Japan
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Half of all geothermal energy is left over from birth of solar system, say scientists
Well, hello there, enormous quantities of heat that's just beneath our feet and could potentially be tapped to provide enormous amounts of base-load electricity! Where'd YOU come from? The birth of the planet, you say? No sh*t!
Using this gigantic underground, water-filled neutrino detector, scientists have finally gotten a better idea of exactly where the Earth's heat comes from:
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Critical List: Yellowstone pipe could have carried tar-sands oil; L.A. survived Carmageddon
The Yellowstone River spill could have included heavier, more corrosive tar-sands oil, federal officials said. This type of oil eats through pipes more quickly, and if ExxonMobiil was using those pipes to transport tar-sands oil, that decision could have contributed to the spill.
Carmageddon = over. And it turns out that, given the choice to avoid the freeway by plane or bike, it’s faster to bike.
It's not the best idea to buy meat from Japan right now. Just saying.
Your fish oil tablets are destroying marine ecosystems. -
Panasonic capitalizes on earthquake by replacing factories with ‘smart towns’
Panasonic, the largest appliance maker in Japan, has announced plans to shutter 20 percent of its 230 factories in order to cut costs. But rather than lose that land, the company is capitalizing on Japan’s post-earthquake need for housing. It’s replacing the factories with “smart towns,” featuring "solar panels, energy-efficient refrigerators and rechargeable batteries," the company tells Bloomberg.
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Critical List: $6 billion ethanol subsidy to end; Wyoming wolves screwed by Senate politics
The Senate is ending a $6 billion subsidy program for ethanol; anti-ethanol food and environmental groups say it's "not a perfect comprise" but that they're "encouraged" by the step.
Carbon captured from coal plants can feed biofuel-producing algae. Which is awesome because nobody else wants to eat it.
Put that tuna burger down! Overfishing could extinguish five out of eight tuna species. -
Germany Sets the Bar for a Green Energy Future
Today is a historic day in Germany and for green energy world wide. The German Parliament has made a precedent setting move – not only have they set a plan to phase out all nuclear by 2022, but the Parliament has committed to renewable energy like wind and solar as the replacement. The decision will […]
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More radioactive water leaks at Fukushima
Japan's damaged Fukushima plant is now holding oceans of contaminated, radioactive water in its storage tanks, and that water keeps leaking out. Today, the country's Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency said that fifteen tons or so of water had leaked.
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Could eating poo-burgers save the Earth?
Eat sh*t, cattle farming industry! No, literally, eat sh*t. Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda has developed a way to make meat substitute out of "sewage mud," which is exactly what it sounds like. He extracts (bacterial) protein from what is essentially a soup of human feces, then blends it with soy protein and steak sauce to form a sort of poop patty. According to initial tests, the stuff actually tastes like beef, which raises the question: WHO THE HELL DID THEY GET TO DO THESE TESTS?
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Critical List: Floods herald largest Gulf dead zone on record; the Senate hearts ethanol
Louisiana fishermen can't catch a break. Flooding on the Mississippi River could create the largest dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico on record.
Louisiana, in general, can't catch a break. A plant that blends chemicals used in oilfields exploded on Tuesday.
The Senate decided against ending subsidies for corn-based ethanol in a vote that split, not just along party lines, but also between Big Ag states and everyone else.
Google's newest clean energy investment hands $280 million to a solar company that leases panels to customers. -
Could EcoAds Keep the Lights on in Japan?
In 1950s science fiction movies, irradiated monsters would emerge from the sea to level Tokyo as horrified citizens flee. In 2011, as a sign I saw last week in Tokyo airport attests (see photo), Japan faces a real-world nuclear nightmare and the very daunting task of rebuilding cities and an entire nation’s energy grid. An […]