Month: July 2011

Republicans for Environmental Protection, (okay, I played with their logo a little bit) –   on the House’s defeat of Rep. Joe “I apologize to BP” Barton’s bonehead “save the energy hog light bulb” bill —

 The House’s defeat today of bizarre legislation to turn back the clock on lighting efficiency was a victory for the economy, the environment, and common sense, Republicans for Environmental Protection said.
“We regret that Congress was forced to waste its time voting on a foolish bill that was premised entirely on false claims and ignorance,” David Jenkins, REP vice president for government and political affairs, said.

“If enacted, Joe Barton’s BULB Act would have wasted millions of dollars for lighting manufacturers and billions for consumers. And for what, to placate fears about a non-existent light bulb ban rumor that Barton himself created?” Jenkins said.

“Members of Congress and talk radio entertainers who knowingly peddled this falsehood and misled consumers are a national embarrassment and ought to be ashamed of themselves,” Jenkins added.

“We’re pleased that 10 Republicans, including Reps. Charles Bass (NH), Brian Bilbray (CA), Tom Reed (NY), and Dave Reichert (WA) saw through the charade and voted to kill this nonsensical bill,” Jenkins said.

Continue reading “Republicans for Environmental Protection: Barton’s Bonehead Bulb Bill Banished”

Turns out there’s been a lot of ’em.

Comedy Gold from Oz.

Sea level and Climate Change – a video worth viewing if you haven’t seen it, or reviewing in light of the newest information.

Discovery News:

Most recently, extensive modeling work by University of Arizona geoscientist Jianjun Yin and colleagues found differences in the rate of subsurface ocean warming beneath the glacial outcroppings of Antarctica and Greenland.

Because overhanging ice shelves and buoyant fronts of tidewater glaciers can act as dams holding back upstream ice, the temperature of the subsurface seawater can be critical. As Yin notes in a University release, water can carry a lot more heat than air.

…co-author Jonathan T. Overpeck notes that ice sheets at both poles are feeling the heat.

“This does mean that both Greenland and Antarctica are probably going to melt faster than the scientific community previously thought,” he said. “This paper adds to the evidence that we could have sea level rise by the end of this century of around 1 meter (3 feet, 4 inches) and a good deal more in succeeding centuries.”

Ok, it’s a little lame — just lame enough that I know their serious about reaching the vast middle.

Having seen the dashboard displays, I kind of wish they’d lose the butterflies, but that’s just me. I’m sure it’s been focus group tested.

And yes, I get it that we need to move away from dependence on cars, but hybrids and electrics will be part of the solution, an important one.  This is a key reason that observers like Deutschebank predict that electric vehicles will have greater impact, sooner, than most people think – which I’ll be discussing in the new “Solutions”
video, which should be out soon.

Meanwhile, below, GM imagines the future of urban transport.

Continue reading “Ford Pushes Electrics. GM imagines the future of Urban Transport.”

Iowa already gets 20 percent of it’s total annual electricity from Wind. Other midwestern states are hot on their heels.

Detroit Free Press:

BRECKENRIDGE — After 180 years of economic ups and downs, one of the most agricultural counties in Michigan is on the verge of hitting a 21st-Century jackpot, thanks to Mother Nature.

Gratiot County is home to what will be the state’s largest wind farm when it comes on line early next year. Workers have begun pouring the concrete foundations for 133 wind turbines, a significant increase from the 103 turbines currently operating in Michigan.

The project could be just the beginning of a boom in wind energy development for the county, similar to what is occurring in the Thumb and many other parts of the country. Chicago-based Invenergy, the developer of the wind farm, has been talking to utilities about significantly expanding it. And other developers have obtained permits to construct two more wind farms in the county.

If all these plans go through, hundreds of wind turbines would be installed at farms throughout much of the area, generating millions of dollars in lease payments and tax revenues for landowners, the county, its townships and its schools.

More at Slow Poke Comics.

If you’ve ever had questions about what motivates scientists to work as hard as they do, often in obscurity, to understand subjects that most of the world gives very little thought to, listen to this short piece by Richard Alley.

I’ve only been to the Grand Canyon once, and then only for a few hours. It took me a few hours afterward to recover enough to form speech.  Listening to Alley, you hear that sense of awe, wonder and gratitude for being able to see, and understand, a tiny part of such a magnificent story.

There are three more segments below the fold.

Continue reading “The Weekend Wonk: Deep Time with Richard Alley”

Do wind turbines turn off Tourists? Michigan Land Use Institute reports:

When Duke Energy proposed erecting 112 wind turbines among the rolling hills, farmland, and orchards of northwest Lower Michigan’s scenic Benzie and Manistee Counties, some local opponents of the project warned that the very sight of the massive machines would turn off visitors to the region.

Placing the 500-ft.-tall machines along ridges a few miles inland from the Lake Michigan shoreline, they said, with some in sight of several prized views, would harm local tourism, which depends heavily on the area’s spectacular beaches and rural scenery.

Reporting by the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service, however, indicates that large-scale wind turbines are unlikely to significantly harm tourism in northern Michigan. Tourist and business officials in communities that already have large-scale windpower development told the news service that they could not report significant, measurable negative effects on tourism.

Several indicated that, if anything, the turbines actually boosted local tourism, and their communities moved to take advantage of the phenomenon.

Continue reading “Wind Turbines Attract Tourists – and Broad Support”