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Archive for October 15th, 2010
Department of Energy promotes pumped hydro as option for renewable power storage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Greenwire: When the wind howls in Denmark and energy demand is low, turbine farms can store energy in a Norwegian reservoir for use the next day. But a hard wind in the dead of a Texas night has power companies paying customers to use electricity they don't need. That is a waste of clean power -- something that U.S. promoters of renewable energy want to change. Among the American boosters of pumped hydro storage is Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who maintains that water-based storage could ...
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NASA: CO2, not water vapor, causes global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Aol News: The Earth's atmosphere is a complicated place. Somewhere in that swirling, shifting mixture of air, water and other gasses is the key to keeping us earthlings alive -- or to cooking us. Carbon dioxide has always received the most media attention as the leading cause of climate change, and a new study from NASA does more than concur with this assessment: It finds CO2 is overwhelmingly responsible for raising Earth's temperature. Led by Andrew Lacis at the NASA Goddard Institute ...
Warming wallops Southwest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Payson Roundup: Los Angeles reports its hottest day ever. Lake Powell and Lake Mead dwindle toward water rationing. Rim Country suffers a bewildering sequence of flood and drought. Arizona aspens and pinyon pines die off, ponderosa pines shift elevation and forest fires grow in size and intensity. Well, get used to it. The Southwest will warm up dramatically in coming decades, according to an assessment published recently in the journal Science. The study on the impact of rising ...
Atmospheric CO2: Climate’s ‘control knob’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Discovery News: If water vapor and clouds account for roughly 75 percent of the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, then why all of the fuss about carbon dioxide? New experiments by researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York produce a dramatic answer to this question. Andrew Lacis and colleagues added and subtracted each of the greenhouse gases from the atmosphere of their best climate model -- the water vapor and clouds that condense, evaporate and precipitate from the ...
A warmer, wetter Iowa?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Omaha World-Herald: A panel of Iowa State University researchers predicted Iowa will grow warmer and wetter with heavier rainfalls. But the question remained how local, state and federal agencies will adjust their policies and budget priorities to prepare for a future that may include more severe floods. At a panel discussion this week, "Flooding in Ames: The Problems and Prospects," four faculty members discussed their research and what it might mean for Ames, flooding, land use regulation and ...
Satellite data to help Himalayan environment management
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
SciDev.Net: An innovative web-based environmental management system 'SERVIR-Himalaya' using satellite earth observation data has been launched in the Himalayan region. The system, launched this month (5 October) by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will integrate earth data from NASA satellites with geospatial information from other government agencies. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain ...
Farming Practices Can Ease Impact of Climate Change on Wetlands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Newswise: Climate change in the Prairie Pothole Region poses problems for wetland-dependent organisms such as ducks, but farmers could help ease the impact by the way they farm. Adopting such practices as strategic use of biomass crops and conversion of row crops to managed grass near wetlands could compensate for a Celsius degree or two of warming, South Dakota State University wetland ecologist W. Carter Johnson said. Johnson, a distinguished professor in SDSU's Department of ...
Water Beetle Expert Discovers 20 Species in Pristine Rainforest of Suriname
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Kansas City infoZine: For almost four weeks in late summer, University of Kansas entomologist Andrew Short scoured the unspoiled tropical rainforest of Suriname, the small country located just above the equator along the north coast of South America. The young assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology was stalking undiscovered species of aquatic beetles. "When you're standing in the middle of a stream and you collect a tiny brown beetle, no bigger than a pinhead, it's really difficult ...
Safety concerns dog French uranium mines in Niger
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Guardian: For years uranium mining in Niger proceeded without giving rise to any major problems for companies, but things changed at the turn of the century. Since then the population of the mining town Arlit has become increasingly concerned that radioactivity may be exceeding regulatory limits. Local residents contacted Criirad (Committee for independent research and information on radioactivity), a private laboratory in France, which carried out a series of measurements in 2003. Their ...
Altered images depict horrors of pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 15th, 2010
Reuters: A Hungarian economist turned artist is using digitally manipulated photographs that create almost apocalyptic imagery from real life to promote environmental awareness. Suzanne Nagy's series of photographs entitled "Polluters" features altered images that are embedded in an epoxy solution to create a three-dimensional effect. All of the pieces are based around photographs she has taken, and all create similar effects through the lighting and elements she ...