Author: Staff (Page 28 of 30)

      George Soros will invest $1 billion in clean energy

      October 11, 2009 /

      George Soros is getting serious about climate change.

      Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the “political problem” of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and create an organization to advise policy makers on environmental issues.

      Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, announced the investment in Copenhagen yesterday at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 countries.

      “I want to apply rather stringent criteria to the investments,” said Soros in an e-mailed message. “They should be profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem.”

      * * *

      Soros has said he prefers a greenhouse-gas tax because carbon emission-trading systems, which are used in Europe, can be manipulated by investors.

      It will be interesting to see if the advocacy by Soros helps to tip the debate in the U.S. towards a carbon tax as opposed to cap-and-trade.

      Global Warming, Renewable Energy

      Don’t drink the water!

      September 12, 2009 /

      This is a very sad story from The New York Times. It’s stunning that we still have issues with contaminated drinking water in the United States. On the other hand, with so many corporate interests undermining common sense regulation, it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise. Remember the all the issues with financial regulation? It seems like we’re having the same problems here.

      Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va.

      In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater — polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals — caused painful rashes. Many of his brother’s teeth were capped to replace enamel that was eaten away.

      Neighbors apply special lotions after showering because their skin burns. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.

      “How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?” said Mrs. Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the state’s largest banks.

      She and her husband, Charles, do not live in some remote corner of Appalachia. Charleston, the state capital, is less than 17 miles from her home.

      “How is this still happening today?” she asked.

      When Mrs. Hall-Massey and 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals — the same pollutants that flowed from residents’ taps.

      Hopefully the EPA in the Obama administration will push for real enforcement.

      Conservation

      Co-op Gardening, Save Money, Stay Healthy

      September 4, 2009 /

      Organic food used to be something you could buy at the supermarket even if your dad wasn’t called Bill Gates. Not anymore; so many people are looking for organic food these days that unpleasant economic laws have had to take control of the situation and really put the price beyond human reach. Ergo, if you want to eat organic and stay healthy, grow it.

      That’s easier said than done if you live in the city and don’t have a large backyard. Even if you do, however, capital costs may just be too much. Vegetable seeds may cost too much, or farming instruments; more labor time than you can afford may be required. The way out? Go co-op with your neighbors on organic gardening, and you can optimize your capital costs, and your labor, and even manage to grow organic food on larger pieces of land. This saves money while keeping you healthy.

      The good thing about going co-op is that it helps you pool resources together much more efficiently. It’s a well known fact that capital cost is maximum when the volume produced is low. You may have to spend a few grands on some machine that could actually work 3 backyards just like yours. If you only have one, the machine is not used efficiently. But if you are going the co-op way, capital and labor are both used more efficiently. Efficiency equates to lower costs; hence you save money.

      If a few of your neighbors have adjoining backyards, go and ask about co-oping together. Plan together on how much food you want to grow. That will give you a good idea about how much labor you need, and what instruments and things you have to buy. Plan it well; you will save a lot of money this way. What’s more, along with the organic food, you will probably grow friendlier neighbors, too.

      Sustainability

      Plug-in hybrids should NOT be a problem for our electric utilities

      September 3, 2009 /

      chevy-volt-concept-07

      The Plain Dealer has a misleading headline regarding plug-in hybrids: “Plug-in hybrids could prove costly for utility companies.” That’s true only if we approach the issue of charging plug-in hybrids without using our heads, but as the article points out there are very logical ways to address this potential problem.

      Scott Moore, vice president of transmission for American Electric Power, said that issue could be solved either by smart chargers on the cars or by smart charging plugs in houses. If drivers plugged in their cars at 6 p.m., but the car didn’t start charging until 2 a.m., the system could probably handle the demand.

      Even better would be if the driver plugged his car into an Internet-connected charger that could switch on and off as power was available. On a blustery day, when wind farms were producing extra power, cars could charge in the early evening. On a more typical day, charging could happen late at night.

      “You’d get about 80 percent of the benefit from just changing the time of charging until early morning,” Moore said. “You’d get an extra 20 percent benefit from letting (utility companies) figure out when to charge you.”

      The solution is obvious, so at least they got that part right. It also highlights the need for a smart grid and smart meters connected to the Internet so we can see how we use electricity and how we can make minor modifications to our behavior, or set clear guidelines, so that we use energy when it’s least expensive.

      Conservation, Energy Independence, Renewable Energy, Sustainability

      States rush to get high-speed rail applications ready

      September 3, 2009 /

      The Obama administration has set aside $8 billion in the stimulus package for high-speed rail projects, and states need to submit their applications by October 2, 2009. Some have estimated that the aggregate dollar amount of the applications will exceed $100 billion, so competition is fierce. These aren’t just emergency loans – this is money specifically tagged for building transportation infrastructure in cities that need it.

      The Plain Dealer is reporting on the progress Ohio is making, and the enormous time and effort being devoted by government agencies and private individuals.

      Ohio passenger rail advocates are moving at breakneck speed to fulfill requirements to apply for up to $450 million in federal stimulus money to provide service from Cleveland to Cincinnati.

      They are seeking public input through a Web site, toll-free phone number and meetings across the state as part of an environmental assessment study that is required as part of the funding application, due by Oct. 2 to the Federal Rail Commission.

      The study, which usually takes about a year, will be compiled in less than three months.

      “We are really compressing this process and a lot of it is driven by the tight timeline,” said Stu Nicholson, spokesman for the Ohio Rail Development Commission, an independent agency of the Ohio Department of Transportation. “But I am not overstating this at all to say the level of interest from virtually every community large and small is very high.”

      Under Ohio’s 3C plan, three trains would travel daily from Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati in each direction along the 260-mile corridor. The service, with 79-mph trains, would begin in 2011 with minimal stops. It would eventually add more stops and become part of a 110-mph high-speed network to connect west to Chicago and east to New York.

      The trains would be operated by Amtrak on freight tracks owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern. More than 6 million people live within 15 miles of the route, said ODOT spokesman Scott Varner.

      The stimulus money will be down-payment on an even more aggressive federal push for high-speed rail, and as evidenced by the activity in Ohio, states are serious about moving forward. The impact on the environment and on economic development can be significant. Hopefully budget issues won’t impact the next wave of high-speed rail funding.

      Uncategorized

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 Opportunity Grows

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑