nuclear power will be economically obsolete in next decade
QUOTE: We need to build 2,000, 3,000 nuclear reactors for it to take on the kind of role that coal has today.
WHO: Dr. Makhijani,
...if we cast ourselves forward to 2050 or 2060 and we've made, as a nation, as a world, significant investments in nuclear power, what's wrong with that?
In order to make a significant impact on climate we have to build 2,000, 3,000 nuclear reactors for it to take on the kind of role that coal has today. Probably more, considering the growth in China and India. That means one nuclear reactor every six days or so. That means we have to build two or three uranium enrichment plants every year.
First of all, nuclear is the lazy answer. It fits into the structure we've got. It's the way we've always done things. We've got 95-percent centralized electricity and a nuclear you can just plop in a nuclear plant in place of an old coal plant and you're done. If you're a stockholder, it looks very easy
Even so, Wall Street is not eager to finance it. Nuclear companies want 100-percent loan guarantees.
One of the problems with nuclear is water. I think that has not been adequately considered. Last year, a nuclear reactor was shut down in Tennessee because of lack of water during a drought. I think the South Texas Project has not that well considered the implications of large-scale water use for its new power plants in the context of what might happen if we have severe drought. They're planning to use 100 cubic-feet per second, that could be a significant proportion of the Colorado River at low-flow times.
U.S. squeezes more GDP out of each drop of energy than the U.K., Japan, or European average.
Is America the environmental leader or the laggard?
Of course it's the leader. The problem is, it's also richer. That means that per-capita emissions of carbon dioxide are going to be higher in the U.S., with its spacious homes, big air conditioners, and long commutes.
But that doesn't mean the U.S. is necessarily an energy spendthrift, argues Hayward, a long-time foil of Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The U.S. squeezes more GDP out of each drop of energy than the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, or the European average.
And here lies the main paradox of the misperception on this issue: it is precisely because the United States is highly energy efficient that we are able to afford and consume more energy than European nations on a per-capita basis. One obvious implication of this analysis is that the United States cannot currently achieve European-level greenhouse gas emissions unless it reduces American output and lowers the nation's standard of living.
For Hayward, the "untold and underappreciated" story is America's constant improvement in energy-efficiency. He offers up a comparison with 1910, when greenhouse gas emissions were at the level many cap-and-trade advocates long to return to. Back then, per-capita income (in 2007 dollars) was $5,964" a bit short of paying for a Prius.
Since then, he says, the economy has grown twenty-fold, emissions six-fold, and per-capita emissions barely doubled. The efficiency drive isn't over, either: "It is likely that the United States is the only industrialized nation whose greenhouse gas emissions fell in 2006 (2006 emissions data for other nations are not yet available)."
Read more By Keith Johnson America: The Efficient, Green Giant?
Happy Presidents Day! Green US president history factoids
Presidents come in many different shades of green, much like the dollar-bill green, sometimes puke green in times of national emergency. But never mind that. Let's enjoy these choice factoids:
George Washingtonfirst president, 1789-1797
Washington was the only president ever to be elected unanimously. No campaign trail to speak ofimagine the carbon savings! The cancelled FOX and CNN election specials alone probably could have powered every home in the nation!
Also, showing extreme patience and willpower, Washington had his men row him across the Delaware. Not once did he rev up the outboard engine.
As a boy, little George (of the famous cherry tree anecdote) did not chop down his father's prized cherry tree with his new hatchet. Rather, he merely hacked off all its bark and left it to die a slow and painful death.
Thomas Jeffersonthird president, 1801-1809
During his second term, Jefferson attempted an embargo on American shipping. His reasoning was more to do with international trade than with reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but still. Unfortunately, the embargo "worked badly and was unpopular."
Jefferson was also known for reducing vampire power drainage by diligently unplugging his cell phone charger each morning.
James Madisonfourth president, 1809-1817
A mere 5 feet 4 inches, 100 pounds, James Madison was the shortest American president.
He took up very little space.
[Martin Van Buren, 5 feet 6 inches, didn't take up much space either.]
James Monroefifth president, 1758-1831
Monroe loved the outdoors so much, he was the first president to be inaugurated
outdoors.
Maybe that's where Middlebury got the sporting idea to have their midyear graduates collect their diplomas on skis.
John Quincy Adamssixth president, 1825-1829
Adams, son of just-president John Adams, was the first president to practice patriotic recycling by reusing his father's name in the White House.
Also, records all but prove that he never once left his laptop computer on overnight.
Andrew Jacksonseventh president, 1829-1837
Andrew Jackson was the first president to ride on a train.
It probably wasn't Amtrak though, because if you think $90 is highway robbery today that was like so much money in those days, like billions.
Abraham Lincolnsixteenth president, 1861-1865
That old trendsetter Abe lived off the grid in a log cabin way before that sort of thing was cool.
Ulysses S. Granteighteenth president, 1869-1877
A man about town, Grant resisted the urge to splash out on a flashy red Jaguar, and instead humbly went about his business via horse and buggy.
His noble commitment to low-carbon transport cost him dearly: Once caught buggy-speeding in the streets of DC, poor chap, he was fined $20 and forced to return on foot to the White House.
William McKinleytwenty-fifth president, 1897-1901
At the turn of the century, ladies' hats were often decorated with plumes from over-hunted birds. McKinley apparently either thought the hats were ugly or opposed plume huntingthe Lacey Act of 1900 banned the practice of shipping illegally-killed birds from one state to another. Plume hunters weren't psyched.
Theodore Roosevelttwenty-sixth president, 1901-1909
PETA predecessor Theodore Roosevelt was an avid birder and kept a "small zoo" in his room at Harvard, "consisting of lobsters, snakes, and a huge tortoise."
Perhaps inspired by his reptilian roommates, Roosevelt went on to establish 194 million acres of national forests and parks as well as the first National Bird Preserve.
He also established the Forest Service. And a few other trifles like, um, the Grand Canyon National Monument and 17 other national monuments.
Often hailed as the conservation president, Teddy was also the first to take a public ride in an electric car.
William H. Tafttwenty-seventh president, 1909-1913
Committed to locally-sourced milk and dairy, Taft bought Pauline Wayne (a cow) from a senator in Wisconsin, and kept her at the White House for two years.
Woodrow Wilsontwenty-eighth president, 1913-1921
During World War I, Wilson decided he should save money on lawn-upkeep at the White House. His green solution was to bring a flock of sheep in to graze the presidential lawn. Money raised from their wool went to bolster the Red Cross war efforts.
He also outlawed dumping anthracite coal and its refuse into streams and established mining regulations on federal lands.
Calvin Coolidgethirtieth president, 1923-1929
Calvin Coolidge did very little, and spoke even less, conserving both energy and clean air. Governmental records note that he had a "talent for effectively doing nothing."
Harry Trumanthirty-third president, 1945-1953
Taking a one-man, grass-roots approach to paper reduction, Truman read every single book in his hometown library.
Taking a slightly less grass-roots approach to Japan during World War II, Truman dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Lyndon Johnsonthirty-sixth president, 1963-1969
Apparently a fan of the scenic drive, Johnson introduced the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.
Lyndon also worked on Clean Air legislation, Water Pollution Control legislation, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Wilderness Act.
Richard Nixonthirty-seventh president, 1969-1974
Dirty Dick got himself into some hot water, but he also cleaned a few things up. You know that little organization called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? He started itno big deal.
Oh, and he signed the Endangered Species Act into law, created the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 1970 Clean Air Act, the 1972 Clean Water Act, and the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
Jimmy Carterthirty-ninth president, 1977-1981
Jimmy and his wife Rosalynn had four children (read: probably drove a gargantuan SUV), so it's not a huge surprise that he worked to improve car fuel efficiency.
Carter also protected 103-million acres in Alaska by expanding the National Parks system.
And we all owe a big thanks to old Carter for passing legislation throughout the US. (Find a Superfund site are near you).
George H.W. Bushforty-first president, 1989-1993
Bush really liked breathing clean air, but didn't so much like breathing toxic, dirty air. So in 1990, he amended the Clean Air Act, in hopes of making air
cleaner.
Bill Clintonforty-second president, 1993-2001
Instead of wasting electricity on a big fancy home audio system, Bill played his own saxophone. It was charming and soulful.
Also, he created 17 new national monuments (4.6 million acres in total), took a whack at ratifying Kyoto, and declared road building illegal in 60 million acres of national forest.
George W. Bushforty-forth president, 2001-current
Acting on his commitment to conserving resources, George Bush Jr. sent troops into war without armor.
He also dubbed 140,000 square miles of ocean near the Hawaiian Islands a marine reserve in June 2006. No, really, he did. Not joking. Look.
So kids, you have a rich green heritage to live up to. Remember: ask not what your country can recycle for you, but what you can recycle for your country.
From: (By Tobin Hack) plentymag.com Nicole Scarmeas contributed research.
EPA to Improve the Safety Testing of Household Chemicals
NIH Collaborates with EPA to Improve the Safety Testing of Chemicals
New Strategy Aims to Reduce Reliance on Animal Testing
Testing the safety of chemicals ranging from pesticides to household cleaners will benefit from new technologies and a plan for collaboration, according to federal scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who today announced a new toxicity testing agreement. The concept behind this agreement is highlighted in the Feb. 15, 2008 issue of the journal Science (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/2008/docs/transtox-aaas.pdf) 
(321K).
"I launched the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research five years ago to create collaborations between institutes and centers on big projects that none of them could do alone. But I never envisioned a trans-agency collaboration testing for environmental toxins," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "This research collaboration has the potential to make crucial discoveries that will protect the public health by identifying and understanding chemical toxicants to which people are exposed."
Read full at NIH
A lot of hot air from WI green politics
Who said it trying to sway the "green" vote?
In a speech on Wednesday at a GM auto plant in Wisconsin, promising to boost green jobs, help the middle class, dole out tax cuts, negotiate worker and environmental protections in upcoming free-trade agreements, and, in order to fund much of this, end the war in Iraq.
| | Decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear; workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under assault for the last eight years ...
[Lobbyists have] been allowed to write an energy policy that's keeping us addicted to oil when there are families choosing between gas and groceries ...
[When I am president, infrastructure repairs in the country] will be determined not by politics, but by what will maximize our safety and homeland security; what will keep our environment clean and our economy strong ...
When I am president, I will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for our environment and protections for American workers ..
I believe that we can create millions of ... jobs around a clean, renewable energy future ...
WHO? Barack Obama.... i.e. Jimmy Carter the 2nd.
WHY? People want to hear all of this regardless if he can or will do anything.
Possible or even plausible dreams and hope, he is really pulling in the "green" voters on hope of change.
Earth to voters - Hope, dreams and a army of magical unicorns are not a real answer without a plan and support by congress ;-(
Labels: greenwashing
Have we lost our minds - Coalfired plants advance in Senate
The Senate on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that essentially would require the state to approve two 700-megawatt coal-burning power plants in southwest Kansas. The bill is expected to pass.
The measure seeks to reverse a decision last year by Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Roderick Bremby.
Bremby denied permits for the plants because of concerns about the effect of the project's carbon dioxide emissions on climate change.
A few words from the Senate on coal and CO2
State Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, dismissed climate change as an "unproven scientific theory." He said China built 180 coal-fired plants while KDHE was considering the plants' application from Sunflower Electric.
"I'm a farmer. We love CO2," he said. State Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, said CO2 was part of nature and helped crops grow.
Haase comments:
Regardless of the CO2 globalwarming debate, here are the inarguable facts on coal power.
#1 and most important FACT - We can produce clean energy anytime nearly anywhere in America.
- Even in Alaskan a 400-kilowatt power plant geothermal plant, and it's producing electricity from lower temperature water than any plant in the world.
- Heat stored beneath the Earth's surface holds 50,000 times the energy of all the oil and gas in the world combined. And is an ideal source of base-load power: Geothermal is cleaner than fossil fuels, and more reliable than alternative sources like tidal, wind, wave and solar. Today, geothermal plants in the United States generate nearly 3000 megawatts of electricityenough to power South Dakota. Almost all of it comes from reservoirs that are at least 300 F.
- This fall, Chena and United Technologies received a Department of Energy grant to install a demonstration plant at an oil or gas well in the United States. The nation's wells produce at least 40 billion barrels of wastewater per year, much of it low to moderate temperature. That's another 6000 to 11,000 megawatts of potential electricity.... Source Popular Mechanics
#2 FACT - Dirty Coal Kills thousands, leaves millions ill and makes necessary food toxic
Next to dirty water, air pollution it is the second leading cause of death in the world. Burning coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, emissions, air toxics and the largest global source of heavy metals, of where just 1/70th of a teaspoon deposited on a 25-acre lake can make the fish unsafe to eat.
Coal as the leading cause of pollution
Coal as the leading cause of death
#3 FACT - If we don't show China we can do better their pollution will kill million more
China that has 20 times more coal fired plants than the U.S. and although the U.S. is putting the brakes on new coal, China is opening nearly one new plant a day...
Wisconsin coal Problems
Wisconsin's emissions grew at a faster rate than the national average Associated Press: Wisconsin's emissions grew at a faster rate than the national average during the 1990s and can be expected to accelerate with growing reliance on coal-fired generators to produce electricity, a newspaper reports. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Sunday that its analysis of data from the federal Energy Information Administration showed greenhouse gases released in the state increased 26 percent in the 1990s, compared to the increase of 20 percent nationally. ...Link
JS Online likes to show a nice graphic and article saying how if everyone helped a little we can "save a lot"... These may seem like small and insignificant measures to help small families in local communities... however the average "sprawl lifestyle" with a 2,500 sqft home on a "clear cut" archer of land with two SUV's in the driveway can make a BIG difference with these little suggestions.
More importantly they state: Coal-fired plants are the most polluting way to generate electricity - contributing to air quality issues and public health problems. Coal plants also are the leading contributor to rising emissions.
George Meyer, former secretary of the state Department of Natural Resources, says Wisconsin already is years behind in curbing emissions because it failed to implement global warming action plans in the 1990s.
Bruce Nilles, a Sierra Club lawyer, agreed. Wisconsin needs to move more quickly to shut down coal plants and embrace alternative energy sources, he said.
"Right now, we take our energy dollars and send them to Wyoming to buy coal," he said. "We just need to decide as a state that we want to lead in reducing our wasteful energy practices. It's not about doing with less - it's about being smarter with what we have." Read more VIA jsonline.com
Links to CHINA coal facts:
Environmental conditions are already approaching apocalyptic in a country where coal provides 70 percent of the country's power. Chinese scientists have predicted that the Yangtze River will die by 2011, and with two-thirds of other rivers polluted, more than 340 million Chinese lack access to clean drinking water. An estimated 400,000 Chinese die of pollution every year.
WISCONSIN WASTECAP UPDATES
NEWs to USE from www.wastecapwi.org
Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Training Program offered at ABC of Wisconsin Winter Convention
Date: February 22, 2008 Location: Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells
WasteCap Wisconsin will be offering the full-day Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Training Program at the ABC of Wisconsin Winter Convention in Wisconsin Dells. Reduction, reuse and recycling is allowing contractors and owners to use projects funds for building instead of waste disposal. The training also provides training to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) points for MR 2.1 and 2.2. For more information on the training program, visit www.wastecapwi.org/training
Sign up now for your free listing in WasteCapDIRECT
WasteCap Wisconsin is looking for Wisconsin companies (haulers, processors and end markets for construction and demolition debris including asphalt, brick, cardboard, carpet, ceiling tiles, concrete, drywall, scrap metal, pallets, shingles and wood) who want to sign up early to be included in this directory which will be available for public use in 2008. Basic listings are free and upgraded listing opportunities are available to better highlight your business. To signup for your listing, please email Shannon Delaney for more information.
A lighter shade of green
Source: Written by WasteCap Wisconsin's Board of Directors Vice Chair, Elizabeth Churchill. GreenerBuildings.com
Healthcare and sustainable design are two exceptionally paired industries because they focus on the same goal: promoting and protecting the health and wellbeing of the community. However, the perceived and actual first costs associated with sustainable design strategies discourage many small or rural healthcare organizations from pursuing LEED or Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC) certification. To read the full article click here
FOOD WASTE RECOVERY / COMPOSTING
Jam-packed year of bioenergy industry growth
Source: BioCycle January 2008
This last year was a mighty big year of economic growth in generating energy from biomass. First-generation commercial-scale projects began generating bio-BTUs like: E3 Biofuels' ethanol/feedlot, Fibrominn's 55 MW manure-fueled power plant and Microgy's manure to natural gas facility. Then, in December, E3 Biofuels filed for bankruptcy. Last year began with seemingly every Midwest rural community announcing a corn-based ethanol plant. By fall, the bottom fell out of the ethanol and biodiesel expansion. It went from one extreme to the other. Click here to read the full article
COMPUTER / ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Down to Earth: E-Waste in Wisconsin
Source: ABC 27 WKOW, Madison
A bill recently introduced at the state capitol would force electronics makers to take back, or at least pay for the cost to recycle, many of your old televisions and computer parts. More than a half dozen states have laws on the books like this to regulate what's known as "e-waste." The idea is to find an easy and cheap way to encourage people not to dump their old electronics into the landfill. Right now, the alternative is for people to pay for municipal collection sites through taxes and user fees. To read the full article click here
Wisconsin Solid Waste Legislative Update, February 2008
Source: John Reindl, Dane County Recycling Manager
Over 1,200 bills have been introduced into the Wisconsin Legislature, and eighteen of these cover solid waste issues, with the following fourteen being active. Based on the limited time left in the Legislative schedule and the status of these bills, it appears that only a few measures have much chance of adoption by both houses. To read the full legislative update, visit www.wastecapwi.org/b_feb08leg
Waste Management launches educational web site
Source: WasteAge
Houston-based Waste Management has launched thinkgreen.com, an interactive Web site to further educate the public about the business of handling the nearly five pounds of waste that the average citizen produces each day. The site also highlights how certain technologies are recovering resources and protecting the environment. To read the full article, visit here
Also see at www.wastecapwi.org
Environmental issues associated with recycling asphalt shingles
Most of the common machines used in workshops, industry, and farms are driven by motors of only .5 - 5 horsepower. The Watermotor will produce this amount of power at an extremely low cost and with a minimum of ecological disruption.
According to a piece in 
Because of the cost implications of the necessary research and assessment and observer requirements, [the agreement] may even have the effect of putting an end to bottom-trawling 
