Infinite Unknown

- Germany Fires Live Ammo In Sino-European Trade War … At Brussels (Testosterone Pit, May 20, 2013):

The solar-panel industry, once fattened by taxpayer subsidies and false hopes, has been in a death spiral around the world. In the US, a slew of photovoltaic standouts like Solyndra went under, taking billions of subsidies and investor capital with them. In Germany, it has been just as brutal. Even large companies are licking their wounds.

Bosch Solar Energy AG will shut down production early next year, after having burned through €2.4 billion; 3,000 jobs are at risk. Siemens is trying to shed its solar units, if it can find a buyer. Victims of Chinese companies that flooded world markets with cheap solar panels. But even Chinese companies are going bankrupt, including one of the big four, Wuxi Suntech, subsidiary of US-listed Suntech Power.

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Tags: Bosch, China, Collapse, Economy, Energy, EU, Europe, Germany, Global News, Government, Politics, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Technology

- Economic insanity: Obama spends $11 million to create each ‘green’ job (Natural News, May 18, 2013):

There has been nothing you could call “successful” about President Obama’s so-called “green energy” initiatives, but the worst thing of all is the billions in taxpayer dollars he has utterly wasted on failed companies who were trying to push unproven, and ultimately failed, initiatives.

Indeed, according to new data, the Obama Administration has spent an incredible $11 million for each “green” job that has been created, Breitbart News reports.

Recall for a moment that candidate Barack Obama, in 2008, promised he would create a whopping 5 million new green energy sector jobs if elected.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Economy, Energy, Global News, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Technology, U.S.

Related info:

- US May Face Inevitable Nuclear Power Exit (PHYS.org)

- Plastic Bags, Tape, Broomsticks Fix San Onofre Nuclear Plant Leak (ABC 10News – Video, Photo)

- Radioactive leak found at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant (RT, May 17, 2013):

Investigators have discovered a half-inch long crack around a nozzle on one of the tanks of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, and have attributed the crack to the water leakage that spilled radioactive water into Lake Michigan on May 5.

The plant, which is located on the shore of the great lake and operated by Entergy, was shut down after the water tank exceeded its site threshold and leaked. Authorities say the crack led to about 79 gallons of “slightly radioactive water” spilling from the Palisades plant into the lake, WOOD-TV reports.

The leak came from a 300,000-gallon injection and refueling tank, which floods and cools the nuclear reactor with borated water during refueling outages. It also removes heat from the reactor when there is a loss of coolant by sourcing the safety injection system.

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Tags: Energy, Environment, Global News, Health, Lake Michigan, Michigan, NRC, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, Radiation, Technology, U.S.

- These Charts Better Not Reflect The True State Of The US Economy (ZeroHedge, April 6, 2013):

Lately, when it comes to obtaining an accurate sense of the true state of the US economy, it is as difficult if not more than analyzing the openly-manipulated Chinese data. On one hand, the Fed-juiced market, which has lost its discounting powers, no longer reflects the current or future economic (or corporate) fundamentals, on the other, massive seasonal aberrations, whether purposeful or accidental, have made a mockery of any data series, be it jobs, manufacturing, retail sales, or housing. On the other, the administration – still stuck in the worst economic “recovery” since the Great Depression – is desperate to telegraph an improving economy, most evident in the months leading up to the presidential election, which makes taking any data at face value problematic and naive at best. Yet even the openly-contradicting Chinese data manipulation has its Achilles heel in the form of monthly electricity consumption (and to a lesser extent, production) updates.

So what is the US equivalent of Chinese electricity consumption data? We believe it may be the little-tracked, and thus not nearly as “adjusted” weekly updates from the Energy Information Administration, whose data on barrels of US product supplied of both total petroleum products and just gasoline are as indicative of the true state of the energy-hungry beating heart of the US economy as any other data set, and is likely a far more accurate representation of what is really going on between the lines. Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Collapse, Economy, Energy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Society, U.S.

- CO2 myth busted: Why we need more carbon dioxide to grow food and forests (Natural News, March 1, 2013):

If you talk to the global warming crowd, carbon dioxide — CO2 — is the enemy of mankind. Any and all creation of CO2 is bad for the planet, we’re told, and its production must be strictly limited in order to save the world.

But what if that wasn’t true? What if CO2 were actually a planet-saving nutrient that could multiply food production rates and feed the world more nutritious, healthy plants?

CO2 is a vital nutrient for food crops

As it turns out, CO2 is desperately needed by food crops, and right now there is a severe shortage of CO2 on the planet compared to what would be optimum for plants. Greenhouse operators are actually buying carbon dioxide and injecting it into their greenhouses in order to maximize plant growth.

The science on this is irrefutable. As just one example, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food says:

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Tags: Agriculture, Climate Change, CO2, Energy, Environment, Global Warming

- Germany, Spain Set To Pull The Plug On Green Energy (ZeroHedge, Feb 14, 2013):

Over ten years ago, when Europe was a bright and shining example of experimental monetarist “brilliance”, and when the money was flowing, the continent decided to do the ethical thing and actively promote the pursuit and development of renewable energy through countless government subsidies. As a result, Germany and Spain became the undisputed leaders in the race for a green future, and both created similar laws to encourage the development of renewable energy. There were two problems: i) green energy, while noble in theory, is about the worst idea possible when it comes to profitability and capital self-sustainability and constantly needs governmental subsidies, and ii) it was the end consumers who would pay for the government’s generosity, in the form of a surcharge on electric bills. In Germany, for example, as the industry grew (in size, and thus in losses) demand for the subsidy increased, driving the surcharge higher. In January, the surcharge, which amounts to about 14% of electricity prices, nearly doubled to 5.28 euro cents per kilowatt hour.

And, as the WSJ so deftly explains, “that means ordinary consumers shoulder the lion’s share of the costs for what the German government calls its “energy revolution.” And here is where a third problem comes into play, because while German and Spanish consumers were happy to pay a surcharge in the golden days of a Dr. Jekyll Europe when everything was great, soon Europe become a doomed Mr. Hyde-ian Frankenstein monster, with imploding economies, 60%+ youth unemployment and resurgent neo-nazi powers. In short: the German and Spanish consumers have had it with funding an infinite money drain (even bigger than Greece), when cash flow is scarce and getting worse, and have just said “Basta” and “Nein“, respectively. Continue reading »

Tags: Energy, EU, Europe, Germany, Global News, Government, Politics, Spain, Technology

- Myths And Facts About Solar Energy (Media Matters For America, Jan 24, 2013)

Tags: Energy, Global News, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Technology

- Bolivia nationalises Iberdrola electricity companies (Reuters, Dec 29, 2012):

Bolivia nationalised two electricity distribution companies owned by Spanish utility Iberdrola on Saturday, the latest move by leftist President Evo Morales to assert control over the country’s resources.

Iberdrola will be compensated according to a valuation to be drawn up by an independent arbiter, Morales said, adding that the measure was aimed at enhancing rural energy services.

“We considered this measure necessary to ensure equitable energy tariffs … and to see to it that the quality of electricity service is uniform in rural as well as urban areas,” Morales said.

President Morales has nationalised oil, telecommunications, mining and electrical generation companies.

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Tags: Bolivia, Economy, electricity, Energy, Evo Morales, Global News, Government, Politics, Society

Researchers have discovered that there’s enough power in living trees to run an electric circuit.

TREE POWER: Engineers Babak Parviz and Brian Otis demonstrate with students how a device can be plugged into a tree for power. (Photo: University of Washington)

- Electrical device plugs directly into trees for power (Mother Nature Network, Sep 10, 2012):

In today’s world of high-tech portable gadgets, iPods and cell phones, we’ve become dependent upon readily accessible electric outlets to power our devices and charge our batteries. But now researchers at the University of Washington have discovered nature’s alternative to the power outlet: living trees.

That’s right, living trees. UW engineers Babak Parviz and Brian Otis have invented an electrical device that can be plugged directly into any tree for power. “As far as we know this is the first peer-reviewed paper of someone powering something entirely by sticking electrodes into a tree,” said Parviz.

The research was based upon a breakthrough study last year out of MIT, when scientists found that plants generate a voltage of up to 200 millivolts when one electrode is placed in a plant and the other in the surrounding soil. Those researchers are already designing devices which act as forest sensors powered entirely by this new method. But until now, no one has applied these findings to the development of tree power.

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Tags: Energy, Environment, MIT, Science, Technology, Trees

- Hemp Can Save America and the World! (Activist Post, Nov, 19, 2012)

Tags: Energy, Environment, Global News, Government, Health, Hemp, Politics, Science, Technology, U.S.