On Ameland, off the coast of the Netherlands, a number of the islanders are using an innovative mix of hydrogen and natural gas in their homes. The goal is to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, an initiative that is part of a wider programme to make the community self-sufficient in energy and water by 2020. Under normal circumstances, there is not very much to say about hydrogen. But on Ameland, one of the Wadden islands off the north coast of the Netherlands, hydrogen is an increasingly popular subject for conversation. Locals are actively participating in an experiment, which blends hydrogen, a gas that burns without producing CO2, with natural gas. The larger the quantity of hydrogen used, the lower the green house gas emissions. According to project manager, Albert van der Meer, a lot of scientific studies have been published about the blend, but tests in a real environment had yet to be conducted. Van der Meer, who works for the Energy company Eneco, opens the door to one of the green hydrogen tanks. "Bear in mind that this hydrogen was produced in a sustainable way. Better still, the electricity required was generated by solar panels. Our installation has been running since late 2007, we are already using a 15% hydrogen blend, and we'll be able to increase that to a 20% blend with no trouble." The test installation on the Island of Ameland includes cookers and boilers located in 14 dwellings across the road from the green hydrogens tanks. This small housing complex, which has been disconnected from the natural gas grid, is now linked to the tanks via a special pipe system.
On Ameland, off the coast of the Netherlands, a number of the islanders are using an innovative mix of hydrogen and natural gas in their homes. The goal is to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, an initiative that is part of a wider programme to make the community self-sufficient in energy and water by 2020.
Under normal circumstances, there is not very much to say about hydrogen. But on Ameland, one of the Wadden islands off the north coast of the Netherlands, hydrogen is an increasingly popular subject for conversation. Locals are actively participating in an experiment, which blends hydrogen, a gas that burns without producing CO2, with natural gas. The larger the quantity of hydrogen used, the lower the green house gas emissions. According to project manager, Albert van der Meer, a lot of scientific studies have been published about the blend, but tests in a real environment had yet to be conducted.
Van der Meer, who works for the Energy company Eneco, opens the door to one of the green hydrogen tanks. "Bear in mind that this hydrogen was produced in a sustainable way. Better still, the electricity required was generated by solar panels. Our installation has been running since late 2007, we are already using a 15% hydrogen blend, and we'll be able to increase that to a 20% blend with no trouble."
The test installation on the Island of Ameland includes cookers and boilers located in 14 dwellings across the road from the green hydrogens tanks. This small housing complex, which has been disconnected from the natural gas grid, is now linked to the tanks via a special pipe system.
In a modern-day incarnation of the Wright brothers' famous first flight, the world's first piloted hydrogen-fuel-cell aircraft was successfully tested in Hamburg today. The Antares DLR-H2, developed by the German Aerospace Center, took off and landed on its own power generated solely from hydrogen fuel cells. Andreas Friedrich of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) spoke to Newsline from the airport runway in Hamburg. "We have just had a successful maiden flight at the airport in Hamburg. Everything went smoothly, and we had quite good weather, no rain, not so much wind, so it was perfect flying conditions."
In a modern-day incarnation of the Wright brothers' famous first flight, the world's first piloted hydrogen-fuel-cell aircraft was successfully tested in Hamburg today. The Antares DLR-H2, developed by the German Aerospace Center, took off and landed on its own power generated solely from hydrogen fuel cells.
Andreas Friedrich of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) spoke to Newsline from the airport runway in Hamburg.
"We have just had a successful maiden flight at the airport in Hamburg. Everything went smoothly, and we had quite good weather, no rain, not so much wind, so it was perfect flying conditions."
Saturday's technical fault at a nuclear plant in northern Germany has sparked a fresh debate about the safety of nuclear power. A media report says the government has for some time held the view that older plants don't match the safety standards of more modern ones. The German government conceded several years ago that older nuclear power stations such as Krümmel near Hamburg and Biblis in southwestern Germany lag behind modern reactors in terms of safety standards, a Berlin newspaper reported on Wednesday. Shut for months -- the Krümmel nuclear power station. "The new boiling water reactors and pressurized water reactors of the third or fourth generation have fundamentally better safety characteristics," says a written government statement issued in response to a question submitted in parliament by the opposition Green Party, Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday. Krümmel, which has been beset by technical problems and was shut down on Saturday after a short circuit in one of its two transformers, came online in 1984 and is an older generation boiling water reactor.
Saturday's technical fault at a nuclear plant in northern Germany has sparked a fresh debate about the safety of nuclear power. A media report says the government has for some time held the view that older plants don't match the safety standards of more modern ones.
The German government conceded several years ago that older nuclear power stations such as Krümmel near Hamburg and Biblis in southwestern Germany lag behind modern reactors in terms of safety standards, a Berlin newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Shut for months -- the Krümmel nuclear power station. "The new boiling water reactors and pressurized water reactors of the third or fourth generation have fundamentally better safety characteristics," says a written government statement issued in response to a question submitted in parliament by the opposition Green Party, Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Krümmel, which has been beset by technical problems and was shut down on Saturday after a short circuit in one of its two transformers, came online in 1984 and is an older generation boiling water reactor.
The FDA just announced the appointment of Michael Taylor as a Senior Advisor to the FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg. Taylor previously worked at the USDA from 1976-1981 as a staff lawyer. He left government to work at King & Spaulding, a law firm representing Monsanto. He returned to government - this time to the FDA - for a stint as Deputy Commissioner for Policy from 1991-1994. According to Marion Nestle in Food Politics: [At the FDA] he was part of the team that issued the agency's decidedly industry-friendly policy on food biotechnology and that approved the use of Monsanto's genetically engineered growth hormone in dairy cows. His questionable role in these decisions led to an investigation by the federal General Accounting Office, which eventually exonerated him of all conflict-of-interest charges. In 1994, he moved over to the USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service to serve as Administrator until 1996. Then it was back to King & Spaulding for a little bit, and - in 1998 - over to Monsanto, where he was a senior lobbyist (Vice President for Public Policy). Most recently, beginning in 2000, he was a fellow for Resources for The Future, serving as Research Professor Of Health Policy at George Washington University. Until this week, that is. Resources for Our Future is quite corporate funded with members of its Board of Directors from BP, Chevron, and DuPont. And now he's back at the FDA.
The FDA just announced the appointment of Michael Taylor as a Senior Advisor to the FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg.
Taylor previously worked at the USDA from 1976-1981 as a staff lawyer. He left government to work at King & Spaulding, a law firm representing Monsanto.
He returned to government - this time to the FDA - for a stint as Deputy Commissioner for Policy from 1991-1994. According to Marion Nestle in Food Politics:
[At the FDA] he was part of the team that issued the agency's decidedly industry-friendly policy on food biotechnology and that approved the use of Monsanto's genetically engineered growth hormone in dairy cows. His questionable role in these decisions led to an investigation by the federal General Accounting Office, which eventually exonerated him of all conflict-of-interest charges.
In 1994, he moved over to the USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service to serve as Administrator until 1996. Then it was back to King & Spaulding for a little bit, and - in 1998 - over to Monsanto, where he was a senior lobbyist (Vice President for Public Policy).
Most recently, beginning in 2000, he was a fellow for Resources for The Future, serving as Research Professor Of Health Policy at George Washington University. Until this week, that is. Resources for Our Future is quite corporate funded with members of its Board of Directors from BP, Chevron, and DuPont.
And now he's back at the FDA.
Keep in mind that many people come up in "the system" and work within it because that is all that is available to them. If/when presented with a real opportunity to alter that system (if they are so inclined) many will do so and be uniquely qualified to succeed in that task due to their intimate knowledge of what they are trying to change.
At the very least we should appreciate that he appears qualified, on technical terms, for a position such as this. This is already a vast improvement upon the Bush Administration, which would have appointed some religious nut who ran a food kitchen once to this job.
I advise withholding of alarm on all such appointments until the time comes that they are making new decisions, crafted out of their own policy, which violate the public trust.
Sometimes the best guy to regulate a bad guy like Monsanto is someone they know and trust. We will have to see how it turns out.
The Maryhill Museum of Art has defied convention since it opened, with its utopian origin, eclectic collection and even its location -- the green-lawned mansion an incongruous landmark on a desolate ridge above the Columbia River. Now the nonprofit museum's individuality extends into the realm of renewable energy. It is the first in the country to use wind-produced electricity to generate income, leasing land to one of the biggest wind farms in the country. At a time when museums around the country are struggling with a downturn in donations and declining attendance, Maryhill has guaranteed itself at least $100,000 yearly by leasing land for 15 turbines that are part of Cannon Power Group's Windy Point/Windy Flats project. "It will keep the museum open and thriving," executive director Colleen Schafroth said. "It will lay a foundation stone for the museum to continue what it's doing now and to preserve that into the future."
Now the nonprofit museum's individuality extends into the realm of renewable energy. It is the first in the country to use wind-produced electricity to generate income, leasing land to one of the biggest wind farms in the country.
At a time when museums around the country are struggling with a downturn in donations and declining attendance, Maryhill has guaranteed itself at least $100,000 yearly by leasing land for 15 turbines that are part of Cannon Power Group's Windy Point/Windy Flats project.
"It will keep the museum open and thriving," executive director Colleen Schafroth said. "It will lay a foundation stone for the museum to continue what it's doing now and to preserve that into the future."
The world's major industrial nations and emerging powers failed to agree Wednesday on significant cuts in heat-trapping gases by 2050, unraveling an effort to build a global consensus to fight climate change, according to people following the talks... The breakdown on climate change underscored the difficulty in bridging divisions between the most developed countries like the United States and developing nations like China and India. In the end, people close to the talks said, the emerging powers refused to agree to the limits because they wanted industrial countries to commit to midterm goals in 2020 and to follow through on promises of financial and technological help in reducing emissions. "They're saying, `We just don't trust you guys,' " said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group based in the United States. "It's the same gridlock we had last year when Bush was president."
The breakdown on climate change underscored the difficulty in bridging divisions between the most developed countries like the United States and developing nations like China and India. In the end, people close to the talks said, the emerging powers refused to agree to the limits because they wanted industrial countries to commit to midterm goals in 2020 and to follow through on promises of financial and technological help in reducing emissions.
"They're saying, `We just don't trust you guys,' " said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group based in the United States. "It's the same gridlock we had last year when Bush was president."
Leaders of the Group of Eight nations backed for the first time an 80 percent cut in greenhouse gases by industrialized countries by mid-century and pledged to prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. Their declaration, released at today's G-8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, incorporates a previous commitment to reduce emissions worldwide 50 percent by 2050, according to the statement provided by Italian officials. The U.S. and other countries previously declined to support calls to limit the average global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels. While White House officials called today's commitment a significant step forward on climate change, this week's meetings hit an impasse when China and India refused to support the reductions of 50 percent and 80 percent in a separate declaration.
Their declaration, released at today's G-8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, incorporates a previous commitment to reduce emissions worldwide 50 percent by 2050, according to the statement provided by Italian officials.
The U.S. and other countries previously declined to support calls to limit the average global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels. While White House officials called today's commitment a significant step forward on climate change, this week's meetings hit an impasse when China and India refused to support the reductions of 50 percent and 80 percent in a separate declaration.
Still a FAIL: I hate targets. A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
