Bold New Approach to Wind 'Farm' Design May Provide Efficiency Gains

Conventional wisdom suggests that because we’re approaching the theoretical limit on individual wind turbine efficiency, wind energy is now a mature technology. But California Institute of Technology researchers revisited some of the fundamental assumptions that guided the wind industry for the past 30 years, and now believe that a new approach to wind farm design — one that places wind turbines close together instead of far apart — may provide significant efficiency gains.

Ten Oldest U.S. Nuclear Plants: Post-Japan Risks

The world’s largest nuclear energy producer, the United States, Tuesday aired its first detailed public examination of whether stronger safety standards are needed in light of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Although the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) task force concludedthat the sequence of events that caused Japan’s crisis was unlikely to recur in the United States, the panel has urged a new focus on preparing for the unexpected.

Forests Account for Almost All of the World's Land-based Carbon Storage

Their results suggest that forests account for almost all of the world’s land-based carbon uptake. Boreal forests are estimated to be responsible for 22 percent of the carbon stored in the forests. A warming climate has the potential to increase fires and insect damage in the boreal forest and reduce its capacity to sequester carbon.

benvironment: A wonderful photo of police arresting a number of polar bears in Edinburgh today. It was part of a Greenpeace protest against Cairn Energy, a Scottish company who have begun drilling at two wells off Greenland’s arctic coast.  The activists maintain that Cairn have failed to explain how the company would deal with a catastrophic oil spill in the arctic environment. They barricaded themselves into the company’s Edinburgh HQ, saying they would not leave until clean-up plans were disclosed. The police were obviously called and eventually removed the protesters from the building. In June, Greenpeace’s international executive director, Kumi Naidoo, was arrested along with another campaigner after boarding the Cairn-operated Leiv Eiriksson rig off Greenland. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-14184136
Pop-upView Separately

benvironment:

A wonderful photo of police arresting a number of polar bears in Edinburgh today.

It was part of a Greenpeace protest against Cairn Energy, a Scottish company who have begun drilling at two wells off Greenland’s arctic coast.  The activists maintain that Cairn have failed to explain how the company would deal with a catastrophic oil spill in the arctic environment.

They barricaded themselves into the company’s Edinburgh HQ, saying they would not leave until clean-up plans were disclosed.

The police were obviously called and eventually removed the protesters from the building.

In June, Greenpeace’s international executive director, Kumi Naidoo, was arrested along with another campaigner after boarding the Cairn-operated Leiv Eiriksson rig off Greenland.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-14184136

Obama Enlarges Endangered Species Protection

obon:

http://huff.to/qfgw3p

The Obama administration struck a deal with wildlife advocates that would require the federal government to include more animals and plants to go under the protection umbrella of the endangered species act. The list includes some 757 different species. The agreement is pending a judge’s approval.

Photo credit & article source: Huffington Post 

(via obon-deactivated20120627)

Ancient algae: Genetically engineering a path to new energy sources?



A team of researchers led by University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Professor Joe Chappell is making a connection between prehistoric times and the present — ancient algae that can produce their own biofuel — that could result in genetically creating a replacement for oil and coal shale deposits. Their discovery could have fundamental implications for the future of Earth’s energy supplies.

The Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch



The Great Pacific Garbage Patch stretches for hundreds of miles across the North Pacific Ocean, forming a nebulous, floating junk yard on the high seas. It’s the poster child for a worldwide problem: plastic that begins in human hands yet ends up in the ocean, often inside animals’ stomachs or around their necks. This marine debris has sloshed into the public spotlight recently, thanks to growing media coverage as well as scientists and explorers who are increasingly visiting the North Pacific to see plastic pollution in action.

Alberta's Tar Sands Oil Deemed Dirty

benvironment:

Tar sands oil

All oil is dirty, but some oils are dirtier than others.  At least that’s what the EU thinks, however Alberta’s representative in the Canadian High Commission in London has spoken out over EU plans to label tar sands oil as particularly dirty.  Jeff Sundquist called the plans ‘unfair and unscientific’.  Awwww.

The EU’s Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) discourages nations from buying the dirtier fuels and encourages them to source cleaner alternatives.  If tar sands products are given a different status to other oil sources, the EU could effectively ban Alberta’s oil from Europe……hence the Canadian province (and I dare say, PM Stephen Harper) being a bit peeved at the moment.

The tar sands are widely regarded as an environmental catastrophe on a huge scale, and most of the EU appears to agree that oil from those sources should therefore be labelled as being worse for the environment than the usual crude oil sources.  The UK appears to be opposing this, however.