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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (7783)	6/5/2008 10:32:52 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24213

News dump; cuz it is bedtime, and somebody kindly stuck them all in one post at TOD Drought 'to be biggest world risk' A catastrophic water shortage could prove an even bigger threat to mankind this century than soaring food prices and the relentless exhaustion of energy reserves, according to a panel of global experts at the Goldman Sachs "Top Five Risks" conference. telegraph.co.uk. Fungus Improves the Efficiency of Ethanol Processing Growing a fungus in some of the leftovers from ethanol production can save energy, recycle more water and improve the livestock feed that is a co-product of fuel production, according to a team of researchers from Iowa State University and the University of Hawai'i. renewableenergyworld.com Electric Cars for 2010 With oil prices rocketing past $130 per barrel, a growing number of vehicle makers are planning to offer electric vehicles by 2010. Zero gasoline will be used. Over 40,000 electric vehicles (EV) are currently used in the United States. Most are used in fleet applications, from maintenance to checking parking meters; these EVs are mostly limited to 25 mph speed and 20 mile range. A growing number of fleet EVs, however, are early trails of a new generation of freeway-speed EVs that will be available to the mass consumer market in 2010. cleantechblog.com Inflatable electric car can drive off cliffs It's hard to say what the most intriguing thing about XP Vehicles' inflatable car is. Maybe it's that the car can travel for up to 2,500 miles on a single electric charge (the distance across the US is roughly 3,000 miles). Or maybe it's the fact that you buy the car online, it gets shipped to you in two cardboard boxes, and the estimated assembly time is less than two hours. Perhaps it's that the car is made out of "airbags" - the same polymer materials used to cushion NASA's rovers when they landed on Mars. Then again, it could be the company's claim that you can drive the car off a cliff without serious injury, and that it will float in a flood or tsunami. physorg.com Airbus maker pledges green planes by 2020 The manufacturer of the A380 superjumbo has pledged to produce greener planes powered by radical "step change" technology before 2020 in response to airline clamour for more fuel-efficient aircraft. Airbus said it would produce planes powered by "emerging technology" by the end of the next decade, as the high oil price becomes a bigger driver for change than the environmental debate. guardian.co.uk The first of many times where fuel costs are going to trump environmental concerns? I sense a shift in the wind. Nuclear questions for Lovins What should I ask the efficiency guru about nuclear power? Amory Lovins is on the warpath against nuclear power, battling the industry PR push that says nuclear is a viable climate solution. gristmill.grist.org Energy firm offers deal to start nuclear clean-up Energysolutions and its partner Toshiba have offered to kick start the UK's stalled nuclear clean-up programme - in return for being given the sites to build a new fleet of reactors. guardian.co.uk. How Compressed Air Could Power the Future Wind power is unreliable. No one can turn up the wind every time electricity demand peaks. So some utilities are looking at ways to bottle up the wind's energy and store it underground for later use. "The wind blows a lot at 2 in the morning, so it makes sense to save it and use it at 5 in the afternoon when everyone comes home from work," news.yahoo.com. Cost of Solar Panels Expected To Plummet Solar photovoltaics have their challenges, from shortages of silicon to the sheer cost of purchasing and installing solar panels, but a new report from the Prometheus Institute says that both these problems will be addressed over the next few years, leading to cheaper solar and an abundance of capacity to produce. ecogeek.org From the NYT this morning: Continental Cuts 3,000 Jobs as It Grounds Planes “The airline industry is in a crisis,” the two executives said in the message to employees. “Its business model doesn’t work with the current price of fuel and the existing level of capacity in the marketplace. We need to make changes in response.”... Continental said that at current prices for jet fuel, it would pay $2.3 billion more than in 2007 — or about $50,000 per employee. It said “a large number” of its flights are losing money, and that fare increases have not been enough to cover the rising cost of fuel.