University of Alberta researchers have identified genetic and dietary factors that could reduce by 25 percent the amount of methane gas produced by cattle. Greenhouse emissions from cows are no laughing matter — cattle in Canada are estimated to produce 72 percent of the country’s total methane emissions.
Milder Winters Causing 17-Year Cicadas to Arrive Early
“Periodical cicadas best known for their 17-year-long life cycle are emerging four years early in several Atlantic states, including North Carolina and Maryland.”
EPA Proposal Could Cut Tax Breaks for Corn-Based Ethanol
“A recent Congressional Budget Office study found that increased ethanol production was responsible for 10% to 15% of last year’s increased U.S. food costs. And the rush to produce more corn for fuel has had a global environmental impact as forests and other vegetation have been cleared to make way for cropland.”
Environmentalists cheer. Grain producers, not so much.
Ethanol Investors Try to Derail California’s Carbon-Emissions Proposal
“Ethanol investors met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week in an effort to derail California’s far-reaching proposal to slash carbon emissions from transportation fuels… One participant, New Fuels Alliance lobbyist Brooke Coleman, said the proposal is based on “completely speculative” scientific models and would cripple the nation’s biofuels industry.”
axel000 reviews the progress of the technology and it’s advantages over corn-based ethanol.
Bioelectricity Bests Biofuels on Miles per Acre
“The study’s authors modeled how far different classes of cars could go based on the available energy from a unit of land and found that bioelectricity — burning biomass to make electricity — far outperforms ethanol.
“The paper, published on Thursday in Science, found that bioelectricity delivered 81 percent more distance per unit area of crop land than ethanol. Greenhouse gas emissions per area of land were 100 percent less than cellulosic ethanol.”
Duke Energy Walks Away from NAM
Duke Energy, one of the largest utilities in the US, won’t renew it’s membership in the National Association of Manufactures. Duke has called for environmental legislation, including a cap and trade system while NAM has long lobbied against climate change regulation.
Google Could Have Caught Swine Flu Early
The technology still has a way to go, but tracking and mapping Internet searches has the potential to provide early warning for future pandemics.
Kristen Sheeran and Mindy Lubber respond to Robert J. Samuelson’s op-ed, “Selling the Green Economy,” by pointing out that, while reducing carbon emissions comes with a price, the cost of doing nothing is not zero . Seems like a no-brainer.
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