Governor George E. Pataki wants to help New Yorkers get more choice when it comes to what they put in their fuel tank. The Governor wants to reduce the state’s reliance on petroleum by getting biodiesel and ethanol to be distributed at petroleum stations that already exist in the state, as early as this year.
His budget plan also aims to encourage research and development of alternative fuels.
The planet’s seas come in different shapes and sizes, and notably, they have different levels of temperatures in each one. Now a company, Sea Solar Power Inc., is researching a way to use the power of the sun heating the ocean to power our civilization. They plan to put specialized ships around the equator that can generate energy from using what is basically a heat transfer.
The temperature difference form the surface of the sea to low depths is enough to power vapour turbines.
Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka, the garbage is piling up in the streets and sewers, and that’s a good thing. A small company has started to use the methane created by the city’s organic waste and turning it into energy.
“By converting trash into organic fertilizer, they reasoned, small communities could sell it to farmers desperate for an alternative to soil-stripping chemicals. This would help clean city streets, increase crop yields and provide the urban poor with a steady stream of revenue.”
The United States Senate has rejected a motion that would have allowed for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) which is located in Alaska.
Not drilling for oil in ANWR has made the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund happy.
Congratulations to Maude Barlow, National Chair of the Council of Canadians, and Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Insititute, for winning the Right Livelihood Award (RLA). The RLA was created in 1980, and is awarded by the Swedish Parliament. It is known around the world as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.”
The RLA is presented to those who embody “the principle that each person should follow an honest occupation which fully respects other people and the natural world. It means being responsible for the consequences of our actions and taking only a fair share of the earth’s resources.” The award acknowledges the personal sacrifices of its recipients, and also recognizes that the work of those recipients is often accomplished despite powerful opposing forces.
Barlow and Clarke, two of four recipients of the award this year, were chosen because of their work promoting the “fundamental right to water.” They published a book called Blue Gold in 2002, which explores the privatization of water around the world. The book has been published in 12 languages and is sold in 40 countries.
Barlow and Clarke will be presented with the RLA on December 9, and will receive a share of the $300 000 (Cdn) prize with the other winners.
You can read the Council of Canadians press release here.