Solid Tech Improvements Advance Practical Hybrids
| Too Many Leaves? Recycle Them! Leaves and other yard wastes account for more than 20 percent of Denver’s landfill waste. Try mulching and composting them instead, then recycle any excess leaves at one of five LeafDrop locations on Sundays in November (2, 9 & 16), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bagged leaves will be accepted at two additional sites on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. through December 5. The program is open to Denver residents only. |
| Biofuels more harmful to humans than petrol and diesel, warn scientists Some biofuels cause more health problems than petrol and diesel, according to scientists who have calculated the health costs associated with different types of fuel.The study shows that corn-based bioethanol, which is produced extensively in the US, has a higher combined environmental and health burden than conventional fuels. However, there are high hopes for the next generation of biofuels, which can be made from organic waste or plants grown on marginal land that is not used to grow foods. They have less than half the combined health and environmental costs of standard gasoline and a third of current biofuels. |
Thermoelectric Materials Can Increase Energy Efficiency It seems humans are facing the biggest challenge of the century i.e. to solve energy crisis. We are running the risk of exhausting fossil fuel reserves. Scientists all over the world are working hard to solve this problem. Researchers at the University of Arhus, Riso-DTU and the University of Copenhagen are banking heavily on [.]Posted in: Future Energy, Inventions |
Solid Tech Improvements Advance Practical Hybrids Although the idea of driving a hybrid vehicle (and getting a better car insurance rate for doing it) has become increasingly common for the automotive public, designers are still hotly contesting the best form “alternative” fuels should take and happily experimenting with everything from electrical and hydrogen-powered cars to those that run on compressed [.]Posted in: Hybrid Cars, Transportation |
| Bird behavior tied to warming. When it comes to global warming, the canary in the coal mine isn’t a canary at all. It’s a purple finch. |
| Amazon forest may get drier, but survive warming. Amazonian forests may be less vulnerable to dying off from global warming than feared because many projections underestimate rainfall, a study showed. |
| Gore to Lobby Lawmakers on Climate Change WASHINGTON (CNN) - Suggesting the planet will soon reach an irreversible “tipping point” of damage to the climate, former Vice President Al Gore plans to tell members of Congress on Wednesday that the U.S. needs to join international talks on a treaty.”This treaty must be negotiated this year,” he plans to say, according to a copy of remarks prepared for testimony. |
| Press Release: Schwarzenegger to Obama: Act on California Clean Cars Program (Washington — January 22, 2009) California’s Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday formally asked President Barack Obama to “immediately reconsider” the Bush administration’s denial of California’s Clean Car program to cut global warming pollution. In a letter calling the 2008 denial by the Bush administration’s EPA “fundamentally flawed,” Governor Schwarzenegger said approving California’s landmark program “will not only reduce these emissions, but will also save drivers money and reduce our nation’s dependence on imported oil.”
Derek Walker, Director of Environmental Defense Fund’s California Climate Initiative stated: “President Obama has committed to make respect for the rule of law a touchstone of his presidency. We salute that commitment and ask that he give California the right, unlawfully denied by the Bush administration, to implement its long-delayed plans to reduce global warming pollution from cars.”
In 2005, California asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to grant a preemption waiver under the Clean Air Act to enable California’s enforcement of the nation’s first ever program to reduce global warming pollution from motor vehicles. Under federal law, EPA shall grant California’s request to administer more protective motor vehicle emission standards unless EPA affirmatively finds that the state does not need the standards to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions. EPA denied California’s request in 2008, the first time in over thirty years EPA has issued a denial despite reviewing more than 50 waiver requests from California.
Thirteen states across the country have adopted California’s standards and are waiting favorable EPA action to enforce the greenhouse gas emission limitations, including: Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. States such as Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and Utah are considering adoption of the Clean Cars program. Collectively, motor vehicles in these states comprise about one-half of the U.S. market.
The U.S. auto industry has undertaken extensive litigation to derail the Clean Cars program in courts nationwide; all legal challenges have failed. Instead of litigating, these considerable resources could have been dedicated to innovating.
California’s program provides for a flexible fleetwide average to achieve the standards which were scheduled to take effect for new vehicles beginning in model year 2009. California estimates that by 2020, the standards would secure an 18 percent reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and a 27 percent reduction by 2030. The standards can be readily achieved through available engine technologies, cleaner fuels and mitigation of air conditioning emissions.
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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.
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Renewable Energy From Slow Water Currents We can use slow moving ocean and river waves for a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer has developed a device that acts like a fish that turns the potentially destructive vibrations in water into clean, renewable energy. This machine is named as VIVACE ( Vortex [.]Posted in: Future Energy, Hydro Power, Inventions, Tidal Power |
Boosting Solar Cell Power Scientists are continuously improving the existing solar cells. Now they are taking the help of computer simulations and real lab testing. A group of physicists and engineers at MIT have discovered new methods to make the existing solar cells more efficient by 50%. Currently the most efficient solar cell gives 45% output [.]Posted in: Future Energy, PhotoVoltaics, Solar Power |