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Newly Discovered Greenhouse Gas ’7,000 Times More Powerful Than CO2′

by Myrna Posted on December 10, 2013

Perfluorotributylamine is an unregulated, long-living industrial chemical that breaks all records for potential climate impacts. Corey’sWorld (MDCoreBear)/Flickr A new greenhouse gas that is 7,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth has been discovered by researchers in Toronto. The newly discovered gas, perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA), has been in use by the electrical industry since the mid-20th century. The chemical, that does not occur naturally, breaks all records for potential impacts on the climate, said the researchers at the University of Toronto’s department of chemistry. “We claim that PFTBA has the highest radiative efficiency of any molecule detected in the atmosphere to date,” said Angela Hong, one of the co-authors. The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found PFTBA was 7,100 times more powerful at warming the Earth over a 100-year time span than CO2. To keep reading, click here. Originally from:  Newly Discovered Greenhouse Gas ’7,000 Times More Powerful Than CO2′ ; ;Related ArticlesWhy Congress Needs to Extend the Wind Energy Tax CreditUS Navy Predicts Summer Ice Free Arctic by 2016Scientists Re-Trace Steps of Great Antarctic Explorer Douglas Mawson ;

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Newly Discovered Greenhouse Gas ’7,000 Times More Powerful Than CO2′

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The U.K. government really, really wants to encourage fracking

by Frederick Cunningham Posted on December 9, 2013

The U.K. government really, really wants to encourage fracking

By

Push Europe

Activists are not pleased with the Tory government’s fracking plans.

The past week was a topsy-turvy one for the fracking industry in Europe, where leaders and residents are sharply split over whether frackers should be allowed to tap shale reserves for natural gas.

The U.K. government is so anxious to see fracking companies get to work that it confirmed it will offer big tax breaks to help encourage the sector. The country’s chief finance minister, George Osborne — whimsically dubbed the chancellor of the Exchequer — confirmed during his autumn budget update that the tax breaks would be put in place. He claimed a fracking boom would bring “thousands of jobs” and “billions of pounds of investment.” (Memo to the chancellor: Frackers have been known to lie about these things.)

While North Sea oil drillers pay as much as 81 percent tax to the U.K. government, Osborne told Parliament that taxes for fracking would be set at just 30 percent. (American state governments, by comparison, often pay frackers to help them offset the costs of drilling.) It’s all part of Osborne’s bid to reduce households’ electricity bills by £50, or about $82, a year, partly by reducing power companies’ environmental taxes, known as green levies.

The tax break plan sparked anger when it was first floated back in the summer, touted at the time by Osborne as the “most generous” tax regime for frackers in the world. And last week’s confirmation that the government would move forward brought more of the same. From The Independent:

Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth’s executive director, said: “Yet again the long-term health of our economy has been completely undermined by the Chancellor’s short-sighted determination to keep the nation hooked on dirty and increasingly costly fossil fuels … MPs say they are unjustified — and they could be illegal.” The green group claims that Mr Osborne’s shale gas tax breaks could potentially breach EU law because they may represent “unlawful state aid” — putting shale gas operators in a “more favourable tax position” than the traditional North Sea producers.

Meanwhile, in Romania, anti-fracking protesters and unhappy locals sent Chevron packing after storming an exploratory drilling site. Reuters reported on Saturday:

U.S. oil major Chevron halted exploration works for shale gas in eastern Romania for the second time in two months on Saturday after anti-fracking protesters broke through wire mesh fences around the site.

Thousands of people have rallied across Romania in recent months to protest against government support for shale gas exploration and separate plans to set up Europe’s largest open cast gold mine in a small Carpathian town. …

On Saturday, about 300 riot police were deployed in Pungesti, 340 km (210 miles) northeast of capital Bucharest, to try to prevent an equal number of protesters, mostly local residents, from entering the Chevron site. Some broke through into the site, however.

The activists chanted “Stop Chevron” and held banners saying “No drilling allowed here”. Dozens were detained by police.

A valiant effort, but Chevron was back at work by Sunday.


Source
Dismay for green lobby as fracking is given the go-ahead, The Independent
Chevron halts Romania shale work after protest, Reuters
Chevron resumes shale work in Romania despite protest, Agence France-Presse

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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The U.K. government really, really wants to encourage fracking

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Here’s Why Developing Countries Will Consume 65% of the World’s Energy by 2040

by Myrna Posted on December 4, 2013

China and India hold the world’s fate in their hands as energy use skyrockets in poorer countries. Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia/Flickr The Energy Shift now under way is as much geographical as it is technological. Case in point: By 2040, the developing world will account for 65 percent of the world’s energy consumption, according to a report released today by the United States Energy Information Administration. That’s up from 54 percent in 2010, and over the next three decades energy consumption is predicted to grow at a 2.2 percent annual clip in non-OCED (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. OCED nations – including Europe, the US, Canada and Australia – in contrast, will see their energy use increase by just 0.5 percent a year, roughly in line with population growth. To keep reading, click here. View post:  Here’s Why Developing Countries Will Consume 65% of the World’s Energy by 2040 ; ;Related ArticlesScientists Re-Trace Steps of Great Antarctic Explorer Douglas MawsonHow Do Meteorologists Fit into the 97% Global Warming Consensus?Why Climate Change Skeptics and Evolution Deniers Joined Forces ;

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Here’s Why Developing Countries Will Consume 65% of the World’s Energy by 2040

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Reality Checks on Tumorous Rats and Methane Bombs

by Myrna Posted on December 2, 2013

A look back at tumorous rats and the GMO fight, radioactive tuna and Arctic methane. Link to article –  Reality Checks on Tumorous Rats and Methane Bombs ; ;Related ArticlesDot Earth Blog: Reality Checks on Tumorous Rats and Methane BombsWhat if Christmas Trees Had a Holiday?Giving Musical Thanks on Thanksgiving ;

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Reality Checks on Tumorous Rats and Methane Bombs

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In New Jersey Pines, Trouble Arrives on Six Legs

by Myrna Posted on December 1, 2013

A beetle invasion of New Jersey’s Pinelands, said to be caused by global warming, has drawn little attention, and scientists say the state has been too slow in its response. More:  In New Jersey Pines, Trouble Arrives on Six Legs ; ;Related ArticlesOff the Shelf: ‘Climate Casino’: An Overview of Global WarmingDot Earth Blog: What if Christmas Trees Had a Holiday?Dot Earth Blog: Giving Musical Thanks on Thanksgiving ;

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In New Jersey Pines, Trouble Arrives on Six Legs

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Dot Earth Blog: Giving Musical Thanks on Thanksgiving

by HiramDerry Posted on November 28, 2013

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The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) – Monks of New Skete

For more than thirty years the Monks of New Skete have been among America’s most trusted authorities on dog training, canine behavior, and the animal/human bond. In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of German shepherds and as t […]

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Codex: Inquisition – Games Workshop

The Inquisition is the most powerful organisation within the Imperium. Bound by no Imperial law or authority, its agents – Inquisitors – operate in a highly secretive manner and answer only to themselves. Inquisitors use whatever means are necessary in order to safeguard the Imperium from heretics, mutants and aliens. It is not without good reason that Inqui […]

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Clan Raukaan – A Codex: Space Marines Supplement – Games Workshop

Famed for harnessing the power of bionics over flesh, the Iron Hands are the most calculating and merciless of all the Space Marine Chapters. Clan Raukaan is the most aggressive of the Iron Hands’ ten great clans of Medusa. Under the leadership of the Iron Council, Clan Raukaan has spearheaded countless victories in the name of the Iron Hands, securing […]

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Paracord Fusion Ties – Volume 1 – J.D. Lenzen

J.D. Lenzen is the creator of the highly acclaimed YouTube channel “Tying It All Together”, and the producer of over 200 instructional videos. He’s been formally recognized by the International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) for his contributions to knotting, and is the originator of fusion knotting-innovative knots created through the merging of […]

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Codex: Space Marines (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the chosen warriors of the Emperor, and the greatest fighting force of the Imperium. Each Space Marine is a genetically enhanced super soldier, easily a match for a dozen lesser men, armed with some of the deadliest weapons in the galaxy and encased in formidable power armour. This codex explores the formations and Chapters of the Space […]

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How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, “Yes, […]

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Black & Decker: The Complete Guide to Wiring, 5th Edition – Editors of CPi

The Complete Guide to Wiring has been America’s very best-selling consumer wiring book for more than a decade, with previous editions selling more than 1 million copies. This fifth edition has been updated to comply with 2011-2013 Electrical Codes. It also includes an all new Home Automation chapter, as well as major revisions to lighting and ventilatio […]

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A Big Little Life – Dean Koontz

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In a profound, funny, and beautifully rendered portrait of a beloved companion, bestselling novelist Dean Koontz remembers the golden retriever who changed his life. A retired service dog, Trixie was three when Dean and his wife, Gerda, welcomed her into their home. She was superbly trained, but her greatest gifts couldn’t be taught […]

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Index Chaotica: Eye of Terror – Games Workshop

The Eye of Terror is a giant Warp rift into which the Traitor Legions fled after the Horus Heresy. Time flows differently within the Eye of Terror, and there are many Daemonic worlds inside. Pouring forth from this rift come numerous Chaos incursions to plague the Imperium. About This Series: Though the Chaos Space Marines were once heroic defenders of Manki […]

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Warhammer 40,000: The Rules – Games Workshop

There is no time for peace. No respite. No forgiveness. There is only WAR. In the nightmare future of the 41st Millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of destruction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens and threatened from within by Warp-spawned entities and heretical plots. Only the strength of the immortal […]

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Dot Earth Blog: Giving Musical Thanks on Thanksgiving

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The Quest for a Super-Light Electric Bike Powered by Solar Panels

by Juli34Bfuc Posted on November 27, 2013

green4us

Is it a bike? Is it a part fallen from the International Space Station? It’s not exactly Ed Begley Jr.’s self-satisfaction-powered go-cart, but it’s close: an ultra-greenelectric bike so festooned with solar panels it looks like it fell off of the International Space Station. The Solar-Cross concept cycle is a one-off invention from Terry Hope, a former schooner engineer who lives near Vancouver, British Columbia. Hope cobbled together the earth-loving thingamajig from a mountain bike, a 1,000-watt motor, yards of wire and black tape, and 32 photovoltaic cells weighing about 5 pounds together. He claims that the resulting 48-pound ride is the “world’s lightest hybrid solar vehicle.” The cost for all the components is roughly $500; just don’t ride under any low bridges, or you might have to ante up some more for repairs. See the whole story at Atlantic Cities.

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7 Reasons Why It’s Easier for Humans to Believe in God Than Evolution

by EsmeraldaYarnol Posted on November 26, 2013

Mother Jones

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Late last week, the Texas Board of Education failed to approve a leading high school biology textbook—whose authors include the Roman Catholic biologist Kenneth Miller of Brown University—because of its treatment of evolution. According to The New York Times, critiques from a textbook reviewer identified as a “Darwin Skeptic” were a principal cause.

Yet even as creationists keep trying to undermine modern science, modern science is beginning to explain creationism scientifically. And it looks like evolution—the scientifically uncontested explanation for the diversity and interrelatedness of life on Earth, emphatically including human life—will be a major part of the story. Our brains are a stunning product of evolution; and yet ironically, they may naturally pre-dispose us against its acceptance.

1871 satirical image depicting Charles Darwin as an ape. The Hornet/Wikimedia Commons

“I don’t think there’s any question that a variety of our mental dispositions are ones that discourage us from taking evolutionary theory as seriously as it should be taken,” explains Robert N. McCauley, director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture at Emory University and author of the book Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not.

So what can science tell us about our not-so-scientific minds? Here’s a list of cognitive traits, thinking styles, and psychological factors identified in recent research that seem to thwart evolution acceptance:

Biological Essentialism. First, we seem to have a deep tendency to think about biology in a way that is “essentialist”—in other words, assuming that each separate kind of animal species has a fundamental, unique nature that unites all members of that species, and that is inviolate. Fish have gills, birds have wings, fish make more fish, birds make more birds, and that’s how it all works. Essentialist thinking has been demonstrated in young children. “Little kids as young as my 2 and a half year old granddaughter are quite clear that puppies don’t have ponies for mommies and daddies,” explains McCauley.

If essentialism is a default style of thinking, as much research suggests, then that puts evolution at a major disadvantage. Charles Darwin and his many scientific disciples have shown that essentialism is just plain wrong: Given enough time, biological kinds are not fixed but actually change. Species are connected through intermediate types to other species—and all are ultimately related to one another.

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Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom

by oe8o7kdg Posted on November 22, 2013

Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom

By

nrt

Plastic crap that Americans are accustomed to importing from Asia is increasingly being manufactured right here in the U.S. — all thanks to the country’s crappy fracking boom.

Chemical and plastics companies use natural gas as a raw material, and now they can get it cheaply in the U.S. As Living on Earth reports, “The fracking boom has led to renaissance for the chemical industry, particularly for plastics makers in Louisiana, where the plants are major employers.”

Other states are seeing growth in the plastics business too. Asia’s largest chemical producer, Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group, has announced that it’s planning to spend $2 billion expanding its manufacturing operations in Texas. Bloomberg reports:

“Because of shale gas, the cost of making petrochemical and plastic-related products is becoming very competitive here in the United States,” [Formosa Vice Chair Susan] Wang said. “It’s probably as cost effective as in the Middle East.” …

Wang said the Taipei-based company expects to receive the environmental permits for an expansion at its Point Comfort facility, about 125 miles southwest of Houston, sometime within the next year. Construction can begin immediately thereafter, she said. …

U.S. shale gas and oil will replace naphtha in the production of basic chemicals as their costs are lower, [said] Simon Liu, vice president at Yuanta Securities Investment Trust Co., which oversees [$10 billion] of assets and holds shares of Formosa Plastic Group companies.

“Investing in U.S. petrochemical plants is the right move,” Liu said.

This isn’t the first questionable manufacturing boom to be fueled by fracking. Ammonia factories are also being built and expanded to take advantage of cheap natural gas.


Source
Fracking Boosts Plastic Production, Living on Earth
Chemicals Maker’s $2 Billion U.S. Bet Driven by Fracked Gas, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom

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This Pacific island has so much plastic pollution it might become a Superfund site

by DougE92 Posted on November 20, 2013

This Pacific island has so much plastic pollution it might become a Superfund site

By

Forest and Kim Starr

There’s so much plastic crap floating in the Pacific Ocean and washing up on shorelines that one atoll in the midst of the mess could be declared a Superfund site.

Tern Island is the largest island in the French Frigate Shoals, a coral archipelago 550 miles northwest of Honolulu, part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Replete with lagoons, wildlife, and alluring white sands, the island could be a paradise on Earth. But it’s not. Plastic pollution there is so bad that a year ago the Center for Biological Diversity asked the feds to consider adding Tern Island and the rest of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, plus a part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that’s in federal waters, to its Superfund list — a list of the nation’s most polluted places. From the petition [PDF]:

The reefs and shores of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands are littered with hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic garbage. Derelict fishing gear and debris entangles innumerable fish, sea birds, and marine mammals, often resulting in injury and death. Plastic pollution harms wildlife via entanglement, ingestion, and toxic contamination, causes substantial economic impacts, and is a principal threat to the quality of the environment.

A Superfund designation would help mobilize federal efforts to clean up the area. But it would be unprecedented — out of the hundreds of sites on the Superfund list, none was put there because of plastic pollution. “It’s not really common for people to make petitions like this,” an EPA spokesman said after the petition was filed.

But after giving the unusual request some consideration, the feds are on board with a preliminary study that will help decide whether such a listing is warranted.

Well, they’re kind of on board.

The EPA and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service don’t plan to study the whole region as requested, but they have committed to assessing whether Tern Island, which at 25 acres is the area’s biggest island, should be added to the Superfund list. From Honolulu Civil Beat:

[W]hat has distinguished Tern Island from the other islands, and piqued the EPA’s interest, is that the island’s monk seals are showing elevated levels of PCB’s. The toxic, cancer-causing chemicals may be entering the marine food chain through tiny plastics, said Dean Higuchi, a spokesman for the EPA. …

The environmental study will focus on whether toxic substances are entering the marine food chain through micro-plastics and potentially accumulating at increasing levels, as well as the general effects of micro-plastics on marine creatures and wildlife.

The EPA is also concerned about old landfill sites with buried electrical equipment on the island, which may be releasing PCBs and other hazardous contaminants. Tern Island was the site of a U.S. Naval Station during World War II. 

The federal study could ultimately affect an area larger than the 25-acre island. Improving the government’s understanding of micro-plastics in the environment could lead to more stringent controls on pollution from storm-water drains and water-treatment plants.


Source
Plastic Debris Could Make Remote Pacific Island a Superfund Site, Honolulu Civil Beat

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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This Pacific island has so much plastic pollution it might become a Superfund site

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