Lighting Things On Fire Fascinates Humans – Burning things is stupid

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

(it’s jam band friday and i saw eva hunter last night so – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i8vaWoIVN4 – )

Everyone who is human has started a fire. It is primal, but now it is deadly. The “off gases” of combustion are changing the planet Earth’s composition to the point that much of the animal world will not be able to live in it.

http://redyak.com/video/BurningThings/BurningThings.htm

(speaking of hot – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOx6QGJaNFA&feature=related -)

While we are hooked on burning things the rest of the world moves on:

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248232/china-poised-seize-clean-tech

China poised to seize clean tech crown

Report from The Climate Group argues China is set to dominate the global market for low-carbon technologies

James Murray, BusinessGreen, 21 Aug 2009

China’s position as one of the world’s pre-eminent clean tech hubs was underlined yesterday, with the release of a major new report from The Climate Group arguing that the country has already secured a lead over many of its global rivals in the race to develop and implement low-carbon technologies.

The report, which updates a similar study from last year, concluded that despite the onset of the global recession, Chinese clean tech firms are continuing to record impressive growth, aided in no small part by the government’s decision to focus much of its $585bn (£354bn) stimulus package on low-carbon projects.

The study found that while the Chinese government is resisting international calls to set carbon emission targets, it is delivering good progress against domestic targets to improve energy efficiency, having cut the energy intensity of the economy 60 per cent since 1980.

(did i mention seriously talented – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6PJUoNp0tY&feature=related -)

Yet still we must send smoke into the very air we breath and without which we can not survive.

http://www.dgate.org/~brg/death/index2.html

We like to burn things!

So one fine Saturday, recently, (to be exact it was the third of February, 1996), we were kinda bored, and we were messing around with some hard drives, trying to get them to work. One of ’em was completely dead — no spin-up, no blinking light, no nothing. The computer said it was a Micropolis but couldn’t tell us more than that. So we figured, the thing’s toast, right? And we figured, we’re on the third floor, right? Cool. Open da window. (Remember, it was -6 degrees F out that night!) ;-> Well, enough of my ranting, why dontcha look at the pictures! (If you are using a text-only browser, you might as well quit now. We took 87 pictures for this thing, and they *ARE* the good part, OK???)

(did I say beautiful – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ7KDVtxcXA&feature=related -)

We throw so much up in the air, SOX, NOX, Natural gases like methane, butane, and propane, and dangerous particulates like mercury. Yet everyone wants to worry about carbon. I guess that is as good a place as any to start:

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

List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

CO₂ emission per capita per year per country

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations of additional sources. (September 2008)

This is a list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita from 1990 through 2006. All data were calculated by the US Department of Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), mostly based on data collected from country agencies by the United Nations Statistics Division.

Countries are ranked by their metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in 2006.

(great band too – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBnfxOovUVA&feature=related )
They even have a FaceBook page dedicated to it. You too can make your own Flamethrower!

Burning Things

Homemade Flamethrower

haha i encourage you all to try this… pam + water gun = pure entertainment!

Length:0:09

Burning Things

Burnt things

11 new photos

April 29 at 5:46pm · View Feedback (4)Hide Feedback (4) · Share

RECENT ACTIVITY

Burning Things discussed I am a pyromaniac. I burn these things: on the Burning Things discussion board.

Burning Things edited their Founded and Company Overview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4InbNOJqqy8&feature=related

I like her very much.

Why Rightwing Fundamentalism Is So Environmentally Destructive

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

Why are Conservatives so stupid. Usually right away I get accused of name calling and class warfare. I usually respond that I am not questioning their intelligence so much as I am questioning their larger view of the world. I point out there is a class war going on and most of us are losing it. In much the same way that the VERY Rich slave holders perpetuated the fighting and hatred of the less wealthy poor whites and blacks, the world destroyers and the mega wealthy must have the lower classes fighting and bickering over “tree huggers” and Cap and Trade. This is what the fundamentalists miss. For lofty ideals that do not exist like “personal freedom” they are watching the only world that we have slip away for the enrichment of the very few.

Further more as I have said for 30 years it is not the “little guy” that is to blame for things like destabilizing the climate and acidifying the oceans. It is in this order, The militaries of the world, the Airline Industry, the Big Smoke Stack users (mainly megawatt coal fired electrical plants), and the Shipping industry. That is it. The little guy can ride his stinky garden tractor, fire up his stinky grill and drive his F150 to work everyday if he wants to. THINK about it for a moment. The aforementioned Earth wreckers want the burdened pushed off on the public. It means they get to keep on polluting because we STOP.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2007/11/14/the-10-biggest-carbon-dioxide-polluters.html

The 10 Biggest Carbon Dioxide Polluters

By Marianne Lavelle

Posted November 14, 2007

Ten large companies generate more than one third of the 2.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year by U.S. electric power

generators, according to figures in a first-of-its-kind database unveiled Wednesday.

American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, and Southern Co. of Atlanta, which run the largest coal power plants in the country, top the list of U.S. companies responsible for greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, according to data compiled by the Center for Global Development, a global economic development think tank in Washington, D.C.

The database, called CARMA or Carbon Monitoring for Action, culls for the first time data both from government regulators around the world and commercial databases to provide an up-to-date look at the state of CO₂ from power production—which accounts for one quarter of all carbon emissions. (The database doesn’t look at other large sources, like transportation and manufacturing.) Here are the top sources of greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in the United States:

The 10 Biggest Carbon Dioxide Polluters

COMPANY	TONS OF CO₂ PER YEAR
1. American Electric Power	174 million
With 5 million customers in 11 states from Ohio to Texas, its biggest carbon emissions come from its Gavin coal plant in Cheshire, Ohio.
2. SOUTHERN	172 million
Has 4.3 million customers in the Southeast and owns the top three carbon-emitting power plants in the country: Scherer, in Juliet, Ga.; Miller in Quinton, Ala.; and Bowen in Cartersville, Ga.
3. (tie) AES CORP.	108 million
Has power plants from New York to California, with the worst emissions from its Petersburg, Ind., plant.
3. (tie) DUKE ENERGY	108 million
Serves 4 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Its Gibson plant in Owensville, Ind., is the nation’s fourth-largest carbon emissions source in the power sector.
5. TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY	101 million
The nation’s largest public power company serves the 8.7 million residents of the Tennessee Valley. Its Cumberland City, Tenn., plant ranks eighth in the nation in CO₂ emissions.
6. NRG ENERGY	82.7 million
A wholesale power producer that operates in deregulated electricity markets throughout the country, its W.A. Parish plant in Thompsons, Texas, is the nation’s No. 5 carbon emissions source.
7. XCEL ENERGY	76.1 million
With 3.3 million customers in the West and Midwest, its largest carbon generator is its Sherburne County plant in Becker, Minn.
8. MIDAMERICAN ENERGY HOLDINGS	70.9 million
A Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway company, MidAmerican serves customers in Iowa, Illinois, and South Dakota, with its largest CO₂ emissions from the Jim Bridger plant in Point Of Rocks, Wyo.
9. PROGRESS ENERGY	68.1 million
Based in Raleigh, N.C., its plant in Roxoboro, N.C., is its biggest emissions source.
10. DOMINION RESOURCES	66.6 million
Dominion is based in Virginia, with operations stretching into the Northeast and Midwest. Its biggest carbon emissions source is its Mount Storm, W.Va., plant.

……

Strikingly, three Chinese power companies, South Africa’s giant Eskom, and India’s NTPC all generate more CO₂ emissions than any single U.S. firm—underscoring the shared challenge posed by global climate change. The largest, Huaneng Power International of China, has emissions 68 percent higher than American Electric Power’s.

I am quoting extensively from the article because it makes the point rather well. It is well researched and Lavelle is a good writer. In a startling 2 paragraphs she cuts through all the smoke and the fog to the heart of this story.

One of the most striking findings in the data, says David Wheeler, a Center for Global Development senior fellow who led the research, is how concentrated the problem is among a relatively few large power generators. He said the top 100 companies worldwide produce 57 percent of CO₂ emissions coming from the power sector. The top 30 companies produce 30 percent of the total. “On the one hand, it’s sobering,” he says. “But it might be hopeful. You could actually assemble the CEOs of those firms, and there might be many channels through which they can organize and address this as a group themselves. I think that’ll be critical to a solution.”

Wheeler was a former lead economist in the World Bank’s Development Research Group, where his team used public disclosure as a strategy to generate pressure from lenders and communities for pollution reduction in China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Wheeler says his team similarly hopes the CARMA data will be used not only by environmental groups but by institutional and private investors and insurers, to encourage power companies to use less coal and oil and shift to renewable resources

If you want to check the data here is the CARMA site:

http://carma.org/

About CARMA

Posted by Christopher Frazier on March 25, 2006

Frequently Asked Questions
CARMA’s Partners
All About Icons
Plant-Specific Information
Citation Policy
CARMA Version Tracker

At its core, Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) is a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide. Power generation accounts for 40% of all carbon emissions in the United States and about one-quarter of global emissions. CARMA is the first global inventory of a major, emissions-producing sector of the economy.

CARMA is produced and financed by the Confronting Climate Change Initiative at the Center for Global Development, an independent and non-partisan think tank located in Washington, DC.

The objective of CARMA.org is to equip individuals with the information they need to forge a cleaner, low-carbon future. By providing complete information for both clean and dirty power producers, CARMA hopes to influence the opinions and decisions of consumers, investors, shareholders, managers, workers, activists, and policymakers. CARMA builds on experience with public information disclosure techniques that have proven successful in reducing traditional pollutants.

Yet yet at least one of the social values issues also comes into play and that is abortion. Now I could go on and on about a woman’s right to control her body and how god does not play an active role in the world so birth is not a “miracle”. But the fact is that the main hatred of abortion by the various world’s religions is based on their desire for world domination. The idea being that once the world is “totally” christian for instance then NIRVANA will arrive. But what this ignores is the Over Population that this has caused. The world population stands at 9 billion people. The Earth has a carrying capacity of about a billion people soooooo at some point there is going to be a huge die off. Probably when my niece Taylor is in her 30s or 40s. I just want to say to my mother and others like her…don’t you realize that you are killing Taylor off?

http://www.overpopulation.org/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/popaware/article.pl?display_subsection%%%NewsDigest_NewsItem%%1

If we don’t halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature,
brutally and without pity – and will leave a ravaged world.”
Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall

Why Making Drugs Illegal Is Stupid – Oh I still have to do my mom and burning things as stupid too

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

That was a very public “note to self”, but after being on vacation I had to go back and look at my list of STUPID things before I realized that I wasn’t nearly done yet. I may revise this post some (which I hardly ever do) because I have a lot happening this week, the State Fair, A movie and planning the Poker Scoot just to name a few.

I am in general opposed to limiting anyone’s access to naturally occurring substances. If it grows in nature and you want to try it fine. So that means that marijuana, mushrooms, cactus, poppies and bread mold (LSD) that you make or grow or find in the wild is OK to use. If however you poison yourself well that sucks and you die. Anybody who tells you any different is a Doctor who wants to control its use so he can make money on it, or a pharmaceutical company who wants to make money off it, or a religious nut or a social worker who wants to control your social life or finally a fascist (small f) who wants to control everything. I believe that there should be market places for the stuff and it should be taxed. I know the capitalists have a heart attack because “their” workers could be high. To bad so sad big wah wah.

I am also in favor of the liberalizing of the “made drugs” category as well. Altering your reality is your own choice and when government intervenes it simply creates a black market, swells jail populations and serves no useful purpose. If the money that was spent on criminalization was spent on education and prevention we wouldn’t have the problems we have now. In fact a certain percentage of any human population is going to be addictive and useless.

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

History

1921 photograph of Chinese Maritime Officers with 300 lb (140 kg) of smuggled morphine shipped in cylinders of sodium sulfate from Japan.

[edit] Foreign intervention

Some governments that criminalize drug trade have a policy of interfering heavily with foreign states. In 1989, the United States intervened in Panama with the goal of disrupting the drug trade coming from Panama. The Indian government has several covert operations in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent to keep a track of various drug dealers. Opium production in Afghanistan is a current impediment in the development of a licit economy for that country.

[edit] Violent resolutions

In the late 1990s in the United States, the FBI estimates that 5% of murders were drug-related.^[1] In addition, drug smuggling can lead to harsh penalties, including the death penalty, in certain countries (for example, Singapore).

Many have argued that the arbitrariness of drug prohibition laws from the medical point of view, especially the theory of harm reduction, worsens the problems around these substances.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Minors and the illegal drug trade

The U.S. government’s most recent 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reported that nationwide over 800,000 adolescents ages 12–17 sold illegal drugs during the twelve months preceding the survey; such adolescents also admitted to know or be linked to other drug dealers across the nation.^[2]^{[not in citation given]} The 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that nationwide 25.4% of students had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug by someone on school property. The prevalence of having been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property ranged from 15.5% to 38.7% across state CDC surveys (median: 26.1%) and from 20.3% to 40.0% across local surveys (median: 29.4%).^[3]

Despite over $7 billion spent annually towards arresting^[4] and prosecuting nearly 800,000 people across the country for marijuana offenses in 2005 (FBI Uniform Crime Reports), the federally-funded Monitoring the Future Survey reports about 85% of high school seniors find marijuana “easy to obtain.” That figure has remained virtually unchanged since 1975, never dropping below 82.7% in three decades of national surveys.^[5]

Course then you might ban physically enhancing drugs in sports or something crazy like that…Then people might be tested for drugs at work…oh we already do that.

http://www.ask.com/questions-about/Illegal-Drugs

Answers to Common Questions

Why are some drugs illegal?

In Khazakstan the only illegal drugs are Cocaine Heroin Snail Slime and Fat mans armpits It is a known fact from our government scienctist Dr Yamack that if you lick a Fat mans armpit you will die from constipation’s.Not Nice!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2009022506… See entire page »

What are illegal drugs?

Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroine, Acid, Prescriptions that are not prescribed to YOU. There are MANY types of illegal drugs, but the first 5 i listed are probably the most popular. Prescription drugs have become increasingly popular over the las…

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2009060216… See entire page »

Why do people use illegal drugs?

because the legal ones just arent as good desire is greater than fear!

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_people_do_drugs_if_it… See entire page »

Have Humans Destroyed The Oceans – If we have what will be the cost

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

Dan Piraro’s cartoons are relentlessly funny, but honestly his blog is even funnier. I forgot to put this up yesterday but:

http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Eating Ourselves

(To make the cartoon big, click on the seagull’s left knee)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Geriatric Mouse Voice.

Judging by the emails I got last week, this cartoon was very popular with environmentally conscious readers. Destruction of ocean life is far worse than most people realize because it is hidden under the surface. It’s hard to get good photos of all that is missing from the sea. Most experts estimate that 90% of all large ocean life has been decimated in the past 100 years. Red Lobster All-You-Can-Eat night, anyone?

And judging by some emails I’ve gotten recently, there are a number of readers who think I hate fat people and think they are fair game for ridicule. My point is not that fat people are “funny” or “bad,” but that human selfishness is ruining the planet, with Americans firmly in the lead. I know it is hard to resist food, I’ve battled it myself, we all have. And we’re not the only species prone to this, we’ve all seen what happens to dogs when too much food is made available. For millions of years, humans couldn’t be certain when their next meal would be, so our genes evolved to tell us to eat all that is available, especially the fatty stuff.

If you want to see more of Dan just Google him. He is literally the first 10 entries. But this is my favorite Dan thingy…his live show:

http://fora.tv/2008/12/05/Dan_Piraro_Bizarro_Buccaneers

Alternative Energy In Central Illinois – Progress in the heart of coal country

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

oh its jam band friday ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54bFYwGr_Y )

Just for kicks and because it is Friday, I googled up Alternative Energy in Central Illinois and this is what I found:

http://www.ciree.net/

Welcome to Central Illinois Renewable Energy Expo

The Peoria County 4-H and Extension Foundation is proud to present the Central Illinois Renewable Energy Expo, May 2nd and 3rd at the Green Sports Complex in Mossville, Illinois near Peoria. This event is designed to be educational and informative with plenty of vendor displays, seminars, kids’ activities and information on renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable solutions, green lifestyles, and earth-friendly technology.

The event, the first one to be offered in Central Illinois, is designed to provide an opportunity for area residents and businesses to learn more about renewable energy and energy-efficiency products and services. “Every time your turn on your radio or TV you hear something about energy consumption. Many, if not all of us, would like to know more about how to save money on heating, fuel, electricity and so on, so we thought the Expo would be a great opportunity,” said Gary Sutton, Expo Coordinator and a member of the Peoria County 4-H and Extension Foundation. “We were amazed at how many people attended in 2008—it confirmed the need for an event like this. We are very grateful for our volunteer event partners and we think the Expo will continue to be a great experience for all in central Illinois.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT1mbxOQxHY&feature=related

I mean if it has gotten to the 4-H people well then it has become a tidal wave.

http://moleprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/07/illinois-focus-blogs-food-co-ops.html

ILLINOIS FOOD CO-OPS

It took nearly 7 years living within a few blocks of one of the biggest food co-ops in America before Joy and I joined it. We were definitely reluctant. But, in the end the lack of good produce and the decline of our local supermarkets led to us joining. And the result is a slighly more inconvenient shopping trip each week, but much healthier, higher quality and cheaper food. I recommend joining a co-op if there is one nearby. You will save money and eat healthier. So I will list some local food co-ops in Illinois:

West Central Illinois Food Cooperative
P.O. Box 677
Galesburg, Illinois 61402
wcifoodcoop@wcifoodcoop.com
http://www.wcifoodcoop.com

West Central Illinois Food Cooperative is a not for profit natural foods Co-op located in Galesburg, Illinois serving people in Knox and Warren County. We are affiliated with United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods has a warehouse in Iowa City.

We are a small food coop with about 20 to 30 families at any one time. Our monthly orders average about
$2,000 – $3, 000. We have been operating as a Co-op since 1982. We do not have any one that earns a salary. All of our work is performed by members who work the different jobs as part of their monthy obligation. Working Members pay a 1% mark up from the wholesale price in the Catalog. We have nonworking members. They pay a 10% mark up. Please explore the various links on our site for additional information about the Co-op and United Natural Foods. You can also get additional information at United Natural Foods Buying Clubs site at www.unitedbuyingclubs.com

Common Ground Food Co-op
610 E. Springfield
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Phone: (217) 352-3347
FAX: (217) 352-2214
comments@commonground.coop
http://www.commonground.coop/

Common Ground Food Co-op is a cooperatively owned grocery store that promotes local and organic production, fosters conscious consumerism, and builds community.

Though we are community-owned, membership is not required to shop in the store!

Common Ground Food Co-op carries a wide variety of groceries, produce, and health and beauty products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SKFwtgUJHs&feature=related

http://www.windaction.org/news/16700

Finally from one of the best writers in Central Illinois, Tim Landis:

Wind farms sprouting up on central Illinois landscape

Three more wind farms – each a utility-scale project with the potential for 100 to 150 towers – are in the works for central Illinois. Trade Wind Energy, a Kansas-based alternative energy developer, confirmed the company has signed leases with landowners for two wind farms in DeWitt County and is in discussions for a third in Christian County. The first two sites are east and west of Clinton, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, and the third is north of Pana, 45 miles southeast of Springfield. …Trade Wind Energy has held meetings with Farm Bureau and elected officials in both counties, and Enger said company executives understand it is important to be “open and transparent” about development plans.

July 7, 2008 by Tim Landis in Southtown Star

Three more wind farms – each a utility-scale project with the potential for 100 to 150 towers – are in the works for central Illinois.

Trade Wind Energy, a Kansas-based alternative energy developer, confirmed the company has signed leases with landowners for two wind farms in DeWitt County and is in discussions for a third in Christian County.

The first two sites are east and west of Clinton, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, and the third is north of Pana, 45 miles southeast of Springfield.

“We are substantially into the leasing process. We already have enough land there for a wind farm,” Trade Wind Energy development manager Duane Enger said of the negotiations in DeWitt County.

Enger said lease negotiations have only just begun for the site north of Pana, and that it is too soon to discuss a construction schedule for any of the projects. But he said all eventually would produce 100 to 150 megawatts of electricity.

A megawatt typically would supply 250 to 300 homes, according to industry standards.

Enger said, in addition to open expanses of farmland, three major transmission lines that run through the counties, including to the Clinton nuclear reactor, would make it easier to get power to the grid.

The Trade Wind Energy projects come a little more than two months after Virginia-based Dominion Corp. announced plans for a 25,000-acre wind farm and 150 to 200 wind turbines in southern Christian and northern Macoupin counties.

Dominion also is negotiating for land leases estimated by the company at $3,000 to $4,000 per year, per turbine.

Christian County Farm Bureau manager Eric Johnson said the wind developers have been generally well received.

“As long as the wind company offers good compensation and a good contract — most farmers are pretty open minded about it,” Johnson said.

Brian Fesser is among Christian County farmers approached by Dominion, but he said he has not decided whether to allow wind turbines on a 1,200-acre grain farm south of Taylorville that has been in his family for more than 50 years.

Money, he added, is not the only factor.

“It’s having to farm around the wind towers themselves. It’s just like mowing your lawn, the more trees you have, the more time it takes,” he said.

Trade Wind Energy has held meetings with Farm Bureau and elected officials in both counties, and Enger said company executives understand it is important to be “open and transparent” about development plans.

He said the company plans to open offices in the area as soon as possible.

Enger said improvements in wind-turbine technology have made it possible to operate at lower wind speeds – Trade Wind looks for areas with consistent 10 to 18 mph winds – but that rising energy prices also are a factor.

“There has just been more demand for energy the last few years,” he said.

Trade Wind Energy

Founded: 2001
Corporate headquarters: Lenexa, Kan., suburb of Kansas City
Largest investor: Enel North America Inc., a subsidiary of Enel SpA, one of the world’s largest publicly held utility companies
Current projects: Kansas, Missouri and Illinois
On the Web:www.tradewindenergy.com

Web link: http://www.southtownstar.com/business/1040540,0707…

Things are starting to change aren’t they?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1-Sv-HMHqE&feature=related

Illinois Moves Ahead With Plans To Poison The Earth – Let’s inject toxins into our watershed

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

That sounds like a plan doesn’t it?

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1264048039/House-revives-Taylorville-Energy-Center

House revives Taylorville Energy Center

OKs beginning of design work on clean-coal power plant

By DOUG FINKE (doug.finke@sj-r.com)

STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Jul 16, 2008 @ 11:19 PM

Last update Jul 16, 2008 @ 11:44 PM

A $2.5 billion clean-coal power plant proposed for Taylorville got a new lease on life Wednesday when the Illinois House overwhelmingly approved a bill developers said is crucial to the project.By an 86-5 vote, the House passed Senate Bill 1987, which will allow design work to begin on the Taylorville Energy Center. It is similar to a bill that failed by 10 votes in the House in the closing hours of the spring session.Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield, said the latest version contains “some safeguards” to mollify utility giant Commonwealth Edison, which opposed the earlier bill. That includes more oversight of the project by the Illinois Commerce Commission.“They were concerned that some of the cost might be excessive,” Hannig said. “Now the Illinois Commerce Commission will have an opportunity to say yes or no to that. We have to prove to the power companies that we can produce this in Taylorville in a clean and economically feasible way.”The Taylorville Energy Center would use coal-gasification technology and Illinois coal to produce 525 megawatts of electricity while controlling carbon dioxide emissions

Or in their own words:

http://www.tenaska.com/newsItem.aspx?id=62

News

Tenaska’s Taylorville Energy Center Selected By U.S. DOE For Loan Guarantee Program; Illinois Electric Ratepayers Could Save Up To $60 Million Per Year With $2.5 Billion Guarantee – 07/13/09

TAYLORVILLE, Illinois – July 13, 2009 – Tenaska, managing partner for the $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), announced today that, following a competitive six-month application process, it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed into the term sheet negotiation phase under the DOE Loan Guarantee Program. The amount of the guarantee will be up to $2.579 billion, depending on the final project costs and capital structure.

Upon completion of due diligence and negotiations, the Taylorville project expects to receive a federal government guarantee of its debt, which will greatly reduce financing costs. Because TEC financing costs are included in electric rates under the recently enacted Illinois Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law, the DOE loan guarantee results in savings of between $40 and $60 million per year to Illinois consumers.

“This is a very important step toward securing a clean coal facility in Taylorville. The federal loan guarantee would significantly reduce the cost of financing the construction of the facility,” said Attorney General Lisa Madigan. “That’s important because cost will be a critical factor when the General Assembly reviews this project next year.”

The DOE Loan Guarantee Program, instituted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, is designed to spur technological innovation in fossil fuel energy development. It essentially gave the U.S. government the ability to back loans for advanced clean energy projects, thereby lowering financing costs.

If you want to read a load of crap:

http://www.cleancoalillinois.com/tec.html

Taylorville Energy Center
Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) is a proposed 500- to 525-megawatt clean coal power plant using an advanced technology called Hybrid Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle (Hybrid IGCC) to make it the cleanest coal-fired power plant in the world.

Located a mile northeast of Taylorville in central Illinois, the plant will convert Illinois coal into clean substitute natural gas (also known as methane) to generate enough electricity to power more than 500,000 area homes.

The benefits of TEC include:

• Millions saved annually on power costs
• Economic development for a job-starved region
• Creation of a new market for Illinois coal
• Protection of the environment and public
health through clean-coal technology

Plant rendering (high-res image)

Taylorville Energy Center is being developed by Christian County Generation, LLC, a joint venture between affiliates of Tenaska, an Omaha, Nebraska-based power development company, and MDL Holding Co. of Louisville, Kentucky. Tenaska is managing developer of the Taylorville project. Since its inception 21 years ago, Tenaska has built more than 9,000 megawatts of power generation. Forbes magazine ranks Tenaska as the 24th largest private U.S. corporation, based on 2007 gross revenues.

And if you want to listen to a load of crap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGxZXBASYdc

For 3 years they have planned, and talked, and schemed….

Global Warming, What Would Jesus Do – Between Heaven and Earth is where the problem lives

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

What does Between Heaven and Earth mean anyway? I mean if Earth is HERE:

www.all-creatures.org/hope/

or here:

www.spacetoday.org/…/TerraAqua/TerraStory.html

or even here:

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LivingEarth/

and heaven is here:

www.kidsastronomy.com/deep_space.htm

Then the point seems a little banal. But if the usage is to attempt the creation tension through the juxtaposition of opposites like “between love and hate” or “between enemies and friends” then I totally understand. It’s like that with global warming.

So there are the people from HEAVEN:

http://alternativepowerpanel.com/blog/?p=193

birte edwards on 26 Feb 2009 06:44 pm

Between Heaven and Earth

This is one in my Dobehave Series: Save Energy, Be Green, Have More

Heaven and Earth- on Global Warming and Climate Change

You know this issue is so important, and sorry for the title – just me having some fun.

Between Heaven and Earth – that’s where the trouble is … in the atmosphere, you see.

We can’t …. actually we could … be involved in alternative energy without knowing or understanding what’s behind it, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.

I hope you have a little time on your hand, as after this I will show you a little video I found on “between heaven and earth”.

Here’s the video I was talking about.

Do you think there are others who could benefit from knowing this? If so, get them over here. There will be a lot more on alternatives, what we can do here and now.

Oh, if you want all the 20 videos of my Questions & Answers, just sign up at top right for dobehave.

http://alternativepowerpanel.com/blog/?p=12

birte edwards on 25 Dec 2008 02:13 pm

So What’s Between Heaven and Earth – on Global Warming

Final Sci Vis (scientific visualization) Project for junior year
class. Each person in the class had to pick a topic in science and
make a video on it. This is the result of the choice of one student
The student used 3d max for all the animations and edited in Adobe

I was impressed with this video. It may seem a little long, but the
student goes into all aspects that cause global warming, and also
the effects.
The reason I posted this is that it can teach us so much, and also
my gratitude that young people are involved in this issue of global
warming and climate change.I wanted it here on AlternativePowerPanel blog, as this whole issue
lies at the back of alternative power. We are not just talking
about the economic aspects. Other articles and videos will touch
on that as well as on how each and everyone of us can contribute to
create sustainable living and keep the planet blue (or green, if
you want.

Scroll up to view the video.

The there are the people from EARTH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-4zeHS6g_8&feature=PlayList&p=C03415C86A65D33E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc-BzY09vTU&feature=PlayList&p=11D4E50213231A81&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-OgF7YNS4A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ozI8TW4he8

Who would you believe?

The Horror Of Being Trapped In The Basement – It came from below

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

When I, Cathy and others started CES, my feeling was that since I was going to be working from home I should spend part of that day improving the house. I figured after the rate hike fight in 2007 that I wanted no part of but got sucked into anyway, that it would take 2 years, maybe 3 to get CES up and running. So Cathy and I sat down and talked about what we wanted to do with the house. She wanted:

a Cistern

a Solar Space on the South side of the house

a solar water heater

I wanted:

a refurbished attic

to tear out the ceiling in the bedroom

We both agreed that the basement was the place to start. We were getting a little water in the basement when it rained really hard. We knew that we needed to do something about that. We have a nice sump hole and a sump pump, but our thoughts were that maybe we just needed a bigger sump pump. There also was a question of electricity reliability. In three years we had at least 2 long outages…one lasting 8 days. Of course it usually rained real hard during those periods so we would end up draining our sump hole by hand. (Yes that is right Doug and Cathy with five gallon buckets. We dumped them in the downstairs toilet) We both agreed that the color had to change first. That was the hardest task actually because the entire floor was a hideous green.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1897/oldaomiprototypeyq7.jpg

So I moved all of the furniture down to one end of the basement and painted the basement steps a nice light blue/gray. Then I painted half of the main floor the same nice blue gray. I moved all of the furniture to the other end of room and painted the rest of the floor a nice blue gray. When I was done I said, What color do you want to paint the plant room honey and she said, LipStick Red. I was aghast. She said that is the color that plants love.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_z7PFSXqH2Vo/SJm6zvOXC7I/AAAAAAAAELg/CfxvWsJDUpw/s320/Red+Lipstick.JPG

Yup that Lipstick Red. The one that women have been using to seduce men (not that men need much seducing) since the time of the Pharohs and before. I was incredulous. So I went to the Menards

http://www.menards.com/

walked up to the paint counter and said I want to paint my plant room. The guy behind the counter said, oh you want a gallon or two of Lipstick Red. I just about died. I said you better make it 2. So I painted that room red. When it started raining the first day we were kinda worried. We had had the drainage system that runs from our back porch to the street blownout with high pressure water some months earlier, but the next rain had brought just a trickle of water.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=menards&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3RNFA_enUS268US269&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

Which you can kinda see in the picture above. We were getting huge puddles on our back porch and were fairly certain that the water in the basement was from the lack o’ drainage in that area. By the 4th day of rain the sump pump was running night and day.

http://www.freefoto.com/preview/35-18-35?ffid=35-18-35

by the 8th day of rain Iowa looked like this:

http://www.saveborrowspend.co.uk/articles/news/1655-flood-cover-should-be-considered

We had serious water running through the kitchen (Cathy’s craft area) in the basement, our sump pump died and we lost power. This solved all of our problems in short order. We immediately bought half again as large a sump pump and a generator. Doug dug up the drainage system, found the broken tile and repaired it. The water damaged the flooring in the kitchen so we tore it out and installed nice blue “foamy” rubber flooring that Cathy had always wanted. And we removed the old nasty PHILGAS stove so she would have more craft space. There is a rainbow at the end of every storm.

The Slow Local Food People Are Pretty Cool – I have been hanging out with the Lawn to Food Types lately

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

It’s Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCPSh47gHz8&feature=related

While I have understood for like 40 years that “scarcity” was the real environmental issue and that “over population” was its cause, many people are just waking up to that. On the energy front, an example would be that for the last 100 years we should have been rationing oil and using it for only the things that it was absolutely necessary for. Guess what? Gasoline and Plastics are two that would not be remotely near the top of the absolutely necessary list. Plastic bags would be ludicrous. Similarly, food should have been planted everywhere. I mean everywhere, yards, parks, ditches. Over the last 100 years good land should have been totally devoted to food and bad land left alone. We did not do that. In fact we did the exact opposite. If 100 years ago every couple could have produced no more that 2 kids….THINK about what our world would be like…Anyway the peak oil people and a lot of environmentalists are suddenly realizing that Thomas Robert Malthus was right:

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

We (homosapien) have suffered die backs before. People like to ignore the fact that Malthus had already been RIGHT when he wrote his first pamphlet. Populations of Humans, and our close cousins Neanderthal, Erectis and Hablis have fluctuated radically in the last several million years. This to the extent that the cousins are extinct. No one has ever considered that we just got lucky on that one or even worse yet that we only made it because we could hang on. That is, when our numbers get small we cooperate and stave off the end by any means necessary. These episodes are called “bottle necks” in the populations sciences and they are frightening to contemplate. Just as an example sometime roughly 50,000 years ago there may have been as few as 5,000 humans on this planet in an area the size of New York State in eastern South Africa. Humbling isn’t it? Why did we go from a population of several hundred thousand spread all over the Mediteranian and the Middle east…maybe even extending to the west coast of India…BACK to our home in Africa? Was it war, volcanic eruptions, changes in climate, famine or even disease? Who knows but this planet can not sustain 9 billion people. It just can’t. So maybe the reason I have taken up with the agricultural types is that old marijuana saying, Food will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buXJlBd3Mf8&feature=related

So here are a couple of food ideas from the people at Peak Oil:

http://www.peakoil.com/

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/710876

Urban farms the wave of future?

Published Friday June 26th, 2009

Permit granted for experimental farm in Moncton neighbourhood

By Brent Mazerolle
Times & Transcript Staff

It’s always risky to count your chickens before they’re hatched, but it looks like a go for a plan to raise egg-producing hens in a suburban Moncton neighbourhood.

The Greater Moncton District Planning Commission has granted a local group a one-year temporary permit to run an urban experimental farm. The project, sponsored by Post Carbon Greater Moncton, will involve the keeping of up to four hens within the city boundaries. The group hatched the plan as a response to concerns that rising oil prices will one day force people to return to being more involved in their food production.

Is having your own hens laying eggs all it’s cracked up to be? Will the quiet hamlet (or is that omelette?) of Sunny Acres West (or is that Sunny Side Up Acres?) ever be the same? What’s the best way to run a hen-house without running off half-cocked?

That’s what the folks of the local post carbon group hope to find out through a careful study. This is not simply a “let the chicks fall where they may” approach to the issue of farm animals and humans co-existing in an urban setting, but rather something that will be carefully monitored.

And bad puns aside — the “eggspectations” of the headline is Post Carbon spokesman Michel Desjardins’ own contribution to this article, lest anyone think we’re making fun — the purpose is serious. Desjardins said yesterday the pilot project is a step towards more self-sufficiency and food security in the region. “We think food security and self-sufficiency will be a huge issue in the future.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0aXY2pM2sA&feature=related

Then there is this:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/uow-pfe062509.php

Contact: David Zaks
zaks@wisc.edu
608-890-0337
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Projected food, energy demands seen to outpace production

MADISON — With the caloric needs of the planet expected to soar by 50 percent in the next 40 years, planning and investment in global agriculture will become critically important, according a new report released today (June 25).

The report, produced by Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s leading global investment banks, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, provides a framework for investing in sustainable agriculture against a backdrop of massive population growth and escalating demands for food, fiber and fuel.

“We are at a crossroads in terms of our investments in agriculture and what we will need to do to feed the world population by 2050,” says David Zaks, a co-author of the report and a researcher at the Nelson Institute’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment.

By 2050, world population is expected to exceed 9 billion people, up from 6.5 billion today. Already, according to the report, a gap is emerging between agricultural production and demand, and the disconnect is expected to be amplified by climate change, increasing demand for biofuels, and a growing scarcity of water.

“There will come a point in time when we will have difficulties feeding world population,” says Zaks, a graduate student whose research focuses on the patterns, trends and processes of global agriculture.

Although unchecked population growth will put severe strains on global agriculture, demand can be met by a combination of expanding agriculture to now marginal or unused land, substituting new types of crops, and technology, the report’s authors conclude. “The solution is only going to come about by changing the way we use land, changing the things that we grow and changing the way that we grow them,” Zaks explains.

The report notes that agricultural research and technological development in the United States and Europe have increased notably in the last decade, but those advances have not translated into increased production on a global scale. Subsistence farmers in developing nations, in particular, have benefited little from such developments and investments in those agricultural sectors have been marginal, at best.

Me I am headed for the refrigerator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxEjENrSdV0&feature=related

From Infinity And Beyond – Electricity from kites…yes yes Kites

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

After an extended meditation like I just concluded on the Federal Energy Tax Credits (please click 2008 elections, international environmental groups and religion categories for more examples), I am always at a loss for where to go next. I find it useful to just blow it out! So from Live Science and Yahoo I bring you some of the most implausible energy thoughts ever encountered by man:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/powerfulideasmileshighkitescouldgenerateelectricity

http://www.livescience.com/environment/090622-kite-wind-power.html

Environment

Powerful Ideas: Miles-High Kites Could Generate Electricity

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience

posted: 22 June 2009 08:21 am ET

Full Size

1 of 1

: Airborne turbines like these depicted in this illustration could generate electricity from strong high-altitude winds. Credit: Ben Shepard, courtesy Sky WindPower

Editor’s Note: This occasional series looks at powerful ideas — some existing, some futuristic — for fueling and electrifying modern life.

The sky might literally be the limit for wind power — rotors spinning miles high could help supply electricity worldwide.

“There is a huge amount of energy available in high-altitude winds,” said researcher Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif. “These winds blow much more strongly and steadily than near-surface winds, but you need to go get up miles to get a big advantage. Ideally, you would like to be up near the jet streams, around 30,000 feet.”

All told, if wind turbines miles above the planet were tethered to 10 percent of the world’s land, there is enough energy in these jet stream winds to meet world demand 100 times over, researchers said.

Jet streams are meandering belts of fast winds at altitudes between 20,000 and 50,000 feet. They shift seasonally, but are otherwise persistent features in the atmosphere. Jet stream winds are generally steadier and 10 times faster than wind near the ground, making them a potentially vast and dependable source of energy.

But how to capture the wind so high?

Kites and tethers

A number of technological schemes have been proposed to harvest energy from these high-altitude winds, including tethered, kite-like wind turbines lofted miles high. Up to 40 megawatts of electricity could be generated by current designs and transmitted to the ground via tether.

Using 28 years of weather data, the researchers developed the first-ever global survey of high-altitude wind energy.

“We found the highest wind power densities over Japan and eastern China, the eastern coast of the United States, southern Australia, and north eastern Africa,” said researcher Cristina Archer, an atmospheric scientist at California State University in Chico.

You can go to the Energies site to see the scientific part of the study:

http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/2/2/340

Mesoscale Simulation of Year-to-Year Variation of Wind Power Potential over Southern China

Steve H. Yim ¹, Jimmy C. Fung ^1,2 and Alexis K. Lau ^1,3^,*

¹ Institute for the Environment, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
² Department of Mathematics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

^* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 27 April 2009; in revised form: 27 May 2009 / Accepted: 1 June 2009 / Published: 3 June 2009

Download PDF Full-Text (1202 KB)

Abstract: The objectives of this study are to combine historical observations and state-of-the-art numerical models (MM5/CALMET system) to map the spatial distribution of wind resources in high resolution, and to help foster a deeper understanding of the wind power potential over southern China (Guangdong). Hourly wind fields were simulated for three entire years (2004-2006). It found that almost 70% of the time, the wind speed along the coast of Guangdong is over 5 m/s, which is deemed a baseline magnitude for typical wind turbines. Spatial plots of the wind speed and power and their variations over Guangdong Province for the three years are also presented.

For the SEX part of it…Generating energy from the jet stream …well it is awful high up there (40-50 miles), really really cold (100 degrees below zero) and really close to the cosmic rays…and it has been around for awhile. I mean looking up is to dream right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi_-dlDVcw

http://sleepgreen.info/?tag=energy

Comments (0)

KINETIC ENERGY CREATES ELECTRICITY

Posted by admin | Green News | Wednesday 21 January 2009 2:43 pm

Dutch astronaut Dr Wubbo Ockels has successfully demonstrated i Netherlands his new energy concept. He has flown a high-flying energy kite, creating kinetic energy from huge radio-controlled highflying kites. He has designed ‘ladder-mills’ to store the kinetic energy and convert it into electricity.

Three such ladder-mills provide enough electricity to power one city. The experiment was carried out along the northern coastline of The Netherlands where there’s usually more than enough wind to raise the gigantic kites into.The radio- controlled, high-flying kites can create some 10,5kw electricity each, Dr Ockels told a local radio station.High-altitude kites could be used to generate clean energy at a cost comparable with that of fossil fuel generation , researchers claim.The “Ladder-Mill” is a chain of controllable wing-like kites attached to a looped cable stretching more than five miles into the sky.Strong high altitude winds acting on the “kitewings” produce as upward force on one side of the loop and a downward force on the other, causing it to rotate.The slowly turning cable drives a power generator in the Ladder-Mill base station.Although the concept sounds far fetched, its developers at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands hope to build a working model in the next four years.

They claim one Ladder-Mill could generate 100 megawatts of electricity, compared with only a few megawatts from a conventional wind turbine.

Winds at 30,000ft are 20 times more powerful than at sea level.

Professor Ockels, an ex-astronaut and head of the European Space Agency’s education office, told The Engineer magazine: “Above a certain altitude there is a massive amount of wind power.

Source:
http://alt-e.blogspot.com/2004/12/wind-power-laddermills-high-altitude.html
http://www.rense.com/general78/kinet.htm

Did you know that people have even tried to use kites for COMMERCIAL FISHING?

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

Kite applications

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The kite is used to do certain things; one kite or many kites are applied to achieve certain purposes, objectives, or tasks, that is: applications. Humans have applied the kite to bring perceived benefits during peace and war alike. New applications for the kite continue to be found. Only some innovative applications appear in national patents; others are communicated in newspapers, magazines, books, and internet pages. Air kites, water kites, bi-media kites, fluid kites, gas kites, kytoons, paravanes, soil kites, solid kites, and plasma kites have niche applications that are furthering the interests of humans. Non-human-made kites have applications; some spiders make use of kiting.

If you click on 17 or 24 you can see the energy apps. By the way # 24 is funded by Google.