A new study and a nice coincidence to a post I did a couple days ago about the capacity of the U.S. power grid to handle renewable energy, Western U.S. Grid Can Handle More Renewables
More than a third of the electricity in the western United States could come from wind and solar power without installing significant amounts of backup power. And most of this expansion of renewable energy could be done without installing new interstate transmission lines, according to a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO.
We’re a long way from having 35% renewables as part of our total power consumption. That means we have plenty of time to upgrade the grid and its management software – both of which would be required regardless of how much of the country’s power comes from renewable. Much of the national grid is a legacy of WW II era planning. There have been improvements and up-grades over the years, but not the kind of widespread overhaul required for our energy needs and demographic shifts of the population.
Eat bacteria to boost brain power
In a classic test of learning ability, Matthews gave mice a treat – white bread with peanut butter – as a reward to encourage them to learn to run through a maze. When she laced the treat with a tiny bit of Mycobacterium vaccae, she found that the mice ran through the maze twice as fast as mice that were given plain peanut butter. This suggests that they had learned to navigate the maze faster, Matthews says.
The lead in to this piece asks if playing in the dirt can make you smarter. Mycobacterium vaccae is common in soil such as your yard or local park playground. Probably not a great idea to eat dirt since it can also contains various bacteria and heavy metals. That said those growing their own veggies or buying from a farmer’s market, even if you’re rinsing them thoroughly you’ll still get some traces of bacteria.
Report: Protect Rainforest, Add to U.S. Farm Income
A group of leading farm and forestry groups is calling on Congress and the administration to help end tropical deforestation. The groups are citing a new report showing overseas agriculture and logging operations are expanding production by cutting down rainforests – which floods the market with cheap commodities and undercuts American prices.
The report estimates that ending deforestation will boost revenue for U.S. producers between $196 billion and 4267 billion by 2030.
Probably not intended, but this makes it sound as though they’re saying take away the poor rain forest farmers income to increase ours. The problem with the continued slash and burn policies of South America – sometimes the government, but often times large influential corporations – is slash and burn is not a sustainable way to maintain the land for long term income or food. Rain forest soil will provide a couple years worth of crops without expensive fertilizers, than the soil nutrients are depleted. It would be better to keep the forest intact and harvest products for sale in a way that is sustainable. There have been various proposal put forth over the years including industrial countries paying for the oxygen and heat maintenance performed by the rain forests.
BP Attempts ‘Top Kill’ Method to Seal Oil Well in Gulf
BP officials emphasized that success was not guaranteed, and that the top kill could fail at any moment. But engineers and geologists following the effort, in which heavy fluids are injected into the well, said the likelihood of success grew with each passing hour.
“The operation is proceeding as we planned it,” said Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, in a statement Wednesday evening. “We will be continuing for at least another 24 hours.”
Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said at a news conference Wednesday evening that it would be a day or more before it was clear whether the top kill had worked. “It’s too early to know if it’s going to be successful,” Mr. Suttles said.
As of the filing of that report 7,000 gallons of special ‘kill mud’ has been pumped in so it is looking good so far. It may take as much as 50,000 barrels of mud from a 30,000 horsepower engine on a ship to complete the plug.
tangledwing 