It is not Nuclear Power but Renewable Energy: the answer to climate change

http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/it-is-not-nuclear-power-but-renewable-energy-the-answer-to-climate-change/

There are a lot of people who assumes that the sole technology that is now available to substitute fossil fuels is nuclear power especially when climate scientists and some energy policy analysts take a “tough-minded” look at the numbers. Eduardo Porter of the New York Times made that argument last week when he wrote: …nuclear power remains the cheapest and most readily scalable of the alternative energy sources.

There are many reasons why nuclear power is a bad solution to the climate crisis. The first reason is that the technology is not available. Nuclear power plants are capital-intensive, technologically complex to manage, and difficult, if not impossible, to site. These issues are not minor, investors chose putting their money somewhere else and communities are greatly against sitting a plant in their backyard.

As a consequence, despite our knowledge on how to use electricity this way plus our years of experience practicing it, in the U.S. these plants will never be built in enough amount to reduce global warming. There is a slight difference between the technology of nuclear power generation and the technology of nuclear bomb development. It is now hard to put things back the way it used to be, let us admit that human political systems or organizational processes cannot manage the risks of this technology.

Other issues associated with current nuclear technologies that cause them to become problematic. For instance, the toxicity of its fuel and waste should not be ignored. Dangerous accidents are rare but once it happened, the impact is intense and long-lasting. It is hard to judge the danger posed by a poorly managed one while a well-managed plant poses little real danger. There is also a possibility of sabotage. Terrorists taking over a plant and threatening to plant accident could hold a city hostage.

Electric utilities are natural monopolies that necessitate government regulation. The investment in infrastructure to produce and send out electricity is so enormous that it makes slight sense to permit more than one system for each city. This investment in infrastructure and equipment strengthens the chance of electric utilities to be greatly centralized, vertically incorporated organizations. These utilities have a propensity to be firm, dull and monopolistic.

Renewable energy has the chance to change the energy business. There could be the start of decentralized, distributed generation of energy while some large-scale organizations will always be part of the energy industry. Even though the predictable wisdom informs us that solar power, battery technology, and smart grids will take time, the technology is only a breakthrough or two away from a new age of decentralized energy technology.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s recently published 2012 Renewable Energy Data Book reported that:

• Renewable electricity represented 14 percent of total installed capacity and more than 12 percent of total electric generation in 2012

• The installed global renewable electricity capacity, including hydropower, doubled between 2000 and 2012, and represents a significant and growing portion of the total energy supply both globally and in the U.S.

• In 2012, wind energy and solar photovoltaics (PV) were two of the fastest growing electric generation technologies in the U.S. Cumulative installed wind energy capacity increased by nearly 28 percent and cumulative installed solar photovoltaic capacity grew more than 83 percent from the previous year.

• Renewable electricity has been capturing a growing percentage of new capacity additions during the past few years. In 2012, renewable electricity accounted for more than 56 percent of all new electrical capacity installations in the U.S. — a major increase from 2004 when renewable electricity installations captured only 2 percent of new capacity additions.

In the United States, these data grant evidence of the growth of renewable energy, with modest, incremental improvements in technology. Large-scale completion of smart grid technology would make it possible to hurry this trend. This signifies a latent market that could inflate quickly subsequent to a major technological advance in solar receiver or storage technology.

Bizarre sources for alternative energy

http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/bizarre-sources-for-alternative-energy/

·         Body Heat

Body heat can warm an entire building, complete with offices, apartments and shops.  In fact, Jernhuset, a state owned property Administration Company is putting together a plan to capture body heat from train commuters traveling through Stockholm’s Central Station.  The idea is that the heat will warm water running through pipes, which will then be pumped through the building’s ventilation system.  While in Paris Habitat, owner of a low-income housing project in Paris, will use body heat to warm 17 apartments in a building as well.  The said housing project is directly above a metro station near Pompidou Center.  

·         Sugar

Currently, researchers and chemists at Virginia Tech are developing a means to convert sugar into hydrogen.  In which can be used in a fuel cell, and in turn it will provide a cheaper, cleaner, pollutant-free and odorless drive.  The scientists combine plant sugars, water and 13 powerful enzymes in a reactor, converting the concoction into hydrogen and trace amounts of carbon dioxide.  The hydrogen could be captured and pumped through a fuel cell to produce energy.  Their process will translate into cost savings; it delivers three times more hydrogen than traditional methods.

·         Solar Wind

This is way more powerful than humility currently needs is available right now, out in space.  A stream of energized, charged particles flowing outward from the sun is actually from the solar wind.  Brooks Harrop, a physicist at Washington State University in Pullman and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State’s School of Earth and Environmental Science, think they can capture these particles with a satellite that orbits the sun the same distance Earth does.

·         Feces and Urine

Feces contain methane, a colorless, odorless gas that could be used in the same way as natural gas.  Human waste is also good and so is urine. 

·         Vibrations

Club Watt in Rotterdam, Netherlands is using floor vibrations from people walking and dancing to power its light show.  The vibrations are captured by “piezoelectric” materials that produce an electric change when put under stress.

While the U.S. Army use piezoelectric technology for energy.   They put the material in soldier’s boots in order to charge radios and other portable devices.   But it’s not cheap although this is an interesting renewable energy with great potential

·         Sludge

The waste-to-energy technology is designed to be on site which means companies can save on trucking costs, disposal fees, and electricity. Although the research is still on going, estimates show that a full-scale system can potentially generate 25,000 kilowatt-hours per day to help power reclamation facilities.

·         Jellyfish

Jellyfish that glow in the dark contain the raw ingredients for a new kind of fuel cell. Their glow is produced by green fluorescent protein, referred to as GFP.  A drop of GFP onto aluminum electrodes and then exposed that to ultraviolet light will make the protein released electrons, which travel a circuit to produce electricity.  Similar proteins have been used to make a biological fuel cell, which makes electricity without an external light source.  As a substitute of an external light source, a mixture of chemicals like magnesium and luciferase enzymes, which are found in fireflies, were used to produce electricity from the device.   These fuel cells can be used on small, nano devices like those that could be surrounded in a person to diagnose or treat disease.

·         Exploding Lakes

The three "exploding lakes" were called such for the reason that they contain huge reservoirs of methane and carbon dioxide trapped in the depths by differences in water temperature and density. If temperatures should change and the lake turns, these gases would immediately fizz to the surface like a shaken bottle of soda, killing the millions of people and animals living nearby.

·         Bacteria

Billions of bacteria live out in the wild.  They have a survival strategy like any living organism for when there is a limited food supply.  E. coli bacteria store fuel in the form of fatty acids that resembles polyester.  That similar fatty acid is required for the production of biodiesel fuel.  Because of these, the researchers are seeking for genetically modify E. coli microorganisms to overproduce those polyester-like acids.

 

·         Carbon Nanotubes

From armor-like fabrics to elevators that could lift cargo between Earth and the Moon this is one of the range of potential uses of the carbon nanotubes, these are hollow tubes of carbon atoms.  Lately, scientists from MIT have a found a way to use carbon nanotubes to collect 100 times more solar energy than a regular photovoltaic cell.  It could work as antenna to capture and funnel sunlight onto solar arrays. This means that instead of having an entire rooftop covered in solar panels, a person may need just a small space.

·         Trains

Widening the imagination when it comes to energy would get us to producing energy like nature do: free and efficient.  According to London Mayor Boris Johnson, excess heat from the subway tunnels and an electric substation will be funneled into British homes.

Report shows global warming is a fraud

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The Global Climate Status Report produced by scientists with the Space and Science Research Corp was newly issued by the United Nations.

“Of the 24 global climate parameters evaluated by the SSRC, 20 show a global cooling trend, three show a global warming trend, one shows a neutral trend,” as explained in the report's summary. Also, “…. the integrated global atmospheric and oceanic temperatures, both indicate a declining global temperature trend is in place. ... This singular fact is conclusive evidence to restate that global warming, as a natural phase of climate variation caused by the sun, has ended.”

“The behavior of the sun may trigger a new little ice age,” this is the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark’s headline last Aug. 7. Hence, at least a small number of the newspapers and climatologist in Europe are not terrified to speak the truth about global temperature differences.

Now well-known “Climategate” scandal, pop-up a couple of years ago, hit some of the news when top English climate scientists had their emails leaked to the news presenting that they plan to, in their own words “hide the decline” of the general global temperatures. While this whole thing exposes entire “global warming” as fraud. While this exposes the entire “global warming” as fraud, the important thing to us in the United States at this time is what was leaked to the Associated Press. That demonstrated our present administration and some other national governments were putting weight on the IPCC to not liberate the fact that “global warming” had basically ended and that, for many years, the earth is actually getting slightly cooler.

This information is very important for the reason that “global warming” has been used by most of the government environmental regulations for the past four administrations as an excuse and the result is it is destroying the U.S. economy. We could use some rethinking and reanalyzing about this information for the reason that that means, nearly each regulation the Environmental Protection Agency enforces is based on permeated fraud. The said fraud that will turn the United States into a Third World country that can't produce food, oil or minerals, but we will have an overabundance of hunger.

Working towards Alternative Energy

http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/working-towards-alternative-energy/

Advocates of alternative energy have sustained that on a global rate, increasing energy consumption is connected to the renewed hostile extraction of natural resources from Africa to reach the target increasing demand in North America, Europe and the BRICS countries namely: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

They compete that despite of the growing demand for energy, more than 1.6 billion people has no electricity and about 2.4 rely only on fuel wood.  According to the Executive Director, ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Ojo, the event was conceived to deepen understanding of energy issues.  It is the effort to find substitute to this irregularity that the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) working in concert with over 50 civil societies, community groups and energy experts organized the Africa Alternative Energy Transition forum recently.

Ojo said the event that attracted participants from across Africa was organised to coincide with the Global Month of Action on Energy by a coalition of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Actionaid, International Rivers, 350.org, and some other international Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) to reclaim power by resisting dirty and harmful energy and affirming the need for transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.

He said in Nigeria, about 70 percent of the population depend solely on fuel wood for energy, a development, which has put the country in the ranking of the countries with the highest deforestation rate.  He stated that the country is said to be losing 3.5 percent of her forest annually.

“The rising energy demand is also leading to violent resource conflicts at the site of extraction. The energy expansions to dirty energy frontiers and technologies such as coal, shale gas fracking, or energy from biofuels have deleterious consequences on farmers and fragile ecosystems.

“It is also important to note that the newly released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment report emphasises that climate change and the many environmental catastrophe will likely increase due to anthropogenic causes releasing GHGs into the atmosphere that is leading to global warming and extreme weather conditions.

The meaning of this would be that the ecological problems will probably be happening at greater frequency and intensity and with unknown overwhelming impact except there will be actions to lessen the impact.  The energy sector takes the lead in ruining the earth and accounting for 35 percent of human GHG emissions, Ojo stated.

He said while the groups would resist all false solutions to the global energy deficit, they support a move towards renewable energy sources, adding: “There cannot be any option to a quicker energy transition from fossil fuels to a low carbon economy that is 100 percent renewable sources by 2020. The trade in carbon is a false solution because it provides warped incentives for industry to continue to pollute rather than cut emissions at source.”

He stated the groups’ position: “We want to use this medium to demand that governments in Africa wean themselves of the imposed historical “Energy Colonialism Syndrome” where gigantic infrastructure, huge capital and personnel are emblems of development. For the African continent the energy challenge remains a lack of vision to achieve the right energy mix from renewable sources. For example, the Nigerian energy policy is on a wrong footing by cataloguing textbook sources of energy such as nuclear, oil and gas, heavy oil such as tar sands, while failing to prioritise renewable energy sources and setting targets for the future energy transition.

“We reiterate our argument that the World Bank and other financial institutions still play the double game of claiming to promote so-called energy solutions while investing heavily in dirty energy projects that strip the poor from access to energy and with adverse effects on energy access in Africa.”

A $12 billion loan for the Trans-Sahara gas pipeline project was condemned, the federal government’s attempt to secure from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group by Ojo.  He said the project which prioritises gas exploitation and supply mainly for export rather than meet local demand, is expected to secure loans for the construction of a gas pipeline infrastructure that would deliver natural gas sourced from Nigeria through the Sahara desert to Algeria and then Europe.

“The World Bank-funded West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project is a perfect example of such projects that are touted as solutions to the energy deficit on the continent that have ended up robbing the people of their natural resources, lands, livelihoods and peace. Benefits that the project promoters promised like employment and social amenities have been shown to be fallacy as little or no benefits have accrued from the project,” he added.

Member at the workshop observed that present energy policies in Africa mirrored in astronomically high tariff carry on to dishearten adoption of the several available alternative energy sources open to communities, particularly rural women who can barely afford the costs.

Energy policy and poverty in Africa be addressed by the prioritisation of national and community energy needs over global economic model that promotes export of natural resources and to the detriment of local markets; African governments promote decentralised alternative energy with a focus on renewable were just fraction of the demands of the group are that.  African governments must augment support for energy models that are cooperative and friendly to the community and environment.

Reason why is Twitter’s IPO so unusual

source: http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/reason-why-is-twitters-ipo-so-unusual/

TWITTER came up with a business that allows people send out information quickly.

The micro-blogging service sent out just one tweet on September 12th informing the world it had filed the required IPO papers confidentially with America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when it came to its initial public offering (IPO) but then there was silence.

Normally it is mandatory to all companies to publish information regarding them right after they have submitted their initial IPO documents to the SEC. However Twitter took benefit from provision in America’s Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups Act—or JOBS Act for short—that permits "emerging growth companies" to kick off the IPO process confidentially. They should be able to publish the IPO earlier than three weeks before they proceed on investor road shows to advertize shares. The act characterizes promising growth firms as ones with less than $1 billion of yearly revenue. The JOBS Act became law in April 2012. It is by giving some companies the option of filing for an IPO in secret that aims to encourage more flotation. According to the SEC, by the end of June 2013 roughly 250 companies in America had filed IPO documents confidentially.

For many reason this approach appeals to Twitter. The firm anticipates that by maintaining its financial performance confidential for a while, and then heading fast to a listing, it can keep away from the kind of hype that surrounded Facebook’s IPO in 2012. Although Twitter must reveal its correspondence with the regulator when it finally publishes its IPO documents it can also address any concerns the SEC has about its submission in private. It is hopeful to shun the fortune of Groupon, which exposed particulars of its finances immediately after it filed for an IPO in 2011. Several of the firm's accounting rules were openly questioned by the SEC, which frightened investors.

There are other advantages too. If it wishes to, Twitter must only publish two years of audited financial statements instead of the usual three and it can omit some details about executive pay that are typically compulsory. A rising growth company does not have to disclose it has filed to go public, though some like Twitter wish to do so.

It is a mistake to let prominent firms such as Twitter and Manchester United, an English football club that listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, keep their filings secret for a while according to some critics. This promotes feral assumption about their finances, off-putting employees and making the market dirty. It is an act that is suppose to be prohibited but the JOBS Act also let emerging growth firms talk to big investors privately to gauge the appetite for their shares. That makes small punters at a definite drawback and clarifies calls to reduce the $1 billion revenue termination point for emerging growth firms. In the previous year one discontented investor suggested that the JOBS Act must be renamed the Jumpstart Our Bilking of Suckers Act.

Russia remains skeptical of UN report on Syria

September 17, Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was called into question the findings of a UN report that confirmed a chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed hundreds of people last month, suggesting the event was a “provocation” by anti-regime forces and calling for a wider investigation.

After a meeting in Moscow with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Lavrov’s comments were made and these represent Russia’s first public reaction to the report.

It was released on Monday. It determinedly established the use of chemical weapons however stopped short of passing on blame.

After what Russia has gone trough criticism for its perceived sheltering of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, it has repeatedly rebuffed Western allegations that his government deployed chemical weapons.

“We have the most serious grounds to believe this was a provocation,” Lavrov said, according to the RIA Novosti state news agency. “And some of our partners have unequivocally stated that only the regime could have used chemical weapons, but the truth must be established.”

He added that there was no information about where the weapons were made, and insisted on an "impartial, objective, professional investigation of the events of August 21."

It is just then, Lavrov said, should a course of action be decided in the UN Security Council, where Russia has blocked several Western resolutions on action over the crisis.

Additional reports from GlobalPost: Elton John to play Moscow concert despite Russia's anti-gay law.

Previous weekend, a negotiation between Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about a plan to transfer Syria’s chemical weapons to international control and have them destroyed within a year.

Some observers have showed doubt over the plan, with their opinion that the sheer manpower it requires makes it unrealistic. 

source: http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/russia-remains-skeptical-of-un-report-on-syria/

Fewer resources, greater stress, more disasters: Climate change linked to violence among people and societies

A world becoming warmer and experiencing more droughts and other climate-connected disasters is apt to bring about a considerable upsurge in fierce conflicts between individuals as well as whole societies, a major study has revealed.An analysis of 61 in-depth cases of violence has shown that personal clashes and wider civil conflicts grow considerably in number with significant changes to weather patterns, such as rising temperature and lack of rain, scientists said.Even fairly modest shifts away from the average lead to noticeable rise in the occurrence of violence, according to the study which theorized that the expected rise of in average world temperatures this century could result in a 50 per cent growth in major violent conflicts such as civil wars.

The scientists suggest that climate shifts, especially rising temperatures, are bound to cause more frequent conflicts over progressively declining natural resources, on top of the physiological impact on people due to hotter weather.

"We need to be cautious here. We do not mean that it is inevitable that further warming in the future will produce more conflict. We are saying that previous changes in climate -- especially, past temperature increase -- are connected with increasing personal and group disputes," said Marshall Burke of the University of California, Berkeley.

"It is certainly possible that future communities will be more able to deal with severe temperatures than we do today; but we believe that it is risky to just presume that this will be so," said Mr. Burke, one of the authors of the study published in the journal Science.

The study was based on an investigation of the scholastic literature for historical narratives of violent disputes, from individual aggression, such as murder and assaults to greater conflicts such as riots, racial tensions, civil war and even primary declines of civilisations that existed thousands of years back.

Disputes between groups rather than between persons exhibited the clearest link to alterations in the climate, the scientists said, with temperature increases being the most prevalent risk factor -- all of the 27 causes of contemporary societies, for example, established a connection between warmer weather and increase in violence.

"We found that a one standard-deviation shift towards warmer conditions causes personal violence to increase 4 per cent and inter-societal conflicts to grow by 14 per cent," Mr Burke said.

"To appreciate the magnitude of the shift, this sort of increase in temperature is about equal to warming an African nation by 0.4C for a whole year or warming a United States county by 3C for a given month. Although these are moderate changes, they have an immense effect on communities," he said.

"Our findings give inkling to a couple of aspects of the matter that might link climate to conflict.

The first is economic shortage. Years of high temperature and severe precipitation cause a degradation of economic conditions, principally in poor countries, and if things turn really bad, desperate people who lack other options might choose to rise up in arms. This appears to be a major path connecting climate and group conflict in many agricultural communities," he added.

"Simultaneously, exposure to extremely hot temperatures also seems to promote a physiological reaction in how humans interrelate with one another: People become less trustful, more hostile, and more vicious. It is probable that both of these factors are prime motivators, and we hope that future study will aid in determining which factor applies in which setting," he added.

Solomon Hsiang of Princeton University, another co-author of the research, said that the connection between climate shift and violent dispute is apparent but for now there is no obvious rationalization -- somewhat akin to the link in the 1950s between smoking and lung cancer, which could only be established after many years.

"Presently, there are some suppositions pointing out why the climate might induce conflict. For instance, we know that shifts in climate influence current economic circumstances, particularly in agricultural countries, and studies imply that people are more liable to take up arms when the economy declines, perhaps partly to preserve their livelihoods," Mr Hsiang said.

How social media fuels holiday inflation

Parents are now under pressure to fill summer holidays with activities for their children by the explosion of social media, as claimed by some people.

According to the Future Foundation think-tank, the facility with which people can “post” their vacation pictures and other activities online puts pressure on others to stay in step.

The authors claimed that their data shows time spent on holidays increasing in the last five decades, identifying a particular rise in the amount of time people spend socialising outside their homes, as well as an increase in the variety of activities they get involved in.

The appearance of what they called an “experience economy”, in which the amassing of experience is more important than the accumulation of material things, can be partly explained by the great upsurge in mobile phone users with Internet-linked smartphones, up by 20 per cent since 2010.

The report, entitled “Fifty Years of Summer” and created for the Nectar loyalty card company, said the way families and individuals socialise during summer has also shifted, with 66 per cent saying that barbecuing is the most frequent way to dine with friends; a drastic increase from only 6 per cent in the 1960s.

They also claimed that there is a rising pressure among young people to plan for their summer experience, with more and more of them using spray tans, sun beds and exercise programs to prepare for warm weather.

source

Climate change is happening 10 times faster than ever

The current pace of global warming is unmatched in the past 65 million years 

http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/climate-change-is-happening-10-times-faster-than-ever/

Stanford University recently published a report in the journal Science pointing  but the extent to which the climate change rate — so much heat absorbed in very little time —is overtaking any other eras of warming or cooling in the Earth’s 65 million years history. If present estimates are precise, the researchers state, that pace will speed up to 50 or even 100 times quicker than anything we have observed in the past.

Scientific American explains:

They observed climate occurrences or primary transitions that have transpired on Earth from the time of the dinosaurs’ extinction. Those include the time when the Earth came out of an ice age. Temperatures then went up between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius, similar to the amount scientists predict is possible with the prevailing climate change. But that change occurred within about 20,000 years, the scientists pointed out, and not mere decades as it is now the case.

Another study conducted by University of Texas and put out in the journal Nature, has discovered that the Antarctic permafrost is also melting at a rate 10 times faster compared to anything measured previously, that is, in the last 11,000 years. The scientists explain that the dramatic shift is not due to higher temperatures but to altering weather patterns in which the region is experiencing more sunlight than before. The researchers of the Antarctic case are not overly worried at their findings, explaining that for the Arctic polar ice to melt at this rate would be much more problematic.

The findings of the Stanford study are not as hopeful. To keep up with the present rate of global warming, says study author Christopher Field, we have to begin adjusting accordingly on a significantly faster timetable. The chances of reducing its effects now, in his calculation, is not so bright:

To keep the temperature rise to about 1.5 degrees, the Earth would have to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, and then attain negative emissions, that is, “the total amount of all human activities is a net elimination of CO2 from the atmosphere,” the study says. If we achieve that, climate changes by the final years of the century will not be as disastrous, Field said.  

Conversion from Coal-Fired Boilers to Natural-Gas Boilers in Heats Up

 http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/conversion-from-coal-fired-boilers-to-natural-gas-boilers-in-heats-up/

Last year, the haze in the atmosphere encouraged many people to implement the “coal-to-electricity” conversion plan. According to a China Securities newspaper report, the present demolition of coal-fired boilers has reached a substantial level in its implementation.

Beginning in the second quarter when the government enacted its coal-fired boiler demolition act to prevent excessive pollution, the coal-fired boiler “annihilation” program has extended into many areas. In the context of energy-saving environmental protection, “coal to electricity” will become the big trend for the next few years. As the alternative to coal-fired boiler, gas boilers are expected to usher in a tremendous growth.

On May 13, Zhengzhou City Hall stopped the operation of a coal-fired boiler in the Yutong Bus Company by removing the 10-ton steam-boiler system. It also decided that by the end of next year, the city’s 263 coal-fired boilers will be completely demolished and converted.

In Beijing, the “coal to gas” project has entered the construction phase. Beijing Gas Group General Manager Li Yalan recently disclosed to the media that by the end of 2013, Beijing City within four districts will be coal-free and by 2015 six districts will be added.

Facilitating the conversion from coal gas to natural gas boiler, the plan is to divide Beijing this year into 3 groups of 93 coal-fired boiler areas. In the view of many, coal is seen as the culprit in bringing about hazy weather which is expected to rise even more sharply. As an example, Zhengzhou city’s monitoring data show pollutants mainly came from coal dust (41%), PM (28%) and motor vehicles (24%). Zhengzhou city’s energy structure is still dominated by coal. Coal use in 2012 reached 35,000,000 tons, which is 73% of the total fuel use.

The City Hall issued ”The blue sky” White Paper incorporating the proposed objectives of the project wherein coal-fired boilers will switch to cleaner fuels such as natural gas as an emergency measure. Exhausts from gas boilers contain much less pollutants than coal-fired boilers. According to Li Yalan, converting to natural gas in operating boilers will reduce NO2 emissions by 60% and sulfur dioxide emissions drastically by 99.5%.

In addition to cutting down pollutants, heating efficiency will be substantially improved. Currently, the heating efficiency of coal-fired boilers is 60% to 85% while that of gas-fired boilers is over 90%. Beijing’s overall conversion into the usage of gas boilers will increase heating efficiency by 30%. Beijing city hall officials will also look into the improvement of heating subsidies. This will encourage residents to choose clean energy.

China Securities News reports said that from the first two quarters of 2013, aside from Beijing, Zhengzhou, Shaanxi and Xi’an, Lanzhou City, Taiwan has also replaced its coal-fired boilers. Lanzhou city construction, environmental protection, municipal and other departments are jointly carrying out trials for its urban coal-fired boiler renovation project by dismantling 83 Taiwan steam boilers, accounting for a total dismantling by 40%.

Xinjiang Urumqi will also shift from coal to gas as part of its people’s livelihood project, part of its reconstruction project dubbed “priority among priorities in beautiful Xinjiang”. In Tibet, dozens of heating stations are also actively carrying out reconstruction of gas boilers as the deadline for complete conversion nears.

Natural gas boilers are expected to experience an upsurge in sales. Research data on the growing energy and natural gas industry, according to analyst Huang Qing of the China Securities News, will accelerate the phasing-out of coal-fired boilers into gas boilers.

Governments around the world are seen to complete in the move to reduce carbon emissions from the current levels. Together with the rest of the “oil to gas” and “coal to gas” conversion, the directive is expected to usher in a great increase in compliance.

Yutong Bus Company told the China Securities newspaper reporter that in response to city hall’s “blue sky” project, the company will accelerate its conversion from coal-fired boiler heating. Four sets of 10-ton coal-fired boilers will be demolished and replaced with 3 sets of 20-ton natural-gas boilers. They expect to be finished before the end of 2013. The other 2 sets of 25-ton coal-fired boilers will be completed in 2014. Yutong Company equipment safety director Li Zhihui told the media that the company expects to spend more than $20,000,000 for the conversion into natural gas boilers in two years’ time.

The replacement of coal-fired boilers brought good news for the new-energy boiler manufacturing industry. The China Securities News reporter said that Beijing Taikang boiler company expects to experience a rise in sales of boiler products of all types this year. However, previous product sales declined significantly for coal-fired boilers. Production of natural gas boilers showed significant growth trends.

Hangzhou Boiler Co.’s representative told the China Securities Journal that natural gas boiler production company can supply the entire boiler output by 50% as natural gas boiler sales in the country accounts for a large chunk of the market. With the West-East gas pipeline project already ongoing, the city’s natural gas power station can expect to have enough supply of good quality natural gas for boilers. The company’s natural gas needs is also expected to increase tremendously.

The optimism in the use natural gas boiler will help increase sales and further strengthen the conversion program. Hangzhou Boiler Company explained in the report that with the concerted efforts to prevent the rapid increase of atmospheric pollution, natural gas power generation opportunities will help increase the orders for the company’s waste-heat boilers, particularly gas-turbine-powered waste-heat boilers.

The giant power-station boiler parts manufacturing enterprises, Run-Chuan, revealed to the China Securities newspaper reporter that although the demand for natural gas boiler parts are relatively low at present, the company’s diversified distribution system will make natural gas boiler components an important business component of the company.  

3 Steps to Build a Culture of Sustainability and Achieve Global Environmental Goals

http://blog.crowncapitalmngt.com/3-steps-to-build-a-culture-of-sustainability-and-achieve-global-environmental-goals/

Although it is common for companies to push sustainability results by establishing definite, time-bound goals, attaining them is a distinct process for every enterprise. Innovation, investment and operational savvy all play a part in achieving success; but the most significant factor is formulating a vigorous culture of sustainability that incorporates this approach into every facet of the business.

Recently, our company announced that over the past three years we have made noteworthy improvements in our environmental performance. This included reduction of our energy usage by 12%, our greenhouse gas emissions by 15.7%, and attaining a leading-edge level of 3.5 hectoliters of water used for every hectoliter of beer made, posting an 18.6% reduction. These efficiency improvements were all achieved mainly without any major investment in new, sophisticated technology.

Like any global company reach, our worldwide operations face various local conditions. Challenges ranging from the capabilities and age of equipment to the diversity in quality and availability of raw materials mean that choosing a “one-size-fits-all” approach is often impossible. The main approach that can steer a company toward environmental maturity is to develop a culture of environmental conservation and awareness into all aspects of every employee’s tasks on a daily basis.

This idea has been around for a while; however, it is also something that is not often observed in reality. For us, ascertaining that we provide incentives and challenges to our 118,000 fellow workers to make gradual changes in the work environment – big or small, within our more than 140 breweries and soft drink facilities – was the best method to attain our three-year goals. Along the way, we discovered some essential factors in establishing such a culture of sustainability:

1.Elevate sustainability initiatives to the same level as other business-critical functions

Having employees scattered worldwide, it can be hard activating everyone to focus on sustainability objectives. From the boardroom to the brewery floor, we expect people to focus on environmental performance as much as they do on other vital business functions. Hence, companies can encourage all colleagues to stay on the same page – focused on attaining sustainability goals.

Establishing an operational management approach that puts environmental objectives alongside those for efficiency, quality and safety can help to develop coordination on a company-wide scale. We call our management system Voyager Plant Optimizations (VPO), and is custom-designed for our unique operations. A company’s system should include policies, procedures and guidelines to aid teams in performing more efficiently, while giving room for creative collaboration and innovation. VPO has allowed our entire organization to gain well-oiled coordination and is the primary source of our successes in our environmental performance.

The management system also encourages best-practice sharing within the entire company by delineating distinct responsibility for assuring that reductions are reached and allowing for targets to be embraced by all.

2. Encourage global best practice sharing, tailored to local conditions

Companies operating globally often allow every region the freedom to identify best practices that apply under local conditions. However, businesses must grab the opportunity to utilize these acquired lessons in other regions and scale them across the company, as much as possible.

Based on our experience, best-practice sharing can aid regional teams enhance their environmental performance. For instance, our team in China attained the company’s highest region-wide reduction in energy, water and carbon emissions between 2009 and 2012 – 30%, 38%, and 29% reductions, respectively. To help the team in China accelerate their improvement, our global team took the initial progress forward by encouraging best-practice sharing from other regions. Among the new initiatives included were how to optimize efficiency in boiler combustion and how to improve time-of-use management through a meticulous analysis of electricity rate-schedules.

A few months after, our China colleagues reversed the tables and started sharing their own best practices in our global workshops with other Zones. The China team’s approach of continuously benchmarking utilities usage between brewery departments by digging into the energy and water data, for instance, has now been applied to other regions globally. Hence, the lesson gained here is to develop a culture of sustained improvement where colleagues can openly share challenges and solutions and apply them to meet local conditions in real-time.

3. Empower employees to continually drive improvement

We have also found that it works well to encourage all colleagues to behave as if they owned the business. When each colleague treats the company’s goals as their own responsibility and is empowered to act on them, great things happen. Colleagues in our Cartersville, GA brewery exhibited this ownership concept when they decided to adopt a weekly “Water Walks” around the facility to pinpoint areas where water was being wasted. In 2012 alone, these walks succeeded in a total reduction of 49 million liters of water usage.
By sharing the responsibility for achieving targets for sustainability with every colleague and empowering each one to discover ways to improve, companies can achieve a degree of performance and commitment that would not be otherwise possible.

Based on our track record, developing a culture of sustainability that is adapted and valued across the entire company is vital for businesses striving to minimize their environmental impact and to meet sustainability goals. The results can prove that this is so.

Global Carbon Emissions Set to Hit Alarming 400 Parts Per Million Milestone

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A national disaster warning: in up to five million years, this is the first time that the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is approximately to reach 400 parts per million (ppm).  Monday on The guardian reports, former NASA scientist James Hansen warned that levels over 350ppm would destabilize the earth’s climate, but now we have far exceeded that figure with a record-breaking weekly average of 398.5ppm recorded.  While in May 2013, researchers at the Earth Systems Research Laboratory in Hawaii expect we will hit the 400ppm milestone.



Aside from many other issues like global fraud for example there are many else the government should give attention to. According to The Guardian, the US government has been monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at the Mauna Loa station located at an elevation of 11,115 feet since 1958.  During the time when it was first ascertained, CO2 levels stayed at a manageable 316ppm, but in the past five decades population expansion coupled with the growth of industrialized nations hooked on fossil fuels and meat has saturated the atmosphere with heat-trapping gases.



“I wish it weren’t true but it looks like the world is going to blow through the 400ppm level without losing a beat. At this pace we’ll hit 450ppm within a few decades,” Ralph Keeling, a geologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography which operates the Hawaiian observatory, told The Guardian. It is as if it was a national disaster warning.



This “sobering milestone” should be a wake up call for governments to support clean energy and slash emissions, said Tim Lueker, an oceanographer and carbon cycle researcher with Scripps CO2 Group.

Loyal Customer Re-Ups With Eco-Safe Systems

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LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 26, 2013) - Eco-Safe Systems USA, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ESFS) is pleased to announce that the management of a chain of seafood processing plants has chosen to upgrade their NSF Registered Eco-Safe Ozone Disinfection system with a new and enhanced Eco-Safe system upon the expiration of their current lease.
Michael Elliot, CEO of Eco-Safe, stated, "This client was one of our early adopters for ozone disinfection for seafood processing. Now that their first lease is expiring, they have chosen a new lease for an upgraded system with significant technological advancements."

Elliot continued, "They process over ten tons of seafood daily and distribute high-end seafood to top Sushi and Seafood restaurants across the country. They know that Eco-Safe's Ozone Disinfection System is 100% toxin and chemical-free and sanitizes their fish up to 3,100 times faster than chlorine. Their number one priority is quality. They offer their customers a product that has a longer shelf-life with much less work because there's no mixing of chemicals or washing chlorine off the fish. They operate plants in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and three California locations in Los Angeles, Hayward, and San Francisco, and all of them utilize Eco-Safe Ozone Disinfection Systems."

About Eco-Safe Systems:

Eco-Safe Systems, based in Los Angeles, is the manufacturer of patent pending water treatment and water reclamation systems. Our technologies produce ozonated water for food disinfection and water purification at significantly less maintenance cost and greater energy savings than our competitors in a completely green and organic manner. We currently offer supermarkets and restaurants a cost-effective way to safely extend the shelf-life of meat, poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables. All Food Industry products are National Sanitation Foundation, International (NSF) Registered. Please visit us at www.ecosafeusa.com for more information.

The foregoing contains forward-looking information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. The actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results (expressed or implied) will not be realized.

Reef Destruction is Ecological

To die for scenic reefs in Red or the South China Sea is dying; pretty fishes and panoramic colors of soft and hard corals are now down to a complex ecology similar to tropical forest ecosystems. Compare to the microorganisms that makes the whole thing more tremendous in doing all the destruction, the predators and consumers, the producer algae and the tiny invertebrates mean nothing.

Catalina Reyes of CoECRS. (Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies) and the University of Queensland has published her work alongside 4 colleagues, on the bacteria, fungi and algae that live in this most complex marine ecosystem. The change in this ecosystem recently is because of our overproduction. Oceans now are Cola like, the CO2 we made over the last century or two has made the sea water to feel like one. As to Catalina’s research, the acid has effects and that are clearly identifies in the micro-world of corals. She links it all up and explained, “So fish, turtles, sharks, lobsters and other reef organisms may lose their homes, threatening coral reef biodiversity and the livelihoods of tens of millions of people.” All reefs, molluscs and others are basically made up of Calcium carbonate, accepted as true to hard corals as well. Due to different reasons erosion of the reef is just a normal phenomenon but at present the erosion has become excessive that it destroys the reefs worldwide at a really disturbing rate. The well equilibrium of attrition, storm damage, predation and growth has been distorted. Today, deterioration seems to be the pattern in lieu of slow growth. And because of the acid now less and less carbonate is available. You have probably had experimented such in your school laboratory. Micro-boring organisms also eliminate the coral skeleton as usual consequently oceans ends up with no reef! Catalina found a 35% rate of erosion in the second example when computer simulation by the researchers compared current increases in carbon dioxide levels and their effects on reefs with those lesser increases which we hope to achieve by cutting emissions The dreadful effect of “doing nothing about emissions” was a doubling 100% of the erosion. Because of acidic conditions, Micro-boring organisms became much more active and seemed to have a higher temperatures and pH (acidity) that causing the destructions of more corals. A great number and the most common of all was a tiny alga that has the ability in photosynthesizing even in the low light conditions as it penetrated deep into the corals’ hearts.

Warmer Climate causes Greener Arctic

Of the 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers) of northern vegetated lands, 34 to 41 percent showed increases in plant growth (green and blue), 3 to 5 percent decreases in plant growth (orange and red), and 51 to 62 percent no changes (yellow) over the past 30 years, new research shows.

Researchers say, elevated temperatures and a longer growing season mean some of Earth’s chilliest regions are looking increasingly green.

As reported and base from the new study, at present the plant life at northern latitudes often looks like the vegetation researchers would have observed up to 430 miles (700 kilometers) farther south in 1982.

“It’s like Winnipeg, Manitoba, moving to Minneapolis-Saint Paul in only 30 years,” study researcher Compton Tucker of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement.

A team of university and NASA scientists including Tucker looked at 30 years’ worth of satellite and land surface data on vegetation growth from 45 degrees north latitude to the Arctic Ocean. The researchers suggest that, in this region, large patches of lush vegetation now stretch over an area about the size of the continental United States and resemble what was found 4 to 6 latitude degrees to the south in 1982.

“Higher northern latitudes are getting warmer, Arctic sea ice and the duration of snow cover are diminishing, the growing season is getting longer and plants are growing more,” climate scientist Ranga Myneni of Boston University said in a statement, adding that the changes are leading to great disruptions for the region’s ecosystems.

In the precedent several decades the Arctic has been warming more rapidly than the rest of any part of earth. An amplified greenhouse effect is largely to blame for the changes in plant life, says Myneni. In this succession, high concentrations of heat-trapping gasses drive up temperatures in the ocean and atmosphere. This warming trims down Arctic sea ice and snow cover, reason for the oceans and land surfaces in the region to be exposed this is also because the ice and snow are more reflective than darker surfaces. These surfaces soak up more heat from the sun’s rays, so further heating of the air and further reduction of sea ice and snow emerge as a consequence. Myneni warns that the cycle could get worse.

“The greenhouse effect could be further amplified in the future as soils in the north thaw, releasing potentially significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane,” Myneni said.

Because of the rising temperatures Arctic and boreal regions could see the equivalent of a 20-degree latitude shift by the end of this century, the team found this out using climate models. The amplified greenhouse effect could have other consequences, like more forest fires, pest infestations and droughts, which cut vegetation growth, researchers say.

And the availability of water and sunlight determines where plants will thrive. “Satellite data identify areas in the boreal zone that are warmer and dryer and other areas that are warmer and wetter,” Ramakrishna Nemani of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., explained in a statement. “Only the warmer and wetter areas support more growth.”

The researchers furthermore saw additional plant growth in the boreal zone from 1982 to 1992 than from 1992 to 2011. And they thought this could be because of the lack of water in the region during the last two decades of the study.

Princeton film festival explores broad range of environmental issues

Sometimes the best way to educate is to entertain; this has proven true by Princeton Public Library for the seventh straight year. Last weekend was the start of the annual Princeton Environmental Film Festival, the festival features more than 30 films that explore environmental sustainability from a wide range of perspectives. The film series will run from now through Feb. 10, with 13 days of free films for 2013. “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Who Killed the Electric Car?” pave the way to the annual festival. Curator Susan Conlon says the library was inspired to create the film festival after the overwhelming success of two environmentally themed films. “The festival is a way to bring these kinds of films to the community; to explore new ideas and become aware of different perspectives,” Conlon says. “There are often more than two sides to an issue, and these films really make you expand your thinking.” It isn’t just the quantity of the film yet the quality as well, Conlon stresses that while the majority of the films address environmental matters, every film was primarily selected not just because it addressed a specific issue, but because it was a well-made, entertaining film. As diverse as the films may be, Conlon notes that they are all linked by a common theme. This year’s films explore a wide range of topics and present perspectives from literally around the world. “We’re looking at making that connection between the natural and the built environment and what’s important to us about the places where we live our lives, whether it’s a beautiful coast, a city, polar ice or even a prison,” Conlon says. The festival will begin and end by two thought-provoking and intriguing films. “You’ve Been Trumped,” a film about mogul Donald Trump’s attempts to convert one of Scotland’s last areas of coastal wilderness into a golf resort and local residents’ crusade to “trump” his efforts and prevent construction was the first film to roll in the opening of the festival. The festival wrap up on Feb. 10 with “The Island President,” the story of Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed and his attempts to prevent his country from disappearing into the sea. The film features music by Radiohead. With all pride and gratitude the festival is proud to announce the screening of two Academy Award contenders. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is a nominee for best picture featuring the youngest-ever best actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis. “Chasing Ice,” a haunting look at glacial erosion, is nominated for best original song. Casey Coleman, associate producer of “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” is scheduled to participate in a post-screening Q&A session. Academy Award nominated films mentioned are among the films to be screened Further films to be screened include “Detropia,” a look at life in the struggling city of Detroit; “The House I Live In,” Eugene Jarecki’s examination of America’s war on drugs, and “An Original DUCKumentary,” which follows the life of a family of ducks and is narrated by actor Paul Giamatti. “I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful” by director Jonathan Demme records one New Orleans woman’s struggle to find normality in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. After the screening the discussion with Parker’s daughter will take place. The hosting question-and-answer sessions is just one of the much awaited event, the festival also features shows geared toward children and numerous panel discussions about environmental issues. One of the panels will address an issue close to those who have chosen to make this region their home, as it examines how climate change will factor into the development of coastal communities, especially in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Filmmaker Ben Kalina has an upcoming film “Shored Up,” about protecting and preserving the coastline in the light of rising sea levels. He will also act as one of the panels. Kalina says he had always wanted to create a film about barrier islands and the effects of rising seas. He was three years into the project when Sandy hit. “We were just about done, but once Sandy happened the entire structure of the film had to change dramatically,” Kalina says. “Sandy is now woven into the fabric of the film.” “The film is about getting people to step back and recognize the situation we’ve grown into. After Sandy, you don’t really have to explain what could happen anymore,” Kalina adds. “I’m not trying to answer the question of how we should move forward. But film can be very provocative and I hope ours provokes discussion.” The influence of Sandy on the film festival according to Conlon is it reveals that in addition to providing a sense of place, the films all share another common theme. “One lesson I think you’ll take away from all of the films is that people are really resilient,” Conlon says. “There’s something positive and reassuring about that.”

Authorities battle floods in Indonesia

Friday has been busy for Indonesian authorities as they were working to repair a dike that collapsed amid floods that swamped the capital as the water progressively receded from the main streets of the packed city. Although Jakarta has long been prone to floods because it is a low-laying city on the sea, their situation worsen as their scale over the last ten years as infrastructure development has not kept pace with city’s growth. Worst situation is being experienced by other Asian cities like Bangkok and more especially Manila as they had been vulnerable to widespread floods in recent years. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, from the city's disaster mitigation agency, said electricity supplies had been cut to several areas to prevent electrocutions. Most deaths are because they were electrocuted or drowned. And as of yesterday, January 20, 2013, the death toll had risen to 14 after authorities pulled the three more bodies reported missing in the flooded basement of a building in central Jakarta. "Our focus now is to save more lives," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho added. Soon enough, life slowly got back to normal yet tens of thousands remained affected by the waters elsewhere in the city of 14 million people. The police and army deployed rubber boats to help evacuate or bring supplies to people, said Jakarta Police Spokesman Col. Rikwanto. Thursday after hours of rains that caused rivers and canals to burst their banks and flooded Jakarta, hundreds of soldiers used backhoes to attempt to repair a collapsed canal dike. Since 2007, this is now considered the most widespread when almost 80 died and more than half of the city as affected. And unlike 2007, Jakarta's downturn area was swamped this time around. At their peak, almost 250,000 people were affected by the floods, which covered about 30 percent of the city. Successive governments have done little to lessen the threat of flooding, the latest made worse by heavy downpours Wednesday and Thursday that added pressure to rivers already swollen by a long monsoon season. Some of the factors behind the floods are deforestation in the hills to the south of the city, chaotic planning and the rubbish that clogs the hundreds of waterways that crisscross the city. Corrupt city officials turn an eye to building violations and lack the skills and ability to build flood defenses. Indrado, a resident in Central Jakarta said, "We cannot only blame the government,” "We the people also have to support it by not littering rivers." “The floods should cause a rethink”, he further added.

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