The Conservation Report

ANIMAL WELFARE: Houston Zoo elephant Mac, 2, dies of viral illness

ARCTIC MELTING: Arctic Ice Melt Sparks Plankton Blooms

AUTO INDUSTRY: Ford Scion Looks Beyond Bailout to Green Agenda

BIOFUELS: US Dept of Energy and Brazil to Commercialize Biofuels

BIOLOGY: Top 10 Useless Limbs (and Other Vestigial Organs)

BIOMASS: New Biomass Plants Called For in Obama’s Green Agenda

CAMPAIGN 2008: Challenged ballots: You be the judge

CHINA: China tells rich polluting nations to change lifestyle

CLIMATE CHANGE: Nike, Starbucks Demand Congress To Act On Climate Change, An historic summit of state and provincial governors from around the world convened this week in California to advance national and worldwide efforts to fight climate change — and The Nature Conservancy played a key role in the summit’s success.

CORAL REEFS: Pacific Shipwrecks Potentially Toxic Timebombs, Scientists try to revive Japan’s biggest coral reef: Scientists are in an unprecedented project to restore Japan’s largest coral reef by planting thousands of baby corals growing on tiny ceramic beds.

DEFORESTATION: 3,000 Person Mob Attacks Govt. Offices to Protest Crackdown on Illegal Amazon Logging

DEREGULATION: Bush Aides Rush to Enact a Safety Rule Obama Opposes

DRILL BABY DRILL: Court Says Shell Can’t Drill Near Alaska: A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked Royal Dutch Shell from drilling oil wells off Alaska’s North Slope after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New electric version of MINI Cooper offers MINI fun with zero emissions.

ENERGY: Phone Makers Monitor Charger Energy Consumption, Dutch homes get warm water from disused coal mine

ENVIRONMENT: Dumb eco-questions you were afraid to ask

EVOLUTION: “Smile” Octopus Spawned Many Species

FAIRTRADE: Starbucks to use Fairtrade coffee in every drink sold in Britain: Starbucks is to use Fairtrade coffee in every drink it sells in Britain, the company has announced.

FAST FOOD: Fast Food Made Up Mostly of Corn

FOOD: Tyson Foods Injects Chickens with Antibiotics Before They Hatch to Claim “Raised without Antibiotics”

FORESTS: Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: Once Thought Invasive, Some Galápagos Plants Can Call the Place Home: For years, conservationists have been concerned about the impact of invasive plant species in the Galápagos Islands. Hundreds of species have been identified as nonnative, introduced through human contact. The idea was to remove these plants to help keep the archipelago ecologically pristine.

GENETICS: Lizards, Birds Have Hair Genes

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Raser Technologies Gives Utah a New Geothermal Plant to Power Homes

GLACIAL MELTING: Baby Chimp Rescued From Congo Army

GLOBAL WARMING: New Ice Age Predicted — But Averted by Global Warming?

GREAT APES: Tibetan Glaciers Melting at Stunning Rate

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Kulongoski lobbies to bring China’s new hybrid car to Oregon, LA 2008: Honda shows off Insight’s Eco Assist dashboard

INVASIVE SPECIES: Beetle Invasion to Dim New England Fall Colors?, More cockroaches expected in Florida

LANDFILLS: Israel Turns 2,000 Acre Trash Dump into One of World’s Largest Parks

MARINE MAMMALS: Why Do Dolphins Rub Flippers?

NASA: Going Out On A Limb With A Tree-Person Ratio: Who knew that NASA, charged with looking deep into space, also looks backward at us? For years, NASA satellites have been snapping photos of our oceans, mountains and forests, and sharing them with ecologists and biologists.

NATURAL GAS: Drill for Natural Gas, Pollute Water: In July a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette County, Wy. and pulled up a load of brown oily water with a foul smell. Tests showed it contained benzene, a chemical believed to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia, in a concentration 1,500 times the level safe for people.

NATURE: Debate: Which is the world’s most invaluable species?: Plankton, bats, primates, fungi and bees - which species would have the greatest impact on our planet if it were lost? Five experts set out their case public debate in London next Thursday

NEW SPECIES: Penguin, Now Extinct, Discovered in New Zealand: Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.

NONRENEWABLE ENERGY: U.S. Moves Ahead on Oil, Gas Leases on Public Land: Decision Could Pose Problem for Obama

PALM OIL: The slippery business of palm oil: Palm oil is used in a third of all groceries. But can it ever be produced without causing environmental devastation as some big companies are promising?

PLASMA GASIFICATION PLANT: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy

PRIUS: BossDowner’s 2010 Prius Commercial - PriusChat.com, BossDowner’s 2010 Prius Commercial #2 - PriusChat.com

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists: A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim., Plumbing the oceans could bring limitless clean energy, Britain’s water mills given role in clean energy generation, EPA Coal Decision Levels Playing Field for Wind, Solar

RECYCLING: Why California Recycled 80% of Glass and the Rest of the U.S. 30%

REDISCOVERED SPECIES: “Extinct” Primate Found in Indonesia

SEA LEVEL RISE: Schwarzenegger Orders California to Prepare for Sea-Level Rise

SMART GRID TECHNOLOGY: Boulder, Colo.: America’s First ‘Smart Grid City’: Some Homes Can Remotely Control All Aspects of Their Energy-Saving Features, Report Calls for Overhaul of Power Grid to Handle Sun and Wind Power

SOLAR: Solar Panels Are Vanishing, Only to Reappear on the Internet, Solar at Sea: Chinese Cargo Ships Will Have Solar Sails, Solar-Powered Plane to Perform Test Flight

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Cuba Gets Green Cred: Cuba is the only country that meets the criteria for sustainable development from the conservation group WWF. But concern persists for once thriving Caribbean marine turtles.

WATER AVAILABILITY: The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air, Cow Sh*t to Clean Water

WHALING: Japanese Whalers Set Sail, Say Witnesses

WILD HORSES: U.S. Won’t Kill Wild Horses — For Now

WIND POWER: Giving Turbines a Boost With Curves, 360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009, Mega Wind Farms Could Steer Storms, Offshore Wind Power Could Alter Ocean Currents: “Whether or not this is a good thing is a matter of debate,” Brostrom said. Though he stressed that the goal for any man-made object should be to minimize environmental impact, he added: “I’m an optimist; I think this could be beneficial to local fisheries.”, Don’t Call it a Wind Farm, It’s an EcoPower Centre: Canada’s Largest Wind Project (200 MW) Opens

WTF?: Levelling the lingerie playing field: An online shop in Japan has seen an extraordinary demand for its newest product: bras for men. More than 300 have been snapped up in two weeks

“Environmental News Picks” are made possible with help from Kevin.

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IMAGE: Former President Jimmy Carter with his infamous White House solar panels

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The U.S. military’s consumption of energy makes the U.S. government the largest consumer of energy, so the government can certainly be doing a lot to improve consumption, offset unsustainable consumption, or promote sustainable consumption. Former President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House, but Former President Ronald Reagan took them down. Perhaps Obama will once again integrate solar energy into the White House. It’s important to lead by example, and Obama has said before that he wants to modernize the government auto fleet by using more hybrid, PHEV, and fuel-efficient cars. From The Associated Press:

President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to make the White House “green.” In an interview with Barbara Walters, Obama said he plans to sit down with the chief usher for the presidential mansion and do an evaluation of its energy efficiency.

He says part of what he wants to do is show the American people that it’s not that hard to go green.

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These solar panels on the Vatican roof will reportedly offset “210 tons of carbon dioxide and this is the equivalent to 70 tons of oil.” From the International Herald Tribune:

Workers began putting photovoltaic cells on the roof of the hall to convert sunlight into electricity. In sunny Rome, engineers say the cells will produce enough electricity to illuminate, heat or cool the hall.

The hall is used for weekly papal audiences during winter and other times of year when the weather is bad.

Pope Benedict XVI’s has made conserving resources an important concern of his papacy.

Video from the BBC NEWS:

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We can save $13,000,000,000,000 ($13 trillion) dollars in future energy costs, and we can create a “$360 billion industry that provides half of the world’s electricity” by switching to renewable sources for our energy. Given the multi-trillion dollar savings, it is easy to understand why the oil companies have continuously sabotaged efforts to build the clean renewable infrastructure. The oil companies have a great interest in pumping as much oil as they can out of the ground and have it consumed by folks like you and me—no matter the cost to our pocketbooks or environment. From ABC News:

The 210-page study [pdf] is one of few reports – even by lobby groups – to look in detail at how energy use would have to be overhauled to meet the toughest scenarios for curbing greenhouse gases outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Renewable energy could provide all global energy needs by 2090,” according to the study, entitled “Energy (R)evolution.” EREC represents renewable energy industries and trade and research associations in Europe. A more radical scenario could eliminate coal use by 2050 if new power generation plants shifted quickly to renewables.

Solar power, biomass such as biofuels or wood, geothermal energy and wind could be the leading energies by 2090 in a shift from fossil fuels blamed by the IPCC for stoking global warming.

Certainly, building a more sustainable energy infrastructure, which includes renewable energy sources like solar will create new jobs. Kate Galbraith suggests that Joe the plumber will one day be “Joe the solar guy”:

If nothing else, the dialog suggests that “Joe the Plumber,” the Everyman voter who became a totem and a talking point for both candidates last night, might one day be “Joe the solar guy.”

What happened? We have been on notice regarding the threats of peaking nonrenewable resources for over 30 years, but what did we learn?

Domestically, the United States has 2 or 3% of the world’s oil supply. However, we consume “19.6 million barrels per day, of oil, which is more than 25% of the world’s total.” Undoubtedly, Americans consume too much, or we consume unsustainably. Given the gross disproportion of what we have on reserve versus what we actually use or spend, why should we compromise our national security by commodifying our final untapped domestic oil reserves into the international market by drilling offshore? Offshore drilling is a dangerous and stupid policy, because it compromises our national security. We need aggressive long-term solutions that aren’t saturated with politics.

Despite criticisms, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was on the right track, but his successor, former President Ronald Reagan, dismantled Carter’s policies to make America energy independent, including the famous solar panels Carter placed on the White House roof. It’s amazing how a few decisions can result in big changes. As a result, I wonder how different the world would be if we continued with Carter’s energy policies.

Image Found Here

With crude oil having record gains, I find it deeply unsettling that America, a powerful and technologically advanced country, depends so much on oil, a nonrenewable resource. Certainly, oil is our Achilles’ heel, so why haven’t we started making an aggressive transition from nonrenewable resources to renewable resources?

One factor is the Bush Administration, which has had the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, the Bush Administration cannot claim ignorance, because the evidence and factors for switching to renewable resources are well known.

We much radically change our policies. We need to go from manufacturing, selling, and buying goods that are made to deteriorate quickly to providing longer lasting more sustainable materials; from driving Hummers to driving electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV); from depending on an out of date electric grid to using information technology to modernize the electric grid; from providing a $700 billion dollar bailout to corporations to replacing a wasteful broken privatized healthcare system with a nationalized healthcare system; from demonizing international environmental treaties such as Kyoto to embracing them and making them work; and from depending on oil to depending on environmentally friendly bio-diesel, geothermal, solar, wave, wind, and other clean or renewable energies.

I believe the renewable energy infrastructure must be developed immediately, because now may already be too late. Certainly, $500 oil would be disastrous to America’s economy, but $500 oil would result in a devastating rush to consume and commodify Nature and her natural resources at an unprecedented rate.

I find it appalling that we have constructed such a complex civilization (albeit with a fragile infrastructure) and have based it on something that seemingly magically comes out of the ground. We can’t continue to depend on foreign countries for our energy needs, especially when suppliers such as the Saudis may already be seeing their oil production peaking or even declining. From Fortune Magazine:

That the spike in oil prices earlier this year wasn’t a temporary market anomaly and the recent retreat in prices is just a misleading calm before a calamitous storm? That we’re headed toward $500-a-barrel oil?

.       .       .

Of course, if demand goes up but supply doesn’t, prices are apt to go through the roof. And unlike global oil production, global oil demand doesn’t appear to be anywhere near a peak. Both the U.S. government’s Energy Information Association and the independent International Energy Agency, based in Paris, estimate that worldwide demand will be more than 115 million barrels a day by 2030.

While demand growth in the United States has slowed recently due to higher prices, the EIA projects that China and India will more than pick up the slack. And the IEA recently warned that high prices won’t slow demand growth in emerging economies. If demand wants to go north of 100 million barrels a day and supply can’t break 90 million (or drops below 80 million, as Simmons believes will happen within five years), it will be a price squeeze felt around the world. The peak-oil crowd will be able to declare victory - but nobody will be celebrating.

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The concept of peak oil was introduced to the world in the 1950s by a curmudgeonly Shell geophysicist named M. King Hubbert, who observed that the production of oilfields tended to follow a bell-shaped curve, peaking and then turning down sharply. He came up with a formula to quantify his theory. And in 1956 he was ridiculed within the industry for predicting that U.S. crude oil production would max out in the early 1970s. Sure enough, though, in 1970 the United States reached its apex at just under ten million barrels per day, or roughly what the Saudis produce now, and began a long slide down. (Hubbert later predicted that world oil production would peak in 1995. He was a bit early on that call.)

No one disputes that oil production will top out some day. It is, after all, a finite resource. The argument is about how far off the peak is. As Simmons and others point out, many of the world’s largest oilfields - Prudhoe Bay, the North Sea - have already gone into decline. The most optimistic estimate for the average depletion rate of the world’s currently producing oilfields is between 4% and 5% annually, or about four million barrels per day at our current rate of production. That means that each year we must find enough new oil to first replace those four million barrels of lost daily production before we even add enough to meet new demand. This is all the more worrisome because world oil discovery of new reserves has been slowing since the mid-20th century.

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A good look at Cape Wind and the potential of supplying our energy needs by building the offshore wind power infrastructure on the Western Atlantic can be found at the Foreign Policy Association’s Climate Change:

What a great yarn! A smart, successful, committed energy entrepreneur comes along with a solid project to provide enough zero-emission, renewable energy to supply, on a good day, all the stationary power needs of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, and, if you had plug-in vehicles, a good bit of the surface transportation needs as well. Wind turbines are a proven technology and in Europe, offshore wind farms have been flourishing for years. The project would serve an area that is now subject to considerable air pollution from the ancient power plant that is in place. A devastating oil spill from a barge headed to that power plant occurred only a few years ago. The wind farm will eliminate three quarters of a million tons of GHG a year and provide a much-needed and reliable boost to the New England electrical grid. What’s not to love?!

What are some of the problems people have with offshore wind?

Competing power companies for one, wanting to stick with coal and gas-fired plants. Another stated problem is the “viewshed” issue. Bluewater, very smartly, used computerized graphics to show the folks in Delaware how tiny the “view” issue would be. What I don’t get – and I’ve said it here before – is how you can think of these windfarms as anything other than magnificent. In Europe, as you know, offshore wind is busting out all over. Bluewater’s principal, Peter Mandelstam, is quoted in the article to the effect that “The Europeans see offshore wind turbines as sentinels, protecting them from energy domination by foreign powers.”

Home or residential wind turbines may supplement up to 30% of a home’s electricity. However, the Daily Mail claims that home wind turbines “barely produce enough electricity to power a hairdryer in many houses,” “actually do more harm than good,” are “noisy and unsightly,” and are nothing more than an eco-fashion statement.  The Daily Mail’s report on rooftop microturbines is overly negative, and TreeHugger counters the claims here.

Additionally, the Daily Mail claims “turbines in towns suffer from a lack of wind - as tall buildings block the air supply.” However, I have lived in Britain, and there are residential and rural towns that seem to have a steady supply of wind, especially areas on the Norfolk coast.

The Daily Mail does advocate more traditional methods to save energy such as better insulation, “turning the thermostat down,” and “using low-energy light bulbs.” However, these traditional methods to reduce energy consumption can be supplemented by renewable energy projects such as home wind power and solar roofing. It is important to reduce consumption, because most energy is not wasted living comfortably, but most energy is unnecessarily wasted on “inefficient appliances, lights, motors and vehicles.” Certainly, technology continues to provide cheaper products that produce bigger energy savings, and the same is true for these microturbines. I believe coupled with traditional methods to save energy and solar roofing, microturbines can be a smart choice in some areas.  From MLive.com, MI:

According to Southwest Windpower, the Arizona-based company that manufactures the turbine, Skystream is capable of generating more than 40 percent of a home’s electricity, in some instances shaving more than $500 off energy bills every year.

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Purchasing a wind turbine doesn’t automatically make you energy independent, but it’s a start, said Miriam Robbins, marketing manager for Southwest Windpower.

Nationwide, 2,000 Skystream wind turbines have been sold, Robbins said, adding that she credits the turbine’s simple design for the steady sales.

“Compared to some other small wind turbines, it’s designed to be ‘plug and play,’ ” Robbins said. “It’s not very complex.”

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Unlike commercial wind turbines, which often rise more than 300 feet in the air, residential turbines are sometimes not more than a few feet high and capable of generating electricity at wind speeds starting at 3 mph.

One such model is being developed by E-Net LLC, a technology development company operating out of the Grand Valley State University energy center in Muskegon.

The model, which likely will be put into production in early 2009, could cost under $2,000 and be capable of generating up to 20 percent of a home’s electricity.

More from the NYTimes.com (including the graphic below):

“In an urban environment, more times than not you’re better off with a solar panel,” said Mr. Stimmel, of the wind industry association.

A recent British study of wind on home roofs found that turbines generate less power than installers projected because of lower-than-expected wind speeds. Ian Woofenden, a senior editor at Home Power magazine who teaches wind workshops, estimates that electricity from rooftop turbines may cost $1.50 a kilowatt hour or more. (That is enough electricity to run a hair dryer for an hour, roughly.)

Rooftop wind advocates argue that output will turn out to be healthy in windy areas, and they also think that prices for small turbines will come down as the market grows, altering the economics.

.       .       .

AeroVironment officials say that rooftop turbines at windy sites in states with costly electricity could pay for themselves in four to eight years, but acknowledge that in places with low power prices, the turbines may never recoup their costs.

In May and June, the 20 Logan turbines combined produced just 1,430 kilowatt hours — less than the average home would use over that time. Airport authorities said, however, that the Boston winds pick up in the fall and winter. Mr. Leno thinks his turbine has generated about 725 kilowatt hours in six months of operation.

“You can say, ‘That’s not a lot,’ or ‘Every bit helps,’ ” Mr. Leno said.

British studies have recently suggested that making and transporting turbines for cities may lead to more carbon dioxide emissions than the turbines save.

Image Found Here

On the Net: AeroVironment, Inc. Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Energy Technology, Charging Systems

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Germany and Spain are leading the world in producing energy from the sun. The potential of solar energy is enormous. However, the development of solar infrastructure to harvest energy from the sun is still too slow. From the AFP.

Last year the world production of photovoltaic models represented a surface of 40 square kilometres (16 square miles) while meeting the electrical consumption of countries like France or Germany would require 5,000 square kilometres, he said.

Under current scenarios, photovoltaic models will represent about 1,000 square kilometres by 2020 accounting for about only 3.0 percent of energy needs in the 27-member European Union, he added.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: $800 Million Prize for Alternative Energy to Power Africa’s Villages

ANIMAL WELFARE: Wheeled Tortoise Gets Around

ANTARCTIC MELTING: “New” Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming

ARCTIC MELTING: Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic As Ice Melts, Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic

AUTO INDUSTRY: Shaq buys smart fortwo, wears as shoe, Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad

BIG OIL: ExxonMobil owns the media’s convention coverage Oil Expansion Plans In L.A. Rile Residents

BIOPLASTICS: Biodegradable Plastics Are Good for Atmosphere, Too

BIOPRODUCTS: Dandelion Rubber Could Replace Rare Sources, Silk-Based Optical Lenses Green Enough to Eat

BLOGGING: What Makes for a Good Blog?

CARBON SEQUESTERING: Cattails Shown to Be Effective CO2-Eaters

CHINA: MINI Clubman Rickshaws running around Beijing

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate Change Caused Widespread Tree Death In California Mountain Range, Study Confirms, West Africa’s coastline redrawn by climate change: experts

COMPOSTING: Human Waste Used by 200 Million Farmers, Study Says

ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE: Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: ARE WE ALL STILL ENVIRONMENTALISTS?, The Death of Environmentalism?, FREE & GREEN: A NEW APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Green but Anti-Government, Pro-Environment, Not Pro-EPA

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Appeals Court OKs Oil Firms’ Billion-Dollar Award, Companies to end lead wheel weight use in Calif.

EXTINCTION: Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says

FOOD: Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted

FUEL ECONOMY: Sweden Requires Fuel-Efficient Driving Lessons, Billions of gallons of gas could be saved by “Smart Intersections”

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Oregon Tech To Be Powered Entirely By Geothermal Energy, Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy

GIANT SQUID: Colossal Squid Ripped, Stitched, Hoisted and Moved

GLACIAL MELTING: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

GLOBAL WARMING: Will Grasslands Overtake U.S. Forests Due to Warming?, Dead Penguins Found Closer to Equator Than Ever Before, Birds Thrown Off by Global Warming, Arctic Tundra Holds Global Warming Time Bomb

GREEN: Colorado Creating US’s First Fossil Fuel-Free Community

GREEN CONSERVATISM: Gingrich Cites Big Oil And Right-Wing Intern To Claim That All Economists Support Drilling, Extreme anti-environment Cheney aide up for top Energy Department post, McCain: ‘I Have Not Missed Any Crucial Vote’ On Energy Legislation

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: Kangaroo Meat Could Help Australia Cut Gas Emissions

GREENWASHING: Shell rebuked for ‘greenwash’ over ad for polluting oil project

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: People vs. Monkeys in Singapore

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Calif. Requires Hybrid Cars To Make Some Noise

INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Lionfish Explode

MARINE CONSERVATION: NASA Tool Helps Track Whale Sharks, Polar Bears, Bush Seeks to Protect 3 Pacific Island Chains

MARINE MAMMALS: “Ugliest Dolphin” Finally Filmed, Mexico Invests to Save Endangered Porpoise

NANOTECHNOLOGY: Nanomaterial Cleans up Broken Fluorescent Bulbs

NEW SPECIES: Newfound Monkey Species “Rarest in Africa,” Expert Says, New, “Chubbier” River Dolphin Species Found in Bolivia

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: Ocean ‘dead zones’ expanding worldwide: study

PLASTIC: Did Big Plastic Pay Off The FDA???

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Amtrak Gets Funding Boost To Meet Record Demand, Sweden Rolling Out 183 MPH High-Speed Green Train

RECLAIMED OR RECYCLED WATER: Recycled Sewage: Coming to a Tap Near You?

RECYCLING: Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, gets trashy, Old tires make new roads, No Economic Slowdown For Reusable Bags

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Colorado to Ditch Two Coal Plants, Moving to Solar and Wind, 13 Magnificent Renewable Energy Successes and Failures

SOLAR: IKEA Solar Panels on the Horizon, Miami Gets 600 Solar Bus Shelters, Coal Power Plant Retrofit With Solar, Solar Efficiency Record Broken, Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in the US, Want Solar? Head to Sam’s Club, 2 Large Solar Plants Planned in California, Will Each Be 10 Times Bigger Than Largest Now in Service, Solar-Powered Plane Flies for Nearly 83 Hours, Doubles World Record, Hot Asphalt as Better Energy Collector than Solar Panels?

SUSTAINABILITY: Wal-Mart Pares Costs By Selling Local Produce

WALL-E: Wall*E + Kleenex = Iron*E

WATER POLLUTION: AP: Drugs found in drinking water

WATER WARS: McCain’s Colorado River Gaffe Might Cost Him Key Western States

WETLANDS: Australian Wetlands Threatened

WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING: 14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

WIND POWER: New Study Says City-Based Rooftop Wind Power Doesn’t Pay Off, Kites Could Become Major Source Of Wind Power, Wind Turbines Give Bats the “Bends,” Study Finds

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Huge Insectarium Opens, Lonesome George a Father?

This is a setback for wind power, and it’s certainly a problem that needs a solution, since bats are a keystone species; therefore, bats are necessary for a healthy landscape. However, I still believe that wind power, on land and offshore, is very much needed and necessary for a cleaner environment. From Gizmodo

On the list of ways to go, having your lungs explode is definitely on the gnarlier side. Too bad for bats in treehugging locales, though, because that’s what’s happening to them, due to a pretty serious error with their awesome echolcation systems crossing with the seemingly benign forces of Bernoulli’s principle put into motion by the turbines’ huge spinning blades. Ouch all around.

What happens is the bats’ internal echolocation, which tracks movement, attracts them to the blades of wind turbines, which presents another fairly obvious problem. But a University of Calgary researcher, puzzled by bats dying off in large numbers around wind farms in southern Alberta has found that those that don’t get cut down by the blades (surprisingly only 50%) are actually dying from exploded lungs, or barotrauma; the low pressure areas around the spinning rotors, as explained by our friend Bernoulli, cause the bats’ tiny air sacs to burst. Even those that do get knocked out of the sky by the blades have their lungs popped beforehand—of the 188 dead bats in the study, 90% had barotrauma as the cause of death.

Big chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Safeway and Whole Foods Market are offsetting their energy costs by integrating solar power into their “immense, flat roofs.”

John McCain is a snake-oil salesman. His energy policy might sound great to the average American, but is John McCain’s all of the above philosophy, that promotes both alternatives and offshore drilling together, the best policy to meet present-day energy demands? Certainly, it is not the best policy.

I do not trust McCain’s energy policy, because he has a poor record on both environmental and energy issues, which are interrelated. Furthermore, his straight talk approach implies business as usual or the status quo, and his straight talk approach on energy is a farce to falsely comfort Americans from the reality that we live in a finite world with finite resources.

Given McCain’s poor voting record on environmental issues, and his close ties to the oil industry (see how big oil rushed money to McCain after he “reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling” at the Washington Post), does McCain really have a new energy policy that is both imaginative and applicable in today’s world? I don’t think he does, because we have heard the same rhetoric from the Presidency of George W. Bush. We haven’t seen any significant policy or infrastructure to meet both energy and climate change demands come from the Presidency of George W. Bush. What we have seen from the Presidency of George W. Bush on energy and climate change is foot dragging. In fact, states have taken the lead in building the renewable energy infrastructure, and the federal government has not. I don’t trust McCain’s energy policy, because I hear and have heard the President make the same pitch. However, I do have some questions for John McCain:

1. What does the McCain energy policy actually do? What are the numbers?
2. Who are the projected winners and who are the projected losers (and please don’t say the American people are winners)?
3. What is the role of renewable energy in the McCain all of the above philosophy towards energy policy? Again, what are the numbers?
4. What is the role of nuclear power in the McCain energy policy? Numbers?

I think McCain is the one who is out of touch with America. Just like the gas tax holiday, McCain is wrong again, because given the world demand for oil, offshore drilling is a drop in the bucket, and isn’t worth the risk. Furthermore, I think his recent attacks on Obama for recommending that properly inflated tires save energy shows he is further out of touch. From TIME:

But who’s really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

More data is here to refute McCain’s claim that Obama is out of touch with America for recommending that properly inflated tires save energy:

Earlier this year, we cosponsored the Alliance to Save Energy’s Drive Smarter Challenge. As part of this campaign we advocated maintaining proper tire pressure as one simple step consumers could take to increase fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It’s more important than you may think. For instance, did you know…

• The Department of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of driving on under-inflated tires.

• Fuel efficiency is reduced by 1% for every 3 PSI that tires are under-inflated.

• Proper tire inflation can save the equivalent of about 1 tank of gas per year.

• Proper tire inflation also reduces CO2 emissions.

• Experts estimate that 25% of automobiles are running on tires with lower than recommended pressure, because people don’t know how to check their tires or don’t realize that tires naturally lose air over time.

Below are the voting records of both John McCain and Barack Obama from the League of Conservation Voters. McCain has a voting score of 0%, so between both candidates, who do you trust on environmental and energy issues?

Obama responds to McCain’s out of touch attacks: “It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.” Furthermore, Obama actually mentions updating the electricity grid, which is perhaps the most important factor in promoting energy efficiency (and this video illustrates why I am voting for Obama):

On the Net: League of Conservation Voters - The Independent Political Voice for the Environment

I agree with Image Found HereRick Haglund 100%:

When $140-a-barrel oil destroyed sales of full-size pickups and SUVs in May and June, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. took radical steps to shift production away from trucks to cars.

GM’s future car-laden product plan is based on oil prices rising to as high as $150 a barrel by next year. But what if oil falls to $70 a barrel and gasoline drops to around $2 a gallon?

Demand for big SUVs could again rise, forcing automakers to reallocate billions of dollars they just shifted to development of new cars back to trucks. That’s not exactly helpful to bottom lines already bleeding red ink.

A reprieve in oil prices also would hurt efforts to develop alternative energies that make us less dependent on foreign oil and reduce harmful greenhouse gases. That’s happened before.

It has happened before. Former Democratic president Jimmy Carter endeavored to develop a renewable energy infrastructure for America. He even set solar panels onto the White House. However, after taking office, former Republican President Ronald Regan removed the solar panels from the White House. You might think that today’s auto industry and consumers are too smart to be trapped by oil again after record oil prices, but I would not bet my life on it. Neither groups saw our current predicament coming even tough there were plenty of warning signs given by environmentalists and within our economy.

And to think Exxon didn’t even want to pay any damages in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker. I wonder how Exxon Mobil will spend their $11.68 billion 2Q profits. Will the oil giant use its profits to aggressively develop alternative or renewable energy sources, update their infrastructure to deliver their oil to the markets more efficiently, remedy the carbon they help pump into the atmosphere, or will they continue to keep everything at a bare minimum to milk as much profit from our pockets as possible. These big profits yield big power and political influence. That’s scary.

I really like Al Gore. He is brave, and I am a fan of his voracity to tackle climate change and our energy problems. Recently, he called for 100% of our electricity needs to come from truly clean and carbon-free sources by 2018. As a result, shock and awe ensured, but he did exactly what he needed to do, which was stir a debate.

On the Net: Al Gore’s speech given at the D.A.R. Constitutional Hall: A Generational Challenge to Repower America

AGRICULTURE: Global quandary: How to feed a growing planet

ANIMAL WELFARE: Tales from a N.Y. animal sanctuary

ARCTIC DRILLING: ANWR: Two Cents a Gallon in a Generation

AVIATION INDUSTRY: Its back against the wall, airline industry looks to come clean

BIOFUELS: Kudzu gets kudos as a potential biofuel

BOTTLED WATER: Deposits on bottled water? Group pushes to spread law to other nonrefundable containers littering state

BYCATCH: Bycatch fees won’t help seabirds, says study

CAR-FREE ZONE: On 3 days in August, New York City will try no-car zone: “[T]he idea was to make the streets a haven for walkers, cyclists and others. Fitness, dance and yoga classes will be held along the route, and there will also be places to rent bicycles.”, Manhattan says goodbye to the car … just a little

CIVILIZATION: The plan for tomorrow’s mega city

DESALINATION: Innovative Watertecture in the Dead Sea

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: With the Chevy Volt, General Motors—battered, struggling for profitability, fed up with being eclipsed by Toyota and the Prius—is out to reinvent the automobile, and itself., The electric car lives: Backed by U.S. venture capital, Norwegian company Think is betting its Ox concept vehicle can prove the electric car’s time has finally arrived

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Justices turn down appeal by Exxon

EXTINCTION: Mass extinctions due to sea level changes, study says

FISHERIES: Japan squid industry halted, U.S. Supermarkets not doing enough to protect fish - Greenpeace report

FUEL CELLS: UTC power to supply 4.8MW fuel cell system for WTC site

FUEL SPILL: Uruguay spill killing wildlife

GREEN: Go green and save green: expert’s guide

GROSS INAPPROPRIATE USE OF RESOURCES: Hummer by the numbers

HUMAN POPULATION: World Population To Hit 7 Billion By 2012

HYDROGEN VEHICLE: Honda makes first hydrogen cars

MARINE MAMMALS: Roaming polar bears spotted in Iceland, Sea lion seizures may result from toxic algae

NATURE: Jellyfish outbreaks a sign of nature out of sync

OCEANS: Schools of robo-fish for finding oil spills, tracking wildlife

OCEAN WARMING: Oceans warming faster than realized

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Offshore drilling like searching the couches for loose change?, McCain’s offshore drilling position a flip from three weeks ago

OIL: Oil trading volatile despite Saudi output pledge, Making the most of strategic oil reserves, Too few luxuries per gallon, Orlando tells limo operator

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Cheaper solar? Just add steam

SOLAR: 10% of U.S. electricity from solar by 2025

WEATHER: Heat wave strains California’s power grid

WIND POWER: Invention brings wind energy home, Construction to start on rotating wind-power tower

Solar iPhone, iPod, or Macbook? Using photovoltaics in everyday gadgets is common sense and we have been using photovoltaics in such devices as calculators for some time and there are even solar power kits to assist hybrids like the Toyota Prius. The potential and utility of solar cells are great. The energy revolution or evolution is here.

Notice how renewable energy depends heavily on nonrenewable sources for construction. For this reason we must strategically save nonrenewable energy such as oil and not ignorantly waste such precious resources on SUVs or even any automobile in my opinion. Strategically using oil will reduce carbon pollution as well.

The construction of this wind turbine took place from March 31^st 2008 to April 4^th 2008 in Lubbock Texas. Texas is leading in the production of wind power.

Wind power could match power supplied by nuclear sources in two decades according to a U.S. Energy Department report. Nonetheless, emotions still run high regarding some wind projects. Last month the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service said it received more than an extraordinary 40,000 comments regarding the future of Cape Wind. A final decision on Cape Wind is due around the end of this year or the beginning of 2009. In other wind news, Friends of the Earth Cymru recently released “a report tackling the myths that are blocking the development of wind power in Wales.” The wind power myths that Friends of the Earth Cymru tackle include:

MYTH 1: Wind energy produces little power
MYTH 2: Wind turbines consume more energy than they generate
MYTH 3: Wind is intermittent and requires backup from polluting power station
MYTH 4: Wind energy is inefficient
MYTH 5: When the wind stops blowing the lights will go out
MYTH 6: Installing wind farms will not shut down conventional power stations
MYTH 7: Wind is being promoted at the expense of other renewable
MYTH 8: Wind power is expensive
MYTH 9: Wind turbines are taking over the countryside
MYTH 10: Wind farms are unpopular
MYTH 11: Wind farms deter tourists
MYTH 12: Wind turbines are noisy
MYTH 13: Wind turbines kill birds
MYTH 14: Wind energy is heavily subsidised
MYTH 15: We oppose wind but other renewable are fine
MYTH 16: Wind turbines can harm humans by catching fire or exploding
MYTH 17: Wind farms harm property prices
MYTH 18: Wind farms harm radio and tv reception
MYTH 19: Wind energy has failed in Denmark and Germany
MYTH 20: We need more energy conservation not wind energy

READ THE REPORT!!!

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse me or my work and their image is protected under an attribution license.

The Bahrain World Trade Center has wind turbines integrated into its body therefore making it possibly the world’s first skyscraper powered by wind. From World Architecture News:

The visually striking sail-shaped towers form a commanding silhouette on the skyline of Manama, and serve to channel the strong on-shore winds directly onto the three spinning blades.

Atkins’ holistic expertise extended from concept design to through life of the project, with a diverse team of engineers playing a significant role in achieving this remarkable feat. Incorporating large-scale turbines onto a building is a world first and during the upcoming months the turbines will undergo detailed analysis and optimisation by turbine specialists Norwin to determine their actual generating potential. The turbines are expected to operate approximately 50% of the time.

Image Found Here

Hat tip to Kevin.

On the Net: Bahrain World Trade Center
On the Net: Video of the Bahrain World Trade Center

He’s very much right. However, he takes a beating at the conservative site NewsBusters.org | Exposing Liberal Media Bias.