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Tiny twisters could power your town — someday

by biglermyrta910 Posted on December 14, 2012

Tiny twisters could power your town — someday

By Susie Cagle

You thought you were cool with your wind turbines, hippies? Canadian inventor Louis Michaud sees your wind turbines and raises you a freaking tornado.

m_bridi

Yes, climate change may be unleashing monster tornadoes upon us now, but those aren’t the tornadoes Michaud wants to “control and exploit.” Today the inventor won a grant through the Thiel Foundation’s “revolutionary” Breakout Labs to develop power-generating twisters.

The Toronto Star reports:

[B]y today’s measure, Michaud’s idea is the definition of radical. Through his company AVEtec — the AVE standing for “atmospheric vortex engine” — the long-term plan is to take waste heat from a thermal power plant or industrial facility and use it to create a controllable twister that can generate electricity.

Here’s how it works: Waste heat is blown at an angle into a large circular structure, creating a flow of spinning hot air. We all know heat travels upward and as it does it spins itself into a rising vortex.

The higher the twister grows, the greater the temperature differential between top and bottom, creating stronger and stronger convective forces that act like fuel for the vortex, eventually allowing it to take on a life of its own.

The result is that hot air initially blown into the bottom of the structure starts getting sucked in so forcefully that it spins electricity-generating turbines installed at the base …

Given the destructive history of naturally formed tornadoes, many people might be freaked out by the thought of having man-made tornadoes intentionally scattered near cities and power plants.

Michaud assured that his twisters are much safer to operate and control than, say, a nuclear plant. And because they’re fuelled by the waste heat that’s initially supplied, all the operator has to do is throttle back or cut off that heat to weaken or stop the vortex.

True to its self-proclaimed radical spirit, Breakout Labs has also backed meat and leather 3D printing from Modern Meadow. Essentially it funds magic.

So hey, is anyone out there working on a protective forcefield for cyclists …?

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Study finds ‘widespread seafood fraud’ at restaurants

by Myrna Posted on December 11, 2012

Study finds ‘widespread seafood fraud’ at restaurants

By Susie Cagle

Dead fish don’t lie — except for a lot of the ones served in restaurants.

Matthew Kenrick

A new study from conservation group Oceana found that 39 percent of New York restaurant fish DNA-tested by the group was mislabeled. That, combined with past studies of Los Angeles (55 percent), Boston (48 percent), and Miami (31 percent), paints a sad and even scary picture of what diners can expect when they sit down at American seafood restaurants.

Mislabeled fish was found at a range of eateries from low- to high-priced, and at every sushi spot tested. The New York Times reports:

In some cases, cheaper types of fish were substituted for expensive species. In others, fish that consumers have been urged to avoid because stocks are depleted, putting the species or a fishery at risk, was identified as a type of fish that is not threatened. Although such mislabeling violates laws protecting consumers, it is hard to detect.

Some of the findings present public health concerns. Thirteen types of fish, including tilapia and tilefish, were falsely identified as red snapper. Tilefish contains such high mercury levels that the federal Food and Drug Administration advises women who are pregnant or nursing and young children not to eat it.

Ninety-four percent of fish sold as white tuna was not tuna at all but in many cases a fish known as snake mackerel, or escolar, which contains a toxin that can cause severe diarrhea if more than a few ounces of meat are ingested.

“There are a lot of flummoxed people out there who are trying to buy fish carefully and trying to shop their conscience, but they can’t if this kind of fraud is happening,” said Kimberly Warner, a senior scientist at Oceana, who led the study.

Restaurateurs say they aren’t doing this on purpose, likening the accuracy of supply-chain information to a game of telephone, which should really boost your confidence.

Andrew Moesel, a spokesman for the New York State Restaurant Association, said that restaurants were victims, too, when it came to fish fraud. “Restaurants would be very concerned that a high percentage of fish are not what they had ordered,” he said. “Unless you’re very sophisticated, you may not be able to tell the difference between certain species of fish when you receive them.”

You might notice when you have toxic severe diarrhea, though, so that’s a helpful indicator!

One surprise of the study: Big-chain grocery stores were found to have the best fish accuracy, better than smaller markets. For now, though, I’d bet American consumers would rather trust retailers’ best judgments than fish their own dinners out of tanks like big-box shoppers do in China.

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Projections for future carbon emissions in U.S. keep dropping — but the emissions keep rising

by Myrna Posted on December 10, 2012

Projections for future carbon emissions in U.S. keep dropping — but the emissions keep rising

By Philip Bump

The U.S. Energy Information Agency has a graph showing how its projections for U.S. carbon dioxide output keep being revised downward. In case you didn’t get the point, it has a big blue arrow pointing down. They probably had a few meetings to discuss whether the arrow was big enough.

EIA

Year after year, the EIA has revised its projections. Its 2013 calculations suggest that 2040 emissions will still be 5 percent lower than what the U.S. produced in 2005. Which is good news!

But it is also higher than what we’re emitting today. Every projection from the agency shows an increase in emissions over 2010 levels by 2040. So the celebratory down arrow is maybe a bit much.

The agency explains why it thinks the U.S. will end up producing less carbon dioxide than it expected last year. (I am pleased to report that the reasons largely align with David Roberts’ description from this summer. Grist FTW.)

Downward revisions in the economic growth outlook, which dampens energy demand growth
Lower transportation sector consumption of conventional fuels based on updated fuel economy standards, increased penetration of alternative fuels, and more modest growth in light-duty vehicle miles traveled
Generally higher energy prices, with the notable exception of natural gas, where recent and projected prices reflect the development of shale gas resources
Slower growth in electricity demand and increased use of low-carbon fuels for generation
Increased use of natural gas

In particular, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are expected to continue to decline, for two reasons: economics (read: cheap natural gas) and increased regulatory curbs on pollution.

All of this data is subject to change, as the agency’s year-over-year comparison suggests. We’re all on tenterhooks to see how big next year’s arrow will be. And, of course, which direction it will point.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Will twentysomethings head for the suburbs?

by Myrna Posted on December 4, 2012

Will twentysomethings head for the suburbs?

By Susie Cagle

The millennial generation stands to shape our cities for decades to come, largely because it’s so big: 86 million, compared to 77 million baby boomers. Millennials are just starting to turn 30, and middle-aged demographers are wondering how many of them will run to the suburbs like their parents and grandparents before them.

s.yume

From USA Today:

Now, cities face a new demographic reality: The young and single are aging and having children. If the pattern of the past 50 years holds, they might soon set their sights on suburbia.

“We know young people move the most,” says Richard Florida, whose book The Rise of the Creative Class published 10 years ago helped spark the wooing of young professionals to revive declining urban centers. “So capturing people early on in their lives in a metro really matters. It’s important to compete with suburbs for people once they get a little older and have children.”

The older they get, the less likely people are to live in cities, according to recent Census data. The peak age for urban living is 25 to 27, when 20% of that age group are nestled in urban centers. By the age of 41, about a quarter have moved to the suburbs.

Experts say getting cities baby-ready would entail improving schools, building housing near public transit, and expanding and improving parks. That all sounds well and good to me, but here’s the hitch: Demographers say millennials want to bring the suburbs to the city with more low-rise townhouses and single-family homes instead of apartments. So much for that density thing?

Cities are growing, but it’s still unclear just how much they’re growing compared to the ‘burbs.

Will young people move to the ‘burbs because older people before them did, or will cities be able to retain young families?

There are still plenty of young and childless professionals for cities to pursue (the youngest Millennials are in their teens), but as the oldest move to another life stage, cities face a balancing act: Provide adult fun and culture and trendy lofts, but build family-friendly homes and child care centers at the same time.

Even with all the changes cities are making, many Millennials will head to the suburbs when they start a family — but probably not as many as in previous decades, [cities guru Richard] Florida says.

“Before, 90% to 95% would’ve moved, and I would see it more as 60% or 70% now,” he says, based on research and observations. “My hunch is many will move to a close-in suburb that’s walkable, near transit.”

My hunch, as one of these mysterious, potentially ‘burb-bound millennials? There are still lots of factors that would keep us in the cities: urban job growth, rising gas prices, the collapse of the housing market, safety improvements, declining interest in cars, delayed marriage age. These could all be good news for urban areas — even if some of us still secretly want a ranch house with a picket fence.

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Justice Department ditches Monsanto investigation

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2012

Justice Department ditches Monsanto investigation

By Susie Cagle

While we were celebrating Thanksgiving, Monsanto had much to be thankful for, too. Last month, the Department of Justice quietly scrapped an investigation begun in January 2010 into anticompetitive practices in the American seed market that Monsanto dominates like an extra-mean, extra-genetically-modified Hulk. Today, Hulk “pleased.”

Monsanto

Tom Philpott at Mother Jones reports:

The DOJ didn’t even see fit to mark the investigation’s end with a press release. News of it emerged from a brief item Monsanto itself issued the Friday before Thanksgiving, declaring it had “received written notification” from the DOJ antitrust division that it had ended its investigation “without taking any enforcement action.”

A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to me that the agency had “closed its investigation into possible anticompetitive practices in the seed industry,” but would divulge no details. “In making its decision, the Antitrust Division took into account marketplace developments that occurred during the pendency of the investigation,” she stated via email. I asked what precisely those “marketplace developments” were. “I don’t have anything else for you,” she replied. Monsanto, too, is being tight-lipped — a company spokesperson said the company had no statement to make beyond the above-linked press release.

Monsanto’s proprietary traits end up in 98 percent of genetically modified soybeans and 79 percent of GM corn grown stateside. Along with other toxic seed avengers DuPont, Syngenta, and Dow, Monsanto owns more than 80 percent of the seed market.

We may not know why the DOJ abandoned its investigation, but we know it probably shouldn’t have.

[O]ne sign of an uncompetitive industry is the ability to raise prices at will, unimpeded by price pressure from rivals. It’s impossible to say, without more information, if the GMO giants have done that — but prices have risen briskly over the past decade. In her … 2009 paper, the American Antitrust Institute’s [Vice President Diana] Moss points out that in truly competitive markets, “technologies that enjoy widespread and rapid adoption” — like GM seeds — “typically experience precipitous declines” in price. But between 2000 and 2008, Moss writes, “real seed costs [for farmers] increased by an average annual rate of five percent for corn, almost 11 percent for cotton, and seven percent for soybeans.”

MONSANTO SMASH FARMERS. MONSANTO HAVE NO REGRETS.

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Is it just us, or does it seem a little warm for December?

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2012

Is it just us, or does it seem a little warm for December?

By Philip Bump

Well, it is December, everyone. It’s the time of year when you just want to stay huddled up cozily inside, maybe with a roaring fire to provide comfort given the … unseasonably warm temperatures outside.

The projected high-temperature map for today looks like this:
NOAA

Again, it is December 3. Here in New York City, it is expected to reach 64 degrees today, 70 tomorrow. Normal high temperature for December 4 in New York is 54.

Or, to put it another way: Here is a map of all of the record high and low temperatures set yesterday. The highs are indicated by red dots; the lows, purple ones. I think you get the point.

It’s almost as though this chokingly-hot summer never ended. The drought continues (2,293 counties are still designated as disaster areas [PDF]) as do wildfires — a wind-fueled fire in Colorado burned 4,400 acres over the weekend.

A caveat. There is a difference between the weather and the climate. A hot day in December is not uncommon, much less unusual. If there’s one good thing about the record heat we’re seeing it’s this: We get to enjoy another few days without comments from climate deniers saying, “whatevur happened to global wamring lol al gore suxxx.”

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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The world is producing 2.4 million pounds of CO2 a second

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2012

The world is producing 2.4 million pounds of CO2 a second

By Philip Bump

We have a correction to make. In an article last month we provided some erroneous information that may have painted an inaccurate picture of the state of the atmosphere. We stated that carbon dioxide emissions rose 2.5 percent in 2011. That figure appears to be incorrect.

The actual figure is probably 3 percent.

From The New York Times:

Emissions continue to grow so rapidly that an international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, established three years ago, is on the verge of becoming unattainable, said researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project. …

[T]he decline of emissions in the developed countries is more than matched by continued growth in developing countries like China and India, the new figures show. Coal, the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is growing fastest, with coal-related emissions leaping more than 5 percent in 2011, compared with the previous year. …

Over all, global emissions jumped 3 percent in 2011 and are expected to jump 2.6 percent in 2012, researchers reported in two papers released by scientific journals on Sunday. It has become routine to set new emissions records each year, although the global economic crisis led to a brief decline in 2009.

The Associated Press puts it in stark terms: the world is creating 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide every second. Since you loaded this page, here’s how much carbon dioxide the world has created:

And each of those pounds of carbon dioxide will stay in the atmosphere for at least a century.

So that update again: Global production of carbon dioxide was 3 percent higher last year, not 2.5 percent. We regret the error. And we regret the discovery of coal, too.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Hundreds of cyclists demand safer Austin streets

by Myrna Posted on November 30, 2012

Hundreds of cyclists demand safer Austin streets

By Susie Cagle

On Thursday night, Austin, Texas, was like a microcosm of modern urban American cycling. Downtown, people gathered at benefit concerts to raise money for the mounting medical bills of a local man struck and critically injured by a drunk driver in October.

fluttergirl

Meanwhile, nearly 1,200 cyclists biked to the state capitol in a really, really sad kind of Critical Mass, with one cargo bike toting a large banner that read: “No More Deaths.” The event was sponsored by the group Please Be Kind to Cyclists, which is about as passive as you can get when it comes to life-or-death street safety issues.

Over the last few years, Austin has seen some of the most explosive growth in bike commuting in the country. Hopefully its infrastructure, governance, and vehicle-wielding residents will catch up soon.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Happy Wastegiving, America!

by Myrna Posted on November 21, 2012

Happy Wastegiving, America!

By Susie Cagle

As you prepare piles of food for family and friends this week, keep in mind how much you’re actually going to eat. Each Thanksgiving, Americans waste more than a third of the turkey meat they purchase and prepare.

That adds up to $282 million wasted, contributing to over 5 million pounds in total holiday food waste. Celebrate wisely!

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