• home
• About
• Photos
• browse ↓

• « Previous Entries
• Next Entries »

Category

The Environment

• 02.25.07
  Newsbreak: Bush to Sell National Forests? The Environment | (0)

  This is definitely discomforting news, especially since the largest source of carbon capture (carbon sequestration) is forests. Instead of selling forests, we should be adding dozens of trees per person on the planet... Check out this project to develop a forest visible from space in Africa. The Bush administration will unveil a proposal Friday to sell up to 200,000 acres of national forest land in "isolated parcels" ranging from a quarter of an acre to 200 acres, much of it in California. The sale is part of a National Forest Service plan to raise $800 million over the next five years to ...
• 02.17.07
  The Inconvenient Truth about the $25 MM Virgin Prize The Environment | (0)

  On February 9th, 2007, the affable Richard Branson and the former US Vice President Al Gore announced a $25 MM prize for a viable idea that will reduce the growing volume of greenhouse gasses over a ten year period. The buildup of greenhouse gasses is warming the Earth at an alarming rate, which is causing severe floods, droughts, storms, and species extinction. The goal of this “Virgin Earth Challenge” is to focus public attention on solving the root cause of global warming: the continuing and unrelenting growth of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Will the “Virgin Earth Challenge” succeed? Well, to ...
• 02.16.07
  100 MPG & Pretty Dang Cool The Environment | (0)

  In the war of the machines, a new breed of cleaner, faster, and smarter cars is coming to the market and ready to destroy their older, dirtier, and less efficient Detroit counterparts. There is the Tesla Roadster, which looks like an electrified Porsche. Then, there are the ominous three wheel machines that remind you of some frankenstein driving monster that your mother would reprimand you for owning. One of these new "threebies" or "thrycycles" has a pretty innovative driving design: it rotates on axis to hug the road. The "VentureOne" moves with you to get 100 MPG in hybrid mode. Best ...
• 02.08.07
  $25 MM Virgin Earth Challenge Announcement The Environment | (1)

  Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore Announce The Virgin Earth Challenge a $25 MM Global Science and Technology Prize This is republished from The Virgin Earth Challenge site. To encourage a viable technology which will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects. Today, Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore announced the setting up of a new Global science and technology prize – The Virgin Earth Challenge – in the belief that history has shown that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for the good of mankind. The ...
• 12.16.06
  Learn It: Carbon Sequestration The Environment | (1)

  The phrase of our generation will be "Carbon Sequestration," which is the means by which human beings and nature eliminate carbon from the atmosphere. Whether you believe in Global Warming, Global Dimming, or any other variant of the eco-theory du jour, the fact remains that CO2 levels have risen from preindustrial levels of 280 parts per million (ppm) to present levels of 375 ppm. We are smart enough to see the imbalance, so we should be smart enough to remedy the situation. What can be done? Well, as it turns out, young and growing trees are an excellent source of carbon sequestration, ...
• 12.16.06
  Hydrogen “No Go”? The Environment | (0)

  A Hydrogen based energy economy is the future, right? Probably not. Some recent research estimates that just 75% of energy is wasted in a Hydrogen energy economy. The large amount of energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds (water, natural gas, biomass), package the light gas by compression or liquefaction, transfer the energy carrier to the user, plus the energy lost when it is converted to useful electricity with fuel cells, leaves around 25% for practical use — an unacceptable value to run an economy in a sustainable future. Only niche applications like submarines and spacecraft might use hydrogen.Why a hydrogen ...
• 12.06.06
  World Record in Solar Technology The Environment | (0)

  A solar cell developed by Boeing-Spectrolab has achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7%. This is in contrast to the 12% efficiency common in current solar cells. This should eventually lead to solar systems that produce electricity at $0.08 to $0.10 per kilowatt/hour. The cost per kilowatt/hour of coal is between $0.045 and $0.157 with an average of $0.076 in the United States. Solar may be cheaper than coal sooner than you think... Wow! - Department of Energy - New World Record in Solar - Solar America Initiative - Wikipedia - Solar Cell - Coal Education.org - Cost per Kilowatt/Hour
• 11.27.06
  Clean Coal? The Environment | (0)

  There are two environmental by-products of burning coal: acid rain and carbon dioxide. Burning coal produces about 9 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year which is released to the atmosphere, about 70% of this being from power generation. Other estimates put carbon dioxide emissions from power generation at one third of the world total of over 25 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions. - Uranium Information Center The reality is that coal is a prominent natural resource for many parts of the world. The good news is that there is the National Energy Technology Laboratory in the Department of Energy with a roadmap ...
• 11.25.06
  Change the World… The Environment | (1)

  So, how would you change the world? I heard a great and simple answer: "I switched all my lights last week to fluorescent bulbs. Imagine if everyone did that?" Approximately 20% of electricity use goes towards lighting, and certain fluorescent bulbs save over 50% of the power consumed by their incandescent counterparts, in some cases as high as 70%. Here is a 100w bulb for $7.60, though there better deals on the market! Order them today for when your next incandescent bulb dies. Be prepared! Don't be shy... Add some of your own thoughts in the commentary!
• 11.24.06
  Stats: Global Freshwater Use The Environment | (0)

  The media would lead you to believe that fossil fuel is the next resource in short supply. Well, some smart people are also pointing to resource constraints in our global water supply. Population growth, agriculture, and waste are driving up "withdrawal" of fresh water from sources faster than they are replenished, all to fuel growing "consumption." The interesting thing is that biodiesel or ethanol fuel production may actually worsen our global water crisis, unless we can harvest seaweed (of course). Choose between your car or drinking water... Which is it? Thank you to the United Nations Environment Programme for these great charts!

• « Previous Entries
• Next Entries »

recent posts

• The VC Model is Broken
• Los Angeles & TheFunded
• Tesla Party Photos
• Prizes to Change the World
• Speaking at TMT.Ventures`08 in Zagreb, Croatia
• In the News…
• Why I Did Games.