Green Energy News Items-02/14/2008
Biofuel demand leading to human rights abuses, report claims
According to a group of international environmental groups, human rights abuses should be added to the toll that producing palm oil and other biofuels wreaks on the countries where it is being encouraged. They ask that politicians from European nations reject proposed targets for expanding biofuel use and instead turn to more earth-friendly renewable energies. As Jessica Allred reports in the Guardian of 2/11, here’s one more reason not to jump on the biofuels bandwagon without studying the ramifications.
10 Gigantic Solar-Powered Projects
From a 1,000 year old British castle to a recently completed skyscraper in New York City’s Time Square to solar “fields” in Germany and Spain, solar power projects are powering homes and businesses and reducing CO2 emissions. One reason for this explosion in solar projects is the increased efficiency of solar cells and panels. They’re thinner, less expensive and don’t all depend on silicon.
While most of the projects use conventional solar panels, some of them, including a house that is powered with a hybrid solar/hydrogen system, are driven by cutting-edge technology.One project, The Girassol Project, in Portugal, will have over 150,000 solar panels in both fixed and heliotracking positions. Girassol mean “sunflower” in Portugese. Lisa Zyga’s article at Inventor Spot is here.
Age of Green Economics Is Upon Us: U.N.
The Industrial Revolution with its shift to mechanization and greater productivity caused perhaps the most enormous change the world of humans had ever experienced, greater even than the recent Technology Revolution. According to Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon, we’re poised for a Green Revolution which will rival and maybe even surpass it.
Global investment in green energy will probably reach $1.9 trillion by 2020, an enormous outlay of funds and a sure sign that there has been a shift in global acceptance of the possibilities of green technology. Alternative energy investment in wind and solar is a major part of that investment. Many in the green energy movement are asking for greater cooperation and global agreement according to Andy Stern’s Reuters report of February 7th.
Battling the Cold With New Air-Source Heat Pump
For those of us who live in cold climates, heat pumps aren’t considered very practical. Better suited to warmer areas where they are used as air conditioners and take the place of furnaces, heat pumps are considered add-ons or supplementary heaters if they’re used at all in the northern latitudes.
But Hallowell International’s Duane Hallowell wasn’t willing to accept that and has built a unit that is three times more efficient than resistance heating, requires no digging, and can operate in temperatures as low as 30 below! His Maine company produces the Acadia heat pump, which Tyler Hamilton of the Toronto Star says is a promising alternative to natural gas and other fossil fuel technologies.
Genuine Progress Indicator From “Redefining Progress”
In the United States, the Gross Domestic Product is considered an indicator of how well the country is doing financially and socially. Basically, the GDP defines progress as “how much the nation is spending.” This would be all well and good if spending and buying were the only things that indicate progress or social well-being, but they’re not.
This is why “Redefining Progress” has come up with its own term for the tool they use to determine the nation’s financial and social condition. They call it the “Genuine Progress Indicator” and they’ve used it to generate this GPI Report based on some of the same indicators that the US government uses, and some things that perhaps the government should consider in its next report.