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POPSBiofuels Breakthrough: Making Fuel From Air With Engineered Microbes Although the process sounds similar to algae-produced biofuels, the Joule process is incredibly (and beneficially) different for several reasons: * Doesn’t produce biomass * No agricultural feedstock needed * Can be conducted on non-arable land * Doesn’t need fresh water * Produces fuel directly without the need for extraction or refinement Apparently Joule has discovered some unique genes inside these microbes that produce the enzymes responsible for directly making the molecules found in diesel. From there, engineering organisms to make other fuels was a simple step. At this point, production of the fuels has only been done in the lab, but Joule has plans to open a pilot plant in early 2011.
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POPSOrganic Waste Ethanol Cellulosic ethanol is an exciting technology which promises to convert the abundant sources of organic waste worldwide (kitchen waste, yard waste, paper industry waste, etc.) into green alternative fuel. Unlike traditional ethanol, it won't use food crops or raise food prices. In addition, environmental impact studies have indicated that while traditional ethanol releases more greenhouse gases than burning fossil fuels, cellulosic ethanol could reduce emissions
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POPSBombing the Moon Gives A New Meaning to Lunatics So how much does a metaphor weigh? A lot more than NASA thinks. The first man on the moon wasn't an American or a Russian, it was The Man in the Moon we all saw when we were kids, and somebody older showed him to us. That's the first man on the moon, her permanent resident, and now he's got a NASA rocket at his backside... They used to call the mentally ill lunatics. But now I wonder who the real lunatics are. And if there is water on the moon, what are we going to do with it? Grow moon-corn for ethanol until we kill the Earth? Such a great article it touched something, it really touched something more beautiful than finding water on the moon.
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POPSOdds Favor Drunk Trauma Victims A study in the journal American Surgeon finds that trauma victims who were inebriated at the time of their injury have higher survival rates than their sober counterparts.
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POPSNext Stop - The Dead Zone Grows and Grows You know there is a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, south of New Orleans, right? You didn't even more reason to read this. But the harsh news is that one of the only ways to reduce its growth, it to use less fuel, walk more, drive less. Pretty harsh? Climate change and clean up is not going to be easy - did you think?
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POPSUnderstanding Government Subsidies There are many people who will rally behind "socialized" oil, but read on: Hidden Oil Subsidies The real price of gasoline is what people actually pay for it, not just what they pay for it at the pump. That might seem subtle, but there's a big difference. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think-thank, did a study on the subject. What they found is simply mind-boggling. They calculated that the US spent between $30 to $60 billion (with a 'b') a year safeguarding oil supplies in the Middle East during the 1990s, even though its imports from that region totaled only about $10 billion a year during that period. A more comprehensive study that includes the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and other oil protection services (the coast guard is clearing shipping lanes and doing navigational support to oil tankers, etc) shows that actual subsidies to Big Oil are between $78 to $158 billion (again, with a 'b') per year.
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POPShow to build a solar panel watt yourself Guide showing you how to build a working solar power system for under $200. You can use this to power things like lights, laptops, TVs and basically anything you have in your home. This one is also great for camping as it is very portable.
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POPSCapping Our Economy & Trading Our Jobs To China&Co. 219-212 HOUSE PASSES 'GLOBAL WARMING' LEGISLATION... 'BILL OF THE CENTURY' VOTED ON UNREAD... Boehner Tried 'Filibuster'... 300 PAGE DUMP AT 3AM-- REPUBLICANS CRY FOUL... One of the biggest compromises involved the near total elimination of an administration plan to sell pollution permits and raise more than $600 billion over a decade " money to finance continuation of a middle class tax cut. About 85 percent of the permits are to be given away rather than sold in a ceoncession to energy companies and their allies in the House " and even that is uncertain to survive in the Senate. The final bill also contained concessions to satisfy farm-state lawmakers, ethanol producers, hydroelectric advocates, the nuclear industry and others, some of them so late that they were not made public until 3 a.m. on Friday. Supporters and opponents agreed the result would be higher energy costs but disagreed vigorously on the impact on consumers.
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POPSBiofuels Bad for the Environment (Feb 08) The last line is especially noteworthy: we know less than we think we do about these matters. We therefore risk unintended consequences that could make things worse rather than better.
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