Category Archives: burn free generation

Environmental News Network – Just one article out of hundreds

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This site is a little busy as they used to say, but it is really informative.

http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45052

From: Editor, Science Daily
Published October 5, 2012 01:11 PM

Non-Native Plants Show a Greater Response Than Native Wildflowers to Climate Change

Warming temperatures in Ohio are a key driver behind changes in the state’s landscape, and non-native plant species appear to be responding more strongly than native wildflowers to the changing climate, new research suggests.

his adaptive nature demonstrated by introduced species could serve them well as the climate continues to warm. At the same time, the non-natives’ potential ability to become even more invasive could threaten the survival of native species already under pressure from land-use changes, researchers say.

The research combines analyses of temperature change and blooming patterns of 141 species of Ohio wildflowers since 1895. Overall, the average temperature increased 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) in Ohio between 1895 and 2009. And 66 wildflower species — or 46 percent of the 141 studied — flowered earlier than usual in response to that warming.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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The Sierra Club – A group I join and quit when the price is right

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The Sierra Club has drifted pretty far from John Muir’s roots. They signed a deal with Clorox about 10 years ago. I mean it is unclear when exactly because they keep the terms of the deal ultra secret. Anyway the rough outlines of the deal is that Clorox created a “green” cleaning supplies line and the Sierra Club gets a chunk (percentage) of the sales profits from that line. The deal must have obviously been that the Sierra Club get off the companies back about chlorine. So now, when they offer stuff to join for a year, and that stuff is good enough, I join.  Other than that I just cost them junk mail fees.

http://www.sierraclub.org/

 

Mighty Wind

09/28/2012

Did you notice that last weekend the largest onshore wind farm in America started operation in north-central Oregon? The 845 MW Shepherds Flat facility will generate an estimated 2 billion kWh each year — enough to power 235,000 homes. On top of that, this clean power will eliminate about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually — the equivalent of taking approximately 260,000 cars off the road.

Who built Shepherds Flat? We, the people, did! Caithness Energy relied on more than a billion dollars in loans guaranteed by the Energy Department. With the project up and running, and with a long-term commitment from Southern California Edison to buy power, it looks like a good investment. Maybe that’s why Google also kicked in $100 million.

Shepherds Flat is the kind of project we should be building across the U.S. — or at least in those parts, like the Eastern Columbia River Gorge, with abundant wind resources. Yet the Republican Party opposes even extending the Production Tax Credit that wind power has had for decades. Right now, they would probably sooner move Burning Man to the National Mall than help finance more success stories like Shepherds Flat.

Here’s why that’s crazy:

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Greenpeace Is An Activist Organization – Sometimes I disagree with those actions

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First on the list of actual green active organizations is Greenpeace. As with most activist organizations, I like them or I hate them based on their actions. When they challenge the whalers, I applaud. When they unroll banners from bridges over the Mississippi River or chain themselves up in trees, I must admit I become embarrassed. I have never been a member needless to say.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/

Happy whales have sanctuaries


My Greenpeace colleagues aboard the Rainbow Warrior in the Indian Ocean shared a heartwarming experience when a frolicking group of humpback and minke whales put on quite a show. It’s not a stretch to say these whales were happy and playful. Why wouldn’t they be as the entire Indian Ocean is a whale sanctuary where they can live in peace? What a contrast this is to other parts of the world where whales not only don’t have protections but face a myriad of direct threats from humans. One huge emerging threat to whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife is happening now in the coastal waters of California. Read more

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Today, Environmental Organizations – The meditation begins

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First let me cite one of the best lists of environmental groups I have found and the source of this meditation.

http://www.world.org/weo/environment

The first group on that list is unusual. While the cover page says there is more to come, this site gives you various breakdowns of data about the pollution going on in your neck of the woods. Kind of scary actually. Go to the site and check in. All you got to do is type in your zip code to get started. (do not type it below – it will not work)

http://scorecard.goodguide.com/

 
Get an in-depth pollution report for your county, covering air, water, chemicals, and more.
Your Zip Code:
More Facts on Pollution
Get answers to the most commonly asked questions on nationwide pollution.
Update on Scorecard

Scorecard is now back in the hands of the team that first created this service in 1998 while they were working for the Environmental Defense Fund. We are currently working on updating the site’s chemical profiles and health hazards information and are about to begin a comprehensive update of the site’s environmental data.

Scorecard is sponsored by GoodGuide, the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of consumer products. If you want to find products that are healthy, green and socially responsible, support us by downloading our transparency toolbar or our mobile applications.

Bill Pease, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
GoodGuide
bill@goodguide.com

 

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If the whole world used these – Global warming would go away

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It is my firm belief that most of the global warming occurring is the direct result of world wide aircraft activity: military, commercial and personal. While it is true that the carbon uptake systems world wide have been compromised or broken by our general production of carbon, it is the relentless daily flights through the atmosphere using combustion engines that are doing the bulk of the atmospheric damage.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120921-lighter-than-air-craft-rises

HyperDrive | 24 September 2012

Lighter-than-air craft rise again

Jon Stewart

f you like the idea of cruising on a ship in laid-back luxury, but prefer the speed and convenience of air travel, there may soon be a solution. Drawing their inspiration from the airships of yesteryear, a new generation of airship-like vehicles could soon be making their way across our skies.

In a hangar outside Tustin in California, engineers are preparing one of the most radical designs for testing.  The Aeroscraft, as it is known, is the brainchild of Igor Pasternak and has been made possible by advances in materials and computer control systems.

“We are resurrecting [the airship] with new composite fabric structures, that are stronger, lighter, more versatile” says Fred Edworthy, of Aeros, the company building the lighter-than-air vehicle.

The airship in the hangar is being built to test various key components of a design that could one day contain a hotel, casino or spa. However, the company believes one of its biggest markets could be transporting freight from hard-to-reach locations or, for example, carrying wind turbine blades. Currently blades are as large as they can be to be transported on a truck.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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I normally would not think of Colorado as a solar state

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But I imagine the whole “front range” of the rocky mountains is. Usually you think of deserts but really sunshine falls everywhere and the higher you go the more intensity it generates. So we close the week with this:

http://www.myenergysolution.com/energy-savings-blog/

Colorado Solar Power

Despite Colorado’s fame as a skiing destination, Denver actually ranks 30th of 174 major U.S. cities in terms of sunshine potential, not far behind Honolulu and Miami. In fact, Colorado has the third highest installed solar PV generation capacity of any U.S. state (source: IREC US Solar Market Trends 2009). As a result of innovative policies and greater awareness of environmental issues, Colorado was an early adopter of solar energy systems. As of the end of 2009, the state had 59 megawatts of installed solar PV capacity, third highest among U.S. states despite the fact that the state ranks 22nd in terms of population. In addition, Colorado installed 53.6 megawatts of solar power in 2010, ranking Colorado fourth in the nation, which was double the output for 2009 (23.4 megawatts). Home to natural gas, oil and some of our nation’s best solar rebates, Colorado plays an important role in the United States’ energy industry. Colorado was the first state to create a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), through a 2004 ballot initiative. Originally, the RPS mandated that all utilities with more than 40,000 customers provide at least 10% of their electricity from a renewable energy source. Through additional improvements, it is now mandated that by 2020 investor-owned utilities must provide 30% and cooperatives and municipal utilities with over 40,000 must provide 10% of their retail load from renewable energy sources. Investor-owned utilities also have a distributed generation requirement, which is good news for solar owners. By 2020, 3% of the retail load must come from customer solar electric systems, rather than huge solar farms. This means that investor-owned utilities will continue to offer fantastic solar incentives to consumers to increase the number of residential and commercial solar systems

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San Francisco Goes To Green Power Source – Fossil fuel fans everywhere can see the end

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Not much to say here, except it is about DAMN time. Way to go San Francisco.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-public-power-plan-given-tentative-OK-3875891.php

SF public power plan given tentative OK

John Coté
Updated 10:41 p.m., Tuesday, September 18, 2012
San Francisco took a major step toward public power Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors gave initial approval to a five-year contract with Shell Energy North America to provide 100 percent renewable power to San Franciscans willing to pay a premium.

The 8-3 vote provided a veto-proof majority for a program that will effectively break Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s decades-old monopoly on the consumer power market in its headquarter city. It also lays the groundwork for city-owned renewable power production.

“The long-term goal is to really do our own generation,” said Ed Harrington, the outgoing general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, who delayed his retirement to see the proposal brought before legislators.

The plan comes eight years after the city began setting up a community choice aggregation program, which allows municipalities to choose alternative electricity providers. Former Supervisor Tom Ammiano, now an assemblyman, began pushing for public power, a touchstone issue for many on the city’s political left, 14 years ago.

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Coastal Windpower – Where the jobs are

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This is pretty mundane from my perspective. The US is building 100s of wind farms around the country. The coasts are places where the wind is most powerful and consistent. Are the numbers accurate? Who knows? They likely would be higher than what is stated, so why worry about that?

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/17/858551/offshore-wind-on-the-atlantic-cost-could-create-300000-jobs-and-200-billion-in-economic-activity/?mobile=nc

Offshore Wind On The Atlantic Cost Could Create 300,000 Jobs And $200 Billion In Economic Activity

By Climate Guest Blogger on Sep 17, 2012 at 3:12 pm

by Silvio Marcacci, via CleanTechnica

America has some of the best offshore wind resources in the world — especially along the Atlantic coastline. But while the promise is massive, zero turbines are currently spinning in U.S. waters.

Fortunately, federal and state governments have made significant progress toward the first offshore turbines and have put America at a turning point toward harnessing the more than 1,300 gigawatts (GW) of energy generation potential identified along our coasts. Harnessing a realistic fraction of offshore wind’s potential — 52GW — could power 14 million homes with clean electrons while creating over 300,000 new jobs and $200 billion in new economic activity in some of our biggest cities.

These findings come from “The Turning Point for Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy,” a new report from the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) outlining the energy and economic benefits offshore wind could create in the U.S., highlighting progress made to date, and detailing policy action needed to realize the industry’s potential.

Federal Policy + State Action = Turbines

While it seems like offshore wind has been touted for years, the future is closer to reality than ever before.

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Nanocrystaline Cellulose – Its nature’s way of telling you

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This isa  pretty interesting piece. It implies that most of the complicated and expensive atom level experiments to create nanotubes and other “nanostructures” were something of a waste of time. They also imply that the next advance in nanotechnology maybe finding ways to form, market and install new nanostructures at the real world level. In the literature it is stated that this form of cellulose can be both an insulator and a conductor so it would be nice if someone came up with a shielded electrical cable that could be used in the housing market, for instance. I have included 2 references for clarity’s sake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanocellulose

http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2012/06/nanocellulose-is-no-small-thing/

Nanocellulose Is No Small Thing

Trees could become part of electronics, medical devices, and military gear

 

For centuries, the forestry industry has produced paper and lumber. But what if trees could be transformed into an entirely new set of products, ranging from electronic sensors to biomedical implants to military protective gear?

The idea isn’t as improbable as it sounds. Researchers are studying a nanoscale material that can be extracted from trees and, in some forms, is about as strong as Kevlar. Called “nanocellulose,” this lightweight material is composed of bundled sugar chains from the cell walls of wood. Researchers can extract nanocellulose by grinding pulp or using chemicals to break it down into tiny particles. At such small scales, the material has fewer defects, making it stronger. One type of nanocellulose particle, called cellulose nanocrystals, is especially tough because the sugar chains are arranged in a highly ordered structure.

Researchers envision a huge array of applications for nanocellulose. It could partially replace fossil fuel–based products such as petroleum-derived plastics and might be cheaper than other high-performance nanoscale materials. Clear sheets of nanocellulose might be useful for windows or electronic displays. Studies have shown that some forms of cellulose are piezoelectric, meaning they generate an electrical signal when deformed, so nanocellulose-based sensors could potentially monitor structures such as bridges for signs of stress. Nanocellulose food packaging could block oxygen permeation and keep the contents from spoiling, while nanocellulose scaffolds implanted in the body might aid bone regeneration. And at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Maryland, researchers are investigating whether nanocellulose-reinforced materials could better protect soldiers on the battlefield.

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A Bike Made Out Of Cardboard – This is an amazing design

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Finding a design as cool as this is like finding a reason to live. Like being given a sack full of candy. It just lights up my life and gives me hope. Hope is a scarce commodity these days what with the drought and the drum beats for war against Iran. Still this is so cool.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670753/this-9-cardboard-bike-can-support-riders-up-to-485lbs

This $9 Cardboard Bike Can Support Riders Up To 485lbs

Innovation By Design

It’s 100% recycled and very lightweight, with a frame that’s stronger than carbon fiber.

Izhar Gafni has designed award winning industrial machines for peeling pomegranates and sewing shoes. He’s also a bike enthusiast who’s designed a lot of carbon fiber rigs. But one day, he’d heard about someone who’d built a cardboard canoe. The idea drilled its way into his consciousness, and ultimately, led him to create a cardboard bike called the Alfa.

The Alfa weighs 20lbs, yet supports riders up to 24 times its weight. It’s mostly cardboard and 100% recycled materials, yet uses a belt-driven pedal system that makes it maintenance free. And, maybe best of all, it’s project designed to be manufactured at about $9 to $12 per unit (and just $5 for a kids version), making it not only one of the most sustainable bikes you could imagine, but amongst the cheapest, depending on the markup.

But as the above video documents, the design process was arduous. Engineers told Gafni that his idea was impossible. Yet he realized that paper could be strong if treated properly. As in crafting origami and tearing telephone books, he explains, “[if] you fold it once, and it’s not just twice the strength, it’s three times the strength.”

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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