Energy Needs of China’s Consumers Swamping Efficiency Gains

Already, in the last three years, China has shut down more than a thousand older coal-fired power plants that used technology of the sort still common in the United States. China has also surpassed the rest of the world as the biggest investor in wind turbines and other clean energy technology. And it has dictated tough new energy standards for lighting and gas mileage for cars.

clipped from dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com Keith Bradsher has filed an important story showing how the  energy demands of China’s emerging consumer class are overwhelming the central government’s efforts to cut industrial energy waste and blunt growth in carbon dioxide emissions. The article provides a closeup view of the demographic and economic forces that are destined to make Asia the dominant influence on the planetary greenhouse for decades to come, by almost every analysis.

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Photovoltaic Solar Power

Climate Change May Broil Cities

Got a summer home in Bismark yet?

clipped from www.scientificamerican.com SWELTERING CITY: New models suggest that climate change will cause average temperatures in cities to rise; cooler nights will become less frequent. ISTOCKPHOTO Cities were already known to retain more heat than the rural environments that surround them, but new modeling from researchers in the United Kingdom now suggests that urban areas are also more sensitive to changes in climate. Furthermore, they will experience greater increases in average temperature with rises in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the cooling effects of night will become more of a memory than a reality. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. -- where Congress is debating over whether to pass a climate bill -- is getting a memorable preview of what new computer models are predicting. Last week's temperatures broke a 100-year record, and forecasters expect this June will be the hottest ever recorded in the area.

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Photovoltaic Solar Power

Life in 2050 -- Climate Out of Control

Bill McKibben on the Symptoms of Global Warming
The author and activist says we may see out-of-control rises in sea level, enormous shortfalls in crop yields and wars over available fresh water

Why haven’t the solar panels been reinstalled at the White House?

I couldn't embed the video in Amplify so you'll have to follow the link. Look down and click "Why haven’t the solar panels been reinstalled at the White House?" to watch and listen.

Don't laugh too hard. Vote by hitting the recommend button.

clipped from www.whitehouse.gov WhiteHouse.gov is the official web site for the White House and President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. This site is a source for information about the President, White House news and policies, White House history, and the federal government.

A Nobelist’s Energy Pitch for Obama

clipped from dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com A recipient of the  1976 Nobel Prize in physics, Richter was a signatory on a letter from 34 Nobel laureates to Obama last year pushing for a big and sustained rise in the  federal investment in energy research. (He told me he is unaware of any response from the White House.) He also has written “ Beyond Smoke and Mirrors,” a cogent road map for facing the daunting long-term challenge of cutting emissions of greenhouse gases even as humanity’s growth spurt crests in the next few decades.

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Photovoltaic Solar Power

Crude Greed Song

clipped from dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com Crude Songs

Rumor: Google to Take On Facebook With “Google Me”

via Louis Gray

clipped from techmiso.com The internets is abuzz this morning after Kevin Rose dropped a potential bombshell rumor on twitter. According to Rose, Google is positioned to enter the social networking space very soon to compete against Facebook with a new service potentially called “Google Me.”