Election Day is next week in the US. Environmental issues have been eclipsed by larger concerns about the strength of financial markets and a generally poorly performing economy.
Both of the presidential candidates have expressed support for expanding alternative energy research and both believe in expanding the role of wind, solar, and other production technologies. Both also have expressed support for some technologies we think are more short-sighted and likely to be environmentally harmful. Not only presidential candidates, but other federal representatives, as well as state and local officials, all will be faced with questions that will deal with the environment.
From our sister sites, EnviroWonk discusses the federal government opening 190 million acres of land for geothermal power development; and Envirovore has a roundup of recent biotech news.
And Now...On to that and the rest of the News!
UK Gets Serious About Algae Biofuel
The Carbon Trust is a private company which works across a wide range of sectors to reduce carbon emissions across the UK. They conduct studies, lend money and come up with national initiatives – like the algae biofuel initiative announced yesterday. The Algae Biofuels Challenge, as they call it, is to commercialize algae biofuel by 2020 and have it provide a significant of the country’s fuel needs (70 billion liters of oil). Algae is the favored biofuels candidate, mostly because it takes few resources to grow and does not compete for food production; a major drawback of conventional biofuels.
Chrysler Introduces City-Friendly Peapod
Just last month, Chrysler committed to producing one of three full-size EVs by 2010. The other piece in their green makeover is the Peapod, an ultra-compact EV aimed at urban drivers, also to hit the streets in 2010. The Peapod will be available as a one-seater, two-seater or utility van and has a 30-mile range per charge. The car was developed by Chrysler-owned Green Eco Mobility (GEM) and prices are said to start at around $20,000.
California's First Solar Thermal Plant in 20 Years
A funny thing about solar thermal. It works great, is cheap, easy to build, easy to maintain, and has been profitable for decades. But no one's been building them! So now that there (finally) are other pressures, like impending carbon taxes, pressure from state and national government to clean up power generation, and the possible end of the freaking world, we're finally seeing solar thermal plants go online again. The first Californian plant in over 20 years went online today, in fact, on a nice sunny day.
Hawaii Bans New Coal Plants, Plans to be 70% Renewable by 2030
Let's hear it for Hawaii. The island nation is walking into the future a touch faster than the rest of the United States by pledging to never again build a coal-fired power plant. And since coal plants have a lifespan of between 30 and 50 years, Hawaii will someday be 100% coal free. Another portion of the pledge is to be 70% powered by renewable energy in 2030. These are big goals, and not simple to achieve. Hawaii has a bit of an advantage over the rest of the U.S. though. First, a small population where power is already far more expensive (due to shipping costs) than elsewhere in America.
Buckypaper Could Replace Steel
Scientists at Florida State University are dreaming up exciting uses for buckypaper, a material that is 10 times lighter than steel, but potentially 500 times stronger when sheets are pressed together to form a composite. The material is made of carbon nanotubes that have been disbursed in a liquid suspension and filtered through fine mesh to make a thin film. Its building blocks were first discovered in 1985 (winning those researchers the Nobel Prize), but scientists have recently made great discoveries improving the strength and bonding that they think will lead to consumer applications very soon, possibly within a year.
And, of course, don't forget to check out the news on the other EcoGeek Network blogs, too:
Carectomy - http://www.carectomy.com/
EnviroWonk - http://www.envirowonk.com/
Envirovore - http://www.envirovore.com/
And be sure to check in for more information about all the latest green technologies at EcoGeek.org
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.