Mar 30, 2009

30 year old secret life of a CFL 'barely a shade away from crazy.'

FACT: CFL's never would have made it outside of the General Electric IP vault had the design not been leaked and then copied.
Because GE, once they examined the invention -- engineered by GE designer Ed Hammer in 1976 in response to the 1973 oil crisis
Consumers with an eye to conserving energy may be snatching those swirly compact fluorescent bulbs off store shelves now, but 30 years ago they were barely a shade away from crazy.
"I was given a number of reasons why it wouldn't work," said Ed Hammer, a retired General Electric engineer who invented compact fluorescent while working at the company in the 1970s. "I was told it could be a little better than an incandescent bulb, but that was about it."

Hammer invented the bulb in 1976, he said, and primarily worked alone.

Although executives at GE liked the idea, they decided not to market it at the time. CFLs would require entirely new manufacturing facilities, which would cost $25 million. "So they decided to shelve it," Hammer said.

The electronics giant contemplated licensing the design. Unfortunately, the design leaked out. Others copied it before GE started a licensing program. Read full from CBS (CNET)

Haase - After 30 years of non innovation... I think it is safe to say we can move forward on technology and start using LED's

Mar 29, 2009

FORD done right - brings Largest Battery-Powered Truck to U.S.

World's Largest Battery-Powered Truck Comes to U.S.

Company officials at Smith Electric Vehicles announced on Friday that they will begin manufacturing "The world's largest battery-electric-powered truck" at a new plant in in Kansas City, Missouri.
The battery-powered Smith Newton will be built in collaboration with Ford Motor Co.
 
The Newton cruises at a top speed of 50mph, carries payloads up to eight tons and can last up to 150 miles on a single charge. The Newton also has a turning radius of 14.15 meters, which is a relatively tight turn for a larger truck, making it ideal for urban applications. Read more of this story »
 

After 30 years 'change' would be nice....

From The Economist (photo cred Getty Images)
Light-emitting diodes (LED's) will transform the business of illumination, especially with new production breakthroughs
 
“INCANDESCENT” might well describe the rage of those who prefer traditional light bulbs to their low-energy alternatives. This week, the European Commission formally adopted new regulations that will phase such bulbs out in Europe by 2012. America will do so by 2014. Some countries, such as Australia, Brazil and Switzerland, have got rid of them already. When a voluntary agreement came into force in Britain, at the start of the year, people rushed out to buy the last 100-watt light bulbs. Next to go are lower-wattage bulbs.
 
But what will replace the light bulb? Although obtaining illumination by incandescence (ie, heating something up) goes back to prehistory, it was not until 1879 that Thomas Edison demonstrated a practical example that used a wire filament encased in glass. Modern bulbs, the descendants of that demonstration, are cheap (around 50 cents) but inefficient, because only about 5% of the energy they use is turned into light and the rest is wasted as heat.
 
Without changing light fittings, the cheapest direct replacement for an incandescent bulb at the moment is a compact fluorescent light (CFL). These use up to 75% less power and last ten times longer, but they cost around $3 each. That price puts some people off, which explains part of the hoarding of incandescent bulbs. But others object not to the price but to the quality of the light, which has a different spectrum from the one they are used to. CFL bulbs can also be slow to reach maximum illumination. And some people worry that they may be bad for the health. Fluorescent lights use electricity to excite mercury vapour. This produces ultraviolet light that causes a phosphor coating inside the bulb to glow. The lights can flicker, which could set off epileptic fits, and badly made ones might leak ultraviolet radiation, and may thus pose a cancer risk. There are also concerns about the disposal of the toxic mercury.
 
The most promising alternatives are light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
An LED is made from two layers of semiconductor, an “n-type” with an excess of negatively charged electrons, and a positive “p-type” which has an abundance of “holes” where electrons should be but aren’t. When a current is applied across the sandwich, the electrons and holes team up at the junction of the two materials and release energy in the form of light...can be tuned to produce light that is similar to natural daylight but with virtually no ultraviolet or heat.
 
Light-emitting diodes have progressed from simple red indicators on electronic products to become torches, streetlights and car headlights. Now the first mains-voltage LEDs designed as direct replacements for incandescent bulbs are arriving on the market. Some, such as the Philips Master LED range, promise energy savings of up to 80% and a working life of 45,000 hours. 
 
Developments like the use of cheap silicon make the case for switching to LED lighting even more compelling. About 20% of the world’s electricity is used for lighting. America’s Department of Energy thinks that, with LEDs, this could be cut in half by 2025, saving more than 130 new power stations in America alone.
 
Please read full from The Economist

Forget the lights - shut down the friggin' computer

As people turn off the lights for Earth Hour this evening and ponder their electricity use, one of the world's most rapidly growing power guzzlers -- for which nearly everyone carries responsibility -- is largely hidden from view. It's the invisible backbone of the Internet. The popularity of all the twittering, blogging, music downloading, and Facebooking has had a little-known environmental downside, by boosting the demand for ... It's a growth in demand that has come out of nowhere, and equals the amount of power produced by 17 large, coal-fired generating stations.

The total cost of electricity needed to run the world's growing twittering, blogging, music downloading, and Facebooking fleet has been projected to rise by a compounded rate of about 11 per cent a year from 2005 to 2010 (or add 15 more large, coal-fired generating stations.) Read more via Globe and Mail

Still think turning off your lights will make a big dent?
Lets make a real difference this year. How about the gadgets when your done... turn off your by having a main powerstrip or your work computer...

Example...
According to a recent study, the Sony PlayStation 3 consumes 33.34 kWh (weekly consumption) when on and playing a game. That is more than a Plasma TV who uses 29.68 kWh when on and playing a DVD.

When the same game console is off (back switch on) it still consumes 0.30 kWh. Microsoft Xbox 360 consumes 0.40 kWh when off and 26.00 kWh when on and playing.

Tests also found that leaving a PlayStation 3 on while not in use would cost almost $250 a year in electricity bills (charged at 15c per kWh). This alone is around five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period.
The only way to be sure these energy hungry gadgets don't consume energy (and your money) is to make sure they are switched off and unplugged when you are not using them.

Lights out really? What about Simple Office PCs at Night
These Vampires represent between 5 and 8 percent of a single family home's total electricity use per year, according to the Department of Energy.

The study found nearly half of US workers who use a PC at their job do not typically shut down at night.

The 2009 PC Energy Report, which examines workplace PC power consumption in the US, UK and Germany, estimated that US organizations waste $2.8 billion a year to power 108 million unused machines. In 2009, these unused PCs are expected to emit approximately 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the equivalent impact of 4 million cars.

Every year the information and telecom technology industry generates 2% of the world’s carbon emissions — the same as a year’s worth of air traffic. Moreover, PCs and monitors account for 39% of these emissions, equivalent to the emissions of approximately 46 million cars.

Proof most people are smarter that the media hype

It appears people are actually worried about the real problems and not the hype.

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Nearly follows the REAL problems...
 
Clearly proves you can fool some of the people some of the time but never all the people.
 
Read full from gallup.com

Mar 28, 2009

FAIL fuel standard of 27.3 mpg in 2011.

Three U.S. and a half a dozen other makers offer 40mpg + to non-U.S. countries...
NOT allowing those vehicles in the U.S. by 2011 is a definition of FAILURE.
 
"The New administration is to announce a combined car and light-truck fuel economy standard for the 2011 model year of 27.3 mpg, and has ordered officials to rework proposed standards for model years 2012 to 2016 to comport with plans for economy-wide restrictions on global warming gases. 
Source: The Society of Environmental Journalists 
List current vehicles that get over 40mpg...

Cry over a few more that get over 40mpg

Progress - I would like to see a little...

Hope that good choices will change others and address Humanity's Global Crises.

"Choice is an illusion, created by those with power, for those without."
 
Vandana Shiva  -And where did this start? All this feels so timeless, but it started with humanity getting at the fossil fuel, which was never supposed to be touched… But that model carries on. And globalization now is industrializing every activity of every human being's life across the planet. For me, globalization is really expanding the use of fossil fuel.

And so while on the one hand, when we talk climate change, we're talking about reducing emissions, the entire economic model is based on increasing emissions. It is based on increasing emissions by destroying small-scale peasant farming and introducing large-scale industrial agriculture. It's increasing emissions by making every one of us dependent on our everyday needs to come from China.

Everything today is being made where it can be made most cheaply, which means where sources can be exploited the fastest and workers can be exploited the highest. And at one level, that's what's being reflected in China's double-digit growth and India's nine percent growth. It's basically converting our resources into commodities, to be sold around the world.

But that conversion requires the wastage of human beings on a scale we've never seen. Read more via alternet.org


A free Democracy with regulations and laws written 'by the people for the people' has proven that we can help ourselves while helping others and achieve near limitless potential.
 
When we start to lose those freedoms as democracy dissolves... the regulations and laws designed to protect ourselves and others also dissolves.
 
And we can hope and dream as much as we want that our singular choices will make others change. But in reality, change - is an unstoppable, inevitable succession, we 'the people' decide if this change will be positive.
 
We can only bring positive change to others by setting the best example for them to follow... freedom and democracy.
 
~ Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength and your greatest weakness.~

Mar 27, 2009

Jobs... Energy, Environemtal, Health and Safety...

I have been inundated with both job seekers and providers scrambling to secure EHS jobs in the worst market in U.S. history.

In the next month I will develop a AI network to defuse this influx of job seekers and employers securing our nations energy, environmental, health and safety workforce.

Until then I will 'post on request' VALID openings and candidates.

Big movers this month:
Large U.K. based corporation seeking dynamic EHS professional leader
Contact - Helen Gotts, HSQE Lead Consultant U.K


Great Lakes based (my back yard):
Major Wisconsin and Midwest Based EHS consultant seeking EHS professional with Alternative energy experience to assist client base.
Contact me as position and organization are requesting confidential status

Large Health Orientated Milwaukee, WI Based organization seeking EHS professional to grow into dynamic corporate role.
Contact me as position and organization are requesting confidential status


Philip Gimson Executive Recruiter Greater Philadelphia Area
Has an excellent candidate with tenure EHS experience residing in Kentucky but willing to relocate due to pending company layoffs.

Please feel free to contact me if you are a EHS professional with tenure or a employer seeking the same.

The is never a charge and is always confidential.

Thanks for helping out the few whose professions are dedicated to helping others,

Christopher Haase

Mar 25, 2009

CA rule to check tire pressure

CA - Automotive service industry must check tire pressure on all vehicles.
 
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Today, the Air Resources Board adopted a regulation that will require California’s automotive maintenance industry to check the tire pressure of every vehicle they service.
 
Effective July 1, 2010, this rule, one of 44 early action measures required by AB 32, will annually:
• Eliminate 700,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions;
• Reduce the state’s fuel consumption by 75 million gallons; and,
• Extend the average tire’s useful life by 4,700 miles.
 
“Checking tire pressure is one of the many simple things that we can all do to reduce our impact on the environment,” said ARB board member Barbara Riordan. “While we should do this monthly, this measure makes it convenient and regular.”
Tire pressure check will save money, gas and lives
"Under-inflated tires waste fuel, cause tires to wear out prematurely and increase drivers' safety risk," said Dan Zielinski, senior vice president with the Rubber Manufacturers Association, which represents tire manufacturers.  "This regulation will help protect California's environment, help consumers save money in fuel and tire costs, and help Californians optimize vehicle safety." Read full at www.arb.ca.gov
 
 
 

A Real Rescue U.S. Investment Plan... Conserve & Efficiency Improvements

Obama Administration Announces $3.2 Billion in Funding for Local Energy Efficiency Improvements
Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects in U.S. cities, counties, states, territories, and Native American tribes. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, funded by President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will provide formula grants for projects that reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency nationwide.
 
The funding will support energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements. Other activities eligible for use of grant funds include transportation programs that conserve energy, projects to reduce and capture greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy installations on government buildings, energy efficient traffic signals and street lights, deployment of Combined Heat and Power and district heating and cooling systems, and others.

Haase  - The utilization of the 4 R's is to reduce our energy demands and secure a prosperous, safe and healthy future is what we have been begging for - for decades. This Act is a monumental pivoting point that may have the greatest impact on saving our jobs, economy and make a REAL tangible difference on securing our nations energy needs.
 
The point of saving a bank may be, pointless
Unless you invest in the act of people making, doing or gather things for themselves and others there is NO return on that investment.
 
The point of a bank is to take money and make a profit exploiting the monetary value system during a exchange of goods or services.
 
Ultimately the bank itself is a 'value added service' not a value in and of itself.
 
And while investments in stabilizing a monetary value exchange system may help in the trade of things... its helpfulness is not a cure.
 
The fabric of 'why' we are a society:
People make, do or gather things for themselves and others. What things you can't make, do or gather you need to exchange something another person can't make, do or gather... it is that simple. 
 
Why do I make the obvious and somewhat hurtful bank point... 
Less than 5% of the bailout goes towards energy, security and prosperity with over 60% going into fix a problem that returns no value other than 'avoidance of a threat that may never go away'. 
 
Please read full announcement at EEERE Website with full DOE recovery Act Funning of $32.7 Billion at  www.energy.gov/recovery
 

Mar 24, 2009

Economic distress index - USA is 5.3 for moderate alert on national safety and security

U.S. Political Instability Index - 5.3
We define social and political unrest or upheaval as those events or developments that pose a serious extra-parliamentary or extra-institutional threat to governments or the existing political order. The events will almost invariably be accompanied by some violence as well as public disorder. These need not necessarily succeed in toppling a government or regime. Even unsuccessful episodes result in turmoil and serious disruption.

The overall index on a scale of 0 (no vulnerability) to 10 (highest vulnerability) has two component indexes an index of underlying vulnerability and an economic distress index. The overall index is a simple average (on a 1-10 scale) of the two component indexes.


There are 15 indicators in all12 for the underlying and 3 for the economic distress index:
inequality; state history; corruption; ethnic fragmentation; trust in institutions; status of minorities; history of political instability; proclivity to labour unrest; level of social provision; a country’s neighbourhood; regime type (full democracy, flaweddemocracy, hybrid or authoritarian); and the interaction of regime type with political factionalism.

Who's at risk as deepening economic distress foments social unrest?
Read report at www.eiu.com/special by The Economist

Haase - Safety and our nations security need to be address 'proactively' not after events... I wonder if my years planning RMP's and Community and Business Contingency Plans would be of value around here ;-)

Advanced Energy Design Webcast for K-12 Schools

DOE Webcast April 16: Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 Schools
The U.S. Department of Energy, through its EnergySmart Schools initiative, is hosting a no-cost, live webcast on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, entitled "Implementing Recommendations from the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings." Presenters Paul Torcellini and Shanti Pless of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will provide a comprehensive overview of the Guide, including recommendations based on climate zones to achieve 30% energy savings over baseline standard in both new and renovation school building projects.
 
The webcast training will include a 90-minute presentation followed by a 30-minute live question and answer session, and is targeted towards school administrators, engineers, architects, contractors, and designers working on new school building or major renovation projects. Participants who are also members of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) are eligible to receive 2.0 AIA/CES Learning Units (HSW/SD) for successful completion of the training.
 
An online webinar will be available after April 16 for those not able to attend the webcast. Please see the EnergySmart Schools Web site for more information or to register for the webcast at eere.energy.gov  
 

Earth Hour parties released more CO2 than whole event saved....

How soon we forget... I dug up my post from last year

Quotes: Social events are not sustainable movements or action...One hour of "self
awareness" partying does not make up for a lifetime of polluting.

Chris Rock on Live Earth social event. "I pray that this event ends global warming the same way that Live Aid ended world hunger."

YIKES! The smug is choking me...

like daylight savings, millions were blown in "Earth Hour" to make a few people call obvious attention on over publicized problems
.


.... power stations simply cannot be turned off for an hour while people flick their lights out to feel good about it.

The often electricity is 'run to ground' if it isn't needed. In reality it can take up to 14 hours to get a baseload coal-fired power station up to full operating speed.

Sydney Opera House is shown in the light of fireworks at the conclusion of Earth Hour in
Australia
blownin off emissions like a rock star. (AP -photo source)


Last year's event in Sydney, there was some criticism which suggested Earth Hour was little more than a stunt or a gimmick.

Making things worse... millions were spent on police and government forces to order, lights-out for scores of government buildings, bridges and monuments in more than a dozen cities and towns. More elected not to take part — due to risk that Saturday night revelers could end up smashing glasses, falling down stairs, or setting themselves on fire with candles.

Likewise, much of Europe — including France, Germany, Spain and European Union institutions — planned nothing to mark Earth Hour.

Internet search engine Google lent its support to Earth Hour by blackening its normally white home page and challenging visitors: "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn."


And while event holders claim: "Earth Hour is not a protest, nor is it a political statement." "It is a solutions-focused celebration of our awakening to the environmental challenges we face."

"I am sure this event will have the same negative effect Baybaby Boomer protests had on saving the planet".



TARP cheap compared to CO2 Capture and Transport

The TARP and all other renewable energy sources are starting to look cheap.
 
IGCC is being promoted by the coal industry as having the potential to “capture” CO2. However, capturing CO2 reduces plant efficiency and increases water use.
An Electric Power Research Institute study found CO2 capture equipment:
 
Decreased plant output by at least 25%;23 and increases water consumption by approximately 23%.
Additional “capture” costs beyond the plant gate, plus transportation and storage costs, are not factored into the efficiency loss or cost increase. The Minnesota Department of Commerce estimated CO2 sequestration costs for Mesaba at roughly $1.107 billion in 2011; and pipeline costs at $635.4 million.
 
High Costs (one example x200)
Capital costs for IGCC plants are estimated to be 20-47% higher than traditional coal plants. In 2004, Indeck Energy Services testified before the Illinois State EPA that IGCC’s “capital costs are 30% higher.”General construction costs (concrete, steel and labor) have risen 100-300% in recent years, driving up the costs of all power plants. The Department of Energy (DOE) reports that IGCC is seen as too risky for private investors, and requires large subsidies from the federal, state and local governments. In 2006, the EPA estimated that capturing 90% of CO2 emissions from IGCC plants would increase capital costs 47%; and the total cost of electricity 38%. “Capture” does not include transportation of gas or storage.
Compression costs have been estimated at $17/ton CO2, so a 600 MW plant emitting 4-5 million tons/year of CO2 would cost approximately $68-85,000,000/year just for compression.
 
 
 

Globalwarming in 90 Seconds

90 seconds from catastrophe
Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment.

Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US is without power.


A year later and millions of Americans are dead and the nation's infrastructure lies in tatters.
The World Bank declares America a developing nation.

Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan are also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 150 million kilometres away on the surface of the sun.


It sounds ridiculous.
Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth.
Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that.
Over the last few decades, western civilizations have busily sown the seeds of their own destruction.

Our modern way of life, with its reliance on technology, has unwittingly exposed us to an extraordinary danger: plasma balls spewed from the surface of the sun could wipe out our power grids, with catastrophic consequences.

If one should hit the Earth's magnetic shield, the result could be truly devastating.

Read full at NewScientist

Adding more light and CO2 creates more methane...

"Right now there is lots of talk about burying carbon dioxide, which is ridiculous," "Do we take that CO2 and bury it, or do we use sunlight to turn it back into fuel?"
Powered by sunlight, titanium oxide nanotubes can turn carbon dioxide into methane, which can be harnessed as an energy source, say scientists at Pennsylvania State University.
The nanotubes could dramatically reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and reduce our need for fossil fuels.

.. "Instead we can collect the waste out of the smoke stack, put it though a converter, and presto, use sunlight to change [CO2] back into fuel."
This is solar power by another name, say Grimes and other scientists. Instead of storing electrons in batteries, Grimes' idea would store energy chemically.
"If you want to use hydrogen as a energy source in the future, you have to convert all the existing infrastructure," said Choi. " But we've been using methane for years, and can utilize all the infrastructure we already have."
"It's a clean and sustainable cycle as long as you have sun and water," said Choi.
Read full review from Craig Grimes of Penn State, who, along with Oomman Varghese, Maggie Paulose and Thomas LaTempa, co-authored a paper on the nanotubes at Discovery.com

DOE Approval to Switch Coal Plant to Biomass Power

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a request from Georgia Power Company to convert its Plant Mitchell Unit 3 from a coal-fired power plant to a biomass power plant. Located near Albany, Georgia, the facility will be able to produce 96 megawatts of power once the conversion is completed in June 2012, making it one of the largest biomass power plants in the United States. It will draw on surplus wood fuel from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the power plant.

Biomass power is also making headway in other parts of the country. In late February, Xcel Energy filed for approval to convert the remaining coal-fired unit at its Bay Front Power Plant to biomass by adding a biomass gasification facility to the facility, which is located in Ashland, Wisconsin. The utility already burns wood in two of the three boilers at the power plant, and the conversion will make it the largest biomass power plant in the Midwest. If approved, construction will start next year, with commercial operation anticipated in late 2012. Meanwhile, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has initiated its review of two 53.4-megawatt solar thermal power plants that will each include a 40-megawatt biomass power plant to supplement the solar power. If approved, San Joaquin Solar 1 and 2 will be built just east of Coalinga in Fresno County, and the plants should start operating in early 2011. See Xcel Energy's Web page for the Bay Front Biomass Gasification Project, and see the CEC press release and licensing case for the solar thermal-biomass hybrid project.

Read full at EERE - U.S. Department of Energy

 

 

"significant" evidence of cold fusion

"We're talking about a new field of science that's a hybrid between chemistry and physics."
 
Really? Researchers at a US Navy laboratory have unveiled what they say is "significant" evidence of cold fusion, a potential energy source that has many skeptics in the scientific community.
 
The scientists described what they called the first clear visual evidence that low-energy nuclear reaction, or cold fusion devices can produce neutrons, subatomic particles that scientists say are indicative of nuclear reactions.
 
"Our finding is very significant," said analytical chemist Pamela Mosier-Boss of the US Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center.
 
Really? The city is also the site of an infamous presentation on cold fusion 20 years ago by Martin Fleishmann and Stanley Pons that sent shockwaves across the world. Despite their claim to cold fusion discovery, the Fleishmann-Pons study soon fell into discredit after other researchers were unable to reproduce the results.
 
Paul Padley, a physicist at Rice University who reviewed Mosier-Boss's published work, said the study did not provide a plausible explanation of how cold fusion could take place in the conditions described.
 
"It fails to provide a theoretical rationale to explain how fusion could occur at room temperatures. And in its analysis, the research paper fails to exclude other sources for the production of neutrons," he told the Houston Chronicle.
 
But Steven Krivit, editor of the New Energy Times, said the study was "big" and could open a new scientific field.
 
The neutrons produced in the experiments "may not be caused by fusion but perhaps some new, unknown nuclear process," added Krivit, who has monitored cold fusion studies for the past 20 years.
 
 
Meanwhile, in the United States, no federal or state money is being spent on cold fusion and as recently as last November The Washington Post ran a review by the director of the American Physical Society that attacked the cold fusionists with less than scientific reserve:
 
"If everyone knows it is wrong, why are they doing it? Inept scientists whose reputations would be tarnished, greedy administrators.... gullible politicians who had squandered the taxpayers' dollars, lazy journalists... - all had an interest in making it appear that the issue had not been settled. Their easy corruption was one of the most chilling aspects of this sad comedy. To be sure, there are true believers among the cold-fusion acolytes, just as there are sincere scientists who believe in psychokinesis, flying saucers, creationism and the Chicago Cubs. A Phd in sciences is not inoculation against foolishness. - or mendacity."
 
When Jed Rothwell, who heads Cold Fusion Research Advocates, asked the editor of Scientific American why his journal had not covered the cold fusion story, he described it as "pathological science" with no merit whatsoever.
 
YIKES - Progress in Scientific American?

Mar 23, 2009

Lack of knowledge kills

This week the CDC released a “Quickstat” comparing the percentage of adults over 25 reporting regular recreational physical activity of at last 30 minutes of a moderate level at least five times a week or 20 minutes of vigorous activity three times a week. We don’t have the data by income or social class but we are given it by a reasonable proxy, educational level. Here is the comparison between 1997 and 2007, adjusted for a standard population:

CDC.exercise.jpg

 
 
Over both time periods you can see that the proportion of adult Americans who exercised for pleasure was directly related to educational level: the higher your educational level (which is correlated with income), the more likely a person was to engage in leisure-time physical activity. Not a surprise. But we also see something else. The gap widened, with the highest educational level having an increased proportion while each of the lower levels decreasing.
 
If you completed college you were three times as likely to have exercised than if you had not completed high school.
 
Read more from Effect Measure with a "social inequality spin"...

Human experimentation on kids. PBS DOCUMENTARY

Six million American children are taking pshychiatric drugs, but most have NEVER been tested on children. Medication for children is nothing more than Human experimentation on kids.

A startlingly increase in the number of children being diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders and prescribed medications that are just beginning to be tested in children.
The drugs can cause serious side effects, and virtually nothing is known about their long-term impact.

"It's really to some extent an experiment, trying medications in these children of this age,"

"It's a gamble. And I tell parents there's no way to know what's going to work."

Mar 22, 2009

We have a planed a unsustainable future by 2020

Due to decades of gross dependence on finite energy and foreign resources.... We may not have the fiscal resources to help ourselves or others in a decade.
According to the International Herald Tribune , the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the proposed budget will produce a $9.3 trillion deficit in the next decade... 4 to 5 percent of gross domestic product, as envisioned in the office's report, are "ultimately not sustainable."

Haase - Is this Change? or have we just stopped listening to reason?

Some answers... The more we 'change' the more we stay the same.

Why the Precautionary Principle should perhaps have trumped the Planck Problem, instead of vice versa... (proactive vs reactive)

From the campfire -
Social scientist Jay Stuart Snelson calls this resistance an ideological immune system: "educated, intelligent, and successful adults rarely change their most fundamental presuppositions" According to Snelson, the more knowledge individuals have accumulated, and the more well-founded their theories have become (and remember, we all tend to look for and remember confirmatory evidence, not counterevidence), the greater the confidence in their ideologies. The consequence of this, however, is that we build up an "immunity" against ideas that do not corroborate previous ones. Historians of science call this the Planck Problem, after physicist Max Planck.

What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out and that the growing generation is familiarized with the idea from the beginning"

In a society assailed from all angles with social and environmental problems, and information available 24/7 on the internet to increasingly 'full' minds, we are moving further and further away from a cultural ability to say "I don't know". Such an answer implies weakness, rather than wisdom, and someone on TV, someone testifying to Congress, or someone publicly asked for answers to our financial or environmental problems replying "I don't know but I can find out and get back to you" would be quickly replaced by someone with a pithy, intelligent, or confident answer (with all three, they'd be branded an 'expert' and invited back).

"Toxic Emissions Fell in 2007, E.P.A. Says"

"The volume of toxic chemicals that were released into the environment or sent for disposal in 2007 dropped 5 percent compared with 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday. But concealed within the overall numbers was good and bad news. For example, the volume of released or disposed 'persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals,' substances like lead, dioxin, mercury and PCBs, was up slightly, the agency said. Most of those releases were not to air or water, the agency said, meaning that the material was mostly buried in landfills, injected into deep wells or held in impoundments. The number given for PCBs was up by 40 percent, but 'it's good news,' said Michael P. Flynn, acting deputy assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Information. The E.P.A. banned production of PCBs 30 years ago, so pounds counted now, Mr. Flynn said, represent electrical transformers or other equipment being taken out of service and PCBs disposed of in qualified facilities."
 
 
Link VIA -  sej.org

Global Warming fiasco -- may cost families $1,800 yearly in higher utility bills

You thought the cost to fill up your kitchen or car was out of control... just wait.
The proposed energy tax plan -- a version of the failed European "cap and trade" global warming fiasco -- may cost families $1,800 yearly in higher utility bills, far exceeding his promised $800 a year tax cut for 95% of Americans.

While campaigning, Obama admitted that his energy plan would cause electric bills to "skyrocket."
And lest you think this is partisan spin, the baseline figures are from Obama's own people.
Obama's official budget claims that his proposed energy tax would add $646 billion to energy costs over 8 years. But that's low-balling it.

As the Washington Times reported:
President Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House's initial estimate of the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation, according to Senate staffers who were briefed by the White House. . . .

At the meeting, Jason Furman, a top Obama staffer, estimated that the president's cap-and-trade program could cost up to three times as much as the administration's early estimate of $646 billion over eight years.

Put another way, Furman estimates the cap-and-trade scheme will cost, on average, $250 billion annually. That estimate must be taken seriously because Furman is deputy director of Obama's National Economic Council.

Obama says that these new taxes, which they do not dispute, will be partially offset by tax cuts of $800.00 for 95% of households (and yes, that is another phony use of "tax cut" which is actually a welfare check redistributed from taxpayers to the 42% of Americans who pay no taxes).

Read full at: examiner.com




Haase - For the record, I do not believe global warming is a hoax or a end of the world pandemic. This 'tax plan' could not slow it down and will increase pollution and suffering on the meek. I do know that the theory of global warming is often used as a political and social tool (for decades) for control over voter and world leader resource interests.

I think President Obama's has read a has a clear understanding of the horrific ramifications of what 'doing nothing' has done and will do.

Just the ideas of 'what to do' that have been presented to him are 'political, reactive and controlling based' hidden behind good intentions and 'minor reductions in the next few decades' that would be too little, too late to limit world suffering.

He NEEDs and IS ASKING for better plans, maybe this is a 'shot across the bow' to have the best ideas surface.

If this is the case, I would urge him and his staff to contact individuals like myself who have 'no conflicting or political interests'.

There are plans that will reduce pollution, use of fossil fuels and human suffering while increasing prosperity and natural resources throughout the global.

for over a decade I have presented plans for protecting people, the planet and energy without debate, conflict or even a negative comment on a post.

Quote - 'the true solution to a problem is a greater threat to a politician that the original problem.' (my dad)

The one thing right about the 'global warming' pandemic is the 'global' part. We have ever increasing 'global' environmental, health, safety and energy problems that prematurely take the lives of millions and any effort to stop and reduce this I will continue to support & report.

Continued plans to increase negative environmental impacts, suffering of the meek and use of finite natural and food resources for 'fuels' .... will always meet my resistance.



A botanical respect for humanity's most important renewable food.

Kusa Seed Society Works to Conserve and Regenerate Edible Seed Grains. The Kusa Seed Society is working to conserve and regenerate rare and edible seed grains around the world. It's aim is to increase humanity's knowledge and understanding of its own historic relationship to edible seed crops, cereal grains, grain-legumes oil seeds and other precious edible seeds. Cereal grains are humanity's most important renewable human food resource and have been called "culture elements" as pillars of civilization. "Kusa" is a word from the ancient Sanskrit language that came to be used in India as a name for a storied, ceremonial grass, a "sacred grass" known as kusa grass. The Society's adoption of the word is intended as a gesture of botanical respect focused on the grain-producing cereal grasses of the earth.
 
Learn more about the Kusa Seed Society, www.ancientcerealgrains.org
 

Oucch, World's cheapest car is launched

Bigger, Bader math problems -
While a shift from the current 'dirty & dangerous motorcycles' may be a huge shift for the health and prosperity of most Indians.
A future where 4 billion people can afford a $2k car with dirty engine tech with no emission controls could = a 'really bad' oil and pollution problem.
 
 
Costing just $1,979 U.S.; £1,366, the Nano is being unveiled in Mumbai later, before going on sale across India over the next 10 days.
 
Annotated image of Tata car
Tata hopes the 3 metre long, five-seater car will be cheap enough to encourage millions of Indians to trade up from their motorcycles.
 
Car industry analysts estimate it will take five or six years for Tata to start to make a profit from the Nano.
 
Read more from bbc.co.uk
 
 

 
Haase - What is the 'overall cost'?
Now with Volkswagen and dozens of other companies making cars that have double the fuel efficiency of the NANO and have the lowest emissions in the world... why are we allowing the shift to a tiny, dirty motor cycle engine death trap trike Tuk, Tuk wantabe?
 
What is the longterm cost vs up front?
 
Unless these are urban driven city cars powered by nearly emission free biogas?
 
Then I get it! That would be a awesome plan. The other disastrous

 

Mar 21, 2009

Draft of NFPA 2011 Hydrogen Technologies Code Now Available

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has published a proposed draft of its 2011 Hydrogen Technologies Code for public comment through 5 March 2010.

The purpose of the code is to provide fundamental safeguards for the generation, installation, storage, piping, use, and handling of hydrogen in either compressed gas (H2) or cryogenic liquid (LH2) form, and will apply to the production, storage, transfer, and use of hydrogen in all occupancies, including stationary, portable, and vehicular infrastructure applications.

The NFPA establishes fire protection standards in the United States, which are often adopted or adapted by other countries, on electrical, building, and equipment safety, including standards for vehicles propelled by gaseous fuels.

Via —Jack Rosebro greencarcongress.com

Happy world water day March 22nd.

It is 2009.
One in five children still die everyday from lack of clean drinking water.
 
"If that statement is not enough, these pictures will having you hugging your kids in seconds."
 
 
Please get involved at:  unwater.org
 
Haase Quote -
"People stop worrying about what they put in the bank when they see the emptiness ignoring our worlds children puts in their soul."