Canadians Rip It and Strip It – oil shale or oil sand should be left alone.

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

The Northern Regions of the Earth are under attack. Not only are the normally energy conscious Canadians joining in on the act but every ship’s captain on the planet wants to drive their boats through the Northwest Passage. If the Russians recent land grab is any indication they plan on drilling for oil there as well. The folly of this is plain for everyone to see.

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Canadian_Oil_Sands_Development_An_Economic_Boon_But_Leaves_A_Mess_999.html

ENERGY TECH

Canadian Oil Sands Development An Economic Boon But Leaves A Mess

by Guillaume Lavallee
Fort Mcmurray (AFP) Canada, June 22, 2007
The development of Canada’s oil sands is laying waste to its great northern forest and western plains, say critics who point to skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions, diverted rivers and razed backwoods. And the devastation can only get worse, they say, as energy companies pump billions of dollars into new projects to triple local oil production to some 3.0 million barrels per day within the next decade.

The Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake Oil Sands, at an estimated 173 billion barrels, rank second behind Saudi Arabia in petroleum resources.

But due to high extraction costs, the deposits were long neglected except by local companies.

While conventional crude oil is pumped from the ground, oil sands must be mined and bitumen separated from the sand and water, then upgraded and refined.

Since 2000, skyrocketing crude oil prices (now at about 70 dollars a barrel) and improved extraction methods have made it more economical to exploit the sands, and lured several international oil companies to mine the sands.

Open pits now dot the northern part of Alberta province where vast tracts of the Boreal Forest once stood, and giant mechanical shovels now devour black oil-encrusted soil day and night.

In an article in the June 2006 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, former US presidential candidate Al Gore offered a scathing sketch of the oil sands industry as wasteful and a blight on Canada.

“For every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family’s home for four days,” Gore told the magazine.

“And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape, all for one barrel of oil. It is truly nuts,” he said, urging Americans, who are the main buyers of Canadian oil, to break their addiction to oil.

For Canada, which has stepped back from its 1997 Kyoto Protocol commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 6.0 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, the oil sands boom is a mixed blessing.

It creates wealth and jobs, but the industry is already Canada’s worst polluter and is bound to double its harmful CO2 emissions by 2015, now at 29 megatonnes annually, according to a government environmental audit.

“It’s almost impossible for us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions if we want to boost production from 2,000 to 250,000 barrels within a decade,” said Michael Borrell, president of Total Canada, a scion of the French oil behemoth Total SA.

The government has proposed a 20 percent reduction in the “intensity” of the sector’s CO2 emissions, but total emissions would still rise as oil production billows.

The boom is also prompting fears of local water shortages and declining water quality as oil companies drain 349 million cubic meters of water from the Athabasca River each year for use in oil production, then dump it into area tailing ponds.

A report by the Sage Centre and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on global warming said Alberta would have to curtail new oil sands projects, which now use 2.0 to 4.5 barrels of water and large amounts of energy to produce one barrel of oil, if warming persists.

The WWF called for no new water-taking permits for energy companies, noting water flows in the Athabasca River, down 20 percent since 1958, could diminish by another seven to 10 percent if temperatures continue to rise.

“Climate change (is) an issue because the flow in the Athabasca River has constantly been dropping and as the glaciers (that feed the river) disappear in Jasper National Park, it’s gonna get worse,” said Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute, an environmental group.

“Those people they just don’t care about the environment,” said Terry, a young aboriginal in Fort McKay in the heart of the oil sands. “Some people fish (in the Athabasca River) for fun … but nobody should eat the fish around here.”

Higher than average cancer rates at the nearby Fort Chipewyan Indian Reserve were recently linked to oil industry contamination of the environment, said reports.

Alberta law requires oil companies to restore excavated lands, but out of some 44,000 square kilometers (17,000 square miles) leased to them since 1967, “not a single square meter (foot) of land has been reclaimed,” Dyer lamented.

Bali Protocols Passed – More on that later.

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

I will have comments on the passage of the Bali Protocols but I have 2 posts that have been laying around for awhile. I want to get them off the shelf while I can. The Bush administration made sure that nothing will happen on their watch because the negotiations will take 2 years. 2 years we may not have!

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i31/8531notw4.html

Latest News

July 30, 2007: Volume 85, Number 31; p. 15

Silicon cells

Solar Energy Advances

New technology should lead to increased supplies

Marc Reisch

AS THE WORLD increasingly looks to solar power as a new source of energy, technology advances and new cooperation agreements among photovoltaic industry leaders promise to increase the supply, processibility, and cost-efficiency of silicon-based solar energy cells.

Using new technology, Wacker Chemie plans to build a solar-grade granular polysilicon production facility at its site in Burghausen, Germany. The 650-metric-ton-per-year plant should come on-line at the end of 2008 and will manufacture the polysilicon used to make solar wafers in a continuous fluidized-bed process.

New process yields easier route to polysilicon for solar cells.

The firm first announced two years ago that it had developed the process as an alternative to the batch production procedure now more widely used to make polysilicon for both semiconductors and solar cells. The starting material, trichlorosilane, is the same for both batch and continuous processes.

In the batch process, trichlorosilane is deposited at high temperature on a starter rod, where it decomposes to polysilicon. Workers then remove the rods from the reactor, transfer them to crushing machines that create manageable polysilicon pieces, and run the pieces through an acid-etching step to remove contamination introduced during crushing. The continuous process eliminates the rod removal, crushing, and etching steps.

Taking its advances in solar polysilicon a step further, Wacker also says it is in talks with Schott Solar, a German maker of photovoltaic components, to set up a 50-50 joint venture to make silicon ingots and solar wafers, precursors for the production of solar cells. The two hope to conclude discussions and start up production later this year.

Separately, Germany’s Q-Cells, which claims to be the world’s second-largest maker of silicon solar cells, has increased its stake in a smaller U.S. silicon cell maker, Solaria, from 12% to 33%. Q-Cells acquired its increased stake in the Silicon Valley-based firm as part of a $50 million investment it made together with two financial investors and Moser Baer, an Indian maker of photovoltaics.

Along with the investment, Q-Cells committed to supplying Solaria with enough cells to generate 1.35 gigawatts of power over the next 10 years. Using its “cell multiplication technology,” Solaria will double the output of cells it obtains by slicing them into thin strips and reassembling them to double the surface area they cover. The technology includes packaging the cells under an optical concentrator to focus more sunlight on them.

DuPont is also doing its part to improve solar-cell efficiency. The firm will manage prototype development and testing of a solar cell designed by the University of Delaware that has the potential to be 30% more efficient than existing solar cells. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded a DuPont/University of Delaware consortium $12 million to advance solar-panel development, but it could award as much as $100 million over the three-year life of the project.

The Poles Melt as the Tropics Grow – Makes sense to me.

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

This would explain a lot about this years drought in the south. Their weather moved up here to Illinois. That is our latitude.

Growing Tropics could

mean drier Southwest

By SETH BORENSTEIN

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Earth’s tropical belt seems to have expanded a couple hundred miles during the past quarter century, which could mean more arid weather for some already dry subtropical regions, new climate research shows.

Geographically, the tropical region is a wide swath around Earth’s middle stretching from the Tropic of Cancer, just south of Miami, to the Tropic of Capricorn, which cuts Australia almost in half. It’s about one-quarter of the globe and generally thought of as hot, steamy and damp, but it also has areas of brutal desert.

To meteorologists, however, the tropics region is defined by long-term climate and what’s happening in the atmosphere. Recent studies show changes that indicate an expansion of the tropical atmosphere.

The newest study, published Sunday in the new scientific journal Nature Geoscience, shows that by using the weather definition, the tropics are expanding toward Earth’s poles more than predicted. And that means more dry weather is moving to the edges of the tropics in places like the U.S. Southwest.

Independent teams using four different meteorological measurements found that the tropical atmospheric belt has grown by anywhere between 2 and 4.8 degrees latitude since 1979. That translates to a total north and south expansion of 140 to 330 miles.

One key determination of the tropical belt is called the Hadley circulation, which is essentially prevailing rivers of wind that move vertically as well as horizontally, carrying lots of moisture to rainy areas while drying out arid regions on the edges of the tropics. That wind is circulating over a larger area than a couple decades ago.

But that’s not the only type of change meteorologists have found that shows an expansion of the tropics. They’ve seen more tropical conditions by measuring the amount of ozone in the atmosphere, measuring the depth of the lower atmosphere, and the level of dryness in the atmosphere at the edges of the tropics.

Climate scientists have long predicted a growing tropical belt toward the end of the 21st century because of man-made global warming. But what has happened in the past quarter century is larger and more puzzling than initially predicted, said Dian Seidel, a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab in Silver Spring, Md. She is the author of the newest study.“They are big changes,” she said. “It’s a little puzzling.”

She said this expansion may only be temporary, but there’s no way of knowing yet.Seidel said she has not determined the cause of this tropical belt widening. While a leading suspect is global warming, other suspects include depletion in the ozone layer and changes in El Nino, the periodic weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.

Other climate scientists are split in the meaning of the research because it shows such a dramatic change — beyond climate model predictions. Some scientists, such as Richard Seager at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, say changes in El Nino since the 1970s probably are a big factor and could make it hard to conclude there’s a dramatic expansion of the tropical belt.

Doubts About Teaching Climate Change In Grade School and High School

Posted on December 14, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

Editor

State Journal Register

One Copley Plaza

Springfield, IL 62701

Emailed – 12/13/07

Dear Editor:

Its ironic that Mr. Jones pulls out the last of Rush Limbaugh’s bag of tricks 2 days after the British Court that was hearing the case he refers to approved the viewing of “An Inconvenient Truth” (AIT) in British High School science classes. The 11 errors he sites shrunk to 8 and then 4 and then none. The judge ruled that the film is broadly accurate.

Another irony is that I am not sure that I agree that they should show it. Al Gore never asked that that be done. Al Gore filmed AIT as a “wake up call” to the world. And the world needs it. We have got to quit burning up the planet indiscriminately. But, much like I think that religion should not be taught in public schools I am not sure scary stuff should be either. During the 60’s that approached was tried with Drivers Education. I had to sit through 2 films, 1 in 8th grade and 1 my sophomore year, that consisted mainly of young people killed in car crashes complete with bodies and blood. Did it make me a better driver? No, it grossed me out.

Do not get me wrong. I believe that nearly everything in AIT is true, but I think it would give grade school children (K-8) nightmares. I mean why learn when their future may be in doubt. I always questioned the “duck and cover” program concerning atomic bombs for the same reason. Like that was going to help me survive an atomic blast. All it really did was scare me. I have reservations about even showing it in High School science classes because teenagers have enough things for which to blame their parents. Now they are going to come home and blame their parents for environmental destruction? How’s that help? AIT is an adult film that maybe is appropriate for a senior science class at best.

Doug Nicodemus

948 e. adams st.

riverton, IL 62561

dougnic55@yahoo.com

An Inconvenient Truth Wins In Court – New Party Wackos Lose Again

Posted on December 13, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

Al Gore wins again. The British Court has ruled that the science does support the “broad claims” of An Inconvenient Truth. There goes another one of Rush Limbaugh’s notorious lies. So much for the “11 massive flaws” in Al Gore’s arguements. Still should it be shown in public schools? I have my doubts which I will express tomorrow. But for now I’ll just bask in the glow…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/11/climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=8

Gore’s climate film has scientific errors – judge

· Court rules documentary can be shown in schools
· Presentation is ‘broadly accurate’ but lacks balance

- David Adam, environment correspondent
- The Guardian,
- Thursday October 11 2007

Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, was yesterday criticised by a high court judge who highlighted what he said were “nine scientific errors” in the film.

Mr Justice Barton yesterday said that while the film was “broadly accurate” in its presentation of climate change, he identified nine significant errors in the film, some of which, he said, had arisen in “the context of alarmism and exaggeration” to support the former US vice-president’s views on climate change.

The film was broadly welcomed by environmental campaigners and scientists on its release last year, and while they did point out that it contained mistakes, these were relatively small and did not detract from the film’s central message – that global warming was a real problem and humans had the technology to do something about it.

The judge made his remarks when assessing a case brought by Stewart Dimmock, a Kent school governor and a member of a political group, the New party, who is opposed to a government plan to show the film in secondary schools.

The judge ruled that the film can still be shown in schools, as part of a climate change resources pack, but only if it is accompanied by fresh guidance notes to balance Mr Gore’s “one-sided” views. The “apocalyptic vision” presented in the film was not an impartial analysis of the science of climate change, he said.

The judge also said it might be necessary for the Department of Children, Schools and Families to make clear to teachers some of Mr Gore’s views were not supported or promoted by the government, and there was “a view to the contrary”.

He said he had viewed the film and described it as “powerful, dramatically presented and highly professionally produced”, built around the “charismatic presence” of Mr Gore, “whose crusade it now is to persuade the world of the dangers of climate change”.

The mistakes identified mainly deal with the predicted impacts of climate change, and include Mr Gore’s claims that a sea-level rise of up to 20ft would be caused by melting in either west Antarctica or Greenland “in the near future”.

The judge said: “This is distinctly alarmist and part of Mr Gore’s ‘wake-up call’.” He accepted that melting of the ice would release this amount of water – “but only after, and over, millennia.”

Despite his finding of significant errors, Mr Justice Barton said many of the claims made by the film were supported by the weight of scientific evidence and he identified four main hypotheses, each of which is very well supported “by research published in respected, peer-reviewed journals and accords with the latest conclusions of the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change].”

The nine points: fact or fallacy?

· The film claimed that low-lying inhabited Pacific atolls “are being inundated because of anthropogenic global warming” – but there was no evidence of any evacuation occurring

· It spoke of global warming “shutting down the ocean conveyor” – the process by which the gulf stream is carried over the north Atlantic to western Europe. The judge said that, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it was “very unlikely” that the conveyor would shut down in the future, though it might slow down

· Mr Gore had also claimed – by ridiculing the opposite view – that two graphs, one plotting a rise in C02 and the other the rise in temperature over a period of 650,000 years, showed “an exact fit”. The judge said although scientists agreed there was a connection, “the two graphs do not establish what Mr Gore asserts”

· Mr Gore said the disappearance of snow on Mt Kilimanjaro was expressly attributable to human-induced climate change. The judge said the consensus was that that could not be established

· The drying up of Lake Chad was used as an example of global warming. The judge said: “It is apparently considered to be more likely to result from … population increase, over-grazing and regional climate variability”

· Mr Gore ascribed Hurricane Katrina to global warming, but there was “insufficient evidence to show that”

· Mr Gore also referred to a study showing that polar bears were being found that had drowned “swimming long distances to find the ice”. The judge said: “The only scientific study that either side before me can find is one which indicates that four polar bears have recently been found drowned because of a storm”

· The film said that coral reefs all over the world were bleaching because of global warming and other factors. The judge said separating the impacts of stresses due to climate change from other stresses, such as over-fishing, and pollution, was difficult

· The film said a sea-level rise of up to 20ft would be caused by melting of either west Antarctica or Greenland in the near future; the judge ruled that this was “distinctly alarmist”

· This article was amended on Friday October 12 2007. A panel in the article above listing the significant errors found by a high court judge in Al Gore’s documentary on global warming was labelled The nine points, but contained only eight. The point we omitted was that the film said a sea-level rise of up to 20ft would be caused by melting of either west Antarctica or Greenland in the near future; the judge ruled that this was “distinctly alarmist”. The missing point has been added.

Help, The House Is Burning Down

Posted on December 12, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

We Maybe In More Trouble Than We Thought!

U.N.: 2006 set record

for green house gases

By ELIANE ENGELER

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENEVA—Two of the most important greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere reached a record high in 2006, and measurements show that one — carbon dioxide — is playing an increasingly important role in global warming, the U.N. weather agency said Friday.

The global average concentrations of carbon dioxide, or CO2, and nitrous oxide, or N2O, in the atmosphere were higher than ever in measurements coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, said Geir Braathen, a climate specialist at the Geneva-based agency.

Methane, the third of the three important greenhouse gases, remained stable between 2005 and 2006, he said.

Braathen said measurements show that C02 is contributing more to global warming than previously. CO2 contributed 87 percent to the warming effect over the last decade, but in the last five years alone, its contribution was 91 percent, Braathen said. “This shows that C02 is gaining importance as a greenhouse gas,” Braathen said.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the.atmosphere rose by about, which is a quarter percent higher than in 2005. Braathen said it appears the upward trend will continue at least for a few years half a percent last year to reach 381.2 parts per million, according to the agency. Nitrous oxide totaled 320.1 parts per billion

The World Meteorological Organization’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin provides widely accepted worldwide data on the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Studies have shown that human-produced carbon dioxide emissions heat the Earth’s surface and cause greater water evaporation. That leads to more water vapor in the air, which contributes to higher air temperatures. C02, methane and N20 are the most common greenhouse gases after water vapor, according to the meteorological organization.

They are produced by natural sources, such as wetlands, and by human activities such as fertilizer use or fuel combustion. There is 36.1 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was in the late 18th century, primarily because of combustion of fossil fuels, the World Meteorological Organization bulletin said.A report presented by a U.N. expert panel said last week that average temperatures have risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years, and that 11 of the last 12 years have been among the warmest since 1850. Global Warming also led to a sea level increase by an average seven-hundredths of an inch per year since 1961, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.The panel’s report, which said human activity is largely responsible for global warming, noted that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is far higher than the natural range over the last 650,000 years.

Page 33

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Tim Landis,

business editor: 788-1536 _ tim.landis@sj-r.com

Springfield, Illinois

Al Gore Calls

Posted on December 11, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

I normally don’t post more than one post a day nor do I post on the weekends. Its hard enough to do 5 days a week for me. My friend john martin whose blog is listed on the right under links post 3 and 4 a day and 7 days a week. He is an ironman.

But Al Gore just actually received his Nobel medal and placard. Next he goes to Bali for the Bali accords, so I am posting this.

Dear doug,

In less than forty-eight hours, I will step onstage at the UN Climate Conference in Bali. With me I will bring hundreds of thousands of messages demanding that a visionary global treaty be completed and brought into effect by 2010.

If we want to solve the climate crisis, together we need to demonstrate the broad public support for action. That’s why it’s vital that you sign our petition right now by visiting:

http://climateprotect.org/standwithal

Over the past few months we’ve taken many positive steps towards uniting governments worldwide around the goal of solving the climate crisis. Just over a week ago on December 3rd, Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was sworn in. His first formal act in office was to ratify the Kyoto Treaty. This was a clear demonstration of Australia’s priorities.

Yet this progress has not swayed the Bush Administration. With thousands of delegates gathered in Bali for the UN Climate Conference, this is our last chance in 2007 to show the world how serious the American people are about ending the climate crisis. That’s why it is so vital that all of us join together and demonstrate the political will of our country.

Only two days remain before I deliver your messages to the delegates meeting in Bali. Over the past few days more than 173,963 people have added their voices. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to demonstrate your support for a visionary global treaty to end the climate crisis.

Sign our petition, then reach out to everyone you know and ask them to sign today by visiting:

http://climateprotect.org/standwithal

Your activism and enthusiasm for this cause inspire me every day.

Thank you,

Al Gore

Another Compressed Air Car – There is hope in the air

Posted on December 11, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

>I never did document whether there was a downside to the MDI compressed air car or other valid press articles on the car that could give some balance to the company stuff I first posted. I thought I had found one on a blog about cars. It was titled:

Addict 3 D

www

Online

Car Fueled by Air Not as Cool as Inventor Thought

But everytime I try that link something weird happens. Still while on the search page I saw the article below in CNN and thought I would post it. If the French, the Indians, and the Koreans think it will work it must have some merit. I want one bad.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/03/30/spark.air.car/

/spark.air.car/

Car that runs on compressed air

Monday, April 11, 2005 Posted: 1032 GMT (1832 HKT)

story.phev.jpg

The pneumatic electrical hybrid vehicle (PHEV) runs on compressed air.

• Green cars starting to take root

• London’s big red buses go green

• Vegetables offer oil alternative

• The car that can read road signs

• Smart helmet for motorcyclists

• Energine Corporation Web site

• Reader response to this story

QUICKVOTE

Do you give much thought to the damage motor vehicles do to the environment?

VIEW RESULTS

ON CNNI TV

Click here for Spark show times on CNN International.

SPARK

Find out how tech is changing our lives Click here

YOUR SAY

Send your views to spark@cnn.com or read what others have to say.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

Spark

or Create your own

(CNN) — A Korean company has created a car engine that runs on air.

The engine, which powers a pneumatic-hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), works alongside an electric motor to create the power source.

The system eliminates the need for fuel, making the PHEV pollution-free.

Cheol-Seung Cho, of Energine Corporation, told CNN the system is controlled by a computer inside the car, which instructs the compressed-air engine and electric motor what to do.

The compressed air drives the pistons, which turn the vehicle’s wheels.

The air is compressed using a small motor, powered by a 48-volt battery, which powers both the air compressor and the electric motor.

Once compressed, the air is stored in a tank, Cho said.

“The compressed air is used when the car needs a lot of energy, such as for starting up the car and acceleration. The electric motor comes to life once the car has gained normal cruising speed.”

He said the system was relatively simple to manufacture and could be easily adapted to any conventional engine system.

“You could say our car has two hearts pumping. That is, we have separate motors running at different times, both at the time when they can perform most efficiently.”

Cho also said the system could reduce the cost of vehicle production by about 20 percent, because there was no need to build a cooling system, fuel tank, spark plugs or silencers.

Cho hoped to see PHEVs on streets in the near future.

Peter Kemp, editor of “Petroleum Intelligence Weekly,” told CNN that one of the biggest challenges for the invention was persuading the general public to embrace it.

“For this invention to take off, you’d need to get the backing of a major manufacturer. The major manufacturers that are looking at hybrid motors at the moment are looking at fuel cells — battery with a gasoline diesel combination,” he said.

Kemp said Toyota, which has released a hybrid car, had sold about 150,000 of the environmentally friendly model worldwide.

“But that is over several years. There is a lot of demand for that car but that is the only one that is really available and nobody knows whether Toyota is making any money out of it.”

I have been saying this for 35 years and it still needs to be done…Big Sigh

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

Energy-neutral products take homeowners to the next level for eco-friendly additions

By KETBO EDITORIAL SERVICES

With the “green” trend continually growing, many homeowners are swapping old air conditioning units, heaters and appliances with more energy efficient models. While purchasing Energy Star appliances and green rated products is a major step forward in being environmentally conscious, there are additional options for homeowners to take eco-friendly living to the next level.

Energy neutral upgrades and products, ranging from awnings to radiant barriers, provide an additional reduction in cooling energy consumption and costs associated with even the most energy-efficient appliances.

According to futurist Mark Justman of Social Technologies, a global research and consulting firm, there is a growing nucleus of homeowners who value ethical consumption, but often consider a big appliance purchase the only solution.

“While investing in an Energy Star appliance or green product is extremely beneficial for energy consumption, there are many additional energy-neutral products that are just as economical,” said Justman. “To top it off, they also have benefits beyond energy efficiency like convenience or aesthetics, making it more of an investment rather than an expense.”

Energy-neutral home solutions that Justman recommends include:

• Awnings – when added above a window or door, an awning reduces the amount. 0f heat that enters a home by blocking the sun’s rays from
penetrating the glass. Keeping excess heat out reduces the load on the air conditioner, allowing the unit to cool the space more efficiently.

Learn more at: www.awningstoday.com/reVenergyneutral.htm

• Solar window screens – screens that install on the outside of windows, allowing protection from the sun’s heat and a little added privacy.

• Radiant barriers – structures made of highly reflective material, typically installed in attics, that reflect radiant heat upward, prevent
ing it from entering trie home.

• Conservation landscaping- includes planting of shade trees or hedges near a house to block sun from penetrating windows during the summer.
Conservation landscaping can also act as a windbreak, protecting homes from icy winds in the winter.

• Caulking and weather stripping – when installed around windows, doors and cracks, it reduces air infiltration, keeping cool air in

during the summer and out during the winter. Programmable thermostats – they automatically adjust a home’s temperature settings, allowing homeowners to save energy while away
or sleeping. Programmable thermostats are better for the environment, since using less energy helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy production.

With heating and cooling accounting for about 56 percent of the energy used in a typical U.S. home, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, homeowners are able to utilize energy neutral products to improve their home’s energy efficiency.

“Solar radiation through glass is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the load on an air conditioner,” said Michelle Sahlin, managing director of the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association. “Awnings have the ability to limit the sun’s rays through glass, which directly reduces the impact of global warming from greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, if a neighborhood collectively uses awnings, it reduces the overall demand on the energy infrastructure, subsequently preventing blackouts

Urgent Alert..Like this will catch us up with Europe Japan and Australia..But everyone is certainly up in arms so..

Posted on December 7, 2007 by Doug Nicodemus

URGENT ACTION ALERT!!

Call your Senators Friday for a Strong Energy Bill!

Dear Diane,

Our threatened climate and your children, born and unborn, need you to take action NOW, right now, sometime Friday, December 7th! The word from Capitol Hill is that the U.S. Senate may vote on the energy bill by as early as Friday evening.

You can call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or look up their direct phone number here .

You can use this sample script: “Hello, I’m ___________, and I’m calling to urge that Senator ________ oppose efforts to prevent the energy bill from coming to the Senate floor for a vote and support the use of our tax dollars for renewable energy, not subsidies for fossil fuels. For the good of our economy, our pocketbooks and the environment, we want the House energy bill to be passed now.”

This afternoon the House of Representatives passed a good energy bill by a 235-181 vote. Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, described it this way:

“It is a bill of firsts: the first increase in fuel economy standards in more than three decades, the first national requirement for renewable energy…and the first energy bill to provide billions for clean energy instead of shoveling subsidies to Big Oil and other polluters. Instead of a pork-laden monstrosity tailored to the needs of the dirty energy industry, this bill will give us clean electricity, greener cars, provide billions for clean energy instead of Big Oil’s bottom line, strengthen our economy, make us more secure, and begin to address the challenge of global warming. It is a tremendous achievement for the Congress, but more importantly, it is a victory for the hardworking American families who are now suffering as a result of decades of failed energy policies.”

As you may know, I’ve been on a climate emergency fast since September 4th. Today is my 94th day without solid foods. The focus of this fast from day one has been to help stimulate grassroots pressure on Congress to get them to pass the strongest possible climate legislation. And it is happening!

But there’s a big hurdle, and that’s the planned filibuster by Senator Inhofe, dirty energy advocate and global warming denier number one. To get over that hurdle, we need 60 U.S. Senators willing to stand up for the right thing, willing to vote the right way, willing to follow their conscience and not bend to the demands of the dirty energy lobby.

Tomorrow needs to be a day the U.S. Senate never forgets. Their phones need to be ringing off the hook, hearing from all of us. Senators and presidential candidates Clinton, Obama, Biden and Dodd need to be in D.C. to vote — no excuses on an issue this important! Republican and Democratic Senators need to stand up for the Earth!

You can call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or look up their direct phone number at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm .

And please send this alert out widely to others who might be responsive.

Let’s make history this week! It’s time to act!

For future generations,

Ted Glick, coordinator, U.S. Climate Emergency Council

P.S. You can go to our website, http://www.climateemergency.org, for more information about the energy

Community Energy Systems

Censys.org

Category Archives: global warming