February 2012
52 posts
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US licenses first nuclear reactors since 1978 →
It’s been 34 years — and several nuclear accidents later — but a divided federal panel on Thursday licensed a utility to build nuclear reactors in the U.S. for the first time since 1978.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, opposed licensing the two reactors at this time even though he had earlier praised their design.
“There is still...
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Air sampling reveals high emissions from gas field →
When US government scientists began sampling the air from a tower north of Denver, Colorado, they expected urban smog — but not strong whiffs of what looked like natural gas. They eventually linked the mysterious pollution to a nearby natural-gas field, and their investigation has now produced the first hard evidence that the cleanest-burning fossil fuel might not be much better than coal...
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Russian Scientists Bore Into Ancient Antarctic... →
COOL
The need to prevent even the slightest contamination of the lake is acute. Its environment is comparable to conditions on the moons of Jupiter, which are among the candidates for extraterrestrial life. If life exists in Vostok, it may well exist on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which has subsurface icy water. The water in Vostok stays liquid because of the pressure and the...
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Economics and Water Concerns Alter the Solar... →
Economics and Water Concerns Alter the Solar Landscape in the US West
Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:23
The falling price of photovoltaic panels and public concerns about aquifers and rivers in the western United States are boosting solar energy technologies that save water.
In December, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) approved a 300-megawatt (MW) solar energy project on public...
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Once, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels →
While this might seem like another trite pleading for eco-fairness, it’s actually getting at something deeper, in my opinion. The article is getting at the awareness issue that is ultimately at the core of both ‘slavery’ and how we deal with our energy needs. Slaves were once the source, and their usage drove society, built pyramids and empires and societies. Fossil fuels do take...
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Bbrg: India saw record $10.3bn clean energy... →
India powers onward…
Investment in India out-paces the rest of the world, thanks to the improving cost-competitiveness of wind and solar New Delhi, London and New York, 2 February 2012 – Clean energy investments in India reached $10.3bn in 2011, some 52% higher than the $6.8bn invested in 2010. This was the highest growth figure of any significant economy in the world. There is plenty of...
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GEC: Excellent Recap of recent energy/climate/tech... →
Loaded with good links!
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“STEALING FROM THE FUTURE
It’s a very key point that nine professional...”
– Global Warming: The Un-tellable Story, By Rebecca Novick
… I basically think about this quote almost every day of my life. If I’m alive for several more decades, I wonder what people are going to ask of me about this time that I grew up in?
I also found this fun to think about:
We...
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Letter to WSJ in spanking its editorial about... →
A number ofrealclimate scientists respond in a letter to the WSJ.
Ah the battle for the hearts and minds of the people continues.
You published “No Need to Panic About Global Warming” (op-ed, Jan. 27) on climate change by the climate-science equivalent of dentists practicing cardiology. While accomplished in their own fields, most of these authors have no expertise in climate...
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HuffPost: 'Gasland' Journalists Arrested At... →
Filed under “Things that do not contribute to democracy in the US”
Filed under “Why the energy discussion in the US still remains petty and immature”
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SEI: The inconvenient truth: Sunita Narain on how... →
Stockholm Environment Institute.
The term “Tough-sledding” comes to mind. An interesting perspective and opening anecdote…
Many years ago, in a desperately poor village in Rajasthan, people decided to plant trees on the land adjoining their pond so that its catchment would be protected. But this land belonged to the revenue department and people were fined for trespass. The...
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NYT For G.O.P., Pipeline Is Central to Agenda →
A good recap for what has happened so far and how KXL has become so politicized.
The amount of adds for ‘clean energy’ relating to KXL or natural gas development has definitely skyrocketed in the last few months. Almost every news station I watch on TV has a good does of energy companies explaining how economically beneficial the project/s will be, and how they won’t do it if...
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More Climate Change politicization - Wall Street... →
Pretty steep.
But the most amazing and telling evidence of the bias of the Wall Street Journal in this field is the fact that 255 members of the United States National Academy of Sciences wrote a comparable (but scientifically accurate) essay on the realities of climate change and on the need for improved and serious public debate around the issue, offered it to the Wall Street Journal, and were...
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Rare Earth Metal Refinery Nears Approval in... →
KUANTAN, Malaysia - The world’s largest refinery for rare earth metals has risen out of the red mud of a coastal swamp here and could soon obtain permission to operate - a step that would help break China’s near monopoly on rare earths but also worsen an emerging glut of some of these strategic minerals.China’s suspension of exports of rare earths to Japan during a territorial...
