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Britain blocks green energy laws
Despite sour faced Scot, Gordon Brown launching a 'green revolution', Britain is trying to water down tough new legislation from Europe on renewable energy.
Is this just another attempt by politicians to boast of green credentials and then working behind the scenes to undermine themselves? Are we always being lied to? Despite sour faced Scot, Gordon Brown launching a 'green revolution', Britain is trying to water down tough new legislation from Europ... more -
A Unique Solar Powered Community in Canada
The Drake Landing Solar Community is the first solar powered community of North America. Located in the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, the project sets a wonderful example of how every household can lead a sustainable lifestyle. There are 800 solar panels located throughout the community on garage roofs, and they produce 1.5 mega-watts of thermal power during a summer day and supply heat to the district heating system. The whole system meets 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs of the homes.
The 52-home solar community has installed an array of solar panels on the roofs of their houses and garages. Glycol solution runs through an insulated piping system, or collector loop, that connects the array of solar panels. The solar panels absorb the solar energy during the daytime and heat the glycol solution. The glycol solution travels through the collector loop and reaches an underground heat exchanger within the community’s centralized Energy Center. The heat is then transferred from heat exchanger to the water stored in a short-term storage tank. The glycol solution returns to the solar collector system. The Energy Center has short-term thermal storage tanks and long-thermal storage tanks (Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) system).
During the warmer months the heated water is transferred to the underground borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system via a series of pipes. The water heats up the surrounding earth increasing the temperature to 80 degrees C (176 °F). The water returns to the short-term storage tanks to be heated again. The heat is stored underground insulated with sand, high-density R-40 insulation, a waterproof membrane, clay, and other landscaping materials. The stored heat is used to provide heat and hot water to the entire community throughout the winter.
The homes are moderately sized, ranging from 1,492 to 1,664 square feet, and have low energy demands, suitable to work with the system. The homes are located close to one another, which provides a walkable neighborhood, and reduces the lengths that the fluid for the solar heating system needs to travel. Water conservation has been made mandatory in the homes. The homes have been built using locally manufactured materials, and recycled material too has been used in construction. The homes will be certified to Natural Resources Canada’s R-2000 Standard for energy efficiency, and the Built Green™ Alberta program. The precedence set by the Drake Landing Solar Community can serve as an example for every community.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/24/a-unique-solar-powe...
link to The Drake Landing Solar Community website
http://www.dlsc.ca/index.htm The Drake Landing Solar Community is the first solar powered community of North America. Located in the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Cana... more -
Solar trees get to root of energy crisis
"Taking inspiration from nature, designer Ross Lovegrove has brought beauty to an everyday object that few give a passing thought to: the streetlamp.
he energy intensive lamps are quite literally, and figuratively, getting a green makeover and may be sprouting on a street near you soon.
Lovegrove's innovative lighting project, the "Solar Tree," is a solar-powered streetlamp that also serves as a piece of modern art, infusing a bit of nature into the usually gray urban landscape.
He believes that putting complex natural forms in a city can benefit all of society.
The "Solar Tree" has a striking green trunk and ten branches with solar panels that radiate light on the street below.
During their stay in Vienna the lamps were still able to give off light after four days without direct sunlight, making them an effective form of lighting.
The second generation tree will be fully automated and able to follow the sun."
COOL, and they are beautiful! Very sci-fi. "Taking inspiration from nature, designer Ross Lovegrove has brought beauty to an everyday object that few give a passing thought to: ... more -
Schools eye four-day week to cut fuel costs
Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week.
Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding day-care for the day off.
"For rural school districts where buses may travel 100 miles round-trip each day, there certainly are transportation savings worth considering," said Marc Egan, the director of federal affairs at the National School Boards Association.
Egan said about 100 schools in as many as 16 states have already moved to a four-day school week, many to save money on transportation, heating and cooling.
Nevada's White Pine School District switched just one of its schools to a four-day week three years ago. Now, with energy costs soaring, four other schools in the district are following suit.
"We're looking at it district-wide with energy costs being at the forefront of the conversation," said Bob Dolezal, superintendent of Nevada's White Pine County School District, which is facing a 14 percent budget cut due to a shortfall in state funding.
MACCRAY Public Schools in Minnesota, which voted to switch to a four-day week in May, expects to shave 10 percent off transportation costs, which have risen unexpectedly in recent years as fuel costs have shot up.
"The savings for a four-day week just on the transportation alone were $65,000," said MACCRAY superintendent Greg Schmidt.
The plan initially did cause alarm among some parents, who were concerned about finding child-care, but most have managed to find place their kids in day care or with relatives, Schmidt said. In addition, MACCRAY plans to institute a child-care certification program for older students to offer day care for younger kids on the day off.
One of the pioneers of the four-day week, the Cimarron, New Mexico school district, is looking to cut energy costs by getting back to its roots.
Cimarron Public Schools moved a four-day week when energy prices shot up in the early 1970s, but has become more "complacent," letting the heating and cooling systems run even during the day off since the end of the OPEC oil embargo, Cimarron's superintendent James Gallegos said.
With soaring energy costs, that will no longer be the case: "As we start the next school year, it's going to be very minimal on the Fridays that we are off," Gallegos said.
Webster County School District in Kentucky switched to a four-day week four years ago under economic duress -- a state budget crisis left the school in limbo, leaving the district with the option of dropping school days or cutting staff and programs.
The district ended up saving tens of thousands of dollars in fuel and energy costs, helping to cut total costs by 3.5 to 4 percent, said James Kemp, the superintendent of the Webster County School District.
The shortened week at Webster also brought unexpected benefits such as improved attendance and a boost in student performance.
"If we were to go back to a five-day week, the school board and I would be run out of town," Kemp said. Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week... more -
Arctic thought to hold 90 billion barrels of oil
"The Arctic is thought to hold some 90bn barrels of untapped oil, equal to Russia's total known reserves, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has claimed. The USGS says the area has three times as much untapped natural gas as oil. Drilling plans in the Arctic have been controversial, with environment groups worried about the effect on wildlife."
More at the link.
I think I'd probably be happier if this wasn't true to be honest; high oil prices are so close to giving us the push to renewables. "The Arctic is thought to hold some 90bn barrels of untapped oil, equal to Russia's total known reserves, the US Geological Survey (US... more -
Wave action
I love this website-- The Mendo Coast Current. Whenever I start feeling there is little hope I read the Mendocino page and find something uplifting.
I am not a scientist and I do not know how wave energy may impact wildlife etc yet it seems more hopeful than tankers breaking up and releasing billions of gallons of oil.
The US certainly has an abundance of shoreline and many other countries are much further ahead of us on the study of wave energy. I love this website-- The Mendo Coast Current. Whenever I start feeling there is little hope I read the Mendocino page and find som... more -
100 MW wind farm tp power 30,000 homes, Kansas.
In Barber County Kansas, Westar Energy and BP Alternate Energy have started construction on the Flat Rige Wind Farm, celebrated on june 24th with a groundbreaking ceremony for the site. Fourty Clipper 2.5 MW C-29 wind turbine generators will produce 100 MW of renewable energy, with RMT Windconnect working to lay the transmission lines and transfer this energy to the power grid.
"We are proud to be a part of Westar Energy's and BP Alternative Energy's efforts to invest in wind energy as a way of making the state of Kansas more energy independent."
The project is aimed to be producing commercial energy by the end of the year, off setting 240,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions to the atmospher anually. In Barber County Kansas, Westar Energy and BP Alternate Energy have started construction on the Flat Rige Wind Farm, celebrated on jun... more -
Cow power could generate electricity for millions, US study shows
Cow manure could be used to generate power for millions, according to a new US study.
Scientists have calculated for the first time how much of a country's electricity needs could be provided from the manure of cattle and other livestock.
They estimate that 3 per cent of America's total electricity demand could be created from animal waste, enough to power millions of homes and businesses.
Using manure for power could also lead to a significant reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases created, they say.
The study, by scientists at the University of Texas, is published in the Institute of Physics' Environmental Research Letters journal.
Broken down and then burnt, the scientists estimate that the manure from hundreds of millions of livestock in America could produce approximately 100 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year.
If left to decompose naturally manure releases noxious gases into the environment, some of which warm the atmosphere at a higher rate than carbon dioxide.
Converting it to power could reduce those emissions by 99 million metric tonnes, the equivalent of approximately four per cent of America's emissions from electricity production.
Although the process would emit some carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it would do so at a lower rate than if coal was used.
Dr Michael Webber and Amanda D Cuellar, who carried out the study, claim that widespread use of manure for energy could reuse "an existing waste source and has the potential to improve the environment". Cow manure could be used to generate power for millions, according to a new US study. ... more -
Vehicles Powered Completely By Air (NO JOKE)
Like never before I need a second opinion... Is this for real?!
(Where is Russell Gehrke when I need him?)
Is it possible to exponentiate energy? This video claims that through various stages of compression technology, energy can be created and not entirely lost..
The CAR is POWERED by .. AIR. (under pressure)
Poof!
~I want to be a believer.
'Although it costs money to create the compressed air, that energy is actually created by, compressed air..'
Geoff Lawton, a permaculture design proffesional, says that 'it's not how much water you have in a system, it's how many times you use that water/energy.. within the system.' And I loosely quote, 'If you have one gallon of water, and you use it once, well then you have one gallon of water.. If you take that one gallon of water, and use it ten times, well then you have ten gallons of water.
Your take? Like never before I need a second opinion... Is this for real?! (Where is Russell Gehrke when I need him?) ... more -
Lose Weight.... The Deadly Way...
Across the obesity-ridden United States thousands of people experiment with quick fix, dangerous weight loss methods.
Not knowing what is dangerous is one of the reasons why people die from unhealthy ways to lose weight. Across the obesity-ridden United States thousands of people experiment with quick fix, dangerous weight loss methods. ... more -
First US town powered completely by wind
Rock Port, Mo., has an unusual crop: wind turbines.
The four turbines that supply electricity to the small town of 1,300 residents make it the first community in the United States to operate solely on wind power.
"That's something to be very proud of, especially in a rural area like this — that we're doing our part for the environment," said Jim Crawford, a natural resource engineer at the University of Missouri Extension in Columbia.
A map published by the U.S. Department of Energy indicates that northwest Missouri has the state's highest concentrations of wind resources and contains a number of locations that are potentially suitable for utility-scale wind development. The four turbines that power Rock Port are part of a larger set of 75 turbines across three counties that are used to harvest the power of wind.
"We're farming the wind, which is something that we have up here," Crawford said. "The payback on a per-acre basis is generally quite good when compared to a lot of other crops, and it's as simple as getting a cup of coffee and watching the blades spin."
And the turbines have another benefit besides produces clean energy: MU Extension specialists said that the Missouri wind farms will bring in more than $1.1 million annually in county real estate taxes, to be paid by Wind Capital Group, a wind energy developer based in St. Louis.
"This is a unique situation because in rural areas it is quite uncommon to have this increase in taxation revenues," said Jerry Baker, and MU Extension community development specialist.
Landowners can also benefit by leasing part of their property for wind turbines.
The turbines will also provide savings to rural electric companies and will provide electric service for at least 20 years, the anticipated lifetime of the turbines.
"Anybody who is currently using Rock Port utilities can expect no increase in rates for the next 15 to 20 years," Crawford said.
Baker added that the turbines could also attract tourists to the area. Rock Port, Mo., has an unusual crop: wind turbines. ... more -
Saharan sun to power European supergrid
Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region's renewable energy.
Harnessing the power of the desert sun is at the centre of ambitious scheme to build a €45bn (£35.7bn) European supergrid that would allow countries across the continent to share electricity from abundant green sources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy.
The idea is gaining growing political support in Europe with both Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy recently giving backing to the north African solar plan.
Speaking today at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle Eastern deserts to provide all of Europe's energy needs.
In addition, because the sunlight in this area is more intense, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in northern Africa could generate up to three times the electricity compared with similar panels in northern Europe.
aeger-Walden explained how electricity produced in solar farms in Africa, each containing power plants generating around 50-200MW of power, could be fed thousands of miles across European countries by using high-voltage direct current transmission lines instead of the traditional alternating current lines. Energy losses on DC lines are far lower than AC ones where transmission of energy over long distances is uneconomic.
Scientists working on the project admit that it would take many years and huge investment to generate enough solar energy from north Africa to power Europe but envisage that by 2050 it could produce 100 GW, more than the the combined electricity output from all sources in the UK, with an investment of around €450bn. Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists wo... more -
Hybrid car conversions getting 80 MPG right now
SAN JOSE, CA (KGO) -- About a year ago, CEO's in Silicon Valley challenged one another to start driving electric. On the eve of a huge conference in San Jose, high tech leaders say the plug-in movement is well underway.
Last week Tom Hayse was getting 40 miles a gallon driving his hybrid Prius. That was before his plug-in conversion and a lithium battery packed in the back.
"With the plug-in hybrid, I'm getting actually getting close to 80 miles a gallon, so I'm pretty happy with that."
Tom is one of 30 Silicon Valley CEO's and community leaders who have pledged to be part of what they call the 'plug-in revolution'.
"If only ten percent of the million or so Prius owners converted their cars like we're doing, the price of the battery conversion would come down," says Sass Somekh, Ph.D of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
SAN JOSE, CA (KGO) -- About a year ago, CEO's in Silicon Valley challenged one another to start driving electric. On the eve of a huge... more -
The UK's Green New Deal to Combat Economic Depression, Climate Change
Inciting the rhetoric of FDR during the days of the Great Depression, several economists, politicians, and environmentalists in the UK have made news recently with the proposal of the Green New Deal, an ambitious plan to fight the triple threats of the credit crunch, high gas prices, and climate change that are factoring to degrade life and the world as we know it.
According to an article on the Guardian UK’s website, amongst other things, the proposals seek to redistribute the "distorting power" of the banking industry. They suggest that large banking groups be forcibly split up to minimize the systemic risk that federal bailouts of institutions like Northern Rock and Bear Stearns pose.
Moving from this restructuring, The Green New Deal proposes a massive investment—including the utilization of municipal bond funds—in renewables, pushing for energy self-sufficiency and the attempt to make "every building [in the UK] a power station."
The Green New Deal also proposes to create a "carbon army," a mass of people who are currently under- or unemployed who could be trained for the low- to high-level jobs required for the infrastructural shifts in green investment.
The group's recommendations include:
--Massive investment in renewable energy and wider transformation in the UK
--The creation of thousands of new "green collar" jobs
--Making low-cost capital available to fund the UK's green economic shift
--Building a new alliance between environmentalists, industry, agriculture, and unions
Inciting the rhetoric of FDR during the days of the Great Depression, several economists, politicians, and environmentalists in the UK... more -
Hemp Revolution part 1 of 2
This documentary covers a whole lot of ground. It deals with every historical and contemporary aspect of hemp usage and cultivation (mainly in the U.S.), which turns out to be a lot. From describing the production of a fibre much more durable and economic than wood, the documentary discusses hemps multilateral uses as e.g. food products, as a non-polluting fuel and as a pharmaceutical product with much less griveous sideeffects than chemical pharmaceutical products. The film also investigates why America went from a country which produced vast quantities of the non-narcotic industrial hemp, to the complete ban on hemp production in 1938. This story in particular is interesting, and it points out that the large oilbased industries actually had a key role in the aforementioned ban. Food for thought! The conclusion of the documentary could be that hemp may prove to be a valid alternative to both oil and wood in the future. This documentary covers a whole lot of ground. It deals with every historical and contemporary aspect of hemp usage and cultivation (m... more
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FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF LIFE ON EARTH "International Court of the Environment ...
Unfortunately, beyond statements of intent of many governments, I do not think that what is really marching.
Here it would involve a court in the predominantly civil law (but also criminal if applicable) to suppress international environmental damage, which are daily devastating and unpunished. What is currently non-existent. Just to give you an example. if a Ukrainian poisons a river and produces immense damage in other European countries, it is virtually impossible to pursue.
doing a search to see
if there had been similar initiatives as a response
the problem of territorial jurisdictions of the courts
in respect of damage to the environment,
following the issues discussed:
http://current.com/items/89094775_uranio_nei_fiumi
http://current.com/items/89101334_nuclear_no_border
http://current.com/items/89124049_before_planet_get_war...
http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Sommersi-dai-ve...
I found this site
please help me in assessing the real potential
What do you think about it?
------------------------------ italian --------------------------------------------------
Purtroppo, al di là delle dichiarazioni d'intenti di tanti governi, non credo che la cosa stia realmente marciando.
Qui si tratterebbe di una giurisdizione in ambito prevalentemente civilistico (ma anche penale se del caso) internazionale per reprimere i danni ambientali, che sono quotidianamente devastanti e impuniti. La cosa attualmente è inesistente. Solo per fare un esempio. se un'industria ucraina avvelena un fiume e produce danni immensi in altri Paesi europei, è praticamente impossibile perseguirla.
facendo una ricerca per vedere
se vi fossero state delle iniziative simili in risposta alle esigenze che avvvertivo circa il problema delle competenze territoriali dei tribunali
in materia dei danni all' ambiente....
in seguito alle problematiche discusse in:
http://current.com/items/89094775_uranio_nei_fiumi
http://current.com/items/89101334_nuclear_no_border
http://current.com/items/89124049_before_planet_get_war...
http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Sommersi-dai-ve...
ho trovato questo sito
per favore aiutatemi nel valutarne le effettive potenzialità
Cosa ne pensate a riguardo?
Unfortunately, beyond statements of intent of many governments, I do not think that what is really marching. ... more -
Switchover to Fuel Cell Vehicles Will Cut Emissions, Cost Billions
Fuel cell technologies have the potential to greatly curtail the U.S.'s oil use and carbon dioxide emissions, but extensive public and private investment are necessary to make a significant impact in the coming decades, according to the National Research Council.
The group researched and developed a best case scenario for fuel cell development and deployment in the U.S., publishing it's findings the report "Transitions to Alternative Transportation Technologies: A Focus on Hydrogen." The main barriers to widespread use of fuel cell vehicles, the report concludes, are vehicle price and lack of production and distribution infrastructure.
Even with increased funding and research, the cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles won't be competitive with fossil fuel-burning vehicles until 2023. The Council says fuel cell vehicle production could start ramping up in 2015, with about 2 million vehicles maximum on the roads by 2020.
Once the cost barrier comes down, there could be 60 million fuel cell vehicles zipping around by 2035 and 200 million by 2050. The Council takes into account the cost of hydrogen fuel over a vehicle's lifetime in comparing its cost to conventional vehicles.
That best case scenario can only be met with vigorous investment and action. The Council says the government will need to put up $55 billion in funding from 2008-2023, and private industry will need to pump $145 billion into fuel cells during the same period.
Currently, the federal government is running the $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, which was announced at the 2003 State of the Union Address. On the West Coast, the California Fuel Cell Partnership is working to spread the use of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen fueling stations. Fuel cell technologies have the potential to greatly curtail the U.S.'s oil use and carbon dioxide emissions, but extensive public and... more -
Pew Center and Toyota Team Up to Research Energy Efficiency Best Practices
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Toyota have launched a project to research energy efficiency strategies among top companies to discover, document and disseminate information about corporate best practices that reduce energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions.
The research and communications project, announced July 16, also will address the market and internal challenges companies encounter while attempting to implement energy efficiency strategies, Toyota and the Pew Center said.
The Pew Center is managing the research and communications for the project, which is being funded with a three-year, $1.4 million grant from Toyota.
"Energy efficiency is the simplest, most cost-effective way for companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions," said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, in a statement. "This project is designed to give companies the tools to ramp up efficiency efforts and simultaneously address growing concerns about climate change and skyrocketing energy prices."
Patricia Salas Pineda, group vice president of Toyota North America, praised the center's long experience in "engaging the business community in the development of pragmatic solutions to climate change."
"We are pleased to work with them to develop this initiative and educate corporations on the most effective ways to reduce energy use," Pineda said in a statement announcing the project. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Toyota have launched a project to research energy efficiency strategies among top companie... more -
They’re Electric, but Can They Be Fantastic?
ELECTRIC cars are the future. That, at least, is the message automakers are sending to consumers as they trumpet big plans for cars that can bypass the gas pump.
Of course, backers of electric vehicles, or E.V.’s, floated those assurances in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, when General Motors released its star-crossed EV1. Today, almost no one drives an electric car.
But with a gallon of premium gas topping $3 on average, and as carmakers and entrepreneurs pour money into the latest generation of electric cars, the prospects appear brighter.
Trading the internal combustion engine for batteries could bring well-publicized advantages: reducing pollution, raising mileage, promoting energy independence. E.V.’s and plug-in hybrids could deliver the gasoline equivalent of 100 miles a gallon or more. For consumers, that would in effect roll back the clock to buck-a-gallon gas. Car owners could save money in their sleep, recharging in the off hours when electricity is cheapest. ELECTRIC cars are the future. That, at least, is the message automakers are sending to consumers as they trumpet big plans for cars th... more -
Comparing Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
First shown at the Paris auto show in 2004, the two-seat Venturi Fetish roadster, powered by lithium-ion batteries, has a claimed top speed of 100 m.p.h. and a one-hour charging time. First shown at the Paris auto show in 2004, the two-seat Venturi Fetish roadster, powered by lithium-ion batteries, has a claimed top ... more
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