By Mike Robbins
Hydrogen -- Star Gas, Everywhere, Yet Unseen. Sunlight is its Child.
(Haiku by Stephen Wetlesen)
May 29, 2015
Ahead of Google I/O it's
worth looking at the search
giant and a few emerging
weak spots. The big question
is whether the search giant
can navigate the sharp turns
ahead.
America's largest cities
continue to take innovative
steps to lower energy costs
for consumers and
businesses, increase their
resilience, and reduce
pollution through increased
energy efficiency. That is
according to findings in the
American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy's
(ACEEE) 2nd edition of the
City Energy Efficiency
Scorecard.
“Mr. Jones has been begging
for money at the
intersection of Gause and
Interstate 10 for well over
a year. Mr. Jones has been
offered a job on multiple
occasions, but chooses not
to work because he makes a
better living by begging
people for money,” the
department wrote.
Driving an electric car that
gives off no emissions is
one of the best ways to
reduce your personal
transport carbon footprint.
But if an EV is out of
reach, the next best thing
could be a simple
retrofittable, scalable
device called Air2Nitrous
(A2N). Its creators claim it
can reduce engine emissions
by 90 percent, while cutting
fuel consumption by 20
percent.
The Air Force has reportedly
picked Lockheed Martin’s
long-range Joint
Air-to-Surface Missile to
carry a new “superweapon’ –
a pulse-generated beam
weapon capable of destroying
electronics and computers
from miles away.
The human rights group
Amnesty International
charged Wednesday that
Hamas, the Palestinian
Islamist militant
organization that controls
the Gaza Strip, used the
cover of last summer’s war
with Israel to carry out
abductions, torture and
extrajudicial executions
with impunity.
Arizona Public Service
recently completed work on
one of the largest
transmission construction
projects in the west – a
500-kilovolt (kV) power line
that connects Phoenix to
Yuma. The project will
bolster the reliability for
Yuma area customers and the
entire desert southwest.
Water contamination by
hormone-disrupting
pollutants is a concern for
water quality around the
world. Existing research has
determined that elevated
concentrations of
Bisphenol-A (BPA), a
chemical used in consumer
products such as plastic
food storage and beverage
containers, have been
deposited directly into
rivers and streams by
municipal or industrial
wastewater.
Vortex Bladeless uses a
radically new approach to
capturing wind energy. The
device captures the energy
of vorticity, an
aerodynamic effect that has
plagued structural engineers
and architects for ages
(vortex shedding effect). As
the wind bypasses a fixed
structure, its flow changes
and generates a cyclical
pattern of vortices.
-
Sleep deprivation leads
to blunted reactions and
is particularly
problematic for
decision-making
involving uncertainty
and unexpected change
-
Lack of sleep played a
role in Chernobyl,
Three-Mile Island, the
Challenger explosion,
and other catastrophic
events
-
For many, getting enough
sleep is a matter of
deciding to go to bed
earlier; a fitness
tracker can help you
determine how much sleep
you’re actually getting
The release of a new white
paper, "China’s Military
Strategy," which indicates
China plans to broaden its
influence over the South
China Sea, noting that the
People's Liberation Army
(PLA) will be adding "open
seas protection" to
"offshore waters defense" in
its naval mission, is
straining nerves in the
U.S., where Secretary of
Defense Ashton Carter has
instructed his staff to come
up with ways in which the
United States can confront
China's actions,
“For the water in the rivers
and lakes in our communities
that flow to our drinking
water to be clean, the
streams and wetlands that
feed them need to be clean
too,” said EPA Administrator
Gina McCarthy.
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover
has been forced to alter its
route after being faced with
dangerous terrain. The
current objective of the
robotic explorer is to
investigate a geological
boundary between two
distinct forms of bedrock as
a part of its mission to
explore the heights of Mount
Sharp, and ultimately unlock
the secrets of the Red
Planet's ancient past.
While it
officially embraces 11
countries plus the U.S., 76
percent of our trade with
these nations is with Mexico
and Canada, already covered
by the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Any
export growth is likely to
have been already covered by
NAFTA, making the TPP
irrelevant to our trade
relations.
The TPP is nothing but an
effort by the globalists to
circumvent American
sovereignty, transferring a
host of issues from the
control of the U.S. Congress
and the various state
legislatures to
international trade courts
The U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab) has opened
their Solar Energy Research
Center (SERC), thanks to $59
million in funding from
various sources.
Shortly after pleading
guilty to nine criminal
violations of the Clean
Water Act at several of its
North Carolina facilities,
and receiving long-awaited
permits, Duke Energy is
acting quickly to close its
coal ash basins and move the
remaining coal ash.
Republicans in the House
filed a lawsuit in November,
saying administration
officials unlawfully
bypassed Congress.
At issue are executive
changes authorizing Treasury
payments to healthcare
insurers without the funding
being agreed by Congress and
delaying implementation of
the law's employer mandate,
which required employers
with more than 50 employees
to provide healthcare
coverage.
The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC)
has approved the sixth and
final settlement for the
Sept. 8, 2011 power outage
in Southern California, that
left customers in
California, Arizona, Baja
California, and Mexico
without power for nearly 12
hours.
Pennsylvania regulators
confirmed this month that a
fish caught last year in the
Susquehanna River had
cancer, making it the first
smallmouth bass on record to
have this illness.
The rare nature of the
findings has resurrected a
heated policy debate about
nutrient policy and how to
regulate water pollution in
this stretch of the river.
Science needs to
catch up with the public
awareness, say researchers
The organic chemicals in
fracking fluid have been
uncovered in two new
studies, providing a basis
for water contamination
testing and future
regulation. The research,
published in Trends in
Environmental Analytical
Chemistry and Science of the
Total Environment, reveals
that fracking fluid contains
compounds like biocides,
which are potentially
harmful if they leak into
the groundwater.
New Hampshire has had a law
on the books since 1978,
allowing small hydroelectric
power plants to sell
electricity directly to a
small number of end users,
cutting the utility out of
the middle except for the
cost of transmission.
Japan did not do enough to
protect the Fukushima
Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant, which was severely
damaged by a giant wall of
water in March 2011 ,
despite authorities being
aware of threats to the
facility from earthquakes
and tsunamis, the
International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) stated in a
report. The U.N. nuclear
watchdog also criticized
Tokyo Electric Power Co
(TEPCO), the plants
operator, for not acting on
the warnings.
Coo Space claims it has
massively reduced bearing
friction by eliminating the
cage generally used to keep
balls separated in the
bearing races
Greece's cash-strapped
government insisted
Wednesday it was "very
close" to reaching a vital
deal with bailout lenders,
but the optimism in Athens
was swiftly shot down by
German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble.
The Antarctic ozone hole
would have been 40% bigger
by now if ozone-depleting
chemicals had not been
banned in the 1980s,
according to research.
Models also show that at
certain times, a large hole
would have opened up at the
other end of the globe.
In the latest particle
collision since the
reactivation of Large Hardon
Collider at CERN, the
European Organization for
Nuclear Research, a
record-setting 13 trillion
electron-volts (TeV) of
energy was released when
protons collided with
protons in underground
depths where the massive
17-mile in circumference
machine is located. And so
far, we’re still alive;
no black hole has
occurred (yet), but
we do have these nifty
images of the collision
itself that CERN released in
its commemoration.
The agency said Tuesday that
criminals had used stolen
Social Security numbers and
other data to gain
unauthorized access to the
accounts. They then used the
information from prior
years’ returns to help them
file for fake refunds using
a system called “Get
Transcript,” for which they
had to clear a security
screen that required
knowledge about the
taxpayer, including Social
Security number, date of
birth, tax filing status and
street address.
A new study shows that
"commonly used testing
methods may underestimate
the total radioactivity of
wastewater produced by gas
wells that use hydraulic
fracturing, or fracking, to
tap the Marcellus Shale,"
according to Science,
a publication of the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
The military used commercial
carriers to deliver what it
thought was inert anthrax to
research laboratories, as
Steve Evans reports
-
In a recent study,
people eating a low-fat
diet had a significant
decrease in memory and
cognitive function over
the course of four years
-
Those following a
Mediterranean diet with
supplemental nuts had
significant improvements
in memory, while the
group adding extra
virgin olive oil
experienced
significantly better
cognitive function
-
The Mediterranean diet
emphasizes fresh
vegetables, nuts, and
healthy fats,
particularly olive oil,
while downplaying
processed foods
Blough managed to find a
path to treatment. That
makes him one of the lucky
ones. Today, mentally ill
Americans are
disproportionately more
likely to be arrested,
incarcerated, suffer
solitary confinement or rape
in prison and commit another
crime once released.
Security researchers have
published proof-of-concept
code for a major router
vulnerability leveraging a
popular Linux kernel driver
that could be used by
hackers to compromise
millions of connected
devices.
Few Americans have any clue
about what this is—but FATCA
actually stands for the
“Foreign Account Tax
Compliance Act.”...
For one, this law means any
institution that deals with
U.S. dollars has to now
comply with the IRS… which
means many institutions
could essentially stop
dealing with U.S. dollars.
The findings of the study
suggest that, in light of
the continued increase in
temperature caused by the
ongoing rise of greenhouse
gas emissions, it's likely
glaciers in the region in
question will experience
sustained or even
accelerated ice loss in the
coming decades.
Horizon Unmanned Systems
(HUS) has introduced a new
type of drone called a
“hycopter”. It is the
world’s first unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) to use
a hydrogen-based fuel cell
in order to power its
rotors.
Norway's previously
long-standing cordial
relations with Russia have
deteriorated to the point
that there is a real chance
that simmering feelings
could escalate, leading to a
breakdown of cooperation in
the oil and gas sector.
So far, despite the
heightened tension between
the east and west over the
Ukraine conflict, both
countries have managed to
maintain their mutual
interests.
But farmers fear they could
be at risk of steep fines if
traces of fertilizer or
manure are discharged
without a permit into what,
under the rule, are bodies
of water under the EPA's
regulatory powers. Farmers
groups expressed concern
their members' fertilizers
could fall into common wet
areas like ditches or
drainage areas which they
worry the EPA will define as
waterways.
An oil-pipeline owner is
facing millions of dollars
in fines issued by New
Mexico regulators after
flouting regulations
governing the disposal of
natural-gas pipeline
wastewater.
Asserting the Supreme Court
has become too politicized,
a group citing support from
conservatives and liberals,
is calling for future
Supreme Court nominees to
impose their own term
limits.
As of early May 26, only
five of the nation’s 99
nuclear power units were not
generating power, another
sign that the annual spring
refueling and maintenance
season is winding down.
It's anyone's guess why
temperatures in the Pacific
Ocean are heating up off the
coast of Southern
California. Is a natural El
Niño effect occurring, or is
there something more
sinister happening under the
blue ocean waters?
Off the coast of California,
drastic signs of a rapidly
changing Pacific Ocean are
cropping up. Warmer currents
have forced species of fish
away from the coast.
PNM wants to shut two of San
Juan's four generating units
and add pollution controls
to the remaining ones to
meet federal haze
regulations. It would add
more nuclear, natural-gas
and solar generation to the
grid to make up for lost
coal capacity.
Perhaps one of the worst
places on Earth for a crude
oil leak, Santa Barbara is a
beautiful sun-kissed coastal
city rich with wildlife,
environmental lawyers and
wealthy liberal activists.
...compared the industry to
the Texas rain: “A few weeks
ago we would look at the
skies hoping it would rain.
We would occasionally hear
rain in the distance, but it
would never come. This is
like storage. It’s all on
the horizon, and if you look
at the news now, you can see
it’s about to flood.”
Watching most
Congressional hearings is
about as exciting as an
afternoon at the DMV. A
recent House Subcommittee on
Indian Affairs however, was
like watching a 10-car
pile-up on the interstate.
It was also as horrifying as
a wreck for many observers,
since it involved a shocking
assault on Native rights
that have been sacrosanct
for 80 years.
C1 event observed. Solar
activity is expected to be
very low with a chance for a
C-class flares on days one,
two, and three (29 May, 30
May, 31 May). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels on day one (29
May), quiet to unsettled
levels on day two (30 May)
and quiet levels on day
three (31 May).
Researchers in Japan have
found that human aging may
be able to be delayed or
even reversed, at least at
the most basic level of
human cell lines. In the
process, the scientists from
the University of Tsukuba
also found that regulation
of two genes is related to
how we age.
Under a new law, Russian
NGOs could face prosecution
for communication with
'undesirable' groups based
abroad – groups like
Transparency International,
Human Rights Watch, and
Amnesty International.
Duke Energy is teaming with
LG Chem and Greensmith to
convert a shut down
coal-fired power plant into
an energy storage system.
New markets for energy
projects are all the rage
these days. Barely a day
goes by that we don't hear
about new projects being
developed in Latin America,
MENA, Asia or some other
exciting place that isn't
here. Renewable energy
projects in particular are
popular, but gas plants are
also getting significant
attention.
In yet another set of
victories for the healthy
consumer, fast food giants
Taco Bell and Pizza Hut have
announced that they will be
removing artificial
ingredients from their food
items – a change undoubtedly
sparked by our collective
desire for food that is free
of questionable ingredients.
The award-winning home of
Frank Herdman and Alice
Temple proves that rainwater
catchment tanks can add both
beauty and functionality to
a home’s design. Frank and
Alice fell in love years ago
with their Casa Solana Santa
Fe neighborhood.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. and
Mitsubishi Corp. announced
Monday that they have won a
contract to construct a
large-scale thermal power
plant in Qatar .
While TVA purchased the
needed land more than three
years ago, it's just now
seeking the public's input
on its plan to expand its
dry ash landfill at
adjoining Bull Run Fossil
Plant onto that property.
And TVA is still keeping
mum on how much it paid for
the 24 homes and 155 acres
it acquired. "We aren't
disclosing the purchase
price for those parcels as
it could impact future
property negotiations
elsewhere," TVA spokesman
Scott Brooks said in an
email.
U.S. environmental
regulators on Thursday
proposed a rule that would
create temporary
pesticide-free zones to
protect commercial
honeybees, which are
critical to food production
and have been dying off at
alarming rates.
On the backdrop of the
severe storms in East Texas,
US Gulf Coast refiners are
holding onto gasoline
barrels at the same time
distressed Midwestern buyers
are looking to bring
supplies north, Gulf Coast
trading sources said
Thursday.
The government will not ask
the Supreme Court to review
a judge's decision that put
on hold President Barack
Obama's executive action on
immigration, the Justice
Department said Wednesday.
One thing the scientists did
not fully consider was how
the bomb would impact the
Earth’s magnetic field, and
the satellites that were in
orbit at the time. Some of
the energetic beta particles
followed the Earth’s
magnetic field, creating
bands of radiation, if you
will, that lit up the night
sky. Other high-energy
particles, meanwhile, became
trapped and formed actual
radiation belts around the
Earth. This resulted in a
lot of debate among
scientists about the
composition, magnitude, and
adverse effects that this
trapped radiation would have
on Earth. Their worry was
further compounded when
three satellites were
disabled after the
detonation. Over time, about
one-third of all satellites
in lower Earth orbit became
disabled due to their
exposure to the bomb’s
radiation aftermath.
If somebody broke into your
home and stole your
belongings, you’d expect to
see some serious
consequences if they got
caught. But when banks and
financial firms rob, defraud
and mismanage the money of
Americans—and even cast them
out of their own homes
illegally—the worst that
usually happens is a fine.
Over the past 48 hours
the whole of the West coast
of the United States has
moved on at least a 4.0
magnitude level or greater.
Currently, another
mid-4.0 magnitude (4.2 M)
earthquake has struck the
West coast, off the shores
of Oregon, near the Axial
undersea volcano (which is
currently erupting).
Experiments with a
hydrologic model for the
period Oct. 2013-Sept. 2014
showed that if the
temperatures had
been cooler, similar to the
1916-2012 average, there
would have been an 86%
chance that the winter
snowpack would have been
greater, the spring-summer
runoff higher, and the
spring-summer soil moisture
deficits smaller.
DONG Energy has been a power
innovator in Europe for
decades and is now looking
to make moves in the United
States. The utility -- who
surpassed 3 gigawatts (GW)
of offshore wind capacity
just last week -- is looking
to enter the U.S. offshore
wind market.
Texas desperately needed
rain. So how did it go so
wrong? There’s the
scientific explanation: the
ground was already saturated
from the past month’s worth
of rain, and the high volume
of rain over the weekend
couldn’t soak in, so it ran
off. But there’s a social
component to this issue too.
Wind energy continues to
play a key role in
electricity generation in
Oklahoma through its
predictability and long-term
price stability.
...Once they exceed that
magically arbitrary fifth
“unexcused” absence, every
succeeding incident must be
specifically prescribed by a
medical professional. Even
if the parent feels the
child should stay home, the
school will not allow it
unless a doctor agrees.
Otherwise, the parent could
be thrown in jail, which is
a totally reasonable
response.
May 26, 2015
The argument has been used
for years by Democrats and
other detractors, but
Woodward said on "Fox News
Sunday" that his own
18-month investigation
showed that Bush was
actually skeptical that
Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein had WMDs as Saddam
claimed.
Biomedical engineering
company Össur has announced
the successful development
of a thought controlled
bionic prosthetic leg. The
new technology uses
implanted sensors sending
wireless signals to the
artificial limb's built-in
computer, enabling
subconscious, real-time
control and faster, more
natural responses and
movements.
Business leaders on Thursday
outlined the economic
devastation they say could
come if New Mexico
regulators fail to approve a
plan to shut down part of a
decades-old coal-fired power
plant to meet a federal
mandate.
The Public Regulation
Commission is close to
deciding whether to approve
a plan by Public Service Co.
of New Mexico to close part
of the San Juan Generating
Plant and replace it with a
mix of more coal along with
nuclear, natural gas and
solar power.
-
With costs for dementia
care soaring, some
families are now
considering memory care
alternatives across
national lines that
provide better care for
less cost
-
“Dementia—The Unspooling
Mind” features three
such alternatives in
Thailand and the
Netherlands
-
Dementia Village, just
outside Amsterdam, is an
entire village built to
simulate the most normal
life possible for
dementia patients, in a
sort of “manufactured
reality”
Investment in, and
deployment of, electricity
infrastructure is shifting
from the industrialized
economies of the Northern
Hemisphere to developing
economies, and from fossil
fuels to clean energy,
according to the Pew
Charitable Trusts.
...we learned today that in
the 1MW plant Rossi’s team
has been able to increase
the COP by driving some
E-Cats with others, I would
expect that they have been
trying something similar
with the Hot Cats.
In support of the
President’s all-of-the above
energy strategy, Energy
Secretary Ernest Moniz today
announced the release of
Enabling Wind Power
Nationwide, a report
showing how the U.S. can
unlock the vast potential
for wind energy deployment
in all 50 states.
Nearly two weeks after a
failed transformer caused a
fire and a spill of
dialectric fluid, Entergy is
still investigating what may
have caused it.
A drug long-used to counter
the negative effects of
chemotherapy has won US Food
and Drug Administration
(FDA) approval for use in
treating the nasty effects
of exposure to radiation
following a nuclear
disaster. Known commercially
as Neupogen, the drug has
been shown to work by
shielding the body's white
blood cells to heighten a
patient's chances of
survival.
At least some of the
protesters who looted,
rioted, burned buildings and
overturned police cars in
Ferguson, Missouri, last
year were promised payment
of up to $5,000 per month to
join the protests.
Greece cannot make debt
repayments to the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) next month unless it
achieves a deal with
creditors, its interior
minister said on Sunday, the
most explicit remarks yet
from Athens about the
likelihood of default if
talks fail.
Shut out of bond markets
and with bailout aid locked,
cash-strapped Athens has
been scraping state coffers
to meet debt obligations and
to pay wages and pensions.
With its future as a member
of the 19-nation euro zone
potentially at stake, a
second government minister
accused its international
lenders of subjecting it to
slow and calculated torture.
Honor...
“ Memorial Day isn't just
about honoring veterans, its
honoring those who lost
their lives. Veterans had
the fortune of coming home.
For us, that's a reminder of
when we come home we still
have a responsibility to
serve. It's a continuation
of service that honors our
country and those who fell
defending it. ” ― Pete
Hegseth
Inspire...
“ Good actions give strength
to ourselves and inspire
good actions in others. ” ―
Plato
“ In this poignant hour, I
ask you to join with me in
prayer...
Almighty
God... Our sons, pride of
our Nation, this day have
set upon a mighty
endeavor... To set free a
suffering humanity.
The Islamic State is using
the latest issue of its
propaganda magazine Dabiq to
pose the "far-fetched"
hypothetical of purchasing
its first nuclear weapon
from Pakistan within a year
and getting it into the
United States through the
porous Southern border.
A team of MIT and
University of Michigan
researchers has a new method
for manufacturing graphene
that it believes could take
the material out of the
laboratory and into
commercial products. The
method involves forming the
strong, conductive material
in a chamber consisting of
two concentric tubes.
Graphene is a material
with some serious potential.
It's strong, highly
conductive and could be used
in solar panels, flexible
light sources and more.
Unfortunately, it's also
rather difficult to
fabricate, with most
existing solutions unable to
produce patches of the
material large enough for
widespread commercial uses.
-
Monsanto recently made a
bid to take over
Syngenta, the world’s
largest pesticide
producer. The $45.1
billion bid was
rejected, but there’s
still a chance for a
merger
-
By trying to acquire
Syngenta, Monsanto
contradicts years of
rhetoric about how its
ultimate goal is to help
farmers use less
agrichemicals
-
More than 25 farmworker,
environmental, and food
safety organizations
demand the USDA
investigate reports of
retaliation and
suppression of research
relating to the dangers
of neonicotinoids and
glyphosate
oaring temperatures have
gripped parts of southern
and northern India in an
extreme heat wave which has
killed more than 500 people
and looks set to continue
this week, officials said on
Monday.
The hottest place in
India was Allahabad, a city
in the northern state of
Uttar Pradesh, which saw
mercury rise to 47.7 degrees
Celsius (117.8 Fahrenheit)
on Sunday, while the capital
Delhi recorded a high of
43.5C (110.3F).
Magnets are at the heart of
much of our technology, and
their properties are
exploited in a myriad ways
across a vast range of
devices, from simple relays
to enormously complex
particle accelerators. A new
class of magnets discovered
by scientists at the
University of Maryland (UMD)
and Temple University may
lead to other types of
magnets that expand in
different ways, with
multiple, cellular magnetic
fields, and possibly give
rise to a host of new
devices. The team also
believes that these new
magnets could replace
expensive, rare-earth
magnets with ones made of
abundant metal alloys.
President Barack Obama is
framing the challenges of
climate change as a matter
of national security that
threatens to aggravate
poverty and political
instability around the globe
and jeopardize the readiness
of U.S. forces.
The same spring rains that
lessen producers' concerns
about drought can also lead
to soil erosion and nutrient
runoff. Keeping soil and
fertilizers where they
belong--in the
field--benefits producers
and the environment,
according to a plant
scientist who used computer
modeling to determine which
farm management methods will
produce the best reduction
in surface runoff.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a chance
for a C-class flares on days
one, two, and three (26 May,
27 May, 28 May). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one and two
(26 May, 27 May) and quiet
to unsettled levels on day
three (28 May).
Adnan Amin, director-general
of the International
Renewable Energy Agency said
Wednesday "it's absolutely
feasible" that the goal can
be achieved, pointing to
major advances in using
solar power and other
renewables to power national
grids, villages and homes
especially in the developing
world.
It seems that while
Andrea Rossi and his team is
working on current test of
the 1MW plant, that
Industrial Heat has been
making plans for future
production of the E-Cat
plant.
Today Andrea Rossi
responded to a question
about the length of time it
might take for IH to fulfill
an order for 100 E-Cat
plants...
Warmer waters are eating
away at protective ice
shelves, letting glaciers
flow into the sea...
“The region changed from
being quiet, in balance, to
massive ice loss within a
couple of years,” notes lead
author Bert Wouters of the
University of Bristol. “This
is quite surprising, a
complete shift of the
dynamics in the area. It
shows that the ice sheet can
react very rapidly to
changes in its environment.
-
When a family of five
switched to an
all-organic diet for two
weeks, their body levels
of pesticides dropped
significantly
-
Concentrations of
pesticide residues
decreased by a factor of
6.7 when the family ate
organic food
-
Separate research found
those who "often or
always" ate organic had
65 percent lower levels
of pesticide residues
compared to those who
ate the least amount of
organic produce
The legislation “includes
strong standards that will
advance workers’ rights,
protect the environment,
promote a free and open
Internet, and it supports
new robust measures to
address unfair currency
practices,” Obama said.
The tricky thing is that
there's lots of conflicting
information out there on the
safety of aspartame, and
there's almost as much
conflicting information out
there on the scientific
quality of that primary
information. In short, it's
a rabbit hole of
never-ending argument.
A dramatic shift has
taken place in the glaciers
of the southern Antarctic
peninsula, writes Bert
Wouters. Six years ago these
previously stable bodies
suddenly stated shedding 60
cubic kilometres of ice per
year into the ocean. A stark
warning of further surprises
to come?
The fact that so many
glaciers in such a large
region suddenly started to
lose ice came as a surprise.
It shows a very fast
response of the ice sheet:
in just a few years
everything changed.
State Officials have gone on
the offensive against the
Environmental Protection
Agency's Clean Power Plan
(CPP) limiting
carbon-dioxide emissions at
existing fossil-fuel-fired
power plants.
The Western Interconnection
can be made to work well in
the first minute after a
grid disturbance with both
high wind and solar
penetrations and substantial
coal displacement. That is
according to a new study
from the U.S. Department of
Energy's National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) and
GE Energy Consulting, whose
research and findings were
overseen by utilities,
independent systems
operators, and the North
American Electric
Reliability Corporation
(NERC).
Over the past week, Saudi
Arabian and US warships have
been tracking the Iran
Shahed, a 3,000-tonne
Iranian cargo vessel
purportedly loaded with
humanitarian aid for Yemen.
The ship is making its
way towards Yemen, escorted
by two Revolutionary Guard
destroyers, in a maritime
standoff that analysts say
is an attempt by Tehran to
turn some of the public's
conceptions about the proxy
conflict.
Texas Governor Greg
Abbott on Monday described
the flash flooding that had
killed at least three people
in his state as "a
relentless wall of water
that mowed down huge trees
like they were grass."
Abbott declared states of
disaster in 24 counties and
flew over the area south of
Austin to assess the damage
caused by tornadoes, heavy
rainfall, thunderstorms and
flooding that forced
evacuations and rooftop
rescues and left thousands
of residents without
electrical power.
Photographer Rose-Lynn
Fisher captures tears of
grief, joy, laughter and
irritation in extreme detail
For decades
Tylenol has been used as a
pain-killer, but new
research reveals it has
psychiatric side effects
including dulled emotional
responses to both positive
and negative stimuli.
The public is beginning to
understand that many
over-the-counter painkillers
do more than just kill pain,
but sometimes kill those
taking them.
Faced with intense
opposition from
environmentalists, the
director of the US Interior
Department's Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management defended
the administration's
conditional approval of
Shell's plans to drill in
the Arctic this summer, a
decision she indicated was
based on both federal
statute and, partly,
national security.
"On May 18, the US average
retail price for gasoline
was $2.74/gal, or 92 cents
per gallon lower than at the
same time last year," the US
Energy Information
Administration said in a
report published Friday.
"This is the lowest
average price heading into
the Memorial Day weekend --
the traditional start of the
summer driving season --
since 2009," the report
said.
-
From April 2014 to April
2015, losses of honeybee
colonies hit 42 percent,
which is the second
highest annual loss to
date
-
The USDA considers 18.7
percent to be the
benchmark beyond which
honeybee losses become
economically
unsustainable
-
Without bees, the
fruits, vegetables,
nuts, and seeds that you
may currently take for
granted at your grocery
store could cease to
exist
The AAR reported a total of
93,664 coal carloads, down
27 carloads week over week
from the previous year-low
of 93,691. It was the lowest
reported coal volume since
87,371 carloads in the final
week of 2012 and sixth time
in only 19 weeks this year
that volumes fell below
100,000.
It's old blood, not old
bones, that makes fracture
healing difficult among the
elderly...
“The traditional
concept is that as you get
older, your bone cells kind
of wear out so they can't
heal as well, and we thought
we'd find that during this
study as well,” explains
study co-author Benjamin
Alman, of the Hospital for
Sick Children. “But it turns
out that it's not the bone
cells, it's the blood cells.
As you get older, the blood
cells change the way they
behave when you have an
injury, and as a result the
cells that heal bone aren't
able to work as
efficiently.”
Nicholas Stern tells the Hay
festival the global economic
crisis was a perfect
opportunity to make progress
on climate change – and we
missed it
May 22, 2015
The Obama Administration
will invest nearly $50
million to improve water
efficiency and conservation
in California and 11 other
western states squeezed by
years of crippling drought,
Secretary of the Interior
Sally Jewell announced
today.
Funded projects will
replace thirsty grass
with drought-tolerant
plants, upgrade irrigation
controls, line canals to
prevent seepage, capture
stormwater runoff, increase
groundwater recharge and
improve salmon habitat.
...Arrowhead Landfill
facility is ready to accept
coal combustion residuals
(CCR), commonly known as
coal ash, from utility
companies looking to avoid
civil litigation risks
brought on by the new
federal regulations.
Thousands of gallons of
black smelly crude oil that
spilled from a
broken pipeline Tuesday in
the California coastal
county of Santa Barbara has
fouled popular beaches and
spread across nine miles of
ocean.
A group of scientists,
led by a team from the
University of Bristol, has
observed a sudden increase
of ice loss in a previously
stable region of Antarctica.
The research is published
today in Science.
Using measurements of the
elevation of the Antarctic
ice sheet made by a suite of
satellites, the researchers
found that the Southern
Antarctic Peninsula showed
no signs of change up to
2009. Around 2009,
multiple glaciers along a
vast coastal expanse,
measuring some 750km in
length, suddenly started to
shed ice into the ocean at a
nearly constant rate of 60
cubic km, or about 55
trillion litres of water,
each year
The series of man-made
islands and the massive
Chinese military build-up on
them have alarmed the
Pentagon, which is carrying
out the surveillance flights
in order to make clear the
U.S. does not recognize
China's territorial claims.
The militarized islands have
also alarmed America's
regional allies.
The Hillary Clinton email
mystery took yet another
confusing turn Tuesday with
accusations from Republicans
that the former secretary of
state "misled" the public
about her email practices,
by using multiple "secret"
addresses despite claims to
the contrary.
New wind turbine designs are
putting wind energy -- one
of the nation's largest
domestic energy resources --
to good use. In fact, a new
report, "Enabling Wind Power
Nationwide," demonstrates
the ability for advanced
wind turbines to reach
stronger winds higher above
the ground, unlocking a
previously untapped resource
that could eventually bring
wind energy development to
every state, according to
the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE).
Duke Energy has announced a
$1.1 billion plan to retire
its Asheville, North
Carolina coal-fired plant
and replace it with a new
natural gas plant -- with a
solar element. The utility
also plans to modernize its
transmission system in
western North Carolina and
upstate South Carolina.
Duke Energy Florida and
the University of South
Florida St. Petersburg
(USFSP) today unveiled a new
solar battery project that
will explore how to store
and use energy from the sun.
A $1 million grant from Duke
Energy is funding the
research at USFSP.
As part of the grant, a
100-kilowatt (kW) solar
photovoltaic (PV) system has
already been installed on
the top of the university's
5 th Avenue South
parking garage.
Exposure to fine particulate
air pollution during
pregnancy through the first
two years of a child’s life
may be associated with an
increased risk of the child
developing autism spectrum
disorder (ASD), a condition
that affects one in 68
children, according to a
University of Pittsburgh
Graduate School of Public
Health investigation of
children in southwestern
Pennsylvania.
One would-be robber was
killed and another was
injured Monday after a
77-year-old man shot them
inside his rural Miami-Dade
County home, authorities
said.
Former Duke Energy chief
executive Jim Rogers called
out North Carolina
legislators Thursday for
moving to freeze the state's
green-energy standard with a
tart "Shame on us."
Rogers told the Charlotte
Business Journal's Energy
Inc. Summit that legislators
were turning their backs on
emerging technology,
green-energy developers and
the jobs they have created.
The militants have
effectively taken over
former dictator Muammar
Gaddafi's home city of Sirte
as they exploit a civil war
between two rival
governments to expand in
North Africa.
Retired Air Force Gen.
Michael Hayden told Newsmax
on Tuesday that China would
most assuredly fire back
against the United States
"one way or another" after
six Chinese nationals were
indicted for stealing
wireless technology from two
large American companies in
a scheme hatched in 2006
after three of them left the
University of Southern
California with graduate
degrees.
As Michigan shifts from the
energy sources of the past
to those of our future, we
will focus on energy
policies that will help
families and businesses have
affordable, reliable, and
environmentally-protective
energy," Brader said in a
statement. "We will make
those decisions in Michigan
and not be directed by
Washington, D.C."
Individuality...
“ Let each man hear his own
music and live by it. The
drums roll one way for one
man, and another way for
another. You have to listen
for your own. ” ― Audie
Murphy
After Ramadi fell on Sunday,
Shi’ite militiamen allied to
the Iraqi army had advanced
to a nearby base in
preparation for a
counterattack on the city,
which lies in the Sunni
Muslim province of Anbar,
just 110 km northwest of
Baghdad.
Islamic State fighters
tightened their grip on the
historic city of Palmyra in
Syria, days
after capturing a provincial
capital in neighboring Iraq,
suggesting the growing
momentum of the group which
a monitor says now holds
half of Syrian territory.
The number of Americans
filing new claims for
unemployment benefits rose
slightly more than expected
last week, but the
underlying trend continued
to suggest the labor market
was tightening.
Initial claims for state
unemployment benefits
increased 10,000 to a
seasonally adjusted 274,000
for the week ended May 16,
the Labor Department said on
Thursday. Claims for the
prior week were unrevised
After a heated end to the
legislative session,
Minnesota passed an energy
and jobs bill. HF 1437 will
make net metering customers
face higher fees to help pay
for the grid.
In a unanimous decision,
Nevada senators passed a
measure Sunday that will
give the Public Utilities
Commission authority to
impose new fees on rooftop
solar customers but no power
to lift a controversial cap
blocking people from
participating in a solar
program rebuked by NV
Energy.
In another email, sent on
Sept. 13, 2012, Clinton is
provided information
indicating that an Islamist
militia group, Ansar al
Sharia, was responsible for
the terror attacks.
Initially, the Obama
administration infamously
blamed the attack that
killed four Americans on an
anti-Muslim YouTube video.
Solar cells built with black
silicon are much more
light-absorbent, and can
capture incident photons
from very low angles
Even as Obama administration
officials blamed the 2012
attack on the U.S. Embassy
in Benghazi, Libya, on a
U.S.-made film mocking the
Prophet Mohammed, they
should have known that a
terrorist group with ties to
al-Qaida was thought to be
behind the attack.
That's because an email was
sent by then Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton — via
her foreign policy adviser —
just days after the attack
informing them of that
possibility, The New York
Times reported
For 10 years, Crow
Indians have nervously
waited, sometimes into
December, as Congress has
debated whether to extend
the Indian Coal Production
Tax Credit in one year
increments.
The tax credit lowers the
price of Absaloka Mine coal,
which is on tribal land and
mined by Westmoreland
Resources.
But last year, renewal of
the tax credit didn't come
soon enough, Crow Tribal
Chairman Darrin Old Coyote
told The Gazette.
What does this year’s odd
U.S. weather have in common
with a huge spike in hungry,
stranded sea lion pups on
California shores? Both are
linked to a giant patch of
warm ocean water.
Committing more than $7
billion in U.S. government
support and attracting
nearly three-times that in
private sector funding,
Power Africa, which launched
in October 2013, marks a
milestone for President
Obama with regard to action
on climate change and clean
energy, not to mention
foreign relations and
international development.
The initiative gives the
U.S. a leadership role in
addressing a range of
critical regional and global
issues...
Renewable energy investment
and deployment is paying
off, and in spades, when it
comes to addressing a basic
issue plaguing developed and
developing countries alike:
an inability to generate
jobs that pay a good living
wage. Around the world,
renewable energy job
creation continues to far
outpace that for economies
overall.
After almost two years of
delays, Germany, France and
their neighbors in
central-western Europe
connected their electricity
markets on Wednesday under a
system that lets prices
dictate where power flows
between countries.
C1 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a chance
for a C-class flares on days
one, two, and three (22 May,
23 May, 24 May). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one, two, and
three (22 May, 23 May, 24
May).
Overall, 125,875 homes
across the country were at
some point in the
foreclosure process in
April, a 3 percent jump from
March. The increase drove
foreclosure activity up 9
percent from year-ago
levels, RealtyTrac said.
"In our letters we
regularly remind (companies)
of the consequences of
violating the legislation,"
said Roskomnadzor spokesman
Vadim Ampelonsky.
He added that,
because of the encryption
technology used by the three
firms, Russia had no way of
blocking specific websites
and so could only bring down
particular content it deemed
in violation of law by
blocking access to their
whole services.
Saudi Arabia's recent push
to maintain international
oil market share saw its oil
exports surging in March,
but the kingdom may find
itself unable to maintain
much upward momentum in the
coming months.
In 1877, U.S. soldiers
force-marched 523 Ponca
along the 600-mile Ponca
Trail of Tears to their new
disease-ridden reservation.
Nine people, including
Standing Bear’s daughter,
died along the way. Two
years after relocation, a
third of the tribe, Standing
Bear’s son Bear Shield among
them, had died.
...Whether
you juice for days at a time
or simply pop into your
favorite cold-pressed spot
for a green goddess, detox
flush, or energizing citrus
quench as needed, there’s a
downside you may not have
considered but seriously
need to—cavities. Since the
rise of the juicing trend,
dentists have seen an
alarming uptick in cavities
and oral health issues, and
today we’re bringing you the
information you need on the
problem—and how to stop your
juice habit from turning
into expensive tooth
trouble.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson,
a senior member of the House
Ways and Means Committee,
this week introduced the New
Energy for America Act which
extends investment tax
credits for energy efficient
residential and commercial
property through 2021.
"The (tax credit) is one
of the most important tools
we have that supports the
deployment of solar energy
in the United States,"
Thompson said in a
statement...
As one of the hosts of
the roundtable, Alexander
called the utility out for
its plans to increase
reliance on what he referred
to as "unreliable, high-cost
renewable power."
Alexander asked Johnson,
"Why change direction now?
The goal is not more
windmills. The law says that
the goal is low-cost
electricity. TVA is building
emission-free nuclear plants
and low-emission gas plants.
It is putting pollution
control equipment on its
coal plants. Our air is
demonstrably cleaner. What
is the excuse for joining
states that are raising
their electric rates by
using more unreliable,
renewable power?"
A clean energy bill that
would require utilities to
generate 30 percent of their
electricity from renewable
energy sources by 2030 is a
step closer to making it
onto the U.S. Senate floor
“Instead of requiring the
manufacturers of GMO foods
to label their products, the
USDA wants to penalize
producers of non-GMO foods
by making them pay for a
label to prove their
products are GMO-free
Cancer becomes deadly when
it spreads, or metastasizes.
Not all cells have the same
ability to travel through
the body, but researchers
don’t understand why.
A period of lower-cost oil
has, famously, descended on
the market, reminding us
that business models should
always take into account
“black swan” economic events
such as the battle between
OPEC and unconventional oil
producers over some 10
percent of global market
share, which has tumbled oil
prices some 20 percent down,
with US currency strength
causing another 20 percent
or so tumb
The opening general session
at Windpower 2015 marked the
first appearance by a U.S.
energy secretary at the
show, “which is surprising,”
said current energy
secretary Ernest Moniz, “but
better late than never.”
In early March,
Depczynski responded to a
Facebook rant where the
writer, going only as "Lin,"
said Native American
students who find the
Lancaster ‘Redskins’ mascot
offensive should, instead,
get their education on the
reservation rather than
Lancaster.
May 19, 2015
-
The average American
throws away more than 7
pounds of garbage a day
-
Americans toss 60
million water bottles
daily, which is nearly
700 each minute
-
Most communities spend
more to deal with trash
than they spend for
schoolbooks, fire
protection, libraries,
and parks
In response to pleas from
various organizations to
help promote healthier
eating habits for children,
Dairy Queen is the latest
fast-food chain to remove
soda from its kids’ menu,
following Burger King,
Wendy’s and McDonald’s.
"Joining a market that will
automatically balance supply
and demand for electricity
every five minutes will
enable APS to dispatch the
least-cost resource and
optimize our ability to
generate electricity in the
most efficient manner for
our customers."
A prolonged and mysterious
die-off of the nation’s
honeybees, a trend worrisome
both to beekeepers and to
farmers who depend on the
insects to pollinate their
crops, apparently worsened
last year.
In an annual survey released
on Wednesday by the Bee
Informed Partnership, a
consortium of universities
and research laboratories,
about 5,000 beekeepers
reported losing 42.1 percent
of their colonies in the
12-month period that ended
in April. That is well above
the 34.2 percent loss
reported for the same period
in 2013 and 2014, and it is
the second-highest loss
recorded since year-round
surveys began in 2010.
The W.S. Lee Steam
Station site in Belton, S.C.
, has been bustling with
activity in recent weeks in
anticipation of the first
truckload of coal ash to be
excavated and relocated to
an off-site landfill.
That day came Thursday as
trucks moved the first tons
of the material - left from
burning the coal that's
powered the Carolinas for
more than a century.
-
Three large
egg-producing states in
the US are in the midst
of an avian flu
outbreak. Iowa declared
a state of emergency on
May 1. Minnesota and
Wisconsin declared
states of emergency last
month
-
It’s estimated that 25
percent of all chickens
in Iowa have been
infected, and millions
of chickens and turkeys
in the three states have
already been killed in
an effort to contain the
disease
-
The confined animal
feeding operation (CAFO)
model virtually
guarantees drug
resistance and
out-of-control spread of
disease, both among
animals and humans
With puzzling variability,
vast numbers of birds from
Canada’s boreal forests
migrate hundreds or
thousands of miles south
from their usual winter
range. These so-called
irruptions were first
noticed by birdwatchers
decades ago, but the driving
factors have never been
fully explained. Now
scientists have pinpointed
the climate pattern that
likely sets the stage for
irruptions – a discovery
that could make it possible
to predict the events more
than a year in advance.
The ongoing water crisis in
California has generated
some dire predictions about
the state's future. But
California isn’t running out
of water. It’s running out
of cheap water. The drought
damage is estimated as $2.2
billion, which is
significant, but hardly the
"end of growth" for
California’s $2.2 trillion
economy. The problem for
businesses, however, is that
cheap water jeopardizes
their water security.
Executives need visibility
into the issue and
strategies to manage it, but
unfortunately, the slow
policy response and
inconsistent price signals
slow adaptation and
innovation.
There are obstacles: Drains
on the power grid if there
are too many charging
stations, resentment from
drivers with gas cars, and
the stations' low return on
investment.
Three national agencies have
confirmed that the natural
phenomenon has arrived, but
not in time to bring
much-needed rains in the
West
A security researcher for
airline vulnerabilities told
the FBI he hacked into
controls while on board a
flight and made the aircraft
climb and briefly fly
sideways, Wired reported,
citing an application for a
search warrant filed by an
FBI agent.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis
Varoufakis has said he
expects an agreement with
the country's international
creditors within the next
week.
The government is fast
running out of money and is
due to make a payment of
€1.5bn (£1.09bn) to the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) on 5 June.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog
said the management of
radioactive waste and
contaminated water at
Japan's tsunami-crippled
Fukushima nuclear power
plant could be improved
despite good progress in
cleaning up the site.
The operator of the plant
said in February it had
found a pool of highly
contaminated water on the
roof of a plant building and
that it had probably leaked
into the sea through a
gutter when it rained.
With more than 80 percent
of the towers in place, a
new high-voltage power line
known as CapX2020 is taking
shape -- with some bangs --
along the Wisconsin side of
the Mississippi River.
Xcel Energy contractors
are using implosive
connectors to splice the
power lines together and say
residents of Trempealeau
County can expect to feel
about a dozen blasts over
the next two weeks.
On April 19th the
Caribbean Court of Justice
announced its judgment
affirming the 2013 holding
of the Court of Appeal of
Belize that the Maya
indigenous people of
southern Belize have rights
to the lands they
customarily have used and
occupied for many
generations.
Very little research has
been done on the health
effects of excessive cobalt
on humans, but much of what
research has been done is
recorded by the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry, an agency of the
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, though,
admittedly most research on
the health effects of cobalt
has been done on non-human
animals.
An explosion at the
Indian Point Energy Center
(IPEC), a nuclear plant
located a few hundred feet
from the Hudson River in
Westchester, New York, sent
a fireball over 650 feet
into the air.
Entergy Corporation,
which runs the plant, said
the explosion triggered a
safe shut down of the Number
3 reactor, though the Number
2 reactor remains in
operation. A resulting fire
was extinguished by a
sprinkler system and on –
site fire brigade personnel.
Did this make you jump?...
-
In the last year, three
people have died and 10
more have become ill due
to listeria bacteria in
Blue Bell ice cream
products
-
US ice cream maker
Jeni’s also recalled all
of its products amidst
listeria concerns
-
Blue Bell Creameries
found strong evidence of
listeria at one of its
plants in 2013 – but
failed to improve its
sanitation efforts
...
Ironically, this is also the
disease the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) often
uses as its "poster child"
in its warnings against
drinking raw milk, but this
actually deflects from the
fact that people are dying
from listeria found in
other commonly eaten
foods – like pasteurized
ice cream.
An international team of
researchers claim to have
uncovered how human immune
cells remember previously
encountered strains of
influenza. This discovery
may pave the way to the
development of a single
universal flu shot to
immunize people against all
strains of the infectious
disease for their entire
lives.
After spending seven years
tied up in federal court,
FirstEnergy Corp. and a
group of local residents
have settled separate
lawsuits alleging that toxic
"rain" from the Bruce
Mansfield coal-fired power
plant in Shippingport caused
life-threatening illnesses
and made existing ones
worse.
-
Israel is the marijuana
research capital of the
world, thanks to the
work of Dr. Raphael
Mechoulam who’s spent
his entire career
studying the health
benefits of cannabis
-
Your body has its own
endocannabinoid system,
with endogenous chemical
messengers very similar
to those in marijuana
acting on matching
receptors located on
cells throughout your
body
-
Most research to date
shows that cannabis
offers significant
health benefits for
minimal risk, thanks to
your endocannabinoid
system
It seems like a strange
place to call a wildlife
park: Nearly 30 years after
the most catastrophic
nuclear incident in global
history, Chernobyl’s
exclusion zone has turned
into a paradise for animals
of all species and sizes. A
variety of raptors, deer,
big cats, foxes, bears and
birds have moved into the
region, taking advantage of
a vast habitat with almost
no humans. That habitat,
though, is contaminated with
radioactive materials, and
scientists still hotly
debate the potential costs
of radiation exposure to the
animals of Chernobyl, some
of whom have become famous.
The Mississippi city of
Richland has a new $4.1
million police station, a
top-level training center
and a fleet of
black-and-white Dodge
Charger police cars.
All of it was paid for
through civil forfeitures of
property and cash seized
during traffic stops of what
police say were suspected
drug runners on Interstate
20.
The June-September monsoon
season is vital for India as
half its croplands lack
irrigation, but a forecast
of less rain than usual due
to the emergence of the El
Nino has threatened to
worsen rural distress.
-
Your body is colonized
by a vast array of
microorganisms that
modulate every aspect of
your health and
physiology, moment to
moment, and you can
optimize your health by
nourishing and
protecting these
microbes
-
Gut bacteria manufacture
neurochemicals such as
dopamine and serotonin,
along with vitamins that
are important for brain
health
-
Beneficial bacteria act
to prevent leaky gut,
which appears to be at
the root of most
autoimmune diseases and
neurological disorders
In a unanimous decision,
Nevada senators passed a
measure Sunday that will
give the Public Utilities
Commission authority to
impose new fees on rooftop
solar customers but no power
to lift a controversial cap
blocking people from
participating in a solar
program rebuked by NV
Energy.
The move sets up what
could be a defeat this
session for the rooftop
solar industry...
Emails published by the
New York Times Monday
indicate that Hillary
Clinton used more than one
private email address during
her time as secretary of
state, contradicting
previous claims from the
Democratic presidential
contender’s office.
Multiple emails show
Clinton used account
“hrod17@clintonemail.com”
while serving in the Obama
administration as secretary
of state.
Ample generation capacity
and low natural gas and
electricity prices should
spell good news for US
consumers this summer,
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission staff said in a
new market assessment,
released Thursday.
"Fuel prices tend to drive
power prices and fuel prices
are low,..
Last December, Governor
Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat,
made the moratorium official
following the release of a
state health department
report that emphasized the
potential problems
associated with fracking.
The FSGEIS incorporated
that earlier report, "which
determined there is
significant uncertainty
about adverse health
outcomes and whether
mitigation measures could
adequately protect public
health, including impacts to
air, water, soil and
community character,"
according to the DEC
statement.
New work confirms zones of
liquid salt water hundreds
of meters below the bright
red waterfall in icy
Antarctica, known as Blood
Falls.
Plague is endemic in the
western United States and
circulates in wild rodent
populations, including rock
squirrels, prairie dogs,
ground squirrels, chipmunks,
packrats, and others. Human
plague cases in Arizona
occur most commonly from
May–August, and usually in
locations above 4500 feet in
elevation. The disease can
be transmitted through the
bite of an infected flea,
direct contact with infected
tissues, or inhalation of
aerosolized particles.
C1 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a chance
for a C-class flares on days
one, two, and three (19 May,
20 May, 21 May). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels on day one (19
May) and quiet levels on
days two and three (20 May,
21 May).
John LaRusso watched over
the years as the electric
bill for his Milford home
rose steadily -- with no end
in sight.
So he decided to do
something about it and
installed a photovoltaic
system, more commonly known
as solar panels, on the roof
of his Apple Hill Drive
house.
Reminiscing over hot
dogs, burgers and fried
chicken, workers shared
their experiences while at
the plant, with one common
theme:
"It was like a family."
Both Democrats and
Republicans support a
federal repository for used
nuclear fuel. That was just
one message being delivered
at the Nuclear Energy
Institute's (NEI) recent
Nuclear Energy Assembly...
In his remarks, Assistant
Democratic Leader Rep. James
Clyburn of South Carolina
touted nuclear energy's
clean air attributes and
said the technology is a
vital component of the
nation's infrastructure,
identifying the management
of used nuclear fuel as the
top challenge confronting
the industry.
Clinton's e-mails during her
tenure as secretary of State
have become the focus of
controversy since it was
revealed that she
exclusively used private
e-mails to conduct State
business, a practice that
has been discouraged by the
Obama administration.
Simpson said he was
willing to make an exception
because the cap was tasteful
and a reflection of
Gonzales’ Native American
culture, and was hand beaded
by her grandmother in a
gesture of goodwill and
support.
A unanimous Supreme Court
ruled Monday that the
government can’t prevent a
convicted felon who is
barred from possessing
firearms from trying to sell
his guns after they are
confiscated by authorities.
Tucson Electric Power, or
TEP, has announced that it
is seeking bids for the
design and construction of a
utility-scale energy storage
system that would be
operational by the end of
2016.
The fall of the Indian rupee
in comparison to the US
dollar has raised concerns.
In the new financial year,
the currency has fallen
nearly 3 percent, initially
due to a rising, strong
dollar and more recently
triggered by stock selling
by overseas investors. Some
experts fear that it may
fall further in the coming
days and if it happens this
could kickoff a fresh bout
of sell-offs in stocks,
resulting in a cascading
effect and laying to waste
the hopes of an economic
revival.
Fighting the obstacles to
economic growth will do more
for lifting more poor out of
poverty than fighting
Republicans, Christians, Fox
News, and the wealthy.
The U.S. economy is driving
along without much insurance
for when it crashes.
Almost six years since
the bottom of the last
recession, the world’s
largest economy lacks the
monetary and fiscal power to
reverse the next contraction
as threats to sustained
growth build.
“We’re probably closer to
the next recession than we
are to the last one...
A new report claims to
analyze and rank the
economic and energy
performance of the world's
50 largest greenhouse gas
(GHG) emitting nations for
the first time. The United
States ranks among the
world's top countries in
clean tech investments,
patents, renewable energy
generation, and electric
vehicle (EV) adoption --
while at the same time being
among the worst for energy
consumption and emissions.
What do you get when you let
the chemical industry write
a “chemical safety” bill?
A bill that protects
chemical companies, not
consumers.
India has recently ramped up
attacks on environmental and
development organizations
that work on climate, clean
energy and sustainability
issues. The world’s largest
democracy has frozen bank
accounts, restricted
international donations, and
in some cases prevented the
organizations’ staffers from
traveling abroad.
The massive study finds that
health, safety and
environmental uncertainties
regarding fracking's dangers
have 'grown worse over
time.'
High-volume hydraulic
fracturing "raises new,
significant, adverse impacts
not studied" in the state's
last major analysis of oil
and gas development in 1992,
the 2,000-page report
concludes...
he Lummi Nation has been
fighting the proposal for
three years out of concerns
that the proposed Gateway
Pacific Terminal would
interfere with the tribe's
treaty-protected fishing
rights in the area.
May 15, 2015
“The biggest myth of all is
that all germs are bad,”
notes Pat Salber, M.D., a
board-certified San
Francisco internist. “It
turns out we have an
intimate relationship with
bacteria. They live on our
skin, in our mouths, and
most importantly, they live
in our gut.
The continuous drop in solar
panel cost and the ability
to lease panels makes the
clean energy investment more
inviting than ever before,
and Tesla’s entry into the
utility market may be seen
as a bold move that will
help corner the market and
establish consumer
confidence early on, giving
the company control over an
new power infrastructure.
The new battery is called
the Powerwall, and will be
available as a 7kWh daily
cycle unit and as a 10kWh
weekly cycle unit. The 7kWh
pack costs $3,000 and the
10kWh costs $3,5000; already
this is roughly 1/3 of the
price of its competitors.
Beekeepers across the United
States lost more than 40
percent of their honey bee
colonies during the year
spanning April 2014 to April
2015, according to the
latest results of an annual
nationwide survey led by a
University of Maryland
professor. While winter loss
rates improved slightly
compared to last year,
summer losses—and
consequently, total annual
losses—were more severe.
Commercial beekeepers were
hit particularly hard by the
high rate of summer losses,
which outstripped winter
losses for the first time in
five years, stoking concerns
over the long-term trend of
poor health in honey bee
colonies.
The Larsen C Ice Shelf —
whose neighbours Larsen A
and B, collapsed in 1995 and
2002 — is thinning from both
its surface and beneath. For
years scientists have been
unable to determine whether
it is warming air
temperatures or warmer ocean
currents that were causing
the Antarctic Peninsula’s
floating ice shelves to lose
volume and become more
vulnerable to collapse. This
new study takes an
importantstep forward in
assessing Antarctica’s
likely contribution to
future sea-level rise.
...Mitchell, an
attorney from Alaska,
claimed that Congress never
delegated its “plenary
power” over Indians to the
Interior Department or
authorized the Assistant
Secretary – Indian Affairs
“to create new tribes” – an
expression he used
repeatedly that both
misrepresents and disparages
the formal procedure by
which existing
tribes are acknowledged.
Move over, Heartbleed.
There's a new catastrophic
vulnerability in town.
A security research firm
is warning that a new bug
could allow a hacker to take
over vast portions of a
datacenter -- from within.
The zero-day
vulnerability lies in a
legacy common component in
widely-used virtualization
software, allowing a hacker
to infiltrate potentially
every machine across a
datacenter's network.
Using proteins secreted by
stem cells, researchers may
have found a new, less risky
way to regenerate bone
tissue for people who have
suffered major trauma to
their limbs. According to
findings published in
Scientific Reports this
week, the technique could
one day provide a
sustainable source of fresh
tissue.
Federal Police officers from
the states of Roraima,
Rondônia, São Paulo,
Amazonas, and Pará were
marshaled Thursday to serve
313 warrants against people
suspected of clandestine
gold and gemstone mining on
indigenous lands.
Some years ago the
Indian Tenetehar from
Maranhão told me about a
Bororo leader when someone
asked him about those times
of the colonization. Touched
and speaking in a loud voice
he said: “The European, the
civilized man, when he
arrived here, he stepped
hard, he stepped hard not
only in the land, but in the
soul of our people as well.
The rivers got wider, the
seawater became saltier, but
both were with our people’s
tears.” I never forgot those
words. I knew it was truth
and that within our blood
there were still the tears
of our ancestors running. I
thought of the way that my
grandmother’s grandmother
was murdered in the end of
the XIX century with a
bullet against her chest and
of her last wish to go back
to her ancestral land, her
village, the land neither
her body nor her spirit
could see again in Bahia.
Utilities across the country
are looking at their summer
electricity supplies, and
the California Independent
System Operator (CAISO) is
dealing with an especially
trying summer because of
California's drought. But
according to CAISO's report,
"2015 Summer Loads and
Resources Assessment,"
electricity supplies will be
constant during the summer
of 2015, even in the hottest
of temperatures.
A seemingly surefire
strategy for coping with the
drought in the West:
pipelines to get water to
parched rural areas. So,
should water-rich states
start worrying the West will
come siphon away their
supplies?
Can’t get that cheesy Barry
Manilow or Carpenters song
out of your head? Try
chewing gum.
The Chinese government gave
a stern warning Wednesday
that it will protect its
sovereignty in the
South China Sea
after a cat-and-mouse
pursuit of a U.S. warship by
a Chinese frigate.
The Clinton Global
Initiative is an arm of the
Clinton Foundation that acts
a broker between donors and
entities that are interested
in completing charitable
projects. Under the
memorandum of understanding
that guided the foundation's
activities while Hillary
Clinton was in office, the
Clinton Global Initiative
was not allowed to hold
major events overseas.
Thanks to Cuba, a
revolutionary treatment for
lung cancer, the second most
common cancer, could
potentially stop the disease
from being fatal...
Cimavax doesn’t prevent lung
cancer. However, it stops
the disease’s spread
by attacking a protein
involved in the cancer’s
growth. This has the
potential to
transform advanced-stage
lung cancer into a chronic,
treatable condition rather
than a fatal one.
The medication is the first
of its kind, a big enough
innovation that an economic
superpower like the United
States is turning to its
longtime adversary in order
to get it.
Customer satisfaction with
utilities has declined for
the second year in a row,
following another harsh
winter, according to the
American Customer
Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
In fact, customer
satisfaction with gas and
electric service providers
is down 2.7 percent, to an
ACSI score of 74.3 on a
scale of 100, according to
the index.
Thirty-one House
Democrats have proposed
legislation that would
prevent people from buying
ammunition online, and would
instead require all
purchases to be made in
person — a change they admit
is aimed at preventing
people from buying
“unlimited” ammunition over
the Internet.
The Stop Online
Ammunition Sales Act, from
freshman Rep. Bonnie Watson
Coleman (D-N.J.), would also
require all ammo dealers to
be licensed by the
government, and require bulk
ammo purchases to be
reported to the government.
"The incentives really
helped make it a no-brainer
for electric vehicles in
terms of savings. Georgia
has been very proactive in
making it easy and
affordable for consumers,"
says Shannon
Baker-Branstetter, policy
counsel for Consumers Union.
But in April, Georgia
lawmakers passed a bill that
will eliminate the $5,000
state tax credit for EVs
($2,500 for low-emission
vehicles) purchased after
July 1 and charge drivers of
EVs and hybrids a $200
annual registration fee. So
if you are thinking about
buying an EV and you're
intent on getting a very
generous tax credit, you had
better get started on your
research.
Duke Energy Corp pleaded
guilty on Thursday to
environmental crimes over a
North Carolina power plant's
coal ash spill into a river
and management of coal ash
basins in the state, U.S.
prosecutors said...
As part of the deal, Duke
agreed to pay $102 million
in fines and environmental
projects, and to reserve
more than $3 billion to
comply with environmental
standards.
Study shows that
modern hunter-gatherer
tribes operate on
egalitarian basis,
suggesting that inequality
was an aberration that came
with the advent of
agriculture
A study has shown that in
contemporary hunter-gatherer
tribes, men and women tend
to have equal influence on
where their groups lives and
who they live with. The
findings challenge the idea
that sexual equality is a
recent invention, suggesting
that it has been the norm
for humans for most of our
evolutionary history.
Electricity generation in
the United States could be
much lower than in the past,
according to the Energy
Information Association's
(EIA) Annual Energy Outlook
2015
The El Niño climate
phenomenon is almost certain
to last through the Northern
Hemisphere summer, the U.S.
weather forecaster said,
raising the chance of heavy
rain in the southern United
States as well as South
America, and scorching heat
in Asia that could devastate
crops of thirsty food
staples like rice.
El Niño also reduces the
likelihood of a busy
hurricane season, which
lasts from June to November
and can disrupt energy
operations in the Gulf of
Mexico.
The owner of a patch of
Mojave Desert land upon
which a small vacation home
once stood is suing a wind
farm developer that
demolished the cabin without
authorization.
In a lawsuit filed in Los
Angeles County Superior
Court on Thursday, Darlene
Dotson and her two sons
accused EDP Renewables North
America of leveling the home
deliberately because Dotson
had rebuffed offers to buy
her property.
Gavin McInnes, the
co-founder of Vice Media,
left fellow panelist Tamara
Holder visibly stunned when
he argued that women earn
less in America because they
“choose to” and asserted
than modern feminism is
making women “miserable.”
Global water quality is
expected to take a plunge in
the coming years, according
to a new white paper by
Veolia and the International
Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI).
"This assessment reveals
that levels of BOD, N, and P
discharged into water bodies
around the world are already
alarmingly high,
particularly in Asia.
How is the European Union's
"right to be forgotten"
faring a year after it
kicked in? If you ask
Google, it's more than a
little messy. The internet
firm has published an
updated Transparency Report
which reveals that the
company rejected about 59
percent of the search result
takedown requests received
to date. While it doesn't
break down exactly why it's
tossing those requests, its
examples typically include
criminals trying to hide
their unpleasant pasts and
professionals embarrassed by
their earlier work. And to
no one's surprise, the top
sites under the crosshairs
are typically social
services like Facebook,
Google+ and Twitter.
Greece completed a 757
million-euro ($844 million)
debt payment to the
International Monetary Fund
on Tuesday despite a cash
shortage in government
coffers in Athens.
Greece’s government has
taken as “many steps as
possible” toward reaching an
agreement with bailout
lenders, Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras said, despite
renewed calls from creditors
for tough reforms.
Former Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan is
among those joining the
chorus warning that there is
yet another ‘taper tantrum’
on the horizon for
investors.
"Just
remember we had the 'taper
tantrum.' And we're going to
get another one,"..
Gov. Nikki Haley's office
said South Carolina will not
join other states in
voluntarily opening its
doors to house the nation's
spent nuclear fuel, stating
that a recently announced
federal search for interim
storage sites "masks
repeated failures to meet
commitments."
Or my favorite: “Gardening
is cheaper than therapy, and
you get tomatoes!”
Of course, we think that
they’re trying to jog us out
of our winter fugue and get
outside. And it turns out
that yes, that’s probably
true, but wait—there’s more.
Playing in the dirt can
actually help with
depression.
The House of Representatives
approved legislation
Thursday that allows
Congress to review any deal
on Iran's nuclear program
negotiated by the Obama
Administration.
The
measure passed with an
overwhelming bipartisan vote
400-25
While river transport of
carbon to the ocean is not
on a scale that will bail
humans out of our CO2
problem, we don’t actually
know how much carbon the
world’s rivers routinely
flush into the ocean – an
important piece of the
global carbon cycle.
Abe, in a bid to win public
understanding, said in a
nationally televised news
conference that Japan's
military needs to be able to
do more to protect the
country and contribute to
international peacekeeping.
``We cannot look
away from this severe
situation,'' he said.
``Right now, we don't have
the (legal) instruments
necessary to eliminate the
danger even when our lives
are in clear danger.''
When federal agents
stormed into Lyndon
McLellan's North Carolina
convenience store last
October without warning and
accused him of trying to put
one over on the government,
the small business owner
wasn't sure what was
happening.
"They asked me if I knew
what 'structuring' was and
then they showed me some
cash deposits I made in a
24-hour period," he told
FoxNews.com.
A Minnesota city is suing
six manufacturers of
so-called "flushable"
personal wipes, alleging
that the product is not
living up to its name and
instead clogging up the
sewer system.
"The lawsuit, filed [last
month] in federal court,
might be the first seeking
class-action status on
behalf of cities grappling
with the disposable cloths
that wastewater officials
say are plugging pipes and
pumps,..
Nuclear has all the
attributes energy should
have, U.S. Senator Lisa
Murkowski, chairman of the
Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, told
industry leaders at the
Nuclear Energy Institute's
(NEI) annual conference
yesterday. Murkowski is
considering various energy
sources as she prepares to
draft new comprehensive
energy legislation,
convening the second of four
committee hearings on key
sections of the prospective
energy legislation today.
New Jersey is hoping to
bring back the wind energy
credit -- and this week the
state's Senate Environmental
Committee passed a
resolution asking Congress
and President Obama to
reinstate the production tax
credit (PTC) for wind
energy.
People living or working
near active natural gas
wells may be exposed to
certain pollutants at higher
levels than the
Environmental Protection
Agency considers safe for
lifetime exposure, according
to scientists from Oregon
State University and the
University of Cincinnati.
The researchers found
that hydraulic fracturing –
a technique for releasing
natural gas from
below-ground rock formations
– emits pollutants known as
PAHs (polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons), including
some that are linked with
increased risk of cancer and
respiratory ailments.
New York has released its
long-awaited report on
high-volume hydraulic
fracturing, which appears to
cast doubt on whether the
state will ever give a green
light to the drilling
completion practice, which
essentially has been
prohibited since 2008.
A power plant developer is
taking some of its plans
back to the drawing board
for changes that will
significantly reduce the
amount of water it needs.
A new report took a look at
California Governor Jerry
Brown's renewable energy
goals, and whether they are
viable. The report,
conducted by Strategen
Consulting, found that Gov.
Brown's 2030 goals are not
only possible, but will
create jobs and economic
possibilities within the
state.
C2 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a slight
chance for an M-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(15 May, 16 May, 17 May).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(15 May), quiet to active
levels on day two (16 May)
and unsettled to minor storm
levels on day three (17
May).
Global sea levels are
climbing at a faster rate
than previously thought,
according to a new analysis
that underscores scientists’
concerns about the impact of
melting glaciers and ice
sheets near the Earth’s
poles.
There are several fantasies
about electricity rates, and
it is time to address
“ratepayers subsidizing
solar.” The corollary is “at
no other time do ratepayers
subsidize other
ratepayers.” I am here to
tell you, dear readers, that
this belief is hogwash.
Cross-ratepayer subsidies
occur every single day in
every utility service
territory.
Monday Night, He Changed Her
Life for a Second Time.
-
People who walked for
two minutes out of every
hour spent sitting
increased their lifespan
by 33 percent
-
Excessive sitting is
linked to an increased
risk of type 2 diabetes,
heart disease, cancer,
and death from virtually
all causes
-
Ideally, try to sit for
less than three hours a
day; a standing
workstation can help
with this goal
Payment to
pay for 121.4 mil cu m of
natural gas
* Russian gas
imports at about 20 mil cu
m/day
* Imports going
into storage facilities
All land is not created
equal. Some ecosystems do
triple duty in the benefits
they provide to society.
Massachusetts forests, for
example, filter public
drinking water while also
providing habitat for
threatened species and
storing carbon to combat
climate change.
Ecologists and
conservation groups single
out the hardest-working
ecosystems – called
“hotspots” – for their
exceptional conservation
value....
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture will start
offering to verify food
companies’ claims that their
products do not contain
genetically modified
organisms, but the agency
stopped far short Thursday
of requiring the mandatory
labeling of GMOs that many
food activists say is
needed.
Despite the large amounts of
shale oil and gas around the
world, the United States and
Canada are the only two
countries that have produced
commercial quantities of
both. According to the
Institute for Energy
Research (IER), there is an
estimated 7,299 trillion
cubic feet of shale gas
resources, and 345 billion
barrels of shale oil,
worldwide. That is compared
to the 120 trillion cubic
feet of shale gas is
consumed each year.
The University of Washington
is developing a fungi based
aviation biofuel that might
be competitive on the open
market. Fungi naturally do
many of the complicated
chemical processes required
by other fuels. This should
mean that a fungi biofuel
has lower production costs.
Despite few fueling stations
to support a fuel cell
vehicle, Toyota is scheduled
to release its Mirai FCV
this fall. Will hydrogen
cars hit the highways or
remain a (tail)pipe dream?
Driving an electric vehicle
(EV) has advantages over a
regular gasoline-engine car.
EVs are quiet and smooth and
they deliver more torque.
But battery-powered cars
present a greater ideal: You
can fuel them from household
current, ideally supplied by
an on-site PV array, to
allow you to “dump the
pump.”
May 12, 2015
Today’s earthquake comes
less than two weeks after a
7.9-magnitude quake left
more than 8,000 dead and
18,000 injured there.
Australian Prime Minister
Tony Abbott's chief business
adviser has accused the
United Nations of using
debunked climate change
science to lead a new world
order, provocative claims
made to coincide with a
visit from the top UN
climate negotiator.
Drone deliveries hey? What
could be more convenient
than having the milk for
your cereal arrive fresh
each morning, or that
forgotten dinner ingredient
plonked down on the doorstep
just as you fire up the
stove? Well, details now
revealed in an Amazon patent
application suggest that if
its Prime Air drones do
materialize, they mightn't
just be limited to making
house calls. The application
outlines plans for drones
that track a customer's GPS
position, flagging the
possibility of having items
brought to you even when
you're out and about.
American doctor Ian Crozier
was treated for Ebola in
Atlanta last year and
declared free of the virus
in his blood. But he had no
way of knowing it still
lurked in his eye.
Appalachian Power has the
grid completely back online
after a Thursday evening
underground fire knocked out
electricity for hundreds of
customers in downtown
Charleston.
The fire started around
6:30 p.m. Thursday when
cables in a manhole on the
corner of Hale Street and
Virginia Street East failed
and caught fire, said Phil
Moye, an Appalachian Power
spokesman. About 600
customers lost power shortly
after that as the cables
failed and Appalachian Power
de-energized the lines to
prevent any further damage.
Apple is expanding its
renewable energy and
environmental protection
initiatives in China,
including a new multi-year
project with the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) to
significantly increase
responsibly-managed forests
across China. Apple's goal
is to achieve a net-zero
impact on the world's supply
of sustainable virgin fiber,
and power all its operations
worldwide on 100 percent
renewable energy.
As California struggles
with a devastating drought,
huge amounts of water are
mysteriously vanishing from
the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta — and the prime
suspects are farmers whose
families have tilled fertile
soil there for generations.
A state investigation was
launched following
complaints from two large
agencies that supply water
to arid farmland in the
Central Valley and to
millions of residents as far
south as San Diego.
California environmental
groups filed a lawsuit on
Thursday that seeks to halt
oil industry injections of
drilling wastewater into
nearly 500 wells, a practice
they say threatens fresh
water supplies and is
particularly critical in
light of a prolonged
drought.
The left-leaning New
Democratic Party (NDP)
shocked Canada this week by
winning the provincial
election in Alberta, home of
the notorious tar sands.
The Alberta oil sands are
what is mined for bituminous
crude and has come to the
forefront of politics in the
United States because of the
contested Keystone XL
pipeline, which would take
oil from that region and
carry it down, 800,000 or
more barrels a day at a
time, to the Gulf Coast in
Texas. The energy sector was
bracing for fallout.
China cut interest rates
for the third time in six
months on Sunday in a bid to
lower companies' borrowing
costs and stoke a sputtering
economy that is headed for
its worst year in a quarter
of a century.
Analysts welcomed the
widely-expected move, but
predicted policymakers would
relax reserve requirements
and cut rates again in the
coming months to counter the
headwinds facing the world's
second-largest economy.
The United States asked
China on Friday to
investigate the alleged
cyber attacks on companies
and other interests in the
US using a new tool called
"The Great Cannon."
"We are concerned by
reports that China has used
a new cyber capability to
interfere with the ability
of worldwide Internet users
to access content hosted
outside of China," US State
Department spokesman Jeff
Rathke said.
For the first four months of
2015, coal exports from
Hampton Roads, North
America's largest
coal-exporting port, dropped
by nearly a third,
year-over-year.
Sewage and solar power
may be odd bedfellows in the
race to save the climate.
But in Sonoma County , one
hour north of San Francisco
, an experiment is underway
to install the nation’s
largest floating solar array
on a series of wastewater
treatment ponds.
The sprawling 12.5MW
Megawatt “flotovoltaic” park
due for completion in 2016
covers 38 acres, or the area
of 35 football fields, in a
farming and vineyard region
where real estate costs are
at a premium.
Consumers Energy plans to
retire its seven oldest
coal-fired generating plants
by April 2016, making it one
of the top two energy
providers in the nation in
terms of the size of its
coal retirements. The
utility is closing the
second-most number of coal
plants in the country -- AEP
Ohio is first.
A steam leak shut down the
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power
Station on Saturday night,
and the plant remained
closed Sunday as operators
tried to make repairs and
reopen the facility.
The Sun may be capable of
producing solar flares at
least 10-20 times stronger
than anything observed in
modern times, according to
new research. This follows
on the heels of recent
research done using NASA’s
Kepler Space Telescope that
observed Sun-like stars
releasing solar flares
10,000 times greater than
any yet observed from our
Sun.
Next winter in Europe
could be colder and drier
than the previous two mild
winters, which drove down
gas and power consumption,
the chief meteorologist at
Thomson Reuters Point Carbon
said.
Two factors pointed to
potentially chillier winter
weather - an El Nino
phenomenon that could warm
sea-surface temperatures in
the Pacific, and the melting
of the Arctic ice cap.
The federal government
has decreased the level of
fluoride it recommends for
tap water.
The U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
released its recommendation
in April for "the optimal
fluoride level in drinking
water to prevent tooth
decay." The department
advocated that these levels
not exceed 0.7 milligrams of
fluoride per liter of water.
That drops down from the
previous recommendation,
issued in 1962, for 0.7 to
1.2 milligrams per liter.
The economy added 223,000
jobs in April—well below the
260,000 averaged during
2014—pitching cold water on
forecasts of stronger
economic growth this spring
and complicating Fed plans
to raise interest rates.
Unemployment was 5.4
percent, largely because so
many prime working age
adults are still not
employed or looking for
work.
New
research could lead to
better safeguards for
popular form of mobile power
supply
A team of researchers from
various education
institutions and research
facilities has published a
first-of-its-kind study that
details how structural
damage to batteries evolves
in real-time, with
indications of how this
action can spread to
neighboring batteries
The already significant pace
of coal plant retirements in
PJM Interconnection is about
to kick into high gear over
the next couple of months,
according to a new study by
Genscape.
The
onslaught of coal capacity
retirements in May and June
could likely exert upward
pressure on power prices in
PJM, which have so far been
running below 2014 levels,
according to Genscape.
A lawmaker has proposed a
ban on drilling-waste
injection wells in
Pennsylvania, one of the
fracking capitals of the
U.S.
"A state lawmaker who
fears injection wells used
to dispose of waste from
natural-gas drilling may
trigger earthquakes and
imperil Pennsylvania’s water
supply wants to halt the
practice until additional
studies are conducted,"..
“It was only a matter of
time that we would average
400 parts per million
globally,” said Pieter Tans,
lead scientist of NOAA’s
Global Greenhouse Gas
Reference Network. “We first
reported 400 ppm when all of
our Arctic sites reached
that value in the
spring of 2012. In
2013 the record at NOAA’s
Mauna Loa Observatory first
crossed the 400 ppm
threshold. Reaching 400
parts per million as a
global average is a
significant milestone.
In the UK we saw the
conservatives, completely
unexpected, winning an
absolute majority in the
general elections, which
will have consequences over
the short to median term for
the European Union cause.
The planned EU
in/out referendum in 2017
will rise uncertainties for
the UK as well as for the EU
during the coming two years.
This study illustrates
potential weaknesses in the
U.S. system of regulating
hazardous substances, which
focuses on individual
compounds and often fails to
accountfor complex
and sometimes surprising
chemical reactions that
occur in the environment.
“Our objective is to
protect the lake for future
generations,” Sharp said in
the tribe’s May 4 statement.
“We realize it is a popular
recreation destination, and
we are happy to accommodate
those interests, but only as
long as the lake is
respected and protected at
levels we accept.”
The agreement would not
remove the RPS from Kansas,
but rather would make it
optional as opposed to a
mandate. Kansas's current
RPS calls for utilities to
produce or purchase 20
percent of the energy from
renewable energy by 2020.
Liberia is now free of
Ebola after going 42 days —
twice the maximum incubation
period for the deadly
disease — without any new
cases, the World Health
Organization announced
Saturday.
While celebrating the
milestone, President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf told The
Associated Press the damage
wrought by the worst Ebola
outbreak in history is "a
scar on the conscience of
the world."
-
On April 27, 2015, a
judge ruled against the
food industry,
spearheaded by the
Grocery Manufacturers
Association, upholding
Vermont’s GMO labeling
law. The law will go
into effect on July 1,
2016
-
The GMA, Monsanto, and
other chemical
technology companies now
have only one option
remaining: to pass the
Pompeo bill (HR 1599) in
2015, which would strip
states of the right to
pass GMO food labeling
bills
-
If we defeat the Pompeo
bill, we will have GMO
labeling in the US. It
is imperative to contact
your representatives and
tell them to vote NO on
HR 1599
Breyer’s, one of America’s
largest and oldest ice cream
producers, just announced
that it will stop making its
ice cream with milk from
cows treated with Monsanto’s
widely used artificial
growth hormone recombinant
bovine somatotropin, better
known as rBST or rBGH, which
is linked to prostate, colon
and breast cancer.
That’s a decision that Ben &
Jerry’s made all the way
back in 1989.
Choudary didn’t hesitate:
“That would also carry the
death penalty under Islam —
not under Christianity
because you don’t mind. We
will defend all the prophets
whether Jesus or Moses …”
Most people have heard of Bitcoin (XBT)
as a system of electronic
money -- one that hasn't
really caught on yet.
But what gets less
attention is blockchain, the
technology that powers the
Bitcoin system. It's a
computer program that
automatically processes
transactions and creates a
perfect, reliable digital
record.
April is National Child
Abuse Prevention Month so it
seems appropriate to shed
some light on what many
believe to be the newest
category of child abusers;
psychiatrists subjecting
foster care children to
cocktails of dangerous
psychiatric drugs which
carry international drug
regulatory agency warnings
of serious and even
life-threatening side
effects.
Of the estimated 402,000
children in foster care in
2013, more than 157,000
(39%) of these are five
years old or younger.
A renewed effort to freeze
the percentage of North
Carolina's retail
electricity sales required
to come from renewable
sources or efficient efforts
passed the state House on
Wednesday
Lawmakers
voted 77-32 in favor of
their version of the
"regulatory reform" bill
drawn up annually since
Republicans took over the
legislature in 2011. The
omnibus measure also
addresses recent
out-of-service hog farms and
requires natural buffers
along waterways in certain
river basins.
North Korea said Saturday
that it successfully
test-fired a newly developed
ballistic missile from a
submarine in the latest
display of the country’s
advancing military
capabilities.
Hours after the
announcement, South Korean
officials said the North
fired three anti-ship cruise
missiles into the sea off
its east coast.
The Obama administration on
Monday gave conditional
approval to Shell's plan to
drill up to six exploratory
oil wells offshore Alaska
this summer.
A $35.4 billion energy and
water spending bill approved
earlier this month by the
United States House of
Representatives would give
$936 million to nuclear
energy programs in fiscal
year 2016 -- which begins on
Oct. 1.
On May 7, an automatic scram
occurred from a turbine
trip. The trip is currently
under investigation, but
workers say an electrical
disturbance on the
non-nuclear side of the
plant may have been the
cause. All backup systems
responded as designed and
there was no danger to the
public or to workers.
Bad joke aside, Walker
Texas Ranger is not pleased
with what’s going on in
Washington.
Norris is fired up over
training exercises taking
place in the coming months
in Texas, California and
five other US states.
The Pentagon says
operation Jade Helm 15 is
routine but Norris is among
a growing number of Texans
offering bizarre conspiracy
theories.
Since the term “food desert”
was used in the 2008 Farm
Bill, a lot of hype has
surrounded these “suburban,
rural and tribal
communities” with limited
access to fresh produce and
other whole foods. ..
Food deserts are
defined by the percent of a
community’s population
living in poverty and the
distance to nearest grocery
stores. The definition omits
the long history of Native
people who survived—and
thrived—without shelves
stocked with canned and
processed goods.
Iowa was the first state to
introduce a Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS) --
in 1999 -- and now it looks
like other states may
benefit from their wind
resources. A new study found
that the potential of Iowa's
wind energy can be produced
so cheaply, the state can
easily send their leftover
wind to other states --
helping many of them meet
their own renewable
standards.
C2 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (12 May, 13
May, 14 May). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at unsettled
to minor storm levels on
days one and two (12 May, 13
May) and quiet to unsettled
levels on day three (14
May).
Natural gas-fired power
plants, such as the one
proposed here, have been met
with welcoming arms in some
communities and strong
opposition in others.
Texas House Bill 2031, by
Rep. Eddie Lucio III, passed
through the House today
without opposition. HB 2031
aims to streamline the
regulatory process and
reduce the time required for
marine water desalination
projects.
“With this state facing
an ongoing drought and
population growth, every
effort must be made to
secure and develop water
supplies to meet demand,”
Rep. Lucio said. “This bill
is not intended to hinder
efforts to conserve or
develop other surface water
supplies. It is intended to
explore and expedite the
development of all this
state's water resources."
Sen. Maria Cantwell , D-
Wash. , has introduced
legislation (S. 1241) to
"provide for the
modernization, security, and
resiliency of the electric
grid, to require the
Secretary of Energy to carry
out programs for research,
development, demonstration,
and information-sharing for
cybersecurity for the energy
sector."
Hillary Clinton
supporters in Washington,
D.C., weren’t exactly
pleased to learn about
recent analysis that
suggests the Democratic
presidential candidate paid
women 72 cents for each
dollar paid to men.
Given Clinton’s position
on the so-called “wage gap,”
several of her supporters
appeared to be visibly
stunned when Caleb Bonham,
editor-in-chief of Campus
Reform, informed them of the
analysis on the National
Mall.
An SMU-led seismology team
finds that high volumes of
wastewater injection
combined with saltwater
(brine) extraction from
natural gas wells is the
most likely cause of
earthquakes occurring near
Azle, Texas, from late 2013
through spring 2014.
-
Seventy-five percent of
countries have no plan
in place to combat the
growing problem of
antimicrobial resistance
-
In the US, agricultural
use of antibiotics on
CAFOs for
growth-promotion
purposes has promoted
the spread of
antibiotic-resistant
diseases
-
Tyson Foods announced it
will eliminate the use
of human antibiotics in
its chickens by
September 2017
Barn owls and black
snakes are being enlisted in
Cyprus to protect carob
trees, known on the
Mediterranean island since
antiquity and once a
flourishing export but now
threatened by urbanization
and rats.
Since April,
conservationists at
centuries-old groves near
the island's southern coast
have been laying barn-owl
nests and planning reptile
nests, primarily for the
non-poisonous black snake.
They want to swap poison for
natural predators to keep
rat populations in check and
prevent damage to the trees.
A transformer failed
Saturday at the Indian Point
nuclear power plant in
suburban New York, causing a
fire that forced an
automatic shutdown of a
reactor. The fire was
quickly extinguished and the
reactor was deemed safe and
stable, said a spokesman for
owner Entergy Corp.
The transformer at Indian
Point 3 takes energy created
by the plant and changes the
voltage for the grid
supplying power to the
state. The blaze, which sent
black smoke billowing into
the sky...
Link to Dallas Fed
The US Forest Service has
directly contacted Nestlé,
reports Credo, where a
petition was launched to
stop the water-privatizing
company from
stealing California’s water
through the ambivalence of
one of the arms of the
United States Departments of
Agriculture.
-
The US Department of
Health and Human
Services (HHS) has
lowered the recommended
level of fluoride in
water from 0.7 to 1.2
milligrams per liter
(mg/L) of water to 0.7
mg/L, to prevent signs
of fluoride overexposure
-
About 40 percent of
American teens have
dental fluorosis, a
condition referring to
changes in the
appearance of tooth
enamel caused by
long-term ingestion of
fluoride during the time
teeth are forming
-
Water fluoridation is
inherently unethical.
Fluoride is a drug that
is added to water for
medical purposes (to
prevent cavities), but
you cannot control the
dose people are getting
when administering it
this way
Ocean hot spots in the
Atlantic and Pacific were
drivers of the hottest
summers on record for the
central U.S. in 1934 and
1936, suggest new study.
Population growth,
urbanization, and persistent
drought are straining water
resources in varied
locations around the world,
while pollution and
contamination compound these
challenges, resulting in
billions of dollars in
economic losses. Serious
action and innovative
measures will be required to
identify effective solutions
to these challenges and
develop sustainable water
policies. Water reuse is a
proven approach that can
help meet growing water
demands, while safeguarding
existing water supplies.
U.S. year-to-date coal
production totaled 315.7
mmst, 5.4% lower than the
comparable year-to-date coal
production in 2014
"The Bretton Woods system
ended on August 15, 1971,
when President Richard Nixon
ended trading of gold at the
fixed price of $35/ounce. At
that point for the first
time in history, formal
links between the major
world currencies and real
commodities were severed".
The gold standard has not
been used in any major
economy since that time.
Money doesn't have any
inherent value. It is simply
pieces of paper or numbers
in a ledger. ..
So why does a five-dollar
bill have value and some
other pieces of paper do
not? It's simple: Money is a
good with a limited supply
and there is a demand for it
because people want it. The
reason I want money is
because I know other people
want money, so I can use my
money to others to get goods
and services from them in
return. They can then use
that money to purchase goods
and services that they want.
There's more
to Yellowstone National
Park than meets the eye.
Much more, as it turns out.
You might already know
that
a supervolcano dominates the
famous park that is situated
on land in Wyoming and
Montana. A shallow
subsurface magma chamber has
long been known.
But now a second, much
larger reservoir of
partially molten rock has
been discovered by
researchers at the
University of Utah. There's
enough magma inside, they
say, to fill the Grand
Canyon more than 11 times.
May 8, 2015
High levels of
radionuclides
(uranium/radium/etc.) in
drinking water aren’t very
common, but they are
very dangerous. As
carcinogens, these
contaminants are strictly
regulated by the U.S. EPA;
every utility must monitor
and provide adequate
treatment in accordance with
the federal rule,
established in 1976 and
revised in 2000.
If you’ve long dealt with
radionuclides, you’re
familiar with the treatment
requirements — but are you
treating as cost effectively
as possible? Or perhaps
you’re new to treatment,
forced to use contaminated
groundwater because
alternative sources have
dried up.
Scientists at the
Salk Institute and
the Chinese Academy
of Science have
identified what may
be the underlying
cause of
premature-aging
disorder Werner
syndrome, and with
it a possible key to
reversing the aging
process (Image: Salk
Institute for
Biological Studies)
Research into the
underlying causes of a
genetic disorder that
causes premature aging
and death has revealed a
key driver of aging in
all people. Better yet,
this mechanism is
reversible – and with
it, perhaps, scientists
may be able to slow or
reverse the aging
process.
Iowans can help make
climate change an issue in
the next presidential
election cycle, former Vice
President Al Gore said
Tuesday during a
presentation in downtown
Cedar Rapids.
"More and more Iowans
care about the climate
crisis. Iowa is a leader in
renewable energy. And Iowans
can exert influence in their
conversations with
candidates" leading up the
state's first-in-the nation
presidential caucuses, Gore
said at a climate leadership
training event at the
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.
A bill giving Texas the
sole right to regulate the
oil and gas industry and
take away the power of
municipalities to pass
anti-fracking rules moved a
step closer to becoming law
on Monday after it passed
the Senate.
The bill, approved by the
state's House of
Representatives last month,
now heads to the desk of
Republican Governor Greg
Abbott.
Bitcoin goes mainstream as
itBit receives the first
banking license issued in
New York to a Bitcoin
exchange
It has taken several years,
but Bitcoin is finally going
mainstream in New York. The
state’s banking regulator
NYDFS issued its first
banking charter to a Bitcoin
exchange. The name of the
firm is itBit, and it first
applied for a banking
license back in February.
Solar energy on a grand
scale could meet humanity’s
future long-term energy
needs while cutting carbon
emissions, but lower-cost
technologies and more
effective government
policies are needed to
achieve this potential,
finds a new study released
Tuesday by the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s
Energy Initiative (MITEI).
California water
regulators on Wednesday
adopted a new uniform
permitting process for
seawater desalination
projects expected to expand
in number as the
drought-stricken state
increasingly turns to the
ocean to supplement its
drinking supplies.
Action on the
desalination rule, which
puts key decisions for such
plants in the hands of
statewide regulators rather
than regional boards, came a
day after the same state
body enacted sweeping
cutbacks in water use by
California's cities and
towns.
A recent Care2 poll has
found that slightly
over 90 percent of
respondents express major
concern over the
current drought engulfing
the state, despite the fact
that only 60 percent of
respondents consider
themselves strong
environmentalists.
Fewer than 1 percent
expressed no concern about
the drought.
In an attempt to
criticize President Barack
Obama, Mike Huckabee, the
former governor of Arkansas,
instead offended Native
Americans by connecting them
with jihadists during a
speech Tuesday when he
announced his candidacy for
president.
Global levels of carbon
dioxide, the most prevalent
heat-trapping gas, have
passed a daunting milestone,
federal scientists report.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
said that in March, the
global monthly average for
carbon dioxide hit 400.83
parts per million. That is
the first month in modern
records that the entire
globe broke 400 ppm,
reaching levels that haven’t
been seen in about 2 million
years.
The Chinese bought nearly
49% more gasoline-guzzling
sports utility vehicles, or
SUVs, in the first quarter
of 2015 compared with Q1
2014 -- a statistic that is
expected to support China's
gasoline demand growth.
Determination...
“ When you get into a tight
place and everything goes
against you, till it seems
as though you could not hang
on a minute longer, never
give up then, for that is
just the place and time that
the tide will turn. ” ―
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Diesel fuel detected in
the city springs of Nibley,
UT, recently led to a
do-not-use order and
widespread concern about the
state of local drinking
water.
It's the kind of problem
that every utility hopes it
won't face but must prepare
for since vehicle mishaps
are common and oil-and-gas
operations speckle the
landscape across the
country.
A violent weekend in the
state of Jalisco, where
federal troops did battle
with heavily armed cartel
fighters, suggests that it
doesn't.
Led by a former NASA
engineer, BioCarbon
Engineering aims to combat
industrial deforestation
with a little help from some
drones...
Oxford, England-based
BioCarbon Engineering
intends to use drones to
assist in the repopulation
of the world’s forests.
Truth be told, the future of
the world’s tree population
looks pretty bleak, unless
we do something about it
soon. Each year, lumber,
mining, development and
agriculture deplete
approximately 26 billion
trees, while only 15 billion
are being replanted. That 11
billion (yes, BILLION) tree
deficit – ANNUALLY – is
going to prove to be a big
problem unless those numbers
start to turn around.
The first of four phases
calls for two nuclear power
plants with a capacity of
950 to 1,600 MW each,
according to The Cairo Post.
Russia, China and South
Korea are in the running to
win a tender for the first
phase, though Russia and
Egypt signed a memorandum of
understanding in February to
build a nuclear power plant.
Electric vehicles will
supplant petroleum-powered
vehicles in the United
States within 25 years,
finds a new report from the
nonprofit Plug In
America, which works to
accelerate the shift to
plug-in vehicles.
The EPA took another shot at
the Rosemont Mine -- this
time arguing that state
regulators aren't doing
enough to protect
neighboring streams from
pollution.
Fjords from Alaska to
Norway soak up potentially
damaging carbon from the
atmosphere, making the
steep-sided inlets an
overlooked natural ally in
offsetting man-made climate
change, a study showed on
Monday.
Fjords cover only 0.1
percent of the world's ocean
surface but account for 11
percent of the organic
carbon in plants, soils and
rocks that gets buried in
marine sediments every year
after being washed off the
land by rivers, it said.
The bill, had it
passed, would've established
an all-Native American
subcommittee to assess
whether a school's Indian
mascot is appropriate.
Currently, there are more
than 30 schools across the
state with a Native American
mascot and moniker.
Hawaii lawmakers voted 74-2
this week to pass the
nation's first state-wide
requirement for 100 percent
renewable energy generation.
House Bill (HB) 623 mandates
that the entirety of the
state’s energy portfolios
must be generated using
renewable energy resources
no later than 2045.
-
While a brief period of
sitting here and there
is natural, long periods
of sitting day-in and
day-out can seriously
impact your health and
shorten your life
-
Prolonged sitting
increases your risk of
heart disease, diabetes,
obesity, and more
-
Stand as much as
possible, while working
and during leisure
activities, and try to
walk 10,000 steps a day
California's worst drought
for more than a century is
causing huge problems for
farmers, who need a trillion
gallons of water per year
for their almond orchards
alone. But it also leaves
homeowners facing difficult
choices about what to do
with their lawn.
Antarctica’s Dry Valleys are
home to briny lakes at the
surface. Now scientists find
liquid salt water – possibly
containing unknown
ecosystems – below ground...
They say these hidden
acquifers might also retain
evidence of ancient climate
change.
Approximately $19 billion
worth of electricity, equal
to the output of 50 large
power plants, is devoured
annually by U.S. household
electronics, appliances, and
other equipment when
consumers are not actively
using them, according to a
groundbreaking study
released today by the
Natural Resources Defense
Council.
Advocates of solar energy
have expressed concern over
new limits proposed by the
Public Utility Commission on
"customer generators" --
most often
electricity-producing solar
panels -- that can produce
electricity in excess of
what is consumed.
For excess power
generated, utilities credit
customers at the retail rate
on their next monthly bill.
At the end of the year,
utilities will reimburse any
extra generation accumulated
throughout the year at the
wholesale rate.
Iran has released the MV
Maersk Tigris, a Marshall
Islands-flagged cargo ship,
whose seizure in the Strait
of Hormuz last week had
raised tensions with Iran.
A Marshal Islands-flagged
cargo vessel seized by
Iranian forces as it
traversed the Strait of
Hormuz last month likely
will be released in two days
after a fine is paid, Iran's
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
said Wednesday.
The April 28 seizure of
MV Maersk Tigris followed a
legal complaint by an
Iranian private company,
Marzieh Afkham told
reporters.
Iran won't negotiate with
world powers over its
disputed nuclear programme
if under military threat,
Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has
said as negotiations between
Iran and the world powers
resumes in Vienna next week.
In a speech in Tehran,
Khamenei, who has final say
over most matters of state
in Iran, said he didn't
approve of any negotiations
"under the ghost of a
threat," according to his
official website.
Gov. Sam Brownback and
legislative leaders unveiled
a plan Monday to end a state
mandate that requires
utility companies to get
one-fifth of their power
from renewable sources by
2020.
The wind industry, which
had fought that idea in the
past, now supports it as
part of a compromise that
will keep lawmakers from
imposing an excise tax on
wind energy production.
A leading scientist with the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention whose noted
“Denmark Study” ostensibly
disproved any link between
vaccines and autism as well
as additional neurological
disorders is now fleeing
justice with nearly $2
million he allegedly was to
spend on research.
As first reported in April
2011 by Natural News editor
Mike Adams, the Health
Ranger, Dr. Poul Thorsen was
indicted by a federal grand
jury in Atlanta on charges
of wire fraud, money
laundering and defrauding
research institutions of
grant money.
Restarting the world's
largest particle accelerator
after a two-year overhaul
isn't just a matter of
throwing a switch and making
sure the lights go on. It's
an eight-week process of
baby steps – one's that
involve billions of electron
volts. But the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) took a major
step forward this week as
the CERN team fired up two
counter-rotating proton
beams that were injected
into the LHC using the Super
Proton Synchrotron, then
accelerated to an energy of
450 GeV each.
The future of wind energy in
Maine may soon be decided --
but a new report found that
it is having positive
effects on the environment.
The report, commissioned by
the Maine Renewable Energy
Association (MREA) and
conducted by Sustainable
Energy Advantage (SEA),
found that there have been
positive impacts from wind
on the environment in the
state.
Michigan House Bill (HB)
4297 has been introduced by
Representative Aric Nesbitt
to revise some utilities
regulations and a renewable
energy mandate imposed by a
2008 law. The bill would
allow energy generated from
waste to qualify as
renewable or advanced
cleaner energy, modify
renewable energy location
requirements, and eliminate
energy optimization
programs.
A self-described
“middle-class millennial
female” penned a scathing
letter aimed at Hillary
Clinton Tuesday, skewering
the Democratic presidential
candidate over criminal
justice reform and accusing
of her of lacking
transparency.
Once a day, a wave as
tall as the Empire State
Building and as much as a
hundred miles wide forms in
the waters between Taiwan
and the Philippines and
rolls across the South China
Sea – but on the surface, it
is hardly noticed.
These daily monstrosities
are called “internal waves”
because they are beneath the
ocean surface and though
scientists have known about
them for years, they weren’t
really sure how significant
they were because they had
never been fully tracked
from cradle to grave
...friend of her
family that always took her,
her mother and sister out to
eat on Mother’s Day. He told
my friend he was always so
grateful for the way her
mother treated his mother
while she was alive. Isn’t
that the way it is? People
don’t remember what you said
to them or what you gave
them, but they remember how
you made them feel—cared
about and special. So, this
man is continuing kindness.
At least 7,040 people
have lost their lives and
10,000 others are injured as
a result of the
magnitude-7.8 earthquake
that devastated the Nepal on
April 25, the country’s
National Emergency Operation
Centre said today.
The earthquake destroyed
thousands of homes in
addition to businesses,
temples and World Heritage
monuments throughout the
Kathmandu Valley.
A survey of electric
utilities released Monday
ranks North Carolina third
in the nation for new solar
power operations added in
2014.
The Solar Electric Power
Association of Washington,
D.C. , said North Carolina
is behind California and
Arizona for most megawatts
of solar power capacity
added by large utilities
during the year.
An overbought oil complex
settled sharply lower
Thursday amid a surging US
dollar and still-bearish
fundamentals.
ICE
June Brent settled $2.23
lower at $65.54/barrel,
while NYMEX June crude
settled $1.99 lower at
$58.94/b. Products were
lower as well, with NYMEX
June ULSD leading the way,
down 5.44 cents at
$1.9617/gal. June RBOB
settled 4.63 cents lower at
$1.9903/gal.
Cable TV and fried
chicken have nothing on
electric generation.
Officials with the
Independent Power Producers
of New York, an Albany-based
trade group that represents
power plants across the
state, asserted Wednesday at
its annual spring meeting
that the wholesale cost of
electricity in the state --
on an inflation-adjusted
basis -- has dropped 34
percent in the 15 years
since deregulation of the
industry began.
Nearly 1,600 IRS workers
were found to have willfully
evaded taxes over a 10-year
period, including some who
were responsible for
enforcing the nation's tax
laws, a government watchdog
said Wednesday.
It's a small percentage
of the tax agency's
employees -- about 160
workers a year out of a
workforce of 85,000.
A new report by the
agency's inspector general
said most were not fired,
even though a 1998 law calls
for terminations when IRS
workers willfully don't pay
their taxes. The penalty
must be waived by the IRS
commissioner.
With only a modest
increase in wind turbine
installation, a new report
contends Iowa can meet its
proposed goal of 16 percent
carbon dioxide reduction by
2030.
The Iowa Wind Energy
Association, a trade
association representing the
industry, on Monday released
data showing Iowa has 1,212
megawatts of wind energy
being built and in service
by 2016. That would get the
state more than half way (52
percent) to meeting its
proposed carbon dioxide
reduction goal.
C5 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(08 May, 09 May, 10 May).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one, two, and
three (08 May, 09 May, 10
May).
Researchers at the
University of California,
Davis have developed and
tested a molecule that has
the ability to disrupt the
body's regulation of cancer
cells, causing them to
self-destruct rather than
multiply. The method was
found to be effective when
tackling dormant brain
cancer cells that existing
treatments are ineffective
at eradicating.
A Senate bill would make it
easier for oil and gas
developers to produce
geothermal energy. The bill,
introduced by Montana
Senator Jon Tester, would
allow the developers to
co-produce geothermal energy
without going through a
competitive lease process.
The Senate on Thursday
easily passed legislation
that will give Congress a
formal role in reviewing the
emerging Iran nuclear
agreement, amid complaints
from some Republicans that
the bill will actually make
it relatively easy for the
Obama administration to
strike a weak deal with
Iran.
The Senate passed the
Iran Nuclear Agreement
Review Act in a 98-1 — the
lone “no” vote came from
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Shared solar, where multiple
parties share the benefits
of on- or off-site PV
arrays, has the potential to
dramatically expand solar
energy access for residents
and businesses across the
U.S., as well as open
avenues for utilities to
play a greater role in the
U.S. transition to a
low-carbon economy. However,
in order for shared solar to
be fully realized, the U.S.
needs new business models,
regulatory reform and
clarification, along with
ongoing technological
advances, according to
recently released research
from the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) National
Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL).
Solar energy holds the best
potential for meeting
humanity’s future long-term
energy needs while cutting
greenhouse gas emissions —
but to realize this
potential will require
increased emphasis on
developing lower-cost
technologies and more
effective deployment policy,
says a comprehensive new
study, titled “The Future of
Solar Energy,” released by
the MIT Energy Initiative
(MITEI).
California's water board has
unanimously passed sweeping
mandatory drought
restrictions for the summer.
The new rules will limit
watering on public property
and impose cuts of up to 36%
on water usage from 2013
levels.
Polar sea ice undergoes
tremendous changes every
year. During the winter, the
Arctic ice pack grows to the
size of the United States;
in the summer, half of the
ice disappears. At the other
end of the globe, ice covers
nearly 98 percent of the
Antarctic continent and
averages one mile (1.6
kilometers) thick...
Given the amount of water
that sea ice alternately
puts into or pulls out of
the ocean and the
atmosphere, sea ice
variability plays a major
role in global climate
change
The U.S. military appears
to be backing off from its
plans to produce plutonium
fuel (MOX) for TVA nuclear
plants derived from surplus
bomb materials from
America's nuclear arsenal.
After delays and cost
overruns at its Savannah
River Site in South
Carolina, the U.S.
Department of Energy has
dropped its earlier
preference to produce MOX
fuel for commercial nuclear
power plants from old and
decaying nuclear bombs. In a
new environmental assessment
of the multibillion-dollar
project released last week,
DOE said that it "has no
preferred alternative" for
disposing of 14.4 tons of
surplus plutonium from U.S.
nuclear warheads.
The Tennessee Valley
Authority is preparing to
shut down the last operating
unit at its oldest coal
plant in Alabama.
TVA directors today will
consider a proposal to
shutter the Widows Creek
Fossil Plant near Stevenson,
Ala., which TVA began
building in 1950. TVA has
previously idled all but one
of the eight units at Widows
Creek. The only remaining
operating generator, Unit 7,
is scheduled to be closed in
the next year as part of
TVA's efforts to meet
stricter environmental
rules,
We’re running out of
fresh water: Every year,
around 2 million people die
from a lack of safe drinking
water, and it is estimated
that in 15 years, half of
the world’s population could
be living in areas running
out of potable water,
according to the United
Nations Environment Program.
In a world where natural
resources are becoming
scarcer by the day, treating
wastewater has become a
priority.
Despite previous reports
from the N.C. Department of
Health and Human Services
that no letters were sent
out warning residents living
near the Belews Creek coal
ash impoundment not to drink
or cook with their water, a
Department of Natural
Resources (DENR)
representative said Friday
that two Walnut Cove area
residents did receive
warning letters.
Instead, it's turned into a
thumpin'.
Its been almost nine years
since the last major
hurricane struck the US
Mainland.
"Big coal, oil, and natural
gas, and related industries
like the Koch Brothers'
companies, profit by
offloading the costs of
their carbon pollution onto
the rest of us. They traffic
in products that put health
and safety at risk, and they
don't tell the truth about
their product," Whitehouse
said. "Sound familiar? It
should, because the fossil
fuel industry is using a
familiar playbook, one
perfected by the tobacco
industry."
Hydraulic fracturing, or
fracking, is shunned by the
environmentalists that laud
renewable energy sources.
However, by not supporting
both initiatives, they may
be working at cross
purposes. Natural gas,
booming largely because of
fracking, complements
renewable energies on the
grid. The two seemingly
opposite technologies are,
for the moment, inextricably
linked.
The flare created a pulse of
UV radiation and X-rays that
caused a strong radio
blackout over the
Pacific...but this one does
not appear to be heading in
Earth’s direction.
May 5, 2015
He told supporters that
he's not anti-government but
believes Washington has
exceeded its constitutional
powers.
"It's time for people to
rise up and take the
government back," he said.
"The political class won't
like me saying things like
that. The political class
comes from both parties."
The pace at which species
disappear is picking up as
temperatures rise, and
things are looking
especially troubling in the
tropics.
Climate change is
accelerating species loss on
Earth, and by the end of
this century, as many as one
in six species could be at
risk of extinction. But
while these effects are
being seen around the world,
the threat is much higher in
certain sensitive regions,
according to two new
comprehensive studies.
As a boy, Ron Thomas
often watched murky water
pour from a pipe into the
Yadkin River behind his
family's farmhouse, dumped
from coal ash storage ponds
at Duke Energy's Buck
electricity plant.
Now 80, Thomas worries
that he and his wife, Joann,
72, have for decades been
drinking well water
contaminated by the ponds.
On April 22, the couple
received a letter from state
health authorities warning
them not to drink or cook
with their well water
because of elevated levels
of a carcinogen.
Legislation to make Colorado
public schools legally
liable for student safety
awaits the governor's
signature.
The state House and Senate
agreed Monday on final
language in the bill to
allow public schools to be
sued for negligence in cases
of school shootings or other
violence.
Gov. John Hickenlooper has
said he supports the bill,
meaning it is likely to
become law.
Culture...
“ Preservation of one's own
culture does not require
contempt or disrespect for
other cultures. ” ― Cesar
Chavez
In February 2014,
radioactive material was
leaked during an incident at
the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad,
New Mexico, which resulted
from a shipment from the Los
Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL) to WIPP.
Results from an April 2015
survey of financial
professionals demonstrate a
strong interest among
investors in low-carbon and
fossil-free portfolios.
The number of investment
professionals in the United
States offering fossil
fuel-free portfolios to
investors nearly doubled
from 2013 to 2015 -- up from
22 percent to 42 percent --
amid growing signs of retail
and institutional investor
interest in such choices,
according to a survey by
First Affirmative Financial
Network...
Unconventional drilling
creates a huge amount of
waste, some of which is
being sprayed onto farmer’s
fields. A 2005 report from
New Zealand stated cows
grazing on “dump farms” have
elevated levels of
hydrocarbons. “Cows are
allowed to graze on land
with high levels of
hydrocarbons without any
punishment and their food
products are allowed to go
to market without government
testing,” a Green Party
MP said last year. It is
happening in Canada too. The
field above is northwest of
Calgary. Former energy
consultant Jessica Ernst
said, “We are eating &
drinking drilling and
fracking waste.”
As the metals market heats
up, metal theft has become a
frequent headache for water
utilities.
He’s livid: His body
language and responses gave
him away. Bill pointed his
finger, stumbled over
answers, displayed his
paranoia, laughed
inappropriately and made no
apologies. He defiantly said
that he will not stop making
paid speeches if Hillary is
elected because “I gotta pay
the bills.”
Right, Bill. Over
$135,000,000 in speaking
fees can pay a lot of bills.
The bill, which passed 240
to 177, would provide $35.4
billion in FY16 spending -
$29 billion for the
Department of Energy and
$5.6 billion for the Army
Corps of Engineers .
Almost half of the 17
ObamaCare state insurance
exchanges are reportedly
suffering financial
difficulties, posing a
significant challenge to
state officials just five
years after the passage of
President Obama’s signature
health care law.
A research team led by
geoscientists from Brown
University and the Marine
Biological Laboratory has
provided some crucial
ground-truth for a method of
measuring plant
photosynthesis on a global
scale from low-Earth orbit.
The researchers have
shown that chlorophyll
fluorescence, a faint glow
produced by plant leaves as
a byproduct of
photosynthesis, is a strong
proxy for photosynthetic
activity in the canopy of a
deciduous forest. That glow
can be detected by orbiting
satellites and could be used
to monitor global
photosynthetic activity in
real time.
You’ve probably seen them at
the grocery store: those
ubiquitous, clear bottles of
so-called olive oil that
contain a strange, yellowish
substance branded as “extra
virgin.” One of the largest
purveyors of this anomalous
oil is the subject of a new
lawsuit alleging that its
products are not, in fact,
real extra-virgin olive oil,
but rather a cheap imitation
cut with refined vegetables
oils and other cheap
fillers.
Afghan and Taliban officials
will hold two days of
"reconciliation" talks in
Qatar, the Gulf nation's
state news agency reported
Saturday, although both
sides sought to downplay
expectations from the
meeting.
C8 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a slight
chance for an M-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(05 May, 06 May, 07 May).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(05 May) and quiet to active
levels on days two and three
(06 May, 07 May).
More than 1,000 dams have
been removed across the
United States because of
safety concerns, sediment
buildup, inefficiency or
having otherwise outlived
usefulness. A paper
published today in Science finds
that rivers are resilient
and respond relatively
quickly after a dam is
removed.
Senegal is sending 2,100
troops to help back the
military intervention led by
Saudi Arabia that is
underway in Yemen, becoming
the first sub-Saharan
African country to
contribute soldiers to the
effort, the country's
foreign minister said
Monday.
Tucson Electric Power
(TEP) ranks among the
nation’s top 10 utilities in
expanding its solar energy
portfolio, according to a
report released this week by
the Solar Electric Power
Association (SEPA).
TEP was ranked eighth in
new solar capacity for
adding 73 megawatts (MW) in
2014. SEPA also ranked TEP
in 10th place for per-capita
additions to its solar
energy portfolio with 178
watts per customer.
"Our goal here is to
fundamentally change the way
the world uses energy," Musk
told reporters gathered in
Hawthorne, California.
Although Tesla will make
the battery called
"Powerwall," it will be sold
by a variety of other
companies.
Never lacking daring
ideas, billionaire
entrepreneur Elon Musk is
determined to jolt the
electricity market.
The CEO of electric car
maker Tesla Motors hopes to
park hundreds of millions of
large, solar panel-connected
batteries in homes and
businesses so the world can
disconnect from power plants
— and he can profit. On
Thursday night, before an
adoring crowd and a
party-like atmosphere, Musk
unveiled how he intends to
do it.
There's a fundamental
problem with much of the
technology developed in
university labs: It usually
stays in university labs.
The call for greater
emphasis on technology
transfer between
universities and the
marketplace isn't new, and
while tech startups are
booming, hardware remains a
tough sell for investors
looking to back promising
technology entrepreneurs.
But that may be changing.
Three new developments are
converging to make this the
dawn of the age of the
hardware startup.
Just this morning I
learned that there was a
small Clinton Foundation in
Great Britain, the
William J. Clinton
Foundation UK.
This has to be added to
the dozen, literally 12,
other Clinton Foundations
that have now emerged
The House of Representatives
today once again stood up in
support of Yucca Mountain .
The Energy and Water funding
bill, which was approved
today by the full House,
provides $150 million to the
Department of Energy and $25
million to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to
support Yucca Mountain
licensing activities. The
bill also prohibits DOE from
taking action to permanently
shut down the project.
Just over a decade ago, the
state of California faced
serious concerns about
whether its utilities could
generate and/or buy enough
power to assure that the
world’s seventh-largest
economy could keep the
lights on. The infamous
California energy crisis,
which affected several other
western states as well, was
a complex tangle of poorly
structured deregulation,
significant market
manipulation (remember
Enron?), and other causes.
Along with rolling
blackouts, California
endured an official state of
emergency that lasted 34
months, led to the recall
and replacement of Gov. Gray
Davis, and cost the state
and its ratepayers billions
of dollars – a cautionary
tale for all states of
electricity supply unable to
meet demand.
There’s a lake in Oregon
that is draining into a
six-foot hole. Where that
water goes though, nobody
really knows.
Lost Lake in Mount Hood
National Forest is draining
into what Jude McHugh, a
spokeswoman Willamette
National Forest, told the
the Bend Bulletin is a lava
tube.
-
The US health care
system is loaded with
medical waste and
overtreatment, which
compounds your health
risks
-
Tests such as
mammograms, PSAs, and CT
scans often produce
false positives that
lead to risky drugs,
unnecessary surgeries,
and expensive medical
interventions
-
Cancer patients who
receive fewer standard
cancer treatments but
earlier palliative care
live longer and report
superior quality of
life, study shows
The state of Vermont
recently experienced an
enormous victory over
biotech corruption when
their legislators chose to
uphold a mandatory GMO
labeling bill, but Benton
County Oregon might soon
one-up that mighty action by
becoming a GMO-free zone.
Wastewater and seawater can
be made drinkable in a mere
150 seconds using new
technology, according to the
company that developed the
system.
US coal stockpiles totaled
an estimated 165.6 million
st for the week ended April
30, up 1.6% from the prior
week and 29.2% from a year
ago, Platts unit Bentek
Energy said Friday.
Utility coal consumption
totaled 13.4 million st as
it increased 2% with gains
in the MISO and ERCOT
regions, Bentek said.
While recent coal
consumption has been
increasing, consumption is
still 7% off from the same
period last year.
The U.S. government will put
$13.2 million into an
environmental trust to pay
for evaluations of 16
abandoned uranium mines on
land belonging to the Navajo
Nation in Utah, Arizona and
New Mexico, the Justice
Department said on Friday.
It never ceases to amaze me
how lies and manipulation
keep the pro vaccine circus
going! The mainstream media
falsely reports that the
whooping cough outbreaks and
measles are due to the
increasing exemption use for
public school attendance.
Not only is this claim false
and designed to inflate
anger between those who
vaccinate and those who
selectively do not, is it
causing discrimination
against the unvaccinated
population.
Resveratrol’s antioxidant,
anti-inflammatory, and
anti-carcinogenic properties
have been well-established
by science, and its benefits
are thought to extend to the
prevention and treatment of
chronic diseases such as
cancer and Alzheimer’s
disease, among others...
Unfortunately, researchers
have uncovered a problem in
wine that has recently
plagued other foods like
apple juice and rice – high,
potentially dangerous,
levels of arsenic.
An international team of
scientists has used the
23-million-year fossil
record to calculate which
marine animals and
ecosystems are most at risk
of extinction today.
In a paper published in
the journal Science,
the researchers found those
animals and ecosystems most
threatened are predominantly
in the tropics.
The Yukon government is
looking at plans to develop
biomass energy to help lower
their fossil fuel imports to
the area. Yukon is one of
Canada's three of federal
territories.
"A biomass energy strategy
will guide the development
of an emerging sector that
can offer yet another
much-needed solution to
deliver adequate energy
during our long, cold winter
months," ..
May 1, 2015
Could the source of our
protein be the most
pressing environmental
question of the day? Bill
Gates seems to think so. The
software tycoon has invested
in two big plant-based
protein start-ups: Hampton
Creek and Beyond Meat, and
has gone so far as to
declare plant-based protein
the future of food.
Arizona Public Service
has been named among the
utilities that integrated
the most megawatts and/or
watts per customer of solar
energy in the United States
in 2014, the Solar Electric
Power Association announced
here today. For the second
consecutive year, APS also
ranked in the top five in
four separate categories of
SEPA’s annual Top 10 utility
solar listings.
The problem with putting
solar panels on rooftops
quickly becomes apparent
when the sun sets and the
source of electricity needed
to power television sets,
stoves and heaters
disappears beyond the
horizon.
But that problem may soon
be solved. Electric car
manufacturer Tesla is
expected to jump-start the
market for a home or
business battery to store
solar energy with an
announcement later today in
Hawthorne.
California Governor Jerry
Brown issued an executive
order on Wednesday to cut
greenhouse gas emissions 40
percent by 2030, a move he
said was necessary to combat
the growing threat of
climate change.
The targeted reduction
was tied to 1990 levels and
is "the most aggressive
benchmark enacted by any
government in North America
to reduce dangerous carbon
emissions," Brown said in a
statement.
Scientists believe
increasing the soil's
organic content will not
only fix carbon and reduce
emissions, it will also
improve the soil's ability
to retain water and
nutrients and resist pests
and droughts.
To mitigate GHG emissions
and retain soil fertility,
organic agriculture might be
a wise choice for decreasing
the intensive use of
synthetic fertilizers,
protecting environments, and
further improving crop
yields.
Got a sweet tooth? If so,
you may have a greater risk
for developing Alzheimer’s
disease.
That’s the
latest word from Richard
Jacoby, M.D., a peripheral
nerve surgeon who notes a
growing body of scientific
research has tied sugar to
dementia — in addition to
the sweet stuff’s well-known
association with diabetes,
heart disease, and certain
cancers.
According to a new study,
microbes eat the carbon and
release it as CO2, where
ends up back in the
atmosphere and contributes
to further warming.
Deep layers of frozen soil
and rock in the Arctic,
known as permafrost, contain
massive stores of ancient
carbon that became trapped
in the ground tens of
thousands of years ago. As
permafrost thaws across the
Arctic in response to
climate change, scientists
have been busy trying to
figure out just where the
newly release carbon will
go.
Chinese solar companies,
some already heavily
indebted, will need to raise
many billions of dollars
this year to fund a big
expansion in capacity, a
major test of investor
confidence in a sector hit
hard by the global financial
crisi
Climate indicators are
nearing levels associated
with an El Nino weather
event, the Australian Bureau
of Meteorology said on
Tuesday.
Pacific Ocean sea
temperatures now exceed El
Nino thresholds, the bureau
said, while trade winds have
weakened over the last few
weeks - suggesting coupling
between the ocean and
atmosphere may be occurring.
Should this pattern
continue, the bureau said,
an El Nino will develop.
Homeland Security Secretary
Jeh Johnson told the Senate
Tuesday that he has no
regrets at all for going
around Congress to implement
President Barack Obama’s
several immigration-related
executive actions.
The United States has an
opportunity to start
disposing of defense nuclear
waste, including Hanford
waste, sooner and at less
cost by abandoning a
one-size-fits-all approach,
a federal energy official
said Monday night.
The funding will renew the
Joint Center for Artificial
Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE
Energy Innovation Hub that
has been around since 2010.
The center's goal is to
achieve "the major
scientific breakthroughs
needed to produce liquid
transportation fuels from a
combination of sunlight,
water, and carbon dioxide,
using artificial
photosynthesis," according
to DOE.
The West Coast could see
power brownouts in coming
months as hydro power
stations struggle with the
four-year drought, and in
the longer term climate
change could cause
additional problems for
power plants, the U.S.
energy secretary said on
Monday.
On site and on time –
that's the plan for storing
millions of tons of coal ash
from two North Carolina
power plants.
Duke Energy plans to
submit permits to construct
fully lined on-site
landfills at the Dan River
Steam Station in Eden, N.C.
, and the Sutton Plant in
Wilmington, N.C. The
landfills will be located on
plant property and will
provide a permanent storage
solution for more than 6
million tons of coal ash at
the two sites.
More than of 3,726 people
are confirmed dead and more
than 6,500 were injured in
the quake, the Nepalese
government said on Monday.
“Highways and roads have
suffered structural damage,
and we do not know what kind
of structural damage Nepal’s
numerous hydropower dams and
generators have endured,”
said Mukesh Khanal, in
speaking with Quartz India.
Khanal is an economist who
works in the international
development sector in Nepal
U.S. economic growth nearly
stalled in the first quarter
as harsh weather dampened
consumer spending and energy
companies struggling with
low prices slashed
spending...
A strong dollar and a
now-resolved labor dispute
at normally busy West Coast
ports also slammed growth,
the government said.
The European Commission said
today it will contribute an
additional €70 million to
complete the return to a
safe environment at the
former Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant, site of
a catastrophic explosion and
meltdown 29 years ago.
The solar market is growing,
but analysts worry that
Europe is being left behind.
Global solar photovoltaic
(PV) installations grew to
40 gigawatts (GW) in 2014,
while Europe only had a 7 GW
share of that -- and a lot
of it was from the United
Kingdom.
"During surveillance of
[Finland's] territorial
integrity, the navy detected
a possible underwater object
at midday on April 27, 2015,
within Finland's territorial
waters close to the border
outside Helsinki," the
Defence Ministry said in a
statement.
-
Food additives are not
automatically required
to get premarket
approval by the US Food
and Drug Administration
(FDA)
-
Items that fall under
the “generally
recognized as safe”
(GRAS) designation are
exempt from the approval
process; food
manufacturers use this
loophole to add novel
ingredients without FDA
oversight
-
Four consumer protection
groups say the process
for determining GRAS
substances is in
violation of the 1958
law, which requires the
FDA to determine the
safety of an ingredient
before it can be used in
food
"The situation is being
controlled, but this is the
biggest fire since 1992.
We've not had this scale of
fire," Ukraine's Interfax
news agency reported
Yatseniuk as telling
journalists...
"Wildfires ... pose
a high risk of
redistributing radioactivity,"
according to a paper
published in Ecological
Monographs, titled 'Fire
evolution in the radioactive
forests of Ukraine and
Belarus: future risks for
the population and the
environment.'
The American Lung
Association’s “State of the
Air 2015″ report, released
today during Air Quality
Awareness Week, shows that
over four in every 10
Americans live in counties
where levels of pollutants
make the air unhealthy to
breathe.
That means nearly 138.5
million Americans, nearly 44
percent, are inhaling
unhealthy air.
The world's leading powers
said on Wednesday a
protective cover over the
collapsed Chernobyl nuclear
power plant would be
completed by November 2017,
although they were
still short of funds to
finish the project.
A lot goes in to how much
motorists pay at the pump,
with the underlying price of
crude oil the biggest
determinant of what drivers
can expect to pay when
filling up.
But taxes can also take a
big bite.
With each ballot
initiative we also got
closer and closer to
winning. We lost by a mere
800 votes or so in Oregon
last year. In the final
analysis, the only reason we
lost was because industry
spent well over 100 million
dollars against those
initiatives, and succeeded
in confusing enough voters
to where they narrowly won.
90 Percent of
Americans Now Want GMO
Labeling
...root cellars aren't a new
invention by any means, but
the Groundfridge looks
well-built and relatively
easy to install. Weighing in
at 300 kg (661 lb), and
measuring 2.28 m (7.48 ft)
in diameter, the prefab
cellar is built from
hand-laminated polyester and
ships with integrated
cabinet and lighting. Access
is gained by a hatch-like
door and steps lead into the
cellar proper.
Already-strong growth in the
U.S. wind industry
accelerated during the first
quarter of 2015. The numbers
bear that out with a
near-record 13,600 megawatts
(MW) of generating capacity
under construction across
100 projects in 23 states,
according to a report by the
American Wind Energy
Association (AWEA).
The debate over this bill
has at times been divisive
and hurtful, and some of our
hard-working farmers who
produce food for our
community have been treated
disrespectfully. We are
determined to protect every
farmer and rancher.
Agriculture on Hawai’i
Island will continue to grow
with county assistance,
investment and support.
The early universe lacked
elements heavier than
hydrogen and helium. The
first generation of stars
are believed to have been
massive and short-lived.
Those stars generated
elements like oxygen, which
then spread outward via
stellar winds and supernova
explosions. This resulted in
“islands” of gas enriched in
heavy elements. Even these
islands, however, were much
poorer in oxygen than gas
within the Milky Way today.
Iranian forces fired
warning shots across the
bridge of a Marshall
Islands-flagged cargo vessel
as it was traversing the
Strait of Hormuz, boarded
the ship and directed it
toward the Iranian mainland,
a Pentagon official said
Tuesday.
The incident with the MV
Maersk Tigris, which
prompted the U.S. Navy to
dispatch a destroyer and a
plane in response, comes at
a critical time in Iran's
relations with its neighbors
and the United States.
The inspector general
recovered approximately
6,400 Lerner emails and will
carefully examine them as
part of the committee’s
bipartisan IRS
investigation.
Japan anticipates that by
2030 clean energy such as
solar and hydro will
generate slightly more of
the nation’s electricity
than nuclear power plants.
Clean
energy sources will
supply as much as 24
percent of Japan’s
electricity in 15 years,
while atomic power will
account for as much as
22 percent, according to
a draft report from the
Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry on
what Japan’s electricity
mix should look like by
2030.
In 1950, a little less than
200,000 American workers
made a living from science
or engineering-related
occupations. By 2009, the
last date of confirmed
numbers (released in 2012),
that field had grown to 5.4
million---nearly six percent
a year.
A new study suggests that
RTS,S/AS01, the prime
candidate for a malaria
vaccine and the first one to
reach large-scale clinical
testing, is partially
effective especially among
young African children for a
period of up to four years
after vaccination. The
vaccine could potentially
prevent millions of cases of
clinical malaria,
particularly in areas of
high transmission like
sub-Saharian Africa, and in
the age group in which
malaria is known to be the
most lethal.
After carrying out a mass
rescue of 200 girls and 93
women from the forest
stronghold of an Islamic
insurgent group, Nigeria's
military is evacuating them
and plans to check their
physical and mental health,
the army spokesman said
Wednesday.
On the front page of
Tuesday's newspaper, a
headline read: "As summers
get hotter, humans get more
blame." This idea is being
accepted as fact by most
scientists around the world,
by businesses and by
government agencies such as
NASA and the Department of
Defense.
Even the pope seems to be
down with it.
But apparently climate
change is still not accepted
in the Minnesota House.
Billionaire Elon Musk thinks
he can pave the way to a
better energy future by
turning the mattress-shaped
batteries in Tesla’s
electric car into upright
pillars so they can be used
to power homes, businesses
and even utilities.
Musk
will lift the veil
Thursday on a new
generation of batteries
designed to store
growing volumes of solar
and wind energy. If he
gets it right, Tesla
Motors Inc. will have
spun a significant
second business off the
technology originally
designed for its
electric vehicles — and
will gain a toehold in a
business projected to
generate tens of
billions of dollars in a
decade.
It’s been a wild past few
weeks when it comes to
corporations caving to the
demands of informed
consumers and activists.
From Chipotle removing GMOs
from their food, to Pepsi
ditching aspartame after
public outcry. Now, Tyson
Foods wants some of the
action.
The death toll has
reached 4,438 following the
7.8 magnitude earthquake
that rocked Nepal and
surrounding countries on
Saturday, while more than
8,000 others are injured.
The death toll is still
expected to rise as rescuers
reach remote villages now
cut off by landslides.
Police officials said
that in Nepal 3,904 people
have been confirmed dead; 72
people in India, 25 in
Tibet, and two in Bangladesh
also died, bringing the
total to over 4,000.
To satisfy future water
demand, we must augment
traditional water supplies
with alternate sources —
such as brackish
groundwater. While brackish
water desalination
technologies do exist on the
market, few (if any) have
proven to be suitable for
use and cost-competitive in
rural or remote settings.
When looking at the global
implications of the
water-food nexus,
environmentally sustainable
desalination technology
could provide smallholder
farmers with reliable water
sources.
Holtec International has
teamed up with two New
Mexico counties to establish
an interim nuclear waste
storage facility in the
southeastern part of the
state.
Their effort
has the support of New
Mexico Governor Susana
Martinez, who informed
Secretary of Energy Ernest
Moniz earlier in April that
the counties have already
selected a site that has
been "vetted extensively."
Last Thursday, the New
Orleans City Council
unanimously adopted a
resolution in support of
policies that encourage a
robust local solar industry.
The resolution expresses the
city's leadership in solar,
as well as the ability of
solar energy to save
families money, provide
quality employment
opportunities, produce clean
energy, and grow the local
economy.
“This landmark ruling not
only paves the way for
Vermont’s GMO labeling law
to take effect on schedule,
July 1, 2016, but more
importantly it signals that
the courts agree that states
have a constitutional right
to pass GMO labeling laws,”
said Ronnie Cummins,
international director of
the Organic Consumers
Association.
Oil futures closed higher
Wednesday after US
government data showed crude
stocks falling in Cushing,
Oklahoma, for the first time
since early December.
The NYMEX June crude
futures contract settled
$1.52 higher at $58.58/b.
The ICE June Brent futures
contract settled at
$65.84/b, up $1.20.
Crude inventories in
Cushing, Oklahoma --
delivery point for the NYMEX
crude futures contract --
fell 514,000 barrels in the
week that ended April 24,
snapping a 20-week streak of
uninterrupted builds.
Old Age...
“ To keep the heart
unwrinkled, to be hopeful,
kindly, cheerful, reverent -
that is to triumph over old
age. ” ― Thomas Bailey
Aldrich
Peabody Energy Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer Greg
Boyce has called on
political leaders and
Congress to support a
five-point plan to help
solve the U.S. electricity
crisis, put energy policy
back on track and accelerate
a transition toward a
low-carbon economy.
Nevada is undergoing a net
metering battle, but it
looks like energy customers
support raising the cap.
According to a poll paid for
by The Alliance for Solar
Choice (TASC) -- which is a
consortium of solar
companies -- the majority of
people support legislative
action for solar energy as
well as net metering.
Pope Francis convened an
international workshop today
at the Vatican on the moral
dimensions of climate change
and sustainable development
entitled, “Protect the
Earth, dignify humanity.”
How else to explain the
Chicago-based corporation's
unexpected concession to
cool the turbines of a
proposed gas-fired power
plant in Jessup with air
rather than 4.5 million
daily gallons of local
water? Monday's revelation
was a win for the organized,
ornery opposition to the
1,500-megawatt plant
Invenergy wants to build in
the borough.
At lot of ground was
covered at the Michigan
Energy Innovation Business
Council's one-day annual
meeting earlier this month
near the state capitol, but
one topic seemed to
dominate: renewable energy.
"Renewable energy and
gas, that's where the future
is," Michael Polsky, an
energy company executive and
the keynote speaker,
declared.
For at least the next 10
years, when considering new
capacity, there should be
little doubt that renewables
will be the generation
method of choice. Utility
PV, solar thermal
(especially with molten salt
storage as a baseload
source), wind, rooftop solar
and biomass will be the
highlights, along with
contributions from biogas
(sewage, landfills and
livestock), geothermal, and
maybe even some wave and
tidal. Advances in storage
technologies and reductions
in price will help remove
the intermittency concerns
of some renewables. The next
ten years should be another
decade of rapid growth.
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) has released
the first-ever report to
quantify the current size,
scope, and variability of
hydropower supplies in the
United States.
According to the report,
hydropower provides
approximately seven percent
of the U.S. electricity
supply -- enough to power
more than 20 million homes
-- and has experienced
significant growth
industry-wide.
Annual installations of
natural gas generator sets
(gensets) are expected to
grow from 12.9 GW in 2015 to
more than 27.1 GW in 2024,
according to a new report
from Navigant Research.
Used for emergency
standby, prime, peaking, or
continuous power, natural
gas-fired gensets are poised
for rapid growth in the
coming years, particularly
in markets where inexpensive
natural gas is widely
available, such as North
America.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(01 May, 02 May, 03 May).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(01 May) and quiet levels on
days two and three (02 May,
03 May).
Unpiloted craft carries
6,000 pounds of food, fuel,
and supplies for
International Space Station.
Thursday’s rendezvous with
ISS cancelled. The cargo
craft may be lost.
Saudi Arabia has arrested 93
people suspected of
belonging to the Islamic
State militant group,
including two people who
planned a failed suicide car
bombing against the U.S.
embassy in Riyadh, the
interior ministry said on
Tuesday.
The firm, which asked to
remain anonymous because of
its government work, found
between 20 and 50 social
media accounts in Baltimore
that were also tied to the
peak period of violence in
Ferguson. While further
analysis is being conducted
on the data, it suggests the
presence of "professional
protesters" or anarchists
taking advantage of Freddie
Gray's death to incite more
violence.
The solar panel sector has
become quite a turbulent
place these days, riding
high one day on reports of
major new plant
construction, only to
stumble the next on signs of
conflict and financial
distress. This kind of
conflicting news reflects
the fact that the industry
is still in the midst of a
major overhaul that could
ultimately see a few more
companies get closed down or
purchased, leaving a smaller
field of the biggest,
best-run players to survive
over the longer term.
Tucson Electric Power, or
TEP, has announced that it
is expanding its Energy Star
lighting program to make
light-emitting diode, or
LED, bulbs available from
local stores at discounts of
up to 30% off regular retail
prices.
Hunger pains are the bane of
any dieter's existence,
kicking in even when
skipping a single meal and
goading the sufferer to
indulge their desire for
food. Controlling hunger is
now better understood as
neuroscientists tease apart
why we (well, our model
mouse cousins) feel hunger.
Mind-bendingly, the same
researchers have used
genetic therapies to create
feelings of satiety where
none would otherwise exist.
Oil
fracking companies seeking
to improve their image and
pull in a little extra cash
are turning their waste
water into clean geothermal
power.
For
every barrel of oil
produced from a well,
there’s another seven of
water, much of it
boiling hot. Instead of
letting it go to waste,
some companies are
planning to harness that
heat to make electricity
they can sell to the
grid.
The Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA) has released
a first draft Environmental
Assessment on their proposed
Johnsonville Fossil Plant
site, which may provide
steam cogeneration use after
their coal plant closes. TVA
currently provides steam
energy to a local factory
(who they did not name)
located near the TVA plant,
and the proposal was to look
for alternatives to continue
powering that factory.
Small planes operating from
local airports can greatly
speed up business travel,
but it often isn't practical
because of the problem of
getting to and from remote
airfields, which aren't
noted for being booming
markets for taxi services or
hire car agencies. A flying
car could fill this gap, but
there's a catch; cars make
poor aircraft, and aircraft
make poor cars. This is a
problem that has plagued
what Carplane puts at the
over 2,000 flying car
projects of the past
century.
Food trucks commissioned by
the United Nations World
Food Programme (WFP) started
rolling out into the remote
villages of one of the most
severely affected Gorkha
district of Nepal. WFP,
which is the largest
humanitarian agency in the
world, plans to provide food
for 1.4 million people in
urgent need of assistance
over the next three months
at a cost of $116.5 million.
The
government is lowering the
recommended amount of
fluoride in drinking water
because some kids are
getting too much, causing
white splotches on their
teeth. It's the first change since
the government urged cities
to add fluoride to water
supplies to prevent tooth
decay more than 50 years
ago. Now, fluoride is put in
toothpaste, mouthwash and
other products as well.
The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC)
released their March 2015
Energy Infrastructure Update
and renewable continues to
grow. According to the
report, more than 75 percent
of all new large-scale
electrical generation
capacity came from wind,
solar, geothermal, and
hydropower in the first
quarter of 2015.
-
When men ate a junk-food
diet, their muscles’
ability to oxidize
glucose was disrupted in
just five days’ time
-
If you lose this key
player in glucose
metabolism it could pave
the way for insulin
resistance, diabetes,
and other health
problems
-
The “Goldilocks zone” in
which exercise produces
the greatest benefit for
longevity is between
150-450 minutes of
moderate exercise per
week, lowering your risk
of early death by 31 and
39 percent respectively
-
Exercising more than 450
minutes per week does
not seem to provide any
further increase in
longevity. In fact,
exercising 25 hours a
week or more only
provides a 31 percent
mortality risk reduction
-
Incorporating more
high-intensity exercises
can also boost
longevity, compared to
exercising at a
consistently moderate
pace
In this century, economic
growth has averaged 1.9
percent per year — down from
the 3.4 percent the prior
two decades — and anemic
growth is a major force
squeezing wages, the middle
class and working poor.
Conservatives and
liberals blame too much or
too little government.
Either way, getting policy
right is critical to
restoring opportunity for
everyone.
Here are
four issues that will be
tough to solve but warrant
serious attention:
The construction work on the
30-megawatt Deepwater Wind
Farm project off Block
Island in Rhodes Islands,
the nations first commercial
offshore wind farm,
commenced Monday marking a
major step in the US
exploring alternate energy
sources to coal and
hydrocarbons.
The Organic Consumers
Association (OCA) today, in
conjunction with the Feed
The World Project, launched
the world’s first glyphosate
testing for the general
public. The project, with
specific focus on women and
children in the U.S., is
offering the first-ever
validated public LC/MS/MS
glyphosate testing for
urine, water and soon breast
milk.