The environment thread

[Balta1701]

I know. I hope they keep researching it. You barely get anything out of corn ethanol when you factor in the fuel used to get it.

No one's going to stop doing the research. There's probably a dozen other ways out there that people are trying to do the same thing (ethanol from algae, ethanol from the leftover parts of agricultural processes, etc.). Right now there's just none of them that work well. And yea, corn ethanol wouldn't exist in this country without the government subsidy/mandates. If we could seamlessly use those plants as a way to shift from corn ethanol to genuinely renewable ethanol, that'd suddenly become a great investment, but I'm currently unconvinced.

[BigSqwert]

Tesla Plans to Recycle its Platform

In a blog post where they try to explain how they will use the DOE loan (and make it clear that it's unrelated to the bailout money that went to Detroit automakers), Tesla revealed that the platform of its upcoming Model S electric sedan will be used to create other electric vehicles: An electric minivan, an electric crossover, and an electric utility van for fleets. Something for everyone, it seems.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Dow sees huge market in solar shingles

Dow Chemical Co said on Monday it would begin selling a new rooftop shingle next year that converts sunlight into electricity -- and could generate $5 billion in revenue by 2015 for the company.

 

The new solar shingles can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingles, Dow said, and will be introduced in 2010 before a wider roll-out in 2011.

 

"We're looking at this one product that could generate $5 billion in revenue by 2015 and $10 billion by 2020," Jane Palmieri, managing director of Dow Solar Solutions, told Reuters in an interview.

 

The shingle will use thin-film cells of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), a photovoltaic material that typically is more efficient at turning sunlight into electricity than traditional polysilicon cells.

 

Dow is using CIGS cells that operate at higher than 10 percent efficiency, below the efficiencies for the top polysilicon cells -- but would cost 10 to 15 percent less on a per watt basis.

 

Dow Solar Solutions said it expects "an enthusiastic response" from roofing contractors for the new shingles, since they require no specialized skills or knowledge of solar systems to install.

[BigSqwert]

Pretty awesome collapsible bicycle concept. Pics at the link.

[BigSqwert]

Surprised no one has commented on the controversy over the upcoming release of Superfreakonomics.

[Rex Kickass]

No one's going to stop doing the research. There's probably a dozen other ways out there that people are trying to do the same thing (ethanol from algae, ethanol from the leftover parts of agricultural processes, etc.). Right now there's just none of them that work well. And yea, corn ethanol wouldn't exist in this country without the government subsidy/mandates. If we could seamlessly use those plants as a way to shift from corn ethanol to genuinely renewable ethanol, that'd suddenly become a great investment, but I'm currently unconvinced.

 

Sugarcane says hi.

 

Half the emissions of regular gas. Rapidly renewable, its what led Brazil to energy independence.

[Balta1701]

Sugarcane says hi.

 

Half the emissions of regular gas. Rapidly renewable, its what led Brazil to energy independence.

No, finding oil supplies offshore did that. They've made a dent with sugarcane, but the U.S. isn't exactly the climate for that. The U.S. actually consumes more ethanol than Brazil does as well, because Brazil consumes so much less energy. According to the EIA in 2006, ethanol made up ~50% of the fuel for Brazil's passenger vehicles, but only 20% of it's total fuel consumption (Diesel trucks, etc.)

 

Sugarcane is a niche thing in terms of ethanol production. If you have the right climate it can work. But if you have to cut down, let's say, a gigantic rainforest to clear space to grow the sugarcane, you lose all of the possible benefits of replacing oil with ethanol in terms of carbon emissions and pollution. And you lose some irreplaceable rainforest too.

[FlaSoxxJim]

No, finding oil supplies offshore did that.

 

And very sadly, my institute is losing its flagship research vessel to Brazil to do contract environmental monitoring work for the marine petroleum exploration industry.

 

[mr_genius]

And very sadly, my institute is losing its flagship research vessel to Brazil to do contract environmental monitoring work for the marine petroleum exploration industry.

 

 

can't beat em join em. you should sign up for the marine petroleum exploration industry

[bmags]

Brazil needs a lot of help to get their oil production going.

[FlaSoxxJim]

can't beat em join em. you should sign up for the marine petroleum exploration industry

 

Sadly, my Insect Overlords have done precisely that.

[BigSqwert]

Neat product alert...

 

Cheapest Solar Lantern Aims to Displace Kerosene Lamps

 

D.Light has dubbed their newest solar lantern "The Kerosene Killer." That's because it is the cheapest, relatively high quality solar lantern on the market. D.Light has been aiming to wipe kerosene lamps from the face of the planet for awhile now, and they might have just come out with something that could do the trick. If the specs are on target, there's no reason why this lantern can't replace kerosene lamps on a wide scale.

 

The Kiran - the lantern's proper name - needs 8 hours of sunlight for a full charge (or 4 hours plugged in to AC with a standard Nokia mobile phone adapter). A full charge will provide 8 hours of light on a low setting, which is good for walking outside or socializing, or 4 hours of light on the high setting, which is intended for working, studying and other activities that need bright light. The company also states that the lantern is at least four times brighter than a kerosene lantern, so users aren't giving up lighting quality for off-grid charging capabilities.

 

 

Now for that low price point. The Kiran is priced at $10. That is really, really cheap. But apparently it is made to be sturdy and durable, which would be our next concern since cheap stuff usually breaks easily. If it is to replace kerosene, it needs to be long-lasting as well as bright and easily rechargeable.

 

"D.light continues to be at the forefront of providing innovative and affordable technology

solutions for off-grid families around the world," said D.light CEO Sam Goldman. "We

believe the exceptional quality of the Kiran lantern, delivered at a low and affordable price, will make it a serious competitor to kerosene and other fuel-based lighting in every rural market."

 

 

The cheap price, the high quality light, the durability of the lanterns, and the length of time the battery lasts are all key features for the product to be able to replace kerosene. If any one of them are off, then it won't be the "kerosene killer" that the company hopes it'll be. We're hoping that the lantern is what they claim, since replacing kerosene with solar power in a significant way would be a boon for everyone.

[StrangeSox]

You can get solar-powered LED christmas lights now!

http://www.outdoor-solar-lights.com/solar-...mas-lights.html

 

They were like $20/ box at Big Lots, though.

[BigSqwert]

I may have to move to Colorado.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I may have to move to Colorado.

 

Nice break, but $42K might as well be $110K. . . still out of my price range.

[BigSqwert]

Nice break, but $42K might as well be $110K. . . still out of my price range.

Likewise

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Likewise

 

Give it time. The biz model that Tesla chose to pursue (I think, the smart one) was to start with the most expensive model first, to bring in the money from the early-adopters who would spend gobs of money without blinking. Then, next, they have a $50k sedan coming, then, a $30k small car.

 

[Balta1701]

Nice break, but $42K might as well be $110K. . . still out of my price range.

Buy it in Colorado, sell it in California, pocket about $30k on the deal. Repeat 2-3 more times, and suddenly you can afford one.

[BigSqwert]

Buy it in Colorado, sell it in California, pocket about $30k on the deal. Repeat 2-3 more times, and suddenly you can afford one.

Hmm. Need to find someone with a Colorado address that can partner with me.

[NorthSideSox72]

Buy it in Colorado, sell it in California, pocket about $30k on the deal. Repeat 2-3 more times, and suddenly you can afford one.

I haven't seen the exact law, but I'd have to think you need to be a taxable resident of CO to get the break, first off. Second, if they had any brain cells, they'd say the car has to stay registered in CO for some period of time after purchase.

 

[BigSqwert]

Give it time. The biz model that Tesla chose to pursue (I think, the smart one) was to start with the most expensive model first, to bring in the money from the early-adopters who would spend gobs of money without blinking. Then, next, they have a $50k sedan coming, then, a $30k small car.

Oh I know.

 

On a side note it would be nice if Daley, who claims to be "Mr Green", were to follow San Fran and Portland in building an infrastructure for electric car charging stations. If we want people to start buying electric cars we need to make them convenient.

[NorthSideSox72]

Oh I know.

 

On a side note it would be nice if Daley, who claims to be "Mr Green", were to follow San Fran and Portland in building an infrastructure for electric car charging stations. If we want people to start buying electric cars we need to make them convenient.

The city has like no money for any new programs at that type of cost level. They'd have to raise taxes or cut programs significantly to find the money for that. Or raise new revenue in some other way.

 

[StrangeSox]

Wolf Hunting in Montana ruins research program. From a news report in Science

 

On 3 October, a few weeks after Montana opened its first legal wolf-hunting season in decades, a hunter killed a female wolf in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, less than a mile from the border of Yellowstone National Park. She wasn't the first Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf to be legally hunted since wolves were removed from the federal endangered species list last May. But she was the alpha female of Yellowstone Park's Cottonwood Pack and wore a large radio collar identifying her as wolf 527F. Her behavior, travels, life history, and genealogy had been studied in detail by scientists for 5 of her 7 years. Her death, and that of five other pack members also shot outside Yellowstone, including another radio-collared female, have irrevocably changed what had been a unique long-term study, the researchers say.

 

"We were studying one of the very few unexploited wolf populations in North America," where packs had lived and died naturally, says wildlife biologist Douglas Smith, leader of Yellowstone's wolf project, which has tracked the wolves since their reintroduction in 1995. "We can no longer make that claim."

 

The park's wolf project, partially funded by a $480,000, 5-year National Science Foundation grant, isn't the only scientific study adversely affected. The death of the wolves and loss of the pack are also a blow to a host of studies, from wolf behavior to elk management and ecology, say other scientists, several of whom have repeatedly asked Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) department to establish a no-wolf-hunting zone around the park (Science, 15 February 2008, p. 890). "Yellowstone is one of the best examples in the world of what happens naturally to an ecosystem when an apex predator is returned," says ecologist William Ripple of Oregon State University, Corvallis, who has shown that wolves are helping to rebalance the park's ecosystem (Science, 27 July 2007, p. 438). "If the park wolves are being shot at, they're bound to change their behavior."

 

A possible buffer zone and other suggestions will be considered as they review this season's hunt, say FWP officials, who add that the hunt that killed 527F had not worked out as expected. In only 4 weeks, hunters had killed nine wolves in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, including 527F, nearly filling the quota of 12 wolves for this area's early season hunt. As a result, the agency last week closed the wilderness to wolf hunting for the remainder of the season, which ends when snow keeps hunters out.

 

"We didn't think that wolves would be that vulnerable in the backcountry, so the level of harvest there has been a bit of a surprise," says Carolyn Sime, FWP's wolf program coordinator in Helena, who added that the hunt was designed to target wolves that kill livestock, not wilderness or park wolves that have never caused problems in that area.

 

However, many hunting camps are set up in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness to take advantage of elk migrating out of Yellowstone, conservationists point out. Also, park wolves are naïve. "Every person the park wolves encountered was benign until now," says Smith.

 

Inside the park, wolves are regarded as study animals and tourist magnets, pulling in a minimum of $35 million a year in tourist dollars, according to a 2006 University of Montana study. But as soon as a wolf crosses into Montana, it falls under state law, which regards the canids as "a species in need of management"—another big game animal that can be hunted like the deer, elk, bear, and mountain lion that also travel in and out of the park. Five of Yellowstone's remaining 12 packs have territories that stray outside park borders.

 

Some wildlife officials point out that the Cottonwood Pack may not be completely gone. The killing of most of its members has not greatly harmed Yellowstone's wolves or scientists' research, they argue, because there are more than 100 wolves left in the park and one wolf pack is very like another. "Biologically, [the loss] has no impact, since wolf packs turn over all the time," says Edward Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena. "It doesn't make any difference to wolf conservation or wolf research, although it will cost Doug [smith] more money to collar another wolf."

 

But from Smith's perspective the Cottonwood Pack is gone, and he will need to collar two more wolves—a dangerous, time-consuming task, costing $1500 per wolf—to successfully track whatever pack moves into the Cottonwood's former territory, which was 95% inside park boundaries. In addition, much of the data gathered on 527F and her pack are now worthless because the wolves met an unnatural end and no longer fit the project's study criteria, he says. The project is now adding a new category to many of its 85 databases: harvested wolf.

 

A secretive wolf, whose territory this year was so remote that researchers seldom saw her, 527F was raising her third litter. (The fate of her five 5-month-old pups is not known.) At the advanced age of 7, she was a key animal in many studies, including some on how long wolves live, their maximum body size, and female wolves' lifetime reproductive success. These are some of the many unknowns of wolf biology that "can't be studied outside Yellowstone because people curtail wolves' maximum life spans," explains Smith.

 

Smith collars the wolves, but many scientists independent of the wolf project have been gathering data on the radio-collared wolves. "Any time radio-collared animals are lost, it's a huge setback for our research, since it's the best tool for tracking their movements," says Daniel McNulty, an ecologist at Michigan Technical University in Houghton, who has been studying wolf-prey dynamics in Yellowstone.

 

He worries that annual hunting of Yellowstone's wolves will eventually affect their social dynamics and age structure, "skewing it toward the younger classes, something that has been demonstrated in every game population" worldwide. That, in turn, could potentially be bad news for the park's elk, because McNulty's research has shown that younger wolves kill more elk. Evolutionary geneticist Robert Wayne of the University of California, Los Angeles, adds that an annual hunt, as is now planned for the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, runs the risk of turning the area into "a predator sink, drawing wolves out of Yellowstone," as young, dispersing animals search for unoccupied territories. "This shouldn't have happened," he says. "Yellowstone's wolves should have absolute protection."

 

But they don't, and Montana's FWP has a quota of three additional wolves in other areas adjacent to Yellowstone. Montana's statewide wolf-hunting season opens on 25 October.

[BigSqwert]

The city has like no money for any new programs at that type of cost level. They'd have to raise taxes or cut programs significantly to find the money for that. Or raise new revenue in some other way.

Perhaps they can seek subsidies from electric car manufacturers?

[BigSqwert]

BTW, I love how Tesla is thinking out of the box on everything when it comes to cars. Example