Sunday, June 01, 2003

A World Energy Modernization Plan Ross Gelbspan & Paul Epstein write: Many business leaders and policymakers believe that any meaningful attempt to address the climate crisis will result in global poverty. We believe the exact opposite is true. A properly financed, public-private global transition to high-efficiency and renewable energy technologies holds the potential for an unprecedented worldwide economic boom. A global public works program to rewire the planet would create millions of new jobs all over the world. It would begin to reverse the widening gap between the North and the South. It would raise living standards in developing nations without compromising the economic achievements of industrial nations. And in a very few years, the renewable energy industry would eclipse high technology as the central driving engine of growth of the global economy. What is missing is neither the technology nor the know-how. What is missing is the vision. (06/01/03) Thanks for Complaining! Previously, I have written: As a young father, I wanted to do the best job of parenting I could. With the birth of our first daughter in 1980, I began reading the then current literature on parenting. After a few months I settled on the parenting style proposed by Dr. Thomas Gordon in his book Parent Effectiveness Training. It was a win-win approach that did not support punishment or conflict. But Gordon realized that permissiveness, and letting children run wild would create its own set of problems. Parent enforced discipline was a win/lose game that the parent always won. Permissiveness was a win/lose game that the child always won. Neither method was good for children or families. Gordon explained how we could improve our communication with others at any age. How to work together for solutions where both parent and child could win. This morning one of Gordon's students introduces a short article from the master. (06/01/03) Hybrid Car and Driver? E-Wire -- New car buyers interested in hybrid electric, low emission, and high fuel economy vehicles now have an all-new magazine dedicated to their interests -- Green Car Journal Special Edition. A new launch by the publisher of the award-winning Green Car Journal industry newsletter -- a leading information source for the auto industry since 1991 -- Green Car Journal Special Edition is a high-end, full-color consumer magazine that intends to demystify the advanced technologies and vehicles that are bringing a new level of environmental performance to new car showrooms. "High-profile hybrids like the Honda Civic, Insight, and Toyota Prius, as well as soon-to-come hybrids from Ford, GM, and DaimlerChrysler, are an important part of our coverage," says Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal Special Edition. "It's just as important that consumers become aware that near-zero emission gasoline vehicles like the Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Volvo S60, and BMW 325i are also available today, along with many high-fuel economy vehicles offered at new car showrooms. Buyers have the ability to make a difference if they only know where to look." (06/01/03) Save a Tree Environmental News Network -- Electronic paper, which promises to change the face of publishing and save forests, came closer to reality on Wednesday as scientists revealed a super-thin, flexible, electronic-ink display screen. Just 0.012-inch thick, the device developed by researchers at E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass., can be flexed without distorting the type and paves the way for electronic newspapers, wearable computer screens, and smart identity cards. "It's the closest thing demonstrated today to electronic paper," said Yu Chen, an electrical engineer at E Ink and a visiting scientist at Princeton University in New Jersey. When it is fully developed, e-paper will be able to display black-and-white and color text using wireless technology. Buying the daily newspaper will no longer be necessary because with e-paper, it will be updated wirelessly or through the Internet. "In the current form you can already receive images and read books through these displays screens," Chen said, but added the display was still too slow for video because of the switching speed of the electronic ink. (06/01/03) With a little Help from our Friends, the Bacteria WIRED -- The methods of manufacturing and compressing hydrogen gas require great amounts of energy. To overcome these challenges, scientists have been tinkering with the biological powers of everything from common yeast to mysterious bacteria living on the ocean floor. At the University of California at Berkeley, mechanical engineering professor Liwei Lin is busy developing a microbial fuel cell that runs off the digestive activity of baker's yeast. The yeast feed on glucose, a simple sugar, and digest it in a process called aerobic metabolism. "We extract electrons from the yeast cells where the aerobic metabolism process happens," Lin explains. Controlling the movement of electrons to harness a renewable source of fuel remains the target for scientists designing fuel cells, which extract power from electrochemical reactions. The advantage of Lin's mechanism is that it runs on glucose, a naturally abundant resource produced by plants. (06/01/03) Exactly, why are these rich guys smiling? Bill Moyers speaks: You no doubt saw this - Mr. Bush signing his tax cut. A big day for the President. But in fact, it's the richest Americans - the top one percent - who get the lion's share of the tax cuts - people like Secretary of the Treasury John Snow, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, multimillionaires all. Mr. Cheney actually cast the deciding tie-breaker vote in favor of the tax cut in the Senate...as this headline in the Wall Street Journal says, some people could wind up paying virtually no tax at all. Where's that money coming from to make the rich richer? Some of it's coming from the working poor. Remember that $400 per child tax credit that was in the tax bill? We have now learned that at the very last minute, behind closed doors, the Republican leaders in Congress pulled a bait-and-switch. They eliminated from the bill that $400 child credit for families who make just above the minimum wage. They will use that money to pay for the cut on dividend taxes. Eleven million children in families with incomes roughly between ten thousand and twenty six thousand dollars a year won't be getting the check that was supposed to be in the mail this summer. Eleven million children punished for being poor, even as the rich are rewarded for being rich. (06/01/03) Habitat for Humanity Builds Energy-Efficient Home Environmental News Network -- Lina Kinandjar's bungalow looks like any other house in the Harmony Heights subdivision - except for the 48 solar panels on her roof and an R2-D2-like water heater in a closet. "I know it is an experimental house, but it doesn't bother me at all," the 33-year-old waitress said of the home she moved into with her husband and two children in October. The 1,057-square-foot house, designed by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, may be the most energy-efficient, all-electric home ever built by the volunteer group Habitat for Humanity. So-called "green building" is a growing trend, according to the National Association of Home Builders. More than 13,000 homes meeting the association's green building standards were constructed in 2002, compared to fewer than 19,000 in all the years between 1990 and 2001. (06/01/03) 7:10:40 AM

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