[Click image to enlarge]Sunday, May 2, 2010
Photos: Costs of BP Oil Spill
The Costs of the BP Oil Spill - human lives, water pollution, air pollution, wildlife, fishing industry, tourism. Monetary estimates for cleanup are pegged at more than $4.6 Billion. Clean Energy NOW!
[Click image to enlarge]
[Click image to enlarge]
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Live Video: Climate Rally on D.C. Mall
Earth Day 2010CLIMATE RALLY
National Mall, Washington DC
Sunday, April 25, 11am-7pm
Sunday, April 25, 11am-7pm
SPEAKERS
Live MUSIC
Live Streaming VIDEO
The United States has failed to enact a comprehensive climate bill. It is time to stop protecting polluters and enact comprehensive climate legislation that will create American jobs, cap carbon emissions and secure our nation’s future.
On Sunday, April 25, Earth Day Network will organize a massive climate rally on The National Mall to demand that Congress pass strong legislation.NOTABLE SPEAKERS include Reverend Jesse Jackson, international coordinator Earth Day 2010, Denis Hayes, Waterkeeper Alliance president, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., film director, James Cameron, AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka, Green for All director, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Olympic gold medalist, Billy Demong, producer, Trudie Styler, author, Margaret Atwood, NFL player and television personality, Dhani Jones, environmental photographer Sebastian Copeland and MANY MORE.
LIVE MUSIC from Sting, John Legend, The Roots, Jimmy Cliff, Passion Pit, Bob Weir, Willie Colón, Joss Stone, Robert Randolph, Patrick Stump, Mavis Staples, Booker T, Honor Society and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
Click Link to see the LIVE VIDEO STREAM brought to you by EarthDay.org
Photo courtesy of LCVoters
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Make EVERY Day, Earth Day!
EARTH DAY 2010EVERY Day should be EARTH DAY!
In 1970, the first Earth Day’s original organizers made “the environment” a voting issue. A few weeks after the election — despite the furious opposition of the coal, oil, electric utility, automobile, and steel industries — the Senate version of the 1970 Clean Air Act, passed unanimously and it was later adopted by the House on a voice vote.
Denis Hayes, national coordinator for the first Earth Day in 1970, is the international chair of Earth Day 2010. He thinks that the environmental movement sometimes projects a vague image about what it stands for and that the only way Congress will act intelligently and boldly on climate change is if we give it no choice. Learn more by reading his article, "Turning up the heat on climate".
Denis Hayes, national coordinator for the first Earth Day in 1970, is the international chair of Earth Day 2010. He thinks that the environmental movement sometimes projects a vague image about what it stands for and that the only way Congress will act intelligently and boldly on climate change is if we give it no choice. Learn more by reading his article, "Turning up the heat on climate".
Sunday, April 25th - Earth Day Network and partner organizations will organize a massive climate rally on The National Mall in Washington D.C. to demand that Congress pass a strong climate bill in 2010. To learn more, and to Sign the Earth Day 2010 Climate Declaration demanding a comprehensive climate bill from Congress, Click Here.
President Obama marked the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in a Video. To watch the Video, Click Here.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Concentrated Solar Power is HOT!
The Sun's free, clean, renewable energy can be used in a variety of ways to satisfy our needs for power. Solar electric power can be generated using photovoltaic cells. Solar water heaters can be used on rooftops to generate hot water for home use. But what is becoming really hot, in more ways than one, is Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which can raise the temperature of fluids to 400 degrees Celsius, four-times higher than the boiling point of water. The super-hot fluid can be used to convert water to steam for driving turbines that generate electricity.
The CSP technique concentrates solar radiation using parabolic mirrors to obtain higher temperatures. This reduces the plant's collector size and land use, thereby reducing the environmental impacts of the power plant and its cost. The curved mirrors reflect solar radiation onto a glass tube containing a fluid running the length of the parabolic trough positioned at the focal point of the reflectors. The trough tilts east to west to track the sun so that the direct radiation remains focused on the fluid-filled tube.
But how can the CSP technique generate power at night or when it becomes cloudy during the day? A New York company in Rochester, Bell Independent Power Corp., is a developer of Thermal Storage Technology for CSP. They have chosen the University of Arizona Tech Park as the site of a new state of the art 5-MW solar plant with a Thermal Storage System, said to be the first of its kind in the world.
The role of the Arizona CSP facility is to demonstrate Bell Independent Power Corp.’s proprietary Thermal Storage System and show how its improved efficiency can reduce the cost of producing solar power. Bell's Thermal Storage System will be able to store the sun’s heat for several hours, allowing the CSP plant to generate power after sunset or when clouds move in. It will also provide sufficient energy for full plant start-up every morning, replacing the need for natural gas. If the demonstration is successful, Thermal Storage at this facility will lead to its use on large scale facilities.
The projected cost of the facility is $32 million and it will use 45 acres of parabolic mirrors to capture the solar energy. Bell Independent Power Corp. will develop, finance, own and operate the plant. Permitting has begun and, with the help of economic development incentives, the plant will begin providing power to Tucson Electric Power customers in May 2011. The plant’s construction will employ 75 workers and 7 full time positions will be established for the operation of the facility. The CSP plant and storage system is expected to produce enough energy to power more than 1,500 typical Tucson homes while offsetting more than 16,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Read more here and visit Rochester's Bell Independent Power here.
The CSP technique concentrates solar radiation using parabolic mirrors to obtain higher temperatures. This reduces the plant's collector size and land use, thereby reducing the environmental impacts of the power plant and its cost. The curved mirrors reflect solar radiation onto a glass tube containing a fluid running the length of the parabolic trough positioned at the focal point of the reflectors. The trough tilts east to west to track the sun so that the direct radiation remains focused on the fluid-filled tube.But how can the CSP technique generate power at night or when it becomes cloudy during the day? A New York company in Rochester, Bell Independent Power Corp., is a developer of Thermal Storage Technology for CSP. They have chosen the University of Arizona Tech Park as the site of a new state of the art 5-MW solar plant with a Thermal Storage System, said to be the first of its kind in the world.
The role of the Arizona CSP facility is to demonstrate Bell Independent Power Corp.’s proprietary Thermal Storage System and show how its improved efficiency can reduce the cost of producing solar power. Bell's Thermal Storage System will be able to store the sun’s heat for several hours, allowing the CSP plant to generate power after sunset or when clouds move in. It will also provide sufficient energy for full plant start-up every morning, replacing the need for natural gas. If the demonstration is successful, Thermal Storage at this facility will lead to its use on large scale facilities.
The projected cost of the facility is $32 million and it will use 45 acres of parabolic mirrors to capture the solar energy. Bell Independent Power Corp. will develop, finance, own and operate the plant. Permitting has begun and, with the help of economic development incentives, the plant will begin providing power to Tucson Electric Power customers in May 2011. The plant’s construction will employ 75 workers and 7 full time positions will be established for the operation of the facility. The CSP plant and storage system is expected to produce enough energy to power more than 1,500 typical Tucson homes while offsetting more than 16,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Read more here and visit Rochester's Bell Independent Power here.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Senate: Clean Energy Jobs Bill
Question during the Great Depression: Brother, can you spare a dime? Question during the current recession: Senator, do you have a spine?
A popular song from the era of the Great Depression is entitled "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?". It's a sad song about the people who helped build our nation's railroads and skyscrapers. These people also fought for our country in World War I to provide national security for their families. Suddenly, they found themselves out of work, bankrupt and abandoned - waiting in bread lines and at soup kitchens for food.
We are not in such dire straits, at least not yet. The people of our country certainly do not want to plunge from a recession into a depression. Government officials would agree in words, but are falling short in deeds. It will take much more than bailouts and recovery money.
In addition to an economic crisis, we are confronted at the same time with an energy crisis, an environmental crisis, and a national security crisis. The U.S. Senate can tackle these crises by enacting a clean energy bill that will spark innovation, create new jobs and provide energy security as well as help clean up our air and sustain our environment. This will require courage and the will to act. So we ask the question, Senator, do you have a spine?
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican representing South Carolina, has a spine! He said, “We are more dependent on foreign oil today than after 9/11. That is political malpractice, and every member of Congress is responsible.” He proposes putting a price on carbon, starting with a carbon tax, in order to move industries to invest in new clean energy products and consumers to buy them. “Cap-and-trade as we know it is dead, but the issue of cleaning up the air and energy independence should not die — and you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon”, he stated in an Op-Ed by Thomas Friedman in today's NY Times. Graham is now working on a new clean energy bill along with Democrat John Kerry and Independent Joseph Lieberman.
Write to your Senators and ask -- when it comes to enacting legislation in support of clean energy, a sustainable environment, new jobs, energy independence and national security -- Senator, do you have a spine?
If our government does not act, what does our future hold... another depression? Most people alive today did not live through the Great Depression, and so have little idea what it was really like. Yip Harburg did. To get a feeling what it was like, listen to some of Harburg's thoughts about the Great Depression, as well as his 1932 song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", via NPR online.
A popular song from the era of the Great Depression is entitled "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?". It's a sad song about the people who helped build our nation's railroads and skyscrapers. These people also fought for our country in World War I to provide national security for their families. Suddenly, they found themselves out of work, bankrupt and abandoned - waiting in bread lines and at soup kitchens for food.We are not in such dire straits, at least not yet. The people of our country certainly do not want to plunge from a recession into a depression. Government officials would agree in words, but are falling short in deeds. It will take much more than bailouts and recovery money.
In addition to an economic crisis, we are confronted at the same time with an energy crisis, an environmental crisis, and a national security crisis. The U.S. Senate can tackle these crises by enacting a clean energy bill that will spark innovation, create new jobs and provide energy security as well as help clean up our air and sustain our environment. This will require courage and the will to act. So we ask the question, Senator, do you have a spine?
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican representing South Carolina, has a spine! He said, “We are more dependent on foreign oil today than after 9/11. That is political malpractice, and every member of Congress is responsible.” He proposes putting a price on carbon, starting with a carbon tax, in order to move industries to invest in new clean energy products and consumers to buy them. “Cap-and-trade as we know it is dead, but the issue of cleaning up the air and energy independence should not die — and you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon”, he stated in an Op-Ed by Thomas Friedman in today's NY Times. Graham is now working on a new clean energy bill along with Democrat John Kerry and Independent Joseph Lieberman.
Write to your Senators and ask -- when it comes to enacting legislation in support of clean energy, a sustainable environment, new jobs, energy independence and national security -- Senator, do you have a spine?
If our government does not act, what does our future hold... another depression? Most people alive today did not live through the Great Depression, and so have little idea what it was really like. Yip Harburg did. To get a feeling what it was like, listen to some of Harburg's thoughts about the Great Depression, as well as his 1932 song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", via NPR online.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Climate Change: Dealing with Deniers
The recent snow storms in the Washington DC area brought out droves of global warming deniers who mocked those that accept the scientific evidence for global warming and climate change. Thinking people know that despite the cold temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere (where it is winter), it is hot in the Southern Hemisphere (where it is summer), and so it is not unreasonable that on average the global temperature could be warming despite the unusual snow storms in DC. In fact, warming elsewhere in the world could be a contributor (see below). Also, the day to day variations in weather can not predict the multi-year trends that define climate change. But how to deal with deniers who are definitely not thinking along the same lines?
Below are examples of how experts in different fields view weather, global warming and climate change:
Meteorologist: Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground -- "It is quite possible that the dice have been loaded in favor of more intense Nor'easters for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, thanks to the higher levels of moisture present in the air due to warmer global temperatures."
Scientist: Dr. Joe Romm, Climate Progress -- "An amazing, though clearly little-known, scientific fact: We get more snow storms in warm years!"
Environmentalist: Bill McKibben, 350.org -- "Washington's snowstorms, brought to you by global warming"
President: Barack Obama addresses climate change and weather in this Video.
The Military: Military leaders address the national security threats of climate change in this Video. See also related information about the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate.
Climate Warrior: WARNING: not for the faint of heart! Video with edgy humor.
Below are examples of how experts in different fields view weather, global warming and climate change:
Meteorologist: Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground -- "It is quite possible that the dice have been loaded in favor of more intense Nor'easters for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, thanks to the higher levels of moisture present in the air due to warmer global temperatures."
Scientist: Dr. Joe Romm, Climate Progress -- "An amazing, though clearly little-known, scientific fact: We get more snow storms in warm years!"
Environmentalist: Bill McKibben, 350.org -- "Washington's snowstorms, brought to you by global warming"
President: Barack Obama addresses climate change and weather in this Video.
The Military: Military leaders address the national security threats of climate change in this Video. See also related information about the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate.
Climate Warrior: WARNING: not for the faint of heart! Video with edgy humor.
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