Jack Dini

Germany’s Energy Lesson

Germany’s experiment with subsidizing inefficient solar technology has failed. “One of the world’s biggest green-energy public-policy experiments is coming to a bitter end in Germany, with important lessons for policymakers elsewhere,” reports Bjorn Lomborg. (1)

Eat Your Broccoli

The list of health benefits from broccoli is almost too good to be true: halt the growth of breast cancer cells, reduce stomach tumors, reduce cancer in the upper colon, protect against the deleterious effects of UV radiation, control the germ that causes most peptic ulcers, and clean harmful bacteria from lungs.

Wind Power Not Reliable

Wind turbines are extraordinarily unreliable because wind speeds are so inconsistent; the average output of a turbine is only about a quarter of its capacity (known as the ‘load factor’). Also, due to the vagaries of the wind, wind turbines are unpredictable. This means that, in order to guarantee a continuous supply of electricity, alternative sources of power have to be kept permanently on standby or ‘spinning reserve’, ready to step in at a moment’s notice to make up for the lack of supply from the wind farms.

Move to Xi’an China to prevent dying from air pollution

The Chinese city of Xi’an has some of the worst air quality in the world. Yet its air is significantly safer than the air in US cities, according to a new study. (1)

Pesticide Use Increasing- Some From Organic Farming

Pesticide use in California rose in 2010 after declining for four consecutive years. The data, released by the Department of Pesticide Regulation show an increase of nearly 10 percent in pounds used from 2009 to 2010. More than 173 million pounds were applied statewide, an increase of nearly 15 million pounds from the previous year.

India- ‘Green’ With Heavy Pollution

The National Geographic Society ranks India as the world’s ‘greenest’ society. How did India achieve this? The Times of India explains the National Geographic Society’s logic. “That cold water bath that many Indians have because there’s no electricity…that ‘matka’ they use because they can’t afford a fridge…and the long walk they take to work and back because private transport is expensive and public transport shoddy. There’s an upside to the hard life. Indians may be green with envy at the consumption-driven lifestyle in the West, but their own frugal ways and modest means have catapulted them to the top spot in the world’s green index, making them the most environmental-friendly denizens of Planet Earth.” (1)

Denmark- Seeming Green, But Questionable

Christian Friis Bach’s (recently appointed Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark) electric-powered vehicle was incapable of covering the 30 kilometers from his house to the palace without running out of power. So he put the electric mini-car inside a horse trailer and dragged it behind his petrol-owned Citroen for three-quarters of the trip, switching back to the mini-car when he neared the television cameras. The stunt produced more carbon emissions than if he had ditched the electric car and horse-trailer and driven a regular car the entire distance, reports Bjorn Lomborg. (1)

Electricity Prices Soar in United States and Elsewhere

Electric bills have skyrocketed in the last five years, a sharp reversal from a quarter-century ago when Americans enjoyed stable power bills even as they used more electricity, reports USA Today. (1)

Germany and Increasing Worldwide Coal Consumption

Germany, one of the countries that constantly preaches the global warming doctrine and insists the rest of the world do as it says, is increasing its reliance on coal and gas plants. This is because it has put the closure of all its nuclear reactors on the fast track since the Fukushima accident. The German government will use climate fund cash to build coal and natural gas plants. As Ryan Maue says, “You can’t make this stuff up.” (1)

Questionable Stimulus-Funded Projects

When Congress passed the $862 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, otherwise known as the stimulus bill, it passed with assurances that it would stem the loss of American jobs and keep the economy from floundering. Almost three years since the law’s passage, millions of jobs are still gone and the economy is as uncertain as ever. (1) The only thing getting a boost is our national debt—the stimulus has helped push it over 23 percent higher, to $14.3 trillion, a new record.

China’s Monopoly on Rare Earth Metals

Rare earth metals with strange sounding names like dysprosium, terbium, neodymium, europium, yttrium and lanthanum are a class of 17 chemical elements that play a critical role in modern technology including cancer treatment, cruise missiles, iPods, flat screen TVs, hybrid cars, wind turbines, solar panels and oil refineries to mention some applications.

Is An Ice Age Coming?

US solar physicists announced in June 2011 that the Sun appears to be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity, which could mean that the Earth—far from facing a global warming problem—is actually headed into a mini Ice Age. The announcement came from scientists at the US National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Three different analyses of the Sun’s recent behavior all indicated that a period of unusually low solar activity may be about to begin. (1)

Are You Suffering From Carborexia?

Are you worried about your carbon footprint? If so, you have company. Many others are also concerned and some are having serious problems. There is a growing consensus that increased awareness about climate change is leading to negative emotional reactions in some individuals. Doctors are reporting that more and more patients who have anxiety and depression are citing climate change news as something that they are having difficulty coping with and that this leads to distress and/or interferes with daily living. (1)

Memo to Al Gore—Get an Update on Extreme Weather Fatalities

Al Gore’s ‘24 hours of climate reality’ focused almost exclusively on extreme weather events. According to Gore and his movie, global warming is making extreme weather events more common and severe, resulting in a rapid acceleration of human misery and deadly weather events.

Bird Death Fines Depend On Who Kills The Birds

Oil companies face heavy fines: Wind farms get a free pass Seven oil companies have recently been charged in federal court with killing migratory birds that died after allegedly landing in oil waste pits in western North Dakota. The charges involve 28 dead birds that were discovered in oil waste pits between May 6 and June 20. The maximum penalty for each charge under the Migratory Bird Act is six months in prison and a $15,000 fine. (1)

Solar Setbacks Worldwide

Solyndra, a Silicon Valley maker of solar power arrays that was started with high hopes and $527 million in loans from the federal government is ceasing operations. The company said it was laying off 1,100 full-time and temporary employees. Like others in the nation’s solar energy industry, Solyndra faced declining prices for solar panels, in part because of heavy competition from Chinese companies.

Are “Green Jobs” Pipe Dreams?

In the Bay Area as in much of the country, the green economy is not proving to be the job-creation engine that many politicians envisioned. President Obama once pledged to create five million green jobs over 10 years.

Plagiarism and Copycatting in China

China’s stated goal of becoming a ‘research superpower’ could be held back by one big problem reports The New York Times. The newspaper notes that fraud is pervasive in education and scientific research as state universities pressure academics to rack up credentials and raise the nation’s image. They report that a third of the 6,000 scientists polled in a recent government study of the nation’s top science institutions said they had plagiarized or fabricated data. (1)

A Depressing Saga About Jobs

The United States suffered a net loss of 12 factories and 2,400 manufacturing jobs per day during the first 10 years of the 21st century. This is a net loss of 44,000 factories. (1) These statistics are only the tip of the iceberg. Here are some data for engineers. Back in the 80s and 90s, the unemployment rate among electrical engineers (EEs) and computer scientists (CSs) was, by and large below 2%, but it has gone up drastically since then. It soared to 8.6% in the second quarter of 2009 for EEs and to 5.7% for CSs. At that time the government counted 29,000 EEs out of work. Although these numbers are below the average unemployment rate in the US, they are extremely alarming because we are talking about a profession that drives technological progress. In the third quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate for mechanical engineers was 9.5% reports Eugene Veklerov. (2)

Dunes Sagebrush Lizards- Another Spotted Owl Fiasco?

Texas is the nation’s leading oil and gas producing state. It provides 32 percent of the domestic onshore oil production and 35 percent of the domestic onshore-marketed gas production in the United States. Yet, as the importance of developing our own energy resources has become more acute than ever, oil and gas production in West Texas threatens to be shut down by the dunes sagebrush lizard. Between the environmentalists who are itching to put this little lizard on the endangered list and Obama’s Administration who have a disdain for domestic oil production, the little lizard could become another spotted owl. (1)