Climate Changes
Updated: 2011-07-30 02:00:00
Jul 29 2011 Climate Changes Posted by : Christine Cordner Several stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this : week Cloud cover could be the cause of global warming , not greenhouse gas emissions , posited new research published in the journal Remote Sensing and subsequently used to highlight climate change alarmism in a Forbes magazine piece Climate scientists , however , were quick to dismiss the research as incorrect and conducted by a well-known climate change skeptic . I cannot believe it got published , quot Kevin Trenberth , a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research , told Live Science due to the modeling used and statistical significance applied in the . findings Hampered by a politically-divided Congress and a large
Jul 28 2011 Fill Er Up With Seaweed Posted by : Jonathan Marshall , Macroscopic multicellular , benthic marine algae seaweed to those of you without a Ph.D in marine biology is a productive source of food sushi , anyone medicinal iodine , alginates used in wound dressings and dental moulds , fertilizer and many other commercial . products As a ubiquitous and fast-growing weed , rdquo which clutters our California beaches too much for my liking , kelp may someday have another great use : as a feedstock for renewable . biofuels Kelp can be converted to fuel one of several ways : by anaerobic digestion fermenting with yeast to convert their carbohydrates to ethanol or pyrolysis , a process of heating without oxygen that produces bio-oil . rdquo A team of researchers from the University of
Jul 27 2011 Phasors to the Rescue Posted by : Jonathan Marshall On a hot summer day two weeks shy of eight years ago , an electrical transmission line in Ohio sagged into a tree and shorted out , diverting current that overloaded other lines . Within a couple of hours , protective switches were opening all over the Midwest and Northeast grids , cutting off power to 55 million people in the United States and Canada In Cleveland public water supplies stopped flowing as pumps failed . In New York and much of the Northeast , trains and planes came to a halt . Nine nuclear reactors had to shut down . Cellular phone services were jammed . President Bush called it a massive , national problem The Northeast Blackout of 2003 was the biggest blackout in North American history . It contributed to 11
Yan Gao is a Senior Scientist in the Chemical and Structure Analysis Laboratory at GE-GRC in Niskayuna NY. Yan specializes ...
Jul 26 2011 Is Cloud Computing a Panacea Posted by : Jonathan Marshall Putting your head in the clouds is no way to succeed in business . But more and more experts say that putting your company's data in a cloud is a great way to save money , slash energy consumption and promote more sustainable . operations Cloud computing is all the rage these days , touted by consultants and heavily sold by providers like Amazon , AT T , and Microsoft . Basically it means outsourcing your data servers , storage and software applications to shared data centers that manage them for you . The service provider delivers resources when you need them charging only for what you . use Cloud computing lets companies focus on their core competence rather than IT at the cost of giving up some control . That's a
Jul 25 2011 How Smart Prices and Smart Meters Can Save Money Posted by : Jonathan Marshall The scorching heat wave across the Eastern and Midwestern United States pushed electric utilities across the region nearly to their limit as customers ran their air conditioners on full throttle . PJM Interconnection , which manages the transmission grid in 13 mid-Atlantic states , reported record peak demand of 158,450 megawatts on Thursday , twice the typical peak load on a spring day To meet such rare peaks in demand , utilities have to invest millions of dollars in power capacity they may need only a few hours each year . In California some 11 percent of generation capacity is fired up just 80 to 100 hours a year . The rest of the time it sits . idle That's a really expensive proposition , given
Jul 22 2011 Climate Changes Posted by : Christine Cordner News headlines across the U.S . this week are all about the massive heat wave scorching most of the eastern part of the country . Yet precious little of the coverage has focused on an obvious point for anyone who has followed climate science research : these extreme weather events have long been predicted if we don't ratchet back production of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global . warming The heat wave hitting the eastern U.S . after pounding the Midwest is setting new records . nbsp Temperatures in New York City and Baltimore , for instance , nbsp hit 102 and 104 degrees , respectively , nbsp beating the last records set in the 1950s . As if that wasn't bad enough , the humidity in these cities made those temperatures
Jul 21 2011 Taking Aim at Killer Particulates Posted by : Jonathan Marshall Of the top 10 metropolitan areas in the United States that are most heavily polluted by fine soot and other airborne particles , no fewer than four are in California's Central Valley : Bakersfield-Delano 1 Fresno-Madera 2 Visalia-Porterville 7 and Hanford-Corcoran 9 according to the American Lung Association by way of EnvironmentalLeader.com It's almost certainly no coincidence that they are also among the hardest hit areas by asthma with a rate several times the national . average Particulates can be formed by pollution from vehicles , industrial smokestacks and wood-burning . stoves Studies have repeatedly shown that fine particulates can be absorbed through the lungs and cause heart failure , respiratory
Hi All, I am happy to share an exciting breakthrough on GE’s Holographic Data Storage project. The research team ...
Jul 19 2011 Test Your Global Clean-Tech IQ Posted by : Jonathan Marshall It's time again to test your knowledge of global developments in renewable energy and clean . technology Match the news to the country Ireland Australia Jordan Italy if you : can 1. This country unveiled plans to set a price on carbon of about 25 per ton through a carbon tax that will apply to its 500 largest polluters If enacted , the proposed carbon tax will slash carbon emissions by 160 million tons by 2020, roughly the same as taking 45 million cars off the . roads 2. This country signed a deal with a Chinese manufacturer to supply wind turbines for a 1,000 megawatt wind energy project over the next five years . The developer , Mainstream Renewable Power claims to have wind and solar projects totaling 16,000 MW in
Jul 18 2011 The Best of the Best Posted by : Jonathan Marshall The Energy Star program brought to you by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy encourages innovation and environmental sustainability by branding common consumer appliances that meet a high standard for energy . efficiency Now it's taking the concept to the next level : singling out the crème de la crème in each category for special . recognition That will be a huge boon for energy- and cost-conscious consumers . No longer will they have to page through long spreadsheets , looking for the dishwasher that uses the least water or the television that pulls the fewest kilowatt-hours from the wall . socket Instead , they can now go to one website to find the most efficient choices typically the top five
Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Energy Efficiency Monday July 18, 2011 by Guest Blogger tags cable box DVR energy efficiency energy vampires comments 0 Set-Top Boxes That’s a Whole Nother Oprah Ever since Oprah left the airwaves , I’ve had to lower my guilty-pleasure” TV viewing standards by taping reality shows featuring everything from people who hoard animals , children or trash to real-life stories of tots in tiny wig-lets competing for . tiaras True confession : after a long day of championing the virtues of energy efficiency , I switch on my energy-sucking flat screen and allow my brain to meander mindlessly through such pre-taped decadence .
Jul 15 2011 Climate Changes Posted by : Christine Cordner Several stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this : week Global warming has fallen off despite greenhouse gas emissions soaring over the last decade , according to a US-led study The scientists who authored the report claim that world temperatures did not rise between 1998 to 2008 due to a large boost of sulfur emissions from coal-fueled growth in Asia . Sulfur allows water drops or aerosols to form in the upper atmosphere , creating hazy clouds and reflecting sunlight back into . space The European Parliament recently rejected a key report that would have backed a greenhouse gas reduction target of 30 by 2020 rather than 20 compared to 1990 levels . The rejection came on the heels of opposition
Jul 14 2011 Smaller But Not Cheaper Posted by : Jonathan Marshall The nuclear power industry has always been about big and brawny . Of late , however , a small is beautiful movement is gaining ground in hopes of jump-starting a nuclear . revival Today , the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee will hold hearings on the economics and safety of so-called small modular reactors or SMRs . This proposed class of reactors would have a power capacity ranging from about 50 to 300 megawatts , compared to the 1,000 megawatts or more typical of existing nuclear . units Proponents like Sen . Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska , believe SMRs could be built more cheaply using simplified designs and modular construction techniques . Faster construction should , in principle , lead to reduced financing
. : Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy Friday July 8, 2011 by Tim Laughlin tags corporate energy efficiency energy efficiency LinkedIn renewable energy saving energy solar energy wind power comments 0 Energy Efficiency vs . Renewables : Do we need to choose just one What came first the chicken or the egg It’s an age-old quandary that has no right or wrong answer . A similar question has rumbled around the virtual corridors of the Linked:Energy” forum on LinkedIn in recent weeks Where would you put your money energy efficiency or renewable energy sources As background , the Linked:Energy forum is populated by an
All, I wanted to introduce you to my colleague Sahika Genc. Sahika is an Electrical Engineer in the Sensors ...
Home Press Releases Blog Company Updates Technology Editorial In the News Events Sandia Labs and Princeton Power Selected for R D 100 Award July 6, 2011 By Marta Loc Industry Experts , Editors Pick Top Technology Innovations of the Year Princeton , N.J . The editors of R D Magazine along with an independent judging panel have selected Princeton Power Systems PPS as a recipient of an R D 100 Award for their Demand Response Inverter DRI The 49 th Annual R D 100 Awards salutes the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past . year The DRI is an advanced multi-port inverter designed to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy of photovoltaic energy , and to integrate solar energy with energy storage batteries and electric grid communications and
Hello all, this is Ran Niu from the Real-time Controls & Instrumentation (RTCI) Lab at Global Research Shanghai. From May ...
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Introduction
In Cracking the Carbon Code, Terry Tamminen lays out his strategy for managing and reducing carbon emissions. He describes what California has done. He describes great strides that China has made. He describes his strategic meetings on the subject with President Obama prior to his election. [...]