No, fly tipping is not an Olympic sport. You won’t find it on the sports page either. Where you will find it is on the bottom of the ocean...
Sep 25, 2009
The Sport of Fly Tipping
Sep 21, 2009
Gutting Clean Air Act
theClean.org sent out an alert to people interested in preserving our environment today. I am posting it here in its entirety because I believe it is important to everyone.
"Dear Energy and Environmental Activists:
The American Clean Energy and Securities Act (ACES) puts the environment behind the 8 ball! The House of Representatives passed ACES and with it the idea that the regulatory authority of the EPA over greenhouse gas emissions should be gutted.
While we wait for the Senate version and work to strengthen it, some are not waiting to enshrine some of the worst directions of ACES into legislation.
The Senate is considering legislation to limit the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency. Roll call votes on the Interior-EPA bill are expected to begin tomorrow, September 22…
Sep 21, 2009
Great Job Brownie
The Washington Post reported an enormous waste by the Energy Department complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, this week. The story was reported in the Arizona Daily Star here in Tucson, Arizona, today, September 21, 2009. The significance of the date is that the $850,000 spent on energy improvements on buildings in Oak Ridge resulting in credits to the contractors doing the energy saving retrofits happened in 2001. The buildings were subsequently torn down “several years ago.” The Webster American Heritage dictionary defines several as more than two or three. Let’s see; 2001 plus more than two or three (could be three or four) would be 2004 or 2005. Considering that the retrofit had to take at least a year that means the improvements were in place only three or four years before the buildings were torn down. That would make it smack dab in the middle of the previoius administration. Where was the oversight?...
Sep 19, 2009
Do Oil Companies Really Need More Profit?
In a copyrighted article by Jennifer A Dlouhy in the Houston Chronicle Washington bureau she reported that the U.S. government gave twice as much money to research and tax incentives to benefit producers of fossil fuels as to renewable energy development, from 2002 to 2008. Of course this period was during the Bush administration…
Sep 18, 2009
Arizona Steps up to the Plate
Arizona is finally stepping up to the plate. It was announced today in the Arizona daily star that Tucson Electric Power was planning to build a 25 Megawatt photovoltaic solar array and a 5 megawatt focusing solar power plant somewhere near Tucson. The location has not been selected yet. It should be up and running by January 2012. It is actually being built by a private company, San Francisco based Fotowatio Renewable Ventures. It will be twice the size of the nation’s largest solar plant at Nellis Air Force Base, Nebraska. It is estimated to produce enough power to supply over 4,600 homes, while avoiding 48,000 tons of carbon dioxide, according to the Star’s reporter Dale Quinn…
Sep 17, 2009
Energy Saving Improvments Increase Home's Value
Energy saving can save money and enhance the value of your home. Kenneth Harney in his syndicated column about real-estate reported recently that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is instituting a new type of energy efficient mortgage, offering 5% larger loans to people who plan to make energy efficiency improvements. He cites an example of a $300,000 FHA mortgage for a standard house, which under recent guidelines might be able to offer you 15,000% more up front if the extra money is used to lower the properties annual energy consumption. Saving energy not only saves money but enhances your property value…
Sep 13, 2009
Northwest Passage Now Open for Business
The Northwest Passage emerged from the history books this year. It was predicted earlier this year that the Northwest Passage was soon to be clear of ice allowing ships to sail from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without icebreaker ships leading the way, or going through the Panama Canal. This route, long sought by explorers, cuts off 3,452 miles and ten days from the trip between the two oceans, saving time, fuel, and hence shipping costs. It was reported by the Associated Press on September 12, 2009, that two German ships arrived this week in Yamburg, Siberia, traveling from South Korea to Rotterdam, Netherlands. They successfully traversed the Northwest Passage.…
Sep 6, 2009
Lights Out Everyone
I was contacted out of the blue by a gentleman living in Mexico. He has an idea to help promote conservation of energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. His idea has caught the attention of the Mexican government. He is a German by birth now living in Mexico. His idea is simple. On September 9, 2009, he is asking everyone to turn off all lights from 9:00 PM for two hours. He doesn't say if he wants the entire western hemisphere to shut off lights at once. 9:00 PM west Coast time is only 6:00 PM east Coast time where it wouldn't be dark yet. His concept would amount to a rolling black out, which may be equally effectice...
Sep 4, 2009
Pay Up or Else
I listened to and participated in a webinar today in which Robert Glennon, author of the book on the water crisis, Unquenchable, talked about what we need to do to reduce our demand for water. There truly is a water crisis if you didn’t know it. He advocates conservation, but his real thrust is to make consumers of our most precious resource pay for the real cost of water. In some locations in this country people are not asked to pay anything for water. In most places water costs the consumer a fraction of what it costs to purify it and pump it to our homes and businesses. We still think nothing of pouring it on lawns, into swimming pools in the desert, or using drinking water to flush toilets. Do you try to conserve water in any way?….
