Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish "The Sun Moves Us" Bust

From the New York Times:

PUERTOLLANO, Spain — Two years ago, this gritty mining city hosted a brief 21st-century gold rush. Long famous for coal, Puertollano discovered another energy source it had overlooked: the relentless, scorching sun.

Armed with generous incentives from the Spanish government to jump-start a national solar energy industry, the city set out to replace its failing coal economy by attracting solar companies, with a campaign slogan: “The Sun Moves Us.”

Soon, Puertollano, home to the Museum of the Mining Industry, had two enormous solar power plants, factories making solar panels and silicon wafers, and clean energy research institutes. Half the solar power installed globally in 2008 was installed in Spain.

Farmers sold land for solar plants. Boutiques opened. And people from all over the world, seeing business opportunities, moved to the city, which had suffered from 20 percent unemployment and a population exodus.

But as low-quality, poorly designed solar plants sprang up on Spain’s plateaus, Spanish officials came to realize that they would have to subsidize many of them indefinitely, and that the industry they had created might never produce efficient green energy on its own.

In September the government abruptly changed course, cutting payments and capping solar construction. Puertollano’s brief boom turned bust. Factories and stores shut, thousands of workers lost jobs, foreign companies and banks abandoned contracts that had already been negotiated.

“We lost the opportunity to be at the vanguard of renewables — we were not only generating electricity, but also a strong economy,” said Joaquín Carlos Hermoso Murillo, Puertollano’s mayor since 2004. “Why are they limiting solar power, when the sun is unlimited?”

Puertollano’s wrenching fall points to the delicate policy calculations needed to stimulate nascent solar industries and create green jobs, and might serve as a cautionary tale for the United States, where a similar exercise is now under way.

The article continues:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/business/energy-environment/09solar.html?ref=earth

Research Project Finds Everyday Grass Could Provide Green Energy

ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2010) — A five-year research project has come up with a way of generating green energy from a humble everyday grass. Researchers at Teesside University's Contaminated Land and Water Center began the project in 2004 to see which plants could best be grown on brownfield sites as a way of improving unsightly blots on the landscape.

Now, the research by the BioReGen (Biomass, Remediation, re-Generation) project team has revealed that reed canary grass can be turned into an excellent fuel for biomass power stations and, on a smaller scale, boilers in buildings like schools. The native British grass is turned into bricks and pellets. These not only burn well but also don't add to greenhouse gases or contribute to global warming.

The team experimented with four types of plant, willow trees, the current favorite for biomass power stations, and the miscanthus, reed canary and switch grasses. Tests were carried out on sites around the region with work supported by a 1.2m Euros grant from the European Union's LIFE-Environment research program.

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China's Water Pollution Worse Than First Thought (REUTERS)

BEIJING (Reuters) - A new Chinese government survey of the country's environmental problems has shown water pollution levels in 2007 were more than twice the government's official estimate, largely because agricultural waste was ignored.

The data, presented by Vice Environment Protection Minister Zhang Lijun, revives persistent questions about the quality of Chinese official statistics and the effectiveness of a government push for cleaner growth after decades of unbridled expansion.

The first national census on pollution sources found that discharge of "chemical oxygen demand" (COD) -- a measure of water pollution -- in wastewater was 30.3 million metric tons, Zhang said.

The government had said in an official paper published two years ago that 2007 was the first year it managed to reduce water pollution, with COD falling 3 percent to 13.8 million metric tons.

Article continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6180U320100209

Study: Discarded Drugs Can Still End up in Water Supply Even if You are Careful

A study by Maine Department of Environmental Protection shows that unused or expired medications that are thrown into the trash are showing up in landfill water, potentially putting aquatic life at risk.

The MDEP found tiny amounts of discarded drugs in water at three landfills in the state, confirming suspicions that pharmaceuticals thrown into household trash are ending up in landfills. Officials said the drugs aren't a threat to drinking water supplies, but could pose a risk to aquatic life because the landfill water ends up in rivers after being treated at wastewater treatment plants.

State lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would require drug manufacturers to develop and pay for a program to collect unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs from residents and dispose of them.

Texas' Trinity River Fish Contaminated by PCBs, Won't be Safe for Consumption for Years

Officials said the fish in the Trinity River, located in Texas, won't be safe to eat for many more years because of the continued presence of a toxic compound in the water. Some of the highest poisonous readings of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were found at sample sites in Tarrant County.

"I think we've done irreparable damage," Brian Smith, who owns about 700 acres of preserved ranchland along the river in Navarro County south of Dallas, said during a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality meeting Wednesday in Arlington. The meeting was held to update the public on the state's effort to clean up the water in a 150-mile stretch of the river in Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas and south toward Corsicana.

Read the full story at Star-Telegram.com.

Consumer Reports Study: Bagged Salads Aren't as Safe as You Think

Consumer Reports' releases results of study, find bagged salads aren't as "clean" as they claim to be. High levels of fecal bacteria found.

SHOCK: Consumer Reports, via its Consumers Union, has recently released the findings of tests on packaged leafy greens and the results are shocking. The study found high levels of bacteria, which are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal matter. The study appears in the March 2010 issue of Consumer Reports and is also available online. Consumers Union has also issued a report urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set safety standards for greens. There is a sense of urgency to move this legislation through Congress because so many people, including children, eat green leafy vegetables on a daily basis. The legislation, pending in the Senate, passed last summer in the House of Representatives and would require the FDA to create safety standards for such vegetables.

The tests were conducted with financial support from the Pew Health Group and assessed several types of bacteria, including total coliforms and enterococcus which are "indicator organisms" found in the human digestive tract and in the surrounding environment that can indicate inadequate sanitation and a high risk of the presence of disease-causing organisms. What's equally disturbing is that there are no existing federal standards for indicator bacteria in salad greens, while there are standards for these forms of bacteria in milk, drinking water and beef. This is unacceptable and we should all work tirelessly to effect change in this arena. Several industry consultants have reportedly suggested that an unacceptable level in leafy greens would be 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g).

In our tests, 39 percent of samples exceeded that level for total coliforms and 23 percent for enterococcus. Results varied widely among samples, even within the same brand, from undetectable levels of those bacteria to more than 1 million CFU/g. Packages with higher bacteria levels had similarities. Many contained spinach and were one to five days from their use-by date. Packages six to eight days from their use-by date fared better. Whether the greens came in a clamshell or bag, included "baby" greens, or were organic made no difference.

Brands for which we had more than four samples, including national brands Dole, Earthbound Farm Organic, and Fresh Express, plus regional and store brands, had at least one package with relatively high levels of total coliforms or enterococcus. Our tests were conducted at an outside lab over two weeks in August and September with financial support from the Pew Health Group, which is working to improve food safety.

Consumers Union supports Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, that would, among other things, require the Food and Drug Administration to set stronger produce safety standards. Those should include performance standards for indicators of fecal contamination, such as generic E. coli and enterococcus. Source: Consumer Reports

What can you do to prevent ingesting harmful bacteria? The first thing is to wash the vegetables thoroughly, even if they "claim" to be pre-washed. It will help get rid of any residual soil matter. Visit Consumers Union for more tips: www.ConsumersUnion.org/safefood. In the meantime, please contact your elected officials in the Congress to get a move on passing this legislation.

Photo credit: Consumer Reports

Sir Richard Branson Unveils the Necker Nymph, An Underwater Plane

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has unveiled his latest toy -- an underwater plane called Necker Nymph. It can dive to depths of up to 130 feet. Sir Richard reportedly plans to lend the Nymph out to visitors of his luxury Necker Island hideaway. The Necker Nymph can carry a pilot and two visitors on a two-hour trip. Of course, this is for those with deep pockets. A trip on this fascinating addition to his collection will set you back $25,000 a week, after you have forked over a minimum of $88,000 for a seven-night stay on the luxury catamaran, the Necker Belle. This comes on the heels of the Virgin Galactic space ship.

According to the Daily Mail, the luxury sub has a fighter jet technology and is piloted with a joystick. Most subs use ballast for propulsion under the water, the Nymph used downward "lift" on wings to fly down. The Necker Nymph, which is the first of its kind, was designed and built by Graham Hawkes, chief of Hawkes Ocean Technologies.

You have to give Sir Richard Branson credit for being a visionary and seeing past the status quo. Here's a man who built his organization under to Virgin name from a mail order record retailer in 1970 to a corporate powerhouse today that includes 200 branded companies worldwide, employs about 50,000 people in 29 countries.

Funnel-Web Spiders Plague Sydney, Australia, Invasion Caused by Unseasonable Rainfall, High Humidity & Lengthy Dry Period

Funnel-web spiders are invading Sydney, Australia and what's scary is that one bite from one of these spiders can kill you in the space of two hours. The funnel-web spider is considered one of the world's most aggressive and poisonous spiders. The males are reportedly deadlier than the females. According to The Independent, the invasion is due to a lengthy dry period, which was followed by unseasonable rainfalls and high humidity during the Christmas season.

Residents of Sydney and nearby areas are encouraged to drop off any captured spiders at a reptile park near the capital where researchers will milk the spiders of their venom to make antidotes. Residents are also being warned not to walk outside barefooted and to check their shoes.

Photo credit: Funnel-web spiders, Backpack Photography/Flickr

Study: Fungus-Gardening Ant Has Given Up Sex Completely

ScienceDaily (2010-01-09) -- The complete asexuality of a widespread fungus-gardening ant, the only ant species in the world known to have dispensed with males entirely, has recently been confirmed. Most social insects—the wasps, ants and bees—are relatively used to daily life without males. Their colonies are well run by swarms of sterile sisters lorded over by an egg-laying queen. But, eventually, all social insect species have the ability to produce a crop of males who go forth in the world to fertilize new queens and propagate.

Queens of the ant Mycocepurus smithii reproduce without fertilization and males appear to be completely absent, report Christian Rabeling, Ulrich Mueller and their Brazilian colleagues in PLoS ONE this week."Animals that are completely asexual are relatively rare, which makes this is a very interesting ant," says Rabeling, an ecology, evolution and behavior graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. "Asexual species don't mix their genes through recombination, so you expect harmful mutations to accumulate over time and for the species to go extinct more quickly than others. They don't generally persist for very long over evolutionary time."

Article continues http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090825203339.htm

Google Formally Incorporates Google Energy, Seeking Government Permission to Buy and Sell Electricity on Wholesale Market

Last month, Google formally incorporated Google Energy, which is a new subsidiary that is seeking permission from the government to buy and sell electricity on the wholesale market. Though the chances of you purchasing electricity from Google is unlikely, the company said the move will allow them to have more flexibility to buy renewable energy.

 Google, in 2007, committed to becoming carbon neutral and has been steadily pursuing their goal by buying high quality renewable energy energy credits. Google Energy will allow the company to get more renewable energy onto the grid and into the company's portfolio.

Polar Bears Changing Habits in Response to Sea Ice Conditions

 Credit: iStockphoto/Styve Reineck

ScienceDaily (2010-01-07) -- An analysis of 27 years of data shows that polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea region are occurring more frequently on land and in open water than on ice during the fall. Karyn Rode, a polar bear biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska and one of the study's authors, says data collected between 1979 and 2005 show that polar bears in the region are occurring more frequently on land and in open water and less frequently on ice during the fall. This means there are increased chances for human/bear interaction. The paper was published in the December issue of Arctic -- the journal of the Arctic Institute of North America.

Polar bears were observed over the 27-year period by U.S. government Minerals Management Services staff as part of the fall bowhead whale aerial survey conducted annually in the southern Beaufort Sea. Ice conditions were also recorded. Data showed that as ice conditions changed, bears were being found on different habitats. Between 1979 and 1987, 12% of bear sightings were associated with no ice. Between 1997 and 2005 however, 90% of bear sightings were associated with no ice.

Article continues: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100107151657.htm

Australia's Great Barrier Reef Being Choked by Seaweeds

Great Barrier Reef, Getty Images/Phil Walter

According to an interview held by the Agence France-Presse, Australia's Great Barrier Reef is overgrown in places by seaweed and that could be a worrying indication of the coral structure's health.  A lack of algae-eating fish is a big reason for this trend. Surveys have already shown that the reef is at risk from global warming and more than 40 percent of the areas closest to the shore are overgrown with seaweed. The Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies' Professor David Bellwood said the offshore reefs, those about 12.4 miles from the continent's eastern coast were largely untouched by the algae. He said the best defense for the reef would be clean water and the existence of herbivorous fish which could graze on the weeds.

Article continues http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/seaweed-chokes-australias-great-barrier-reef