To hear proponents talk about Thorium reactors, you would think that Thorium is the energy panacea for which we have been searching. This readily found element can be used to create nuclear reactors that are walk-away safe, with waste that has a much shorter half life and should be easier to dispose of. Current, nuclear reactors need multiple redundant systems and can blow up as we’ve seen with Fukishima. Thorium reactors won’t blow up and don’t need the multiple redundant systems. If they are so great why are we still using Uranium reactors?
Technology for a greener future
Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
Rather than a tax credit, Obama proposes a $10,000 rebate on the sale of EVs
President Obama’s latest budget holds a welcome nugget for people thinking about purchasing a green tech vehicle like an electric vehicle (EV). Rather than the current $7,500 tax credit currently in place for purchasers of environmentally friendly cars, you would get $10,000 knocked off the price of an electric vehicle when you actually purchase it, not when you file your taxes. This is good news for EV manufacturers as well as consumers.
UK’s easyJet will be the first airline to test electric taxiing system
Safran and Honeywell have designed an electric green taxiing system or EGTS that allows jets to taxi on the ground without having to use their engines. Instead the planes would use electric motors attached to each wheel and run by the plane’s auxiliary power unit. The electrical system should provide better maneuvering control to pilots when docking at a gate and should save four percent of energy costs.
California’s new efficiency standards would do away with battery charger vampire draw
The California Energy Commission has created new standards for battery chargers that would go into effect in February of 2013. The new chargers would contain technology that would shut the charger off once a gadget was fully charged, reducing wasted energy. That wasted energy is sometimes referred to as vampire draw.
A French company proposes turning the Eiffel Tower into a vertical garden
Built in 1889 for the World Exhibition, the Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognizable structures of Paris, France. It is frequently used in movies to let audiences know that particular scene takes place in Paris. It is a 984 foot tall iron structure that could become a green vertical garden if one French firm has its way.
Congress stops enforcement of new light bulb standards hurting American manufacturers
You have to love it. Congress in all of its wisdom decided to postpone the enforcement of the new 100 W light bulb standards until next September. The legislation was passed in 2007 and signed into law by President George W. Bush. American light bulb manufacturers supported the legislation and have spent millions on new equipment to produce light bulbs that will meet the new standards. Congresses ban on enforcement opens the door for inferior foreign light bulbs to make a huge killing over the next nine months.
Governments keep playing with HOV carpool lanes
High occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes were created to encourage more environmentally friendly travel. The idea was that if you car pool (carry one or more passengers) with you, then you can have access to a special lane to escape traffic congestion. In some places, people driving green cars (hybrids or electric vehicles (EVs)) could travel in the HOV lane even without passengers. Lately, HOV rules have changed slowing things down.
Enviromissions solar tower will power 100,000 homes
When thinking of solar power most people envision either photovoltaic cells that turn sunlight to electricity or they might think of solar thermal where mirrors reflect solar heat onto a water filled tower, boiling the water which turns a turbine which creates electricity. Enviromission uses hot air created by suns heat to turn turbines creating power.
Let’s talk about ecological deficit spending
The United States Congress has decided that we must stop our practice of deficit spending, creating debts so huge that we in essence bankrupt ourselves. Meanwhile we fall further and further into ecological debt.
Japan plans renewable energy resurgence
Every cloud has a silver lining, every disaster an opportunity. The devastation in parts of Japan as a result of the earthquake and tsunami six months ago is now ushering in a new age of renewable energy.