Blog

After the success of appliance rebate programs in other states, Massachusetts is giving the cash for clunkers idea a go. The state will launch its own rebate program on Earth day, April 22, in a bid to get consumers to trade in energy draining appliances for more efficient models. Similar programs in Illinois and Florida were so popular, consumers drained the allotted budgets for the rebates in 11 hours in Illinois and in Florida’s case, about two days.

Masschusetts has $6.6 million in federal stimulus funds to play with. Rebate seekers can check out a list of refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers and freezers on an official Web site for the program. Part of the deal stipulates that consumers must submit a copy of a delivery document howing that their old model was hauled away and the new one was installed in order to receive their rebate check.

The state Department of Energy Resources estimates that 27,000 older appliances will be taken out of service through the program, says the Boston Herald, ultimately saving 2.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power 340 households for a year.

Mass. to launch appliance rebate program this week [Boston Herald]

Hey guys!  Jerry here and talking about a great free app called Where.  Where may be familiar to you, it’s a cross platform app, but the Android version rocks!  Our own Jared turned me on to this app and I can’t thank him enough.

Where is a location aware application that helps you find out what’s happening Where you are.  Anything from the local pizza joint, the ever popular gas price finder, movies, local news and happenings, Where has it all bundled together in one app and really does a great job with it.  We have a video walk through after the break, have a look and see if  Where is something you might like to try.  I think you will, and it’s free. (Note: Phil couldn’t get Where thanks to what appears to be an AT&T blockage. Consider yourselves warned.)

read more

The Optoma 1080p HD20 earned Bestmodo marks from us last year, but how well would the company’s chops translate into the “gaming” space? Later this year, when the Game Time 720 (GT720) arrives, we should be able to tell you. More »

South African Managing Director for HTC has told PhoneReport.info that they are planning to introduce handsets with full 1080p video recording and 5.1 surround sound in the second half of 2011.

Quinton Leigh, Managing Director for HTC explained while Full HD recording will only be available some time next year, 5.1 surround sound playback via a Yamaha chip solution should be available before this.

Further upgrades planned for handsets include HSDPA+ support, which allows 14.4mbps downloads, and should be available by the third quarter of this year.

Read more at PhoneReport.info here.

Via Unwiredview.com and allaboutphones.nl

Article Tags: Anthony Watts, World Temperatures

Here’s a story about how one missing letter, an M, can wreck a whole month’s worth of climate data. It is one of the longest posts ever made on WUWT, I spent almost my entire Saturday on it. I think it might also be one of the most important because it demonstrates a serious weakness in surface data reporting.

In my last post, we talked about the a curious temperature anomaly that Jean S. found in the March GISS data and posted at Climate Audit:

The anomaly over Finland has an interesting signature to it, and the correction that GISS posted on their website confirms something I’ve been looking at for a few months.

The data shown between 4/13 and 4/15 were based on data downloaded on 4/12 and included some station reports from Finland in which the minus sign may have been dropped.

With some work I started back in late December and through January, and with GISS putting stamp of approval on “missing minus signs” I can now demonstrate that missing minus signs aren’t just an odd event, they happen with regularity, and the effect is quite pronounced when it does happen. This goes to the very heart of data gathering integrity and is rooted in simple human error. The fault lies not with GISS (though now they need a new quality control feature) but mostly with NOAA/NCDC who manages the GHCN and who also needs better quality control. The error originates at the airport, likely with a guy sitting in the control tower. Readers who are pilots will understand this when they see what I’m talking about.

I’ve seen this error happen all over the world. Please read on and be patient, there is a lot of minutiae that must be discussed to properly frame the issue. I have to start at the very bottom of the climate data food-chain and work upwards.

Click source to read FULL report from Anthony Watts

Source: wattsupwiththat.com

Read in full with comments »   

This week industry groups released a slew of optimistic reports that highlighted the robust health of the U.S. clean energy sector. In 2009 U.S. solar capacity grew by 29 percent, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association. Wind according to the American Wind Energy Association was up by 40 percent. Geothermal capacity increased by a more modest six percent for the year, said the Geothermal Energy Association.

Those positive numbers were largely expected considering the unprecedented stimulus money that flowed into the sector since the Obama administration took over,  more than a year ago.  Wind and solar developers (and project finance banks) have flocked to Programs like the 1603 direct cash-grants, implemented in lieu of the investment tax credits. Indeed with bank credit committees more selective, having government dollars helps.

The first quarter of 2010L also saw growing cleantech investments from private equity and venture capital funds. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance venture capital and private equity funds invested $2.9 billion in renewable energy companies, from $1.7 billion in the last quarter and $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2009. Of concern, however, is that overall, across all industries, venture and private equity funds are raising less and less money. According to the National Venture Capital Association VC funds raised $3.6 billion, down 31 percent from the first quarter of 2009. If this trend continues, it could become harder for clean energy startups to secure early-stage funding.

So, how do we keep this upward momentum going? Crucial is expanding the various stimulus-funded government incentives.  Renewable energy developers have been at pains to explain to some stimulus skeptics that the government program is working. Earlier, in the week G.E.R. guestbloger Michael Zimmer outlined 10 policy ideas that he felt should be included in any comprehensive clean energy law. They included:  Extending the direct cash grants and the cleantech manufacturing tax credits; Establishing a government-funded green bank to provide cleantech developers access to capital at competitive rates.

With key provisions of the stimulus law set to expire at the end of the year, Washington has begun churning the legislative wheel this week to make these green stimulus program more permanent. Joe Romm of the Center for American Progress’s Climate Progress blog, in a testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, urged for a five – to – 10-year extension of the cleantech manufacturing tax incentive, which of all the stimulus program has been one of the most successful.

The double-digit growth of the wind and solar industry over the past year, underscores the sector’s steep capital needs. It’s undeniable that void of government dollars the sector would have likely flat-lined. This crucial need for a steady capital has fueled a wave of consolidation, which continued this week with the announced buyout of wireless smart grid developer Eka Systems by Cooper Industries. This week Maxim Integrated Products, announced that it would pay $315 million for Teridian Semiconductor, a developer of power monitoring devices  “[smartgrid and cleantech] companies with promising technologies can unlock more value by being part of a larger industrial,” explained Craig Wellen, a partner at specialty investment bank Greentech Capital Advisors, which advised Eka in its acquisition by Cooper Industries.

VC Watch:

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s latest figures, combined, during the first quarter venture capital and private equity funds invested $2.9 billion in renewable energy companies, compared to $1.7 billion in the last quarter and $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2009.

Element Partners hired named Sujit Banerjee as a managing director at the firm’s Philadelphia headquarters. Banerjee had been a part-time operating partner last year.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private investment arm, is close to announcing a $1.5 million investment in Husk Power Systems, a developer of rice-powered electricity.

Rambling

This week Senator Kerry (D-Mass.) said he and his co-sponsors — Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — would unveil the much-anticipated Senate version of the climate change and energy law on April 26th.  The legislation will be debated by the full Senate a little less than a year after the House passed its own version of the bill, the Waxman – Markey bill. Will it include a cap -and -trade provision? What’s more likely is a diluted carbon-pricing scheme, like the CLEAR act proposed earlier this year.

At G.E.R. we’ve repeatedly urged for a long-term renewable energy policy. And it seems that given some of the actions this week in Washington, the heavy legislative mechanics needed to enact such a policy, are greased up and are finally turning, what the end-product will be remains an open question.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

O mercado indiano de carros está com alguns destaques atualmente, como o caso da Reva Eletric Car Company e seus veículos ecológicos. Também uma parceria recente com a General Motors para o fornecimento de tecnologia superior, agora as negociações estão sendo feitas com a Mahindra & Mahindra, para uma aliança de mercado.

Segundo fontes seguras, os principais acionistas da Reva poderão vender suas ações para a Mahindra. Ao serem contactados, a Mahindra e a Reva se negaram a comentar a respeito desse assunto, mesmo que hajam tais especulações de que a Mahindra esteja comprando as ações da Reva.

As empresas que sustentam financeiramente a Reva também não revelaram nada a respeito do assunto. Existem US$ 10 milhões investidos na Reva, se a Mahindra realmente querer tomar conta da Reva, terá que pagar ao menos 51% das ações da companhia, e se tornar a nova dona. Vamos ver o que o mercado nos revelará em breve, muito breve.

Via | Inside Line

For those of us who have been to the race track it’s a known fact that your adrenaline gets pumping. You’re there, you’re excited and the only thing you want to do is to go fast, which, and lets face it, is why these tracks exist. Driving what looks to be either a new Dodge Charger R/T or Magnum R/T, the owner films himself clicking off a nice 14 second pass on the track, but then proceeds to take his overzealous hoonage back out onto the street. First he passes a semi-truck on the shoulder, then hits the highway and just keeps his foot buried in the throttle to the tune of 144 mph – only 89 mph over the legal speed limit. With camera’s rolling he then proceeds to get pulled over and the rest, well… just watch the video to find out what happens next.

This site is no stranger to multi-million dollar mega yachts, but rarely do we see such an in-depth video tour of these modern day sea monsters as we do in this video of Andrey Melnichenko’s “A” from the WSJ: More »

In the aftermath of Spirit Airlines’ announcement that they’ll be charging up to $45 for carry-on bags, five airlines have pledged that they won’t jump on the fee bandwagon. New York Sen. Charles Schumer said today that American, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways and JetBlue have told him they won’t start charging for carry-ons.

That’s a big deal, especially as those airlines will most likely report first-quarter losses. Cash flow from add-on fees like food and checked bags counts for about 6.9 percent of total operating revenue for 26 U.S. airlines in 2009.

“We believe it is something that’s important to our customers and they value, and we will continue making that available to them at no charge,” American Airlines spokesman Roger Frizzell said.

As for how long the moratorium on carry-on fees will last, that’s still up in the air. (Ha, get it?)

Schumer also wants to get his hooks into Spirit Airlines this week. However Ben Baldanza, Spirit’s CEO and president, loves justifying the carry-on fee, and seems pretty set on it.

“Our plan was never predicated on anyone matching us,” Baldanza said. “The fact that other people are saying they won’t has never changed our view that this is right.”

5 airlines won’t charge for carryons, senator says [Associated Press]

After a few tests, German airlines are dying to get back into the air, saying that flying in ash-filled skies is safe:

AFP:

Germany’s Lufthansa and Air Berlin meanwhile expressed industry anger on Sunday that decisions to close airspace were not based on proper testing and that their aircraft showed no signs of damage after flying through the ash-strewn skies without passengers.

“The flight ban, made on the basis just of computer calculations, is resulting in billion-high losses for the economy,” Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walter was quoted as saying.

Nevertheless, European authorities will have to assess the precise costs to the airline industry for themselves before any decisions on granting state aid exemptions to companies can be taken, the EU’s Spanish presidency also said in Madrid.

“We only have very preliminary estimates and the situation could soon change for the better,” Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado told reporters. “It will therefore require an evaluation.”

Well, now it appears that German regulators have begun to budge and allow limited flights in the North.

If these airlines are right about the safety, European air travel could be back up and running pretty soon. Thing is, we’re not sure we’d want to be flying yet personally, regardless of successful tests.

Join the conversation about this story »

My wife Tracy and I have four wonderful cats. And so, when I came upon this post on Cats and the Sea Services by the U.S Naval Institute, I could not resist. As the post explains:

Sailors and cats have a special relationship that dates back thousands of years. It is likely that the ancient Egyptians were the first seafarers to realize the true value of having cats as shipmates. In addition to offering sailors much needed companionship on long voyages, cats provided protection by ridding ships of vermin. Without the presence of cats, a crew might find their ship overrun with rats and mice that would eat into the provisions, chew through ropes and spread disease. The more superstitious sailors believed that cats protected them by bringing good luck. It was also common for crews to adopt cats from the foreign lands they visited to serve as souvenirs as well as reminders of their pets at home.

Go to the post for more excellent photos of kitties and sailors! The photos here are courtesy the Naval Institute.

Article Tags: BBC, ClimateGate

Click source to read FULL report

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Read in full with comments »   

“LLamas” has a pithy, if unfortunately unreferenced, summary of how most brains fail when they’re trying to multitask …

Llamas and my stegosaurus: Living with a limited brain

Some interesting research has come out recently about the processing capacity of brains. For example, that the medial prefrontal cortex can only handle two tasks at once, or that working memory can only handle about 7 items at a time (but what’s an item?), or that when people are actively trying to remember something complicated, their impulse control is reduced. In fact, there has been a lot of research showing that exerting the will to make a difficult decision uses a fuel resource (sugar from the blood) that many of these other tasks also need.

What happens when these resources are used up? When we have been thinking too hard, or have been under heavy stress, or haven’t had enough to eat or sleep, or are trying to remember too many things, or are trying to drive, or need a fix,we fall back on a simpler part of the brain. We lose the ability to think rationally, to choose future benefit over immediate reward; the ability to choose at all is reduced. We become irritable, forgetful, angry, quick to argue….

I’ve been disappointed that there have been few studies of how physician cognition adjusts to using automation tools (electronic health records, etc) during patient care. These tools all seem to have a substantially higher cognitive burden than phone use, but the impact of phone conversations on driving performance has been studied to death. Do physicians become more irritation and distracted when they try to simultaneously talk with patients, think about the answers, and use current clinical software?

The artichoke is a perennial thistle that originated in the Mediterranean.

The artichoke is technically a flower bud that has not yet bloomed.

The first mention of artichokes in literature was around 40-70 AD in The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, a book on the medicinal uses of plants.

The Greeks and Romans considered them to be an aphrodisiac.

Artichoke seeds were found during the excavation of Mons Claudianus in Egypt during the Roman period.

Until the 16th century, women were prohibited from eating them in many countries because they were still considered to have aphrodisiac properties.

In 1576, Dr. Bartolomeo Boldo wrote in the “Book of Nature” that the artichoke “has the virture of … provoking Venus for both men and women; for women making them more desirable, and helping the men who are in these matters rather tardy.”

King Henry II’s wife, Catherine de Medici, introduced the artichoke to France in the 16th century . She said, “If one of us had eaten artichokes, we would have been pointed out on the street. Today young women are more forward than pages at the court.”

Artichokes were introduced to England by the Dutch in the 1500s.

They were brought to the United States in the 19th century by French and Spanish immigrants.

The top artichoke producers today are Spain, France, and Italy.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that artichokes were grown in the United States.

California produces 100% of the United States artichoke crop, with Castroville, California calling itself the “Artichoke Center of the World.”

In 1947 Marilyn Monroe, then still going by her given name Norma Jean, was crowned Castroville’s first Artichoke Queen.

Artichoke is the primary flavor of the popular Italian liqueur Cynar.

One artichoke plant can produce more than 20 artichokes per year.

A pyramid-scale solar power plant is well under way in Kuraymat, Egypt, and the 150 megawatt giant could prove to be a key indicator for the success of a much larger project such as the pharaohs could only dream of.  That would be the international DESERTEC solar power network, which would rim northern Africa with solar and wind power plants capable of supplying solar energy to European markets. It’s an ambitious plan that rests on two key elements – the ability to collect solar energy on a massive scale, and the ability to transmit it.

As reported in Energy Boom, the Kuraymat plant will tackle the collection half of the equation.  It will consist of 2,000 solar collectors covering 130,000 square meters.  A solar thermal facility, it is designed to collect solar energy in the form of heat rather than directly converting it to electricity as is the case with photovoltaic cells.

(more…)

There could be more than 14,000 attendees at Wednesday’s SOS (Save Our Schools, Save Our State) Rally Day on the east side the Statehouse in Springfield.  At least 4,000 of those are expected to be IEA members.

What messages will all those energized advocates be delivering?

A balanced approach

The state is in an unprecedented mess.  We cannot cut our way to fiscal solvency, but we need to support every honest effort to reduce non critical state spending.

Message:

We support a balanced approach to fixing the state budget.  That means budget cuts AND a revenue increase.

One percent income tax increase for education

Schools throughout Illinois will be devastated if the proposed $1.8 billion cut in education spending becomes a reality.  The impact will include a decline in education quality:

• Perhaps 20,000 teachers and support staff laid off
  • Larger class sizes
  • Cuts in languages, arts and other non—core areas
  • Elimination of sports, field trips, extracurricular programs

Message:

IEA supports Gov. Quinn’s proposed one percent income tax increase for education.  Our schools and communities would be devastated by the layoffs and budget cuts that have been proposed. However, this proposal will not save our schools or save our state.

Comprehensive tax reform – Pass HB 174 or equivalent

To save our schools and save our state, Illinois needs comprehensive tax reform:

• Provide adequate funding to public education
  • Elementary and secondary
  • Higher education
  • Adult learning
• Fund human services providers
• Fund required pension payments
• Reduce the state budget deficit/eliminate the need for borrowing

Message

IEA urges passage of comprehensive tax reform legislation, such as that found in HB 174.  A comprehensive revenue bill, including a tax increase, is needed to adequately fund education and human services and to put Illinois back on solid financial footing for the future.

Article Tags: Doug L. Hoffman

The current hot buzzword in Information Technology (IT) circles is “cloud computing,” the concept of a shared grid of computer resources, made available to a wide range of consumers in an on-demand, self-service and pay-as-you-go fashion. Even those not immersed in the arcane details of IT are aware of the latest must have techno-doodad from Apple Computer—the iPad. Proving that they can find a dark cloud to go with any silver lining, the perennial eco-pessimists from Greenpeace have declared that the combination of iPads and cloud computing are going to greatly accelerate mankind’s march to a planet frying future.

The IT industry is currently engaged in a mad scramble to define the future of data processing based on the concept of cloud computing. In the process of doing so, a number of high-tech heavy hitters—including Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft and a legion of silicon valley start-ups—are racing to build huge new data centers containing hundreds of thousands of computer servers each. It is certainly true that data centers are getting bigger all the time.

Data Center Knowledge recently put together a list of the world’s 10 largest data centers, ranging between 400,000 and 1.1 million square feet. The list includes such super-sized data centers as the Vegas SuperNAP, Microsoft’s container data center and the Lakeside Technology Center. Filling these cavernous data centers are rack upon rack of new computer servers. Google is rumored to run more than 2 million servers while Microsoft is adding 30,000 new machines each month.

Click source to read FULL report by Doug L. Hoffman

Source: theresilientearth.com

Read in full with comments »   

EA has released a new trailer for the upcoming EA Sports MMA game. It’s in-game gameplay footage, so expect to see a lot of throwdowns and ass-whuppins courtesy of sweaty dudes who want to do nothing more than

When surprises are involved with your food, it usually doesn’t end well: An Ohio woman is claiming she found some sort of gross thing that wasn’t supposed to be in a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs.

Jennifer Aker says when she opened the can she saw something inside that just wasn’t right.

“I opened it up and my face was very close to it and immediately you could tell there was a dead rodent on top, in fact you couldn’t even see the spaghetti and meatballs at all,” she toldlocal WCPO 9News. She showed her mother, Nancy Aker, who agrees that what was in that can just wasn’t right.

“We just feel so shocked, I mean, I’ve lived a long time and never had anything like this happen – and we don’t want this to happen to anybody else – and how could this happen is the question,” said Nancy Aker.

ConAgra makes the canned food in question, and when contacted, they asked for a photo of what the Akers say they found. Jennifer’s nephew Daniel went above and beyond and took the investigation to YouTube with a video. The food will be frozen, and ConAgra is going to send a courier to pick it up and perform tests on it.

“I’m not looking for money, I’m just looking to let people be aware of this. It’s just really gross,” said Jennifer Aker.

Says Dave Jackson of ConAgra Foods:

We take all consumer inquires seriously, and when a consumer has a bad experience, we work with them to determine the source of the problem and correct it. We also work with them to make up for their experience as best as we are able.

Gird your stomach and check out the video below:

Mother Finds ‘Substance’ In Spaghetti Can [9News]