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THROUGH EXISTING ECONOMIC STRUCTURES & TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, WE CAN FUND THE ECOTECH REVOLUTION 11 November 2007 Ecological advancement and retro-fitting will be the new boom economy. Let's make sure we do everything possible to fund not only research, but implementation. What will it cost to produce an environmentally-oriented overhaul of the US economy, by way of the private sector, with government incentives, and to the ever-growing benefit of private sector interests? [Full Story] GEOTHERMAL ENERGY CREATES HOPE FOR GLOBAL ENERGY SOLUTION The race to tap large quantities of underground, geothermal energy is heating up. In a recent bid to solve their country's demand for clean energy, the Swiss are digging deep, and the Earth is responding. A scientist at MIT, in the US, says 40% of US geothermal sources could power the entire country's energy needs in excess of 56,000 times. [Full Story] TEXAS BUILDING WIND FARM INFRASTRUCTURE WITH 7,000 MEGAWATTS' CAPACITY "A typical coal-fired power-plant is 300 megawatts", reminds the ecological researcher and author, Lester Brown. In Texas, in a demonstration of what he calls "quantum-jump thinking of what the future might look like", thy're building a wind-harvesting industry that will produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity. This is a huge advance for the economical commitment to renewable resources. [Full Story] PINK SOLAR CELLS CAN PRODUCE POWER AT 25% OF CURRENT COST As environmental groups, lobbyists and the general public push for more environmentally friendly industrial practices, scientists are finding innovative ways to bring down costs and increase the efficiency of renewable resources. The dye-sensitive solar cells (DSSC), with a pinkish sheen, now being developed at Ohio State University, are an example of the type of engineering innovation that could bring about a genuine green-power revolution. [Full Story]
ENERGY POLICY, OR THE UNNECESSARY PROLONGATION OF AN INEFFICIENT STATUS QUO? The US Congress is still working on producing legislation that would bring together federal law and executive regulatory policy in one comprehensive national energy strategy. The special consulting group organized in 2001 by the vice president wanted nuclear plants and "clean coal", but both carry huge costs for preventing or reversing high levels of contamination, and neither is broadly considered the "future" by scientific consensus. [Full Story] DISTILLERY DEMAND FOR GRAIN TO FUEL CARS VASTLY UNDERSTATED Investment in fuel ethanol distilleries has soared since the late-2005 oil price hikes, but data collection in this fast-changing sector has fallen behind. Because of inadequate data collection on the number of new plants under construction, the quantity of grain that will be needed for fuel ethanol distilleries has been vastly understated. Farmers, feeders, food processors, ethanol investors, and grain-importing countries are basing decisions on incomplete data. [Full Story] GEOTHERMAL: WEST DIGS DEEP FOR THE NEXT BIG THING IN POWER Geothermal energy is increasingly being touted by scientists and researchers as one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly sources of power available. Currently, geothermal sources supply enough energy, 2,800 megawatts, to run 2.8 million American homes. [Full Story] WORKING OUT THE KINKS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY'S GREATEST PROMISE: WIND POWER Opponents of wind-harvested power generation —usually lobbying for subsidies or public support for fossil fuels purveyors, but also including conservationists— like to crow that giant turbines kill birds, destroy pristine habitat and even "emit" carbon dioxide indirectly. The gist: that an "environmentally friendly" power source is in point of fact not so environmentally friendly. [Full Story] GLOBAL WIND POWER EXPANDS IN 2006 Global wind electricity-generating capacity increased by 24 percent in 2005 to 59,100 megawatts. This represents a twelvefold increase from a decade ago, when world wind-generating capacity stood at less than 5,000 megawatts. Wind is the world’s fastest-growing energy source with an average annual growth rate of 29 percent over the last ten years. In contrast, over the same time period, coal use has grown by 2.5 percent per year, nuclear power by 1.8 percent, natural gas by 2.5 percent, and oil by 1.7 percent. [Full Story] THE WORLD AFTER OIL PEAKS Peak oil is described as the point where oil production stops rising and begins its inevitable long-term decline. In the face of fast-growing demand, this means rising oil prices. But even if oil production growth simply slows or plateaus, the resulting tightening in supplies will still drive the price of oil upward, albeit less rapidly, and in a world of declining oil production, no country can use more oil except at the expense of others. [Full Story] 'THE WIND RUSH IS ON' IN TEXAS State authorities in Texas have announced plans to build the nation's largest offshore wind farm. The facility would be built about 10 miles off Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico and would consist of 500 wind-harvesting turbines, 400 feet in height. [Full Story] THE COMING DECLINE OF OIL When the price of oil climbed above $50 a barrel in late 2004, public attention began to focus on the adequacy of world oil supplies —and specifically on when production would peak and begin to decline. Analysts are far from a consensus on this issue, but several prominent ones now believe that the oil peak is imminent. [Full Story] U.S. MAYORS RESPOND TO WASHINGTON LEADERSHIP VACUUM ON CLIMATE CHANGE Recognizing that global warming may fast be approaching the point of no return and that the world cannot wait for the U.S. government to act, hundreds of U.S. city mayors have pledged to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. By signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, these mayors —representing some 44 million Americans— have committed their cities to meet or beat the U.S. emissions reduction target in the Kyoto Protocol, despite the federal government’s refusal to ratify that treaty. [Full Story] WIND ENERGY DEMAND BOOMING When Austin Energy, the publicly owned utility in Austin, Texas, launched its GreenChoice program in 2000, customers opting for green electricity paid a premium. During the fall of 2005, climbing natural gas prices pulled conventional electricity costs above those of wind-generated electricity, the source of most green power. This crossing of the cost lines in Austin and several other communities is a milestone in the U.S. shift to a renewable energy economy. [Full Story] GREEN LIGHT FOR RENEWABLE FUELS Renewable fuels have enjoyed a lot of attention in recent months, in a market driven by escalating oil costs, strained fuel stocks, worsening environmental degradation, and promises by the G8 to reduce carbon emissions. Revelations about the vulnerabilities inherent in the fossil fuel infrastructure, together with new technological advances in wind- and solar-based power generation mean renewables are now directly competitive with traditional fuel sources. [Full Story] CARTERET ATOLLS OFFICIALLY TO EVACUATE PLANET'S FIRST CLIMATE CHANGE REFUGEES On 26 November, the Guardian newspaper first reported that inhabitants of the Carteret atolls, six islands which form part of Papua New Guinea, in the southwest Pacific, have been subject to the first officially mandated permanent climate change evacuations. Rising sea levels have placed the circular grouping of six islands in serious danger of permanent inundation, and have left the soil useless for harvesting traditional foods. [Full Story] WHY WIND IS SMARTER Wind energy offers something no carbon-based fuel can offer: zero emissions, zero cleanup, local control and reasonable local supply everywhere on Earth, and it is 100% non-climate disruptive and essentially infinitely renewable. In fact, the overall global wind resource far exceeds our capacity even to harness or to use it. As of 2003, Pentagon-commissioned research had found that just 3 wind-rich midwestern states possess sufficient wind resources to power the entire US economy with existing wind-turbine technology. [Full Story] WORLD'S FRESH WATER RAPIDLY BEING DEPLETED, GLOBAL SHORTAGE FEARED The United Nations has been pushing for some time for a global strategy to deal with the looming scarcity of fresh water. A BBC report from June 2000 indicated 1 in 5 of all living human beings already lacks access to safe drinking water. Dramatically making the point that our oceans cannot solve the problem, the report says "Only 2.5% of the world's water is not salty, and two-thirds of that is locked up in the icecaps and glaciers." Immediately available, clean fresh water, not contaminated by industrial chemicals, parasites or natural toxins, simply does not exist in the abundance needed... [Full Story] HEAD OF SHELL OIL SAYS WORLD ENDANGERED BY CO2 EMISSIONS Ron Oxburgh, chairman of Shell, says he is "really very worried for the planet", due to the effects of climate change as brought on by excessive emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide. He specifically suggested there is an urgent need to begin the complex process of sequestration, which effectively contains CO2 emissions, thus reducing their release into the atmosphere. Lord Oxburgh added that "No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are pumping out at present". Robin Oakley, from Greenpeace, called for Lord Oxburgh to work to convince his counterparts throughout the oil industry who still wish not to act to abate climate change, or indeed deny the very science at issue. The Guardian newspaper noted a 3,000m deep ice core from Antarctica shows carbon dioxide levels "are the highest for at least 440,000 years". [Full Story] BONN CONFERENCE CALLS FOR WORLDWIDE COMMITMENT TO RENEWABLE RESOURCES The Renewables 2004 global conference in Bonn, Germany, has resulted in recommendations for more aggressive research and development of renewable energy resources. Citing persistent unrest in oil rich countries, the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels, along with soaring prices and the economic problems associated with any finite resource, the conference noted the benefits to economic and political security of using resources that are local, clean and renewable. Renewable resources were also put forth as a solution to poverty and marginalization: rural communities have historically been deprived of the resources of urban centers, and as many as 2 billion people worldwide still have no access to electricity. Developing countries are beginning to see the economic and political benefits of renewable resources. [Full Story] SAUDIS HAVE U.S. OVER A BARREL In 1970, a bushel of wheat could be traded for a barrel of oil in the world market. It now takes nine bushels of wheat to buy a barrel of oil. The two countries most affected by the dramatically shifting terms of trade between grain and oil are the United States and Saudi Arabia. The United States, the world's largest importer of oil and its largest exporter of grain, is paying for this shift in the wheat-oil exchange rate with higher gasoline prices. The nine-fold shift is also driving the largest U.S. trade deficit in history, which in turn is raising external debt to a record level, weakening the U.S. economy. [Full Story] 23-MILE-LONG OIL SLICK THREATENS OREGON WATERS A large spill of oil, laced with banned carcinogenic PCB's, was released into the Columbia River, from the transformer of a major Dam. A "rainbow-hued streak" stretched for 23 miles, according to observers along the river's banks. After several days flowing downstream, the slick had reached the Bonneville dam, 40 miles away, but was no longer in full view at the surface. [Full Story] HYDROGEN HITS NEW MEXICO Toyota has introduced its first full-sized hydrogen fuel-cell powered SUV to New Mexico. Governor Bill Richardson, who organized the visit, says he wants his state to become the hydrogen fuel-cell research capital of the nation. The vehicle runs entirely on hydrogen and emits only water vapor as exhaust. [Full Story] WRI OFFERS 6 ISSUES TO WATCH This morning, Jonathan Lash, President of the World Resources Institute, presented a list of 6 major environmental issues to watch in 2004. As current trends in economics, industry and international politics show environmental degradation ongoing, with no clear established governing authority to scale back pollution, pressures on the environment are likely to bring these issues to the fore in the coming year. [Full Story] WIND POWER SET TO BECOME WORLD'S LEADING ENERGY SOURCE In 1991, a national wind resource inventory taken by the U.S. Department of Energy startled the world when it reported that the three most wind-rich Advances in wind turbine design since 1991 allow turbines to operate at lower wind speeds, to harness more of the wind's energy, and to harvest it AIR POLLUTION FATALITIES NOW EXCEED TRAFFIC FATALITIES BY THREE TO ONE The World Health Organization reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times the 1 million who die each year in automobile accidents. A study published in The Lancet in 2000 concluded that air pollution in France, Austria, and Switzerland is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths annually in those three countries. About half of these deaths can be traced to air pollution from vehicle emissions. In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually. U.S. air pollution deaths are equal to deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. [Full Story]
More at Sentido's Environment & Ecology archives...
THE CLOUD: South Asia is gasping under a two mile thick cloud of toxic pollutants and carcinogens. This mega-smog is caused by industrial and automotive emissions, and is said to be killing half a million people a year. It is so vast that it is altering some of the most powerful, established weather systems on the planet. And its influence is not restricted to South Asia. It is estimated that the cloud is capable of reaching half-way around the globe at any given time, meaning that the Americas may be seeing environmental impact from this unfettered pollution. [Keep reading] |
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