Several companies in Germany and in The Netherlands have been working toward creating biofuel out of algae.  Though the technology has been moving forward full steam ahead, the practice has been financially untenable.  However, as long as oil stays above $100 per barrel, the production of fuel from algae becomes financially competitive.  Some producers believe they can get to commercial production within 5 years while other scientists are not quite that optimistic.

(Photo Credit: The AP)

The AP via The Huffington Post has more details about the benefits and challenges:

"This is the ultimate fast-growing organism," says Peter van den Dorpel, chief operating officer of AlgaeLink, which makes bioreactors for speeding reproduction. "Algae is lazy. It eats carbon dioxide and produces oxygen." It has no roots, no leaves, no shoots. "It grows so fast because it has nothing else to do. It just swims in the water."

 

Farming algae doesn't require much space or good cropland, so it avoids the fuel-for-food dilemma that has plagued first and second generation biofuels like corn, rapeseed and palm oil.

 

It can grow in fresh water, polluted water, sea water or farm runoff. It can purify a city's sewage while feeding on the nitrogen and phosphates in human waste.

 

One other really cool benefit of fuel production from algae is that all of the carbon produced in it's manufacturing process can be fed back to the algae as it's food.

Reuters UK reports on Al Gore's appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative and two somewhat radical actions he recommends to protect the planet.

First, he is encouraging young people engage in Civil Disobedience when they learn of  plans to construct new coal plants without a plan to sequester the carbon emissions.  Currently there are no coal plants in the U.S. that do so.  The reason cited is that it would increase the upfront cost of building such plants by 50%.  It is not reported that Gore suggested any specific means of Civil Disobedience and it is probably wise to let young folks figure out the how and the when.

Gore also suggests that the SEC investigate companies for fraud when they try to convince the public that the dangers of global warming are not great.

I believe for a carbon company to spend money convincing the stock-buying public that the risk from the global climate crisis is not that great represents a form of stock fraud because they are misrepresenting a material fact," he said. "I hope these state attorney generals around the country will take some action on that.

I would bet that T. Boone Pickens, oilman slash wind industrialist slash financier of anti John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is regretting his demagoguery right about now.

Last month he told the NY Times that he would never vote for a Democrat.  It seems Pickens may be cutting off his nose to spite his face as he will need Democrats for the subsidies he seeks as a scheme to underwrite his new-found-religion, wind power.  I am all for subsidizing sustainability but Pickens is finding that he may not be the most effective messenger.

climateprogress.org writes about a speech Pickens gave to the National Press Club in which he laments his message is falling on deaf Republican ears in Washington.  His observation also underscores the point that Republicans in Congress and John McCain do not really believe in an “all of the above” energy policy.

Pickens says all they are interested in is "drill, drill, drill" despite the window dressing to the contrary.

Here's the video:

Grand Central Terminal (I still call it Grand Central Station) is one of the most magnificent places in the world.  It is the largest public transport hub in the world and has always been the leading symbol of metropolitan hustle and bustle as 185,000,000 people travel through each year.  With 125,000 daily passengers it is already an icon of  green transportation as those rail passengers are not commuting in 125,000 cars.

But wait!  There's more!!  

Here's a great video about the other measures the terminal is making to make it even more green.  Some of the major efforts are 60,000 CFLs, recycling, and turning excess steam into air conditioning.

Watch:

Treehugger.com is running several articles covering conflicts between neighbors over environmental issues.  They range from the aesthetic to the violent.

(Getty Images via TreeHugger.com)

First up is a story about a blind man who responded to a complaint by his neighbor complaining about the site and smell of his compost pile for his homegrown garden.  The article goes on to talk about the "not in my back yard" mentality, literally, as wind turbines begin to show up in residential back yards.  A similar conflict arose when the notoriously green Kennedys didn't want their view obstructed in Nantucket by a wind farm on the horizon in the ocean.  Since we are in an all hands on deck point in history it is time to redefine what is beautiful. I think a healthy planet without energy wars but with compost fed veggie gardens and windmills is a beautiful thing.  It is time for a massive media campaign on shifting aesthetics of a clean and healthy planet.

The second story is disturbing.  In Australia, an elderly man was beaten to death by an activist neighbor because the older gentleman was watering his lawn, even though he was doing so according to regulations that allow lawn watering before 10AM and after 4PM on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Violence will never bring us closer to a healthy planet and it flies in the face of the holistic goal of creating a healthy environment in every respect.  Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luthor King's vision was not tied exclusively to race and we all need to remember that.   The author of the article sums up the causality this way:

At least in my view, this is a perfect example of one of the potential "retail" effects of climate change as opposed to the "wholesale" effects of whole nations and states going to war with each other.

This author points to what could be called a "Waterworld Effect" where it's everyman for himself.  Though it is wise to point out the potential pitfalls of such a realignment of tensions we must make every effort to treat each other civilly.  This is another reason why a massive re-education is imperative if we are all going to get along and work toward the same goals.  Though this education initiative is required wide-scale, I would bet that the best suited for the job are the non-governmental entities rather than government itself.  Mothers Against Drunk Driving, love 'em or hate 'em, have been incredibly effective in reducing deaths caused by drunk drivers.  It is time for an environmental NGO to take the lead in educating our societies about the shifting aesthetics of our changing world and to pitch that we are all in this together.  Lawsuits and violence are no solution at all.

U.S. News & World Report outlines the concerns of leading scientists that climate change will have an increasingly negative impact on individuals' health.  Using projection models, here are several of their concerns:

Painful kidney stones. Because of higher temps and more dehydration, the crystallized calcifications that must be passed—often painfully—through the urinary tract could plague an additional 2.2 million people a year by 2050, researchers estimate. The current "kidney stone belt," which includes southern states like Florida, the Carolinas, and Arkansas, could extend up into Kentucky and northern California.

 

Exotic infections. Dengue fever, malaria, and encephalitis, while not exactly household names, have seen U.S. outbreaks and upticks in incidence in recent years. Mosquitoes and plankton, which flourish in warmer water temperatures, play a key role in transmitting such diseases.

 

Algae-related complaints. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, thrive and bloom in the rising temperatures of bodies of water, from municipal water systems to the Great Lakes and Florida's Lake Okeechobee. The algae have been linked to digestive, neurological, liver, and dermatological diseases.

More

Grist.com weighs in not the nuts and bolts of fuel efficiency and has some great facts and pointers.

Some highlights:

The venerable car group (edmonds.com) found that using cruise control improved gas mileage by 7 to 14 percent, except in mountainous terrain.

 

Where you set the cruise helps, too. Driving at 50-60 miles per hour keeps fuel consumption down, so if cruise helps you follow the speed limit, then it has an additional benefit (conscience does make cowards of us all).The government has estimated that each 5 mph over 60 costs you 26 cents per gallon.

It helps to get these facts and figures deeply drilled in the brain so that while driving one can hear a ca-ching, ca-ching with every vroom vroom, sudden acceleration, or sudden stop. I wonder if anyone has ever developed a gas gauge that shows dollars and cents spent in real time in addition to volume left in the tank. Hmmm...

Using candles instead of electric lights is a great way to reduce your electricity use any night of the year.  And its romantic!  So with out further ado, heres the best earthscreen has to offer.

The Soy Kitchen Candle uses the highest quality soy wax and lead free all cotton wicks. Made from American grown soybeans, soy wax is non-toxic, produces no soot and is completely biodegradable. $14.95

The Meyer lemon scented candle is subtly divine. The natural beeswax has a non-lead wick for a clean and even burn time of 45-60 hours. Poured into French country inspired glass containers with lids. Hand made in Napa Valley. $29.00

These uncented finely crafted hand-poured pillar candles are made with a high quality, long burning wax blends without the addition of essential oils. The lustrous finish of these candles will add beauty to any environment. These candles are made from a soy wax blend using 100% vegetable content and contain no pesticides, herbicides or any genetically modified materials. Pillar size 2.5" x 2.5". Burns for 40 hours. $9.95

The Dani Candle.  These candles by Danielle Easley Nye are pure and natural. Hand poured 100% soy wax with clean burning wicks and a 40 hour burn time. The blends imbue a collection of fragrances sure to enhance your sense of well-being. $12.00

Already have the candles? You should check out this awesome candle holder made from used bicycle parts.  Or are you a gadget geek with no one to romance? Perhaps this hand powered flash light is more to your liking.  And for the DIY types, learn to make your own candles here.

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman was on Meet The Press this past Sunday to discuss his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, calling for an "energy revolution."  The model Friedman touts is what he calls the ET revolution, akin to the IT revolution.  He contrasts this with what is frequently called for to solve the world's energy woes, a Manhattan Project kind of focus.  His distinction calls out the improbable success of a top heavy development scheme funded solely by government.  What we need instead is 100,000 inventors working in 100,000 garages to come up with 100 ideas, 10 of which are viable, 2 of which will revolutionize the energy industry.  This mirrors the IT revolution in which the personal PC changed the way we all live our daily lives.

My favorite part of the interview was when he compared delegates to the GOP convention chanting "Drill, Drill, Drill!" to an alternate reality in which the subject was the PC rather than oil and the delegates shout, "IBM Selectric Typewriter, IBM Selectric Typewriter, IBM Selectric Typewriter!"

Watch:

CBS News reported the collapse of a 7 square mile chunk of a Canadian ice shelf in the Arctic.  

What I found remarkable about the article, apart from the fact that giant sheets of ice are melting, is that the writer points out that the scientist is loath to mention that the cause is global climate change. Here's how it's reported by CBS News:

Derek Mueller, a research at Trent University, was careful not to blame global warming, but said the event was consistent with the theory that the current Arctic climate isn't rebuilding ice sheets.

 

"We're in a different climate now," he said. "It's not conducive to regrowing them. It's a one-way process."

 

Mueller said the sheet broke away last week from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north. He said a crack in the shelf was first spotted in 2002 and a survey this spring found a network of fissures.

 

Seems like a pretty convoluted explanation.

The Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN 21), along with the Worldwatch Institute released their annual Renewables 2007 Global Status Report.  It gives us some hope that the use of renewable energy is indeed accelerating.  For example, 2007 was the first year in which more than a billion dollars was invested in renewable energy capacity, manufacturing plants and research and development.  I think this is the best evidence yet for my belief that 2007 was really the global tipping point in environmental consciousness and as a planet we are now ready to repare the damage we have done. 


We have a long way to go but lets look at the numbers from the report:

Renewable electricity generation capacity reached an estimated 240 gigawatts (GW) worldwide in 2007, an increase of 50 percent over 2004.  Renewables represent 5 percent of global power capacity and 3.4 percent ofglobal power generation.biodiesel production increased by more than 50 percent in 2006.

The largest component of renewables generation capacity is wind power, which grew by 28 percent worldwide in 2007 to reach an estimated 95 GW.

The fastest growing energy technology in the world is grid-connected solar photovoltaics(PV), with 50 percent annual increases in cumulative installed capacity in both 2006 and 2007,to an estimated 7.7GW.  This translates into 1.5 million homes with rooftop solar PV feeding into the grid worldwide.

Rooftop solar heat collectorsprovide hot water to nearly 50 million households worldwide, and space heating to a growing number ofhomes.  Existing solar hot water/heating capacity increased by 19 percent in 2006 to reach 105 gigawatts-thermal globally.
 
Renewable energy, especially small hydropower, biomass, and solar PV, provides electricity, heat, motive power, and water pumping for tens of millions ofpeople in rural areas ofdeveloping countries, serving agriculture, small industry, homes, schools, and community needs.  Twentyfive million households cook and light their homes with biogas, and 2.5 million households use solar lighting systems.

Developing countriesas a group have more than 40 percent ofexisting renewable power capacity, more than 70 percent ofexisting solar hot water capacity, and 45 percent of biofuels production.

Policy targets for renewable energy exist in at least 66 countries worldwide, including all 27 European Union countries, 29 U.S.states (and D.C.), and 9 Canadian provinces.

Importantly, the report also shows investment in renewables is diversifying showing that their is no silver bullet for clean energy but many solutions, all of which must be taken advantage of.

These developments are great and we need to compliment them by living more earth friendly lifestyles ourselves.  Things are on the right track but, like I said above, we have a long way to go.  Just check out the below graph.

(via sustainablog)





 

UPS did a study on the impact of left turns on fuel consumption and emissions and the results were shocking.  The problem with left turns is all the time spent idling waiting for the traffic to pass and for the light to turn.  

The results: 95,000 vehicles reduced delivery miles by 30 million, saving 3 million gallons of fuel and reducing truck emissions by 32,000 metric tons.  Rock on, guys in brown!

The Huffington Post has a great primer on geothermal energy, A Guide To Geothermal Energy.  One impressive statistic is that 1% of Australia's geothermal potential is enough to power the nation for 26,000 years!

Some highlights:

One of the methods to generate electricity from geothermal energy is by pumping hot water into sedimentary hotspots. The steam generated by this method is used to produce electricity. The condensed steam is again circulated into the permeable sedimentary stream of a hotspot.

 

Another method is by using volcanic magma. The temperature of partially molten magma is approximately 650 degree Celsius. This heat is used to boil water to generate electricity.

 

Another method is by using volcanic magma. The temperature of partially molten magma is approximately 650 degree Celsius. This heat is used to boil water to generate electricity.

 

 

Some geothermal plants also use the hardened magma that is extremely hot. This system uses hot dry rock. Pipes are looped through these hot dry rocks through which water is circulated. The heat of the rocks converts the water into steam prior to transferring the heat to a steam generator.