• The Environment

    American Power

    By Posted on 11.3.2008 5 Comments

    Energy is the blood that runs through our economy: the highway miles paved with crude, the kilowatts of coal, those tentative first heartbeats of large-scale wind and solar. America famously uses more energy than any other country—measured either per capita or in total—and conservation measures aside, our rising standard of living will mean that we will consume even more in the future.

    12.2.2008 at 11:46pm - Comment by jfkindc

    We have to deal with the reality of Peak Oil. Transitioning to alternative energies may cost a great deal of money but the failure to do so will cost us our civilization. The day will come when the oil will be gone or require too much energy to retrieve it. We spend billions to manufacture cars, purchase them, buy gas, insurance and maintenance. That money should be spent in energy infrastructure, rail transportation and light rail, etc.

  • The Environment

    The Stinkiest Fuel on Earth

    By Corey Binns Posted on 9.18.2008 17 Comments

    Will Brinton, the founder of Woods End Laboratories, a bioenergy consultancy, predicts a future without landfills. Instead we’ll use table scraps and sewage to power our homes. Just dump the waste into a household digester, and bacteria will break it down and release the natural gas methane. Farms could sell their copious poop-based energy supplies back to the grid. But how much energy do animals yield? We ran the numbers and found that you might want to consider a pet elephant.

    9.25.2008 at 02:44pm - Comment by jfkindc

    How much electricity can be generated from a cubic feet of methane?

  • Technology

    Going Up?

    By Paul Adams Posted on 9.24.2008 68 Comments

    One of the most promising technologies for the aspiring outer-space commuter is the space elevator. The concept, like quite a few others, was pressed into the public imagination by Arthur C. Clarke, who in his 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise described a incredibly thin, incredibly strong carbon filament with one end anchored on Earth and the other extending up to a satellite in geostationary orbit. Now, a group of Japanese scientists are convinced that they can build a space elevator more quickly and cheaply than has been believed possible. Such a cable could convey cargo into space very cheaply and easily. Carriages would travel up and down the cable under modest power, not the vast expenditures of energy that are currently needed to send anything into orbit.

    9.25.2008 at 02:39pm - Comment by jfkindc

    If the cable conducts electricity this seems like a much better way to ferry power from solar arrays in space than microwaves that could potentially damage where they hit.

  • The Environment

    Wolf Hunts Already

    By Posted on 4.9.2008 20 Comments

    Ranchers and conservationists have long been at odds over how to manage the populations of predators at the top of the food chain. Now that wolves have been recently delisted from the Federal Endangered Species Act, state governments in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are wasting no time organizing hunts to reduce the animals' numbers, citing increased attacks on cattle as the reason for the culls. Conservationists are planning to respond with lawsuits against the federal government to attempt to bring the wolves back on the endangered list.

    4.9.2008 at 01:23pm - Comment by jfkindc

    This kind of story makes me so angry! My husky is as close to a wolf as a dog can be and I know these animals are sensitive, feeling creatures that don't deserve to be hunted to extinction. Call me a bleeding liberal tree hugger if it makes you feel better but some days I think we deserve extinction ourselves. Billions live in poverty without adequate food and clean water and yet we can't tear out our forests fast enough to make more room for more cars and subdivisions. These wolves are considered a nuisance because they no longer have their own habitat. How dare they inconvenience us in search of food and shelter to survive.

  • Science

    The Firefighting Robot

    By Posted on 4.1.2008 6 Comments

    digg_url = 'http://digg.com/general_sciences/ROBOT_INSECT_FIGHTS_FOREST_FIRES'; Shifting through the mossy undergrowth of Germanys Black Forest, antennae raised and leg joints quietly clicking forward, OLE (pronounced oh-luh) is a St. Bernardsize bug on the prowl. But this mechanized insect isnt a scavenger—its a guardian.

    4.3.2008 at 11:21am - Comment by jfkindc

    My brother is a firefighter and I would be very happy to know that these bugs were looking for fires before they got out of control! I'm going to post a link to this article on my blog, too!



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