tagged w/ Alternate Energies
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Every year, South Carolina's power plants burn enough coal to fill 10 large football stadiums, leaving behind a stadium-size pile of toxic ash.
Every year, our power companies dump roughly 2.3 billion pounds of this tainted ash in landfills and holding ponds, many precariously close to rivers and neighborhoods.
And every year, some of these landfills and ponds leak. Scattered across South Carolina, these vast pits and ponds of coal ash are polluting groundwater and waterways with arsenic, selenium and other chemicals that can cause health problems in wildlife and people, a Post and Courier Watchdog investigation found.
Water under some landfills has concentrations of arsenic many times the federal limit, documents obtained under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act show.
Consider:
Near Moncks Corner, in the quiet Whitesville community, arsenic-laced water from a coal ash landfill is leaking into a nearby pond.
Farther north, near Congaree National Park, arsenic 200 to 400 times the federal drinking water limit has been found in groundwater at SCE&G's plant on the banks of the Wateree River.
On the Savannah River, SCE&G's Urquhart plant has groundwater tainted with arsenic eight times above the federal standard.
Closer to Charleston, near Canadys, a breach in an earthen wall at two ash ponds allowed arsenic and nickel to pollute groundwater next to the Edisto River.
At Santee Cooper's coal plant near Conway, arsenic levels in groundwater near the edge of the Waccamaw River were 900 times higher than the federal limit. Significant contamination also has been found in coal ash ponds at the Savannah River Site.
Because of lax government oversight and bureaucratic loopholes, coal ash landfill operators here have polluted groundwater at their plants for years without a single fine.
So far, contamination is limited to the landfill operators' properties and the groundwater below, according to engineers with utilities and state Department of Health and Environmental Control. They say that they're unaware of anyone being sickened by coal waste. Officials with SCE&G and Santee Cooper say their ash disposal operations are in full compliance with state and federal laws.
Still, while coal and other industry interests downplay the dangers of coal ash, it's increasingly clear that many ash ponds and landfills have caused serious pollution problems here and across the nation.
An analysis last year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found 67 cases in 26 states where ash waste tainted groundwater and lakes.
A different EPA study found that people who live next to certain types of coal ash landfills and ponds have a higher risk of getting cancer.
Meanwhile, residents in other states are filing lawsuits alleging that ash basins polluted their drinking wells. In Maryland, state regulators recently fined a utility $1 million over a leaking coal ash pit.
The debate over coal ash has been simmering for years, eclipsed by more heated exchanges about mountaintop removal in Appalachia and coal's role in global warming. That could change.
Earlier this year, South Carolina health officials tightened ash disposal rules — after years of allowing landfill operators to treat ash as if it were no more dangerous than a pile of construction debris.
Meanwhile, Santee Cooper wants to build a new ash landfill and pond next to its proposed Pee Dee coal plant, and SCE&G is building new landfill near Congaree National Park. Citizens groups and nearby residents are fighting both projects.
Every year, South Carolina's power plants burn enough coal to fill 10 large... more
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Sounds like a better way than using corn!!!
only with all the bans on smoking it will probably go the way of Canabis and be removed from cultavation before it can be appreciated for its other uses.
Tobacco also has uses as a natural insect repelent/cide
While almost every plant on earth has been investigated as an alternative energy resource, for some odd reason tobacco has been entirely overlooked. I call this odd because the high sugar & starch composition of tobacco is well-known, as is the very low lignin encasement of its cellulosic materials. With this data alone it should be clear to science, agriculture, and industry worldwide that the tobacco plant has a nearly ideal composition for direct digestion to ethanol, and is also an ideal candidate for biomethanation or gasification. Tobacco-based ethanol can be produced for far less cost per gallon, with far more economically valuable sidestreams, than corn-based ethanol ( see below for full details). Further, it is known that tobacco is a heavily coppicing plant, enabling it to produce very high biomass tonnage, and it is also known that tobacco thrives on poor soils in a wide range of environments.
Perhaps the most attractive aspect of tobacco-based biomass fuel is that not only would tobacco fuel not take away from food crop production, as corn-based ethanol does, it would actually add immense tonnage of food-grade protein that can be extracted from the sludge remaining after ethanol is produced. Fraction-1 protein is an odorless, tasteless crystalline substance that can be extracted from tobacco, and it is a complete protein - as efficient a source of human food value as beef. It would be totally 'paid for' by the ethanol produced from the tobacco biomass, and so it would be, in effect, free food. It can be added to flour of all kinds and used to produce baked goods like bread and tortillas, adding enough high quality at no cost to these basic foods to practically eliminate protein deficiencies in even the poorest countries.
addtional information on the same site
In summary, Tobacco biomass can be produced at well over a hundred tons per acre, using either hand labor or simple machinery, on land that is unsuitable for food crops, and that biomass material can not only provide low cost bioenergy, extracted as biogas or ethanol or both, but also after that energy has been produced, pure unadulterated food grade protein, along with medical grade protein and other economically valuable byproducts, can be extracted from the fermentation tank or digester sludge. Then that sludge, which is very high in available nitrogen, and other nutrients and trace elements, can be returned to the soil.
http://home.ktc.com/bdrake/tbe3.html
A second article http://www.newsline.umd.edu/business/specialreports/tobacco/tobaccob030201.htmSounds like a better way than using corn!!!
only with all the bans on smoking it will... more
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Al Gore came to Washington in July to issue a challenge to the country: create a new energy economy that will generate 100 percent of America's electricity from clean sources within 10 years. Now the former vice president’s advocacy group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, has launched a new TV ad to spread the message to Olympics viewers.
The group debuted "Switch" (subscription) on NBC during Monday's coverage of the Games; the spot will continue to air on NBC and USA Network through next week.
As in the group's first TV ad, actor William H. Macy narrates and soothing music creates an upbeat tone to promote the group's message: "Together we can solve the climate crisis." Americans from different walks of life are shown coming together to help each other turn on giant light switches -- one in the desert, one in a field, one at a factory and one in the middle of a city.
Macy lays out some of the vast challenges facing the country: "a weaker economy, soaring gas prices, growing dependence on foreign oil and a worsening climate crisis." But, he says, "there’s a bold new solution for all of these challenges." He presents Gore's plan to create clean electricity as a way to combat both economic and national security threats. "All we need is your help," he says, encouraging viewers to "join the more than one million people who are already demanding we switch on a brighter future."
“The Olympics are a time for all Americans to reflect on our nation’s achievements and what we as a people can do together," Alliance for Climate Protection CEO Cathy Zoi said in a press release announcing the ad. "Choosing the right path and re-powering our nation is something we can do, and something that will benefit us all.”
For all the money the group is pouring into its public outreach effort, however, recent polling data suggests that Americans' attention is not squarely focused on climate change issues. With the election and economic problems occupying the media spotlight, the number of Americans who say they consider global warming an important issue to them personally has fallen 5 percentage points since 2007 to 47 percent.
Al Gore came to Washington in July to issue a challenge to the country: create a new... more
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Make no mistake as to why Bush refuses to boycott the Bejing olympics. OIL is the key factor in this decision as it is in every decision by these oil and blood soaked criminals. The genocide in Darfur began as an environmental disaster (that continues) that has now evolved into a fight for its oil. Just like in Iraq and other places around the world, Darfur will now be a central point in a power struggle for the oil that lies below Sudan and Chad, coincidentally (?) where the genocide has taken place. Lots of land were cleared off in the burning of the towns and everything was lost by the inhabitiants there to clear the land for Chinese oil companies to come in and drill. Women have been raped, villagers terrorized and murdered, children starving, all for the sake of Chinese and American oil speculation.
If there was ever a reason to have a global climate treaty that gets this world OFF OIL it is this. To think of the inhumanities spawned by the greed of these people and that Bush will now use these Bejing olympics to make business deals rather than stand up for the human rights of millions around the world who have suffered and are suffering atrocities due to the insatiable greed for oil is unconscienable.
I am BOYCOTTING the Bejing olympics. I will not watch it, and I will no longer purchase any products from any sponsors of it if I do now. The human species will drown itself in its greed for oil as our planet balances itself precariously on the climate edge. How any world leaders can sit in Bejing and smile knowing what has transpired by the government of China and their own even against their own people shows they are no better. I as an American who believes in Human Rights and freedom denounce the Bejing olympics for what it really is to those in the Chinese government: propaganda to cover the tracks of monsters. Make no mistake as to why Bush refuses to boycott the Bejing olympics. OIL is the key... more
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Pitches to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 are too leisurely and must be brought forward by decades, Lester Brown, president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, said Friday at a symposium in Tokyo.
"We are going to have to move much, much faster. I think the game will be over long before 2050," the environment expert said at Sophia University.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to release a new initiative on environmental preservation Monday in which Japan will propose reducing long-term its own greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent from current levels by 2050. The initiative will not touch on medium-term goals.
But with the pace of global warming and its link to food prices rising worldwide, the world must "cut carbon emission by 80 percent by 2020," Brown said. The environmentalist, who has headed the nonprofit group EPI since 2001, providing reports and visions for a sustainable economy and environmental preservation, was in Tokyo to speak at the Sophia symposium.
Brown said that while past rises in grain prices were driven by particular events, including droughts and extreme weather, today's food crisis was trend-driven and induced by multiple factors, including population growth and grain being used to make fuel.
In such circumstance each country must work to reconstruct its energy resources, he said, urging Japan to develop its solar- and wind-power technologies and become less dependent on fossil fuels.
Pitches to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 are too... more
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Thousands of successful water-conversions around the world are proof that this technology works and will soon catch on! From being used by this guy's torch, HHO gas can prove to be a means to fuel automobiles. The prospect of using HHO to fuel cars successfully almost seems like a dream come true.Thousands of successful water-conversions around the world are proof that this... more
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With the combination of a falling dollar and rising gas prices, Americans may finally be seeing the light regarding gas consumption. So while high gas prices are tough on working Americans, could high gas prices be a blessing in disguise to move people to more sustainable life choices and demanding cleaner choices at the pump? Are higher gas prices causing you to alter your current lifestyle?With the combination of a falling dollar and rising gas prices, Americans may finally... more
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Surprised Al Gore's Generation Investment Management company was not mentioned in this article. However, it brings up a good point. What is considered to be "ethical" in terms of what companies want to invest in as opposed to what customers want or consider "ethical" regarding the environment can be two diffferent things. So where does that lead such investment companies? If funds invest in companies like say, BP, which is looking into cellulosic ethanol and yet is still in oil, is that company truly ethical by environmental standards of ethical investment funds? Is it truly about pure "ethical" and "green" investing, or is it still more about making money now in the hopes that some of these companies invest in funds that while not "pure" now will see more diversification in environmentally ethical alternatives once demand becomes greater? Is it possible to be purely green in investments and profitable? This is one area where investors can have great influence regarding truly sustainable investments that bring innovative alternatives to market quicker. And personally for me, funds that invest in oil, nuclear, or coal even though they may be slightly diversified elsewhere (such as in wind or solar) wouldn't cut it for me. But as long as they do for most investors, will we really ever then see the progress we need to see in market share to finally move on from these antiiquated energy sources to better cleaner alternatives?Surprised Al Gore's Generation Investment Management company was not mentioned in... more
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And yet, we are to believe they are candidates of change? That they care about the environment? Nuclear energy is not "green." It is an antiquated dangerous form of energy that has seen its day. It is only because of the rise of concern over the climate crisis that certain lobbies have been trying to push it into the green column in order to make a profit from it. And Obama and Clinton are helping them in their quest to do so at the expense of this planet. Subsidies to the nuclear industry could be used to bring innovative and truly visionary alternate energies to the fore that would reduce our dependence on oil in much cleaner and safer ways. This is very discouraging to see and tells me that Obama, who talks about change in his glossy abstract speeches means only changing the person living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It doesn't mean changing the way business is done. Any candidate who truly believes in addressing climate change and in fighting terrorism is not for nuclear power, period. It is bad enough that Republicans push for nuclear energy and antiquated methods proven to be unproductive in progressing us towards the future. I expected better from Democrats, or at least, those who call themselves Democrats.And yet, we are to believe they are candidates of change? That they care about the... more
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