Monthly Archives: April 2011

In November, A Massive “potentially hazardous asteroid” Will Fly Very Close To Earth

April 30, 2011
In November, A Massive “potentially hazardous asteroid” Will Fly Very Close To Earth

The rest of us will get our reminder in November, when a massive asteroid will make a close flyby of Earth at a distance of just 0.85 lunar distances. Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered six years ago and does not pose a collision risk, but it is passing close enough to be deemed a...
Read More »

A Five-and-a-Half-Ton Solar Array for a Better Cup of Joe

April 30, 2011
A Five-and-a-Half-Ton Solar Array for a Better Cup of Joe

As the mirrors turn, a motor powers a winch system that raises or lowers the array like an easel. The roasting process takes up to 25 minutes for 15 pounds of coffee. Time: 10 months Cost: $65,000 Read more about it here
Read More »

Pick One: SPR or Recession – ASPO

April 30, 2011
Pick One: SPR or Recession – ASPO

ASPO – Brookings Institution presentation in early 2009, UCSD economist James Hamilton suggested that the government think of using the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to counter high oil prices. Although the suggestion failed to gain traction at the time, recent upheaval in the Middle East is once again putting the future of the...
Read More »

Hidden rain forest Maya lost city of Holtun – FOUND!

April 30, 2011
Hidden rain forest Maya lost city of Holtun – FOUND!

National Geographic News: Hidden for centuries, the ancient Maya city of Holtun, or Head of Stone, is finally coming into focus. Three-dimensional mapping has “erased” centuries of jungle growth, revealing the rough contours of nearly a hundred buildings, according to research presented earlier this month. Though it’s long been known to locals that something—something...
Read More »

Apple Named ‘Least Green’ Tech Co.

April 30, 2011
Apple Named ‘Least Green’ Tech Co.

Apple aficionados are a loyal bunch, and with good cause. From iPads and iPods to iPhones and Macs, the tech company — which posted 95 percent growth in its latest quarterly earnings — must be doing something right. For all the colorful apps Apple offers, however, it seems one color that’s missing is green....
Read More »

The Consumer Benefits of Electric Power Competition

April 30, 2011
The Consumer Benefits of Electric Power Competition

For most of the 20th century, electric power was generated by utilities with legally protected monopolies in geographically defined service territories and sold to captive consumers at state-regulated rates.  Meanwhile, in the 1970s and 1980s, deregulation of other network or utility-type industries — including natural gas, telecommunications, airlines, trucking and railroads — reduced prices...
Read More »

Gasoline Taxes vs. Exxon Profit, Per Gallon

April 30, 2011
Gasoline Taxes vs. Exxon Profit, Per Gallon

The map from API shows gasoline taxes by state (combined local, state and federal), which range from a low of 26.4 cents per gallon in Alaska to a high of 66.1 cents per gallon in California, averaging 48.1 cents per gallon across all states. How does that compare to oil company industry profits per...
Read More »

Passive Smoking: How Dangerous Is It?

April 30, 2011
Passive Smoking: How Dangerous Is It?


Read More »

Pay as you throw???

April 30, 2011

Do Not Trash the Incentive! Monetary Incentives and Waste Sorting This paper (PDF) examines whether monetary incentives are an effective tool for increasing domestic waste sorting. We exploit the exogenous variation in the pricing systems experienced during the 1999-2008 decade by the 95 municipalities in the district of Treviso (Italy). We estimate with a...
Read More »

USFA Releases Fire Risk Reports

April 30, 2011
USFA Releases Fire Risk Reports

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has issued three special reports as part of its Topical Fire Report Series, examining the risk of death or injury from fire by various demographics, such as age, race, and gender. Source: U.S. Fire Administration The three reports, Fire Risk, Fire Risk to Children,...
Read More »

Triple Health Care Wammy – Obese with Arthritis and Diabetes

April 30, 2011
Triple Health Care Wammy – Obese with Arthritis and Diabetes

Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults with Arthritis — United States Obesity and arthritis are critical public health problems with high prevalences and medical costs. In the United States, an estimated 72.5 million adults aged ≥20 years are obese, and 50 million adults have arthritis and People with diagnosed diabetes have medical expenditures already 2.3...
Read More »

11x improvement in processing energy efficiency

April 30, 2011

“What do you do when chips get too hot to take advantage of all of those transistors that Moore’s Law provides? You turn them off, and end up with a lot of dark silicon — transistors that lie unused because of power limitations. As detailed in MIT Technology Review, Researchers at UC San Diego...
Read More »

Why Oil & Everything is Skyrocketing… Dollar is worth less and less, less, etc…

April 29, 2011
Why Oil & Everything is Skyrocketing… Dollar is worth less and less, less, etc…

Oil and food supplies are normal or high - So what is really raising prices?Nothing.  Your dollar is just worth less when you dilute its value by trillions (see Why does Bernanke hate me?)Dollar is tanking faster than ever at 72.904 as a new local low.  It is getting down into into the critical...
Read More »

Removing Energies Brain Power… cutting U.S. Energy data, analysis & forecasting activities

April 29, 2011

Immediate Reductions in EIA’s Energy Data and Analysis Programs Necessitated by FY 2011 Funding Cut “The lower FY 2011 funding level will require significant cuts in EIA’s data, analysis, and forecasting activities,” said EIA Administrator Richard Newell. “EIA had already taken a number of decisive steps in recent years to streamline operations and enhance...
Read More »

Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began

April 29, 2011
Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began

Two robots sent into the reactor No. 1 building at the plant yesterday took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts of radiation per hour, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said today. That’s more than four times the annual dose permitted to nuclear workers at the stricken plant. Radiation from...
Read More »

China risks cost of fracking to exploit shale gas

April 28, 2011

The SMH has an article on Chinese interest in shale gas – China risks cost of fracking to exploit shale gas. CHINA has begun trials of the controversial drilling technique known as fracking to exploit the world’s largest reserves of shale gas, as it tries to cope with the energy demands of a fast-growing...
Read More »

1 MW Battery Storage Unit Ready for the Grid.

April 28, 2011
1 MW Battery Storage Unit Ready for the Grid.

“Utility energy storage is here today,” according to Dan Vogler, the CTO of battery vendor Ionex. Vogler believes that his firm’s large-format prismatic batteries based on lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) are the solution. The Ionex Energy Storage System is a 1-megawatt-hour unit capable of producing continuous AC power from a 40-foot shipping container weighing...
Read More »

China’s High-Speed Trains Coming Off the Rails

April 28, 2011
China’s High-Speed Trains Coming Off the Rails

“The Washington Post reports that China’s expanding network of ultramodern high-speed trains is coming under growing scrutiny over costs and because of concerns that builders ignored safety standards in the quest to build faster trains in record time as new leadership at the Railways Ministry announced that to enhance safety, the top speed of...
Read More »

Honeybees taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides

April 27, 2011
Honeybees taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides

BAD INDICATOR: ‘ENTOMBMENT’ (spectregroup) Honeybees ‘entomb’ hives to protect against pesticides,   in an extraordinary example of the natural world adapting swiftly to our depredations, according to a prominent bee expert. Scientists have found numerous examples of a new phenomenon - bees “entombing” or sealing up hive cells full of pollen to put them out of...
Read More »

The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010

April 27, 2011
The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami is a stark reminder of the risks inherent in nuclear power. One of its consequences has been heightened concern about the safety of nuclear power facilities in the United States. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency...
Read More »

I “feel” better about our economic situation now…

April 27, 2011
I “feel” better about our economic situation now…


Read More »

Planets Party In the Morning

April 27, 2011
Planets Party In the Morning

I always up… but you can set your alarm clocks early this Thursday through Sunday and catch a glimpse of Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury on the eastern horizon. Read more at universetoday.com
Read More »

Major Issues Surrounding Honeywell’s Uranium Enrichment Plant in Illinois

April 26, 2011

Hard to hear story…  Dozens of workers protested at Honeywell’s shareholder meeting on Monday, accusing the company of putting employees and the public in danger at its uranium enrichment plant in Metropolis, Illinois. Major U.S. defense contractor, Honeywell, pleaded guilty last month to illegally storing hazardous radioactive waste without a permit. The company kept...
Read More »

Year old Berkeley Lab Discovery rehashed as “new” Oak Ridge Lab Discovery in “Science Magazine”

April 26, 2011
Year old Berkeley Lab Discovery rehashed as “new” Oak Ridge Lab Discovery in “Science Magazine”

ScienceDaily – In a paper published April 21 in Science, Los Alamos researchers Gang Wu, Christina Johnston, and Piotr Zelenay, joined by researcher Karren More of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, describe the use of a platinum-free catalyst in the cathode of a hydrogen fuel cell. Eliminating platinum — a precious metal more expensive than...
Read More »

Run on Banks – 1/5 of Americans Cashing out retirement funds

April 26, 2011
Run on Banks – 1/5 of Americans Cashing out retirement funds

Nearly one-fifth of full-time empoyed Americans have raided retirement accounts in the past year to cover emergencies, according to a national Bankrate survey. Despite increasing signs of a stabilizing U.S. economy, 19 percent of Americans — including 17 percent of full-time workers — have been compelled to take money from their retirement savings in...
Read More »

NASA Fires Up Jet Fuel That Tastes Like Chicken

April 26, 2011
NASA Fires Up Jet Fuel That Tastes Like Chicken

The Air Force is the single largest user of aviation fuel inside the Federal government, using an estimated 3 billion gallons per year, according to the Air Force. Each time the price of oil goes up $10 per barrel, it costs the Air Force an additional $600 million for fuel. “It may never make...
Read More »

World’s Worst Oil Spills

April 26, 2011
World’s Worst Oil Spills

On April 24, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon, a submersible drilling rig sank after an explosion on April 22. Eleven people died in the Deepwater Horizon blast. The riser, a 5,000-foot-long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig, became detached and started leaking oil. And, so began the worst oil...
Read More »

Water demand will outstrip supply in twenty years

April 26, 2011
Water demand will outstrip supply in twenty years

‘We need to brace for what could easily be humanity’s greatest short-term challenges.’ – Dr Catley-Carlson Scientists have warned water demand in many countries will exceed supply by 40 per cent within 20 years A new way of thinking about water is needed as looming shortages threaten communities, agriculture and industry, experts said.In the...
Read More »

$1.2 trillion hole in Americans Wallet – Just dumb spending

April 26, 2011
$1.2 trillion hole in Americans Wallet – Just dumb spending

Commerce Department data suggests that in February, U.S. consumers spent an annualized $1.2 trillion on non-essential stuff including pleasure boats, jewelry, booze, gambling and candy. That’s 11.2% of total consumer spending, up from 9.3% a decade earlier and only 4% in 1959, adjusted for inflation. In February, spending on non-essential stuff was up an...
Read More »

Waste heat powers schools

April 24, 2011

Heated water running through sewers will be put to use heating a school. Paris has been on an alternative energy roll as of late: installing hydropower turbines in the Seine, testing the limits of urban wind power and using solar power to Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read More »

Roads as Solar and Piezo-Electric Generators

April 24, 2011
Roads as Solar and Piezo-Electric Generators

Another use of a free, wasted byproduct to generate electricity is piezo-electric energy. “Piezo” means pressure. Anything that produces pressure can produce energy. For example, a train station in Japan installed piezo-electric equipment in the ground, so that the foot traffic of those walking through the train station generates electricity (turnstiles at train, subway...
Read More »

OIL – Edward Burtynsky.

April 24, 2011
OIL – Edward Burtynsky.

Sustainable…. have we even defined the word or world without oil? See more word changing artwork by Edward Burtynsky. here
Read More »

Why ‘Self-Sufficiency’ Should Replace ‘Sustainability’ in the Environmental Movement

April 24, 2011
Why ‘Self-Sufficiency’ Should Replace ‘Sustainability’ in the Environmental Movement

Activist post: Because the only genuine path to sustainability in any broad sense is through one person and community at a time, the environmental movement must shift its focus to personal self-sufficiency. And because sustainability cannot be achieved through forced coercion, gently educate your peers when they express interest.  On a broader scale, propose...
Read More »

Obama: US Finances are Unsustainable

April 24, 2011
Obama: US Finances are Unsustainable

BloomBerg – President Barack Obama, on a cross country trip to sell his deficit reduction plan, said yesterday that the nation’s finances are “unsustainable.” At a campaign-style town hall meeting at the headquarters of Facebook Inc., Obama described the House Republicans’ budget plan as “fairly radical,” and said members of both political parties in...
Read More »

McDonald’s and Wal Mart Warn of Inflation

April 22, 2011
McDonald’s and Wal Mart Warn of Inflation

GeorgeWashington – The signs for inflation in food and basic consumer goods are widespread. McDonald’s is warning of inflation in food prices: McDonald’s Corp forecast higher prices for beef, dairy and other items and said it would cautiously raise prices to keep attracting diners, who are grappling with higher grocery and gas bills. McDonald’s...
Read More »

“Happy, Coulda Hada Eathday” – EarthDay Canceled due to poor economic choices

April 22, 2011
“Happy, Coulda Hada Eathday” – EarthDay Canceled due to poor economic choices

Imagine we have no money to protect our people or planetHaase - (previous rant) While I do not often talk “eco-nomics” the threat has become as much as a national health issue as cancer and as much of a environmental issue as global warming. If you are as concerned as much as I am...
Read More »

Mindset will continue towards a collapse due to debt denial

April 22, 2011
Mindset will continue towards a collapse due to debt denial

WashingtonPost “Poll shows Americans oppose entitlement cuts to deal with debt problem”Despite growing concerns about the country’s long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. On Monday, Standard &...
Read More »

Plan to stop economic disaster cruise control

April 22, 2011
Plan to stop economic disaster cruise control

The Effects of Automatic Stabilizers on the Federal Budget CBO report focuses on the automatic responses of revenues and outlays to developments in the economy—the automatic stabilizers—that reflect cyclical movements in real (inflation-adjusted) output and unemployment. CBO estimates that automatic stabilizers are adding significantly to the budget deficit now but that their contribution will...
Read More »

Trillions power nuclear economics:

April 22, 2011
Trillions power nuclear economics:

George Washington refer the Washington Post on nuclear power economics:  Nuclear power is a viable source for cheap energy only if it goes uninsured.  Governments that use nuclear energy are torn between the benefit of low-cost electricity and the risk of a nuclear catastrophe, which could total trillions of dollars and even bankrupt a...
Read More »

Hazard Free, Bright and Affordable LED Light Bulbs

April 22, 2011
Hazard Free, Bright and Affordable LED Light Bulbs

A new company, Switch Lighting, just introduced some new lights that look promising.  The San Jose-based company has what it calls “the brightest warm light LED replacement available,” according to a news release, and we’ve been able to get access to a couple photos of the 75W bulb.  The Cradle to Cradle bulbs —...
Read More »

Finally – Honeywell Launches Gearless Wind Turbine

April 22, 2011
Finally – Honeywell Launches Gearless Wind Turbine

After many years of waiting …The much-anticipated Honeywell Wind Turbine from WindTronics officially launches today, one day prior to Earth Day.  This is a small wind 1,500 watt turbine that we’ve mentioned extensively – here’s a video of one spinning.  The launch is supported by a global network of distributors, partners, and retailers ready...
Read More »

deficiency between intent and action — the Green Gap

April 22, 2011

OgilvyEarth, a sustainability consultancy, studied the mainstream consumer and posted some fascinating research.  Specifically, 82% of Americans have good green intentions, while only 16% of Americans are firmly dedicated to fulfilling those green intentions — leaving 66% in the middle, the “Middle Green,” wanting to do more but not getting it done.  This deficiency...
Read More »

Happy Earth Day!

April 22, 2011
Happy Earth Day!


Read More »

Picken on pickens plan

April 21, 2011

I’m for any fuel, as long as it’s American … including wind and solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal.” Pickens is not the only billionaire pushing this crude on the unsuspecting public. Advertising, sports, media, and bison-burger mogul Ted Turner,… Full Article at AlterNet.org
Read More »

Completion of the Department of Energy’s First Recovery Act-Funded Hydropower Project

April 21, 2011
Completion of the Department of Energy’s First Recovery Act-Funded Hydropower Project

Los Alamos County Completes Abiquiu Hydropower Project, Bringing New Clean Energy Resources to New Mexico U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu issued the following statement on the completion and startup today of the Abiquiu Hydropower Project in New Mexico – the first hydropower project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be completed...
Read More »

It’s about the water stupid

April 21, 2011
It’s about the water stupid

Water Changes Everything” by charity: water, a non-profit dedicated to bringing clean water to people in developing nations, outlines the terrible burden that scarce and unsafe water supplies place on the world’s poorest populations, and the vast amount of good that could come from basic improvements in water supply and sanitation. Unsafe water and...
Read More »

Is Sugar Toxic?

April 20, 2011
Is Sugar Toxic?

Gary Taubes in the NYTimes Magazine that evaluates claims from Dr. Robert Lustig’s virally popular lecture on the negative effects of sugar on peoples’ health. (YouTube video of the lecture.) Taubes discusses the science behind the claims and the odd willingness of people to accept Lustig’s arguments without further inspection. Quoting: “When I set...
Read More »

Quick Regulatory Update

April 20, 2011

ACA’s Transportation & Distribution Chairperson Testifies before House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Testimony addressed the authority of PHMSA in the international arena which establishes the standards and requirements for the transport of dangerous goods, as well as the enhanced enforcement authority of the agency under the new “open and inspect” final rule. More...
Read More »

Scale is everything to Hydrogen Powered cars…

April 20, 2011

Hydrogen Powered (RC) Car That Runs On Soda Can Rings “A pair of Spanish engineers have recently unveiled the dAlH2Orean (see what they did there?), a R/C car that runs on aluminum. Dropping a few soda can tabs into a tank of sodium hydroxide produces enough hydrogen to power the little speedster for 40...
Read More »

United States Debt Totals – Now imagine it gets worse

April 20, 2011
United States Debt Totals – Now imagine it gets worse

This is State NOT federal debt…  #1 – Rhode Island: Debt 2010: $10.02 billion #2 – Massachusetts: Debt 2010: $79.06 billion#3 – Alaska: Debt 2010: $6.76 billion#4 – Connecticut: Debt 2010: $36.20 billion#5 – Montana: Debt 2010: $5.54 billion#6 – Vermont: Debt 2010: $4.14 billion#7 – New Hampshire: Debt 2010: $8.36 billion#8 – West Virginia:...
Read More »

S&P delivers blow for US debt revised its US outlook to negative.

April 18, 2011
S&P delivers blow for US debt revised its US outlook to negative.

FT – Standard & Poor’s issued a stark warning to Washington on Monday, cutting its outlook on US sovereign debt for the first time and throwing more fuel on the raging debate over America’s swollen deficits. The agency kept America’s credit rating at triple A but, for the first time since it started rating...
Read More »

Committee Democrats Release New Report Detailing Hydraulic Fracturing Products

April 18, 2011
Committee Democrats Release New Report Detailing Hydraulic Fracturing Products

The Hydraulic Fracturing Report contains the first comprehensive national inventory of chemicals used by hydraulic fracturing companies during the drilling process.  From the report… “With our river ways and drinking water at stake, it’s an absolute necessity that the American public knows what is in these fracking chemicals,” said Rep. Markey.  “This report is...
Read More »

Germany to close all nuclear plants

April 18, 2011
Germany to close all nuclear plants

Germany is speeding up plans to close all of its nuclear reactors as criticism over the government’s nuclear plans has grown since the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan. Chancellor Angela Merkel invited the 16 German state premiers to the capital Berlin to discuss the country’s energy policy, a Press TV correspondent in...
Read More »

iPad eliminating thousands of American jobs.

April 17, 2011
iPad eliminating thousands of American jobs.

“on an anti-technology rant on Friday on the floor of Congress, blaming the iPad for eliminating thousands of American jobs. ‘Why do you need to go to Borders anymore?’ asked Jackson. ‘Why do you need to go to Barnes & Noble? Buy an iPad, download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine.’ ‘What...
Read More »

Endangered sea turtles dying in high numbers along Mississippi Gulf shore

April 17, 2011
Endangered sea turtles dying in high numbers along Mississippi Gulf shore

MSN – Mario Tama / Getty Images A dead sea turtle is carried out of the surf by Donald Tillman April 14, in Waveland, Mississippi. Local turtle activists Donald and Shirley Tillman say they have discovered 19 dead sea turtles in Mississippi in the month of April alone and suspect they are dying due...
Read More »

U.S. Increases Military Spending $700 billion, after cutting social programs

April 17, 2011


Read More »

WTF – Clinic touts smoking as cure cancer, autism and emphysema

April 16, 2011
WTF – Clinic touts smoking as cure cancer, autism and emphysema

Indonesia’s Griya Balur Clinic touts smoking as cure for cancer … As smokers grow six-fold in 40 years in Indonesia Griya Balur would be shut down in many parts of the world, but not in Indonesia, one of the developing-country new frontiers for big tobacco as it seeks to replace its dwindling profits in...
Read More »

Man who help “redistribute” 100′$ of billions of dollars from taxpayers into the pockets of wallstreet runs for the hills..

April 16, 2011
Man who help “redistribute” 100′$ of billions of dollars from taxpayers into the pockets of wallstreet runs for the hills..

Warm fuzzy movie starting co-creator of TARP program who escaped off grid..  Off-Grid News George Clooney’s next Directing gig may be a based-on-a-true-story about a former Treasury Department official Neel Kashkari , who leaves Wall Street to live off the grid in Northern California.  He moves into a cabin in Nevada County with his wife,...
Read More »

Global Food Crisis “Top Ten” Problems

April 16, 2011
Global Food Crisis “Top Ten” Problems

There are about 3 billion people around the globe that live on the equivalent of 2 dollars a day or less and the world was already on the verge of economic disaster before this year even began. Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is...
Read More »

The Gulf Oil Spill Is NOT Old News

April 16, 2011

Wall Street Journal notes today: “The BP oil spill has caused far more serious impact on the environment than the Fukushima accident” ….the number of dolphins and whales killed by the spill appears to be many times higher than officials previously believed. Dead turtles are washing up in Mississippi.
Read More »

U.S. Meat Widely Contaminated with Drug-Resistant Bacteria

April 16, 2011

Los Angeles Times - Meat in the U.S. may be widely contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria, researchers reported Friday after testing 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and turkey purchased at grocery stores. Nearly half of the samples — 47% — contained strains of Staphylococcus aureus, the type of bacteria that most commonly...
Read More »

The End of the Space Age, Speed and Prosperity

April 15, 2011
The End of the Space Age, Speed and Prosperity

Wall Street Journal that laments the state of man’s quest of aerial speed: we’re going backwards With the end of the Space Shuttle program, man is losing its fastest carrier of human beings.‘The shuttles’ retirement follows the grounding over recent years of other ultra-fast people carriers, including the supersonic Concorde and the speedier SR-71...
Read More »

Ohhh my… Mysterious Cosmic Blast Keeps on Going

April 14, 2011

Astronomers have witnessed a cosmic explosion so strange they don’t even know what to call it.Gas from the star falling into the black hole could have triggered the gravitational monster to emit a jet of X-rays and gamma rays that by chance happens to point directly at Earth.   - Wired
Read More »

GE venture buys into ultracapacitor storage

April 14, 2011
GE venture buys into ultracapacitor storage

CNET-  Ultracapacitor maker Ioxus today said it has raised $21 million from a handful of large industrial companies, a vote of confidence in this relatively young energy-storage technology. The lead investor was Energy Technology Ventures, a joint venture of General Electric, utility NRG Energy, and fuel company ConocoPhillips. Another investment group involved was Aster...
Read More »

U.S. Coal exports to China $2.4 Bil expected to jump 70% in 2011

April 14, 2011
U.S. Coal exports to China $2.4 Bil expected to jump 70% in 2011

(Reuters) – Coal exports from the United States are expected to jump 70 percent in 2011 because of a supply squeeze in Asia-Pacific, while a weak dollar has made U.S. cargoes more attractive, top U.S. coal exporter Xcoal Energy & Resources said. Total coal exports to Asia from the U.S. are expected to reach...
Read More »

Economic Survival vs. Economic Security

April 14, 2011
Economic Survival vs. Economic Security

The “poverty line” is an income, set by the federal government, used to measure whether one is in or out of poverty.  But this line, of course, is both sociological and political.  What is poverty in the U.S? NY Tomes – .. we’ve all seen how often we have emergencies that we are unprepared...
Read More »

UN document would give ‘Mother Earth’ same rights as humans???

April 13, 2011
UN document would give ‘Mother Earth’ same rights as humans???

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country. The bid aims to have the UN recognize the...
Read More »

If Al Gore Can Outgrow the Ethanol Fad, Why Can’t Conservatives?

April 13, 2011
If Al Gore Can Outgrow the Ethanol Fad, Why Can’t Conservatives?

The Senate is expected to vote on S. 520, a bill to repeal the 45 cents per gallon volumetric ethanol excise tax credit (VEETC).  The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.). Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) have also introduced S. 530, which would limit the VEETC...
Read More »

Bail out FAIL – The Deal to Sell GM to China

April 13, 2011
Bail out FAIL – The Deal to Sell GM to China

General Motors’ Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) will take a controlling stake in GM by purchasing the equity sold to the U.S. and Canadian governments during the bailout. “Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are announcing today that an agreement has been reached with the governments of the...
Read More »

Fukushima Radiation May End Up Exceeding Chernobyl

April 12, 2011

“The radiation leak has not stopped completely and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl,” an official operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said on Tuesday that they are concerned that the radiation leakage could eventually exceed that of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. – Reuters
Read More »

U.S. wind industry continues growth, despite slow economy and unpredictable policies

April 12, 2011
U.S. wind industry continues growth, despite slow economy and unpredictable policies

The American Wind Energy Association has released so me facts from their annual report, as well as two charts, in a press release: America’s wind power industry grew by 15% in 2010 and provided 26% of all new electric generating capacity in the United States. With the 5,116 MW added last year, U.S. wind installations...
Read More »

California Library’s Plan: Get Rid of Books

April 11, 2011
California Library’s Plan: Get Rid of Books

 SlashDot -  “Facing the likelihood of state budget cuts that would eliminate $15 million for library and reading programs – and, apparently, create a future in which people no longer read things on paper – the city of Newport Beach is considering turning it s first library into a community center that would host all...
Read More »

Arizona Governor Proposes Fat Person Tax

April 11, 2011
Arizona Governor Proposes Fat Person Tax

“The WSJ reports that Arizona governor Jan Brewer has proposed levying a $50 fee on some enrollees in the state’s cash-starved Medicaid program, including obese people who don’t follow a doctor-supervised slimming regimen and smokers. Brewer says the proposal is a way to reward good behavior and raise awareness that certain conditions, including obesity,...
Read More »

The Facebook Obsession

April 11, 2011
The Facebook Obsession

SlashDot - “Are we too obsessed with Facebook? With 500 million users and a CNBC story about it, the answer would seem to be yes. PostRandomonium notes the media’s obsession with Facebook, and how it impacts their news coverage — in particular, that of CNN. One out of every 13 Earthlings and three out...
Read More »

Solar Storm Nearly Wipes Out NASA’s Messenger

April 11, 2011

SlashDot - “There was a close call last week when an enormous coronal ejection nearly hit Mercury and the orbiting Messenger spacecraft. Scientists at the Space Weather Laboratory flew into action, modeling the event to determine how close it had come to the spacecraft using data from the twin STEREO sun observers. The group...
Read More »

Bees in my backyard, it’s a good thing…

April 11, 2011
Bees in my backyard, it’s a good thing…

From  www.jetsongreen.com Interest in urban chickens is growing and — it would seem — the same holds true for urban beekeeping.  An outfit out of West Bend, Wisconsin, Beepods.com, is selling personal use beehives for $450, including everything but bees and the know how.  The kit comes IKEA-style ready for assembly with a screwdriver...
Read More »

Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

April 11, 2011

Just the number comparing the U.S. after 2008 crash and now… ouch,
Read More »

“Worth Saving” Index For Endangered Animals – Are humans on it?

April 11, 2011
“Worth Saving” Index For Endangered Animals – Are humans on it?

Thanks to a new mathematical tool created by researchers from James Cook University and the University of Adelaide, the wombat has been classified as not worth saving. Co-author of the safe index Professor Corey Bradshaw says he doesn’t think people should give up on saving extremely endangered animals but adds, “…if you take a...
Read More »

New Gasoline Engine Prototype Claims 3X Current Engine Efficiency

April 11, 2011
New Gasoline Engine Prototype Claims 3X Current Engine Efficiency

“A cool new high-efficiency gasoline engine prototype has no radiator, no pistons, no valves, no transmission, and no fluids (except for the fuel). At first glance it has a few similarities with the Wankel engine, but is more advanced. The engine is only suited for hybrid-electric vehicles, but that’s okay. The efficiency they are...
Read More »

Budget Cuts… in one easy pie chart ;-)

April 11, 2011
Budget Cuts… in one easy pie chart ;-)

Michael Ramirez Cartoon
Read More »

Why Electric Cars are Really Coal Cars.

April 10, 2011
Why Electric Cars are Really Coal Cars.

President Obama’s plan to put 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 with the aim to “wean us off imported oil”. However, the majority of electricity in the is generated using power stations fired by coal and gas, and hence even if a substantial substitution of the present oil-fuelled cars by electric...
Read More »

Market has set oil, food and commodity inflation bomb

April 10, 2011
Market has set oil, food and commodity inflation bomb

Market will rally this spring and summer on the backs of the meek.Sorry poor, unemployed and suffering – no soup for you. Charles Wallace – Just when it seemed like it couldn’t get much worse on the price front – how can you top $4 a gallon gasoline? – comes news the cherished summer...
Read More »

The inaugural United States Peace Index (This is good news)

April 10, 2011
The inaugural United States Peace Index (This is good news)

Created by the Institute for Economics and Peace is the first-ever ranking of the fifty U.S. states based on their levels of peace. The U.S. Peace Index (USPI) shows Maine is the most peaceful U.S. state, while Louisiana is ranked the least peaceful. The USPI report reveals that peace in the United States has...
Read More »

Good news GOV “Shutdown Averted”, Bad news… Interest payments on national debt set to explode

April 9, 2011
Good news GOV “Shutdown Averted”, Bad news… Interest payments on national debt set to explode

“Reducing spending while still investing in the future is just common sense,” “That’s what families do in tough times. They sacrifice where they can, even if it’s hard, to afford what’s really important.” The last-minute agreement reached Friday to keep the government funded for the next six months would cut approximately $38.5 billion from...
Read More »

Hey Sleep, Who votes for you?

April 9, 2011


Read More »

Cause… affect or effect?

April 9, 2011

This -  High school students assigned to online study due to teacher shortage Should help This?U.S. students suffering from Internet addiction
Read More »

Scientists find superbugs in Delhi drinking water

April 9, 2011
Scientists find superbugs in Delhi drinking water

(Reuters) – A gene that makes bugs highly resistant to almost all known antibiotics has been found in bacteria in water supplies in New Delhi used by local people for drinking, washing and cooking, scientists said on Thursday. The NDM 1 gene, which creates what some experts describe as “super superbugs,” has spread to...
Read More »

Strawberries, mushrooms with Cesium-137 found in Northern California; 5 of 6 items in food chain sampling test have radioactive particles

April 9, 2011

UCB Food Chain Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering: Six items were tested: spinach, strawberries, cilantro, topsoil, grass, and mushrooms. Measured in Becquerel per kilogram. – EnergyNews
Read More »

Hospitals fail to 90% of record infections, safety problems

April 9, 2011

Hospitals and regulators fail to record at least 90 percent of patient injuries, infections, and other safety issues, a study found. A review uncovered 354 so-called adverse events, such as pressure sores, bloodstream infections, and medication errors, at three teaching hospitals. A system designed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality identified...
Read More »

Meanwhile in FAIL… really tax payers?

April 9, 2011
Meanwhile in FAIL… really tax payers?

Getting ready for a Washington shutdown. . . Members of Congress will still get paid during shutdown  General says Obama would consider sending ground troops to Libya
Read More »

US Army intensifies off-grid focus

April 9, 2011
US Army intensifies off-grid focus

When it comes to technological innovation, the US Army often leads the way. There was the Internet, spawned by DARPAnet in the early 90s, or the Jeep in the 1940s. Off-Grid and Micro-Grid power is the Next Big Thing for the US military. The Department of Defense Micro-Grid Development Project will be used to...
Read More »

Study: biofuels could cause more than 192,000 deaths due to effect on food prices

April 7, 2011
Study: biofuels could cause more than 192,000 deaths due to effect on food prices

Turning Food into Fuel is Not the Solution The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has released a warning that U.S. and European policy to increase the production of biofuels could lead to almost 200,000 deaths in poorer countries. How? Mostly through higher food prices. Most biofuels are made using food crops like...
Read More »

38-Megawatt Solar Plant for Crete Island

April 7, 2011
38-Megawatt Solar Plant for Crete Island

GreenTech Media has a report on a 38 MW solar thermal power plant planned for the Greek islands (going against recent trends suggesting solar PV is now cheaper than solar thermal power) – BrightSource Plans 38-Megawatt Plant for Crete. The Crete project will take advantage of air cooling to convert steam back into water....
Read More »

Solar Costs May Already Rival Coal, Spurring Installation

April 7, 2011
Solar Costs May Already Rival Coal, Spurring Installation

Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said. Large photovoltaic projects will cost $1.45 a watt to build by 2020, half the current price, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated today. The London-based research company says...
Read More »

California high-speed rail: The next stop is bankruptcy

April 5, 2011
California high-speed rail: The next stop is bankruptcy

Like most large public infrastructure projects, the California high-speed rail project was sold to the public based on false promises, exaggerated benefits and lowball cost estimates. Before the election, the cost of the project was estimated at $33 billion for the Los Angeles/Anaheim to San Francisco portion, and an additional $7 billion for the...
Read More »

Ryan’s budget plan to slash deficits by over $4 trillion

April 5, 2011
Ryan’s budget plan to slash deficits by over $4 trillion

i.e. there’s no chance of passage… Last November, the Congressional Budget Office did a preliminary analysis of the Ryan-Rivlin plan and found that the Medicaid and Medicare reforms, plus a change in medical malpractice law, would save $350 billion from 2011 through 2021. Other possible ways to save money — Ryan has supported the...
Read More »

EPA Solicits Applications for RE-Powering America’s Land / Agency encouraging reuse of potentially contaminated areas for renewable energy purposes (HQ)

April 4, 2011

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from states, tribes, regional governments, and communities that are interested in the development of renewable energy on current and formerly contaminated properties. The opportunity is offered through EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land initiative, which takes a multi-pronged approach to site cleanup and development of...
Read More »

China closes half the nation’s dairies

April 4, 2011
China closes half the nation’s dairies

Telegraph -  The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, says of over 1,100 dairies inspected, 426 failed to pass the licensing renewal test. Another 107 were ordered to suspend production until they improved operations. Fearing many dairy owners will ignore the production ban and secretly resume operations, officials also issued a warning....
Read More »

Even union representing the scientists at EPA headquarters has problems with Fluoridation

April 4, 2011
Even union representing the scientists at EPA headquarters has problems with Fluoridation

“Even the union representing the scientists at EPA headquarters has said, ‘The toxicity of fluoride is so great and the purported benefits…are so small, if there are any at all, that requiring every man, woman and child in America to ingest it borders on criminal behavior.’ It’s time for an intelligent discussion to be...
Read More »

Green chemistry signed into law in Michigan

April 4, 2011

“The legislation signed in December amends statutes dealing with state economic development programs focusing on high technology and on new and developing energy sectors in order to make enterprises engaged in the development of “green chemistry” eligible for grants, tax credits, and other benefits that are available to participants in the programs.” Read more...
Read More »



EHS News Archives

Thank You for Contributing

Sharing is Caring: Our goal is to guide Environmental, Health and Safety professionals to the best EHS resources available. By bringing focus to leading sources of that information.

EHSnews.org is the first global aggregator of official Environmental, Health and Safety information in real-time that derives post excerpts.

ALL excerpts and content from contributors "shared" items require links to original articles and authors are to be included in ALL content.

PLEASE report any post or content not correctly citing original source and it will be remove immediately and contributor will be flagged.

Thanks - Editor

See Full Site Disclaimer Here