Archive for December, 2008
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Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
A little over a month ago, as a result of the dramatic fall in the market capitalizations of oil companies, I opened up a brokerage account with Ameritrade to take advantage of the fire sale. Besides my ConocoPhillips (COP) stock, most of my investments are diversified in various mutual funds - [...]
Plastic in the Desert
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
I was just on a short vacation to the Sahara Desert. The plastic litter that I encountered there did not come as a surprise. I didn’t take any pictures of garbage. I don’t take very many pictures when I travel because overuse of the camera tends to filter the experience. I actually [...]
Prayers
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
PB sent me this prayer on water:
We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus received [...]
Dear Sant’ Obama
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
While you are doing last minute shopping, can you get these presents for me?
Legalize drugs — please end the chaos and waste from this failed Prohibition.
Redirect the US Military to defense and stop supporting illiberal dictators.
Trade with everyone (Cuba, Iran, et al.), freely. Yes, unilateral trade liberalization.
Protect people (not jobs or industries) [...]
From the Mouths of Babes
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Dear Editor,
We have been polluting our world too much. Naturally, we have tried to do something about it. What we use to create energy is the big problem, so people have tried to come up with a new, renewable energy source that is easily obtained. We have already figured out several non-polluting [...]
Ambitious Solar Plans in France; Solar Capacity Factors
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
The following guest post was written by Tom Standing, a “semi-retired, part-time civil engineer for the City of San Francisco.” In Part 1, Tom took a critical look at a 280 MW solar thermal plant in Arizona. Here in Part 2, Tom examines France’s ambitious solar plans.
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The December 1 issue of [...]
Energy Smart Candidates: A 2008 recap and 2009 look-ahead
Submitted by Truth and Progress Blog
Eight months ago, the Vote Energy Smart, not Energy Dumb! effort began.
The opportunity is before us to bring focus to [energy and global warming] across campaigns, across the United States, and make Energy/Global Warming a winning issue come November and a higher priority for serious Congressional and Administration action [...]
Bureaucratic “Achievement”
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
via KP, we can see, country-by-country, the share of the population with “sustainable access to an improved water source” or “sustainable access to improved sanitation“.
Long-time readers will recall my Freakonomics post on how these statistics are more about bureaucrats wanting to measure something than delivering quality water (not access to water).
I am [...]
Journalistic Failure
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
A few weeks ago, I attended the anti-greenwashing summit in San Francisco, but I did not attend the corporate water footprinting summit that the former was protesting.
Thus, I was interested to read the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s story on the two events. Although it’s sad that the article is biased against the [...]
Growing Alfalfa in the Desert
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
JWT sent me this trip update 2 weeks ago:
For a long time, I have wanted to drive AROUND the Salton Sea, e.g., the east side of the Sea. Yesterday, we decided it was a good time to do that. When we got to the South end of the Sea, what we saw [...]
Arizona Solar Power Project, Calculations
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
The following guest post was written by Tom Standing, a “semi-retired, part-time civil engineer for the City of San Francisco.” In Part 1, Tom takes on the calculations for a 280 MW solar thermal plant in Arizona that I looked at back in February. My conclusion from that essay was that [...]
Obama puts science and climate change at America’s heart
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
“It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted nor obscured by politics nor ideology.”
With these words, Barack Obama has drawn a line under the faith-based, oil-industry-biased policies of his predecessor.
He has made the following highly significant appointments which are fantastic news for climate-change campaigners, and which mean [...]
Fake Plastic Fish
Submitted by everydaytrash
Your RSS reader is about to plump up for the holidays. Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish has put together an awesome and ongoing series called Voices of the Plastic-Free Blogosphere. Check out parts one, two and three.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Weekend Discussion: Green Jobs
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
NOTE: This post will stay here until Sunday night. Posts for Saturday and Sunday morning go below this post.
Dear Aguanauts,
Discussion posts allow you to discuss your beliefs on a topic — to share your understanding, experience and opinions — without worrying about what’s right or what others think. (Check out last week’s [...]
The Economics of Shopping Bags
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In this shopping season, it seems a good time to discuss the little-understood, but commonly-questioned, economics of shopping bags.
In particular, why is it that some places give you bags for free, others charge you for them, and still others give you a money credit when you bring your own?
Let’s consider each of [...]
The Carbon Footprint of Food
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Here’s some miscellaneous food stuff (via FCRN) to go in your bags!
Local food doesn’t matter: “Total GHG emissions are 8.1 t CO2e/household-yr, meaning delivery accounts for only 4% of total GHG emissions [within] transportation as a whole, which accounts for 11%. Wholesaling and retailing of food account for another 5%, with production [...]
PE of Carbon Permits
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Political-economic” is the study of how politics and economics interact, i.e., how money (economics) influences power (politics) and vice versa. Put differently, PE is about lobbying and corruption.
[One of the best papers [PDF] ever written on the topic points out that developing countries are often in the “natural state” where politics and [...]
Midnight Regulations
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The Bush Administration (like many before it) is issuing a number of “midnight regulations” in its last days of power, e.g.,
The regulations eliminate a requirement that federal agencies seek review by government scientists before approving logging, mining and construction projects to make sure the activities don’t endanger rare animals and plants.
Although I [...]
Dirty Water
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Speaking of lobbyists, all three branches of government are fighting over the interpretation and enforcement of water quality laws:
The results of a Congressional investigation released today detail the collapse of the Clean Water Act enforcement program in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that clouded the question of whether rivers, streams [...]
Cellulosic Ethanol Targets Slipping
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
For those who read this blog, this story will come as no surprise. I have been warning for a couple of years that the cellulosic ethanol proponents have been getting ahead of themselves with predictions of how quickly the industry will scale up. In fact, not only have I said that [...]
Cellulosic Ethanol Targets Slipping
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
For those who read this blog, this story will come as no surprise. I have been warning for a couple of years that the cellulosic ethanol proponents have been getting ahead of themselves with predictions of how quickly the industry will scale up. In fact, not only have I said that [...]
New grants for renewable energy
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
The Government has announced £12 million in funding for industry, businesses and community groups investing in biomass-fuelled heating and combined heat and power systems, including anaerobic digesters, in England.
It’s a pittance, a drop in the ocean, but it’s better than a kick in the gonads.
Round 5 of the Bio-energy [...]
Get your hot ROCS off!
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
Renewable electricity supplier Good Energy has launched HotROCs, the UK’s first Renewable Heat Incentive.
It intends to pay domestic solar heat generators for the heat energy they produce.
Over 450 businesses and homes have also signed up to its HomeGen scheme, which pays 10p for every unit of renewable electricity generated [...]
Health test for new nuclear power stations
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
A government consultation ending in March is asking whether we regard four designs put forward for new nuclear power stations in the UK meet health criteria, when balanced against their alleged benefits.
The criteria include the health detriment, defined as an estimate of the risk of reduction in length and [...]
Teddy bear trash bags!
Submitted by everydaytrash
Dear Santa…
Via Dinosaurs and Robots
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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