Sustainable Living & Ecology

Sustainable Living & Ecology

Entrepreneur Says Solar Sheets Will Compete With Utilities
(Ed Garsten, Associated Press, April 16, 2002)
Later this spring, the machine - it has no catchy name - will start producing nine-mile-long sheets of thin solar energy panels. Its inventor says the panels may bring cheaper, cleaner power to homes and businesses around the world. . . . Unlike conventional solar panels that use heavy, stiff glass, the photovoltaic sheets are thin, light and pliable. They can be used to replace normal roof shingles and generate electric power from the sun. . . . "Hydrogen has been called the ultimate fuel and the sun is the ultimate source of energy. If you tap into that, and you should, it changes the world beyond anything anybody could expect," . . . Over the course of a year, Ovshinsky plans to produce 1,000 miles of the material which can provide a total of 30 megawatts of electric power. . . . "If we can get up to 75 to 100 (megawatts), then we'll be competitive with the power companies," he said. . . . The theory behind both DTE Energy's plans to offer fuel cell generators and Ovshinsky's dream of photovoltaic-shingled homes and businesses is called "distributive energy," meaning power is generated where it will be used, not at a central plant.

New generation of solar cells could be on horizon
(Carrie Peyton, The Sacramento Bee, March 29, 2002)
Custom-tailored molecules and spray-on plastic could someday create the next generation of solar cells - more flexible, more efficient and much less expensive than existing sources of solar power. . . . The latest stride toward producing bargain-priced electricity from the sun's energy, outlined in Friday's edition of the journal Science, comes from researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. . . . the team relied on advances in nanotechnology - the ability to create or change materials at a minute level, atom by atom. . . . At that minuscule scale, they tweaked molecules to create electricity-carrying rods so tiny that more than 10,000 would be thinner than a human hair. . . . He believes that with the boom in nanotechnology, scientists are poised for major leaps forward in energy, including solar power and fuel cells.

Mission Possible - The Promise of Hydrogen
“When I was a kid we never heard of the word smog, we never heard the words acid rain or global warming or ozone depletion. Practically every environmental problem we have is because of the kinds of energy we are now using to support our economy. We have the ability to move away from our addiction to fossil fuels. We need to make the kind of choices that will take us there.”
— Dennis Weaver

That quote is from the article "Mission: Possible" in the April 2002 issue of Delicious Living magazine. This article is highly recommended to all who are interested sustainable living. A few more quotes: “. . . all the experts and engineers tell me that hydrogen fuel cells will one day power cars, planes, buildings, and homes. That's the way you're going to solve all your various national security and environmental problems . . . To me it all boils down to consciousness . . . There needs to be a tremendous shift in the collective consciousness of the whole world, away from hate and greed and fear and toward peace. We need to shift toward an awareness of our connectedness. . . . if you don't fix what's inside, that which is outside will just get broken again.”

Hydrogen-based system doable, but not easy
(Scott R. Burnell, UPI Science News, April 3, 2002)
The United States could shift its energy and transportation systems to a hydrogen-based infrastructure within a few years with a "Manhattan Project" style approach but it would not be an easy switchover, speakers at an investment forum said Wednesday. . . . "It's a universal fuel. It can run cars, trucks, locomotives, ships, power plants or a camping stove on a mountaintop," Braun told the Hydrogen Investment Conference. "Hydrogen can run your home appliances. ... It can run just about everything." . . . "If the Exxon Valdez had been carrying liquid hydrogen when it had its accident, nobody would have cared," Braun said. "There wouldn't have been one duck or otter or fish damaged." . . . In addition to U.S. government efforts to create a car powered by hydrogen fuel cells, automakers such as Ford and BMW already have versions of today's vehicles powered by liquid hydrogen as a combustion fuel, Braun said. Airplane manufacturers also are considering the possibilities of hydrogen-powered planes.

Biotech Company to Make Rice Research Available for Humanitarian Use
(The Associated Press, Mar 28, 2002)
An agricultural biotechnology company agreed Thursday to make public its data on the rice genome so that scientists can use the research to develop improved crops for the world's poor. Syngenta AG, a Swiss firm, said academic institutions, governments and nonprofit organizations will be allowed to use the data as they wish, but competing companies will have to pay for rights to commercialize their uses of the material. . . . "This is a balance between humanitarian goals and commercial goals," said Steven Briggs, president of Syngenta's San Diego-based Torrey Mesa Research Institute. . . . A Syngenta competitor, Monsanto Co. of St. Louis, decided two years ago to open its rice research to the public. . . . The data will make it easier for scientists to add nutrients to crops or increase resistance to drought and pests through both conventional breeding techniques and genetic engineering.

Global Youth Forum Opens Gate to Johannesburg Summit
(Environment News Service, March 26, 2002)
The United Nations Environment Programme's Global Youth Forum opened its four day meeting today at the Fuglsocenter near the city of Arhus to consider environmental topics that are crucial for sustainable development in the 21st century. . . . "This meeting is an essential one. Youth represent more than 50 percent of the world's population and in many countries more than 60 percent," . . . "More than in the past," he said, "young people need to struggle in a united and concerted manner to protect this fragile planet - for ourselves and for succeeding generations." . . . The Forum is part of the Youth for Sustainable Development Process that was launched in February 2001 by UNEP, the government of Sweden and Nature and Youth, Denmark. . . . Participants will have the possibility to exchange their personal opinions and experiences in the field of sustainable development with other young people . . . Participants will craft a common youth political statement and an action plan for youth and sustainable development. . . . "Continue to speak out, protest, campaign, mobilize youth and struggle for sustainable development with your own personal commitment as the driving force,"

The History of Planet Earth
By Dr. Salah Hassanein
If we compress the history of our plant earth (4.5 Billion years) in one year, we will find some amazing facts. . . . The first cell living cell developed somewhere at the ocean shoreline sometime between may-June. . . . Dinosaurs appeared on the scene on December 21 and became extinct by noontime on December 26. . . . December 31 has been a busy day. Man ancestors appeared 8 pm on December 31. Modern man appeared in Africa around 200,000 years ago that is 11: 36 pm on December 31. Civilization, which dates back to about 30,00 years, started at 11:56 pm. The first human arrived to North America from Asia, at 11:58 pm. The industrial revolution took place one second before midnight. . . . Before humans came on the scene two and half million years ago nature was supreme. Now they have changed nature including weather. Their activities resulted in acid rain, global warming, ozone thinning, accumulation of huge amount of man-made waste that will be there for centuries. . . . Scientists conservatively estimate at the present, that number of species, which become extinct each year, is 27,000 or 3 species each hour. . . . By the end of the twentieth century the tropical rain forests of the world, had been reduced to about 7.5 million square kilometers, or roughly about 45% of its original size. . . . April 22 was the Earth day. A good time to reflect on what we did and contemplate how to save the Earth. After all, this is the only planet we have.

Toxic Indifference
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
It is vitally important that we all periodically examine our lifestyle choices and see what level of responsibility we each bear for the environmental crisis. It is no secret that few polluting industries would exist if there were not customers for their products. . . . this year, Americans will spend an unbelievable $550 billion on gambling. Corporations will spend untold billions on advertising. . . . we could remove all land mines from the Earth for $2 billion, provide shelter for everyone on the planet for $21 billion, provide health care and AIDS control worldwide for $21 billion and eliminate starvation and malnutrition worldwide for $19 billion. . . . Indifference permeates our lives. We analyze whether or not to give a few coins to a homeless woman begging on the street because we have no control over how she uses the money. Yet thrift stores are filled with the goods that we have spent millions of dollars on and grown tired of so quickly. . . . The United States cannot handle all of this waste, so this hazardous waste is "recycled" by selling it to countries like China and India. . . . "The export of e-waste remains a dirty little secret of the high-tech revolution." The report says, "A free trade in hazardous waste leaves the poorer peoples of the world with an untenable choice between poverty and poison." . . . But we demand low prices, regardless of the global cost.

Conservationists, Bush Camp Appear Locked in Stalemate Over Energy Plan
(Ronald Brownstein and Richard Simon, L.A. Times, March 12, 2002)
In a form of mutually assured destruction, the central proposals for increasing both domestic energy production and conservation look doomed. Environmentalists appear to have the votes to prevent oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the top priority of the Bush administration and the energy industry. Meanwhile, the administration and the auto industry are in position to block mandated increases in automotive fuel economy, the top goal for the environmental movement and most Democrats. The result, critics say, may be a bill that only tinkers around the margins of America's energy problems--if a bill emerges from Congress at all. . . . The standoff suggests that renewed national security concerns about foreign oil haven't altered the dynamic that has largely frozen energy policy for more than a decade: Neither the environmental movement nor the oil and auto industries appear strong enough to move their priorities past the other. . . . Last week, Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reached agreement on a bipartisan proposal that would require cars, SUVs and light trucks combined to meet a fuel economy average of 36 miles per gallon by 2015. That would be a 50% increase from today, when the vehicles combined average 24 mpg. . . . The administration, the United Auto Workers and especially the auto industry are all vigorously opposing that proposal.

Senate Rejects Mandatory Fuel Efficiency Proposal
Cat Lazaroff, Environment News Service, March 16, 2002)
The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to reject a plan to force automakers to increase the fuel efficiency of their passenger vehicles. Republican Senate leaders used the support of Democrats from auto industry states to defeat a proposed amendment to the Senate energy bill . . . By a 62-38 vote, the Senate approved a different amendment calling on the Department of Transportation to research and develop new fuel economy regulations over the next two years. . . . In another defeat for supporters of higher fuel efficiency requirements, the Senate voted 56-44 to exempt pickup trucks from future increases in corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards. . . . "The Senate is handing our nation's energy security over to the auto industry," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "It's unfortunate the Senate bowed to the pressure of the auto industry that waged a campaign of fear and falsehoods. This vote means that after months of bipartisan calls to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the Senate is instead voting to do virtually nothing." . . . "Forty percent of oil consumed in America goes to fuel cars and light trucks. Fuel economy has fallen to a 20 year low. We import more than half the oil we use," Marks added. "Unless we take significant steps to improve motor vehicle fuel efficiency, U.S. dependence on foreign oil will soar past 60 percent in the next 10 years. . . . "The American people demand better from our Senators than this irresponsible vote to elevate the auto industry's short term interests over Americans' safety and energy security."

Stop Drilling in Los Padres National Forest
(Center for Biological Diversity)
The Forest Service is attempting to open up over 140,000 acres of wildlands in the Los Padres National Forest, which parallels the California coast from Ventura County to Big Sur, to new oil and gas drilling. The lands are home to twenty plants and animals listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, including the California condor and San Joaquin kit fox. The forest also features some of the state's most spectacular scenery and recreational opportunities. Drilling in these areas will be environmentally and financially costly for very little return: a five to ten day supply of fuel for the nation. . . . Expanding drilling in the wildlands of Los Padres represents a misguided and shortsighted energy policy that puts forestlands at risk and threatens critical habitat for endangered and threatened species. Lets get our priorities straight. We can preserve our remaining wildlands, while planning for our energy future, by promoting conservation and efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and investing in renewable energy like wind and solar power. . . . Call to action: Email Forest Supervisor Jeanine Derby and urge her not to allow expanded oil and gas drilling in the Los Padres National Forest.

UK backs renewable energy over nuclear (NewScientist.com, 14 February 02)
The nuclear industry's bid to build 10 or more new nuclear power stations in the UK has been decisively rejected by the government's long-awaited energy review . . . The best way to cut the pollution that is changing the climate is to boost renewable energy and improve energy efficiency, concludes the report by the Cabinet's Performance and Innovation Unit. . . . Reactors are perceived as being vulnerable to accidents and attack, and the problem of how to dispose of the radioactive waste they create remains "unsolved". . . . "The immediate priorities of energy policy are likely to be most cost-effectively served by promoting energy efficiency and expanding the role of renewables," the report concludes.

In the weeks ahead, we will be adding information about sustainable living, eliminating U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and ways to stop the further destruction of our bioshpere.

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