Friday, October 27, 2006

History of Oil Prices

[Quote]
"oil prices and the economic and political events that shaped the price: wars, domestic policy, embargoes and price control"

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

New Technology Turns Food Leftovers Into Electricity, Vehicle Fuels

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"Starting today, tons of table scraps from the Bay Area's finest restaurants will be turned into clean, renewable energy at a new UC Davis research and technology demonstration facility."

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Lightning Volcano

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"A lighning storm illuminated clouds in such a way as to make it look almost likea volcanic eruption. Moonlight helped capture the motion of the clouds duringthe time exposure to accentuate the look, Monument Peak, Payson, Arizona"

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Home Depot Selling Solar Power to Mainstream America

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"The Home Depot has teamed up with BP Solar to provide solar installation service to customers. It is offering its customers the ability to sign-up online for free, in-home consultations."

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Group Congo Park Hippos Face Extinction

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"The last remaining hippos in eastern Congo face extinction and could be wiped out in many parts of a national park by the end of the year due to intense poaching by militiamen, conservationists said Saturday."

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Sunday, October 22, 2006

Vt Island Features Oldest Coral Reef

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"To the uninitiated, the flat rock slabs found across the center of this island at the northern end of Lake Champlain appear to be nothing more than giant stones."

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Friday, October 20, 2006

Loss of species that pollinate is cause for global alarm, researchers say

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"Birds, bees, bats and other species that pollinate North American plant life are losing population, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Research Council. This "demonstrably downward" trend could damage dozens of commercially important crops, scientists warned, because three-fourths of all flowering plants depend on pollinators."

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Despite popular belief, the world is not running out of oil

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"If you think the world is on the verge of running out of oil or other mineral resources, you've been taken in by the foremost of seven myths about resource geology, according to a University of Washington economic geologist."

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

UN: Ocean 'dead zones' increasing fast

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"The number of ?dead zones? in the world?s oceans may have increased by a third in just two years, threatening fish stocks and the people who depend on them. Fertilizers, sewage, fossil fuel burning and other pollutants have led to a doubling in the number of oxygen-deficient coastal areas every decade since the 1960s."

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How Close Is Runaway Climate Change?

[Quote]
"Runaway climate change is a theory of how things might go badly wrong for the planet if a relatively small warming of the earth upsets the normal checks and balances that keep the climate in equilibrium. Scientists estimate that when the temperature reaches an extra 2?C above that equilibrium the earth's natural systems will be in serious trouble."

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

LA Community College Going Off the Grid

[Quote]
"Los Angeles Community College announces at Solar Power 2006 that it will install solar panel arrays at each of its nine campuses that are big enough to take the college "off the grid." Excess power will be used to electrolyze water to run hydrogen fuel cells for nighttime electricity."

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Monday, October 16, 2006

Cleaner Diesel Engines Coming to the U.S., To Match Cleaner Fuel

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"The U.S.'s new low-sulfur fuel comes just in time for the delivery of Mercedes' diesel E320 sedan next week in 45 states; the company plans on releasing diesel cars that meet all states' standards by 2008. And Honda is preparing to enter the 50-state market in 2009, with its own innovative cleaner diesel engine. Others will follow."

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Solar alchemy turns fumes back into fuels

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"IT IS the biggest contributor to climate change. Now chemists are hoping to convert carbon dioxide into a useful fuel, with a little help from the sun."

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Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel officially arrives today

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"The new fuel - which represents a 97% reduction in sulfur content from previous diesel fuel - is now available at fueling stations nationwide. This environmental revolution means cleaner air for all Americans and paves the way for introduction of the rest of the clean diesel system."

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Saturday, October 14, 2006

Science Ignored, Again

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"Stephen Johnson, the administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, should pay more attention to the scientists in his own agency and less to the political strategists in the White House."

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Friday, October 13, 2006

Alaskan Lakes Dry Up

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"More than 10,000 Alaskan lakes have dried up or shrunk in size in a span of 52 years, scientists reported today. Between 1950 and 2002, Alaska experienced longer growing seasons, increased thawing of permafrost, and greater water loss from evaporation of open waters."

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Wasps released in La to combat bugs

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"Louisiana horticulturists tied a small cylindrical vial containing hundreds of gnat-sized wasps to a hibiscus plant on a well-groomed lawn Wednesday, and removed the cap."

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Imagine Earth without people

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"Imagine that all the people on Earth - all 6.5 billion of us and counting - could be spirited away tomorrow, transported to a re-education camp in a far-off galaxy. (Let's not invoke the mother of all plagues to wipe us out, if only to avoid complications from all the corpses). Left once more to its own devices, Nature would reclaim the planet"

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If humans disappeared from the earth today - what would happen? (pic)

[Quote]
"A timeline of how the earth would be affected if humans suddenly disappeared. Eerily detailed, it's scary because the effects sound kind of good - until you realize we'd all be dead."

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Jelly (as in Jello) sparks toxic waste alert

[Quote]
"A pile of jelly (as in Jello) left by a road in Germany caused a major security alert after it was mistaken for toxic waste."

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Monday, October 09, 2006

Earth's ecological debt crisis: 'Borrowing' from nature hits new record

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"Scientific evidence is mounting that rapid population growth and rising living standards among the Earth's six billion inhabitants are putting an intolerable strain on nature."

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Sunday, October 08, 2006

Choosing the Right Trees Can Affect Air Quality

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"Cities can improve their air quality simply by planting the right mix of trees for their climate, according to a study by researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry"

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Mount Everest Becoming a Junkyard

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"It has been described as the highest junkyard in the world. Covered in discarded mountaineering detritus and suffering under thousands of tourists' boots every year, environmental groups are to launch a push for a radical solution - the temporary closure of the world's highest mountain."

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

One third of the planet will be desert by the year 2100

[Quote]
"Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists. Extreme drought, in which agriculture is in effect impossible, will affect about a third of the planet, according to the study"

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A map of the tracks of all tropical cyclones worldwide from 1985 to 2005

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"That's one of the most fascinating visual representations of cyclones I've ever seen. This picture is the Wikipedia picture of the day. That link shows the color scale used, which corresponds to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale."

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Coral Overheating, Scientists Say

Scientists have issued their strongest warning so far this year that unusually warm Caribbean Sea temperatures threaten coral reefs that suffered widespread damage last year in record-setting heat.

You can read more about it here.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Global Warming Near Critical Level

Global temperatures are dangerously close to the highest ever estimated to have occurred in the past million years, scientists reported today.

You can read more about it here.

Roads

Parking lots, patios and other paved areas could one day collect rainwater, purify it then channel it to underground tanks for reuse, say researchers.

You can read more about it here.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Unexpected Radiation 'Hot Spots' Found In NYC

Federal authorities have found 80 unexpected "hot spots" around New York City and discovered a Staten Island park with dangerously high levels of radium. The GAO report released Thursday details a previously undisclosed aerial anti-terrorism program in NYC.

You can read more about it here.

Friday, September 22, 2006

20 free ways to save energy

# 5 - Put your PC to sleep. Keep your computer and its monitor in sleep mode rather than leaving them on around the clock. You stand to use 80 percent less electricity, which over the course of a year could have the effect of cutting CO2 emissions by up to 1,250 pounds, according to EPA estimates.

You can read more about it here.

Power from Not-So-Hot Geothermal Sources

Lower-temperature geothermal resources (below 300F) are common across the US and could be a bountiful source of power, if researchers were able to find an economical way to convert them into electricity. Now researchers say they have developed a low-cost system that can utilize low-temperature geothermal resources to generate electricity.

You can read more about it here.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Cousteau Talks Shit About Irwin

.....But, he added, Irwin would "interfere with nature, jump on animals, grab them, hold them, and have this very, very spectacular, dramatic way of presenting things. Of course, it goes very well on television. It sells, it appeals to a lot people, but I think it's very misleading. You don't touch nature ... and that's why I'm still alive."

You can read more about it here.

San Francisco experiments with tidal power in radical new proposal

Giant turbines submerged in the choppy waters below the Golden Gate Bridge generating enough alternative energy to provide power to nearly 40,000 homes. The idea may sound like science fiction, but it is a real proposal backed by city leaders who hope it will decrease their dependence on oil and make S.F. a hub for tidal power experimentation.

You can read more about it here.