Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Trump Outlines ‘America First’ Energy Plan: Coal, Oil, Gas
May 26th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Ok. Well. Here we go. Solar and wind are already cheaper in some markets than coal and they are just getting started. Even in a place like New Zealand, with maximum hostility toward solar, the number of installations keep doubling. The same sort of doubling […]
Lake Mead Declines to Lowest Level in History
May 20th, 2016Via: Desert Sun: The nation’s largest reservoir has broken a record, declining to the lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s. Lake Mead reached the new all-time low on Wednesday night, slipping below a previous record set in June 2015.
The Coming Wide-Spread Use of Drones in Agriculture
May 10th, 2016Via: Hackaday: Let’s cover what drones can offer and what growers can use, then dig into what is out there and happening over some fields right now. These Things are Important to Farmers, but are Limited or Troublesome Confirmation: Verifying that plants are growing where and when they should, and checking this as early and […]
Not a Typo: Chinese Company Pays NZ$526 for 146 Million Litres of Water a Year… In a Drought Zone
April 27th, 2016I like to think of NZ as a sort of remote, limited bandwidth version of a Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong franchise: Via: Radio NZ: A veritable drop in the ocean. No, we’re talking about fresh water. Forget it, Nick. This is Chinatown. Pardon? Nothing.
Prescription Meds Get Trapped in Disturbing Pee-to-Food-to-Pee Loop
April 24th, 2016Via: Ars Technica: If you love something, set it free… so the old adage goes. Well, if the things you love are pharmaceuticals, then you’re in luck. Through vegetables and fruits, the drugs that we flush down the drain are returning to us—though we’ll ultimately pee them out again. (Love is complicated, after all) In […]
Norway’s $860 Billion Fund Drops 52 Companies Linked to Coal
April 17th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Norway’s $860 billion sovereign wealth fund unveiled the first list of miners and power producers to be excluded from its portfolio following a ban on coal investments. The 52 companies being barred include American Electric Power Co. Inc., China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd., Whitehaven Coal Ltd., Tata Power Co. and Peabody Energy Corp., […]
Japan Prepares for Release of Tritium from Fukushima Plant
April 12th, 2016Via: Japan Today: To dump or not to dump a little-discussed substance is the question brewing in Japan as it grapples with the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima five years ago. The substance is tritium. The radioactive material is nearly impossible to remove from the huge quantities of water used to cool melted-down […]
Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
April 6th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Bloomberg: Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable. While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as […]
Dutch Government Considering Only Allowing Electric Vehicle Sales Starting in 2025
April 3rd, 2016I’d like to see people buying EVs, but not because that’s their only choice. I’m guessing that by 2025, electric vehicles will not only outperform gas models in every metric, they will be cheaper to buy, operate, maintain and insure. No maniac nanny state legislation necessary. Via: Electrek: After India evaluating a scheme for all […]
New Zealand: Council in Drought Prone Canterbury Consents to Foreign Company Extracting 40 Billion Litres of Water
April 3rd, 2016Meanwhile, west of Whangarei, Golden Bay and Hastings… Now that the New Zealand milk bubble has busted: How about water? Via: Stuff: A council in the drought-prone Canterbury plains is selling the right to extract 40 billion litres of pure, artesian water to a bottled water supplier. The Ashburton District Council is selling a section […]
