GoodnewsEverybody.comScience: Environmental-Carbon Dating, Eco-Friendly, Green Living, Recycling, etc...
" 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..-Genesis 1
2008 "Earth Day Reflection"
We sometimes forget and admire God's creation around us when we get a "tunnel vision" in our daily busy lives-especially the BIG cities! I (Sal) challenge you all to at times go out to enjoy nature's beauty and explore God's beautiful creation (e.g. plants, animals, sky, etc..). I picked-up snowboarding this past winter to just get outside from being inside all the time. I would stand on top of the hill and just have a conversation with my Heavenly Father. I looked around the top of the hill where I started and marveled the view Well, "Happy Earth Day"...
As I wrote the above reflection on my facebook wall, I remembered my time when I visited the Philippines back in 2001. I didn't realize how clean we got it back in the U.S. (well, maybe just Minnesota-Morris especially)! My nose was itchy and I blew my nose to get the dirt and never saw much dirt from my nose in one blow! It was from just going through the heavily densed polluted metro city of Manila (captial of the Philippines). It's so bad there that 3M's face masks would be sold out there!
We need to keep our environment clean-not just for us, but the future generations that will be coming behind us!
Past Earth Day Activities
" 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.-Genesis 1:31
I remember growing-up in east St. Paul and our school had all the students plant trees at a nearby park (Battle Creek). It was always a memorable experience because we had the chance to just get out of the classroom and enjoy the weather outside. I then came home all muddy and dirty, but it was all worth it.
Just several years later, I went to Middle School or Junior High-we did an all day activity by cleaning up the neighborhood around the school. The group I was part of went across the street to this wooded creek area to pick-up trash. Since then, I've grown-up naturally to just pick-up trash around me-well, I try most of the time! What can we learn from this? We need to teach the young generation "good habits" of keeping God' creation clean while they are young. Thus, they'll do unto the next generation!
Alternative Energy
powerstephaniefotocom.jpg
"Power" (picture by Stephanie Warcheza), which was taken along Highway 59 by Barrett (20 minutes north of Morris), Minnesota
"In the space of two weeks, Hurricane Gustav has caused an estimated $3 billion in losses in the U.S. and killed about 110 people in the U.S. and the Caribbean, catastrophic floods in northern India have left a million people homeless, and a 6.2-magnitude earthquake has rocked China's southwest, smashing over 400,000 homes.
If it seems like disasters are getting more common, it's because they are. But some disasters do seem to be affecting us worse - and not for the reasons you may think. Floods and storms have led to most of the excess damage. The number of flood and storm disasters has gone up by 7.4% every year in recent decades, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. (Between 2000 and 2007, the growth was even faster - with an average annual rate of increase of 8.4%.) Of the total 197 million people affected by disasters in 2007, 164 million were affected by floods.
It is tempting to look at the line-up of storms in the Atlantic (Hanna, Ike, Josephine) and, in the name of everything green, blame climate change for this state of affairs. But there is another inconvenient truth out there: We are getting more vulnerable to weather mostly because of where we live, not just how we live.
In recent decades, people around the world have moved en masse to big cities near water. The population of Miami-Dade County in Florida was about 150,000 in the 1930s, a decade fraught with severe hurricanes. Since then, the population of Miami-Dade County has rocketed 1,600% to 2,400,000.
So the same intensity hurricane today wreaks all sorts of havoc that wouldn't have occurred had human beings not migrated. (To see how your own coastal county has changed in population, check out this cool graphing tool from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
If climate change is having an effect on the intensities of storms, it's not obvious in the historical weather data. And whatever effect it is having is much, much smaller than the effect of development along the coastlines. In fact, if you look at all storms from 1900 to 2005 and imagine we had today's populations on the coasts, as Roger Pielke, Jr., and his colleagues did in a 2008 Natural Hazards Review paper, you would see that the worst hurricane would have actually happened in 1926.
If it happened today, the Great Miami storm would have caused $140 to $157 billion in damages. (Hurricane Katrina, the costliest storm in U.S. history, caused $100 billion in losses.) "There has been no trend in the number or intensity of storms at landfall since 1900,"says Pielke, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado. "The storms themselves haven't changed."
What's changed is what we've put in the storm's way. Crowding together in coastal cities puts us at risk on a few levels. First, it is harder for us to evacuate before a storm because of gridlock. And in much of the developing world, people don't get the kinds of early warnings that Americans get. So large migrant populations - usually living in flimsy housing - get flooded out year after year. That helps explain why Asia has repeatedly been the hardest hit by disasters in recent years.
Secondly, even if we get all the humans to safety, we still have more stuff in harm's way. So each big hurricane costs more than the big one before it, even controlling for inflation.
But the most insidious effect of building condos and industry along the water is that we are systematically stripping the coasts of the protection that used to cushion the blow of extreme weather. Three years after Katrina, southern Louisiana is still losing a football field worth of wetlands every 38 minutes.
Human beings have been clearing away our best protections all over the world, says Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "The natural protections are diminishing - whether you're talking about mangrove forests in areas affected by the Indian ocean tsunami, wetlands in the Gulf Coast or forests, which offer protection against landslides and mudslides."
Before we become hopelessly lost in despair, however, there is good news: we can do something about this problem. We can enact meaningful building codes and stop keeping insurance premiums artificially low in flood zones.
But first we need to understand that disasters aren't just caused by FEMA and greenhouse gases. Says Tierney: "I don't think that people have an understanding of questions they should be asking - about where they live, about design and construction, about building inspection, fire protection. These just aren't things that are on people's minds."
Increasingly, climate change is on people's minds, and that is all for the better. Even if climate change has not been the primary driver of disaster losses, it is likely to cause far deadlier disasters in the future if left unchecked.
But even if greenhouse gas emissions plummeted miraculously next year, we would not expect to see a big change in disaster losses. So it's important to stay focused on the real cause of the problem, says Pielke. "Talking about land-use policies in coastal Mississippi may not be the sexiest topic, but that's what's going to make the most difference on this issue." View this article on Time.com
Related articles on Time.com:"
....see GoodnewsEverybody.com Science-Weather
Global warming, from Wikipedia ".. is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century, and its projected continuation.
The average global air temperature near the Earth's surface increased 0.74 � 0.18 �C (1.33 � 0.32 �F) during the 100 years ending in 2005.[1] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations"[1] via an enhanced greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward.[2][3]
These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least 30 scientific societies and academies of science,[4] including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries.[5][6][7] While individual scientists have voiced disagreement with some findings of the IPCC,[8] the overwhelming majority of scientists working on climate change agree with the IPCC's main conclusions.[9][10]"
Mid-East Bible Prophecy: Global Warming or God's Warning?
"Our Weekly Middle East - Israel - Bible Prophecy Update: Global Warming or God's Warning - A condensed version of a special edition of our weekly Bible/Mid-East prophecy update study given February 24th, 2008 A.D. This study compares the timing of catastrophic storms in the United States with U.S. political pressure to force Israel to relinquish the land given them by God to the so called Palestinian people (which people never existed other than as the people of Israel themselves historically) in light of the prophecy / prophetic warning God gives in Zechariah 12:2-3 relating to these last days / end times events"
-Religion
".. Susan Joy Hassol, the author of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment Report, remarked, "Climate change is happening now. This is not a distant problem. It is happening now in the Arctic, and the impacts are being felt now in the Arctic, and they'll be increasingly felt there and around the world."
But Michaels says before you buy a life raft, hold on. First of all, in the North Pole, that is ice that is floating in the ocean. If that melts at the end of summer, that means nothing to sea level. The South Pole, Antarctica is the largest ice mass on the planet. It is gaining ice, not losing it.
The Earth's temperature has been fluctuating since its creation. It was warmer 1,000 years ago than it is today, but then began to cool. Colonial America was gripped by the tail end of a period known as Little Ice Age, with some of the deepest snows and coldest temperatures in recorded North American history.
Michaels stated,�It was cold. In Jefferson's time it was definitely colder, and Jefferson writes in his book, "Notes on the State of Virginia�,�� The snow used to lie on the ground for months at a time; now it only does so for weeks or days��"
It lasted into the 1800s, with the year 1816 known as the "year without summer." And some climate scientists today are more worried about another ice age than global warming. But they have been drowned out by a worldwide movement that has branded global-warming skeptics as evil, even comparing them to people who deny the existence of the Holocaust. .."
"Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."..
"...Global temperatures are known to be influenced by other, non-human-controlled factors, such as sunspot activity, orbital movement, volcanic activity, solar system effects, and so forth. CO2 emission is not the only plausible explanation for global warming.
..
...In regards to issues such as this, skepticism is not the same as disbelief. There are fragments of evidence to support both sides, and logical reasons to choose one interpretation over another. The question of anthropogenic global warming should not divide Christian believers from each other (Luke 11:17). Environmental issues are important, but they are not the most important questions facing mankind. Christians ought to treat our world with respect and good stewardship, but we should not allow politically-driven hysteria to dominate our view of the environment. Our relationship with God is not dependent on our belief in human-caused global warming..."
"Scientific basis
The film's thesis is that global warming is real, potentially catastrophic, and human-caused. Gore presents specific data that supports the thesis, including:..
Origins
According to Gore, he became interested in global warming when he took a course at Harvard University with Professor Roger Revelle, one of the first scientists to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.[14] Later, when Gore was in Congress, he initiated the first congressional hearing on the subject.[15] Gore's 1992 book, Earth in the Balance, dealing with a number of environmental topics, reached the New York Times bestseller list....
Producers Laurie David and Lawrence Bender saw Gore's slide show in New York City after the 2004 premiere of The Day After Tomorrow.[16] Inspired, they met with director Davis Guggenheim about the possibility of making the slide show into a movie. Guggenheim, who was skeptical at first, later saw the presentation for himself, stating that he was "blown away," and "left after an hour and a half thinking that global warming [was] the most important issue. . . . I had no idea how you’d make a film out of it, but I wanted to try," he said.." A Convenient Truth-
Part of Caregivers of the Planet
Experiments in
Transformation Global Warming's Real Inconvenient Truth
By Robert J. Samuelson
Wednesday, July 5, 2006; Page A13 (washingtonpost.com) "...The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral crusade when it's really an engineering problem. The inconvenient truth is that if we don't solve the engineering problem, we're helpless. The Real Inconvenient Truth- Has Already Taken Fifty Million Lives, from jeremiahproject.com
by Rev. Michael Bresciani
"...The fact that fifty million human beings have suffered death at the hands of abortionists even while there is no proof of even one single death due to global warming is a total no brainer. No rocket science needed here, no math degree. What is needed is a whole lot less panic and a huge helping of honesty. It is a matter of the heart not the brain. The appeal to the heart can sway the hardest and even the most intelligent person even if the intelligence is of the more common pseudo-intelligent variety. Are acts that are de-humanizing, cruel, heartless and deadly given respectability because they are performed by those who are considered to be “intelligent?”.."
"The UMM GreenCorps team and The Recycling Association of Minnesota are proud to bring the Recycle Your Holidays ™ Holiday Light Recycling Program to Morris! Now through spring 2010 boxes will be placed at Willie’s Super Valu and Thrifty White Drug. Bring your old holiday lights, electric cords, telephone cords and appliance cords. Cord adapters and battery packs are not accepted. For more information call 320-589-6468 and ask for Katie or email laug0064@morris.umn.edu."
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What Happens To Recycled Holiday Lights?
Thu Dec 10, 10:47AM PT - WCCO Minneapolis 2:20 | 319 views (video from news.yahoo.com) "Some recycled holiday lights end up at the Adult Training and Habilitation Center in Hutchinson, Minn., Chris Shaffer reports (2:12)..."
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com Challenges-Physically, Mentally, Handicapped, Vulnerable, etc...
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Morris Area students and volunteers collected tons of electronics waste on Tuesday -- Earth Day -- at Morris Area Elementary School as part of a Service Learning Program project organized by the students.
Morris Area students and volunteers collected tons of electronics waste on Tuesday -- Earth Day -- at Morris Area Elementary School as part of a Service Learning Program project organized by the students.
The Morris Area High School Service Learning Program�s electronics waste recycling day Tuesday was a huge success, and students in the program would like to make it an annual Earth Day event.
The five-hour, free drop-off service was organized by the Student Energy Leadership Team, and
proved to be a popular attraction for people looking to get rid of televisions, computers or any of electronic items that can be hooked to them.
The recycling project filled a semi-trailer and nine roll-off containers, and traffic at times stretch out of the Morris Area Elementary School parking lot and down the hill on Columbia Avenue.
�The longest wait was 25 minutes, but people didn�t seem to mind,� said Cheryl Kuhn, the district�s Service Learning Coordinator. �People loved the service.�
About 50 students and adult volunteers unloaded vehicles and loaded the semi and roll-offs. Jack�s Recycling in Alexandria is taking the electronics waste and recycling components and properly disposing of material such as lead and mercury that are found in the electronics items.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Kuhn had not received an exact weight of the items, but estimated that each roll-off could hold between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds.
In addition to keeping harmful products out of landfills, the recycling project served to motivate students, who already are engaged in other eco-friendly activities as part of their Service Learning work.
�A student said to me, �It�s amazing that, as one person, how I can inspire an entire community,� � Kuhn said."
"Stevens County residents can dispose of old electronics devices free at the Morris Area Elementary School from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 22 -- Earth Day...
The free recycling includes computers, televisions and anything that can be plugged into a computer or TV. Traffic will be directed to the north parking lot of the school, located at 153 Columbia Ave., in Morris."
"BENSON, Minn. (AP) - Mary Jo and Luverne Forbord took 30 acres of good cropland and decided it's time to find out: Are productive conservation and bioenergy for real, or are they just the buzz words of the day?
So far the quest for that answer has been "frustrating," Luverne Forbord acknowledged as he led a couple dozen visitors recently on the Prairie Horizons farm between Benson and Starbuck.
Although the visitors expressed surprise at how well a mix of warm-season grasses - everything from bluestem and switchgrass to Canada wild rye - has taken hold on the 30 acres, Forbord said it has not been easy. The mix was planted just this summer, in the third of three consecutive dry years. The farm has seen only two inches of rain this summer season, the Forbords said.
The grasses are setting their roots deep where the Forbords once raised 200-bushel-per-acre corn. The land is rich but sloping, which makes it prone to erosion, they said.
After 30 years of operating the farm as a dairy, in 2002, the couple began raising Lowline Angus - a short-stature cattle breed - and converting croplands to pasture.
The 30 acres of newly planted grassland will be the farm's first biomass crop for energy. The Forbords intend to harvest the grasses in future years for sale in either Benson or Morris, where markets for biomass energy already exist. The Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company and Fibrominn in Benson and the University of Minnesota-Morris campus are all potential markets for the biomass the Forbords will produce.
Representatives from the ethanol company and the university weren't the only visitors who walked over the Forbords' grasslands with an eye toward turning this into tomorrow's green energy source. Mark Lindquist, biofuels manager with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said the state has an interest in seeing more grasslands planted as part of what is known as "productive conservation."
If the state is to improve water quality, and improve waterfowl and other wildlife populations, there is a need to increase the amount of grasses and perennials in the landscape, Lindquist said.
With corn prices that easily top $5 a bushel, more and more land is being taken from conservation programs and put back into row crop production. Developing bioenergy markets could help keep lands in perennial cover by providing economic opportunities for farmers, he said.
Biomass markets could also benefit the state in how it manages wildlife lands, according to Dave Trauba, manager of the Lac qui Parle State Wildlife Management Area. Trauba has used grazing cattle as part of his "toolbox" to manage prairie lands. Along with fire, grazing ruminants have always been nature's way of protecting prairie lands from invading woody plants, he said.
The DNR is also experimenting with occasional haying on some wildlife lands to achieve the same objective, he said.
That's why there are so many eyes on what happens to the Forbords' 30 acres. There is no doubt that the couple can manage grasslands: Despite those three dry years, their cattle are grazing in belly-high grasses.
But the Forbords want to know if the economics work for the farm. Their plan is to sell the biomass for energy when the markets are right, and when not, use the biomass instead as feed for their cattle.
There is a lot that is unknown, including the tonnage of biomass that can be harvested from lands like this, according to Stacy Salvevold, who helped the Forbords plant the land in her role with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Morris. But she said the biggest question is the most important one: "The farm end of the market is what is missing from the whole equation," Salvevold said.
At tour's end, Mary Jo Forbord said more is at stake than the economics of the farm. She would like to see grasslands returned to the countryside for the obvious environmental benefits, and more. She's hoping that the economics of biomass are right for returning more young people to farming as well.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)"
"FAIRMONT, Minn. (AP) - A leading European energy services company wants to make this southern Minnesota city a model for the Midwest by investing at least $120 million in a biomass energy plant.
The Fairmont Energy Center would be owned by Veolia Energy, a unit of French utility Veolia Environment. It would start operating in May 2011 if all goes according to plan, local officials were told this past week.
The Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, which sells wholesale electricity to 18 nonprofit municipal members, would buy the electricity produced by the plant. Steam could potentially be sold to local industries. The plant's generating capacity has not been determined.
The biomass would come from a variety of sources, including refuse-derived fuel (RDF), secondary wood waste and agricultural waste from crops such as alfalfa and soybeans. Refuse-derived fuel is processed trash, such as papers and plastics, that would be dried, condensed and shipped into Fairmont. The plant will not burn raw garbage.
By locating the plant in Fairmont, Veolia said it hopes to establish itself in the Midwest, showcase the new facility and encourage more biomass energy facilities in the region.
SMPPA and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are helping Veolia locate sources of biomass. And the company is in the process of signing a letter of intent with a supplier, Elodie Michaels, project director with Veolia's U.S. headquarters in Boston, told the Fairmont City Council and Public Utility Commission this past week.
"RDF is cheaper than any other fuel out there," Michaels said. "Our goal is to get as many green credits as possible for SMMPA."
SMMPA needs those renewable energy credits to meet state requirements that 25 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2025.
"SMMPA can do our project or buy wind," Michaels said. "Right now, our solution is more cost-effective than wind."
While well established in Europe, with nearly 200 plants and 5,000 employees, Veolia is relatively new to the United States.
Veolia will pick a site for the Fairmont plant in the next few weeks, choosing between demolishing the existing city power plant or a location in an industrial park.
E.J. Simon, the project's developer, is the middle man, coordinating efforts among Veolia, SMMPA and other parties involved in the process. In visiting biomass centers in eastern Europe, Simon said, he was amazed by the lack of smell and the appearance of the buildings, which might have passed for grocery stores in the United States. The plant would blend in with the other buildings in the industrial park.
As far as odor, the dried papers and plastics used for RDF doesn't smell, according to Simon, and neither do the secondary wood and other sources of biomass. The high-temperature technology used at the plant will further reduce odors and emissions.
Before any construction can begin, an environmental impact study must be completed. The study will take two years before it goes to the state for approval. Veolia said it does not anticipate any difficulties getting approval, since the plant would meet not only state and federal standards, but also European regulations, which are stricter than those in the U.S.
Construction itself is expected to take two years, with as many as 400 workers on site. Once complete, the plant would provide 20 full-time jobs.
Veolia Energy North America: http://www.veoliaenergyna.com/en
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)"
College
-Research Study:
Augsburg College Releases Biodiesel Miracle
" Added: April 06, 2008 (Less info)
At a joint press conference held this morning in Science Hall 302, Augsburg College and SarTec Corporation officially announced the discovery of a chemical process that could free the United States from its dependence on petroleum diesel fuel. This revolutionary method to make biodiesel started with the curiosity of Augsburg chemistry senior Brian Krohn and ended with three Twin Cities scientists creating the "Mcgyan Process.".."
"
The setting was modest but the rhetoric was anything but.
Inside a drab third-floor chemistry lab at Augsburg College, a group of scientists on Friday unveiled a technology they claim could "revolutionize" energy production and free the United States from its dependence on foreign oil.
That's a tall order for a small liberal arts college in Minneapolis that, at least until now, was not particularly known for its energy acumen.
Nevertheless, Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow suggested the technology, which makes cleaner and cheaper biodiesel fuel, could be "one of modern day's greatest discoveries." ("Miracle," "history making" and "dream" were also liberally tossed about during the 30-minute news conference.)
Dubbed the "Mcgyan Process," the technology, inspired by the work of Augsburg undergraduate Brian Krohn, converts most feedstocks into biodiesel fuel without using much water or producing lots of waste.
Ever Cat Fuels, a start-up co-founded by Augsburg alumnus Clayton McNeff, is building a $5 million plant in Isanti that eventually will produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year.
Normally, companies make biodiesel fuel by mixing soybean oil with a sodium hydroxide "catalyst" in a tank that's heated at a high temperature. But this "batch" process takes hours to complete and produces waste. The catalyst itself must be neutralized with either hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, two toxic chemicals.
The Mcgyan method employs a metal oxide catalyst that converts a mixture of alcohol and feedstock oils in a tubelike reactor to biodiesel fuel. This continuous or "flow" process makes it more efficient because it takes seconds to complete and produces little waste, McNeff said. Patents on the process are pending.
One of the feedstock oils can be algae oil, which can be produced in great quantities from wastewater. Xcel Energy Inc. has invested $4.5 million toward algae and other alternative energy work through the University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.
The timing for Friday's announcement could not have been better. Oil prices reached record highs this week, twice breaking $105 a barrel. That's higher than the previous peak in April 1980, when oil topped $101, after adjusting for inflation.
Thomas Lee � 612-673-7744
"
"WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) - Ethanol's main by-product, which is sold as livestock feed, has raised potential food safety concerns.
Several studies have linked the byproduct, known as distillers grain, to elevated rates of E. coli in cattle. And now, distillers grain is facing further scrutiny because the Food and Drug Administration has found that it often contains antibiotics left over from making ethanol.
Ethanol production relies on enzymes, yeast and sugar to convert corn into fuel. And just as the wrong bacteria in the body can sicken people, it can also cause a variety of ailments in a batch of ethanol.
Mark von Keitz with the University of Minnesota's Biotechnology Institute said in ethanol production, the main enemy is a bacterial bug that makes lactic acid.
"What these organisms do is they also compete with the yeast for the sugar," said von Keitz. "But instead of making alcohol, they make primarily lactic acid."
If enough of the bacteria are present, von Keitz said fermentation can be ruined...."
"MINNEAPOLIS � (Nov. 15) � Metro Transit gave downtown Minneapolis workers and residents a look at the future of public transportation in the region when it paraded 17 of its 19 new hybrid electric buses up Nicollet Mall during the noon hour today...
�Gov. Pawlenty asked state government to lead the way to a sustainable future for Minnesota, and both the Council and Metro Transit have responded,� Bell said. �Metro Transit already uses a 10 percent biodiesel blend in its fuel � five times higher than the state requires. And it will double that percentage next year.�"
-St. Cloud
"A St. Cloud Metro Bus that runs mostly on used cooking oil will begin service today at St. Cloud State University, and some hope it will give a boost to an environment-friendly movement on campus and in the community..." St. Cloud Metropolitan Transit Commission (St. Cloud Metro Bus), St. Cloud, MN, from apta.com "
(Category: Providing more than 1 million and fewer than 4 million annual passenger trips.)
Now a two-time winner (1990 and 2007), St. Cloud Metro Bus is a public transportation agency on the move. Ridership on its U-Pass partnerships with area colleges has jumped 102 percent. Additionally, its Summer Youth Pass program has grown 1,400 percent. Its Dial-a-Ride door-through door for elderly and ADA ridership has an outstanding passenger per hour efficiency aided by computerized scheduling, AVL, and on-board computers. No wonder its slogan is the �people picker-uppers.�
With an emphasis of always improving operations, it completed its transit signal priority deployment with 100 percent complete transit route coverage in 2005. The following year, it implemented a fully integrated bar-coded inventory system and �paperless� shop environment in the fleet maintenance area. Seamless communication between operations and maintenance staff aids identification and assignment of vehicle defects and scheduling preventive maintenance and improves logistical and fiscal maintenance management."
"Minnesota has overtaken Iowa as the nation's third-largest producer of wind energy, behind Texas and California.
The American Wind Energy Association says Minnesota added 405 megawatts of wind power production last year and had 1,299 megawatts of wind energy at the end of 2007. That edged Iowa's 1,271 megawatts.
The organization says U.S. wind power capacity is now about 16,800 megawatts -- enough to serve 4.5 million households with electricity.
Under legislation passed last year, Minnesota set a target of generating 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources such as wind by 2025.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)"
"...Ferngully is a rain-forest, it is home to a race of fairies who have never seen humans and believe Humans don't exist and only exists in stories. That is until the arrival of Batty, a wacky bat who tells the Fairies that he has seen the Humans. Curious, when she sees smoke from Mount Warning, a fairy named Crysta travels beyond Ferngully and discovers a group of humans is destroying the rain-forest. Crysta discovers a human named Zak who is helping destroy the rain-forest and accidentally shrinks him. Once discovering the beauty of Ferngully, Zak and Crysta learn the Fairies and Ferngully itself are in mortal danger, when the humans free Hexxus, a evil oil-like creature who along time ago was turned into a tree when he tried to unleash chaos in Ferngully and has taken over "The Leveler" a logging machine as he begins his evil scheme to destroy Ferngully and only Zak, Crysta, Batty, Pips and The Beetle Boys can defeat Hexxus and save Ferngully from destruction. Written by Daniel Williamso...
FernGully The Last RainForest
"We've picked 10 places -- in no particular order -- that we think are doing a great job at putting residents first. That means they're obsessed with clean air and clean water, renewable energy, reliable city buses, trams, streetcars and subways, a growing number of parks and greenbelts, farmer's markets and, very important, opportunities for community involvement."..
Financial
How To Go Green and Save Some Green At the Same Time
"Protecting the environment will make you feel virtuous and put some extra money in your pocket. "
"..A scientific dictatorship is in its final stages of completion, and laws protecting basic human rights are being abolished worldwide; an iron curtain of high-tech tyranny is now descending over the planet.
A worldwide regime controlled by an unelected corporate elite is implementing a planetary carbon tax system that will dominate all human activity and establish a system of neo-feudal slavery.
..
"
Earth Day is a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day is a time to unite around new actions. Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet."
Lifestyle Tips
Environmental Tips - How to Go Green
"http://WatchMojo.com/ presents... Some tips and suggestions for going green and doing your part to save the environment. "
MISCELLANEOUS
Organizations
Al Gore confronted on Climategate in Chicago
"While I was in Chicago last week for thanksgiving, I teamed up with my good friends from We Are Change Chicago to confront criminal Al Gore. The full article can be found here:
http://www.wearechangechicago.com/alg...
31,486 American scientists including 9,029 with PhDs have signed a petition rejecting the junk science of man made global warming, which can be found here along with a summary of the peer reviewed research:
http://www.petitionproject.com/
Here is an article about ClimateGate
http://www.infowars.com/climatic-rese..."
Ken Wilson, Evangelicals & Scientists United to Protect Creation
""Creation Care" is a faith-based approach to the environment. The first humans were charged with the responsibility of cultivating and protecting the garden, which makes every last one of us environmentalists. Jesus is about reconciling and redeeming our relationship to God, to one another, and to this wonderful planet which is a sacred gift. That's the heart and soul of Creation Care."
Interfaith Earth Keepers protect planet Earth
"An environmental army is serving God across northern Michigan as over 400 volunteers at more than 140 churches and temples from 9 faith traditions participated in numerous projects that protect Planet Earth. As environment ministers from about 190 countries struggle over a global warming treaty in Indonesia, the faith-based Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative is completing its fourth successful year...."
Movies
-Documentaries
Eugenics, Population Control and Global Totalitarianism Part 3 of 5
Solar Power Generator, $1597.00 plus $95.00 shipping and handling from Solutions From Science
Dept. Solar Backup
815 W. Main St.
P.O. Box 518
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"...Question: What is the connection between public transportation and climate change? Answer: Public transportation is part of the solution to helping reduce greenhouse gases. In fact, thanks to public transportation our country�s carbon footprint is reduced by 37 million metric tons � the equivalent of 4.9 million households using electricity in a year....
APTA is a nonprofit international association of more than 1,500 member organizations including public transportation systems; planning, design, construction and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; and state associations and departments of transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical public transportation services and products. APTA members serve more than 90 percent of persons using public transportation in the United States and Canada.
Water
AP IMPACT: Tons of released drugs taint US water, from By JEFF DONN, MARTHA MENDOZA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writers Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza And Justin Pritchard, Associated Press Writers – 57 mins ago (Sunday, April 19th of 2009)news.yahoo.com
"....U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives....
Last year, the AP reported that trace amounts of a wide range of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in American drinking water supplies. Including recent findings in Dallas, Cleveland and Maryland's Prince George's and Montgomery counties, pharmaceuticals have been detected in the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans.
Most cities and water providers still do not test. Some scientists say that wherever researchers look, they will find pharma-tainted water.
Consumers are considered the biggest contributors to the contamination. We consume drugs, then excrete what our bodies don't absorb. Other times, we flush unused drugs down toilets. The AP also found that an estimated 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging are thrown away each year by hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Researchers have found that even extremely diluted concentrations of drugs harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs. Some scientists say they are increasingly concerned that the consumption of combinations of many drugs, even in small amounts, could harm humans over decades....
"In the remarkable Fox News report posted below, Dr. Archelle Georgiou, described as a well-recognized physician leader who “helps consumers make better health care decisions,” argues the case for adding lithium to the water supply. Georgiou is affiliated with the Center for Health Transformation, an organization founded by the notorious neocon Newt Gingrich....
Drinking water in the United States has been polluted with fluoride for decades. The often cited reason given for this forcible drugging of the American public is that fluoride prevents tooth decay. Numerous studies prove otherwise. (A study conducted in Tucson, Arizona in 1992 on 26,000 elementary school students produced empirical evidence of just the opposite — the more fluoride a child consumes, the more cavities appear.)
According to chemist Charles Perkins, fluoride is added to the water supply because in time reduces an individual’s power to resist domination by incrementally poisoning and narcotizing a certain area of the brain, thus making an individual submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him.
This is precisely why the Nazis forced concentration camp internees to ingest fluoride. Americans liberating of POW camps at the end of the Second World War discovered stockpiles of fluoride stored near water supplies. When they asked what the fluoride was used for, they were told that the Germans used the substance as an additive to the prisoners water to make them docile.
Researchers in Japan and Dr. Archelle Georgiou may believe adding lithium to the drinking water is beneficial to society – never mind the unresolved scientific issues of the drug’s use and the immorality of the forcible drugging on a population – but there is a larger context here.
Adding fluoride and lithium to drinking water is an effective way to subdue and narcotize the population, especially during times of social and political upheaval.
Our eugenicist rulers are not perturbed by crime and suicide in society. Like the Nazis, they are primarily interested in rendering the masses docile and making certain they are unable to resist the draconian plans – from an engineered crash of the global economy to the establishment of a totalitarian world government – now unfolding with increased speed and determination."
U.N. Copenhagen climate change conference aims high
"U.N. officials say that the time has come, not only to reduce carbon emission in the developed and developing worlds, but also for wealthier countries to help poorer countries deal with the devastating effects of climate change. Daljit Dhaliwal speaks with Robert Guest, Washington correspondent for The Economist.." Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don't add up
,
From The Times
December 15, 2009 "Mr Gore, speaking at the Copenhagen climate change summit, stated the latest research showed that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
In his speech, Mr Gore told the conference: “These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years."
However, the climatologist whose work Mr Gore was relying upon dropped the former Vice-President in the water with an icy blast.
“It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.”
Mr Gore’s office later admitted that the 75 per cent figure was one used by Dr Maslowksi as a “ballpark figure” several years ago in a conversation with Mr Gore.
The embarrassing error cast another shadow over the conference after the controversy over the hacked e-mails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, which appeared to suggest that scientists had manipulated data to strengthen their argument that human activities were causing global warming.
Mr Gore is not the only titan of the world stage finding Copenhagen to be a tricky deal.
World leaders — with Gordon Brown arriving tonight in the vanguard — are facing the humiliating prospect of having little of substance to sign on Friday, when they are supposed to be clinching an historic deal.
Meanwhile, five hours of negotiating time were lost yesterday when developing countries walked out in protest over the lack of progress on their demand for legally binding emissions targets from rich nations. The move underlined the distrust between rich and poor countries over the proposed legal framework for the deal.
Last night key elements of the proposed deal were unravelling. British officials said they were no longer confident that it would contain specific commitments from individual countries on payments to a global fund to help poor nations to adapt to climate change while the draft text on protecting rainforests has also been weakened.
Even the long-term target of ending net deforestation by 2030 has been placed in square brackets, meaning that the date could be deferred. An international monitoring system to identify illegal logging is now described in the text as optional, where before it was compulsory. Negotiators are also unable to agree on a date for a global peak in greenhouse emissions.
Perhaps Mr Gore had felt the need to gild the lily to buttress resolve. But his speech was roundly criticised by members of the climate science community. “This is an exaggeration that opens the science up to criticism from sceptics,” Professor Jim Overland, a leading oceanographer at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
“You really don’t need to exaggerate the changes in the Arctic.”
Others said that, even if quoted correctly, Dr Maslowski’s six-year projection for near-ice-free conditions is at the extreme end of the scale. Most climate scientists agree that a 20 to 30-year timescale is more likely for the near-disappearance of sea ice.
“Maslowski’s work is very well respected, but he’s a bit out on a limb,” said Professor Peter Wadhams, a specialist in ocean physics at the University of Cambridge.
Dr Maslowki, who works at the US Naval Postgraduate School in California, said that his latest results give a six-year projection for the melting of 80 per cent of the ice, but he said he expects some ice to remain beyond 2020.
He added: “I was very explicit that we were talking about near-ice-free conditions and not completely ice-free conditions in the northern ocean. I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this,” he said. “It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at, based on the information I provided to Al Gore’s office.”
Richard Lindzen, a climate scientist at the Massachusets Institute of Technology who does not believe that global warming is largely caused by man, said: “He’s just extrapolated from 2007, when there was a big retreat, and got zero.”"
Copenhagen Climate Negotiations “Suspended”
Joe Weisenthal
The Business Insider
December 14, 2009 "Like just about every other big, international conference, from world trade to human rights, it appears the Copenhagen climate summit has ended in a complete fiasco.
BBC: Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after the African group withdrew co-operation.
African delegations were angry at what they saw as moves by the Danish host government to sideline talks on more emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
As news spread around the conference centre, about 200 activists responded with chants of “We stand with Africa – Kyoto targets now”.
Typical.
Between the “Climategate” leaks, and another set of leaks about how developed countries planned to screw over developing ones, the whole thing was doomed from the start. And even without those snags, it was all talk.
There’s no way all the countries in the world can come together and unilaterally slow down their economies for something as vague as climate change, potentially a century off. That’s the bottomline." GoodnewsEverybody.com African of Africa
"Developing countries have walked out on the Copenhagen climate talks, but one of the primary reasons as to why nations like China and India have boycotted the summit is being hidden by the corporate media – namely the fact that the negotiations were doomed once poorer countries learned of the globalist’s neo-colonial agenda as a result of the Danish text leak.
“Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation,” reports the BBC.
“Delegations were angry at what they saw as moves by the Danish host government to sideline talks on more emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol. As news spread around the conference centre, activists chanted “We stand with Africa – Kyoto targets now”.
However, the media has completely failed to highlight the real reason behind the walk out – the fact that funds from climate financing, originally allocated to go to the UN and then be doled out piecemeal to third world nations, would instead be paid directly into the coffers of the World Bank and IMF, organizations that have made a habit out of looting poorer countries with crippling debts that cannot be paid back, forcing such countries to hand over their entire infrastructure to globalist loan sharks..."
"Despite its image as a dirty fuel, coal remains an economic choice for baseload power generation - and it can, in fact, have very low emissions.
Coal is used to generate more than half of the electricity produced in the U.S., and about 40% of the electricity produced globally (1). For China and India, the coalbased fraction is much higher.
Global CO2 emissions from coalbased power generation exceed 7 billion m.t./yr - about 41 % of the total energy-related CO2 emissions. The U.S. and China emitted similar amounts - roughly 2.5 billion m.t. each in 2006 (2). Power plants are some of the largest single-point sources of CO2 emissions, with a typical 1,000-MWe coal-fired power plant emitting more than 6 million m.t./yr. Total CO2 emissions from some of the larger (3,000-6,000 MWe) power plants in several countries are given in Table 1 (3, 4). ..
Today, the three largest coal consumers - China, the U.S., and India - have about half of the world's coal reserves and limited reserves of other fossil fuels; the U.S., with about 255 billon m.t. of recoverable coal, has 27% of the world total ( 1).
"..LONDON (Dec. 18) -- The Obama administration has a lot riding on geothermal energy, which it sees as a future source of clean, green and virtually unlimited electricity. Over the past year alone, the U.S. Department of Energy has invested some $440 million in projects trying to turn heat trapped in bedrock deep underground into electricity. But the trial this week of a Swiss geologist – accused of causing earthquakes during the construction of a geothermal power plant – has raised doubts about the safety of some geothermal schemes, and may have contributed to the collapse of one government-backed project in California earlier this month...
"October 4 was the 50th anniversary of the launching of the first Earth satellite. October 4 also is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Ecology and minister of peace in Christ. Open your hearts every October 4 and meditate on actions for peace, with other people around the world, and expect the fruit of peaceful results in the world community."
Ministries
TV Spot: Evangelicals and Global Warming
"Research shows that Evangelicals are becoming more concerned about climate change. This is a television commercial from the Evangelical Climate Initiative featuring Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed (www.northlandchurch.net)"
*see Christians and Climate
"Globalist minion Al Gore and the United Nations climate change shysters led by Phil Jones are in trouble. Last week hackers uncovered a pile of email and documents revealing what many of us already knew — the climate change agenda is based not only on easily debunked junk science, but outright lies and deception...
Infowars.com: Climate-Gate Pt 1 ***EMERGENCY VIRAL TRANSMISSION***
"Hackers break into University emails and uncover the global warming conspiracy. Mainstream media is whitewashing this story -- so it is up to us to get this info out! Link to this video, Digg it, make your own responses, tweet, and do everything you can to expose this international conspiracy. "
Related Sites:
Leaked emails mark dangerous shift in climate denial strategy-
Instead of targeting high-profile science communicators, climate deniers are now encouraging mistrust of those who collect and interpret global warming data, #
* Mark Lynas
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 November 2009 17.38 GMT
* Article history "The theft and web publication by climate change deniers of private emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit is an extremely worrying development in the tortured politics of global warming.
Although high-profile individuals have been targeted and unfairly vilified before – Pennsylvania University's Michael Mann comes to mind, with his "hockey stick" palaeoclimate graph – most of the ire of the denial movement has so far been reserved for big-hitters like Al Gore. Gore can take it. Politics is his job.
But the "exposure" of private correspondence from a much larger group of scientists – and the out-of-context quotation of certain sentences as "revealing" some hidden subterfuge – suggests a dangerous shift in strategy. Instead of targeting the science communicators (myself included), the deniers are now declaring war on the scientists themselves. Like the creationists they unconsciously mimic, they make no distinction between the political and the scientific sphere – it is open season in both.
And the strategy is simple. Given that scientists are one of society's most trusted groups (unlike journalists or politicians), the climate denial movement has begun a battle to undermine public trust in climate scientists themselves. No more will the legions of anonymous researchers who collect and interpret data from meteorological stations, satellites and ice cores be considered above the fray – they now run the risk of personal attacks, exposure of their private lives and vilification....
*see GoodnewsUSA.Info Government: Distrust
ClimateGate - Hal Lindsey speaks about the FRAUD!
"Hal Comments on the recent hacking of emails at the University of East Anglia, exposing the fraud that has contributed to the global warming hysteria. http://www.hallindsey.com "
"A major scientific report by leading Japanese academics concludes that global warming is not man-made and that the overall warming trend from the mid-part of the 20th Century onwards has now stopped.
Unsurprisingly the report, which was released last month, has been completely ignored by the Western corporate media.
The report was undertaken by Japan Society of Energy and Resources (JSER), the academic society representing scientists from the energy and resource fields.
The JSER acts as a government advisory panel, much like the International Panel on Climate Change did for the UN.
The JSER’s findings provide a stark contrast to the IPCC’s, however, with only one out of five top researchers agreeing with the claim that recent warming has been accelerated by man-made carbon emissions.
The government commissioned report criticizes computer climate modeling and also says that the US ground temperature data set, used to back up the man-made warming claims, is too myopic...
The report then states that the recent warming the planet has experienced is primarily a recovery from the so called "Little Ice Age" that occurred from around 1400 through to 1800, and is part of a natural cycle...
The researchers also conclude that global warming and the halting of the temperature rise are related to solar activity, a notion previously dismissed by the IPCC.
"The hypothesis that the majority of global warming can be ascribed to the Greenhouse Effect is mistaken." the report’s introduction states. ...
The total lack of exposure that this major report has received is another example of how skewed coverage of climate change is toward one set of hypotheses....
"..HAVANA – Cuba's foreign minister called President Barack Obama an "imperial and arrogant" liar Monday for his conduct at the U.N. climate conference, a reflection of the communist island's increasingly fiery verbal attacks on the U.S. government.
Bruno Rodriguez spent an hour and a half lambasting Obama's behavior in Copenhagen, telling a news conference, "at this summit, there was only imperial, arrogant Obama, who does not listen, who imposes his positions and even threatens developing countries."
He called the summit "a fallacy, a farce" and said Washington used back-room deals and strong-arm tactics to foist on the world a deal that he labeled "undemocratic" and "suicidal" because it urges — but does not require — major polluters to make deeper emissions cuts...
"... can produce up to 7 gallons or 28 liters per day in a 24-hour period. This machine produces at an average rate of $0.20 cents per gallon or per 4 Liters (considering an average US electrical rate)...
1 out of 7 people have no access to clean water.
*a representative (Melissa Drown) from the.. Fargo Moorhead Office (118 N. Broadway #314; Fargo, ND 58012; 701.235.5431) came over Tuesday (September 20th of 2005). She was raising money for support and increase awareness of sewage dumping in our lakes.
"Now here�s a large wind power gen project that has the locals overjoyed and enthusiastic, as opposed to rising up in NIMBY revolt. Located at Bangui Bay, in the Ilocos Norte province of the northern Philippines, this wind farm is the first source of clean energy to be introduced to the many-islanded nation of 84 million folks, thus far reliant upon oil and gas for their needs..."
Bangui Bay Wind Turbines 1/2
"5/19/07. Video of the family at the Bangui Bay Wind Turbines. Part 1 of 2. This video was taken by my cousin Francis."
"UTSIRA, Norway (AFP) - As Norway prepares for a future after oil, the gale-force potential of harvesting wind power off its long coastline has become an increasingly attractive proposition.
"Wind-mapping shows that ... Norway is among the (world's) most ideal locations for wind power, both on the coast and offshore," said Norwegian Deputy Petroleum and Energy Minister Liv Monica Stubholdt.
Yet the Scandinavian country, one of the world's leading oil and gas exporters, today lags far behind others in taking advantage of this natural resource.
Norway has 15 wind parks, producing a little less than one percent of its electricity, and environmentalists and industry players complain Oslo has done little to encourage what is considered one of the "greenest" energy sources.
"The government should dare to spend much more to promote wind than they do," Ane Brunvoll, a renewable energy expert with Norwegian environmental group Bellona, told AFP.
There are signs of change, however, as concerns over falling oil reserves and global warming become more prominent, with some 150 new installations either authorised or are awaiting permits.
Companies too are racing to develop new technology making it possible to place monster wind turbines out at sea where winds are stronger and there are few people to complain about noise levels and obstructed views.
"The government's ambition is to become a net exporter of renewables and that cannot happen if we do not develop" strong wind-powered sources, Deputy Minister Stubholdt said, adding the government was exploring whether wind production "blocks" could be licensed off in much the same way as North Sea oil blocs are today.
On the tiny, gusty island of Utsira, off Norway's southwestern coast, Mayor Jarle Nilsen says he is well aware of the powerful potential for wind power.
The island, measuring just six square kilometres and counting only 210 inhabitants, has become a virtual laboratory for innovative wind power technologies.
"We have wonderful wind conditions here, with a constant and very even breeze that allows for very high wind power output," he explained on an ironically calm day.
The island's two wind turbines, towering 40 metres (130 feet) in the air on a small hill overlooking several red-painted wooden houses, produce more energy than the small community can use.
The windmills, which are less than half the size of the largest models, are also part of the world's first full-scale system for converting wind power into hydrogen.
The hydrogen, created when the oxygen and hydrogen atoms that make up water are separated through electrolysis, is stored in a fuel cell that starts sending energy to 10 Utsira households participating in the trial as soon as the windmill's blades come to a standstill.
"This system allows us to deliver power with expected quality and reliability (and) the only emission is oxygen," said Halgeir Oeya, who heads up the hydrogen technology unit at Norwegian energy giant StatoilHydro, which is running the test project.
But the energy produced here remains very costly and it will take "a number of years" before the technology can be scaled up enough to actually make money, Oeya acknowledged.
Holding more financial promise are perhaps two deepwater floating wind turbine demonstration projects to be built near Utsira over the next two years using technology similar to that of floating oil and gas platforms.
"Offshore makes sense in a way. It is our area of competence," said Jan Fredrik Stadaas, the head of project development at StatoilHydro's New Energy Wind division, which is behind one of the demo projects.
The same sized wind turbine can produce double the amount of power out at sea as on land, he said, adding that the need for more robust technology to withstand maritime weather conditions however drove up costs.
StatoilHydro, which one day hopes to build a park of giant turbines capable of floating in depths of up to 170 metres and each capable of providing power for 1,000 homes, says such deepwater wind farms are still years off.
Both the industry and environmentalists say Norway's government should do more to help get the new projects up and running.
"This is a very capital intensive industry ... You need price and incentive schemes to make it profitable," Stadaas said.
Bellona's Brunvoll meanwhile described the government's investments so far as "farcical," pointing out that Norway, with its 2,500 kilometre-long coastline, held the theoretical potential to generate 14,000 terawatt hours (TWH) of wind energy a year.
"Of course, we don't want to fill our entire coast with wind turbines but even a fraction of that would be good," she said.
In comparison, Norway, the world's fifth largest oil and third largest gas exporter, only produces some 2,300 TWH annually from its petroleum industry, she said.
A major reason for the slow uptake is Norway's virtually unlimited access to renewable hydro power, which today covers about 99 percent of its domestic energy consumption, Deputy Minister Stubholdt explained.
"That may have served to inadvertently slow us down on other renewables," she said, but added: "We are working to improve incentives ... We want wind to be a much larger part of the energy supply."
"1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;..."-Psalm 24:1
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