The U.S. government—and major U.S. banks—seem to have lost their appetite for coal. After spending five years and approximately $50 million on preliminary studies as well as selecting a proposed site in Mattoon, Ill., the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has scuttled plans to build the so-called FutureGen power plant.

The facility would have captured the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) that is emitted when coal is burned for electricity generation. Instead, the DOE hopes to help industry add carbon-capture-and-storage capability to advanced coal plants already in the works.

“This restructured FutureGen approach is an all-around better investment for Americans,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement announcing the change. The DOE is asking Congress for $407 million to research how to burn coal most efficiently, along with $241 million to demonstrate such carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies—at least $900 million less than DOE said it would have cost to complete FutureGen.[...]

Full article - Via : ©sciam.com

Converting corn to ethanol in Iowa not only leads to clearing more of the Amazonian rainforest, researchers report in a pair of new studies in Science, but also would do little to slow global warming—and often make it worse.

“Prior analyses made an accounting error,” says one study’s lead author, Tim Searchinger, an agricultural expert at Princeton University. “There is a huge imbalance between the carbon lost by plowing up a hectare [2.47 acres] of forest or grassland from the benefit you get from biofuels.”

Growing plants store carbon in their roots, shoots and leaves. As a result, the world’s plants and the soil in which they grow contain nearly three times as much carbon as the entire atmosphere. “I know when I look at a tree that half the dry weight of it is carbon,” says ecologist David Tilman of the University of Minnesota, coauthor of the other study which examined the “carbon debt” embedded in any biofuel. “That’s going to end up as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere when you cut it down.”[...]

Full article - Via : ©sciam.com

• Plugs into any PC’s USB port
• At the push of a button, the ecobutton automatically puts your computer into a special “ecomode” that saves more energy than normal sleep mode, drawing only the same nominal power as when the computer and monitor are completely shut down
• Save energy while taking a phone call or break, while doing paperwork or going to lunch or meetings,
• At the touch of any button, the computer instantly returns to where you left off and displays a splash screen showing both money and carbon (CO2) savings
• Your company logo, message and weblink can be incorporated into the ecobutton splash screen***
• Reduces company energy output and carbon footprint

Other Notes:

STANDARD SPLASH SCREEN (7-10 DAYS DELIVERY AFTER APPROVED ARTWORK) • Displays dollar and carbon savings for the time your computer was placed in “ecomode” • Displays daily and cumulative dollar and carbon savings ***BRANDED SPLASH SCREEN (3-5 WEEK DELIVERY AFTER APPROVED ARTWORK) • Displays daily and cumulative dollar and carbon savings for the time your computer was placed in “ecomode” • Displays your company logo • When logo is clicked, it launches company website • Three logo sizes available

Visit Ecobutton

The HyWays project has created a roadmap based on country-specific analysis of the situation in Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, together with an action plan detailing the steps necessary to move towards greater use of hydrogen.

Hydrogen is one of the most realistic options for environmental and economic sustainability in the transport sector, in particular passenger transport, light duty vehicles and city buses. However, its introduction requires gradual changes throughout the entire energy system and thus careful planning at this early stage. The transitional period offers Europe the opportunity to take the lead in developing hydrogen and fuel cell technology and its applications in transport and energy supply. The challenges are high and the right steps have to be taken quickly if Europe is not to count the cost of late market entry.

The costs of hydrogen end-use applications, especially for road transport, need to be reduced considerably to become competitive. At the same time deployment support schemes for hydrogen end-use technologies and infrastructure build-up are required. Comparing the spending for hydrogen production, supply and vehicles with the savings to be gained from replacing conventional fuel and conventional vehicles over time, the extensive and high-quality simulations of the project predict that the break-even point would be most likely reached between 2025 and 2035. The HyWays Roadmap estimates that in 2030 there will be 16 million hydrogen cars and the total cumulative investment for infrastructure build-up will amount to €60 billion.

The study examined the different ways in which hydrogen can be produced and found differing attitudes across the EU. All countries represented chose the production of hydrogen from natural gas, biomass and wind energy. Nuclear energy was seen as an option in France, Finland, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom, whereas the use of coal was excluded in Finland, France and Norway. The report showed that the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels using carbon capture and storage could make a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, the introduction of hydrogen into the energy system offers the opportunity to increase the ratio of renewable energy, and help the large-scale introduction of intermittent resources such as wind energy through its use as a temporary energy storage option.

Competitiveness ministers of the 27 Member States are today expected to discuss and give the green light to a European Commission proposal for a public/private research partnership (”Joint Technology Initiative”) to develop Fuel Cell and Hydrogen technology. This industry-led integrated programme of research, technology development and demonstration activities will receive € 470 million of funding from the EU’s research programme over the next six years, an amount to be matched by the private sector. At the same meeting, ministers will discuss the Strategic Energy Technology Plan, which mentions this initiative as an example for future European actions to develop new energy technologies.

For more information:

HyWays and the report:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/nn/nn_pu/hyways/article_0001_en.htm

Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative: IP/07/1468, MEMO/07/404

Strategic Energy Technology Plan: IP/07/1750

Carbon dioxide derived from burning fossil fuels totaled 1.218 billion tons in the year ended March 30, according to the report. Carbon produced by burning fuels accounts for about 90 percent of Japan’s total emissions of global-warming gases, including methane, the Nikkei said.[...]

Full article >>> - Via : ©bloomberg.com

“Increasing the availability and use of low-carbon fuels will bring immediate and long-term environmental benefits by lowering greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging sustainable agricultural practices that provide greater efficiencies and lower costs.

“As outlined in a recent BIO report, ‘Achieving Sustainable Production of Agricultural Biomass for Biorefinery Feedstock,’ farmers will be able to produce, harvest and deliver sufficient feedstock to the growing biorefinery industry in an economically and environmentally sustainable way through increased use of no-till agriculture. The report identifies available techniques for sustainable harvesting of agricultural residues – such as corn stover and cereal straws – for use as feedstocks for advance biofuel biorefineries. The report is available at http://bio.org/ind/biofuel/SustainableBiomassReport.pdf.

“With agricultural biotechnology, farmers can continue to increase yields of crops to meet the demands for both food and fuel. Over the past 10 years, agricultural biotechnology has helped U.S. farmers increase yields by 30 percent, a rate of yield increase that will be sufficient to meet the goals of the new renewable fuel standard. In addition, farmers can reduce operating costs, prevent soil erosion, maintain soil fertility, and harvest crop residues as raw materials for advanced biofuels through adoption of no-till agriculture. In many cases no-tell practices can even result in carbon sequestration.

“The Renewable Fuel Standard in the recently enacted Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for 36 billion gallons of biofuel to be used by U.S. motorists by 2022. Of that, 21 billion gallons has to come from advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. All new biofuel production is required to meet aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.

“Industrial biotechnology has greatly enhanced the efficiency of current biofuel production and made it possible to produce advanced biofuels from a broader range of cellulosic feedstocks, including crop residues. As America and countries across the world convert to bio-based fuels, industry leaders and policymakers must ensure that native habitats are protected and that only sustainable agricultural practices are utilized.”

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Upcoming BIO Events

·   BIO CEO & Investor Conference

February 11-13, 2008

New York, NY

·   Partnering for Global Health

March 10-12, 2008

Washington, DC

·   BIO-Europe Spring

April 7-9, 2008

Madrid, Spain

·   BIO National Venture Conference

April 22-23, 2008

Boston, Mass.

·   World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing

April 27-30, 2008

Chicago, Ill.

·   2008 BIO International Convention

June 17-20, 2008

San Diego, Calif.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,150 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology technologies. BIO also produces the annual BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.

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Contact:

Contact Paul Winters

202-962-9237,

The concept consists of two parts – a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions, and a dedicated mobile phone.

The sensor unit will be worn on a wrist or neck strap made from solar cells that provide power to the sensors. NFC (near field communication) technology will relay information by touch from the sensors to the phone or to or to other devices that support NFC technology.

Both the phone and the sensor unit will be as compact as possible to minimize material use, and those materials used in the design will be renewable and/or reclaimed. Technologies used inside the phone and sensor unit will also help save energy.

Stay in touch with your health and local environment

To help make you more aware of your health and local environmental conditions, the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept will include a separate, wearable sensing device with detectors that collect environment, health, and/or weather data.

You will be able to choose which sensors you would like to have inside the sensing device, thereby customizing the device to your needs and desires. For example, you could use the device as a “personal trainee” if you were to choose a heart-rate monitor and motion detector (for measuring your walking pace).

Here are some other examples of customized sensing devices you could build:

A mobile device that builds on the “three Rs”

Reduce, reuse and recycle – the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept is built upon all three of these underlying principles of waste reduction. Emphasis will be placed on materials use and reuse in the phone’s construction:

A phone for the energy-conscious consumer

To complete the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept, the phone and detector units will be optimized for lower energy consumption than phones in 2007 in both the manufacturing process and use. Alternative energy sources, such as solar power, will fuel the sensor unit’s power usage. Thus, we aim to create a self-powered sensing device to reduce dependence on external, non-renewable energy sources.

Innovative Services

The possibilities to introduce creative and useful mobile applications and web services that build upon the environmental data collected from such a design concept are numerous. These services can range from personal health monitoring and improvement, to large-scale collective efforts to promote sustainable lifestyle choices. Even very simple environmental variables can bring about novel solutions when shared and integrated into a global network of mobile explorers.

The Econic NGT 1828 offers CO₂ emissions that are 20% lower when measured against a comparable diesel-powered vehicle, CO₂-neutral performance if regenerative biogas is used, far less particulate matter discharge and a substantial reduction in noise levels.

Full Article - Source : ©GreenCarCongress.com

If current upward trends in fossil fuel emissions continue, global average ozone levels will rise 50% by 2100. The resulting damage to agriculture could reduce global crop production by at least 10%, according to a study in the November issue of Energy Policy.

Previous studies have evaluated the effects of human-induced climate change and rising CO₂ levels on vegetation and have suggested that the changes will prolong growing seasons at higher latitudes and boost photosynthesis in some plant species. John M. Reilly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and colleagues have now added the concomitant changes in tropospheric (ground-level) ozone to the mix. The team investigated the impacts of all three stressors on crops, pastures, and forests with the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, which incorporates economic, climate, and agricultural models.[...]

Full Article - Source : ©pubs.acs.org

More than 50 cows trudge single file into this big, new building. There’s a bright white tile floor and lots of light. The animals are herded into individual metal stalls. The gates close over their heads, kind of like how the bar comes over you’re head when you get on a rollercoaster. At the other end of the cow, workers insert its udders into suction cups - and the milking starts:

“They’re milked three times a day - then they go back to the free-stall barn, so we’re currently milking 1,000 cows.”

That’s Mark van de Heijning. He runs this dairy along with his family. They moved here from Belgium. And they started milking their cows last year. They just built another facility - and soon they’ll have 1,500 cows. van de Heijning says back home in Belgium they had a small dairy farm, but wanted to expand:

“But in Belgium the land is expensive and there was a quota system so its expensive to expand there, and there are already a lot of people so that’s why we moved over here.”

It’s a fairly common story. Farmers from Belgium and the Netherlands move here to build huge livestock operations - operations that would be too costly to run in Europe.

Full Article - Source : ©EnvironmentReport.org