|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
THE HYDROGENATOR California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is trying to kick-start the so-called hydrogen revolution. He has signed an executive order establishing a public-private partnership aimed at building a network of some 200 hydrogen fueling stations in the state by 2010, at an estimated cost of $100 million. (California is in dire financial straits, so the money is expected to come from private investment and federal funds.) If successful, the plan could mark a metamorphosis in transportation, but there’s no shortage of skeptics. A recent study by the National Academy of Sciences predicted it would be 2015 before the first hydrogen cars hit the market, and many enviromentalists worry about the need for “a lot of fossil fuels at the front end to get to hydrogen at the back end,” as energy expert Joseph Romm put it. Some enviromentalists say the focus should be on accelerating the spread of already-existing hybrid cars. Current demand for hybrids in California is so great that many would-be buyers are waiting three to four months to get their hands on the popular Toyota Prius. Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Mark Martin, George Raine, 21 Apr 2004. FILM FLAM “The Day After Tomorrow,” a big-budget climate-change disaster flick directed by Roland Emmerich (creator of such visionary fare as “Independence Day” and the 1998 “Godzilla” remake), released on May 28, has folks on both sides of the global-warming debate all atwitter. Fearing that the scenario in the movie—wherein climate change, to the dismay of some Cheney-esque politicians, all of a sudden causes blizzards, tsunamis, and much bad acting—might provoke a panicked public to question why the Bush administration isn’t doing more to address climate change, the top press officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center sent an email on April 1 to several agency scientists and officers forbidding them to discuss the movie with the press. A scientist offended at being muzzled promptly leaked the email to The New York Times, making the agency look silly. NASA then backpedaled, saying its scientists are free to discuss the film if asked to do so. Meanwhile, some enviromentalists are fretting that the movie’s absurd premise will discredit climate-change science altogether. Source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 25 Apr 2004. CAPITAL STEPS Clean tech is hot. Research and development of eco-friendly technologies in water purification, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, recycling, air quality, and renewable energy such as solar, wind, and hydrogen is drawing a larger and larger share of venture capital. In 2003, total venture capital spending fell by 14 percent to $18.2 billion, but investment in clean technologies rose by 8 percent to $1.2 billion. Though some investors are wary, recalling trendy-but-fruitless spending on solar and wind technology in the 1980s and hydrogen power in the 1990s, many believe that a perfect storm of disparate forces makes this the time right for clean tech. Many businesses are striving to create a green image to please customers and shareholders; government regulations are making polluting more expensive; global oil prices are rising and fossil fuels are becoming more scarce; economies in China and India are booming and demanding plentiful energy. Let the “green” puns begin! Source: Detroit Free Press, Associated Press, 25 Apr 2004. GEOSS IN THE HEOUSE Delegates from 44 nations and 26 international groups agreed to form a global environmental observation system by 2014, to be called—in what we can only assume is a tribute to Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”—the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, or GEOSS. Officials attending the Earth Observation Summit in Tokyo said that standardized measurements from satellites, buoys, and weather balloons around the world will help people predict meteorological phenomena like El Nino, understand and respond to outbreaks of disease like West Nile, and make better crop-planting decisions. The conference statement said that developed nations need to help developing nations, who have the most to gain from better forecasting, work to establish methods and standards of measurement. The agreement, which is not legally binding, will be pursued further at a summit in Brussels next February. Sources: Terra Daily, Agence France-Presse, 25 Apr 2004; The Japan Times, Akemi Nakamura, 26 Apr 2004. WHAT A DRAG Some male snapping turtles in the Great Lakes are suffering from reduced penis size and are producing egg yolk protein, a capability once available only to female turtles, according to researchers from the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada. The research adds to a growing body of knowledge about the gender-bending effects of some industrial pollutants that mimic female hormones. The feminization of males has been found primarily in fish, but similar effects have been observed in herring gulls along the Detroit River and panthers and alligators in Florida. More than fifty synthetic compounds have been shown to have hormone-distorting effects. In addition to developing certain female traits, the male turtles also suffered from impaired thyroid function, excessive production of some liver enzymes, and God knows what kind of psychological issues. Source: The Globe and Mail, Martin Mittelstaedt, 28 Apr 2004. I DID IT NORWAY A windy island off the western coast of Norway is the site for an ambitious demonstration project that aims to power a tiny town solely with renewable energy, without need for a backup power system run on fossil fuels or other eco-icky technologies. One problem with wind and solar power is that when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, the kilowatts aren’t produced. Norwegian utility company Norsk Hydro aims to get over that hurdle on the island of Utsira, where two wind turbines will be producing electricity for a small community. Excess wind power will be used to produce hydrogen that can run a hydrogen combustion engine and a fuel cell to provide electricity whenever the breezes stop blowing. “It is the first full-scale project of this type in the world,” said project manager Paal Otto Eide—but Norsk Hydro hopes it won’t be the last. Meanwhile, in an unrelated Norwegian eco-venture, two philanthropically inclined entrepreneurs are trying to raise a few bucks for their favorite environmental groups by charging for access to a green-themed porn website, though with little success thus far. Sources: MSNBC.com, 28 Apr 2004; Terra Daily, Agence France-Presse, 28 Apr 2004. ABSOLUTELY CABULOUS Once the sole province of eco-conscious consumers willing to pay a little extra to reduce their environmental footprint, gas-electric hybrid vehicles have found an eager new consumer demographic: taxi services. In urban areas from Vancouver to Boston to New York City, taxi operators are getting hep to the benefits of hybrids: The cars perform at their best in stop-and-go traffic, as both engines shut off entirely when stopped, and the gas engine tends to start up only in highway driving; regenerative braking systems capture energy normally lost to braking and convert it to electricity, which increases gas mileage; maintenance costs tend to be lower, since idling can wear down timing belts and fuel injectors; a growing number of environmentally conscious consumers will go out of their way to choose a hybrid service; and some airports and municipalities offer tax breaks for eco-friendly fleets. According to Bart Chezar, a transportation consultant, each radio-dispatched car in NYC replaced with a hybrid saves the operator $3,800 a year if gas prices are about $2 a gallon. Source: The New York Times, Matthew L. Wald, 02 May 2004. SELF EMPOWERMENT A number of California businesses—rattled by the 2000 energy crisis, with its rolling black- and brown-outs, and the state’s generally unreliable electricity grid—are turning to hydrogen fuel cells to provide a reliable and self-generated source of power. The move is fueled (ahem) by the California Public Utilities Commission’s increasingly popular Self Generation Incentive Program, which provides $66 million a year in incentive funding for green energy systems; more than 500 projects have been funded to date. Most of the fuel cells run, for the time being, on hydrogen converted from natural gas, but some businesses are finding ways of generating the hydrogen from their own waste products, creating “energy neutral” systems that produce as much power as they consume. Since fuel cells will be more expensive than standard energy sources for several years, they will require government subsidies. As Joel Makower of green energy consultancy Clean Edge puts it, fuel-cell adoption “has more to do with political will than with technological problems.” Source: Wired.com, John Gartner, 05 May 2004. TERMINATOR 4: DEMISE OF THE MACHINES California officials seeking to ameliorate the state’s persistent smog problems are focusing on a common group of culprits: old machines. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is meeting with business groups, environmentalists, and legislators to develop a plan to rid the state’s roads of old cars, trucks, and buses by offering their owners financial incentives to trade them in. Five percent of California’s vehicles—primarily older models—cause half the state’s vehicle-related air pollution. No means of funding the proposal has been agreed upon yet, but ideas range from a gas tax to increasing vehicle licensing fees. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced a program to offer owners of old, gas-powered lawnmowers who trade them in to be scrapped $300 toward the purchase of an electric mower. According to the agency, a typical gas-powered mower pollutes as much in a year as 43 new cars driven 12,000 miles apiece. Finally, it seems, California’s obsession with youth is doing some good. Sources: Los Angeles Times, Miguel Bustillo, 04 May 2004; The New York Times, Ben Bergman, 05 May 2004. SAVING SOME GREEN Eco-friendly building materials and techniques, once the exclusive province of upper-class enviromentalists, are moving slowly but steadily down the income scale. In cities across the U.S., governments are offering a range of subsidies and tax breaks to developers of low-income housing, encouraging them to use energy-efficient boilers and appliances, fluorescent lights, geothermal heating and cooling wells, air-filtration systems, and other green-building staples. Such features can make a big difference for residents, says Matt Petersen of enviromentalist group Global Green USA: “Energy bills are the second-highest bills that a family faces after rent or mortgage.” In most cases, the subsidies do not cover the price differential between green and standard building, and the cost savings primarily go to residents, not developers, so for now there remains an element of altruism in constructing green low-income housing. Source: The New York Times, Motoko Rich, 06 May 2004 For more environmental news from Grist.com, visit Grist Magazine, “Gloom and doom with a sense of humor,” at www.gristmagazine.com. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
All content and articles copyright ©2004 by Lightworks Inc except where noted. All rights reserved.