Can the Sahara Desert really meet Europe’s voracious appetite for energy? The Desertec solar power project aims to do just that, but a host of obstacles remain. Overly optimistic expectations are now being scaled down as the project starts to take shape. When the sun rises and it’s still hazy over Andalusia, the future is particularly visible. That’s when beams of light as thick as tree trunks and as sharp as lasers slice through the haze. They come together just below the tops of two towers, the taller of which rises 162 meters (531 feet) into the sky, taller than Cologne Cathedral. These light beams are not being emitted by some UFO, but are in fact the core of the most advanced solar power plant in the world. The towers are surrounded by close to 2,000 mirrors that face the sun. Each mirror has a surface area of about 120 square meters (1,290 square feet) and, like flowers, they follow the light, to the sound of a rattling motor that orients them toward receivers up in the towers. The bundled solar energy, which reaches a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius (482 degrees Fahrenheit), strikes steel pipes through which […]
FOR decades the Great Lakes region has seen a slow ebb. Factories have moved abroad or, more insulting, to the South. Residents have fled to sunnier states. But the lakes themselves remain; and while much of America is regularly afflicted by drought, they hold enough water to submerge the entire country. Now the Great Lakes states are reconsidering their main asset. Water, the boosters say, will bring prosperity once more. The first task is to protect the water itself. Environmentalists raise the spectre of Central Asia’s Aral Sea, all but drained by Soviet irrigation projects. Nightmares have been fed by radical plans such as a scheme in the 1990s to ship water to Asia. More insidious threats include climate change and thirsty cities just beyond the Great Lakes Basin-death by 1,000 straws, according to Peter Annin’s ‘The Great Lakes Water Wars. An important protection came in 2008, when George Bush signed the Great Lakes Compact. This agreement bars new diversions beyond the Great Lakes Basin, with few exceptions. Great Lakes states continue to have their own unique water problems, however. Illinois is exempt from the Compact. Since 1900, when engineers reversed the flow of the Chicago river, […]
Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, may be among the world’s most vilified chemicals. The compound, used in manufacturing polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, is found in plastic goggles, face shields, and helmets; baby bottles; protective coatings inside metal food containers; and composites and sealants used in dentistry. As animal studies began to show links between the chemical and breast and prostate cancer, early-onset puberty, and polycystic ovary syndrome, consumer groups pressured manufacturers of reusable plastic containers, like Nalgene, to remove BPA from their products. Warnings went out to avoid microwaving plasticware or putting it in the dishwasher. On May 6th, the President’s Cancer Panel issued a report deploring the rising number of carcinogens released into the environment-including BPA-and calling for much more stringent regulation and wider awareness of their dangers. The panel advised President Obama ‘to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives. Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr., the chairman of the panel, said in a statement, ‘The increasing number of known or suspected environmental carcinogens compels us to action, even though we may […]
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is likely to resist pressure to acknowledge that North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship when he flies to Seoul tomorrow to meet South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Japan’s Yukio Hatoyama. China hasn’t followed South Korea, Japan and the U.S. in blaming North Korea for the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors. Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun yesterday repeated a call for ‘restraint by both sides and said China had no ‘firsthand information on the sinking. China wants to avoid a conflict on the Korean peninsula, and is concerned that taking South Korea’s side may provoke North Korea into further escalations and even lead to war, said Shen Dingli, vice dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Shanghai’s Fudan University. ‘North Korea is dying, and we can make things worse, Shen said. ‘We have assumed North Korea is not a rational actor. China has a big stake in stability in Northeast Asia. Japan and South Korea are China’s third- and fourth-biggest trading partners after the European Union and the U.S., with combined two-way trade reaching $485.1 billion in 2009, Chinese customs […]
SEOUL — North Korea said Tuesday it was severing all ties with South Korea and cutting communications links in protest at claims that it had torpedoed one of Seoul’s warships. The North said it would expel all South Korean personnel from a jointly-run industrial estate at Kaesong north of the border, and ban South Korean ships and planes from its territorial waters and airspace. The state Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said South Korea’s claims that it had sunk the warship were tantamount to a declaration of war. In a statement on the official news agency, it said it was freezing relations and abrogating a non-aggression agreement. The statement further heightened regional tensions sparked by a report last week from a multinational investigation team. The team said there was overwhelming evidence that a North Korean submarine had sunk the South Korean corvette on March 26 with the loss of 46 lives. The US said Pyongyang’s reaction was totally contrary to its self-interest. ‘I think it’s odd,’ State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. ‘South Korea is one of the most dynamic economies in the world… North Korea is unable to care […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
