Global Warming Issues

If you thought green tech was the next dot com, then this investment seems to confirm it. Aptera Motors, the California based electric car start-up, secured funding from Google.org on Tuesday and sealed a $24 million in a series C round by Thursday.

Aptera, which plans to use the capital for its manufacturing plant, has set the end of this year for the release of its all-electric Typ-1, a two-seater, three-wheeled electric car whose streamlined shape might look at home in a Jetsons cartoon. The target price tag for this electric car is less than $30,000.

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WHILE we all worry about where we’re going to get more energy in an increasingly energy-obsessed world, there’s also another alternative: Use less power. That may soon be simpler, thanks to the introduction of a bevy of inexpensive devices that let homeowners monitor how much energy appliances, TVs, PCs, and heating and cooling systems actually use.

Even energy-conscious people can go only so far in managing their home energy use. Sure, we can fiddle with our thermostats, shun incandescent light bulbs and bring in Energy Star appliances. Watching that new L.C.D. TV, however, might wipe out all those gains.

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ECONOMISTS and members of Congress are now on the prowl for new ways to stimulate spending in our dreary economy. Here’s my humble suggestion: “Cash for Clunkers,” the best stimulus idea you’ve never heard of.

Cash for Clunkers is a generic name for a variety of programs under which the government buys up some of the oldest, most polluting vehicles and scraps them. If done successfully, it holds the promise of performing a remarkable public policy trifecta — stimulating the economy, improving the environment and reducing income inequality all at the same time. Here’s how.

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Greenland’s ice sheet represents one of global warming’s most disturbing threats. The vast expanses of glaciers — massed, on average, 1.6 miles deep — contain enough water to raise sea levels worldwide by 23 feet. Should they melt or otherwise slip into the ocean, they would flood coastal capitals, submerge tropical islands and generally redraw the world’s atlases. The infusion of fresh water could slow or shut down the ocean’s currents, plunging Europe into bitter winter.

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However, a new study in The Sociological Quarterly reveals that citizens of poorer nations are just as concerned about environmental quality as their counterparts in rich nations.

Riley E. Dunlap, PhD, of Oklahoma State University and Richard York, PhD, of the University of Oregon compared results from four large cross-national surveys, each conducted in several dozen nations ranging with differing economic statuses. Representative samples of citizens were surveyed in each nation.

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The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason 2 adds to the number of eyes in the sky measuring sea surface and wave heights across Earth’s oceans. The increased coverage will help researchers improve current models for practical use in predicting hurricane intensity, while providing valuable data that can be used to improve tsunami warning models.

“When it comes to predicting hurricane intensity, the curve in the last 40 years has been somewhat flat, with little advance in how to reduce error in predicted intensity,” said Gustavo Goni, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Miami. Maps of sea surface height created from satellites, however, could help change the curve.

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An expert witness testified yesterday that there’s no scientific evidence that emissions from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-fired power plants cause health problems.

Epidemiologist Suresh Moolgavkar testified on behalf of TVA, saying that “there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support a causal relationship.”

Moolgavkar, a professor at the University of Washington, testified during a hearing in North Carolina’s lawsuit against TVA. The lawsuit accuses the utility of illegally allowing emissions to cross state lines.

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It’s Grayslake’s fuel of the future. Bio-diesel.

In an effort to create new clean air initiatives for the community, village officials have announced a bio-diesel blend created from soybean oil, will replace the petroleum-based diesel fuel previously used by public works department vehicles.

Officials say the switch will help the community economically and environmentally.

The village receives its new bio-diesel blend from local supplier, Palatine Oil. The company installed a 1,000-gallon above-groud bio-diesel tank at the public works department for free.

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Federal environmental officials paid visits to a handful of West Oakland homes early Friday, testing for possible dangerous levels of hazardous compounds in the air.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tested about a half dozen homes, a business and a day care center near the former Lane Metal Finishers site on 30th Street and San Pablo Avenue, where the state Department of Toxic Substances Control found elevated levels of volatile organic compounds in five samples taken 8 feet below the surface of the former metal plating location.

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