Homely Scientist

 When I’m ranting and raving about alternative energy and lauding companies like Google, I talk about being able to feed into the system and get credit for it.  Looks like the Province of Ontario is finally getting it:
One of the key elements in the incentive programs is a solar “feed-in” tariff that pays people and organizations with solar panels cash for any electricity they feed into the grid. In the United States, utilities offer credits for solar power; a homeowner or business can reduce their electricity bill with these credits, but at best end up owing nothing to the utility.
With …read more

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The big announcement from Google a while ago that they were going to cover the roofs of Googleplex with solar panels has come to pass:
It’ll still be quite a while before that free electricity offsets the initial cost of the system, but at least the panels have earned Google a little positive PR.  The Earth Times Online, for example, states, “The Google system is also now the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the United States.”
To help people grasp the size of this development, Google has even created a new performance monitoring site; I’m told that, over …read more

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What am I nuts?  Nope, while you might scratch your head at this, read what this C|Net article wraps up with:
With an infrastructure already in place due to commercial trucks never leaving the diesel fold, diesel seems like an obvious solution to help fulfill automakers’ immediate needs–to sell more vehicles while meeting emissions standards and consumer demand to save on fuel.
Today’s diesel engines and diesel fuel itself have come a long way. Advances in turbocharging and fuel injection have boosted performance. New kinds of particle traps and low sulfur diesel fuel have reduced the emissions and soot-producing byproducts. Source: And the …read more

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The industry group for coal mining wants the U.S. federal government to fund a project to locate and map all the coal left that can be mined–maybe even the stuff that can’t be.
In short, says the Council’s statement, “federal policymakers need accurate estimates of the amount, location and quality of mineable coal…mitigating dangers from explosions and fires should also be a research priority, as should improving mine ventilation…” There is a real question about the oft-quoted saw that the U.S. has enough coal for 250 years. Truthiness perhaps, but perhaps not the truth, says the Council. Source: Let’s find all the …read more

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I saw this profiled on the Discovery Channel this week.  The boat looks, um, odd, but saved tons of fuel.
The boat, conspicuously named Sun21, is the first of its eco-friendly kind to attempt the journey. The 46-foot catamaran made the trip — from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas — in just under a month, and according to MW-Line, the operating costs are 20 to 45 times lower than traditional motorboats. Source: Solar-powered Swiss boat crosses the Atlantic – Engadget
So if we think about a ship with solar power plus a biddies-powered engine, you could make a huge dent in …read more

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 Nope, not kidding.  Cataclysm of Biblical proportions here.  Here’s the info from CNET:
We have 10 years, folks. And then it’s man the lifeboats, or head for the hills. That’s the conclusion of James Hansen and five other scientists. They’ve just published a paper with the Royal Society in England. It says melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctic could soon reach a point of no return. The team even says the recent reports from the United Nations’ global warming conferences are too conservative in their projections of what could happen. Source: Possible cataclysm due to melting ice | Tech news blog …read more

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Pope Benedict XVI might not get kudos, or even consideration, for his green leanings, but he can certainly put his money (not to mention buildings) where his mouth is:
Yes, indeed, it’s a definite move toward green as the roof of the Pope Paul VI auditorium will be replaced next year with solar panels, a reflection of Pope Benedict XVI’s concern about energy use and conservation. Source: » The Vatican Goes Green » Blog Archive   Alice Hill’s Real Tech News – Independent Tech
So why, frankly, aren’t more places doing this?  How many large roofs are just sitting there doing nothing but …read more

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 Every summer NASA flies over the Greenland ice sheet to determine its “health”–that is thickness, size, and height.  Essentially how fast is it shrinking:
This summer’s NASA expedition to Greenland has returned with fresh data. Now the analysis begins. One piece of equipment used is an ice-penetrating radar that can find bedrock up to 2 miles below the ice surface. NASA estimates an average drop of 9 inches in the height of Greenland’s glaciers would result in a 0.12-inch rise in global sea levels. Source:Greenland’s ice sheet: The annual checkup | Tech news blog – CNET News.com
 I’m sure when the …read more

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