Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Written on the Wind Peter Fairley writes: In this season of discontent in the electricity business, only wind power seems to stand out as a global success story. While petroleum prices were convulsing in response to war and labor strife, and nuclear plants were stoking controversy in the Middle East and Asia, wind turbines were quietly becoming the fastest-growing energy source in the world. They now provide more than 31 000 MW of power, a total that has swelled by almost 30 percent in scarcely a year's time and that keeps more than 200 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year. Wind power's ascendance has been so stunning that advocates are now rallying around an idea that would have seemed preposterous just a couple of years ago: that the wind could supply 12 percent of the world's electrical demand by 2020. Impressive as the gains have been, it isn't quite clear yet that the wind can blow away the developed world's fossil-fuel dependence. One of the most important reasons is that clean, renewable wind power comes with a serious hitch: while conventional power plants yield a steady stream of electricity, wind turbines often ply turbulent gusts and therefore spit out an irregular stream of electricity that is tough for power grids to swallow. Now, though, high-tech solutions are at hand. Systems based on advanced power-electronics and energy storage devices are massaging and managing power flows from wind turbines, enabling them to contribute mightily to electricity grids without putting those grids at risk. Not only are the technologies making wind power more palatable to grid operators, they are even making it possible for engineers to finally harness wind energy's tremendous potential in wind-swept, remote locales. (08/20/03) A Good Infection? The New Scientist -- A "do-gooder" computer worm that fixes the Windows bug exploited by the damaging worm Blaster has begun spreading on the net. The new worm is called Welchia or Nochi and spreads by exploiting the same vulnerability. Blaster has caused widespread damage in the last week, despite failing in its principle aim - crashing the Microsoft website that serves the software patch for the vulnerability. Now Welchia, is spreading, downloading the patch and then rebooting machines to start afresh. It can also spread using an older vulnerability called WebDav, first announced by Microsoft in March. Benign worms have been much discussed by technical experts, and some corporate networks have even used a similar technique to update their own machines. However, experts believe it is the first such worm seen widely "in the wild", i.e. on the internet. But experts at companies selling anti-virus products say Welchia is not a good thing. Kevin Hogan, at Symantec in Dublin, Ireland, says: "It's a program that's running on your computers without your authorisation. You don't know if the worm has negative effects, and we have certainly observed that computers running the worm are prone to crashing more frequently." Hogan acknowledges that Welchia does seem to patch the vulnerability, but says he is still in the process of analysing its full effects. Welchia is far less virulent than Blaster, but even so "some corporate systems are crashing due to the sheer volume of network traffic the worm generates," he adds. (08/20/03) Who Speaks for EARTH? BBC Environiment -- Hunters from Iceland's Marine Research Institute have killed the first of 38 minke whales they intend to take from local waters over the next six weeks. Whalers aboard the Njordur - one of three government-commissioned Icelandic whaling vessels - killed the animal in waters west of Iceland at about 1700 GMT on Monday. Reports say the vessel's crew complained their hunt was initially hampered by two pursuing boats, hired by media crews and animal welfare groups protesting against the killing of the endangered mammals. The United States has expressed "extreme disappointment" over the killing, which it has warned could trigger a trade embargo against the country. "We're extremely disappointed with Iceland's decision to begin a lethal research whaling program, which anticipates taking 38 minke whales," state department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "Although the program is technically legal under the Whaling Convention, we've said many times that lethal research on whales is not necessary and the needed scientific data can be obtained by well-established, non-lethal means. ... Monday's harpooning of the minkie whale represents the first killing of the species in 14 years, according to the marine scientist in charge of the hunt. (08/20/03) Fly Me to the Moon BBC Science -- Humans could be living on the Moon within 20 years, says a leading lunar scientist. According to Bernard Foing of the European Space Agency, the technology will soon exist to set up an outpost for visiting astronauts. However, political will is needed to inspire the public to support the initiative. "We believe that technologically it's possible," the project scientist on Europe's first Moon mission, Smart-1, told BBC News Online. "But it will depend in the end on the political will to go and establish a human base for preparing for colonisation of the Moon or to be used as a refuge for the human species." ... "The Moon could be used as a test bed for future human missions," says Sarah Dunkin, a leading British scientist on the Smart-1 project. "To actually live on another world would be quite a test of technology as well as human physiology. We don't know what the long-term effects of living in a low gravity environment would be." Any long term plans to set up a lunar base are bound to rely on international co-operation. (08/20/03) 8:54:25 AM

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