We can use slow moving ocean and river waves for a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer has developed a device that acts like a fish that turns the potentially destructive vibrations in water into clean, renewable energy. This machine is named as VIVACE ( Vortex [...]
Posted in: Future Energy, Hydro Power, Inventions, Tidal Power

‘Arctic’ weather is generating a flood of burst pipe claims insurers disclosed.

Britain woke to widespread snowfall this morning as the country remains in the grip of the coldest start to a year since 2003.

The federal government appears to have missed a key legislated benchmark to bring in new fuel-efficiency standards that will help Canada reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, widely believed to cause global warming.

Alternative Energy & Carbon Footprinting: International Survey Reveals Business Attitudes. Companies’ attitudes towards alternative energy and carbon footprinting are revealed in the results of an international research study. The survey was conducted by the independent market research company Harris Interactive on behalf of Dow Corning Corporation.
Survey Results Summary
Alternative Energy
- 1 in 4 companies [...]
Posted in: Industry, Politics

( Oxford University Press ) A new way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and tackle climate change had been unveiled by leading economists.

A satellite that will measure how the earth “breathes out” greenhouse gases is to be launched into space this month.

Massachusetts and 10 other Eastern states plan to implement a low-carbon fuel standard designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, said Ian Bowles, secretary of the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

The election of Barack Obama promises a new era of eco-awareness in the US, says Sarah Wachter These are heady times for environmentalists in America. The initial euphoria of Barack Obama’s White House win hasn’t worn off yet. They say he is the American president with the most clearly-enunciated environmental platform of any in recent memory. Even though the financial crisis has taken centre …

So we start to wave a fond farewell to the
incandescent light - since its first demonstration in the 19th
Century it has served us well, but the brutal march of progress has made it
obsolete since the development of CFLs over 30 years ago. Even though the
current depletion of 150W, 100W and 75W bulbs being reported in the press is only
part of a voluntary agreement (no sensible efficiency standards here), there’s
a binding EU agreement (of sorts) on the way and the days of the filament bulb are
numbered.

This rather quiet victory in the struggle for
improved energy efficiency standards has not gone unnoticed by the more conservative
sections of the media. The comments attached to the Daily Mail’s story (they never
fail to stir my blood) are, needless to say, fit to bursting over this
intervention in the natural order of things. But is it any wonder when the paper
itself explains that the phase-out is "part of a government
campaign to force people into buying low-energy fluorescent bulbs".

Also complaining is Stuart Jeffries
in the Guardian. I’m not quite sure what his gripe is, but it seems to be based
on aesthetics: "…these pendulous pear-like fruits of the Industrial
Revolution must die as ugly design extends its endless remit," he wails. Each
to their own, I suppose, but artists have been using fluorescent lighting for
years such as Dan Flavin and, more recently, Jason Bruges.

But never mind that. Have you seen
the pretty pictures of the New Year’s Eve ball in Times
Square? It’s stuffed full of LEDs which are even more efficient
than the best CFLs currently on the market. They’re a bit too expensive for
mass consumption just now, but as the price comes down they’ll become more
common and who knows? Perhaps in years to come, the Mail will be moaning about
the disappearance of our traditional CFLs.