Energy Bulletin -

The Challenge of Algal Fuel: Economic Processing of the Entire Algal Biomass

johnmilledge — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:18:52 -0800

Micro-algae have considerable potential for the production of biofuel, but at present the process of producing fuel from algae would appear to be currently uneconomic. If fuel from micro-algae is to be economic the entire algal biomass should be utilised and anaerobic digestion could play an important part in the exploitation of algae to produce algal energy.

Economics - Feb 9

kristinsponsler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:07:46 -0800

-False Profits: We Will Be Suffering from Greenspan and Bernanke's Ineptitude for a Long Time
-G7 close to accord on banks paying for global recession
-How Brussels Is Trying to Prevent a Collapse of the Euro
-Europe loses seat at top table
-Corruption, Culpability and Short-Termism

Iran - to sanction or not to sanction? - Feb 9

kristinsponsler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:46:15 -0800

-Sanctions Are the Talk of the Day
-U.S. Wants Iran Sanctions In Weeks; Embassies Attacked
-Iran begins enriching higher-grade uranium, says state TV

Sustainable Firewood: Recycling Atmospheric Carbon

woodwind — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:27:56 -0800

Wood is a renewable fuel because young trees grow up to replace those harvested for fuel. That’s a simple enough statement, but there is much more to consider when you look into the details.

Film Review: ‘Food Inc.’

kristinsponsler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:45:14 -0800

At this year's Soil Association conference I was chatting with Mike Small of the Fife Diet in Scotland. He told a story about how a film crew from Sky News came up to Fife to do a news story about their work. While they were filming, Mike chatted to the director and asked him what was the angle on the story. "Well", said the director, "it's about a community eating local food". "Amazing to think that that's now seen as news!" said Mike. Of course, now such a thing is news, so bizarrely distorted has our food system (and our media, but that's another story) become. Unfortunately the sprawling monster that actually now feeds most of us isn't news, but only because it is so well hidden, something that the excellent new film "Food Inc" tries to change.

Small is beautiful (and radical)

kristinsponsler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:03:08 -0800

When a friend told me of two of the proposed discussion topics for a major agricultural conference--"What is so radical about radical agriculture?" and "Is small the only beautiful?"--I told him that that I thought both questions had the same answer. Let me see if I can explain.

Delusions of Finance: Where We are Headed

kristinsponsler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:42:42 -0800

Back in October, I participated in the 2^nd International Biophysical Economics Conference at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, New York. Charlie Hall had written to me, inviting me to come and give a talk. Specifically, he wanted me to go back to my post from January 2008 called Peak Oil and the Financial Markets: A Forecast for 2008 and explain why my forecasts had turned out pretty close to correct, while many others widely missed the mark. The title he suggested for the talk was Delusions of Finance.

Journalists examine teapot tempests as real glaciers melt

bart — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:03:41 -0800

None of [the major papers] thought that the IPCC's statement that the Himalayan glaciers would likely melt by 2035 was in itself worth mentioning, let alone basing a story around. So how much effort should the same papers spend reporting on the withdrawal of this claim? That depends on whether you think melting glaciers, or scientific misstatements about melting glaciers, are the bigger threat to humanity.

Climate & environment - Feb 8

kristinsponsler — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:23:26 -0800

-Defusing the Methane Greenhouse Time Bomb
-Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers
-China: Prince of Denmark
-Loss Of Species Hits Economy

Responses & Resilience - Feb 8

kristinsponsler — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:53:36 -0800

-A High School For Green Teens
-Climate change and the West
-DIY Life: Urban Homesteaders at Kitchen Table Talks