Rain Drops on Clover wallpaper
Generating energy from ocean waters off Hawaii
It involves placing a heat engine between warm water collected at the ocean’s surface and cold water pumped from the deep ocean. Like a ball rolling downhill, heat flows from the warm reservoir to the cool one. The greater the temperature difference, the stronger the flow of heat that can be used to do useful work such as spinning a turbine and generating electricity.
The history of OTEC dates back more than a half century. However, the technology has never taken off — largely because of the relatively low cost of oil and other fossil fuels. But if there are any places on Earth where large OTEC facilities would be most cost competitive, it is where the ocean temperature differentials are the greatest.
Some research done on Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) was done in the 1980s and showed that some places such as the Leeward side of the Hawaiian Islands would be a good location. Estimates predict 100kW to 250kW( about the same as a large wind turbine) of net power exported to the grid. There was no mention of the environmental impact in regards marine life in this article. The ocean around Maui is a birthing area for Humpback whales.
Climate policy could create millions of jobs
A report from the Center for Climate Strategies and Johns Hopkins University explains how federal climate policy could create 2.5 million jobs.
There are more details at the link. Maybe things will change, but climate legislation is basically dead because there are not enough votes in the Senate to proceed. When I last checked all Republicans except for the wobbly Lindsay Graham(R-SC) plus a few Democrats are convinced climate legislation is a job killer. It would mean some slightly lower profits for large utilities and the coal/oil industry. Big coal and oil have a tremendous amount of lobbying power so they have a way of making lies true and the truth false. Neat trick, but a painful one for the millions of American that need jobs and a country that needs to wean itself off its unsustainable reliance on oil and coal.
Valley Meat Beef Recall Prompted By E. Coli Outbreak, 1 Million Pounds May Be Affected
Valley Meat Co., of Modesto, sold the potentially contaminated beef patties and ground beef in California, Texas, Oregon, Arizona and internationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Ending with some good news, Myanmar triples size of northern tiger reserve
BANGKOK – Myanmar has tripled the size of the world’s largest tiger reserve in an effort to save the endangered species, which now numbers less than 3,000 in the wild, a conservation group said in a statement seen Thursday.
The entire Hukaung Valley — a remote area of northern Myanmar about half the size of Switzerland — is now a protected tiger area, the government announced Tuesday…
tangledwing 