Cars could be the solution to the intermittent nature of wind power if a multimillion European project beginning on a Danish island proves successful.
The project on the holiday island of Bornholm will use the batteries of parked electric cars to store excess energy when the wind blows hard, and then feed electricity back into the grid when the weather is calm.
The concept, known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) is widely cited among greens as a key step towards a low-carbon future, but has never been demonstrated. Now, the 40,000 inhabitants of Bornholm are being recruited into the experiment. Denmark is already a world leader in wind energy and has schemes to replace 10% of all its vehicles with electric cars, but the goal on the island is to replace all petrol cars.
Currently 20% of the island's electricity comes from wind, even though it has enough turbines installed to meet 40% of its needs. The reason it cannot use the entire capacity is the intermittency of the wind: many turbines are needed to harness sufficient power in breezes, but when gales blow the grid would overload, so some turbines are disconnected.
So the aim of the awkwardly named Electric Vehicles in a Distributed and Integrated Market using Sustainable Energy and Open Networks Project – Edison for short – is to use V2G to allow more turbines to be built and provide up to 50% of the island's supply without making the grid crash.
Each electric vehicle will have battery capacity reserved to store wind power for the island rather than for travelling. This means it acts like a buffer, says Dieter Gantenbein, a researcher at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory. IBM is developing the software needed for the island's smart grid, and will showcase its work next week. When the cars are plugged in and charging their batteries, they will absorb any additional load the grid cannot cope with and then feed it back to power homes when needed, he says.
"It's never been tried at this scale," says Hermione Crease of Cambridge-based Sentec, which develops smart grid software. There are plenty of smart grid trials already under way, usually involving the use of software to monitor and manage supply and demand, for example, by temporarily switching off industrial cooling units during periods of peak load, she says. But unlike these so-called "negawatt" approaches, proving that cars can be used as part of the grid has yet to attempted.
Andrew Howe of RLTec in London, another smart grid technology firm, says many important questions need answers. It is not clear, for example, how the cost and lifetime of batteries will influence the economics of such a system.
These are the kinds of issue the project seeks to shed light on, says the project manager Jørgen Christensen of the Danish Energy Association, which with technology companies Siemens and Dong and the government are running the scheme.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Consumers could get up to $4,500 for new car
Car shoppers could take advantage of government incentives worth up to $4,500 this summer to send their old gas guzzler to the scrap heap in favor of a more fuel-efficient new vehicle.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law the “cash for clunkers” program, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. For owners of low-mileage models such as the 1994 Ford Bronco, 1998 Nissan Pathfinder or the 1995 Chevrolet Blazer, the plan could give them a reason to visit their local car dealer during an economic downturn.
“I’ve been sitting on the fence for about a year,” said Jim Seegraves, 44, of East Lansing, Mich., who has been looking to replace his 2000 GMC Sierra pickup truck. “This legislation will help me get over the hump and get the car that I want.”
The bill provides $1 billion for the auto sales program from July through November and the Congressional Budget Office expects that with a total of $4 billion, about 1 million new vehicles could be purchased. The government is expected to implement the program by early August.
Automakers and their unions have lobbied heavily for the incentives to help the auto industry boost sales and stabilize General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC, which have received billions of dollars for government-led bankruptcies. In May, U.S. auto sales were 34 percent lower than a year ago and the industry expects to sell less than 10 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2009, compared to more than 16 million in 2007.
Here’s how the plan works: Car owners could get a voucher worth $3,500 if they traded in a vehicle getting 18 miles per gallon or less for one getting at least 22 mpg. The voucher would grow to $4,500 if the new car’s mileage was 10 mpg higher than the old vehicle. The mpg figures are listed on the car’s window sticker.
Owners of sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks or minivans getting 18 mpg or less could receive a voucher for $3,500 if their new truck or SUV got at least 2 mpg higher than their old vehicle. The voucher would increase to $4,500 if the mileage of the new truck or SUV was at least 5 mpg higher than the older vehicle.
The program was aimed at replacing older vehicles — built in model year 1984 or later — and would not make financial sense for someone owning a vehicle with a trade-in value greater than $3,500 or $4,500.
A 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4-wheel-drive with about 150,000 miles, for example, might only get $1,000 to $1,500 as a trade-in vehicle, according to estimates by Kelley Blue Book. Since the 1998 Cherokee gets about 17 mpg, an owner could parlay it into a new Ford Escape Hybrid — 2009 versions get 28-to-32 mpg — and maximize their trade-in to $4,500.
Dealers would apply the vouchers to the purchase or lease of a qualifying vehicle and ensure that the older vehicles are crushed or shredded. The new vehicle must have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of less than $45,000.
The program is not without critics.
Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds.com, a Web site for car shoppers, said it would struggle to provide 250,000 new vehicle sales. Most of the qualifying vehicles would be at least 10 years old and many owners would be less inclined to take on a new car payment or unable to afford a new vehicle.
“You’ve got to consider the profile of consumers who drive these vehicles,” Anwyl said.
Budget-conscious Republicans in the Senate opposed it, along with environmental-leaning lawmakers who said it failed to encourage the purchase of high-mileage cars and didn’t apply to used vehicles. Someone could receive a voucher for buying a new Hummer, they noted, pointing to analysts who said it would primarily benefit owners of older-model pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.
Click for related content
Vote and discuss: Will you be trading in a clunker?
Dealers say it will be a valuable tool to lure more shoppers to their showrooms. Many intend to advertise heavily and combine the government plan with other incentives, providing some help at a time when the industry is struggling to sell cars.
“Anything to jump-start the economy,” said Jason Robinson, a car salesman with AutoServ of Tilton, N.H. “There’s not much sense of urgency out in the market right now.”
President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law the “cash for clunkers” program, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. For owners of low-mileage models such as the 1994 Ford Bronco, 1998 Nissan Pathfinder or the 1995 Chevrolet Blazer, the plan could give them a reason to visit their local car dealer during an economic downturn.
“I’ve been sitting on the fence for about a year,” said Jim Seegraves, 44, of East Lansing, Mich., who has been looking to replace his 2000 GMC Sierra pickup truck. “This legislation will help me get over the hump and get the car that I want.”
The bill provides $1 billion for the auto sales program from July through November and the Congressional Budget Office expects that with a total of $4 billion, about 1 million new vehicles could be purchased. The government is expected to implement the program by early August.
Automakers and their unions have lobbied heavily for the incentives to help the auto industry boost sales and stabilize General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC, which have received billions of dollars for government-led bankruptcies. In May, U.S. auto sales were 34 percent lower than a year ago and the industry expects to sell less than 10 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2009, compared to more than 16 million in 2007.
Here’s how the plan works: Car owners could get a voucher worth $3,500 if they traded in a vehicle getting 18 miles per gallon or less for one getting at least 22 mpg. The voucher would grow to $4,500 if the new car’s mileage was 10 mpg higher than the old vehicle. The mpg figures are listed on the car’s window sticker.
Owners of sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks or minivans getting 18 mpg or less could receive a voucher for $3,500 if their new truck or SUV got at least 2 mpg higher than their old vehicle. The voucher would increase to $4,500 if the mileage of the new truck or SUV was at least 5 mpg higher than the older vehicle.
The program was aimed at replacing older vehicles — built in model year 1984 or later — and would not make financial sense for someone owning a vehicle with a trade-in value greater than $3,500 or $4,500.
A 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4-wheel-drive with about 150,000 miles, for example, might only get $1,000 to $1,500 as a trade-in vehicle, according to estimates by Kelley Blue Book. Since the 1998 Cherokee gets about 17 mpg, an owner could parlay it into a new Ford Escape Hybrid — 2009 versions get 28-to-32 mpg — and maximize their trade-in to $4,500.
Dealers would apply the vouchers to the purchase or lease of a qualifying vehicle and ensure that the older vehicles are crushed or shredded. The new vehicle must have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of less than $45,000.
The program is not without critics.
Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds.com, a Web site for car shoppers, said it would struggle to provide 250,000 new vehicle sales. Most of the qualifying vehicles would be at least 10 years old and many owners would be less inclined to take on a new car payment or unable to afford a new vehicle.
“You’ve got to consider the profile of consumers who drive these vehicles,” Anwyl said.
Budget-conscious Republicans in the Senate opposed it, along with environmental-leaning lawmakers who said it failed to encourage the purchase of high-mileage cars and didn’t apply to used vehicles. Someone could receive a voucher for buying a new Hummer, they noted, pointing to analysts who said it would primarily benefit owners of older-model pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.
Click for related content
Vote and discuss: Will you be trading in a clunker?
Dealers say it will be a valuable tool to lure more shoppers to their showrooms. Many intend to advertise heavily and combine the government plan with other incentives, providing some help at a time when the industry is struggling to sell cars.
“Anything to jump-start the economy,” said Jason Robinson, a car salesman with AutoServ of Tilton, N.H. “There’s not much sense of urgency out in the market right now.”
Illegal ivory thrives in Thailand, group warns
Thailand's government has failed to crack down on one of the world's largest markets of illegal ivory, allowing vendors to openly sell products that come from African elephants, a wildlife tracking group said in a report released Friday.
The group TRAFFIC, which monitors trade in wildlife, said that judging by recent seizures of ivory imports and exports and several surveys it has done since 2006, Thailand has surpassed traditional hotspots like Japan and China.
Hundreds of venues from five-star hotels to the popular Chatuchak weekend market in the capital, Bangkok — which has by far the biggest markets in the country — were found to be selling tens of thousands of items, from pricey carvings of religious deities to cheaper bangles, belt buckles and knife handles.
Much of the illegal ivory is smuggled from central African countries to workshops outside Bangkok, the British-based conservation group said. Merchants in the capital and to a lesser degree tourist cities like Chiang Mai sell the ivory products to locals as well as foreign tourists, benefiting from loopholes in current laws that make it hard to crack down on the trade.
Some of the items are also exported to markets in Europe and the United States.
Thailand has consistently been identified as one of the world's top five countries most heavily implicated in the illicit ivory trade, but shows little sign of addressing outstanding issues," said Tom Milliken, of TRAFFIC, which oversees a global monitoring program, Elephant Trade Information.
"Thailand needs to reassess its policy for controlling its local ivory markets as currently it is not implementing international requirements to the ongoing detriment of both African and Asian Elephant populations," Milliken said.
He said the booming Thai market is endemic of a larger problem in Southeast Asia, where countries including Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines have become key transit points for ivory that is bound for markets in China.
TRAFFIC recommended that Thailand boost its regulation of the domestic ivory market, and amend a law that allows sales of domestic ivory. It also called on the government to streamline often-conflicting legislation related to the trade and to train Thai Customs officials in identifying illegal ivory.
"The Thai government needs to crack down on this serious illegal activity and stop allowing people to abuse the law," said Colman O'Criodain, the World Wide Fund For Nature's analyst on wildlife trade issues. "A good first step would be to put in place a comprehensive registration system for all ivory in trade and for live elephants."
An official with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, who could not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the report would be discussed at a government subcommittee on ivory trade control next week.
Sakchai Lalit / AP
These tusks were confiscated by Thailand in 2002.
The official acknowledged there was a "problem" with ivory sales in Bangkok but that it was hard to regulate since it can be difficult to differentiate between ivory that comes from domestic elephants and those from Africa. Some shops selling ivory items are registered with the government but he acknowledged many are not.
The Thai official said the government was trying to address the problem partly through the passage of a new law called the Elephant Act, which would toughen regulations on the import and export of elephants and elephant products, including ivory.
Shops or stalls selling ivory products in Bangkok are widespread. A visit to River City mall, a popular haunt of tourists and antique collectors, turned up 10 shops selling ivory carvings, necklaces or cigarette holders. All the merchants interviewed insisted their ivory came from Thailand or Myanmar, a claim disputed by Milliken who said the region doesn't have enough elephants to support the industry.
Click for related content
View select profiles of endangered species
At Chatuchak market, the owner of the Ethnic Tribe jewelry stall, Chotika Wongchan, was more forthcoming. She acknowledged she bought African ivory in bulk from another trader in the market and that her brother then crafted it into the rings and belt buckles she had on display.
"As a jeweler, it's no problem because we don't sell that much," she said.
Thailand is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which banned trade in ivory in 1989 after a wholesale slaughter of African elephants by poachers in the 1970s and 1980s. But Thailand, unlike China and Japan, has done little to enforce the trade ban.
The group TRAFFIC, which monitors trade in wildlife, said that judging by recent seizures of ivory imports and exports and several surveys it has done since 2006, Thailand has surpassed traditional hotspots like Japan and China.
Hundreds of venues from five-star hotels to the popular Chatuchak weekend market in the capital, Bangkok — which has by far the biggest markets in the country — were found to be selling tens of thousands of items, from pricey carvings of religious deities to cheaper bangles, belt buckles and knife handles.
Much of the illegal ivory is smuggled from central African countries to workshops outside Bangkok, the British-based conservation group said. Merchants in the capital and to a lesser degree tourist cities like Chiang Mai sell the ivory products to locals as well as foreign tourists, benefiting from loopholes in current laws that make it hard to crack down on the trade.
Some of the items are also exported to markets in Europe and the United States.
Thailand has consistently been identified as one of the world's top five countries most heavily implicated in the illicit ivory trade, but shows little sign of addressing outstanding issues," said Tom Milliken, of TRAFFIC, which oversees a global monitoring program, Elephant Trade Information.
"Thailand needs to reassess its policy for controlling its local ivory markets as currently it is not implementing international requirements to the ongoing detriment of both African and Asian Elephant populations," Milliken said.
He said the booming Thai market is endemic of a larger problem in Southeast Asia, where countries including Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines have become key transit points for ivory that is bound for markets in China.
TRAFFIC recommended that Thailand boost its regulation of the domestic ivory market, and amend a law that allows sales of domestic ivory. It also called on the government to streamline often-conflicting legislation related to the trade and to train Thai Customs officials in identifying illegal ivory.
"The Thai government needs to crack down on this serious illegal activity and stop allowing people to abuse the law," said Colman O'Criodain, the World Wide Fund For Nature's analyst on wildlife trade issues. "A good first step would be to put in place a comprehensive registration system for all ivory in trade and for live elephants."
An official with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, who could not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the report would be discussed at a government subcommittee on ivory trade control next week.
Sakchai Lalit / AP
These tusks were confiscated by Thailand in 2002.
The official acknowledged there was a "problem" with ivory sales in Bangkok but that it was hard to regulate since it can be difficult to differentiate between ivory that comes from domestic elephants and those from Africa. Some shops selling ivory items are registered with the government but he acknowledged many are not.
The Thai official said the government was trying to address the problem partly through the passage of a new law called the Elephant Act, which would toughen regulations on the import and export of elephants and elephant products, including ivory.
Shops or stalls selling ivory products in Bangkok are widespread. A visit to River City mall, a popular haunt of tourists and antique collectors, turned up 10 shops selling ivory carvings, necklaces or cigarette holders. All the merchants interviewed insisted their ivory came from Thailand or Myanmar, a claim disputed by Milliken who said the region doesn't have enough elephants to support the industry.
Click for related content
View select profiles of endangered species
At Chatuchak market, the owner of the Ethnic Tribe jewelry stall, Chotika Wongchan, was more forthcoming. She acknowledged she bought African ivory in bulk from another trader in the market and that her brother then crafted it into the rings and belt buckles she had on display.
"As a jeweler, it's no problem because we don't sell that much," she said.
Thailand is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which banned trade in ivory in 1989 after a wholesale slaughter of African elephants by poachers in the 1970s and 1980s. But Thailand, unlike China and Japan, has done little to enforce the trade ban.
Tuna 'prevents macular degeneration'
Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish such as tuna and salmon may help prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD) progression,
depending upon the stage of the disease, AMD is a progressive disease that attacks central vision, resulting in a gradual loss of eyesight and, in some cases, blindness During the study, the research team from Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research (LNVR) and Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University calculated the intakes of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) among 2,924 patients aged 55 to 80 years. The findings revealed that taking supplements of antioxidants plus zinc prevents progression of late-stage AMD. "In our study, we observed participants with early stages of AMD in the placebo group benefited from higher intake of DHA, but it appears that the high-dose supplements of the antioxidants and/or the minerals somehow interfered with the benefits of DHA against early AMD progression," said senior author Dr Allen Taylor, director of the LNVR at the USDA HNRCA. The antioxidant supplements did not seem to interfere with the protective effects of DHA and EPA against progression to advanced stages of AMD. The study also showed that participants who consumed higher amounts of DHA and EPA appeared to have lower risk of progression to both wet and dry forms of advanced AMD. "Data from the present study also shows the supplements and omega-3 fatty acids collaborate with low-dietary glycemic index (dGI) diets against progression to advanced AMD," said corresponding author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, a scientist in the LNVR and an assistant professor at TUSM. "Our previous research suggests a low-GI diet may prevent AMD from progressing to the advanced stage," Chiu added. The researchers suggest that eating two to three servings of fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, shellfish, and herring every week would achieve the recommended daily intake of DHA and EPA, however, further research is required to conclude dietary recommendations for people with AMD. suggest researchers.
depending upon the stage of the disease, AMD is a progressive disease that attacks central vision, resulting in a gradual loss of eyesight and, in some cases, blindness During the study, the research team from Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research (LNVR) and Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University calculated the intakes of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) among 2,924 patients aged 55 to 80 years. The findings revealed that taking supplements of antioxidants plus zinc prevents progression of late-stage AMD. "In our study, we observed participants with early stages of AMD in the placebo group benefited from higher intake of DHA, but it appears that the high-dose supplements of the antioxidants and/or the minerals somehow interfered with the benefits of DHA against early AMD progression," said senior author Dr Allen Taylor, director of the LNVR at the USDA HNRCA. The antioxidant supplements did not seem to interfere with the protective effects of DHA and EPA against progression to advanced stages of AMD. The study also showed that participants who consumed higher amounts of DHA and EPA appeared to have lower risk of progression to both wet and dry forms of advanced AMD. "Data from the present study also shows the supplements and omega-3 fatty acids collaborate with low-dietary glycemic index (dGI) diets against progression to advanced AMD," said corresponding author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, a scientist in the LNVR and an assistant professor at TUSM. "Our previous research suggests a low-GI diet may prevent AMD from progressing to the advanced stage," Chiu added. The researchers suggest that eating two to three servings of fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, shellfish, and herring every week would achieve the recommended daily intake of DHA and EPA, however, further research is required to conclude dietary recommendations for people with AMD. suggest researchers.
Fat people live longer!
Finally some good news for people on the heavier side: those ugly-looking love handles and a double chin extra can help you live longer.
That's the conclusion of a new study by the Japanese Health
, Labour and Welfare Ministry, which found that people who are overweight at the age of 40 live longer on average than people with other physiques. The research, which reached the conclusion after studying the health of about 50,000 people aged 40 or older over a 12-year period, showed that thin people had the shortest life expectancy, on average dying six or seven years earlier than overweight people, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. While studying the volunteers, scientists looked at the past physiques of the participants and how long they lived past the age of 40, and grouped them according to their body mass index (BMI), an indicator of how fat a person is. Men of regular weight (with a BMI of between 18.5 and 25) at age 40 lived for an average of 39.94 more years, while those who were overweight (BMI of between 25 and 30) at age 40 lived a further 41.64 years, the study found. Ladies of regular weight lived on average a further 47.97 years, compared with overweight women, who lived another 48.05 years. Obese men and women (BMI of 30 or more) lived a further 39.41 and 46.02 years, respectively. But thin men (BMI of less than 18.5) were on average expected to live 34.54 more years, and thin women another 41.79 years. As far as the reason for the surprising finding is concerned, it could be that many thin people smoke and a theory that thin people are more susceptible to contagious diseases. However, the link between physique and life expectancy is not clearly understood. "People won't extend their lives by straining to put weight on," said Shinichi Kuriyama, an associate professor at Tohoku University who led the research. The study also found that the fatter a person is, the greater their medical expenses.
That's the conclusion of a new study by the Japanese Health
, Labour and Welfare Ministry, which found that people who are overweight at the age of 40 live longer on average than people with other physiques. The research, which reached the conclusion after studying the health of about 50,000 people aged 40 or older over a 12-year period, showed that thin people had the shortest life expectancy, on average dying six or seven years earlier than overweight people, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. While studying the volunteers, scientists looked at the past physiques of the participants and how long they lived past the age of 40, and grouped them according to their body mass index (BMI), an indicator of how fat a person is. Men of regular weight (with a BMI of between 18.5 and 25) at age 40 lived for an average of 39.94 more years, while those who were overweight (BMI of between 25 and 30) at age 40 lived a further 41.64 years, the study found. Ladies of regular weight lived on average a further 47.97 years, compared with overweight women, who lived another 48.05 years. Obese men and women (BMI of 30 or more) lived a further 39.41 and 46.02 years, respectively. But thin men (BMI of less than 18.5) were on average expected to live 34.54 more years, and thin women another 41.79 years. As far as the reason for the surprising finding is concerned, it could be that many thin people smoke and a theory that thin people are more susceptible to contagious diseases. However, the link between physique and life expectancy is not clearly understood. "People won't extend their lives by straining to put weight on," said Shinichi Kuriyama, an associate professor at Tohoku University who led the research. The study also found that the fatter a person is, the greater their medical expenses.
7,300 Schools in Japan Face Quake Threat
Yumei Wang, who leads Oregon’s effort to cut risks from inevitable earthquakes, pointed me to news from Japan that more than 7,300 school buildings in that country face “a high risk of collapse” in a strong earthquake. That might seem a small number as a proportion of the country’s nearly 125,000 school buildings, but that’s just the schools that are in the worst shape. Japan’s education ministry found, all told, that 41,206 school buildings are insufficiently reinforced.
Over all, government officials point to substantial progress in the country’s effort to reduce vulnerability before the next big quake. According to The Japan Times, the number of school buildings at risk of collapse declined by 3,347 from the previous year. The article said the ministry had pledged to make 16,000 school buildings quake-resistant in the current fiscal year and planned to eliminate school structures at risk of collapse by March 2011.
On an issue like earthquake-risk reduction there is constant tension, given competing priorities, over how much to spend to limit deaths in a seismic shock that might come tomorrow, or not for decades. But the stakes are rising fast globally. Population growth and urbanization have put unprecedented numbers of people at risk. Seismologists are warning that a million-casualty disaster is all but inevitable given the threat and exposure in cities like Istanbul and Tehran.
How’s Oregon doing? The state faces an almost inevitable mega-quake and tsunami threat, geologists say. As I wrote shortly after the deaths of thousands of students in collapsed schools during China’s Sichuan Province earthquake, more than 1,000 schools in Oregon are essentially rubble in waiting.
Ms. Wang told me that a bill moving toward a vote in the Oregon State Senate includes the first $30 million to begin what will be a decades-long retrofitting project for schools. But as the seismic clock ticks, and hundreds of millions of dollars are needed.
She said she remained worried that even that $30 million could be whittled away in the next few weeks. Is this another variant on the “blah, blah, blah, bang” dynamic that some also see in the climate debate
Over all, government officials point to substantial progress in the country’s effort to reduce vulnerability before the next big quake. According to The Japan Times, the number of school buildings at risk of collapse declined by 3,347 from the previous year. The article said the ministry had pledged to make 16,000 school buildings quake-resistant in the current fiscal year and planned to eliminate school structures at risk of collapse by March 2011.
On an issue like earthquake-risk reduction there is constant tension, given competing priorities, over how much to spend to limit deaths in a seismic shock that might come tomorrow, or not for decades. But the stakes are rising fast globally. Population growth and urbanization have put unprecedented numbers of people at risk. Seismologists are warning that a million-casualty disaster is all but inevitable given the threat and exposure in cities like Istanbul and Tehran.
How’s Oregon doing? The state faces an almost inevitable mega-quake and tsunami threat, geologists say. As I wrote shortly after the deaths of thousands of students in collapsed schools during China’s Sichuan Province earthquake, more than 1,000 schools in Oregon are essentially rubble in waiting.
Ms. Wang told me that a bill moving toward a vote in the Oregon State Senate includes the first $30 million to begin what will be a decades-long retrofitting project for schools. But as the seismic clock ticks, and hundreds of millions of dollars are needed.
She said she remained worried that even that $30 million could be whittled away in the next few weeks. Is this another variant on the “blah, blah, blah, bang” dynamic that some also see in the climate debate
As Wind Power Grows, a Push to Tear Down Dams
For decades, most of the nation’s renewable power has come from dams, which supplied cheap electricity without requiring fossil fuels. But the federal agencies running the dams often compiled woeful track records on other envirnmental issues.Now, with the focus in Washington on clean power, some dam agencies are starting to go green, embracing wind power and energy conservation. The most aggressive is the Bonneville Power Administration, whose power lines carry much of the electricity in the Pacific Northwest. The agency also provides a third of the region’s power supply, drawn mostly from generators inside big dams.
The amount of wind power on the Bonneville transmission system quadrupled in the last three years and is expected to double again in another two. The turbines are making an electricity system with low carbon emissions even greener — already, in Seattle, more than 90 percent of the power comes from renewable sources.
Yet the shift of emphasis at the dam agencies is proving far from simple. It could end up pitting one environmental goal against another, a tension that is emerging in renewable-power projects across the country.
Environmental groups contend that the Bonneville Power Administration’s shift to wind turbines buttresses their case for tearing down dams in the agency’s territory, particularly four along the lower Snake River in Washington State that helped decimate one of North America’s great runs of wild salmon.
Bonneville wants to keep all the dams, arguing that they not only provide cheap power but they also make an ideal complement to large-scale installation of wind power. When the wind slows and power production drops, the agency argues, it can compensate quickly by telling the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, which operate the dams, to release more water from reservoirs to turn the huge generators. When the wind picks up, dam operations can be slowed.
The dams help alleviate a need for natural-gas-fired power plants, which are used in other regions as a backup power source when the wind stops blowing, but which release carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming.
By balancing wind power with hydropower, the Bonneville Power Administration says it believes it can limit the use of natural gas and coal plants across the West, even as the region’s demand for electricity rises. Around the country, dams provide 6 percent of electricity generation — double the amount from other renewable sources like wind, solar power and biomass — and much of that is concentrated in the West.
The influx of wind on Bonneville’s system has come as a result of renewable power goals set by governments in the Western states, which aim to reduce their output of greenhouse gases. Bonneville says that when the wind is blowing most strongly, 18 percent of the power in its control area now comes from wind, and that number may rise to 30 percent next year. (Not all of that is consumed in the Pacific Northwest; some is sold to California.)
The rise in wind power means that the dam agency has emerged as a national test case for how to integrate large amounts of intermittent wind power into a regional electric grid. “I’ve described this as a grand experiment,” said Stephen J. Wright, the administrator of the 72-year-old Bonneville Power Administration.
The agency stresses the challenge it faces, making sure the lights stay on despite the ups and downs of the wind. Many new wind farms lie along the gusty Columbia River corridor, and their concentration means that changes in the wind can bring sudden dips and spikes in the power they generate.
“We can have periods that go from full, maximum wind output to zero across an hour,” Mr. Wright said.
Because of its erratic nature, wind power — and the need for dams or other backup systems — has become intertwined with the fate of salmon, perhaps the biggest environmental controversy in the Pacific Northwest.
For decades, environmentalists, fishermen and some local politicians, who want to save the endangered salmon, have fought Bonneville and the Army Corps of Engineers, which want to keep the lower Snake River dams. A federal judge overseeing the dispute has accused the federal agencies of not working hard enough to save the salmon and had raised the possibility of breaching those dams to aid the fish.
Wild salmon ride the river in two directions. They spawn far upstream, and the young fish swim downriver to the Pacific Ocean. They spend several years there, feeding and growing quite large, before swimming back upstream to spawn and die.
The large reservoirs created over the decades as the dams were built have slowed and complicated their journeys, and slashed survival rates. Fish ladders help on the way back upstream, but those salmon that get through in both directions end up traumatized and weakened, biologists say.
When it comes to helping salmon, Bonneville has “been dragged kicking and screaming every inch of the way,” said Bill Arthur, a Sierra Club representative in the Northwest. Mr. Arthur praised the agency’s efforts to add wind power, but he argued that the four lower Snake River dams, which are far smaller than major dams like Grand Coulee, were not needed to back up wind power.
ironmental issues.
The amount of wind power on the Bonneville transmission system quadrupled in the last three years and is expected to double again in another two. The turbines are making an electricity system with low carbon emissions even greener — already, in Seattle, more than 90 percent of the power comes from renewable sources.
Yet the shift of emphasis at the dam agencies is proving far from simple. It could end up pitting one environmental goal against another, a tension that is emerging in renewable-power projects across the country.
Environmental groups contend that the Bonneville Power Administration’s shift to wind turbines buttresses their case for tearing down dams in the agency’s territory, particularly four along the lower Snake River in Washington State that helped decimate one of North America’s great runs of wild salmon.
Bonneville wants to keep all the dams, arguing that they not only provide cheap power but they also make an ideal complement to large-scale installation of wind power. When the wind slows and power production drops, the agency argues, it can compensate quickly by telling the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, which operate the dams, to release more water from reservoirs to turn the huge generators. When the wind picks up, dam operations can be slowed.
The dams help alleviate a need for natural-gas-fired power plants, which are used in other regions as a backup power source when the wind stops blowing, but which release carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming.
By balancing wind power with hydropower, the Bonneville Power Administration says it believes it can limit the use of natural gas and coal plants across the West, even as the region’s demand for electricity rises. Around the country, dams provide 6 percent of electricity generation — double the amount from other renewable sources like wind, solar power and biomass — and much of that is concentrated in the West.
The influx of wind on Bonneville’s system has come as a result of renewable power goals set by governments in the Western states, which aim to reduce their output of greenhouse gases. Bonneville says that when the wind is blowing most strongly, 18 percent of the power in its control area now comes from wind, and that number may rise to 30 percent next year. (Not all of that is consumed in the Pacific Northwest; some is sold to California.)
The rise in wind power means that the dam agency has emerged as a national test case for how to integrate large amounts of intermittent wind power into a regional electric grid. “I’ve described this as a grand experiment,” said Stephen J. Wright, the administrator of the 72-year-old Bonneville Power Administration.
The agency stresses the challenge it faces, making sure the lights stay on despite the ups and downs of the wind. Many new wind farms lie along the gusty Columbia River corridor, and their concentration means that changes in the wind can bring sudden dips and spikes in the power they generate.
“We can have periods that go from full, maximum wind output to zero across an hour,” Mr. Wright said.
Because of its erratic nature, wind power — and the need for dams or other backup systems — has become intertwined with the fate of salmon, perhaps the biggest environmental controversy in the Pacific Northwest.
For decades, environmentalists, fishermen and some local politicians, who want to save the endangered salmon, have fought Bonneville and the Army Corps of Engineers, which want to keep the lower Snake River dams. A federal judge overseeing the dispute has accused the federal agencies of not working hard enough to save the salmon and had raised the possibility of breaching those dams to aid the fish.
Wild salmon ride the river in two directions. They spawn far upstream, and the young fish swim downriver to the Pacific Ocean. They spend several years there, feeding and growing quite large, before swimming back upstream to spawn and die.
The large reservoirs created over the decades as the dams were built have slowed and complicated their journeys, and slashed survival rates. Fish ladders help on the way back upstream, but those salmon that get through in both directions end up traumatized and weakened, biologists say.
When it comes to helping salmon, Bonneville has “been dragged kicking and screaming every inch of the way,” said Bill Arthur, a Sierra Club representative in the Northwest. Mr. Arthur praised the agency’s efforts to add wind power, but he argued that the four lower Snake River dams, which are far smaller than major dams like Grand Coulee, were not needed to back up wind power.
ironmental issues.
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