Obama's Budget Nixes New Money For Program That Funded Solyndra

...The Energy Department "continues to conduct due diligence and is in active negotiations with a number of additional project sponsors," Reilly said. "It's important to point out here that, as of January 2012, over $24 billion in direct loans and loan guarantees have closed to support a diverse range of over 30 wind, solar, electric vehicles and other clean energy projects projected to fund more than 50,000 jobs."

But some environmental groups say Obama's budgetary shift is hugely significant because it means no new money for building nuclear power plants -- and they speculate that, at least in part, they have Solyndra to thank for the shift.

"The entire loan program has fallen into some disrepute on Capitol Hill ... because of Solyndra and some of the other renewable programs getting in trouble," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an information hub for organizations concerned with nuclear power. The administration "may have decided to cut their losses" and stop providing new funds to the program altogether.

To be sure, Obama's overall budget provides piles of new money for other clean energy programs. It includes a total of $27.2 billion for the Energy Department -- a 3.2 percent increase of what Congress enacted last year -- and $2.3 billion for research and development for energy efficiency, advanced vehicles and biofuels.

But that influx of new dollars ...

Microsoft Says Google Circumvents IE Privacy Policies Too
By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Feb 20, 2012 5:28 pm

Microsoft on Monday accused Google of bypassing privacy protections in Internet Explorer, following accusations last week that Google was doing so in Apple's Safari browser.

In a blog post, Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president for Internet Explorer, described how Microsoft believes Google is getting around IE privacy policies.

IE by default blocks so-called third-party cookies unless a site presents to the browser a P3P Compact Policy Statement describing how the site will use the cookie and pledging not to track the user. P3P is a protocol that websites use to disclose details in a standard format about how they plan to use information collected from users. Browsers that support P3P can block cookies or allow them in compliance with user privacy preferences. Third party cookies are those dropped by domains other than the one in the user's browser address bar.

"Technically, Google utilizes a nuance in the P3P specification that has the effect of bypassing user preferences about cookies," Hachamovitch wrote. "Google's P3P policy is actually a statement that it is not a P3P policy. It's intended for humans to read even though P3P policies are designed for browsers to 'read'," he said.

P3P-compliant browsers read Google's policy as saying that...

Another reactor to shut down, leaving only 2 units online in Japan


TSURUGA (Kyodo) --Kansai Electric Power Co. said Friday it will suspend its only remaining active reactor -- the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture -- for a regular checkup early Tuesday, leaving only two of Japan's 54 commercial reactors online.

Of the remaining two, the No. 6 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture will be offline on March 26, and the No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari plant in Hokkaido will be suspended in late April, both for regular maintenance.

As no reactors have resumed operations even after the completion of checkups since the Fukushima complex disaster last March, it is highly likely Japan will have no actively operating reactors after the two are shut down for checkups.

Kansai Electric President Makoto Yagi called for further energy-saving efforts in a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, warning of tighter electricity supply through March following the suspension of the reactor.

Meanwhile...

£200,000 test-tube burger marks milestone in future meat-eating
Project funded by anonymous individual aims to cut number of cattle farmed for food and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

• Could lab-grown meat solve food crisis?
• Artificial meat could slice emissions, say scientists

Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 19 February 2012 11.38 EST


Dutch scientist Mark Post holds samples of in-vitro meat grown in a laboratory. Photograph: Francois Lenoir/Reuters
Lurking in a petri dish in a laboratory in the Netherlands is an unlikely contender for the future of food. The yellow-pink sliver the size of a corn plaster is the state-of-the-art in lab-grown meat, and a milestone on the path to the world's first burger made from stem cells.

Dr Mark Post, head of physiology at Maastricht University, plans to unveil a complete burger – produced at a cost of more than £200,000 – this October.

He hopes Heston Blumenthal, the chef and owner of the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire, will cook the offering for a celebrity taster as yet unnamed.

The project, funded by a wealthy, anonymous, individual aims to slash the number of cattle farmed for food, and in doing so reduce one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

"Meat demand ...

Canada threatens trade war with EU over tar sands
The row over the EU's plan to label tar sands oil as highly polluting escalates as Canada says it 'will not hesitate to defend its interests'

Damian Carrington
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 February 2012 05.45 EST

Canada has threatened a trade war with European Union over the bloc's plan to label oil from Alberta's vast tar sands as highly polluting, the Guardian can reveal, before a key vote in Brussels on 23 February.

"Canada will not hesitate to defend its interests, including at the World Trade Organisation," state letters sent to European commissioners by Canada's ambassador to the EU and its oil minister, released under freedom of information laws.

The move is a significant escalation of the row over the EU's plans, which Canada fears would set a global precedent and derail its ability to exploit its tar sands, which are the biggest fossil fuel reserve in the world after Saudi Arabia. Environmental groups argue that exploitation of the tar sands, also called oil sands, is catastrophic for the global climate, as well as causing serious air and water pollution in Alberta.

Darek Urbaniak, at Friends of the Earth Europe, which obtained the new documents, said: "These letters are further evidence of Canadian government and industry lobbying, which continuously undermines efforts to combat climate change. We find it unacceptable that the Canadian government now openly uses direct threats at the highest political levels to derail crucial EU climate legislation."

The unveiling of Canada's threats is ...

Solar energy in India
february 20, 2012
India is yet to utilise its solar potential; at present, solar power (photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal power) contributes a mere 0.4 per cent of the total power generation.


Not so long ago, nuclear power was destined to save a country from energy drought by providing cheap and abundant power for centuries to come. Great political capital was expended, contracts signed. But, despite claims of being near perfect safety, damage did occur. Under unprecedented public pressure after the Fukushima incident especially, state and national governments have started to swear off nuclear power, making way for other renewable sources such as wind energy and solar power.

Most of the major governments around the world, such as China and the USA, realise the need to develop solar energy as a viable source of energy. Not only it is extremely helpful in meeting their energy security challenges, but it also helps in maintaining a lead in science, technology and innovation, the calling cards of any successful economy. With generous subsidies, huge amounts of money have been invested, by China especially, in R&D efforts.

Solar power in India
Given the huge fuel import bills racked up by India each year, which is only projected to grow, there is an urgent need to meet the energy challenges posed by a growing economy, which lacks significant sources of conventional energy. Launched with much fanfare in 2009, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission aims to increase solar power generation to 20 GW by 2020. This is a very ambitious plan, with the government allocating $19 billion to it. There is enough reason to be ambitious. Situated in the tropical belt, India is well endowed with solar energy, with a total annual solar potential of almost 5 trillion kwh. States such as Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat and regions like Ladakh receive the maximum amount of sunlight, close to 3,000 hours annually. The plan aims to increase the contribution of solar power to the total power generation from the paltry 0.4 per cent at present.

The National Solar Mission seeks to use a multi-pronged strategy ...

Former nuclear worker, heart attack victim sues gov't over workers comp claim

...

According to the complaint and other sources, Umeda did plumbing and other work at Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga Power Station in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, and at Chugoku Electric Power Co.'s Shimane Nuclear Power Plant in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, in 1979. At the time, however, he was not given sufficient instruction on radiation protocols, and to boost efficiency he worked without a mask or sound-making dosimeter. Before long, he began suffering from nose bleeds and fatigue. He had a heart attack in 2000.

In 2008, he filed a workers compensation claim with a labor standards inspection office in Matsue, along with a statement from a doctor at Nagasaki University Hospital who examined him saying, "The possibility that his disease was partly triggered by radiation cannot be ruled out."

However, the labor standards inspection office dismissed his claim, citing an advisory by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) that non-cancer diseases are not included in the effects of radiation exposure if the dose was less than 100 millisieverts. Umeda's external radiation exposure reading was 8.6 millisieverts.

Umeda argued that the reading did not reflect actual conditions because he had taken off his dosimeter while working at the nuclear complexes. He also claimed that the causal relationship between radiation exposure and his condition should be recognized, citing a government guideline for recognizing sufferers of atomic bomb-related diseases that lists heart attacks as one of the health problems caused by radiation exposure...

Nuclear crisis turns Japan ex-PM Kan into energy apostle
Published: Friday, 17 Feb 2012 | 3:20 AM ET


..."Having experienced the 3/11 nuclear disaster, I changed my way of thinking. The biggest factor was how at one point, we faced a situation where there was a chance that people might not be able to live in the capital zone including Tokyo and would have to evacuate," Kan told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

"If things had reached that level, not only would the public have had to face hardships but Japan's very existence would have been in peril."

That convinced Kan, in office for less than a year when the March 11 triple disaster struck, to declare the need for Japan to end its reliance on atomic power and promote renewable sources of energy such solar that have long taken a back seat in the resource-poor country's energy mix.

"While many technological measures can be taken to secure safety at nuclear power plants, such measures on their own cannot cover great risks," said Kan, sitting in front of a calligraphy scroll inscribed with the ancient Chinese proverb "Be Brave, But Not Reckless"...

Africa: Millions of People to Receive Solar Energy Access Through UN-Backed Initiative
16 FEBRUARY 2012


A Mauritius-based company announced today that it will provide access to low-cost solar energy for 33 million people in Africa and Asia for the next four years, as part of a United Nations-backed initiative to fight poverty.

The solar energy provider, ToughStuff, will expand access to low-cost, durable solar panels and solar battery packs to low-income communities in 10 African countries (Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe) and four South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal).

The company's efforts are part of Business Call to Action (Bcta), a global initiative supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) that encourages private sector efforts to develop inclusive business models that can have both commercial success and a positive impact in development.

The company estimates that some $520 million will be saved by consumers by switching from kerosene or biomass fuel to solar energy. In addition, carbon emissions will be reduced by up to 1.2 million tons by 2016.

To provide its services...

The Unclear Nuclear Revival
Elliott Negin Union of Concerned Scientists

My office sits about a block from the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI) headquarters in downtown Washington, and I could almost hear the corks popping when the government green-lighted the first new nuclear reactors in decades. The two reactors, which the Southern Company will build next to two currently operating reactors at its Alvin W. Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia, will be the first licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since 1978. The partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, along with cost overruns and scores of abandoned projects, scotched plans for new reactors until just last week.

"This is a historic day," said Marvin Fertel, president and CEO of NEI, the industry trade association. The NRC vote "sounds a clarion call to the world that the United States recognizes the importance of expanding nuclear energy as a key component of a low-carbon energy future that is central to job creation, diversity of electricity supply and energy security."

Christine Todd Whitman, the former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and Patrick Moore, a former Greenpeace activist, chimed in the next day on the Huffington Post. Co-chairs of the NEI-funded Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, Whitman and Moore wrote that the new reactors "signal [a] U.S. nuclear energy resurgence."

To be sure, Fertel and his high-profile spokespeople have something to celebrate. Not only will the two reactors be the first built in decades, they will feature a new advanced design by Westinghouse, which was just approved by the NRC in December. That said, many of their assertions -- about nuclear power's revival, its affordability, its impact on ratepayer bills, its potential to "jumpstart" the economy, and its relative safety -- don't hold up to scrutiny.

Let's take a closer look.

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