Group items tagged article - Save The Planet

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Bloom Energy Promises Cheap, Emissions-Free Power From a Small Box | Popular Science - 0 views

shared by Skeptical Debunker on 22 Feb 10 - Cached

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The Bloom Box idea came from K.R. Sridhar, a former NASA rocket scientist who once built a similar box device to generate oxygen on Mars for future colonists. Sridhar simply turned the concept on its head by pumping oxygen into the box, along with fuel. The oxygen and fuel combine within a new type of fuel cell to create the chemical reaction that makes electricity. There's also no need for power lines coming in from an outside source, and Sridhar envisions the box eventually providing energy wirelessly to homes and businesses. That could do away with traditional power plants and the power grid. Such transformative power may only come about if the Bloom Box fuel cells can work reliably and efficiently -- other fuel cell technologies have proven notoriously finicky. Sridhar makes his fuel cells based on cheap sand-based ceramics, coated with special green and black "inks" that allow for the chemical reaction which makes electricity. One of the simple disks can power a light bulb, and a stack of 64 disks with cheap metal plates in between them can supposedly power a Starbucks. And unlike fuel cells that require pure hydrogen, the Bloom Box can use fuels ranging from natural gas to bio-gas.
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Skeptical Debunker on 22 Feb 10

A boxy power plant that could one day produce efficient, inexpensive, clean energy in every home might sound like a pipe dream, but it's the very real product of a Silicon Valley startup called Bloom Energy. Twenty large corporations that include Google, FedEx, Walmart and eBay have already purchased and begun testing the Bloom Boxes. 60 Minutes recently got a sneak peek at this possibly game-changing energy device.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">A boxy power plant that could one day produce efficient, inexpensive, clean energy in every home might sound like a pipe dream, but it's the very real product of a Silicon Valley startup called Bloom Energy. Twenty large corporations that include Google, FedEx, Walmart and eBay have already purchased and begun testing the Bloom Boxes. 60 Minutes recently got a sneak peek at this possibly game-changing energy device.</div>

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Skeptical Debunker on 22 Feb 10

Here's SOME of the "rubs". How long will the device's last and what are the maintenance costs (if any)? What will the cost of the fuel be and how much is used? Will the manufacturing process "scale up nicely" (and easily) so that "economies of scale" will actually bring the price of a home-system down to around $3-5K? Will the price of the system, its maintenance, and fuel actually come out to be significantly less than the price of "grid delivered" electricity? Without "good enough" answers to such questions, this system may be more of a good remote generation facility than a grid replacement.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Here's SOME of the "rubs". How long will the device's last and what are the maintenance costs (if any)? What will the cost of the fuel be and how much is used? Will the manufacturing process "scale up nicely" (and easily) so that "economies of scale" will actually bring the price of a home-system down to around $3-5K? Will the price of the system, its maintenance, and fuel actually come out to be significantly less than the price of "grid delivered" electricity? Without "good enough" answers to such questions, this system may be more of a good remote generation facility than a grid replacement.</div>

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Earth Summit is doomed to fail, say leading ecologists - environment - 10 February 2012... - 0 views

www.newscientist.com/...il-say-leading-ecologists.html biodiversity earth summit environment sustainability climate change

shared by Benno Hansen on 13 Feb 12 - No Cached

"We are disillusioned. The current political system is broken," said Bob Watson, the UK government's chief environmental science advisor
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"Last time in Rio we had an unreasonable faith in governments. Since then we've lost our innocence in believing government was wise and benevolent and far-sighted. That's been blown completely out of the water," said Camilla Toulmin, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, a non-profit organisation based in London.
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"The UN text [for the summit declaration] is weak," said energy researcher José Goldemberg, who was Brazil's environment secretary at the time of the first summit.
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Syukuro Manabe, a climate modeller at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "the political system is not motivated to worry about the future".
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"Decision-makers should learn from and scale up grass-roots action and knowledge in areas like energy, food, water and natural resources," the panel declared.
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Chevron fined $8bn over Amazon 'contamination' | Dominic Rushe | Environment | The Guar... - 0 views

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shared by Benno Hansen on 15 Feb 11 - No Cached

An Ecuadorian judge has ruled that Chevron was responsible for widespread contamination of the country's Amazon basin and fined the company $8bn (£5bn).
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far below the $27.3bn sought by the plaintiffs – and they may appeal
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The epic and bitterly fought lawsuit over the "Amazon Chernobyl" has been going on for 18 years. It was brought on behalf of 30,000 people whose health and environment were allegedly damaged by chemical-laden waste water dumped by Texaco's operations from 1972 to 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.
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Chevron had claimed that Ecuador was violating the terms of a 1997 trade pact with the US.
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According to a report by Sweden's Umeå International School of Public Health more than 30bn gallons of toxic wastes and crude oil had been discharged into the land and waterways of Ecuador's Amazon basin - or "Oriente". This compares to the 10.8m gallons spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 in Alaska or 205m gallons spilt in BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster. The report claims there are at least two big oil spills per week in the area. Printable version Send to a friend Share Clip Contact us larger | smaller Environment Pollution · Oil · Energy Business Oil · Commodities World news Ecuador More news Related 7 Jun 2010 Exxon Mobil argues against knee-jerk reaction to Gulf oil spill 31 Aug 2010 Greenland's prime minister lambasts Greenpeace for raiding Arctic oil rig 7 May 2010 Chevron wins access to film-maker's Amazon pollution footage 1 Dec 2010 A climate journey - The Andes: Ecuador's rainforests
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6 Questions to ask Yourself to Ensure You're Labor-Law Compliant - 0 views

zipschedules.com/...r-and-employment-law-compliant employment law labor laws Legal Minimum Wage employee schedules

shared by Shipra Singh on 06 Oct 15 - No Cached

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Environmental progress looks south | Blog | Ode Magazine - 0 views

www.odemagazine.com/...ronmental_progress_looks_south environment law kenya ecuador

shared by Benno Hansen on 27 Sep 10 - No Cached

the overdeveloped nations of the world need to follow the example of their poor neighbors to the south, which dump far fewer pollutants into the global commons
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these are the places where precious biodiversity, rainforests and other ecological treasures still exist - the natural ecosystems of Europe and North American were largely ravaged a century ago
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In 2008, Ecuador became the first nation in the world to enshrine the rights of nature in its constitution. The document now asserts that nature "has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution"
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Kenya adopted a new constitution that declares in Article 42, "Every person has the right to a clean and healthy environment, which includes the right - a) to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through legislative and other measures."
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Article 69 of the new constitution also holds the state responsible for maintaining tree cover over at least ten percent of the nation’s land; for encouraging public participation in protecting and managing the environment; protecting indigenous knowledge of biodiversity; and establishing systems of environmental impact assessment.
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Plant life saved Earth from an icy fate - environment - 02 July 2009 - New Scientist - 0 views

www.newscientist.com/...ed-earth-from-an-icy-fate.html

shared by Benno Hansen on 13 Jul 09 - Cached

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Delivering Health, Wealth and Water, Drip by Drip - 0 views

featured.matternetwork.com/...lth-wealth-water-drip_6552.cfm solar power drip irrigation third world benefits efficiency

shared by Skeptical Debunker on 03 Mar 10 - Cached

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Solar-powered drip irrigation enhances food security in the Sudano–Sahel documents a field research project which found that: "solar-powered drip irrigation significantly augments both household income and nutritional intake, particularly during the dry season, and is cost effective compared to alternative technologies" Over the decades, irrigation has been shown to greatly increase agricultural productivity. Drip irrigation is spreading rapidly in Africa, with significant benefits. "Drip irrigation delivers water (and fertilizer) directly to the roots of plants, thereby improving soil moisture conditions; in some studies, this has resulted in yield gains of up to 100%, water savings of up to 40–80%, and associated fertilizer, pesticide, and labor savings over conventional irrigation systems" The solar-powered systems, however, look to offer the potential for even better results. From the study on impacts of PVDI systems it was reported: "The women’s agricultural group members utilizing the PVDI systems became strong net producers in vegetables with extra income earned from sales, significantly increasing their purchases of staples, pulses, and protein during the dry season, and oil during the rainy season. Finally, survey respondents were asked how frequently they were unable to meet their household food needs. Based on the frequency and most recent incident, households were assigned a food insecurity score ranging from zero (no problems during the previous year) to one (perpetually unable to meet food needs). This score changed significantly for project beneficiaries, as they were 17% less likely to feel chronically food-insecure. In short, the PVDI systems had a remarkable effect on both year-round and seasonal food access."
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Skeptical Debunker on 03 Mar 10

Several weeks ago, a group of researchers published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documenting how relatively low-powered solar systems offer the potential to increase food supplies in impoverished arid regions while reducing demands for fertilizers and other costly (in fiscal and other terms) additives.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Several weeks ago, a group of researchers published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documenting how relatively low-powered solar systems offer the potential to increase food supplies in impoverished arid regions while reducing demands for fertilizers and other costly (in fiscal and other terms) additives.</div>

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