Archive for the 'Energy' Category
MIT Thermoelectric Bracelet: “Personalized, Dynamic Climate Control”
October 31st, 2013Via: Wired: Wristify, as they call their device, is a thermoelectric bracelet that regulates the temperature of the person wearing it by subjecting their skin to alternating pulses of hot or cold, depending on what’s needed.
People Who Live Downwind of Alberta’s Oil and Tar Sands Operations Are Getting Blood Cancer
October 30th, 2013Via: Think Progress: A new study has found that levels of air pollution downwind of the largest tar sands, oil and gas producing region in Canada rival levels found in the world’s most polluted cities. And that pollution isn’t just dirtying the air — it also could be tied increased incidence of blood cancers in […]
Another Google Barge Spotted on East Coast
October 29th, 2013If there was a list of Cryptogon axioms, #1 would probably be: No collapse due to energy scarcity. I’ve gone into why for many years, so feel free to look through the archives. Terawatts of untapped energy are just swirling around out there in the oceans, waiting to turn the gears of fascism. It was […]
Electric Utility Executives Worry About Solar Panels
October 28th, 2013Via: San Francisco Chronicle: Sitting on a rooftop, soaking up sun, the humble solar panel may not look like a threat to a multibillion-dollar industry. But some electric utility executives say it is. They even have a name for the nightmare scenario solar could create – the “death spiral.” They fear solar’s rapid spread across […]
China: ‘Unprecedented’ Policy Changes Ahead
October 28th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: Chinese Politburo member Yu Zhengsheng said reforms to be discussed at a Communist Party meeting next month will be unprecedented, adding to signs that leaders are resolved to spur far-reaching policy changes. Yu’s comments, made in a speech at a forum to promote relations with Taiwan, were reported by the official Xinhua News […]
Is Google Building a Large Floating Data Center in San Francisco Bay?
October 26th, 2013It’s made out of shipping containers and will possibly harness the motion of waves to generate electricity. Great reporting, Cnet! Via: Cnet: Something big and mysterious is rising from a floating barge at the end of Treasure Island, a former Navy base in the middle of San Francisco Bay. And Google’s fingerprints are all over […]
Help Wanted in Fukushima: Low Pay, High Risks and Gangsters
October 25th, 2013Via: Reuters: Tetsuya Hayashi went to Fukushima to take a job at ground zero of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He lasted less than two weeks. Hayashi, 41, says he was recruited for a job monitoring the radiation exposure of workers leaving the plant in the summer of 2012. Instead, when he turned up […]
Fukushima Readies for Dangerous Operation to Remove 400 Tons of Spent Fuel
October 24th, 2013Via: Russia Today: Fukushima operator TEPCO is getting ready for its toughest and the most dangerous clean-up operation. In November it will try to remove 400 tons of spent fuel from plant’s Reactor No. 4. But even a little mistake may result in a new nuclear disaster. The operation is scheduled to start in the […]
Saudi Arabia Set for Diplomatic Shift Away from U.S.
October 23rd, 2013Via: Guardian: Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has said the kingdom will make a “major shift” in dealings with the US in protest at perceived American inaction over the Syria war and its overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday. The source said that Prince Bandar bin Sultan had told European […]
The Sixth Stage of Collapse
October 23rd, 2013Dmitry We’re-Fucked-No-Matter-What Orlov outlines how the light at the end of the civilization tunnel is the train. Via: Club Orlov: A solution for avoiding the sixth stage must be found, but I don’t know what that solution would look like. I do find it unsafe to blithely assume that collapse will simply take care of […]
