Monthly Archives: June 2011

The Sharp Corporation has developed a device that enables batteries designed for electric-vehicles (EV) to be used as storage batteries for household use. The Intelligent Power Conditioner (power inverter-converter) is based on power control technology that Sharp has cultivated over the course of developing power “conditioners” for photovoltaic power generation systems. With the new unit,...
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David Schaller – Gresham Oregon has begun transforming its wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) from an energy hog to an energy provider. The city’s initial goal for the 20-million-gallons-per-day (mgd) facility is to have it achieve energy independence by 2015. The City is using a cogeneration engine that converts methane gas from the WWTP’s digesters,...
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making it easier to find data about chemicals. EPA is releasing two databases—the Toxicity Forecaster database (ToxCastDB) and a database of chemical exposure studies (ExpoCastDB)—that scientists and the public can use to access chemical toxicity and exposure data. “Chemical safety is a major priority of EPA and...
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In the 1940s and ’50s dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a synthetic pesticide better known as DDT, was used to kill bugs that spread malaria and typhus in several parts of the world.  DDT was argued to be toxic to humans and the environment in the famous environmental opus, Silent Spring.  It was banned by the U.S. government in...
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PhysOrg -  University of Minnesota engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary energy conversion method is in the early stages of development, but it could have wide-sweeping impact on creating environmentally friendly electricity from waste heat sources....
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Bio Energy Corp. announced that they started feeding biogas refined and processed from food waste into the city pipeline system, ahead of all other companies in Japan. Approximately 800,000 cubic meters of gas (under standard conditions)–enough to accommodate about 2,000 ordinary households–will be fed into the pipeline system annually. This is expected to reduce...
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Two new studies found that diet drinks and artificial sweeteners increase people’s waistlines and increase their risk of diabetes. From ScienceDaily: Measures of height, weight, waist circumference and diet soda intake were recorded at SALSA enrollment and at three follow-up exams that took place over the next decade. The average follow-up time was 9.5...
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Da Vinci Co., a start-up company specializing in heat control technologies in Nara Prefecture, Japan., has been developing a system that recovers low-temperature waste heat and generates electricity using a rotary heat engine (RHE). The utilization of low-temperature waste heat of 80 to 200 degrees Celsius has long been considered technologically unfeasible. The company...
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CBO - These two alternative futures in a pair of graphs projects that deficits will disappear entirely in four more years if Congress were to just sit on its hands and do nothing? Take a look.
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OVER-65s who take a ­cocktail of commonly prescribed and over the counter pills could be cutting their lives short.The anticholinergic drugs, ­regularly taken by half OAPs, help problems such as heart disease, constipation, incontinence and indigestion. But mixing the medication, which includes anti-depressants, tranquillisers, painkillers, even eye drops could increase the risk of dying.A...
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A June 27, 2011, New York Times article, “Behind Veneer, Doubt on Future of Natural Gas” focuses on the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) consideration of shale gas. EIA was contacted by a Times reporter in advance of the story, and provided a response that described the agency’s approach to developing its shale gas projections....
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Despite months of high gas prices, a bevy of new fuel-stingy cars with conventional gas engines may be eating into sales of pricier gas-electric hybrids. Sales of high-mileage, high-value conventional compacts such as the Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cruze are hot, while hybrid sales have stagnated. The hybrid share of U.S. auto...
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“TSA employees at Logan International Airport believe they have identified a cancer cluster in their ranks, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and released by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. They have requested dosimetry to counter ‘TSA’s improperly non-monitored radiation threat.’ So far, at least, they have not received it....
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The strategic reserve, established after the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, contains 727 million barrels — just over two months’ worth of imports. When it is tapped, the oil usually has to be replaced at higher prices. So this is not something the country should do very often. An important question is what happens next....
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The Department of Defense is the largest energy consumer in the nation. It’s made significant efforts to wean the military services from their sole dependence on fossil fuels—particularly jet and diesel fuel made from oil—to power their planes, ships, and vehicles. Pollution from burning these fuels contributes to global warming, which, according to military...
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Digital video recorders (DVRs), cable and other pay-TV boxes cost American consumers $3 billion a year — $1 billion to operate when in active use and an additional $2 billion while inactive but still running at near full power, according to a new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Also known as set-top...
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“A start-up in Northern California is working on creating ‘solar windows’ that could act as solar panels at the same time as blocking sunlight from entering office buildings to reduce their energy needs.” The technology is a class of equipment that seeks to replace parts of buildings with solar panels to generate energy. Other...
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Nuclear agency head to visit flooded Nebraska reactors after a berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger. The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station shut down in early April for refueling, and there...
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(CNSNews.com) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Small Business Committee on Wednesday that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase so the administration does not have to “shrink the overall size of government programs.” …”Overwhelmingly, the businesses back home and across the country continue to tell us that regulation,...
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HackDay -  While the Isle of Man typically plays host to an array of gas-powered superbikes screaming through villages and mountain passes at unbelievable speeds, the island’s TT Race is a bit different. Introduced in 2009 to offer a greener alternative to the traditional motorcycle race, organizers opened up the course to electric bikes...
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PopSci – Patients who consumed only 600 calories a day for two months were able to reverse their Type 2 diabetes, according to a groundbreaking British study. The research, involving just 11 patients, suggests a very low-calorie diet can remove fat that clogs the pancreas, allowing normal insulin secretion to be restored, according to...
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GizMag – Lately we’re hearing a lot about the green energy potential of fuel cells, particularly hydrogen fuel cells. Unfortunately, although various methods of hydrogen production are being developed, it still isn’t as inexpensive or easily obtainable as fossil fuels such as coal. Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, however, have recently taken...
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“Asteroid 2011 MD was discovered on June 22 by LINEAR, and its flight path will take it within 8000 miles (12000 km) of Earth. Orbital predictions indicate that its flight path will be significantly altered by this close approach.” - SlashDot
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Due to server demand this post was moved to page “State of the U.S. Economy”    Even if the 80/20 rule of misinformation applies….The qualified sources would mean either 90% of all media is grossly wrong… or someone else is lying? I would let the data speak for itself and let good judgement decide...
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The group that oversees the U.S. power grid is proposing an experiment that would allow more frequency variation than it does now without corrections, according to a company presentation obtained by The Associated Press. “A lot of people are going to have things break and they’re not going to know why,” said Demetrios Matsakis,...
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Over at Scientific American, Michael Moyer takes a critical look at an Al Jazeera story about a recent study purporting to show that infant deaths on the American West Coast increased by 35% as a result of fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown. At first glance, the story looks credible. And...
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A new strain of scarlet fever that’s about twice as resistant to antibiotics as previous antibiotic-resistant strains. This is heart-wrenching. My thoughts are with the families in Hong Kong suffering through this outbreak.  From BoingScience
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Pervious concrete is, basically, just concrete that allows water to flow through it. This has some benefits and detriments for urban environments, as explained on NPR’s Science Friday. Frankly, though, it’s kind of pleasant to just sit back and watch this patch of pervious concrete absorb 1500 gallons in five minutes. Equivalent of 43...
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Radon and Smoking are “off the scale” compared to TSA body scans and nuclear energy exposure levels.  Here are your top sources from Health.com Television Drinking water Natural gas Consumer products Soil Radon Plane travel Medical imaging Cigarette smoking
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Compressed Air Systems are Often Energy WastersAre profits leaking from those lines? Compressed air may be free but the compression is not. Over-pressurized headers and tools, leaks, and compressor competition within a compressed air system cost money and energy over and over again as air is misused, wasted, or inefficiently produced. Learn how to...
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“To replace the nuclear plants located in counties with populations over half a million with wind power would require the construction of 25,000 large wind turbines on land greater than one and half times the size of Rhode Island,”  -EP Online Given time and enough investment, some of the generation lost by shutting down...
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The Department of Agriculture budget of some $130 billion … is a sum far greater than the nation’s net farm income this year. In fact, the more the Agriculture Department has pontificated about family farmers, the more they have vanished — comprising now only about 1 percent of the American population. Net farm income...
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It is a hard year for the Nuclear Energy Industry. Here is this weeks run down: UK Sticks With Nuclear Power -“Despite recent events in Japan and the certain public outcry that it will generate, the UK government proposes to build new nuclear power stations. Well, earthquakes and tsunamis are very rare here.” Yucca...
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In Sept. 1859, on the eve of a below-average1 solar cycle, the sun unleashed one of the most powerful storms in centuries. The underlying flare was so unusual, researchers still aren’t sure how to categorize it.  The blast peppered Earth with the most energetic protons in half-a-millennium, induced electrical currents that set telegraph offices...
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“Hypermiling vehicles depend on ultra-efficient engines and low weight to go the distance, so Cambridge Design Partnership selected 11-year-old Cambreshire student Kitty Foster as the pilot their new 1,325 MPG car. The vehicle incorporates a highly modified lightweight oxygen concentrator that was originally developed for the Ministry of Defense to treat injured soldiers.” -...
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From CBS Health -Smoking cigarettes is the cause of so much preventable, deadly disease. But now new research shows sitting for long stretches of time may be just as dangerous. “Smoking certainly is a major cardiovascular risk factor and sitting can be equivalent in many cases,” explained Dr. David Coven. Dr. Coven is a...
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New figures released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office show debt rising to 190 percent of GDP by 2035. The annual long-term budget outlook forecasts a surge in public debt this year that will rise to 70 percent of GDP by the end of fiscal year 2011 compared to 62 percent by the end...
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pOPsCI Meet EMMA, the Electron Model of Many Applications A wee particle accelerator in the English countryside could be a harbinger of a safer, cleaner future of energy. Specifically, nuclear energy, but not the type that has wrought havoc in Japan and controversy throughout Europe and the U.S. It would be based on thorium,...
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A simple concise breakdown from BLS.gov Excerpt: An analysis of the terms of trade index for the United States during the past 20 years indicates that the index has tended to vary by less than 10 percent. A spike in the import price index in 2008 (driven by sharply higher prices for fuels) was...
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Even a fifth consecutive year of record global corn harvests will fail to meet demand for food, fuel and livestock feed, reducing world stockpiles to the lowest in two generations…Corn may jump 36 percent to a record $9 a bushel if conditions worsen, Morgan Stanley says… “There is a storm developing in agriculture,” said...
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The Department of Energy (DOE) today recognized the publication of ISO 50001, a new global energy efficiency and energy management standard which will help organizations worldwide save money in their buildings and industrial facilities. The new international standard will pave the way for long term energy savings and serve as a critical tool for...
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H.R. 908 would extend through fiscal year 2018 the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) authority to regulate security at certain chemical facilities in the United States. Under this authority, which under current law is set to expire in October, DHS runs the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. Under CFATS, DHS collects and reviews...
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How Much Gas Is Left? Natural gas – how much is left, who’s got it and how supplies oddly mirror certain geo-politic tensions. Another little interactive visual of ours.
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…a new study found the average person is born with 60 genetic mutations, very few of which involve weather manipulation or an amazing healing factor. This number was less than expected, leading the researchers to believe human evolution happens more slowly than previously thought.
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“The Tulsa World reports that Principal Chief John D. Red Eagle of the Osage Nation says the tribe, although not opposed to alternative energy development in general, has found significant reasons to oppose wind farms on the tallgrass prairie, ‘a true national treasure’ whose last small fragments remain only in Osage County and in...
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BuisnessWeek – The bottom line: A record drought in Texas is boosting water prices and competition between agricultural and energy interests over the commodity. The water crisis in Texas, the biggest oil- and gas-producing state in the U.S., highlights a continuing debate in North America and Europe over fracking’s impact on water supplies. Environmentalists...
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“Not satisfied with the legal conclusion of the DOJ, the Obama administration found other in-house lawyers willing to declare a bomb dropped from a drone is not ‘hostile’. The strange conclusion has big implications in determining the President’s compliance with the law. If drone strikes are in fact hostile and the Libyan campaign continues...
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BusinessInsider – A fire in Nebraska’s Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant briefly knocked out the cooling process for spent nuclear fuel rods, ProPublica reports.  The fire occurred on June 7th, and knocked out cooling for approximately 90 minutes. After 88 hours, the cooling pool would boil dry and highly radioactive materials would be exposed....
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And can’t forget Gary Varvel at IndyStar
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…a bipartisan majority of the Senate yesterday voted 73 – 27 to end more than three decades of federal subsidies for ethanol.  An editorial in this morning’s Wall Street Journal saw a supernatural influence in the vote.  Some economists doubt that the tax credit is now crucial to the industry, but the $6 billion...
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Discovery Magazine: “Unusual calm in the solar cycle — called a solar activity minimum — has sparked claims that the Sun will cool the Earth, leading us into a new ice age. While Europe did experience a Little Ice Age during a solar activity minimum three centuries ago, the connection between sunspots and climate...
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Water Down: Why is There A Lack Of Clean Water Access?
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As part of its Energy and Financial Markets Initiative, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released today a web-based assessment of key factors that can influence oil markets. Energy and Financial Markets: What Drives Crude Oil Prices? covers the period from 2000 to the present and includes forecasts through 2012 from EIA’s Short-Term Energy...
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PopSci - The U.S. government is doing little to protect American interests from cyber threats, claims Clarke in an op-ed The cyber-security cat is slowly slinking out of the bag, it seems. It’s been a big month in cybersecurity news, ranging from some high-profile hacks at companies like Lockheed (home to sensitive American defense...
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FastCompany has a post on Bill Gates’ involvement in a biogas / biodiesel from sewage project in West Africa – Bill Gates Funds Human Waste To Biofuel Project In Ghana Waste to fuel facilities are nothing new–in the past few years, we’ve seen chicken poop-powered fuel cell plants, a scheme to use astronaut poop...
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“The Cold War between the USA and the USSR may have ended in 1991, but a new conflict involving the same enemies has emerged on the digital frontier, according to McAfee’s US chief security officer. Brett Wahlin, a former North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) counter intelligence agent, told Computerworld Australia that the RSA token...
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“Hold on to your hamburgers — Japanese scientist Mitsyuki Ikeda at the Environmental Assessment Center in Okayama has invented an artificial meat substitute made from human feces. The unseemly meal is made by extracting protein and lipids from ‘sewage mud.’ The lipids are then combined with a reaction enhancer and whipped into ‘meat’ in...
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“A United States federal panel of scientists and security experts has identified 11 microorganisms that it wants designated as Tier 1 select agents, a new category of biological agents that would be subject to higher security standards than other pathogens and toxins used in biomedical research. The category would include anthrax, Ebola, Variola major...
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Zdnet – On Monday, the Obama administration is preparing announce the next steps that the US will take to build its 21st century electric grid, and IT is expected to play a big part in the plans. The White House is hosting a 90-minute media event called “Building the 21st Century Electric Grid” and...
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PajamasMedia – By mandating 40% of our corn crop be dedicated to ethanol, we’ve created domestic shortages that may turn the U.S. into a net importer of corn and destroy our dominance in one more area of the world economy. …former President George W. Bush had signed legislation which required 40 percent of the...
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The United States is in worse financial shape than Greece due to the amount of money needed to cover future liabilities, says Bill Gross, head of Pimco, the world’s largest bond fund. Lawmakers are debating raising a $14.3 trillion public debt ceiling to avoid an August default. Unfunded liabilities owed to programs like Medicare,...
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Just kidding… they would never let this hit U.S. Shores (FAIL) Four years ago, Citroen started the whole stop/start trend when it introduced the technology on its C2 and C3 cars. Since then, many other automakers have picked up on the new green-tech, which shuts the engine off when it is not needed as...
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The Obama administration has reportedly approved a pump label to warn drivers that they are about to fuel their vehicles with E15 (gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol content). Back in October of 2010, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of E15, it set off a wave of criticism that drivers...
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Image via GOOD I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but we have a serious water crisis on our hands. Over one billion people worldwide lack access to clean water, that is approximately one in six people on earth. In fact–sadly–i…Read the full story from a Hugger
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Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of...
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WDNR News – State endangered resources officials have completed a comprehensive review of more than 3,000 plant and animal species found in Wisconsin and have published an updated list of natural communities native to Wisconsin. The NHI Working List identifies natural communities native to Wisconsin and includes species legally designated as “endangered” or “threatened”...
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The Wisconsin Council on Invasive Species has announced the 2011 Invader Crusader awards that are being given to several outstanding individuals and organizations across the state for their work to stop the spread of invasive species. This year, Invader Crusader Awards will be given in conjunction with the Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin’s 10th...
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“Italy has joined Germany in halting the production of energy from atomic power generation. This differs from Germany in that the Italian decision was made by a public vote, rather than a government mandated shutdown. 57% of Italian Households voted in this public measure. While democracy should trump all, is it wise to hold...
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NY Times – oil has been spotted in the waters off the coast near Venice and that he believes the seven-mile slick is from last year’s BP spill. Mr. Nungesser says there have been no recent reports to the Coast Guard of spilled oil in the area. The origin of the oil has not...
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BusinessInsider – The economy is tanking, schools are underfunded, people don’t have jobs.Let’s spend more money on war! America spends more on its military than THE NEXT 15 COUNTRIES COMBINED The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety In 2007, the amount of money...
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“Read your own reality to write your own history.” Dale Weiss – As a teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) for the past 16 years, I have grown used to dismal budget cut news arriving each February. Although cuts are always frustrating and their results burdensome, our school has been able to “hang...
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The Keystone XL Pipeline would consist of approximately 1,711 miles of new, 36-inch-diameter pipeline, covering 327 miles in Canada and 1,384 miles in the U.S. If it’s completed, it would bring crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. Because this proposed project will cross into the United States from Canada, State...
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NY Times “The Gas Is Greener” Gov. Jerry Brown made headlines by signing into law an ambitious mandate that requires California to obtain one-third of its electricity from renewable energy sources like sunlight and wind by 2020. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia now have renewable electricity mandates. President Obama and several members...
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Guardian -  World Bank forecasts slowdown in global growth as rising commodity prices hit poorest nations Justin Yifu Lin, the Bank’s chief economist, said: “Further increases in already high oil and food prices could significantly curb economic growth and hurt the poor.” The Bank said high oil prices and production shortfalls caused by bad...
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Technology Review – A new hybrid power plant to be built in Turkey will combine a traditional gas-fired steam turbine with solar thermal power and wind power, according to GE. It’s a step toward integrating renewable sources into the traditional power grid, using steam and mirrors. The solar component is a field of sun-tracking...
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PopSci Mazda’s fuel-efficiency program, Skyactiv, involves a multiyear rollout of new engines, transmissions and other reinvented components across a range of vehicles. The goal is to boost overall fuel economy by 30 percent by 2015, one year before American fuel-economy rules require automakers to reach a fleetwide average of 35.5 mpg. This fall in...
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PeakEnergy Grist has a look at the steady decline in the cost of solar power – Solar’s getting cheaper, fast. According to two top solar executives — Tom Dinwoodie, chief technology officer and founder of SunPower and Dan Shugar, former president of SunPower and current CEO of Solaria — “ferocious cost reductions” are accelerating...
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When we talk about our technology “leaps” I always ask:Wheres my hover bike?  Shouldn’t I have one by now?Well an Australian built Hoverbike prepares for takeoff – GizMag The Hoverbike prototype lifts off in a tethered flight test Image Gallery (12 images)
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There is a little buzz on the net about this one…The NASA/Family/Personal Preparedness Program is designed to provide awareness, resources, and tools to the NASA Family (civil servants and contractors) to prepare for an emergency situation. The most important assets in the successful completion of NASA’s mission are our employees’ and their families. We...
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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates and Robin Li, chief executive officer of China’s most popular search engine Baidu Inc., said they will form a global alliance for public health. The first initiative by the alliance, between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s richest charitable fund, and the Baidu Charitable Foundation, will...
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“Ultimately, nations must be responsible for their fair share of the common defense.“ (NATO) requiring the U.S., once more, to make up the difference.  Retiring U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn’t even try to hide his frustration. In his Brussels farewell address this week, Gates used words such as “dim, if not dismal” to...
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The nuclear crisis in Japan has raised alarming questions about the safety of nuclear power plants in our own backyard. According to a new analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies and the Project On Government Oversight, our nation’s stockpile of radioactive spent fuel is stored in such unsafe conditions that the lives of...
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It seems that Americans are in the midst of a raging epidemic of mental illness, at least as judged by the increase in the numbers treated for it. The tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased...
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An alarming new article in Respirology issues a serious warning of massive rises in deaths from asbestos-related lung diseases in Asia. Dr Ken Takahashi, Acting Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational Health, and his team put together important data on asbestos use in 47 Asian countries in this landmark article. Cyprus, Israel...
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“Pulitzer prize winning writer Thomas Friedman writes that in few years we may be looking back at the first decade of the 21st century — when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence...
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PopSci – A machine that uses exhaust heat to treat onboard sewage When Namon Nassef had to buy a new engine for his boat, he saw an opportunity. He could finally install the invention he had been working on, a machine he calls the Zero Liquid Discharge Sewage Elimination System (ZLD). The device uses...
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NASA has devised a new tool in the battle against massive eruptions from the sun: an early warning system to protect electrical grids on Earth from extremely powerful solar storms. The new project, called Solar Shield, is designed to predict the severity of powerful sun storms at specific locations on Earth to help power companies...
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“Today, 98 percent of U.S. soybeans, 88 percent or so of U.S. cotton and more than 70 percent of U.S. corn come from cultivars resistant to glyphosate,” Owen reports. Reliance on these crops — and an accompanying weed-control strategy that employs glyphosate to the exclusion of other herbicides — “created the ‘perfect storm’ for...
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H.R. 2021, Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011 would make several amendments to the Clean Air Act related too air pollution stemming from oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OOCS). Those amendments include specifying that air emission impacts are to be measured onshore and clarifying that any drilling vessel must be regulated...
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All the while … media reported the fuel rods were stable and being cooled. Pointing out that many children living near areas with high levels of radiation are playing outdoors without proper masks, he criticized the government for being “too slow” in explaining the risks of exposure.  The Telegraph - The nuclear fuel in...
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California scientists said Tuesday they have identified four new viruses in healthy honey bee colonies (AFP/File, Saif Dahlah)The researchers also found six species of bacteria and six fungi, four types of mites and a parasitic fly called a phorid, which had not previously been seen in honey bees outside California. Among the four newly...
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(Washington’s Blog) – The largest solar flare in 4 years occurred today. It might knock out some power grids. If we don’t harden the grids and nuclear power plants against electromagnetic forces, a solar flare could eventually cause widespread nuclear disasters which make Fukushima look tame. (Washington’s Blog)
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In support of President Obama’s goal of generating 80 % of the country’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the availability of up to $70 million in new funding over three years for technology advancements in geothermal energy to accelerate development of this promising...
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AutoBlogGreen - As the iconic double-decker buses and cups of tea in the image above clearly hint, this story is about something in the UK. Specifically, about how Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK is going to become the first car manufacturer in the UK to put up a large-scale solar panel array. Toyota Solar Array...
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Living in the endless city is a book with an in-depth and multidisciplinary examination of our rapidly urbanizing world
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From GE “In the early 1900s, electric cars outsold gas cars. We found this electric car charger in our archives – it was used in both parking and home garages.” Current Day:The #GE WattStation was designed by Yves Behar, and can charge an electric vehicle in as little as 4-8 hours (generally takes 12-18...
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“The severity of the Fukishima disaster continues to go up, from incident level 4 to level 5 to level 7, and now to 20% of total Chernobyl radioactive spill. The story is not over yet as the plant keeps on leaking radioactive material and may still do so for a long time.” - Guardian
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The Gobi Desert is inching south. The Yellow River, the so-called birthplace of Chinese civilization, is so polluted it can no longer supply drinking water. The rapid growth of megacities — 22 million people in Beijing and 12 million in Tianjin alone — has drained underground aquifers that took millenniums to fill. Not atypically,...
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PeakEnergy - Having suggested this idea a few months ago I’m glad to see it appearing elsewhere – Bloomberg has an article on replacing nuclear power with geothermal power in Japan – Japan May Tap Geothermal Power to Offset Atomic Loss, BNEF Says. Japan can increase the amount of electricity it generates using geothermal...
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