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Reporting on the Middle East, Science, and Education for September 22, 2008 - כ"ב אלול תשס"ח
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By Rachel Neiman, Israel 21C, September 22, 2008
It is a real-life nightmare scenario that makes any horror movie pale by comparison. The honeybees are in trouble and, by extension, so is the human race. Last winter, over 36 percent of the US bee colonies collapsed, affecting honey production, but more significantly, affecting the one-third of all food production that requires pollination - from fruits and nuts, to the dairy and beef cows that feed on alfalfa.
Now, an Israeli-US company Beeologics is taking rapid measures to bring to market a proprietary anti-viral agent that promises to alleviate the effects of the virus strongly associated with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), with full-scale FDA trials commencing next month.
So far 60,000 hives are committed and Beeologics aims to have 100,000 hives enlisted in the trial which will run in several locations in the US from October to February. The season is critical, Eyal Ben-Chanoch, CEO of Beeologics, tells ISRAEL21c, because the bee keeping industry cycle follows the seasons of the bees which strengthen in spring, and summer and naturally weaken during fall and winter.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Climate Change, Health Sciences, Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on September 22, 2008 - כ"ב אלול תשס"ח at 9:53 am
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By Edwin Black , THE JERUSALEM POST, Sep. 21, 2008
If we lose 1.5 million barrels per day, or approximately 7.5%, we will ask our allies in the 28-member International Energy Agency to open their SPRs and otherwise assist. If we lose 2 million barrels per day, or 10%, government crisis monitors say the chaos will be so catastrophic they cannot even model it.
It will come as a shock to most Americans and the media, but as the election reaches a crescendo on the issue of preparedness and energy, neither presidential candidate - nor anyone in local, state or federal government - has developed a contingency plan in the event of a protracted oil cut-off. It is not even being discussed. Government has prepared for hurricanes, anthrax, terrorism and every other disaster, but not the one threatened daily - a protracted oil stoppage, whether caused by terrorism, intervention in the Persian Gulf or a natural disaster.
It is like seeing a hurricane developing without a disaster plan or evacuation route. Our allies have oil shortage interruption contingency plans, but America does not.
THE CRUDE realities: America uses approximately 20 million barrels of oil per day, almost 70 percent of which is imported. If we lose just 1 million barrels per day, or suffer the type of damage sustained from Hurricane Katrina, the government will open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which offers a mere six-to-eight week supply of unrefined crude oil. If we lose 1.5 million barrels per day, or approximately 7.5%, we will ask our allies in the 28-member International Energy Agency to open their SPRs and otherwise assist. If we lose 2 million barrels per day, or 10%, government crisis monitors say the chaos will be so catastrophic they cannot even model it.
Exactly how could America be subjected to a protracted oil interruption, that is, a 10% shortfall lasting longer than several weeks? It will not come from hurricane action in the Gulf of Mexico, or even major refinery accidents or other oil infrastructure damage. Such damage would be repaired within days and the temporary losses absorbed by the small half million barrel per day global cushion available.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Recent Posts on September 22, 2008 - כ"ב אלול תשס"ח at 7:17 am
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Hatch talked about how developing oil shale will require far less water and land than ethanol production. He said the entire process of oil shale production, even without carbon capture technology, emits only 7 percent more carbon than gasoline, compared to 93 percent more with ethanol or 50 percent more by turning to switchgrass for alternative fuel development. Hatch also pointed out how the U.S. has between 1 trillion and 2 trillion barrels of recoverable oil from shale, compared to the world’s current oil reserves of about 1.6 trillion barrels.
By Stephen Speckman, Deseret News, August 20, 2008
For the second time in two months, Sen. Orrin Hatch was at the state Capitol stumping for the development of Utah’s oil shale.
Utah Republicans Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop appeared in front of the state Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee Wednesday to talk about how progress of shale development is being held up by "liberals" in Washington, lawsuits by environmental groups and a moratorium on leasing federal land for shale development.
It is estimated that there is about 800 billion recoverable barrels of oil locked in shale under the Green River formation, which is in portions of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
Hatch said the trend since 2000 shows that there has been an increase of 100 percent in the number of applications for permits to drill, permits granted by the Bureau of Land management and wells completed, while "environmentalist protests" are up 700 percent in that time. He based the drilling figures on data collected from a Utah BLM office in Vernal. Hatch said the current climate allows for any "wacko" to file a lawsuit and hold up energy development projects.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Clean Coal, Climate Change on August 21, 2008 - כ' אב תשס"ח at 7:17 am
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Press Release from Weizmann Institute, August 14, 2008
REHOVOT, ISRAEL – August 14, 2008 – Tons of soot are released into the air annually as forest fires rage from California to the Amazon to Siberia and Indonesia. Climate scientists have generally assumed that the main effect of smoke on climate is cooling, as the floating particles can reflect some solar energy back to space as well as increasing cloud size and lifespan. But new research by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC); and NASA may cause them to rethink soot’s role in shaping the Earth’s climate.
Airborne particles such as soot – known collectively as aerosols – rise into the atmosphere where they interact with clouds. Understanding what happens when the two meet is extremely complicated, in part because clouds are highly dynamic systems that both reflect the sun’s energy back into space, cooling the upper atmosphere, and trap heat underneath, warming the lower atmosphere and the Earth’s surface. Aerosols, in turn, can have both heating and cooling effects on clouds. On the one hand, water droplets form around the aerosol particles, which may extend the cloud cover. On the other hand, particles, especially soot, absorb the sun’s radiation, stabilizing the atmosphere and thus reducing cloud formation.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Recent Posts, Science on August 17, 2008 - ט"ז אב תשס"ח at 10:01 am
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By Karin Kloosterman, Israel 21C, July 24, 2008
As soon as the summer is over and the fall begins, people in the northern United States start winterizing their vehicles. With more than 250 million cars on the road, and winter tires needed for many, it’s frightening to imagine where all those old tires go.
Most people do not realize that old tires are a health, safety and environmental hazard. Disease-carrying mosquitoes nest in them, and if they catch fire, they can burn for weeks, releasing toxic fumes into the air, and chemicals into our groundwater.
An Israeli company based in the Ukraine, has found a safe and environmentally friendly way to dispose of old tires: the pollution-free process consumes no energy and produces attractive byproducts, such as gas for your car.
Using an electromagnetic field and depriving the system of oxygen, Coral Group applies its “soft pyrolysis” method to break down old tires into basic components. Pyrolysis is a process that decomposes organic materials in the total absence of oxygen. And in Coral’s method, attractive end products are created. They include kerosene (jet fuel), benzene (automobile fuel), diesel, oil and black carbon.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East Report, Science and Technology on July 27, 2008 - כ"ד תמוז תשס"ח at 5:01 am
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Press Release, National Academy of Sciences, July 17, 2008
WASHINGTON — A transition to hydrogen vehicles could greatly reduce U.S. oil dependence and carbon dioxide emissions, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council, but making hydrogen vehicles competitive in the automotive market will not be easy. While the development of fuel cell and hydrogen production technology over the past several years has been impressive, challenges remain. Vehicle costs are high, and the U.S. currently lacks the infrastructure to produce and widely distribute hydrogen to consumers. These obstacles could be overcome, however, with continued support for research and development and firm commitments from the automotive industry and the federal government, concluded the committee that wrote the report.
Light-duty vehicles, such as cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks, are responsible for 44 percent of the oil used in the United States and over 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted. Concerns over climate change, oil imports, and recent spikes in gasoline prices have spurred interest in the development of alternative fuels. In 2003, President Bush announced a $1.2 billion initiative to encourage development of hydrogen production technology and fuel cell vehicles, which are powered through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen and emit only water and heat as exhaust.
The committee estimated the maximum number of hydrogen vehicles that could be on the road in the coming decades, assuming that practical technical goals are met, that consumers want hydrogen cars, and that government policies are in place to help drive the transition from oil to hydrogen fuel. The findings therefore represent potential best-case scenarios rather than predictions.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Recent Posts on July 20, 2008 - י"ז תמוז תשס"ח at 11:00 pm
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Written by Masimba Biriwasha, Ecoworldly.com, July 9, 2008
The Middle East and North Africa is also faced with acute water shortages, a situation that will pit the countries in the region against each other.
“The only matter that could take Egypt to war is water,” the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said tellingly in 1979.
Water security is increasingly becoming a military priority for many of the countries in the Middle East, and the threat of wars between countries is real.
There is no consensus among water analysts on whether there will be global wars over water ownership.
According to UNESCO, globally there are 262 international river basins: 59 in Africa, 52 in Asia, 73 in Europe, 61 in Latin America and the Caribbean and 17 in North America — overall, 145 countries have territories that include at least one shared river basin.
UNESCO states that between 1948 and 1999, there have been 1,831 “international interactions” recorded, including 507 conflicts, 96 neutral or non-significant events and, most importantly, 1,228 instances of cooperation around water-related issues.
As a result, some experts argue that the idea of water wars is rather farfetched given the precedent of water cooperation that has been exhibited by many of the countries around the world.
“Despite the potential problem, history has demonstrated that cooperation, rather than conflict, is likely in shared basins,” says UNESCO.
However, the fact remains that throughout the world water supplies are running dry and the situation is being compounded by inappropriate management of water resources that will likely unravel previous international cooperation around water.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Middle East, Opinion on July 11, 2008 - ח' תמוז תשס"ח at 3:43 am
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Trade Arabia News Service, June 11, 2008
Abu Dhabi-based Masdar has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) to explore carbon dioxide capture and greenhouse gas reduction initiatives at Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone (KPIZ) in Taweelah.
Masdar is a multi-faceted initiative launched by the Abu Dhabi Government through the Mubadala Development Company, to promote advanced energy and sustainability.
The agreement with ADPC paves the way for the introduction of a scheme for carbon dioxide capture from industrial facilities as well as the development of carbon emission reduction and monetization opportunities under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East Report on June 11, 2008 - ח' סיון תשס"ח at 7:34 am
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Richard Dooley, Canwest News Service, June 07, 2008
Thousands of kilometres of unused mines in the former coal mining capital of Canada could be getting new life as a source of clean, renewable energy to heat schools and hospitals in one of the largest geothermal projects ever contemplated.
Cape Breton sits on top of 3,200 kilometres of unused underground coal mines, some stretching far out under the Atlantic Ocean. The mines once supplied Canada with half its coal requirements.
Since the last underground coal mine shut down in 2000, the mines have been allowed to flood with water - which is being warmed by the heat of the Earth. The mine water remains at a constant temperature of between 9 and 15 C, depending on the depth of the shaft.
The Cape Breton Development Corporation and Cape Breton University are now looking at ways of tapping into that warm mine water by using heat-capturing technology to warm everything from hospitals to elementary schools.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Geothermal Energy, Recent Posts on June 8, 2008 - ה' סיון תשס"ח at 7:37 am
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Gal Luft, June 2nd 2008, Cutting Edge Contributor
Photo: AFP
“We do have to do something about the energy problem. I can tell you that nothing has really taken me aback more, as Secretary of State, than the way that the politics of energy is […] ‘warping’ diplomacy around the world. It has given extraordinary power to some states that are using that power in not very good ways for the international system—states that would otherwise have very little power.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, April 5, 2006.
Throughout the 19-century nearly half of the world’s crude oil supply came from the gushing oilfields surrounding the Azeri city of Baku. At that time, petroleum supplied only four percent of the world’s energy, giving the Caspian region little strategic advantage on the international stage. But as the world economy embarked on a steep growth trajectory, dependence on petroleum grew significantly. Today, oil supplies about 40 percent of the world’s energy and 95 percent of its transportation energy. As a result, those who own the lion’s share of the reserves of this precious energy source are in the driver’s seat of the world economy and their influence is steadily growing.
Since the 1930s the Middle East has emerged as the world’s most important source of energy and the key to the stability of global economy. Today, this tumultuous region produces 37 percent of the world’s oil and 18 percent of its gas. When it comes to reserves, the Persian Gulf is king. It is home to 65 percent of global oil proven reserves and 45 percent of its natural gas. The Middle East also controls a significant portion of the hydrocarbons that are yet to be discovered. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, over 50 percent of the undiscovered reserves of oil and 30 percent of gas are concentrated in a region primarily in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, and Libya.
The concentration of so much of the world’s hydrocarbons in this geographical location means that as long as the modern economy depends on the supply of oil and natural gas, the Middle East will play a key role in global politics and economy. As it is, most of the world’s countries are heavily dependent on Persian Gulf oil. In 2006, the Middle East supplied 22 percent of U.S. imports, 36 percent of OECD Europe’s, 40 percent of China’s, 60 percent of India’s, and 80 percent of Japan’s and South Korea’s. Even oil-rich Canada is dependent on the Middle East. Forty five percent of Canada’s oil imports originate in the region.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East, Middle East Report, Recent Posts on June 3, 2008 - כ"ט אייר תשס"ח at 6:47 am
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