The US Office of Personnel Management falls victim to massive data breach - but what can be learnt from this latest cyberattack? The US Office of Personnel Management has confirmed reports of a massive data breach hitting its systems, with the personal information of over 4 million government employees compromised.
How do you measure the value of your social media efforts? Social media is now a vital aspect of today's business world. Regardless of industry, businesses and corporations are taking to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a host of other platforms in order to engage with customers and boost brand awareness.
Ovum's recent Decision Matrix, 'Selecting a Mobile App Development Platform Solution, 2015-16', ranked different providers in terms of their technological capabilities, execution and market share. Kony, Salesforce and IBM were recognised as some of the leaders in the category
Will support energy efficiency efforts nationwide that will create 87,000 jobs and cut energy bills for families
Washington DC -- Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Chu today detailed an investment of nearly $8 billion in state and local weatherization and energy efficiency efforts as part of the President's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With an investment of about $5 billion through the Weatherization Assistance Program and about $3 billion for the State Energy Program, the Department of Energy will partner with state and local governments to put 87,000 Americans to work and save families hundreds of dollars per year on their energy bills.
To jump-start job creation and weatherization work, the Department of Energy is releasing the first installment of the funding - about $780 million -- in the next few days. The Department will release additional funding over time as states demonstrate that they are using the funding effectively and responsibly to create jobs and cut energy use.
New Study: 10 billion tonne saving in CO2 possible with wind energy by 2020:
Wind power is key technology to prevent dangerous climate change.
Wind power could produce 12% of the world's energy needs and save 10 billion tones of CO2 within 12 years, according to a new report published today.
The 'Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008', published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace International, looks at the global potential of wind power up to 2050 and found that it could play a key part in achieving a decline in emissions by 2020, which the IPCC indicates is necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.7By 2020, wind power could save as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year, which would add up to over 10 billion tonnes in this timeframe. The report also explains how wind energy can provide up to 30% of the world's electricity by the middle of the century.
The IHT has a report on a plan by Matt Simmons and George Hart to build the world's largest wind farm in the gulf of Maine - Plans for the world's biggest wind farm.
It is not the usual green suspect. But it hopes to build a 5-gigawatt, deep-water wind farm - the largest in the world, equal to the output from five nuclear plants.
"It" is the Ocean Energy Institute, a tiny research organization founded by Matthew Simmons. An energy investment banker who specializes in oil and gas, Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush. His main partner, George Hart, is a physicist who consults for the Pentagon on the Strategic Defense Initiative, where he uses supercomputers for the mathematical modeling of complex systems. He also co-invented a laser used for eye surgery and semiconductor manufacturing.
Expatriate Australian solar power company Ausra was one of the companies that featured heavily in my post on concentrating solar thermal power earlier in the year.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened Ausra's first plant, a 5 MW plant at Kimberlina in central California (the first to open in 20 years) which will generate enough electricity during peak hours to power 3,500 homes. Ausra's next plant will be a 177 MW plant nearby in San Luis Obispo County.
The SMH quoted Schwarzenegger as saying "This next generation solar power plant is further evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology is here to stay, and it will lead to more California homes and businesses powered by sunshine. Not only will this large-scale solar facility generate power to help us meet our renewable energy goals, it will also generate new jobs as California continues to pioneer clean-tech industry".
With fossil fuel prices escalating and countries searching for ways to reduce oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions, capturing the earth's heat for power generation is garnering new attention. First begun in Larderello, Italy, in 1904, electricity generation using geothermal energy is now taking place in 24 countries, 5 of which use it to produce 15 percent or more of their total electricity. In the first half of 2008, total world installed geothermal power capacity passed 10,000 megawatts and now produces enough electricity to meet the needs of 60 million people, roughly the population of the United Kingdom. In 2010, capacity could increase to 13,500 megawatts across 46 countries-equivalent to 27 coal-fired power plants.
A while back we reported (with some skepticism) a report coming out of China that said they would be producing over 100 gigawatts of wind by 2020, a 1,500% increase.
Little did I know that the United States was, at the same time, on track to actually beat that! A report from Emerging Energy Research, a cleantech consulting firm, points out that the U.S. is now the world's fastest growing market for wind power. Last year 5 gigawatts of wind power were installed, and 2008 will break the record again with 8 new gigawatts under construction. The U.S. will shortly be the world's largest producer of wind energy, surpassing Germany's 22 gigawatts.
Exxon Mobil agreed to pay out 75 percent of a $507.5 million (276 million pounds) damages ruling to settle the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported on Tuesday.
Citing both Exxon and the plaintiff's lawyer, the Anchorage Daily News said the oil giant will release about $383 million for distribution to the nearly 33,000 commercial fishermen and others who sued Exxon after the worst tanker crash in U.S. history.