Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Business doing good

Interesting corporate activities out of the UK

Monday, April 09, 2007

NIE on Climate Change

I find this very interesting.

How might U.S. national security be threatened by mega-droughts, coastal flooding, killer hurricanes, food scarcity and the other ecological calamities scientists widely predict will occur if global warming continues apace? No one knows, but Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., think it's time to find out. Two weeks ago, the bipartisan duo introduced a bill that would require federal intelligence agencies to collaborate on a National Intelligence Estimate to evaluate the security challenges presented by climate change.
Politically, it makes a very interesting statement. And of course, an NIE (even with the debacle of Iraq) would add a stamp of legitimacy to the dire predictions of climate change. The environment as a "national security" issue. Who would've ever predicted the far right and the far left climbing into bed together on that issue...human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.

The non-linear threshold is being reached on a political level? A tipping point, perhaps...

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Growth on steroids

Interesting article on the horrific air pollution in India and China, covering both the immediate human health cost, and the long-term emissions disaster. Blair raises a very interesting point:

"Close down all of Britain's emissions and in less than two years just the growth in China's emissions would wipe out the difference."

It seems as with all things China and India, the speed of change is dramatically amplified compared to recent Western experiences. And so, as with the explosively fast growth in their economies, now we see the incredibly quick building of environmental dangers. It's as if each country is experiencing the past 50 years of American environmental destruction, legislation and hope compacted into 10 years.

As with all developments related to China and India - utterly unpredictable, but incredibly relevant.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

We love solar

She's back after summer break, having lost 50 pounds and gotten a nose job.

Higher demand for solar energy, triggered by concerns about global warming, will drive a fourfold increase in the annual revenues of the global solar equipment industry from $20bn last year to $90bn in 2010, according to projections published today.
The only caveat - the group behind this - Photon Consulting - isn't exactly impartial.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Google Solar Initiative

Just a few thinks to point out in this article that describes Google's attempt to use solar power:

- "Google will earn its investment back in 7.5 years"

- "It was only doable thanks to subsidies from local utility PG&E and a generous federal tax credit"

- It took "9,212 Sharp photovoltaic modules", each of which pushes 208W for a total of 1.6MW.

- "The solar modules are wired in series, 14 to each circuit, and their output is sent to 10 SatCon inverters."

- "The system is set up for net-metering"

Ultimately - an innovative and exciting development. However, one industrial grade wind turbine can push out at least a MW, depending upon wind speed, location, etc. I would speculate that there were more cost-effective ways for Google to go green in its power supply, and am curious about both its demand-side and co-generation efforts. But this is a highly newsworthy and ground-breaking renewable project nonetheless.