Published on July 25th, 2008
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Two low-flying unmanned aircraft are cruising over Greenland this month to closely observe the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to global sea level rise in the coming century. The flights will help scientists determine whether the ice sheet’s melt rate will accelerate in the future.
The drones are flying out of Ilulissat, half way up Greenland’s west coast, for three weeks through the end of this month. Scientists studying the rapidly vanishing Greenland ice sheet need to fill gaps in their data that was collected through satellite imagery.
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Published on July 22nd, 2008
30 steps to a more sustainable you!
7-22-2008. A quarter of a year has gone by since I posted my Earth Day blog offering 22 suggestions to change your lifestyle
Have you made any changes in the last 3 months?
I’ll trust that you have, and in case you’ve done so well that you’ve incorporated ALL 22 suggestions into your daily routine, I have added 8 more in this post (following the original 22) to make it an even 30.
After going through the list please use the comments section to add to my list and/or to explain why you’ve done so well (or poorly) in the last 3 months.
From Earth Day post:
1. Buy a rain barrel. You can’t drink the collected water, but you can water your lawn and wash your car with it. You’ll save thousands of gallons per year in the process!
2. Turn off your TV!!! At least limit your TV watching!
3. Drive less. Walk, bike, skip, skate, and stroll, more. This way you can get some fresh air while running an errand, and you’ll feel (and look) better in the long run.
4. Use natural fertilizers on your lawn and garden. Harsh chemicals found in conventional fertilizers are bad for your lawn and all who play on it. Also, it harms our groundwater supply.
5. Replace old bulbs with CFL’s and/or LED’s.
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Published on July 10th, 2008
T. Boone Pickens has captured America’s attention with his PickensPlan for energy. He recently testified in front of the US Senate and provided them with some excellent information about oil and gas depletion, asked repeatedly for them to continue supplying the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and described how there were perfectly located corridors in the US that were the “Saudia Arabia” of wind.
He has been running advertisements on major media outlets describing a clear challenge - America now sends $700 Billion across its borders every year to purchase oil.
Pickens has a plan to reduce that number and he intends to share the details of the plan during the coming weeks. He has been an oilman all his life; that has made him a strong believer in Peak Oil.
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Published on July 6th, 2008
Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) has introduced legislation to establish a feed-in tariff (FIT) for renewable energy. Feed-in tariffs have made Germany a solar powerhouse that employs 40,000 people in the solar industry alone, and an estimated 140,000 jobs in renewable energy. FITs have not been a topic of discussion in this country, but now that is sure to change, as the conversation shifts to ways to finance the growth of renewable energy. Renewable Energy World reports that:
“Inslee’s legislation would require utilities — at the request of any new renewable energy facility owner — to enter into a 20-year fixed-rate power purchase agreement. Uniform national “renewable energy payment” rates would be set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at levels that would provide a 10% internal rate of return on investment for available commercialized technologies in regions constituting the top 30th percentile of renewable energy resource potential in the U.S..”
In plain English, this means that if you install solar PV panels on your home, the utility has to buy the electricity you generate at a higher rate than retail, guaranteeing you a return on your investment. Extending this power purchase agreement for 20 years gives everyone — especially those who want to invest in renewables or start a small business installing solar panels — assurance of return on their investment.
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Published on June 24th, 2008
Captain John Smith has returned from a 400 year slumber and decided to run for President of the United States. His platform is based on a drive to restore water quality in the nation’s streams, rivers and bays. He does not believe that his issue is getting enough attention in this election season; that is why he has made the trip to his future, our present.
This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending nearly all of my waking hours at his campaign headquarters, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Merrill Center. It is one of only about 50 Leed Platinum Certified buildings in the world. Unlike certain former presidential candidates who talk green and act a bit differently, Captain Smith apparently practices as well as he preaches.
The Merrill Center’s entrance road is lined with “Vote John Smith for President” signs, there are banners hanging in the soaring lobby, and one of the campaign volunteers offered me brochures, buttons, and a tee shirt. I am wearing the tee shirt as I write, but it is really early in the morning so I am sure I do not want to share that visual with the world.
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Published on June 11th, 2008
As part of the Kyoto protocol, Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs) were created to help developing countries lower carbon emissions while continuing development. The program is administered by the United Nations and is supposed to work like this:
Company A must meet targets requiring lower carbon emissions, but it is expensive to do so in its own country, so it invests in Company B in, let’s say, China. Company B is supposed to use these investments (CDMs) to develop energy sources with lower carbon emissions, such as solar, wind, etc. The world wins when this mechanism creates fewer worldwide carbon emissions. Patrick McCully, Executive Director of International Rivers, is sharply criticizing this program because he has found evidence of polluters gaming the system. His article in Renewable Energy World is long and informative, but I’ll summarize here:
- Coal and oil companies and destructive dam builders, and even some wind and solar companies, are using the CDMs as an income generator for projects that they would have built anyway, even without the CDMs. (Only projects that would have NOT been built without the CDMs are considered eligible. This “additionality” has been impossible to monitor.)
- But it gets worse. (Now stay with me as I introduce another acronym.) CDMs qualify as CERs, or “Certified Emission Reduction” credits, and companies who pollute can use them to achieve their carbon emission reduction targets. McCully’s point is that CDMs + CERs = carbon disaster, because some companies may make more money creating pollution and then taking CERs to mitigate it than by simply not polluting. He uses an extreme example to illustrate:
Image credit: Atmospheric CO2 concentrations measured at Mauna Loa Observatory.
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Published on June 5th, 2008
As Americans spend $41 million in foreign oil an hour and are left broke at the pump, what plan does Obama have to solve this problem?
Oil is destined to be a heated issue in this upcoming presidential election and Barack Obama’s opposition to the gas tax “holiday” has already been a hot topic. Obama has made it clear that national energy policy needs to be taken in a new direction.
“We send a billion dollars to foreign nations every single day and we are melting the polar ice caps in the bargain,” said Obama. “That has to change.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Published on June 4th, 2008
Australian wave power generators inspired by nature’s know-how are meeting their development goals and have the potential to leave other renewable power sources in their wake.
Biopower Systems is just one of the wave-energy developers gaining attention by meeting its technological goals and backing this up with investment support. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 2nd, 2008
Geo-Engineering is “the deliberate modification of Earth’s environment on a large scale “to suit human needs and promote habitability”‘ (via Wikipedia). Until recently it was the stuff of science fiction, a god-like power regulated to unseen aliens or super-futuristic societies. Occasionally planetary catastrophe also ensued.
Yet with climate change and global warming sparking alarm across the globe, some scientists have started to explore the possibility of altering the natural environment on a global scale. Several strategies are outlined below: Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 21st, 2008
With summer right around the corner, restless employees are eagerly scratching at the doors to get out of the office and slip into their fantasy vacations. One thing that we should all consider is the impact that our summer travel is going to have on the very places that we are dying to get out and enjoy.
Fortunately, some hotels and travel companies are getting the message and are making changes to help conserve and reduce impact. Several options exist to minimize your footprint on the road and in the skies this summer.
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