Stephan: Yet another creative variant of solar. Japan is a country where only 11.65% of the land is really suitable for agriculture. They don't have the land to spare for big installations. Particularly with the loss of the Fukushima area, a loss that was both physical and psychological. Solution: take solar to sea.
Japanese floating solar panel installation
Unlike coal-fired plants, solar power stations don’t produce smog but they do take up land. Or, at least they did.
In Japan’s Hyogo prefecture, a solar station was recently launched that floats on a reservoir and will produce about 2,680 megawatt hours per year—enough for 820 typical households. Kyocera plans to build dozens of such stations on reservoirs around Japan, especially in areas lacking available land for utility-scale generation.
With construction completed in late May and operations begun this week, the new installation measures 333 by 77 meters (1,093 by 253 ft) and will sell the energy it produces to Kansai Electric Power in Osaka for about ¥96 million ($780,000) annually, according to the Japan Times. Helpful, as Japan’s energy strategy in the aftermath of Fukushima calls for roughly doubling the amount of renewable power sources in the country by 2030.
It employs nearly 9,100 waterproof solar panels and a float made of high-density polyethylene. It’s Kyocera’s third such installation, the first […]
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Philip Ball, - BBC News (U.K.)
Stephan: Here is another electricity generating technology I first covered in SR about 11 years ago. It made a splash at the time then disappeared. Now it has come back, and it has fascinating implications. This is yet another example of what happens where carbon energy is no longer thought of as the only way.
It is perhaps one of the most under-exploited sources of green energy. When salt water and fresh water mix in estuaries, a chemical process occurs that can be harnessed for electricity generation.
According to one estimate, this “blue energy” is so plentiful that it could meet all our needs – if we can find an effective way to tap it. Could ‘blue’ be the new green?
Blue energy was first proposed in 1954 by a British engineer named R E Pattle. It is sometimes called “osmotic power”, because it exploits the phenomenon of osmosis. To understand how this works, picture two solutions of water with different concentrations of a dissolved substance like salt. If these two solutions are separated by a thin “semi-permeable” membrane that lets water through but not salt ions, then water will naturally pass from the less- to the more-salty side. The flow of water across the membrane builds up pressure on one side that can be used to drive turbines and generate power.
It wasn’t possible to exploit Pattle’s idea for power generation until the 1970s. That’s when artificial materials for making semi-permeable membranes became commercially available. An […]
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Laura Gottesdiener, - Salon
Stephan: Here is what another Republican governor following the Red value playbook has done to his state, in this case Michigan. I find it fascinating that virtually no one in corporate media sees, or wants to see, the elephant in the room -- the social outcome data of states run on Red values, as compared to those run on Blue values.
The difference has become so glaring it cannot be ignored, or considered a fluke. Consistently Red value policies have proven destructive of wellness and notably inferior. It's way beyond debating. Look at Wisconsin compared with Minnesota. California compared with Kansas.
Republican governor of Michigan Rick Snyder.
Something is rotten in the state of Michigan.
One city neglected to inform its residents that its water supply was laced with cancerous chemicals. Another dissolved its public school district and replaced it with a charter school system, only to witness the for-profit management company it hired flee the scene after determining it couldn’t turn a profit. Numerous cities and school districts in the state are now run by single, state-appointed technocrats, as permitted under an emergency financial manager law pushed through by Rick Snyder, Michigan’s austerity-promoting governor. This legislation not only strips residents of their local voting rights, but gives Snyder’s appointee the power to do just about anything, including dissolving the city itself — all (no matter how disastrous) in the name of “fiscal responsibility.”
If you’re thinking, “Who cares?” since what happens in Michigan stays in Michigan, think again. The state’s aggressive balance-the-books style of governance has already spread beyond its borders. In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed bankruptcy lawyer […]
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Stephan: Here is a new research insight about dogs that will confirm what many of you, including myself, have observed about the loyalty of dogs.
Dogs may be man’s best friend — but not if that man is mean to their owner.
Japanese researchers learned that dogs don’t like people who behave negatively towards their owner and may not even accept treats from them when offered. That ability to co-operate socially is seen in very few species, like humans and select primates.
For the study researchers at Kyoto University tested three groups of 18 dogs. In the first group, the dog’s owner asked a complete stranger for help opening a box, but the stranger would refuse. In the second group, the dog’s owner would ask a stranger for help, and the stranger would assist him. Then in the third group, the owner opened the box himself without seeking the help of the stranger. In all three groups there was also a second stranger present who remained neutral.
After the dogs witnessed these scenes, they were offered treats by the two strangers. Dogs who saw their owners helped or not interact with the strangers showed no preference. But dogs who saw their owners snubbed by strangers were much […]
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Katie McDonough, Politics Writer - Salon
Stephan: According to the Pew Research Center, "A
Pew survey conducted in February found that 37% of households had an adult who owned a gun — 24% said they owned a gun, and 13% said someone else in their household did." Most of these people who own guns are perfectly safe, although those families are far more likely to experience a gun injury or death involving a family member. There is a measurable risk to having a gun in the house or on your person.
I have been a gun owner, indeed the owner of multiple guns. From 12, when I got my first .22, to 22, guns were a significant part of my life. Hunting never interested me but mastering the precision of shooting targets in all their forms at a high success rate I found very satisfying. I can only speak for boys: Guns are very cool to handle. And Hoppe's No.9 has a scent that for some is as seductive as Channel No. 5. Then I got drafted during the Viet Nam years and became a medic.
I came out of the Army sold several very fine shotguns made for Trap and Skeet, and threw the rest of my guns into the ocean. I believed then, and now, that people should be able to own guns. I just don't have any interest in owning one. But I accept the principle.
The second amendment is important. But the Founders never had any idea of creating a system supporting unlimited, and unregulated ownership of all firearms. No one can read a biography of Benjamin Franklin and have any doubt that he would be appalled at the situation that exists today. The ownership of guns must be regulated just as a driver's license.
As a society we are insane about guns. Our behavior is irrational and anti-life, destructive of wellness. Here is a good description of the case.
And the irony is that its not really about guns. The gun argument is really a small group of excessively fearful people, aided and abetted by corporations that make profit from any aspect of the the civilian arms industry. The one feels the government is not to be trusted, and that they are under threat. The other profits from those fears.
And, as this report describes, we now have the data to compare the social outcomes of regulated and unregulated arms policies. Here is what mean. And you can click through to get the Pew Report itself.
National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks on the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland March 15, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
A law requiring people to apply for a permit before buying a handgun helped Connecticut quietly reduce its firearm-related homicide rate by 40 percent, according to a new study out from Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. And this week, announced in conjunction with the research, lawmakers from Connecticut introduced a measure to encourage other states to adopt their own permit programs.
Connecticut’s “permit to purchase” law, in effect for two decades, requires residents to undergo background checks, complete a safety course and apply in-person for a permit before they can buy a handgun. The law applies to both private sellers and licensed gun dealers.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins reviewed the homicide rate in the 10 years before the […]
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