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Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

by AngelitEhj Posted on July 24, 2015

A wind in the waters

Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

By on 24 Jul 2015commentsShare

Clean energy advocates aren’t usually excited by the sight of energy infrastructure off their coastlines, but the barges floating beyond Block Island, R.I., are different. The envoy of crane ships and flatboats are preparing the site of a new offshore wind farm, set to launch after the turbines are installed next summer. Though it will be small by wind farm standards — only five turbines — it will power 17,000 homes when complete.

The Block Island project, by offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind, follows on the heels of Fisherman’s Energy breaking ground on a wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., last December. While Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Norway have recently proven the viability of the technology and infrastructure necessary to build an offshore wind farm, there are currently no permanent offshore farms in the United States. One of the problems: the price tag.

The New York Times reports:

“There are many good reasons why offshore wind has not been yet developed while other renewables have in the U.S.,” chiefly its high cost, said Paul Bledsoe, an energy consultant based in Washington and former climate adviser in the Clinton White House. “However, we’re still at a point where we have less than 10 percent renewable energy and if we are going to increase that number dramatically to somewhere near some of the major European countries, offshore wind will almost surely be part of that mix.”

That will take time. When the first offshore farm was built, in Denmark in 1991, developers were not thinking that it would suddenly become a mainstream form of energy, said Michael Hannibal, chief executive of the offshore division at Siemens Wind Energy, which supplied the turbines for that first plant. It took about a decade of testing and planning — and putting in place a set of programs and generous subsidies — for the market to begin taking off in Europe.

The U.S. mostly subsidizes wind energy via a mechanism called the production tax credit (PTC), which, unsurprisingly, provides tax breaks for wind farm production. Offshore farms are especially expensive, though: The radically different infrastructure can cost up to twice as much as onshore wind. The Block Island farm, then, will offer a case study in whether or not the ostensibly sustainable offshore energy can in fact be sustainable in the U.S. regulatory environment. Either way, Obama administration targets state that we’re supposed to hit 20 percent wind energy by 2030. Time to get those turbines turning.

Source:
Offshore Wind Farm Raises Hopes of U.S. Clean Energy Backers

, The New York Times.

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Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

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Wind power could get its tax breaks back

by JayMaselli Posted on July 22, 2015

Wind power could get its tax breaks back

By on 22 Jul 2015commentsShare

The GOP-controlled Senate Finance Committee did right by the clean energy industry yesterday when, as part of a big package of tax break extensions, it cleared the way for the renewal of a key tax credit that supports wind power.

The wind credit was effectively killed last year when an entire $85 billion package of tax breaks failed to make it through the Senate — in part because of GOP opposition to this particular wind energy credit.

In yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee vote, the tax credit package was approved by a vote of 23-3. GOP Sen. Pat Toomey (Penn.) was one of the naysayers on the wind credit, arguing that the it meddles with the energy economy. “We are simply picking winners and losers,” he said during a debate last year on the topic. (Fossil fuel companies get many more billions in tax credits and deductions, but whatever.)

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, however, pushed for the wind credit extension. Iowa produces quite a bit of wind power. “I’ve worked to provide as much certainty as possible to grow the domestic wind industry,” Grassley wrote in a letter to the committee chair earlier this month. “I know firsthand the boom and bust cycle that exists for renewable energy producers when Congress fails to extend these critically important tax incentives.”

Tax breaks like these, which legislators don’t want to make permanent but also don’t want to eliminate altogether, often get renewed en masse in a vote that proves controversial every year. It creates quite a bit of uncertainty for affected industries; investors, for example, are more hesitant about putting their money into wind energy when they aren’t sure how taxes will affect wind producers’ bottom lines.

The package also includes tax credits for a range of industries, including some for big banks and one for Broadway musical producers. The credits would be assured through 2016, when the fight to renew them would begin again.

What’s next for this package of tax breaks isn’t clear. The full Senate has to vote on the package approved by the Senate Finance Committee. The House is considering a similar bill, but may end up doing it’s own thing: The Republican majority there wants to make some breaks permanent, but the wind energy tax credit, opposed by many conservatives, likely won’t be one of those. So who knows if the wind credit will ever make it into law again. Regardless: Progress!

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Wind power could get its tax breaks back

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Fossil fuel emissions want to ruin carbon dating, too

by DonnellKeaton Posted on July 21, 2015

Spoiler Alert

Fossil fuel emissions want to ruin carbon dating, too

By on 21 Jul 2015commentsShare

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, fossil fuel emissions are here to prove you otherwise. Today’s victim: carbon dating.

A new paper by Heather Graven of Imperial College London suggests that rising greenhouse gas emissions will limit scientists’ ability to date artifacts using radioactive carbon. The carbon dating technique relies on measuring the concentration of radiocarbon to non-radiocarbon in old organic material — the less radiocarbon, the older the object. It’s a slick technique that scientists have been using for decades. But now, fossil fuels are mucking everything up by putting a bunch of extra non-radioactive carbon into the atmosphere, thus meddling with the ratio. Welcome back to Spoiler Alerts, where greenhouse gas emissions and anthropogenic climate change upend our hopes and dreams.

The BBC reports:

The study looked at the likely carbon emissions pathways over the next century and suggested that the increases in non-radioactive carbon by 2020 could start to impact the dating technique.

“If we did any current measurements on new products, they will end up having the same fraction of radiocarbon to total carbon as something that’s lost it over time due to decay,” said Dr Graven.

Fossil fuels are old: They’ve had millions of years to let their radioactive carbon decay, which is why they’re such good sources of non-radioactive carbon. As more and more of the non-radioactive carbon ends up in our atmosphere, the more the atmosphere will look as if it has “aged.” The ultimate effect will likely be an inability to reference artifacts to a standard atmospheric touchstone.

Here’s more from the BBC:

At current rates of emissions increase, according to the research, a new piece of clothing in 2050 would have the same carbon date as a robe worn by William the Conqueror 1,000 years earlier.

“It really depends on how much emissions increase or decrease over the next century, in terms of how strong this dilution effect gets,” said Dr Graven.

“If we reduce emissions rapidly we might stay around a carbon age of 100 years in the atmosphere but if we strongly increase emissions we could get to an age of 1,000 years by 2050 and around 2,000 years by 2100.”

Which would leave the atmosphere a bit like Tom Hanks in Big — only instead of waking up 20 years older and getting a job at a toy factory, the atmosphere wakes up 2,000 years older, ruins a fundamental plot device of Discovery Channel documentaries, and goes on to turn everything we know and love into a tinderbox.

Source:
Emissions from fossil fuels may limit carbon dating

, BBC.

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Fossil fuel emissions want to ruin carbon dating, too

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Food cops bust Whole Foods for shady prices

by ClemmieOneill Posted on June 24, 2015

Food cops bust Whole Foods for shady prices

By on 24 Jun 2015commentsShare

I hate to tell you that you can’t go home tonight, because your boyfriend has just been validated in every single grocery trip argument you’ve ever had (“Brad! It’s worth it for the farmers!”): Whole Foods really is too goddamn spendy, and falsely so!

A sting operation conducted by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs checked out the pricing of pre-packaged products at eight Whole Foods locations, and found that “every label was inaccurate, with many overcharging consumers” according to the New York Daily News. Let us now reflect on the state of crime in New York: Authorities are now running sting operations … at Whole Foods.

More from the New York Daily News:

[T]he notoriously pricy chain was the most egregious offender — leading DCA to open a full-blown investigation of its pricing practices last year, said Commissioner Julie Menin.

“Our inspectors told me it was the worst case of overcharges that they’ve ever seen,” Menin said.

The overcharges ranged from 80 cents for a package of pecan panko to $14.84 for a container of coconut shrimp, [agency spokeswoman Abby] Lootens said.

First of all: If you’re buying coconut shrimp at Whole Foods, or pecan panko at all, that’s on you! Make coconut shrimp yourself — it is basically impossible to fuck up, because fried shrimp is never going to taste bad.

To review, you have walked away with three new pieces of knowledge: Whole Foods is full of liars (at least in New York); coconut shrimp is very easy to make; and grocery trips are never, ever worth fighting over, because one day you will be proven indisputably wrong.

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Food cops bust Whole Foods for shady prices

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This giant algae bloom is ruining all the clams, making you cry

by TheoParnell Posted on June 19, 2015

This giant algae bloom is ruining all the clams, making you cry

By on 19 Jun 2015commentsShare

Remember how we told you that climate change is killing everything you love? If you live on the West Coast, chances are you love your seafood — especially when you can dig it out of the sand yourself. But a recent bloom of toxic algae — thanks to unusually warm ocean conditions — is clobbering the West Coast, making all those razor clams and Dungeness crab and, yes, even sardines, a lot less edible. I’m sorry to say: Welcome back to Spoiler Alerts, your source for the (heart)breaking news on what climate change is fucking up this week.

Here’s the sad, fishy scoop from Quartz:

The algae in the bloom, named Pseudo-nitzschia, produce domoic acid, a neurotoxin, which was originally detected in California’s Monterey Bay in early May. By the end of the month it had reached “some of the highest concentrations… ever observed” in that area, according to UC Santa Cruz. Similar assessments are being made off the coast in Oregon, according to Michael Milstein of the NOAA Fisheries …

Fish like sardines and anchovies eat the algae and the nearby plankton, accumulating the toxin in their bodies. Kudela says researchers are still sorting through the data, but have measured toxicity in shellfish as high as 95 parts per million (ppm), and in anchovies from approximately 100 to 400 ppm. The legal limits are 20 ppm for both. The fish can then pass those toxins up the food chain to the birds and sea lions that eat them, causing neurological problems.

As bonus, here is a very sad video of a sea lion experiencing a seizure brought on by the toxins. If you need a pick-me-up after that — you will — look no further than the Puffin Cam.

Source:
There’s a giant, toxic algae bloom stretching from Southern California to Alaska

, Quartz.

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This giant algae bloom is ruining all the clams, making you cry

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Tell women about birth control that works — and they’ll choose birth control that works

by ValerieWindham Posted on June 17, 2015

Tell women about birth control that works — and they’ll choose birth control that works

By on 17 Jun 2015commentsShare

Straight from the “no shit” department: Counseling clients at family planning clinics about the proven effectiveness of contraceptive methods results in more clients choosing more effective methods, and in turn, reducing unintended pregnancy. Fancy that!

A study published today in The Lancet shows what happens when you provide training on effectiveness-based contraception counseling — which includes discussion of long-acting reversible contraceptives such as the IUD and hormonal implant, the most effective forms of birth control — to 20 Planned Parenthood clinics. After monitoring these clinics (and another 20 that did not receive the training), the study authors found a significant difference in contraception choices made.

From The Atlantic:

The results were striking: 71 percent of the providers who received the training discussed IUDs and implants with their patients, but just 39 percent of those in the control group did so.

In the intervention group, 28 percent of women ended up choosing IUDs or implants, compared with 17 percent in the control group. Among women who had gone to the Planned Parenthood for family-planning services, the effectiveness counseling reduced the rate of unintended pregnancies by half over the course of a year.

So — talk to women about birth control based on what actually, really, truly works, and they will choose birth control that actually, really, truly keeps them from getting pregnant when they don’t want to be.

The next step, obviously, is making said birth control more accessible. Baby steps — or should we say, no-baby steps.

Source:
An IUD in Every Uterus

, The Atlantic.

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Tell women about birth control that works — and they’ll choose birth control that works

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Americans are eating more factory-farmed meat than ever

by u60uurf Posted on June 17, 2015

Americans are eating more factory-farmed meat than ever

By on 17 Jun 2015commentsShare

Real, slow, farm-to-table, local, sustainable, grass-fed — all these buzzwords give happy feels to foodies trying to reclaim a healthier relationship with their food. Bad news, though: So far, it hasn’t been enough to slow the roll of industrial agriculture. Factory farms are still on the rise in the U.S., according to a new report released by Food and Water Watch. Here’s Pacific Standard with more:

The report, called “Factory Farm Nation,” found that, as the Food Movement hit full tilt, livestock raised on factory farms increased by 20 percent between 2002 and 2012. Beef cattle populations in feedlots rose by five percent during the same 10-year period (despite a historic drought). The number of dairy cows being raised on factory farms doubled between 1997 and 2012; broiler chickens in CAFOs rose by 80 percent; and industrial hogs swelled by a third.

Well, hell. Guess it’s time to up our game all over again.

Source:
Our Failed Food Movement

, Pacific Standard.

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Americans are eating more factory-farmed meat than ever

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Think the Climate Debate Is Settled? Jeb Bush Says You’re “Arrogant”

by Myrna Posted on June 15, 2015

You’ll be shocked to learn that the former Florida governor is “not a scientist.” On Monday, Jeb Bush is expected to officially launch his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. While some pundits are portraying the former Florida governor as a moderate, there’s at least one issue on which Bush appears to be just as far to the right as Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul: climate change. Back in December, we put together a video highlighting Bush’s past statements that he’s a global warming “skeptic,” that he’s “not a scientist,” and that the world “may not be warming.” Since then, Bush’s climate science skepticism has continued. “I don’t think the science is clear of what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural,”he said in May. “For the people to say the science is decided on this is just really arrogant.” Watch the updated video above for a sample of Bush’s climate rhetoric. Master image: Charlie Neibergall/AP Visit source:  Think the Climate Debate Is Settled? Jeb Bush Says You’re “Arrogant” ; ; ;

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Think the Climate Debate Is Settled? Jeb Bush Says You’re “Arrogant”

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This origami battery is cooler than your crane

by StacieKaleski Posted on June 10, 2015

This origami battery is cooler than your crane

By on 10 Jun 2015commentsShare

What do you get when you add dirty water to your origami? Gross origami. What does Binghamton University engineer Seokheun “Sean” Choi get when he adds dirty water to his origami? A paper battery that could power cheap diagnostic tests in developing countries. (Don’t worry — that frog is still pretty cool.)

Here’s how Choi’s battery works: Dirty water contains bacteria. It also contains organic matter that the bacteria feeds on. When the bacteria metabolizes said organic matter, it respires free electrons. So when you put a drop of dirty water on a piece of paper coated in “activated carbon” that can harvest those electrons, and you’ve got yourself a way to generate an electric current!

In a paper published in the journal Nano Energy, Choi and his co-author explain where the ancient art of paper folding comes in:

Using origami, compact and stackable 3-D battery structures can be created from 2-D sheets through high degrees of folding along pre-defined creases. In this work, the base reservoir paper was folded twice to make a battery stack including four batteries connected in series. When bacterial culture is added on to the common inlet on the folded battery stack, it is transported horizontally and then vertically, first filling the reservoir of each battery, and then reaching the different batteries.

The unfolded piece of paper is about 2.8 inches on a side, but it folds to roughly the size of a matchbook. It also costs about five cents to make. This is important, because ultimately Choi sees his origami trick as a way to make the cheap diagnostic tests that have become popular in developing countries even cheaper. Many of these devices can still be prohibitively expensive, because they require external equipment or handheld devices. Here’s more from the paper:

[…] There is a compelling need for an inexpensive and equipment-free paper-based diagnostic system that can work independently and self-sustainably even in challenging field conditions such as resource-limited and remote regions.

For creating the self-powered paper-based system, a paper-based power source is indispensable because the power source directly integrated onto paper would facilitate system integration holding the same advantageous features of the paper-based diagnostic tools such as low-cost, simple, easily operable, and disposable.

And to think — with a little more foresight, your arts and crafts teacher could’ve been running a world-saving battery factory, rather than overseeing the controlled chaos that is teaching hyper and uncoordinated children how to express their creativity.

Source:
Binghamton engineer creates origami battery

, Binghamton University.

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This origami battery is cooler than your crane

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Climate Change Blamed for Severe Drought Hitting Vietnam’s Coffee Crops

by Myrna Posted on May 22, 2015

Exports drop 40% as world’s second-biggest coffee exporter suffers rising temperatures and drought, combined with effects of deforestation, land degradation and depleted water resources caused by decades of growth. Wikimedia Commons The last time Nguyen Van Viet saw water in his well was almost four months ago. The 44-year-old has farmed coffee in central Vietnam for two decades and says that’s never happened before. “This is the worst drought I’ve seen in over a decade,” Viet, told the Guardian. “Some people don’t have enough water to drink.” For Viet and millions of other coffee farmers, this season has been disastrous. A prolonged drought has affected all five provinces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands – a region that produces 60% of the country’s coffee. “Normally, in March or April, it should start rain, but this year it hasn’t rained until now,” Viet said. “Over the years I’ve realised it’s getting harder to grow coffee mostly because lack of water. The temperatures are getting higher and higher and the rainfall is less.” Viet says he’s lost almost 4,000 sq meters of coffee crops on his five-acre farm in Dak Lak, a province responsible for 30% of total coffee harvests last year. At least 7,000 acres of coffee plants have died there since March, according to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. And in neighbouring Lam Dong Province, the drought has stressed another 150,000 acres of coffee. To keep reading, click here. Taken from:  Climate Change Blamed for Severe Drought Hitting Vietnam’s Coffee Crops ; ; ;

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Climate Change Blamed for Severe Drought Hitting Vietnam’s Coffee Crops

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