http://www.youtube.com/v/puAODx71Pzw?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Read the article: Philippines generates energy using trash
Prototype IBM solar collector could revolutionize solar technology
Today’s solar collectors do an admirable job of collecting free energy from the sun but there’s one huge drawback: if too much energy is concentrated in one place, they run the risk of frying themselves. But that could all change in the near future as a group led by IBM… … Read More
Swedish ABB to buy US green power firm
The engineering giant ABB announced it would purchase US green energy company Power One for the staggering sum of $1 billion in a bid to make the Swiss-Swedish company “a global player” in solar inverters. … Read More
Could New York run on renewable energy alone?
Three times now, Mark Jacobson has gone out on the same limb. In 2009 he and co-author Mark Delucchi published a cover story in Scientific American that showed how the entire world could get all of its energy — fuel as well as electricity — from wind, water and solar sources by 2030. No coal or oil, no nuclear or natural gas. The tale sounded infeasible — except that Jacobson, from Stanford University, and Delucchi, from the University of California, Davis, calculated just how many hydroelectric dams, wave-energy systems, wind turbines, solar power plants and rooftop photovoltaic installations the world would need to run itself completely on renewable energy.The article sparked a spirited debate on our web site, and it also sparked a larger debate between forward-looking energy planners and those who would rather preserve the status quo. The duo went on to publish a detailed study in the journal Energy Policy that also called out numbers for a U.S. strategy. Two weeks ago Jacobson and a larger team, including Delucchi, did it again. This time Jacobson showed in much finer detail how New York state’s residential, transportation, industrial, and heating and cooling sectors could all be powered by wind, water and sun, or “WWS,” as he calls it. His mix: 40 percent offshore wind (12,700 turbines), 10 percent onshore wind (4,020 turbines), 10 percent concentrated solar panels (387 power plants), 10 percent photovoltaic cells (828 facilities), 6 percent residential solar (five million rooftops), 12 percent government and commercial solar (500,000 rooftops), 5 percent geothermal (36 plants), 5.5 percent hydroelectric (6.6 large facilities), 1 percent tidal energy (2,600 turbines) and 0.5 percent wave energy (1,910 devices). In the process, New York would reduce power demand by 37 percent, largely because the new energy sources are more efficient than the old ones. And because no fossil fuels would have to be purchased or burned, consumer costs would be similar to what they are today, and the state would eliminate a huge portion of its carbon dioxide emissions.New York state could end fossil fuel use and generate all of its energy from wind, water and solar power, according to Mark Jacobson. Image: Graphic by Karl BurkartOnce again, reaction was swift. The New York Times heralded the study as scientifically groundbreaking and practically impossible. But this time Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, is digging in. He took his analysis a step further and found a surprising way to sell his plan. And he’s close to finishing a similar study for California, which will lend more depth to his vision. I asked Jacobson why he’s out to change the world, how he answers his critics and what it will take for his plans to get traction in government.Continue Reading… … Read More
Iran dismisses concerns of nuclear-armed states
Iran on Saturday dismissed concerns raised by five nuclear-armed states over Tehran’s controversial atomic programme, saying the Islamic republic is committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “Iran is a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (and) will continue its…
Russia to mine uranium and build nuclear power plants in Egypt
The Egyptian leader has paid official visit to Russia to hold talks with Vladimir Putin as clashes continue in Egyptian cities.The latest reports suggest that at least 48 people have been wounded in Cairo over the last 24 hours, as Muslim Brotherhood supporters and opponents clashed. Nine of the hospitalized reportedly suffered gunshots. Police deployed teargas to disperse the rival groups, but with little success.Egyptian opposition activists demand Mohamed Morsi’s resignation, saying they don’t want Islamist rule in the country.While political opponents in Egypt are unable to find common ground, Morsi’s economic and political negotiations in Russia appear to bring some concrete results.”We have agreed to gradually proceed toward diversifying our trade and economic ties. New joint projects in the areas of industrial cooperation, energy or, say, agriculture could increase the mutual investment flows,” Vladimir Putin said, informing that the financial agencies of the two countries will get in contact to extend a loan to Egypt at a bilateral meeting in the nearest future.Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak announced that Egypt proposed sending a delegation to Cairo “to resume cooperation in peaceful nuclear projects” to jointly construct new nuclear power plants. Cairo plans to build 4 GWt of nuclear power facilities by 2025, Novak said.Cairo has also invited Moscow to step in joint developing of uranium mines in Egypt and Moscow accepted both proposals, he said.Moscow said it would like to see Egypt taking part in Gas Exporting Countries Forum scheduled to take place in Moscow in July 2013.”Egypt is a gas extracting country. A Gas Exporting Countries Forum is scheduled to be held in Moscow in July. We will welcome the participation by the president of Egypt or his representatives,” Putin said.International politics positions of the two countries also coincided a lot, as the leaders “thoroughly considered a number of acute international problems,” Putin said, and found common ground on the issues of international politics, particularly the hair-trigger situation in the Middle East, and especially emphasized the civil war in Syria.The presidents agreed that diplomacy is the only solution to the Syrian crisis and that foreign intervention into Syria is unacceptable.“There should be a political and legal solution of the Syrian crisis without external meddling. We are for an early ceasefire to start intra-Syrian negotiations,” Putin said, stressing that Moscow’s and Cairo’s “positions are close.”Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told the media after the talks that “The Egyptian president voiced very new, fresh and interesting ideas,” on the Syrian crisis settlement.Moscow and Egypt also found considerable similarity in the approaches to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.”We believe it is essential for the quartet of international mediators to step up its activity in cooperation with the Arab League States,” Putin noted.At the end of the talks, Morsi invited Putin to pay a return visit to Egypt.In the meantime clashes between Egyptian opposition and Muslim Brotherhood are running high.The parties are throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at each other, both sides use homemade handguns.Opposition accuses police of siding with Morsi supporters from the Muslim Brotherhood as police use teargas to disperse crowds.“We need calm and we also need president Morsi to step down because we are tired of this,” Morsi opponent Emad George told AP.In the light of the turbulent events in Egypt, Putin particularly asked Morsi to give “increased attention to Russian tourists’ safety.”On Friday Islamist Morsi supporters held rallies outside the High Court building in Cairo and in the coastal city of Alexandria, demanding the “cleansing of the judiciary.” They believe the loyalists from the former regime are blocking Morsi’s policies. Their opponents insist that Islamists want to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s power by taking over the courts and get rid of secular-minded judges. … Read More
Our crowdmobbed vigilante future
You can almost feel the restless energy surging through the Web, oozing out of every computer, charging up a million smartphones with prosecutorial static electricity. A legion of Internet investigators are scrutinizing every available photo of the Boston Marathon finish line, searching for clues that will help nab a killer. At Reddit, Imgur and a zillion blogs, notes are being shared, theories propounded — and, without question, innocent people are getting slandered.Get used to it. This is the future. It’s not pretty, but it’s also not going away.I won’t deny it: The notion that we might be able to mobilize the awesome power of our social media networked hive mind to find the Boston bomber is seductive and compelling. It gets at the heart of one of the truths we think we know about our networked age: Many eyes are better than one. Together we are strong. This is especially true in the Age of Ubiquitous Surveillance. The only machine capable of intelligently processing all the available photographs and video footage of any major public event these days is the networked human machine.Continue Reading… … Read More
