
technology was developed by
ABB, an energy engineering
company, at N.C. State.
Ohio continues to rank
second behind Texas for
climate-altering carbon
emissions from coal-fired
power plants.
Carbon dioxide is not the
only greenhouse gas
associated with climate
change, but it is by far the
most prevalent.
Coal-fired power plants
are the nation's biggest
source of carbon emissions.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency scientist
who first revealed the
dangers of toxic dust at the
World Trade Center disaster
site has received a second
notice of proposed removal
from her job more than a
year after a federal civil
service court ordered her
returned to work.
Evidence of diverse life
forms dating back nearly a
hundred thousand years has
been found in subglacial
lake sediments by a group of
British The possibility that
extreme life forms might
exist in the cold and dark
lakes hidden kilometres
beneath the Antarctic ice
sheet has fascinated
scientists for decades.
A pipeline leak is
causing a massive fish kill
of thousands in the waters
off Honolulu, but forget the
usual suspects, diesel fuel
or tar sands bitumen. The
culprit this time is
molasses.
The decision by Germany's
top court for public and
administrative disputes
signals that the state's
constitutional obligation to
educate children can take
precedence over customs and
practices linked to an
individual's religious
beliefs.
Gold ETFs have seen
significant outflows since
March, as investors
concerned about tighter
monetary conditions and
rising real rates, have been
exiting precious metals.
ETFs' gold holdings peaked
at the beginning of the year
and have been on a decline
since...China has ramped up
imports materially this
year. Moreover, as the
nation's economic growth
stastabilizes, the demand
should remain robust.
Coincidence? Industry
spokespeople say the
suspiciously timed
resurrection of Golden Rice
in the news is not a public
relations stunt aimed at
converting GMO skeptics. But
absent any new news on a
crop that hasn't gained
traction in more than a
decade, the move looks more
like an act of desperation
than a legitimate defense of
biotechnology.
Aquifers are underground
layers of permeable rock
that contain or transmit
groundwater. So in a region
known for being hot and dry,
this discovery is bound to
bring hope and economic
growth to the country.
The organizations contend
that "EIA's estimates in
past issues of the Annual
Energy Outlook for future
electrical generation from
renewable energy sources in
the near- and mid-term have
been unreasonably low and
have not been borne out by
actual experience."
PJM issued a notice
indicating the danger and
asking the college to turn
off lights, copiers,
computers and air
conditioning systems to
conserve energy.
The request was a
preventative move, according
to a news release from PJM.
Tuesday, the company, which
manages the transmission of
electricity over 13 states,
was forced to initiate
controlled outages in parts
of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio
and Pennsylvania after hot
temperatures and equipment
problems stressed the
system.
-
Afternoon fatigue is a
common complaint. One of
the most common causes
is post-lunch
hypoglycemia, which is
related to your
inability to effectively
burn fat
-
By switching your body
over from primarily
burning carbs to
primarily burning fats
for fuel or becoming
“fat adapted,” you
virtually eliminate such
drops in energy levels
-
Besides replacing carbs
with healthful fats,
intermittent fasting is
one of the most
effective ways to
encourage your body to
change from burning
carbs to burning fat,
thereby boosting your
mental and physical
stamina
-
Working out in the
middle of the day can
give you an energy boost
lasting three to four
hours. If you prefer
exercising in the
evenings, it's best to
avoid working out two to
three hours before
bedtime to avoid sleep
disruption
-
If you’re not sleeping
well, it will be next to
impossible to avoid
lagging energy levels.
According to recent
research, maintaining a
regular exercise program
can help improve your
sleep over time
Although greenhouse gases
and aerosols have very
distinct properties, their
effects on spatial patterns
of rainfall change are
surprisingly similar,
according to new research
from the University of
Hawaii at Manoa's
International Pacific
Research Center (IPRC) and
Scripps Institution of
Oceanography. The study is
published in the September 1
online issue of Nature
Geoscience.
These past few weeks
have created quite a stir
within Indian country. The
two most significant issues
are the recent ruling of the
U.S. Supreme Court remanding
Baby v. Adoptive Couple
back to the South Carolina
State Supreme Court using a
narrowing defining of the
Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA) and the pending State
of Oklahoma (“State”),
Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Tiger
Hobia, as Town King and
Member of the Kialegee
Tribal Town Business
Committee; Et. al.
(“Kialegee”),
Defendants-Appellants,
appeal before the Oklahoma
Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals (“Court”).
Fukushima nuclear plant
operator Tepco Electric's
response to the world's
worst atomic disaster in a
quarter century has been
called ad hoc and more
concerned with cost than
safety, but 30 months later,
the utility is still in
charge.
A federal judge who oversaw
a secret U.S. spy court
almost shut down the
government's domestic
surveillance program
designed to fight terrorism
after he "lost confidence"
in officials' ability to
operate it, documents
released Tuesday show.
There are several reports
from Saturday night of a
meteor gliding across the
Carolina skies. Eyewitnesses
reported seeing a large
bolide meteor that split
into several pieces.
After some more questions
and comments from Andrea
Rossi on the Journal of
Nuclear Physics, it appears
that there is a long-term
test underway of the E-Cat
which seems to have the
purpose of validating
Rossi’s theory behind the
‘Rossi Effect’. Rossi has
said earlier this week that
there are no violations of
currently...
The E-Cat and Hot Cat both
have passed their
certification tests, and
have been validated by
independent third party
tests. However, research and
development continue. Even
as the talk of robotized
assembly lines are being
discussed for the
manufacturing facility,
Andrea Rossi and his team
continue to collect data for
analysis
The almost total blockade of
Libya's oil exports was
confirmed Thursday as
state-owned National Oil
Corporation declared force
majeure on crude loadings
from the Mellitah, Zawiya
and Marsa el-Hariga export
terminals.
-
According to a recent
study, mental disorders
and substance abuse
combined were the
leading cause of
non-fatal illness
worldwide in 2010,
contributing nearly 23
percent of the total
global disease burden
-
Depressive disorders
were the most common,
followed by anxiety
disorders, drug use
disorders, and
schizophrenia
-
Mental and substance use
disorders were
responsible for higher
global death and illness
rates than HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, diabetes,
and car accidents
-
High sugar intake can
exert a toxic effect on
mental health by causing
insulin and leptin
resistance; suppressing
activity of a key
hormone called BDNF,
which is critically low
in depressed patients;
and promoting chronic
inflammation, which is
thought to be a primary
cause of depression
-
Previous studies have
also shown that
aspartame has a
detrimental effect on
your brain function,
neurological, cognitive,
and behavioral health
-
Genetically engineered
foods, as well as the
herbicide glyphosate—can
significantly alter your
gut flora, thereby
promoting pathogens
while decimating the
beneficial microbes
necessary for optimal
mental and physical
health
Acidification of the Arctic
Ocean is occurring faster
than projected according to
new findings published in
the journal PLOS ONE. The
increase in rate is being
blamed on rapidly melting
sea ice, a process that may
have important consequences
for health of the Arctic
ecosystem.
In the new paper titled
‘Field Investigations of
Glyphosate in Urine of
Danish Dairy Cows’ published
in the Journal of
Environmental & Analytical
Toxicology, researchers led
by Dr Monika Krüger reveal
that “all cows investigated
at the eight Danish dairy
farms excreted glyphosate in
their urine at significant
different amounts
between the farms.”
North Korea may have
restarted a nuclear reactor
capable of producing enough
plutonium to make one atomic
bomb every year, a U.S.
research institute said.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission told lawmakers
that regulators are moving
to comply with a court
ruling that revives plans
for a spent nuclear fuel
repository at Yucca Mountain
in Nevada, according to
The Hill.
The chairman of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission told a
congressional panel that the
Commission is still unsure
if it will appeal the court
ruling to restart the Yucca
Mountain project.
There's a lot going on at
the Department of Energy's
National Renewable Energy
Laboratory. The NREL has
announced the official
opening of the Energy
Systems Integration Facility
(ESIF) -- the country's
first research facility
dedicated to clean energy
grid integration and
wide-scale deployment -- and
has dedicated a
supercomputer with the
world's largest computing
capability to be utilized
within the ESIF. The new
facility will also be home
to research collaborations
with Toyota and the U.S.
Army.
• Secret deal places no
legal limits on use of data
by Israelis
• Only
official US government
communications protected
• Agency insists it complies
with rules governing privacy
The National Security Agency
routinely shares raw
intelligence data with
Israel without first sifting
it to remove information
about US citizens, a
top-secret document provided
to the Guardian by
whistleblower Edward Snowden
reveals.
Extreme heat Tuesday
prompted the electricity
grid operator for Ohio and
12 other states to tell
utilities to temporarily cut
power to customers to
prevent an uncontrolled
blackout.
One-third of all the world’s
food is wasted every year at
enormous economic and
environmental cost, finds a
United Nations report
released Wednesday.
An important discovery has
been made concerning the
possible inventory of
molecules available to the
early Earth. Scientists led
by Sandra Pizzarello, a
research professor in ASU's
Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, found that the
Sutter's Mill meteorite,
which exploded in a blazing
fireball over California
last year, contains organic
molecules not previously
found in any meteorites.
These findings suggest a far
greater availability of
extraterrestrial organic
molecules than previously
thought possible, an
inventory that could indeed
have been important in
molecular evolution and life
itself.
Here are the ten most common
PPCPs in US drinking water,
according to the AP. Note
that results are in tinier
amounts than those possible
with most conventional
testing. Results are
reported in ppt (parts per
trillion).
PhotoFlow is a
two-in-one concept
design that combines
solar power
generation with
rainwater collection
In many countries
around the world the
supply of electricity
and clean water is often
sporadic and of poor
quality. Consulting and
design company NOS is
looking to address this
problem with PhotoFlow,
a two-in-one concept
design that combines
solar power generation
with water collection
and storage.
A series of mechanical
difficulties at the Pilgrim
Nuclear Power Station has
kept the plant from
operating at peak for more
than two weeks.
Currently Pilgrim is
completely off the electric
grid, shut down Sunday
evening because of a steam
leak in a pipe supplying hot
water to the nuclear
reactor.
A blast of late summer
heat baked the U.S. Midwest
on Tuesday, with officials
closing public schools in
Illinois and Ohio and
opening cooling centers as
record high temperatures
roasted parts of the region.
Record temperatures were
tied or broken in several
Midwestern cities, according
to the National Weather
Service. In Chicago, the
temperature reached 95F
(35C), tying a record set in
1983.
Redlands is home to the
highest polluting power
plant in the state,
according to a new study.
The Mountain View Power
Plant on the city's
northwest side, owned by
Southern California Edison,
emits about 1.85 million
metric tons of carbon
dioxide a year, according to
a report released Tuesday by
the nonprofit Environment
California Research and
Policy Center.
The Mortgage Bankers
Association's refinance
index fell by 28% over the
past week, as the refi gravy
train came to a screeching
halt. The Google Trends
search frequency for
"mortgage refinance" remains
a good indicator of refi
activity and is now at the
lowest level in years.
The report, called the
“U.S. Solar Market Insight:
2nd Quarter
2013,” says the 2nd
quarter was the solar
industry’s second best
quarter ever, and
represented a 15 percent
growth over the first
quarter.
The utility sector
completed 38 photovoltaic
(PV) projects totaling 452
MW, a 42 percent increase
over the previous quarter.
The residential sector,
however, experienced a flat
quarter.
Conservationists say that
climate change has caused a
decline in whitebark pines
in recent years, which
produce the nuts that are a
food source for grizzlies
and black bears. During this
same time, several attacks
on visitors have been
recorded in the park
straddling Wyoming, Montana
and Idaho.
True or false: solar and
wind power are freely
available and clean, and
thus should always be stored
when they generate more
energy than the grid can
use? It's easy to assume
that renewable energy should
never be turned off, but
scientists at Stanford have
done the math to find the
break-even point where
storing energy is better
than "wasting," or
curtailing, that energy, and
their findings aren't
necessarily as you'd think.
-
When you exercise while
fasting, it essentially
forces your body to shed
fat, as your body's fat
burning processes are
controlled by your
sympathetic nervous
system (SNS), and your
SNS is activated by
exercise and lack of
food
-
Exercise and fasting
together also yields
acute increases in
oxidative stress, which
actually benefits your
muscle
-
You can get many of the
same benefits of fasting
and exercise by
exercising first thing
in the morning, before
breakfast when your
stomach is empty
-
If your workout includes
heavy lifting, it’s
important to eat within
30 minutes after your
workout, and your meal
should include
fast-assimilating
protein
As the five-year
anniversary of Lehman
Brothers approaches, small
businesses continue to
struggle to secure the
financing they need to run
and grow their businesses,
according to a recent survey
by Merchant Cash and Capital
(MCC).
“Without access to
capital, small businesses
will continue struggling to
grow and hire, which is
critically important to
economic recovery in the
U.S.”
North America's biggest
100-percent biomass plant is
a former coal plant under
conversion about a two-hour
drive west from Thunder Bay,
Ontario. The facility burned
its last load of coal and
powered down one year ago,
but it's all abuzz with
activity now. I got an
up-close look at the
upgrades in-progress as part
of a tour of renewable
energy companies, groups,
and facilities sponsored by
the Ontario Ministry of
Economic Development, Trade
and Employment (MEDTE).
The draft, according to a
copy obtained by Reuters,
would then order "immediate
on-site inspections of
Syria's chemical, biological
and related vehicles".
The Syrian government has
acknowledged it agreed with
Russia that it would sign
the 1993 chemical weapons
convention,..
Opposition to American
involvement in the war in
Syria is uniting the far
left and the far right in a
new coalition for peace and
the Constitution. It is not
just an alliance of strange
bedfellows -- it could be
the harbinger of a national
partisan realignment in
post-Obama America.
Obama is generally firm in
his belief that he needs to
vindicate the threat he made
last summer when he was
trying to outdo Mitt Romney
on sounding tough. It was
then that Obama threatened
to intervene in the Syrian
civil war if chemical
weapons were used by the
government. Nevertheless,
hating the international
embarrassment visited upon
him when suddenly Putin
seems more reasonable than
he does, Obama conceded to
my Fox News colleague Chris
Wallace that the
Kerry-inspired and
Putin-pushed idea seemed
worth considering. And then
the Syrian government
agreed.
-
Exposure to even trace
amounts of copper in
drinking water may
increase your risk of
Alzheimer’s disease
-
Copper interfered with
the proper functioning
of a protein LRP1, which
helps clear amyloid
beta, a toxic protein
linked to Alzheimer’s,
from the brain
-
If you’re deficient in
zinc, and many are, it
can lead to copper
toxicity, and thereby
possibly increase your
risk of Alzheimer’s
-
Excess copper stimulated
inflammation of brain
tissue that likely
contributes to
Alzheimer’s; separate
research found that
brain inflammation
appears to worsen
Parkinson’s disease
symptoms such as
depression, fatigue and
cognitive impairment
Tokyo Electric Power Co
(Tepco) said tritium levels
in water taken from a well
close to a number of storage
tanks holding irradiated
water rose to 97,000
becquerels per liter on
Wednesday from 64,000
becquerels/liter measured at
the same location a day
earlier.
Although the UK currently
only has one major
desalination plant in
operation in London, the
country could have at least
four major municipal plants
by 2050 and up to 800
smaller units.
The effect of today's
mortgage rates might be less
than you think.
After a rapid rise though
May and June, mortgage rates
have held steady.
The popular 30-year fixed
rate has been mostly
unchanged through July,
August and September.
Home affordability is the
same, and your maximum home
purchase price is only
marginally lower as compared
to 10 weeks ago.
The chairman of the US
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission on Thursday
raised the possibility of
isolating regions of the
electric grid in the event
of a serious cybersecurity
event or natural disaster,
calling attacks on key
transmission substations one
of the biggest risks the
grid faces.
The Obama Administration is
investing more than $45
million in 38 vehicle
technology R&D projects to
boost fuel efficiency, lower
transportation costs, and
protect the environment
nationwide.
Showing continued growth in
the market, the U.S.
installed 832 MW of solar
capacity in Q2 2013,
representing 15 percent
growth over the first
quarter, making it solar's
second best quarter ever,
according to GTM Research
and the Solar Energy
Industries Association.
Pharmaceuticals and Personal
Care Products as Pollutants
(PPCPs) refers, in general,
to any product used by
individuals for personal
health or cosmetic reasons
or used by agribusiness to
enhance growth or health of
livestock. PPCPs comprise a
diverse collection of
thousands of chemical
substances, including
prescription and
over-the-counter therapeutic
drugs, veterinary drugs,
fragrances, lotions, and
cosmetics.
The importance of
individuals adding chemicals
to the environment has been
largely overlooked. The
discovery of PPCPs in water
and soil shows even simple
activities like shaving,
using lotion, or taking
medication affect the
environment in which you
live.
September 10, 2013
Our sun provides an
abundance of free power, yet
we don’t even use 1 percent
of it. Even if everyone were
to put solar power on their
homes, we still would use
only a miniscule fraction of
the power that it provides.
It is easy to cook with
solar power by using a solar
oven. A solar oven operates
under the principle of
concentrating the sun’s
rays, intensifying them and
the heat that they create.
If enough sunlight is
concentrated on the same
spot, it’s possible to use
it to melt steel.
It is true that USPS is
facing fiscal challenges —
it lost nearly $20 billion
over the last four years and
is at risk of not being able
to meet a $5.5 billion
mandated payment to the
Treasury at the end of this
month (which has been put
off six weeks thanks to the
last continuing resolution
in Congress).
But what has been lost in
the political debate over
the Post Office is why
it is losing this money.
Major media coverage points
to the rise of email or
Internet services and the
inefficiency of the post
model as the major culprits.
About a million more square
miles of ocean are covered
in ice in 2013 than in 2012,
a whopping 60 percent
increase -- and a dramatic
deviation from predictions
of an "ice-free Arctic in
2013,"
Assad likely agreed to the
Putin plan because he knows
that he can't use gas now.
The furor that has been
ignited by the use of gas in
the past has brought the US
to the verge of
intervention. He well knows
that if he used gas now, all
hell would break loose.
There would be no debate.
The bombs would fly.
The 2013 Atlantic
hurricane season, which
forecasters had predicted
would be more active than
normal, has turned out to be
something of a dud so far as
an unusual calm hangs over
the tropics.
As the season heads into
the historic peak for
activity, it may even enter
the record books as marking
the quietest start to any
Atlantic hurricane season in
decades.
Scientists seeking to
understand the forces at
work beneath the surface of
Earth have used seismic
waves to detect previously
unknown "fingers" of heat,
some of them thousands of
miles long, in Earth's upper
mantle. Their discovery,
published Sept. 5 in Science
Express, helps explain the
"hotspot volcanoes" that
give birth to island chains
such as Hawai'i and Tahiti.
The Life-Altering Effects Of
PPCPs In Drinking Water.
Are man-made chemicals
unmaking man? Studies
suggest action may not only
be needed, but overdue.
Recent research suggests
that exposure to PPCPs in
drinking water may subject
humans, particularly males,
to gender-morphing and other
reproductive system
alterations.
Before there was
the grid, there was
the microgrid.
Electrification in the
United States often
proceeded from a diesel
generator and local
distribution in an isolated
town to the development of
the big utilities and
complex grid of generation,
transmission and
distribution of the 21st
century.
As the implosion of Syria
accelerates, the question of
what Bible prophecy says
about the future of Syria is
being asked more frequently.
During the horrific civil
war that is underway there,
more than 110,000 Syrians
have been killed thus far,
including, reportedly,
through the use of chemical
weapons in Damascus.
Some FOMC members
continue to focus on the
historically low inflation
levels in the US. They are
worried about repeating the
Japan experience of being
stuck in a deflationary
regime for years. They want
to see some inflation return
before changing policy.
Radiation from Japan’s
Fukushima nuclear disaster
has been detected in the air
in five Western states and
in rainwater in at least two
so far.
While federal
officials continue to
assure the public that
no harmful levels have
reached the United
States, some Americans
have not been content to
take the government at
its word. Geiger
counters have been
selling like popsicles
in summer, and traffic
has never been higher at
websites that display
data from radiation
monitoring stations.
Hashberger believes that the
values — life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness —
for which he and his family
have sacrificed are being
trampled on by oil and gas
companies. "The state of
Ohio has done everything it
can possibly do to make it
easy for oil and gas
companies to do business."
The Global Breakthrough
Energy Movement (Global BEM)
conference coming up in
Boulder at the University of
Colorado, Oct. 10-12 has a
great list of speakers
touting the latest findings
and theories of the various
modalities of breakthrough
energy and how to harness
the "wheelwork of nature",
as Tesla called it, for use
in the home and industry.
Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, trying to
win U.S. backing for the
Keystone XL pipeline, has
sent a letter to President
Barack Obama proposing joint
action to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions in the oil and
gas sector, CBC News said on
Friday.
It's been four-and-one-half
years since the Home
Affordable Refinance Program
launched. Better known as
"HARP", the mortgage for
underwater homeowners has
been used more than 2.7
million times in total, and
there's a chance Congress
could soon pass HARP 3 which
would amplify closing totals
through 2015.
On June 28, 2013 the
Hawaiian Electric Company
(HECO) released its
Integrated Resource Plan
(IRP) which outlines how it
will meet electricity demand
over the next five years and
how it will achieve the
Renewable Portfolio
Standards (RPS) which
require that 25% of
generation be from
renewables by 2020 and 40%
by 2030.
Like
to tweet? Make sure you
aren't letting people know
exactly where yoy are by
accident.
As
you may suspect, this can be
very dangerous since it
allows others to know
exactly where you are at all
times. So you can opt to
turn off your geotagging
settings, but what happens
when your social media sites
can access your location,
even if you don’t offer it
up
The United States thought it
had nuclear issues. But,
compared to Japan, its
problems are far less
severe. This week, Japanese
officials announced a $500
million to plan to try and
stope radioactive water from
leaking into the Sea of
Japan -- one that will
freeze the ground soil using
"ice walls." ..
Critics of the "ice wall”
are saying that Japan should
take a page from Ukraine’s
playbook and completely seal
off the failed facility.
-
King Corn follows two
college buddies as they
set out to learn more
about corn—how it’s
grown, and how it ends
up in so many of our
foods. What they find
raises troubling
questions about how we
eat—and how we farm
-
Far from providing us
with critical nutrition,
US agricultural policies
contribute to the
declining health of
Americans and worsens
the out-of-control
obesity epidemic
-
The US farm subsidy
program is completely
upside down, subsidizing
junk food in one federal
office, while across the
hall another department
is funding an
anti-obesity campaign
-
Over the past 15 years,
taxpayers have paid corn
farmers more than $77
billion in subsidies,
and more than 75 percent
of farm subsidies are
paid to a mere 10
percent of America’s
farmers
Americans are fat. Obesity
levels in the United States
are at an all-time high. And
researchers, scientists, and
the medical community have
identified the culprit …
wheat.
-
Farmers plant Monsanto’s
Bt corn because it
contains a built-in
pesticide that kills
certain insects when
they eat it, but now the
corn rootworm is
developing resistance
-
Regions across the US
Midwest are experiencing
severe damage from the
resistant corn rootworm
in Bt corn crops
-
Reduced insecticide use
has been touted as one
of the significant
benefits of GM crops
like Bt corn, but
insecticide use is now
increasing as farmers
attempt to save their
failing Bt crops from
pests
-
Studies show that the
influenza vaccine is
ineffective in the
elderly and very young,
and recent animal
studies suggest that
vaccinating against one
strain of influenza may
actually increase the
risk of being infected
with a related but
different influenza
strain
-
Recent research raises
very important questions
about the approach taken
in the development of a
universal flu vaccine,
which targets the
“stalk,” or non-mutating
part of the virus.
-
In 2009, researchers
also noticed that people
who had gotten a flu
shot the previous year
were MORE likely to
succumb to the novel
H1N1 strain, compared to
those who had not
received a flu shot the
previous year
-
Infants born to mothers
who received the
measles-mumps-rubella
(MMR) vaccine lose their
passively acquired
immunity from their
mothers two months
sooner than those born
to mothers who were
naturally infected with
measles
-
Instead of addressing
the scientific evidence
demonstrating vaccine
risks and failures,
UNICEF is focusing on
public relations schemes
to convince you not to
pay attention to the
available science
The statement added that six
districts in this coastal
city of 800,000 people have
been affected by the
"infiltration of alleged
MNLF members," with 20
hostages taken in the
district of Santa Catalina.
A NASA-led team of
scientists has uncovered
strong evidence that soot
from a rapidly
industrializing Europe
caused the abrupt retreat of
mountain glaciers in the
European Alps that began in
the 1860s, a period often
thought of as the end of the
Little Ice Age.
Residents and businesses who
have installed rooftop solar
energy systems stand to lose
most of their future energy
savings under a new
provision to pending
legislation, according to
the Agricultural Energy
Consumers Association
(AECA). The amendment, they
say, would jeopardize
billions of dollars of
public and private
investment by schools,
public agencies, cities,
businesses and homeowners.
A previously unknown channel
of slow-moving seismic waves
in the Earth’s mantle has
been discovered by a team of
scientists from the
University of California,
Berkeley and the University
of Maryland. These waves
help to explain “hotspot
volcanoes” that give birth
to island chains such as
Hawaii and Tahiti. The
findings of this study have
been published in
Science Express.
Cosmic rays are thought to
be the highest-energy
particles in the universe.
Some can reach energies of
300 EeV, which is forty
million times the energy at
which particles collide at
the Large Hadron Collider
and approximately the
kinetic energy of a tennis
ball being served at 115
km/h (70 mph).
Americans have cut their
per-person driving miles in
46 states plus Washington,
D.C., since the middle of
the last decade, according
to a new report from the
U.S.
The pending closure of
the Vermont Yankee Nuclear
Power Station is the latest
in a string of planned plant
retirements that many
industry analysts say
forecast a
shrinking role for nuclear
in the nation’s energy mix.
Vermont Yankee, which
began operating in 1972, is
the fifth reactor in the
country to be scheduled for
closure over the past year,
dealing another blow to
industry hopes of a nuclear
renaissance. While four new
reactors are scheduled to
come online over the next
several years
A corrosive drilling fluid
that triggered the North
Sea's worst gas leak in 20
years could threaten similar
deep-sea wells across the
world, and operator Total
has already warned Shell
that its nearby Shearwater
field may be at risk.
Iranian oil minister Bijan
Zanganeh said Monday it was
unlikely that OPEC would be
able to appoint a new
secretary general to run the
group's Vienna secretariat
when it makes another
attempt in December to fill
the post, parliamentary news
service icana.ir reported.
He said that the rate and
strength of radioactive
pollution coming from
Fukushima is equivalent to
ten Hiroshima bombings
per hour. He also stated
that if something isn't done
about this escalating
problem, it could kill
everyone on the planet,
primarily through cancer.
As a preventative
measure that anyone can do
now, he suggested that you
take 15 mg of elemental
iodine every day,
Two weeks after an
electrical malfunction
caused the shutdown of the
Pilgrim Nuclear Power
Station's reactor, the plant
is still not at full power.
Leaders who would consider
involving the United States
in Syria’s civil war against
the will of the American
people should weigh their
decision against Ronald
Reagan’s four principles for
“the application of military
force abroad.”
The 14-year Southwest
drought is slowly reducing
the quantity of
hydroelectric power that
local governments and
electric utilities in
California, Nevada and
Arizona draw from Hoover
Dam.
Power users in Nevada and
California, some of whom
worry about higher rates
from lower amounts of
hydropower, fear the decline
in Hoover power may be even
more rapid next year because
of increasing water
shortages in the Colorado
River.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(10 Sep, 11 Sep, 12 Sep).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on day one (10 Sep),
quiet to unsettled levels on
day two (11 Sep) and
unsettled to active levels
on day three (12 Sep).
A San Mateo resident shot
two intruders in a gun
battle that occurred during
a home invasion late
Wednesday night, killing
one, police said Thursday.
The ACEEE analysis looked at
the impacts of several
provisions in the bill as
well as a group of related
amendments under
consideration. These
provisions cut government
and industrial energy waste
and help homeowners finance
energy-efficiency
improvements, among other
energy-saving measures.
ACEEE found that the
proposals being considered
could, in combination, save
consumers and businesses
over $65 billion on their
energy bills by 2030.
Concerns over electrocution
and a lack of roof access
hampered firefighting
efforts at Dietz & Watson
blaze
South Korea on Friday
extended a ban on Japanese
fishery imports to a larger
area around the crippled
Fukushima nuclear plant due
to growing concerns over
radiation contamination.
Syria on Tuesday said the
government would take the
deal proposed by Russia to
turn over its chemical
weapons cache to
international control, the
nation’s foreign minister
said.
Sometime in the next two or
three months, something
special will happen: the
magnetic field that emanates
from the Sun and extends
throughout the entire solar
system will reverse in
polarity...
Every 11 years, the strength
of this magnetic field
gradually decreases to zero,
then emerges in the opposite
direction, as part of
the solar cycle.
The prime minister,
Shinzo Abe, must decide soon
whether or not to go ahead
with a planned rise in the
national consumption tax.
Many think that raising the
tax is vital to cutting
Japan's enormous public
debt, which now exceeds 220%
of GDP. But Mr Abe faces a
dilemma over whether fiscal
tightening of this kind will
disrupt his reflationary
economic policy (dubbed
"Abenomics") by hitting
private consumption at a
time when the recovery is
still fragile, and by
causing interest rates to
jump.
Raising the tax is not
part of Abenomics.
In addition to
struggling with the ongoing
emerging markets rout,
Turkey is feeling the
pressure from the Syria
conflict. The Turkish
government is now pushing
the US to conduct a
Kosovo-style bombing
campaign lasting for months.
It is also unclear how
negotiations will work. The
Pakistani Taliban have
repeatedly said that they
aren’t prepared to lay down
their arms during
negotiations or concede on
issues like female education
or recognize the authority
of what they say are
“un-Islamic” law
There will be less left to
waste if advances in
refuse-derived fuel take
some big steps forward in
the next four decades, he
added. All eyes and many
minds are on the organic
fraction of the waste stream
and anaerobic digestion.
Ever notice how some
dominant society people tend
to talk about the past,
particularly when it comes
to Indian history? “Well
that was a long time ago,”
some will dismissively say.
“You can’t turn back the
clock,” is another typical
phrase. And then there is
this gem: “What’s past is
past.”...
So, here’s a question:
Are the “fundamental and
organic laws” of the United
States existing only in the
past, or do those laws exist
in the present (with their
underlying Christian
theology as against
“heathens and infidels”),
and will they continue to
exist in the future until
overturned and
disestablished?
September 6, 2013
The World Bank has
crunched the numbers and the
results are in. Five of the
world’s 10 cities most at
risk of flooding as climate
change causes sea levels to
rise are in the United
States.
In terms of the overall
cost of damages, they are:
Miami, which is at greatest
risk, followed by New York,
New Orleans, Tampa and
Boston.
“It is amazing to watch the
growth of the biofuels
industry from a global
perspective,” said Bliss
Baker, spokesperson for the
GRFA. “Today, governments
have embraced biofuels in
every corner of the world,
from Australia to Zimbabwe.”
Dr. Turner Bledsoe, 79,
said walking 70 miles over
the past six days hurt.
"Every step was painful,"
said the Hingham resident.
But, he added, "It's the
most important hike of my
life."
Fukushima leaking
radioactive water for ‘2
years, 300 tons flowing into
Pacific daily’
The August Non-Farm
Payrolls report fell short
of Wall Street expectations,
showing just 169,000 net new
jobs created last month,
plus downward revisions to
the prior two months of
results. Analysts expected
to see 177,000 jobs created
last month.
The "miss" has sent
mortgage rates of all types
lower. Conforming, FHA, VA
and USDA mortgage rates are
dropping. Jumbo mortgage
rates are falling, too.
The machinery and
manpower behind the Permian
Basin's oil boom brought
surging electricity prices
that have slowed somewhat
from a costly 2012 but
nonetheless prompt worry, as
oilfield production
continues to outpace new
transmission infrastructure.
Some utility and oilfield
experts foresee a crisis in
coming years akin to the
much-discussed strain on
roadways, water supplies and
municipal services --
barring an aggressive
infrastructure build-out.
Solar power remains a
hard sell in the United
States, but researchers in
Washington have developed a
way to harness the heat of
the sun to boost the
efficiency of conventional
power plants.
The new technology allows
a natural gas-fired plant to
generate 25 percent more
electricity from the same
amount of fuel. And it also
reduces greenhouse-gas
emissions, says Robert
Wegeng, the Pacific
Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL) engineer
who's leading the project.
There is a lot of talk in
the press about pollution
and climate change but much
of the information available
can be unclear and often
raises more questions than
it answers. What are the
causes of climate change?
How do individuals
contribute? What can be done
about it?
Highly radioactive water to
either be boiled until it
evaporates, or dumped in
ocean.
The problem now is what
to do with groundwater
that’s leaking into the
damaged basements of the
reactor buildings and
passing out contaminated,
said Michael Friedlander, a
former nuclear plant
operator and engineer. [...]
[Tepco] is having to
store the radioactive water
in massive tank farms built
around the site — a
makeshift solution with no
good permanent fix
A coalition of community,
animal welfare and
environmental organizations
is filing a lawsuit against
the United States
Environmental Protection
Agency challenging the
Agency’s withdrawal of a
proposed rule that would
have allowed EPA to collect
basic information, like
locations and animal
population sizes, from
factory farms.
"An Oakland man has been
convicted of first-degree
murder for using an assault
rifle to gun down a friend
and wound another during an
argument over the existence
of God. Douglas Yim, 33, was
found guilty by an Alameda
County jury on Tuesday of
killing Dzuy Dunh Phan, 25,
of Alameda. Yim was also
convicted of assault with a
firearm and mayhem for
wounding Paul Park of El
Sobrante. He faces more than
100 years in prison at a
November sentencing."
[editor's note: Not sure I
even want to know which side
of the argument he was on!
With court appeals, a bill
in the U.S. Senate and the
possible resumption of
licensing hearings all in
play, the next three months
will prove critical in
determining the future of
Yucca Mountain as a
repository for the nation's
high-level nuclear waste,
executive director of the
state Agency for Nuclear
Projects Bob Halstead told
the Las Vegas City Council
Wednesday.
Deer
Trail can't keep up with
demand for licenses to hunt
unmanned aerial vehicles —
even though the town hasn't
yet passed an ordinance
allowing them to be issued.
Southern California Edison
now says it needs at least
$2.4 billion from ratepayers
over the next seven years
for the shuttered San Onofre
nuclear plant. ..
The utility said it needs
the money to compensate
shareholders for their
investment in the
30-year-old plant.
The proposal faces strong
opposition.
...our
national energy policy has
shifted and changed,
allowing for greater
integration of renewable
energy along with more
domestic fossil fuel
production (in the form of
natural gas) and greater
emphasis on demand
management and energy
efficiency. On the face of
it, if asked to guess, I’d
have said quickly—and rather
confidently—that compared to
the 1970s, US energy policy
today has pushed our nation
to smarter energy use and
increased energy efficiency.
But, to a certain degree,
my assumption would be
incorrect
The Japanese authorities
have been covering up the
true depth of the disaster
because they don’t want to
embarrass themselves and the
global nuclear industry and
they are trying to open up
another nuclear plant in
Japan. When the Japanese
people now find out that the
accident is worse than we
thought and they have been
leaking many tons of
radioactive water into the
Pacific Ocean for almost two
and a half years, this is a
catastrophe.
The international market for
geothermal power is showing
continued strong growth with
70 countries moving forward
with nearly 700 geothermal
projects, according to the
Geothermal Energy
Association (GEA).
Gov. Phil Bryant is
interested in Mississippi
getting in on "recycling,"
or reprocessing, nuclear
waste and perhaps
manufacturing components for
reactors, not nuclear waste
storage.
Hawaii is known for it's
pristine beaches and it's
750 miles of coastline.
However with looming sea
water rise due to melting
ice caps and climate change,
a new study by the
University of Hawaii shows
the state is on pace to lose
100 feet of beach in the
coming decades.
According to the study,
Maui beaches are most at
risk as the sea-level rise
is approximately 65% higher
compared to the island of
Oahu.
While many beaches have
been faced with erosion for
years, predictions show that
beaches will start to
disappear even faster.
Hawaiian Electric Co. will
deactivate its 59-year-old
Honolulu Power Plant in
January as part of its
strategy to increase the use
of renewable energy and
reduce Hawaii's dependence
on imported fossil fuel,
company officials said
Tuesday.
You know that like
attracts like, right? So
here’s the deal: Positive
people are drawn to positive
energy; negative people are
drawn to negative energy.
We tend to perceive
negative energy as something
other people have. Sure,
sometimes we feel negative –
as in, “go away and leave me
alone, world!” but did you
know that negativity can be
so ingrained in you that it
goes unnoticed?
That’s because negativity
sometimes wears a disguise
called ‘reality’. It’s easy
to rationalize that you’re
‘just being realistic’ in
not daring to act on a dream
– and believe it!
The economic and employment
contributions from U.S.
unconventional oil and gas
production are being felt
throughout the U.S. economy,
increasing household
incomes, boosting trade and
contributing to an increase
in U.S. competitiveness in
the world economy, according
to a new study by IHS.
Shifting
cosmic winds suggest that
our solar system lives in a
surprisingly complex and
dynamic part of the Milky
Way galaxy, a new study
reports.
Scientists examining four
decades' worth of data have
discovered that the
interstellar gas breezing
through the solar system has
shifted in direction by 6
degrees, a finding that
could affect how we view not
only the entire galaxy but
the sun itself.
The solar PV industry has
experienced phenomenal
growth and widespread
popularity as an alternative
source for creating
electricity. Government
policies and incentives have
proven to be important
enablers to industry growth.
However, incentives can’t
continue forever and the
industry needs to continue
to drive down total costs in
order to remain competitive
to alternative energy
sources and open new
markets. As industries and
products mature they learn
how to drive down costs
through ever greater
application of
“plug-n-play.”
Japan is in touch with
experts in the United States
and elsewhere on ways to
control the spread of
irradiated water at the
wrecked Fukushima nuclear
plant, trade and economics
minister Toshimitsu Motegi
told Reuters.
"We will be looking for
the best knowledge,
technology and information
with regard to how to manage
the contaminated water at
the plant and how to
decommission the complex,"
Motegi said in an interview
on Wednesday.
The Japanese government is
preparing to construct a
frozen underground wall at
the damaged Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant
as a test to see if it will
stop groundwater from
flowing into the
contaminated facility and
keep radioactive water from
flowing out.
Japan pledged nearly $500
million to contain leaks and
decontaminate radioactive
water from the
tsunami-crippled Fukushima
nuclear plant, stepping up
government efforts to cope
with the legacy of the worst
atomic disaster in a quarter
of a century.
Leftover ash from power
production often finds its
way to landfills or, in some
countries, as a construction
material. It can’t be stored
inside though, because the
leftover ash generates
hydrogen gas and this
presents an explosion
hazard.
The United States is moving
into an era of utilizing
higher concentrations of
renewable energy and
distributed energy resources
linked to the electric grid.
Utility operators and
equipment vendors aren�t
sure exactly how boosting
the use of renewables will
affect the control
strategies and operations of
their current systems.
The state of Nevada might
seek a rehearing of an
August federal appeals
court's 2-1 decision
ordering the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to
restart the licensing
proceeding for a nuclear
waste repository at Yucca
Mountain, according to a
senior official in the
Nevada attorney general's
office.
Tokyo Electric Power Co,
the operator of the wrecked
Fukushima nuclear plant,
said on Monday that a patrol
of workers had found a new
area of high radiation near
tanks used to store
contaminated water.
The latest revelation in
a statement by Tokyo
Electric late on Monday
comes a day before Japan's
government is set to
announce new steps to
address deep-seated problems
in controlling the spread of
radiated water at Fukushima
and criticism that the
utility has bungled the
response to the worst
nuclear accident since
Chernobyl.
It holds the air until the
electricity is needed again,
at which point it expands
the air to drive a
1.5-megawatt generator --
enough to power hundreds of
homes for several hours.
It’s an unstoppable wave.
That’s what proponents are
saying about marine and
hydro-kinetic energy, which
uses water to generate
electricity. To that end,
the U.S. Department of
Energy just said it would
invest $16 million in 17
different projects that
capture energy from waves
and tides.
Does it strike anyone else
as the height of arrogance
for a hospital to sue its
patients or its patients'
guardians to force them to
accept "care?"
But a lawyer for Dusten
Brown says he doesn’t
believe his client will be
extradited, insisting Brown
has not committed a crime
and that a judge will not
enforce the order.
Several factors have
combined to create what some
see as a bleak future for
the sector. ..
Much like coal, nuclear
power - once heralded as the
future of U.S. energy and
still touted by President
Obama as part of his "all of
the above" strategy to
reduce dependence on foreign
fuel - now is fighting to
compete with natural gas
prices near record lows.
Internet users are more
concerned about hackers,
Facebook advertisers, and
family members violating
their online privacy than
they are about the
government, according to a
new survey.
"Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn ... social
media sites encourage
users to create a
digital trail of life
events. But a recent
survey shows that
Americans might be
having second thoughts
about uploading details
of their lives to the
Internet. Internet users
say that their pictures,
birth dates, e-mail
addresses, and cellphone
numbers are available
online, but what
concerns those surveyed
the most is the privacy
of their e-mails and
online searches, two of
the items hardest to
keep from Internet
companies." [editor's
note: Yeah, I'm much
more concerned that some
company knows I like the
Red Sox and Big Bang
Theory than I am that a
bunch of government
thugs can kidnap me
anytime they want to
without a warrant!
Fears about government
surveillance of electric
usage prompted Fountain
residents to force a
resolution onto November's
election ballot to end the
use of "smart meters" in the
southern El Paso County
town.
We've got to stop pretending
like our species is not
marching towards its doom.
Our survival depends on
fighting it.
Our society is living
within a massive lie. The
lie says, “Everything is
fine and we should proceed
with business as usual. We
are not destroying our
climate and, with it, our
stability and our
civilization. We are not
committing passive suicide.”
The lie says we are
fine—that climate change
isn’t real, or is uncertain,
or is far away, or won’t be
bad enough to threaten
humanity. The lie says that
small changes will solve the
problem. That recycling,
bicycling, or closing the
Keystone Pipeline will solve
the problem. The lie allows
people to put climate change
in the back of their minds.
To view it as someone else’s
issue—the domain of
scientists or activists. The
lie allows us to focus on
other things. To proceed
with business as usual. To
be calm and complacent while
our planet burns.
"In our view, the
circumstances [leading to
the plants' closures] are
unique to each affected
facility," David Boden, a
credit analyst with S&P,
said in the report. S&P,
like Platts, is a McGraw
Hill Financial company.
Before 1970, there was no
law in place regulating the
amount of pollution that
could be emitted by any
single entity. However, in
1970, the Clean Air Act was
passed and today there is
clear evidence that it has
indeed helped to reduce
pollution.
As many as 5,618
shipments of radioactive
waste were made to a nuclear
landfill in Washington state
without the correct
radioactive waste signage
required on shipping
containers, the Tri-City
Herald reported.
The containers were not
marked with the required
state Department of
Transportation magnetic
placards indicating the
radioactivity of each load.
“Produced water”
extracted alongside fossil
fuels is a sizeable
by-product of the oil and
gas industry – modern oil
wells produce as much as 10
barrels of water for each
barrel of oil – and treating
and disposing of this water
is a major expense for many
operators, with production
sometimes limited by how
much water can be handled.
This water is often
re-injected into the wells,
but any contaminants can do
irreversible damage to the
production process.
Currently, produced water
quality is usually assessed
by samples being sent for
time-consuming laboratory
analysis meaning it may be
too late by the time any
issues are identified.
Radiation readings around
tanks holding contaminated
water at the crippled
Fukushima nuclear plant have
spiked by more than a fifth
to their highest levels,
Japan's nuclear regulator
said, heightening concerns
about the clean-up of the
worst atomic disaster in
almost three decades.
Radiation hotspots have
spread to three holding
areas for hundreds of
hastily built tanks storing
water contaminated by being
flushed over three reactors
that melted down at the
Fukushima Daiichi plant in
March 2011.
In 2012 renewable energy —
largely wind and solar —
accounted for nearly 50
percent of all new electric
generation put on the U.S.
grid. According to a new
Ernst & Young report, United
States renewable energy
attractiveness indices, 13.1
gigawatts of wind were added
to the grid last year, as
was 3.3 gigawatts of
photovoltaics (PV).
"You never miss the water
till the well runs dry" is
an old idiom that is
becoming a harsh reality for
the Middle East and North
Africa region and globally.
Water scarcity is now this
century's imminent greatest
problem, a clear and present
danger. This is no surprise
considering 85 percent of
the world’s population lives
in the driest half of the
planet. The United Nations
estimates that, already, 6
to 8 million people die
annually from the
consequences of disasters
and water-related diseases,
with a child dying from a
water-related illness every
21 seconds.
C1 event observed.
There are currently 5
numbered sunspot regions on
the disk. No 245 MHz
Noise Storms Observed.
CONTINUED ALERT: Electron
2MeV Integral Flux exceeded
1000pfu
Saudi Arabia and the UAE
have emerged as the biggest
markets among GCC states for
the deployment of solar
power, accounting for most
of the projects. The six GCC
countries altogether have
sanctioned solar power
installation projects worth
approximately $155 billion,
which will generate more
than 84 GW of power when
complete in 2017.
Gaunt and lethargic from
severe malnutrition herself,
Yosefa wipes beads of sweat
off her feverish forehead,
and tells the story of a
dying village. “Before the
company, there was little
illness. We would eat sago
and walk the forest all day
without being weary. Now,
the sago dies and the earth
is dry. The rivers are dark
and oily, and the fish drunk
on pollution. Our children
are dying because our sacred
mother land has been ripped
away from us. Soon, the
Malind people themselves
will cease to exist. When
the forest disappears, the
Malind will disappear.”
Their findings confirm that
the super-Earth has an
atmosphere rich in water
rather than hydrogen.
they’re on the verge of
essentially sucking dry a
large swath of the High
Plains Aquifer, one of the
United States’ greatest
water resources. The
researchers found that 30
percent of the region’s
groundwater has been tapped
out, and if present trends
continue, another 39 percent
will be gone within 50
years. As the water stock
dwindles, of course, pumping
what’s left gets more and
more expensive — and farming
becomes less profitable and
ultimately uneconomical.
Thousands of dead fish have
been found floating in a
river in central China
following a toxic spill,
Xinhua news agency said on
Wednesday, the latest in a
series of pollution scandals
to hit the country's water
supplies.
The debt cap Congress put on
the TVA a generation ago
probably won't be the
problem agency officials
worried it would be just a
few years ago. With the
growth of electricity demand
slowing, TVA should be able
to reduce its net borrowing
within a couple of years and
shave nearly $5 billion off
its debt over the next
decade.
A system that allows
electronic messages to be
sent with complete secrecy
could be on the verge of
expanding beyond niche
applications.
A team of British
scientists has discovered a
way to build communications
networks with quantum
cryptography at a larger
scale than ever before.
...researchers may have
found a way to reverse the
learning deficits associated
with Down syndrome, after
having discovered a compound
that can significantly
bolster cognition in mice
with a condition very
similar to trisomy 21.
The majority of Districts,
nine of 12, indicated that
consumer spending grew
moderately or modestly.
There was little change in
the characterization of the
residential real estate
market
US fuel oil imports rose by
more than three-quarters to
239,000 b/d for the
reporting week ended Friday,
Energy Information
Administration data showed
Thursday.
Total
imports increased by 103,000
b/d on the week, despite
imports to the Gulf Coast,
the country's largest fuel
oil market, declining 48,000
b/d to 54,000 b/d.
To be sure, Israeli leaders
are concerned but not
surprised by the horrific
blood-letting that is
underway between the evil
Assad regime and the demonic
forces of al-Qaeda and their
radical Islamic partners.
But the Israelis are stunned
and dismayed by the
vacillating, lurching,
confused, and chaotic
approach to decision-making
of President Obama and his
top advisers.
Any producer will tell you,
growing a healthy,
high-yielding wheat crop
takes skill and hard work.
Quality drought-tolerant
varieties that are resistant
to pests and disease are
important. And cooperation
from Mother Nature in terms
of temperature and
precipitation doesn't hurt,
either.
The Afghan national police
have killed 12 militants and
arrested 33 others during a
number of clean-up
operations, the
country's interior ministry
said on Tuesday.
Mortgage rates are
dropping.
According to Freddie
Mac's weekly Primary
Mortgage Market Survey
(PMMS), the conforming
30-year fixed rate mortgage
rate fell 0.07 percentage
points last week to 4.51%,
on average,
nationwide. Rates for the
15-year fixed rate mortgage
fell, too, last week,
shedding 0.06 percentage
points to 3.54 percent.
The spread between the
two rates remains near an
all-time high.
An
updated analysis published
last month by the Lawrence
Livermore National
Laboratory suggests that the
U.S. is just 39 percent
energy efficient.
Put another way, more
than half (61 percent) of
the energy that flows
through our economy is
ultimately wasted.
European Union coal
demand is on course for a
decades-long slide from a
peak last winter as the
growth in capacity of
renewable power outstrips
new coal-fired plants.
Across the European
Union, a total of 28
gigawatts of old coal-fired
capacity could come offline
between 2012 and 2020,
Deutsche Bank said in a
recent report.
A prominent leader of a
militia opposed to al-Qaeda
escaped an assassination
attempt Monday that killed
six of his bodyguards and
one civilian and wounded
eight people, authorities
said. Seven more people were
killed and 15 wounded in
separate violence in Baghdad
and another Iraqi city as
the country reels from waves
of sectarian attacks.
Arab League foreign
ministers have urged the
international community and
the United Nations to take
"deterrent" action against
the Syrian regime over its
alleged use of chemical
weapons.
"The United Nations and
the international community
are called upon to assume
their responsibilities in
line with the UN Charter and
international law by taking
the necessary deterrent
measures", the ministers
said in a statement on
Sunday following a meeting
in Cairo.
For those new to the story,
Bloom is backed by more than
$1 billion in venture
capital from KPCB, NEA, and
many other investors. The
firm's solid oxide fuel cell
aims for distributed,
combustion-less power with
low emissions and
grid-competitive pricing
without subsidies. It does
not yet achieve all of those
goals.
Independent laboratory
tests have identified 98
shampoos, soaps, and other
personal care products sold
by major national retailers
that contain a chemical
outlawed in California as a
carcinogen.
The chemical, cocamide
diethanolamine, known as
cocamide DEA, is a
chemically-modified form of
coconut oil used as a
thickener or foaming agent.
A glut of corn has damped
interest by biofuel makers
in a U.S. government program
to sell surplus sugar for
ethanol, potentially
decreasing its effectiveness
in propping up sugar prices.
A group of veteran political
organizers have launched a
super-PAC to support
Democrats who make climate
change a top priority...
“We're seeking to elect
leaders willing to take on
the greatest challenge
facing the next few
generations of humanity. Too
many Democratic politicians
consider climate to be just
another issue bubbling below
the surface of top
priorities, and too many
Democrats are willing to
excuse Democratic
politicians who tout their
states' coal and oil
resources as long as they're
good on other issues,”
Miller said in an email.
A federal judge has thrown
out a lawsuit by
conservation groups to block
construction of a
high-voltage power line by
PPL and a partner through
the Delaware Water Gap
National Recreation Area.
$120 million Department of
Energy program that helps
spur innovation and
encourage utilities to
implement energy storage
technologies could give rise
to opportunities for wider
implementation of storage
technologies, says an issue
brief from the Environmental
and Energy Study Institute
(EESI).
Abnormally dry conditions
and pockets of moderate
drought have spread over
parts of the U.S. Midwest in
the past week, including in
the key crop state of Iowa,
according to a report issued
on Thursday.
The U.S. Drought Monitor,
issued weekly by state and
federal climate experts,
said more than 60 percent of
Iowa was suffering from
moderate drought, up from 35
percent a week earlier.
It said 22 percent of the
state was in severe drought,
compared with nil a week
ago.
Dean was initially skeptical
that there was any link
between fluoridation and
cancer but later came to
believe ardently that
fluoride was a major
carcinogen, responsible for
tens of thousands of deaths
per year. With his NCI
credentials, he was the most
impressive witness the
anti-fluoridation forces
around the world had.
Needless to say, this role
did not endear him to the
public health establishment,
which fought for its right
to medicate the entire
public with fluoride in the
public drinking water in the
name of preventing tooth
decay among children.
A vast and previously
unmapped gorge 800 meters
(half a mile) deep has been
found under ice in
Greenland, comparable in
size to parts of the Grand
Canyon in the United States,
scientists said.
An industry leader sees a
bleak day coming in the
not-too-distant future for
regions that depend on coal
to produce paychecks and
keep schools open and
municipal governments
functioning.
Behind the gloomy
forecast, Nick Carter told
the West Virginia Chamber of
Commerce in Friday's
conclusion of its annual
business summit, is what he
described as the "train
wreck" engineered by the
Environmental Protection
Agency.
Germany set a world record
by producing 23,900
megawatts of electricity in
a single day from thousands
of solar systems across the
country on July 8. While the
number is impressive, it’s
not likely to hold for long.
Two of Germany’s leading
downstream solar power
companies filed for
insolvency just days before
the record-breaking
accomplishment. According to
Forbes, these businesses are
just a few in a long line of
companies leaving the solar
market in Germany, which the
news site says is evidence
of a collapsing solar
industry in the country. To
top it off, new market
predictions suggest Germany
may soon be surpassed by the
US in solar investments.
Deadly violence erupted
at a contentious Iranian
exile camp inside Iraq early
Sunday, leaving
international observers
scrambling to determine the
cause of the bloodshed and
the number of casualties.
The dissidents alleged
that more than 50 were
killed and accused the Iraqi
government. Baghdad said an
internal dispute was to
blame. And the United
Nations mission to Iraq,
which has been closely
involved in trying to find a
viable long-term solution
for the dissidents,
acknowledges it does not
have a clear picture what
happened.
The Defense Ministry said
that it, together with the
U.S. Defense Department, had
carried out a "successful
test" in the Mediterranean
and on an air force base in
central Israel.
[editor's note: Of course,
they weren't testing the
missile. They were testing
the detection capabilities
of Syria and its allies, and
possibly hoping to provoke a
panic response attack -]
“Everybody knows that Nikola
Tesla made extraordinary
discoveries in the field of
electrical science. But did
you know that he also made
monumental discoveries in
mechanics? It’s true! He
even discovered how to make
a ‘Mechanical Amplifier’ to
multiply mechanical power!”
Few things illustrate why
the Obama Administration is
in increasing trouble more
than the contrast between
its hostility toward the
Keystone XL Pipeline and its
drift toward an ineffective
and probably self-defeating
attack on Syria.
Press Release from Ecat
Australia and Ecat South
Asia – August 2013 TOMORROWS
ENERGY, TODAY Since we last
wrote, there continues to be
important developments. The
rest of the world is waking
up […] (ColdFusionNow;
August 24, 2013)
Installations of wind and
solar projects is expected
to increase.
U.S. investment in clean
energy was down in 2012
after breaking records all
through 2011, but rapidly
declining installment costs
mean deployments are likely
to continue to rise,
according to new analysis
from Ernst & Young LLP, a
multinational accounting
firm.
Fog-harvesting, an idea that
has been around for several
years and already in
existence in 17 countries,
is a technique that captures
potable water from fog.
Researchers at MIT, working
in collaboration with
scientists in Chile, have
found a way to improve this
technology, making potable
water more easily attainable
in arid countries.
The report, “Fossil &
Nuclear Power Generation:
World Analysis & Forecast,”
also says countries under
the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will
build 500 MW of new
coal-fired generation. In
total, 112,099 MW of new
capacity is expected to come
online next year. East Asia
has the most with 60,774 MW;
followed by West Asia with
41,335. Africa will bring
online 4,100 MW of coal,
followed by Western Europe,
South & Central America and
Eastern Europe.
A new Energy Department
study conducted by the
National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) indicates
that by 2025 wind and solar
power electricity generation
could become
cost-competitive without
federal subsidies, if new
renewable energy development
occurs in the most
productive locations.
A study from the U.S.
Department of Energy and
conducted by the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) says that wind and
solar power generation could
become cost-competitive
without federal subsidies by
2025, but with a
stipulation.
The White House is expected
to fill the EPA slot left
vacant by Gina McCarthy's
promotion by naming Janet
McCabe, a deputy who will be
tasked with navigating the
legal hurdles that lie
ahead.
A radioactive plume of water
in the Pacific Ocean from
Japan's Fukushima nuclear
plant, which was crippled in
the 2011 earthquake and
tsunami, will likely reach
U.S. coastal waters starting
in 2014, according to a new
study. The long journey of
the radioactive particles
could help researchers
better understand how the
ocean’s currents circulate
around the world.
According to police, a
woman was walking to her car
near Old Eastwood Road, when
a man she didn't know snuck
up behind her and hit her in
the head with a hammer.
Police said the suspect
told the victim he had a
gun, and a witness in the
area started firing shots at
the man.
According to Annual
Renewable Energy Outlook
2013, political and
financial assistance has
played a major role in
taking renewable energy to
the heights it has achieved.
These factors will continue
to influence the market. The
past decade has witnessed
massive developments in
terms of regulations and
markets for renewable
energy. While less than 50
countries worldwide had
renewable support policies
in place in the early part
of the last decade, this
number has now reached over
120. Investments in
renewables have also risen
dramatically over the past
decade.
Top 10 States for Clean
Energy Job Announcements in
Q2 2013: Alaska,
California,
Hawaii,
Illinois,
Kansas,
Maryland,
Missouri,
Nevada,
Oregon,
Texas
“California’s nuclear
power suppliers have
benefited from over $8.21
billion (in 2012 dollars) in
subsidization over the last
half century,” according to
the report Ask Saint
Onofrio: Finding What Has
Been Lost in a Tale of Two
Energy Sources by Nancy
E. Pfund and Noah W. Walker
of Silicon Valley venture
capital firm DBL Investors.
Distributed solar
systems, they found, have
earned $2.17 billion in tax
credits or direct payments
through 2012 from the
federal investment tax
credit (ITC) and the 1603
Treasury Grant programs,
which began in 2007.
Solar activity has been at
very low levels for the past
24 hours. There are
currently 4 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk. The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels. CONTINUED
ALERT: Electron 2MeV
Integral Flux exceeded
1000pfu Continuation.
A category G1 (Minor)
geomagnetic storm occurred
on 27 August. No 245
MHz Noise Storms Observed.
The study documents in
humans what neuroscientists
have reported for some time:
animals' sodium (salt)
intake is controlled by
networks in the brain and
not by the salt in one’s
food. The findings have
important implications for
future U.S. nutrition policy
directed at sodium intake.
It has been said that
seabirds are key indicators
of the impact of climate
change on the world’s
oceans. How exactly? In
Antarctica, for example,
seabirds depend on ice:
Seabirds eat fish, which eat
krill. The krill eat algae,
and the algae grow
underneath sea ice. With
warming oceans, and less
ice, there will major
consequences for this food
chain.
The collapse of New
Jersey's solar energy
credits market last year
apparently convinced a lot
of homeowners that
installing a solar
electricity system no longer
made financial sense.
But the value of Solar
Renewable Energy Credits --
paid to the owner of an
operating system for 15
years -- has increased
nearly 60 percent from its
low last year.
Meanwhile, the cost of
solar panels has plunged,
and the federal government
is still covering 30 percent
of the cost of systems
installed through 2016 with
a tax credit.
Halyomorpha halys, better
known as the stink bug, was
accidentally introduced into
the United States in 1998.
Being known as an invasive
species in recent years,
this bug has infested homes
from the Midwest and East
Coast, causing significant
damage as an agricultural
pest.
Surveys in Oregon also
report presence of the stink
bug and researchers at
Oregon State University warn
of an increased risk of
damage to late-ripening
crops this year after
discovering record levels of
the pest.
Before we all become
pro-nuclear greens, however,
you’ve got to ask three
questions: Is nuclear power
safe and clean? Is it
economical? And are there
better alternatives?
No, no and yes. So let’s
not swap the pending
environmental disaster of
climate change for another
that may be equally risky.
The story of cellulosic
biofuels is one of big
dreams and meager results.
That may be about to change
The promise of cellulosic
biofuels sounds like a fable
out of the Brothers Grimm:
turning straw into liquid
gold. Or rather, switchgrass
into gasoline. It’s not
magic. The process has been
around since the early
1800s, when the chemist
Henri Braconnot figured out
how to strip sugars from
cellulose—the basic building
block of all plant life—and
refine them into a crude
form of ethanol.
The Department of Energy's
Loan Programs Office (LPO)
loaned $16 billion to the
renewable energy projects
with 85 percent going to
solar projects as part of
the Recovery and
Reinvestment Act. Guess how
much it lost during the
nation’s worst recession
since the Great Depression?
Less then $1 billion.
Overall, the LPO has about
$34 billion in funds that
have supported new
technologies, from Tesla
Motors (which paid back its
$465 million loan in May) to
nuclear power to new fossil
fuel technologies.
Crop-damaging pests are
moving towards the poles at
a rate of more than 25 km
(16 miles) a decade, aided
by global warming and human
transport, posing a
potential threat to world
food security, a study
showed on Sunday.
The spread of beetles,
moths, bacteria, worms,
funghi and other pests in a
warming world may be quicker
than for many types of wild
animals and plants, perhaps
because people are
accidentally moving them
with harvests, it said.
Fire crews battling to
outflank a monster wildfire
inside Yosemite National
Park made headway on Friday
in confining flames to
wilderness areas but were
powerless to salvage the
region's sputtering tourist
economy at the end of its
peak summer tourist season.
By morning, the tally of
charred landscape from the
so-called Rim Fire surpassed
200,000 acres, or nearly 315
square miles, three-quarters
of that in the Stanislaus
National Forest west of the
park, fire officials said.