Nano tech, the teeny, tiny, hard working particles only visible by microscopy, has given humanity the gift of LED lighting. Next time you stop or motor past a traffic light, give thanks to the Gods of nanotechnology. The solid-state pleasing lights only consumes one-tenth the energy required to power an old fashion incandescent bulb, and will last for 20 years. Thomas Alva Edison maybe spinning in his grave over that one. The high tech light source is slowly making its way to the shelves of your local hardware store, but according to The New York Times, the mass rush of the pint size power misers into consumer hands is running into technical problems due to inadequate output levels compared to conventional fluorescent tubes. The Big Round Cubatron, a dynamic luminous sculpture using close to 20,000 LED’s, can be powered by solar charged batteries in the evening hours, thus proving the low wattage draw from the futuristic light source, although the number of LED bulbs to illuminate a given space can be numerous. The traveling art exhibit is one way to bring awareness to the development of LED’s for “real world” results and help put us all on a brighter path when it comes to energy efficient lighting.
Unplugged and far off the grid, the residents of Slab City, aka Slabbers, make their home on the far eastern side of the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley of California. The former World War II military base, (Camp Dunlap), is home to over 500 residents, (according to the Slab City Newsletter), mainly during the winter. An eclectic mix of tenants from snowbirds squatting in their $200.000 RV’s to footloose, tent packing, hitch hikers make this 141 feet below sea level desert their home. The nearby Chocolate Mountains echo the blasts of USMC aircraft pulverizing the surrounding hills with an assortment of munitions during practice runs for the distant landscapes of the Middle East. The unfazed Slabbers have grown accustom to the almost daily thunder under clear skies. With no rent due and zero utility bills to worry about, solar panels, solar ovens and other off-grid methods are used to ease the wild west environ. The other side of the coin, no trash or waste disposal services available for Slab City residents, they have to resorted to burning, dumping or hauling. A long term air quality and ecological challenge, even for the crusty, off-grid nomads and long term Slabbers.
President Obama is rolling back Bush’s executive policies faster than the falling shares of Detroit’s so-called Big Three. One of those regulations will be the reversal of the last administration’s soft pedaling of environmental policies. In particular, those of increasing mileage and limiting emissions on our everyday modes of transportation. California is helping to lead the way for cleaner federal environmental policies, thanks to green Govenator Schwarzenegger, which will not only put the brakes on carbon levels, but help put America back on the road to prosperity. Building fuel efficient vehicles with hybrid and other green forms of technology, and the jobs this generates, could very well be a significant step forward to rolling back Detroit’s old smoggy facade and the “Obamination” of environmentally unfriendly policies.
One of the root causes of runaway wildfires is Global Warming. I know, you’ve heard it before, but wait, millions of acres, (four million in 2008), of Lodgepole, Scotch, Ponderosa pines and other woody plant species from Colorado to the shores of California are becoming ample fuel source for errant infernos that consume America’s natural beauty. In part due to severe drought conditions and the ever increasing “American Dream” home building mania in many localities in Southern California and the Southern Rocky states. Firestorms are now considered a routine risk worth taking for many residents in Southern California. With record breaking summer temperatures helping to increase the likelihood of a “perfect firestorm” near major population areas, (according to National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, NOAA.), stirring mass migrations and fouling-up the air, it gives pause for all to be more aware of planet warming trends we can help to lessen.
It’s not quite as safe as the driven snow in many North American ski resorts this winter. As many as 23 skiers and snowboarders have been buried alive by avalanches in the Rockies from Canada to the United States. Most ski resorts have blown through their yearly budgets for avalanche reduction work since November 2008. Errant weather patterns are the main culprit for the massive piles of powder ready to spring on the winter loving jock. Scientist and avalanche experts are flummoxed over the high death toll at the beginning of the snow season. It would seem that the high country is getting too much of a good thing. Mainly from the lingering influence of La Nina’s drive of supercharged damp air in the Pacific Northwest, (according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.) Ski bums beware, avalanche roulette may be included in your next lift ticket.
What’s drier than a martini served up on a hot summer day in Arizona? Desertification, the once natural and excellerating process which converts fertile lands into arid deserts. This just in, large populations in Africa and Central Asia, ( about one billion) will be displaced by creeping desert sands within a generation, according to the United Nations University. By the look of things to come, we could also see the return of the not-so popular “dust bowl” of North America’s 1930’s too. Currently tens of millions of people are on the move trying to escape dry lifeless lands mostly in sub-sahara Africa. Unfortunately brought on by changing global climate patterns influenced from factory and auto emissions from first world countries and also from poorly planned development within that region. To help solve this problem our environmental homework should include using low energy lighting, planting CO2 sucking trees, and using fuel efficient means of transportation which will have a positive impact on the peoples of the third world and will make our homes a little less dusty.
The night skies are not as dark as you think. Light pollution covers most of the populated areas of the planet, and then some. Have you ever wondered why you can’t see the Big Dipper? It’s basically poor lighting design. Most of the beneficial illumination that we need to navigate around after sunset, shoots skyward and obscures the starry night. If that wasn’t bad enough, according to National Geographic Magazine, “light is a powerful biological force, (and) on many species it acts as a magnet.” This means not only does light pollution affect the aesthetic appeal of our nighttime skies, but many migrating birds traveling at night collide into brightly lit buildings. They are also drawn by the lighthouse effect of off-shore drilling platforms, where large flocks circle the structures until they drop into the sea from exhaustion. Humanity has lit up the night as if the bogeyman was about to invade our homes during our sleep. This form of pollution is the easiest to pull the plug on, if not for the romantic starry nights, but for our fine feathered friends in our trust.
We all know the Earth’s climate is not what Ozzie and Harriet once counted on every season. For the most part the mercury has been traveling towards the higher end of the thermometer. At least that’s what 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore so graphically displayed in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, also collaborated by a world wide legion of climatologist and environmental gurus, who appear to be right, but also lets take into account weird weather patterns that may not be a direct result of humanities tampering with the atmosphere. According to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the 2008 meteorological year places the US in a relatively cool place on the planet while the rest of the world sweats bullets, (a steady incremental rise in planetary temperatures since 1998). This climate chaos is partially blamed on the atmospheric condition of La Nina, being the cool phase of the planet bucking against the warmer variations of the oceans and rest of the planet. That might explain weather anomalies like snowy mountain peaks in the lower altitudes around posh Palm Springs, California, and snow ball fights on the Las Vegas strip. Enjoy the cool respite, La Nina will be leaving soon.
Solar and wind generated electrons are the media darlings sharing the center stage of the current renewable energy revolution currently unfolding before us. Geothermal energy is the lesser known of the green applications getting ready to be tapped for the so-called green grid. The Leathers Geothermal Power Plant in California is staking its share in the new economy by pressurizing the steamy, volcanic stew from hundreds of miles below the surface to turn turbines and thus producing clean power. Other potential areas for geothermal-electric generation is the northern “Ring of Fire” a large circumference of volcanism in the Pacific, like Mount Spur near Anchorage, Alaska, a sure bet to produce large amounts of inexhaustible power required to satisfy Sarah Palin’s dry cleaning needs.
Last time I check my historical facts, the term Czar set fear in the hearts of the working classes and country folk of what was then the reign of Czar Nicholas II of Imperial Russia. Here we are today almost one hundred years from those despotic days and still using the infamous title of Czar. This time in a so-called modern capitalistic society where the democratically elected governing body is bailing out the Big Three auto companies with tax payers hard earned cash, but wait. Conditions are being placed for those rogue manufactures who several years ago fought against CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy), standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The electrification of Detroit, meaning the implementation of hybrid power trains to elevate miles per gallon is one of the main conditions set by the Obama government. With that said, development of state-of-the-art lithium ion battery packs to sustain a hybrid vehicle for over 30 miles without having to kick-in it’s fossil fuel burning engine and also to possibly build an electric car with that technology, similar to the all electric marvel the General Motors EV-1. Hopefully history won’t repeat itself and the angry, jobless, Bolshevik hordes won’t take down the reigning Czar and royal family.
Nano tech, the teeny, tiny, hard working particles only visible by microscopy, has given humanity the gift of LED lighting. Next time you stop or motor past a traffic light, give thanks to the Gods of nanotechnology. The solid-state pleasing lights only consumes one-tenth the energy required to power an old fashion incandescent bulb, and will last for 20 years. Thomas Alva Edison maybe spinning in his grave over that one. The high tech light source is slowly making its way to the shelves of your local hardware store, but according to The New York Times, the mass rush of the pint size power misers into consumer hands is running into technical problems due to inadequate output levels compared to conventional fluorescent tubes. The Big Round Cubatron, a dynamic luminous sculpture using close to 20,000 LED’s, can be powered by solar charged batteries in the evening hours, thus proving the low wattage draw from the futuristic light source, although the number of LED bulbs to illuminate a given space can be numerous. The traveling art exhibit is one way to bring awareness to the development of LED’s for “real world” results and help put us all on a brighter path when it comes to energy efficient lighting.
