The World’s Most Efficient Windmill?
A teenager from rural Malawi uses scraps and bicycle parts to build a wind turbine that powers his family’s farm — and captures the attention of the TED Global Conference.
Green, Prefab “i-house” Hits the Market
The prefabricated “i-house” combines energy efficiency, style, customizable layout and a modest price for the ecologically-conscious home buyer. Additional photos are available at Jetson Green.
The kids page of the Washington Post looks at eco-friendly toys.
Germany and Energy Independence
Two articles from August, 2008 that are still worth a read. The first describes Germany’s emergence as a global leader in wind and solar power through implementation of a pioneering law and feed-in policy.
The second reports on the successful efforts of a German farming community to become energy independent.
EPA Taking Over Cleanup of Tennessee Coal Ash Disaster
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will take over over cleanup of the worst coal pollution disaster in U.S. history, when a waste pond filled with 50 years worth of liquified coal ash waste ruptured last December.
Obama Orders EPA to Take the Lead in Chesapeake Bay Cleanup
An example of the difficulties involved when jurisdictions with competing interests attempt to tackle a complex environmental issue…
“In taking the lead from a coalition of state governments, which admitted last year that their 25-year cleanup effort had failed, the administration is positioned to mandate more stringent cleanup goals than politically sensitive state officials could publicly embrace. EPA leadership and enforcement could serve as a cudgel over state legislatures whose focus on parochial issues has often fractured coordination efforts. “
Cooling Trends Can Occur within Long-Term Global Warming
Given media’s obsession with what happened in the last 5 minutes and its propensity to air “both sides of the controversy,” one wonders how its going to deal with this: research shows that decade-long cooling trends are to be expected within a period of global warming.
Read the abstract at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) website, where the full article is also available (with subscription).
Irreversible Climate Change Due to Carbon Dioxide Emissions
“The severity of damaging human-induced climate change depends not only on the magnitude of the change but also on the potential for irreversibility. This paper shows that the climate change that takes place due to increases in carbon dioxide concentration is largely irreversible for 1,000 years after emissions stop…”
Indonesian ‘Hobbits’ Represent a Unique Human Species
Evidence suggests that diminutive people from Indonesian island were not modern pygmies as previously thought.
