Top 7 alternative energies listed

The US could replace all its cars and trucks with electric cars powered by wind turbines taking up less than 3 square kilometres - in theory, at least. That's the conclusion of a detailed study ranking 11 types of non-fossil fuels according to their total ecological footprint and their benefit to human health.

The study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy. Biofuels from corn and plant waste came right at the bottom of the list, along with nuclear power and "clean" coal.

Watch a video of Jacobson discussing his findings.

The energy sources that Jacobson found most promising were, in descending order:

• Wind
• Concentrated solar power (mirrors heating a tower of water)
• Geothermal energy
• Tidal energy
• Solar panels
• Wave energy
• Hydroelectric dams

To compare the fuels, Jacobson calculated the impacts each would have if it alone powered the entire US fleet of cars and trucks.

He considered not just the quantities of greenhouse gases that would be emitted, but also the impact the fuels would have on the ecosystem - taking up land and polluting water, for instance. Also considered were the fuel's impact on pollution and therefore human health, the availability of necessary resources, and the energy form's reliability.

"The energy alternatives that are good are not the ones that people have been talking about the most," says Jacobson.

"Some options that have been proposed are just downright awful," he says. "Ethanol-based biofuels will actually cause more harm to human health, wildlife, water supply, and land use than current fossil fuels."

Top 7 alternative energies listed
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:01:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: alternative energy,photovoltaic,wind power,tidal,geothermal,hydroelectric,ocean power

Religious groups join the green movement

BY Madoline Markham

COLUMBIA — People of faith in Columbia are uniting to join in a national movement to discuss how their religions speak to environmental concerns. This discussion centers on sharing ideas on how they and their religious institutions can better steward the earth and educate others to do so.

Religious groups are growing increasingly active in environmental efforts to "care for creation." In contrast to other cultural issues, there is a strong consensus across faith groups regarding environmental policy, according to a 2004 Pew Forum survey.

“They are beginning to take action to protect the environment not because they are members of a secular group but because it’s an act of faith,” said former Los Angeles Times reporter Larry Stammer at a Care for Creation event in Columbia in September. “Basically, they say if God created everything, then how can we hate something God created? And so what you have here is not the Sierra Club with prayer but people acting out of a totally different motivation, that is, their belief in God, or their faith.”

Religious groups join the green movement

Technorati Tags: religion,environmental restoration

Chicago plans gargantuan 1140 acre LEED neighborhood development

Looks like Chicago city planners have big ideas for a 1140 acre swathe of land in South Chicago.  The spot is former U.S. Steel land, and planners have been mulling development options for the spot since about 2000.  Now, they'd like to submit a proposal for a green development with sustainable neighborhoods, green buildings, street cars, and bicycle paths, etc.

Officially referred to as the "South Chicago LEED Neighborhood Development Initiative," the plan would be rated by the USGBC's LEED-ND pilot program and would unravel over roughly 20-30 years. 

The gargantuan development aims to mix smart growth, mixed uses, and LEED-ND guidelines to create a livable, vibrant, sustainable new community in South Chicago.  It's certainly one of the boldest initiatives going on across the nation right now. 

Early on, one of the challenges with the plan was figuring out what to do with 573 acres of No Man's Land, a desolate area covered in slag (a rock-hard by product of making steel).  They fixed that by taking excess sediment from the Illinois River and covering slag with it.  Now, the area is growing plants and very well might become the foundation to one of the largest green developments in the U.S.

Chicago Plans Gargantuan 1140 Acre LEED Neighborhood Development
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:17:52 GMT

Technorati Tags: green economy,green construction

First-ever estimate of global fish biomass and impact on climate change

Via Ocean Acidification:

Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? University of British Columbia fisheries researcher Villy Christensen gives the first-ever estimate of total fish biomass in our oceans: Two billion tonnes.

And fish play a previously unrecognized but significant role in mitigating climate change by maintaining the delicate pH balance of the oceans, according to a study published in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science, co-authored by Christensen and a team of international scientists.

“By drinking salt water, fish ingest a lot of calcium, which needs to be removed – or they will get renal stones,” says Christensen, an associate professor in the UBC Fisheries Centre.
The team discovered that fish do this by binding the calcium to bicarbonate, and then excreting it as pellets of calcium carbonate, a chalk-like substance also known as “gut rocks,” in a process completely separate from food digestion. For an animation of this process, visit www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/download.

As the calcium carbonate from these pellets dissolves, it turns the seawater more alkaline, which has relevance for ocean acidification, and is impacted by the ocean’s exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) with the atmosphere.

...

“This study really is the first glimpse of the huge impact fish have on our carbon cycle – and why we need them in the ocean,” says Christensen. “We must buck the current trend of clear-cutting of the oceans and foster these unrecognized allies against climate change.”

Brian Lin, EurekAlert, 15 January 2009. Article.

UBC researcher gives first-ever estimate of worldwide fish biomass and impact on climate change
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:15:27 GMT

Technorati Tags: acidification,global warming,overfishing

Magnetically levitated wind turbines

Orbiting Carbon Observatory will help track sources of rising carbon dioxide

Scientists still do not know precisely where all the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere comes from and where it goes. Now, they soon expect to get some answers to these and other compelling carbon questions, thanks to the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a new Earth-orbiting NASA satellite set to launch in early 2009.

Orbiting Carbon Observatory Will Help Track Sources Of Rising Carbon Dioxide
Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: global warming,carbon dioxide

Could ice-like cages be used to trap carbon dioxide underground?

Ice-like "cages" of gas trapped underground may offer a safe and efficient way to reduce global warming. Researchers are investigating the potential for permanently storing carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs, by locking the global-warming gas within solid, cage-like structures called hydrates.

Two U of C researchers are investigating the potential for permanently storing carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs, by locking the global-warming gas within solid, cage-like structures called hydrates.

“A main attraction of utilizing hydrates is CO2 storage, including in some depleted gas reservoirs near oilsands operations in northern Alberta,” says Mehran Pooladi-Darvish, professor of chemical and petroleum engineering in the Schulich School of Engineering.

“Once you get the CO2 into a reservoir that has the right conditions and it contacts the reservoir water and forms hydrates, it’s in a pretty stable form,” says Jocelyn Grozic, associate professor of civil engineering at Schulich.

The Alberta government has committed $2 billion to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, to reduce the industrial CO2 emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change.

Could Ice-like Cages Be Used To Trap Carbon Dioxide Underground?
Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration

Once-plentiful abalone put on endangered list

By Zeke Barlow

 

The black abalone that were once thick in the waters off the California coast earned a dubious distinction today when biologists took the final steps in putting the mollusk on the Endangered Species List.  ...

The wording in the listing of the abalone brings up how global warming may affect the endangered species if ocean temperatures were to rise. ...

The abalone, which were once found in great numbers off the Channel Islands, suffered a one-two punch that led to their rapid decline and population crash in the 1990s, said Melissa Neuman, a fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which published the listing in the Federal Register today. After 30 days, the listing becomes official.

Years of fishing greatly reduced the population numbers, but it was the “whithering syndrome” that was first found on Santa Cruz Island that dealt the devastating blow to the species, she said.

The disease, which spread rapidly among the population, prevents it from digesting food and the abalone in turn starts to absorb its own body mass, including its foot which attaches it to rocks and reefs.

They are now found in only a few places off the islands and off the mainland to the north. Recent surveys off Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands found about 320 in three places, said Kate Faulkner, chief of resources management of the Channel Islands National Park.

Once-plentiful abalone put on endangered list

Technorati Tags: extinction,global warming

Spain's high-speed trains win over fed-up flyers

Giles Tremlett in Madrid, The Guardian

Spain's sleek new high-speed trains have stolen hundreds of thousands of passengers from airlines over the last year, slashing carbon emissions and marking a radical change in the way Spaniards travel.

Passenger numbers on fuel-guzzling domestic flights fell 20% in the year to November as commuters and tourists swapped cramped airline seats for the space and convenience of the train, according to figures released yesterday.

High-speed rail travel - boosted by the opening of a line that slashed the journey time from Madrid to Barcelona to 2 hours 35 minutes in February - grew 28% over the same period. About 400,000 travellers shunned airports and opted for the 220mph AVE trains.

Last year's drop in air travel, which was also helped by new high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga, marks the beginning of what experts say is a revolution in Spanish travel habits.

In a country where big cities are often more than 500km (300 miles) apart, air travel has ruled supreme for more than 10 years. A year ago aircraft carried 72% of the 4.8 million long-distance passengers who travelled by air or rail. The figure is now down to 60%.

"The numbers will be equal within two years," said Josep Valls, a professor at the ESADE business school in Barcelona.

Spain's high-speed trains win over fed-up flyers

Technorati Tags: mass transit

Obama to add 20 GW of wind power within 3 years

From Red, Green, and Blue:

by Susan Kraemer

An aide to Obama said Friday that the administration plans to add 20 gigawatts (GW) or more of wind power and  4 GW of geothermal and solar power by 2012 through loan guarantees and fast tracked national renewable energy requirements, like the Renewable Portfolio Standard. Last May the U.S. Energy Department estimated wind power could provide almost a quarter of U.S. electricity.

Trade groups from the U.S. wind and solar industries were happy with the news, considering that the current economic environment for commercial credit has lowered all boats as it were, with all investment now endangered - not just investment in risky financial instruments, but even those investments in renewable energy that are essential to growing a stable economy.

No other country, in any single year, has added the volume of wind capacity that was added to the US electrical grid in 2007 with both wind and solar growing well over 40%, but with the credit crunch affecting all sectors of the economy, new projects could drop by as much as 50%, without help from the Federal government.

In response to the news, renewable energy shares soared following the announcement, with the rally continuing into Friday. The move was an about-face for many of those stocks, which have been battered by a string of recent earnings warnings from solar companies including Germany’s Q-Cells, U.S.-based MEMC Electronic Materials Inc , and China’s LDK Solar Co Ltd;.

Obama to Add 20 GW of Wind Power in 3 Years

Technorati Tags: wind power,renewable energy,Obama

Anti-science site wins Best Science Blog 2008

Last year it was the terrible ClimateAudit site, but at least it tied with the excellent Bad Astronomy site, after suspicious voting activity. This year, the denialists eked out a victory over cool evolution educator, PZ Myers. Which goes to show that science education still has a long way to go.

I haz a sad.

Best Science Blog

Technorati Tags: global warming,climate change,evolutionary biology

Nanotube superbatteries

Researchers at MIT have made pure, dense, thin films of carbon nanotubes that show promise as electrodes for higher-capacity batteries and supercapacitors. Dispensing with the additives previously used to hold such films together improved their electrical properties, including the ability to carry and store a large amount of charge.

Carbon nanotubes can carry and store more charge than other forms of carbon, in part because their nanoscale structure gives them a very large surface area. But conventional methods for making them into films leave significant gaps between individual nanotubes or require binding materials to hold them together. Both approaches reduce the films' conductivity--the ability to convey charge--and capacitance--the ability to store it.

The MIT group, led by chemical-engineering professor Paula Hammond and mechanical-engineering professor Yang Shao-Horn, made the new nanotube films using a technique called layer-by-layer assembly. First, the group creates water solutions of two kinds of nanotubes: one type has positively charged molecules bound to them, and the other has negatively charged molecules. The researchers then alternately dip a very thin substrate, such as a silicon wafer, into the two solutions. Because of the differences in their charge, the nanotubes are attracted to each other and hold together without the help of any glues. And nanotubes of similar charge repel each other while in solution, so they form thin, uniform layers with no clumping.

Nanotube Superbatteries
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: nanotechnology

Re-introduction of endangered plant monitored over 10 years for first time

An international team of researchers has carried out the first long-term study into the demographic dynamics of naturally-occurring and artificially-introduced plants of the same species. By using simultaneous monitoring, the scientists have identified biological and demographic features of the plants that could help to optimize conservation strategies.

The researchers carried out a programme between 1994 and 2004 to intensively monitor the germination, growth and reproduction of natural and introduced plants of the species Centaurea corymbosa, in order to evaluate the success of strategies to introduce the species, and to identify reasons why these fail.

“Very few long-term studies have analysed the success of such strategies, or looked at the critical demographic factors that could help improve them,” Miquel Riba, a researcher at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) at the UAB and one of the authors of the study, told SINC.

...

One of the study’s main conclusions was that it is easier to introduce natural and unique Mediterranean species by means of artificial seed dispersion rather than by restoring degraded habitat. For this reason, the researchers believe a programme to re-introduce many endemic plant species with a limited geographical range due to their poor colonisation capacity could be successful.

Re-introduction Of Plant In Danger Of Extinction Successfully Monitored Over 10 Years For First Time Ever
Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: environmental restoration

Scientists refute argument of climate skeptics

 

Scientists have investigated the frequency of warmer than average years between 1880 and 2006 for the first time. The result: the observed increase of warm years after 1990 is not a statistical accident.

Between 1880 and 2006 the average global annual temperature was about 15°C. However, in the years after 1990 the frequency of years when this average value was exceeded increased.

The GKSS Research Centre asks: is it an accident that the warmest 13 years were observed after 1990, or does this increased frequency indicate an external influence?

With the help of the so called "Monte-Carlo-Simulation“ the coastal researchers Dr. Eduardo Zorita and Professor Hans von Storch at the GKSS-Research Centre together with Professor Thomas Stocker from the University of Bern estimated that it is extremely unlikely that the frequency of warm record years after 1990 could be an accident and concluded that it is rather influenced by a external driver.

The fact that the 13 warmest years since 1880 could have occurred by accident after 1990 corresponds to a likelihood of no more than 1:10,000.

Scientists Refute Argument Of Climate Skeptics
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: global warming

California scientists create E.Coli-based fuel that's much more efficient than ethanol

U.S. scientists say they can turn E.coli, a strain of bacteria present in the human digestive tract, into a fuel that is twice or three times more efficient than ethanol. The scientists, attached to the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) managed to create a strain for the first time that generates alcohol with five carbon atoms per molecule instead of the regular two or three. That's important because the larger, longer chain molecules contain more energy, something of a "holy grail" for the fuel industry.

California Scientists Create E.Coli-based Fuel That's Much More Efficient Than Ethanol
Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: alternative energy,renewable energy,biofuel

Energy panel shake up signals action on climate

 

AP - A liberal Massachusetts Democrat will take over a House subcommittee that will play a major role in drafting legislation on global warming and other environmental issues.

Rep. Edward Markey, known for his tough stances on environmental issues, will replace Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat who has been friendly to the coal industry. Boucher had chaired the panel eight years.

Markey's appointment is another sign that House Democrats plan to aggressively tackle global warming and other environmental problems. He will take charge of an expanded subcommittee with broader jurisdiction, renamed Energy and Environment.

Markey already chairs a special committee set up in 2007 to focus on global warming and energy independence.

"I look forward to pursuing the legislative agenda on climate change and clean energy at this critical time," Markey said in a statement.

Energy panel shake up signals action on climate (AP)
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:18:50 GMT

Technorati Tags: global warming,alternative energy

First flight of algae-fuelled jet

A US airline has completed the first test flight of a plane partly powered by biofuel derived from algae.

The 90-minute flight by a Continental Boeing 737-800 went better than expected, a spokesperson said.

One of its engines was powered by a 50-50 blend of biofuel and normal aircraft fuel.

Wednesday's test is the latest in a series of demonstration flights by the aviation industry, which hopes to be using biofuels within five years.

The flight was the first by a US carrier to use an alternative fuel source, and the first in the world to use a twin-engine commercial aircraft (rather than a four-engine plane) to test a biofuel blend.

First flight of algae-fuelled jet

Technorati Tags: alternative energy,algae