A SolarCity employee installs a solar panel. Photo by Bloomberg—Getty Images

Solar panel shortages follows years of high inventories, which have pushed prices down and encouraged installations.

The solar industry is bracing for a global drought in photovoltaic panels after a series of high supply years that pushed prices to all-time lows and encouraged installations.

Solar panel adoption is supposed to increase as much as 29% this year, which has top manufacturers and installers anticipating a drop in availability of panels. This would be the first such shortage since 2006 when the nascent solar energy industry was just taking hold, reported Bloomberg News.

Eight years ago, only about 1.5 gigawatts of solar energy capacity was installed. This year as much as 52 gigawatts is expected to be hooked up and another 61 gigawatts in 2015, according to estimates by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

That is compared with about 70 gigawatts of production capacity currently available, though that estimate could be high since some manufacturers’ equipment is out of date or obsolete.

The […]

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(Credit: Debra Sweet)

It was right before the 2008 elections that I found myself, almost by accident, talking to a friend’s mother about abortion and reproductive rights. She said she considered herself conservative on most issues and reliably voted for Republican candidates, but when John McCain’s record on abortion came up she remarked, ‘Who am I to make that decision for someone else? It’s not my business if someone gets an abortion.”

There are lots of people in this country who feel the same way, according to a new poll from NARAL Pro-Choice America. According to the national poll, nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t want to see more abortion restrictions enacted because they don’t want the government making that decision for anyone. The poll used a series of nuanced questions to collect the data, leaving more room for people to express their views beyond ‘pro-choice” and ‘pro-life.” Respondents were asked to select which of the following statements ‘came closest” to their own view: ‘I believe having an abortion is morally acceptable and should […]

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http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/08/how-defense-industry-made-room-militarized-police-today

The Ferguson, Missouri, police department’s display of armored cars, officers in riot gear, and assault rifles over the past week shocked Americans who didn’t realize how much military equipment is now available to local police departments. But since the 1990’s, more than 8,000 federal, state, tribal, and local police agencies across the country have armed themselves with the military’s excess gear, free of charge. The inventory includes everything from office furniture and first aid kits to aircraft, armored cars, rifles and bayonets, according to the Defense Logistics Agency, the Department of Defense office that manages the transactions under an initiative called Program 1033.

In June, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) introduced an amendment to de-fund aspects of the program. Grayson’s bill would have exempted certain military equipment, including planes and armored cars, from Program 1033. That effort failed; just 62 members of the House of Representatives voted for the measure, with 355 voting no. Maybe the outcome shouldn’t have been a surprise: According to a new analysis of campaign finance data, the politicians who voted against […]

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Americans of all stripes oppose the militarization of U.S. police forces.

For example:

A December 2013 Reason-Rupe poll found that 58% of Americans thought that police militarization has gone too far

A new Pew research poll shows that a plurality of people think that the police have gone too far in Ferguson, Missouri

So why does Congress continue to approve militarization? For the same reason that Congress members vote for NSA spying on Americans and go easy on Wall Street criminals: money.

Maplight reports that congress critters opposing Congressman Grayson’s bill to demilitarize police receive 73% more money than those voting for it:

International Business Times explains:

The group’s new report looked at a June congressional vote on legislation, offered by U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., that would have blocked the Pentagon from spending resources on transferring military hardware to local police agencies. The bill was defeated 62-355.

According to data compiled by Maplight, the lawmakers ‘voting to continue funding the 1033 Program have received, on average, 73 percent more money from the defense industry than representatives voting to defund it.” In all, the average lawmaker voting […]

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People stop to look at San Francisco’s famed Painted Ladies victorian houses on February 18, 2014 in San Francisco, California (AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan)

PARIS, FRANCE — Ever felt like your neighbour’s antics could drive you to an early grave?

Well, there may be reason for concern, said researchers who reported a link Tuesday between having good neighbours and a healthier heart.

“Having good neighbours and feeling connected to others in the local community may help to curb an individual’s heart attack risk,” said a statement that accompanied a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Heart and blood vessel diseases are the number one cause of death globally, claiming some 15 million lives in 2010, according to the latest Global Burden of Disease study.

Research into neighbourhoods and health had in the past focused on negative impacts through factors like fast-food restaurant density, violence, noise, traffic, poor air quality, vandalism and drug use, said the study authors.

For the latest research, the University of Michigan team used data from 5,276 people over 50 with no […]

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