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Energy crisis: Turning-point of Humanity,  by Rudo de Ruijter

 

 

Tipping Points NASA

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  • Guardian  "Scientists have converted an organism into an entirely different species by performing the world's first genome transplant, a breakthrough that paves the way for the creation of synthetic forms of life. The team, led by Craig Venter, the man who raced to sequence the human genome, wants to build new microbes to produce environmentally friendly fuels.  The group's study, details of which were revealed in the US journal Science yesterday, proves it is possible to transplant a complete set of genetic instructions into an organism, in effect turning it into the same species the DNA was taken from.  The proof of principle experiment solves the first of two big difficulties which have hindered the creation of artificial life. The team, based at Dr Venter's not-for-profit institute in Rockville, Maryland, now hopes to overcome the second hurdle, by designing new genetic codes on computers and transplanting them into organisms to produce new life forms.  The team is focusing on creating micro-organisms which produce green fuels as natural waste products. "One of the goals we have is trying to see if we could design cells to manufacture new types of fuel to break our dependency on oil and coal and try to do something about carbon dioxide," Dr Venter said. "We look forward to trying to have the first fuels from genetically modified and even synthetic organisms, certainly within the decade."
 
 WMR Former congressman run out of town after taking on Obama-connected energy firms   January 3-4, 2011
Former Representative Eric Massa (D-NY) was subjected to gay sexual harassment charges, all subsequently dismissed by House-appointed attorneys and which were partly-engineered by senior staffers for outgoing openly-gay Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), after Massa took on two energy firms closely connected to the Obama White House.    ...   Before he resigned from office amid unsubstantiated harassment charges made by his chief of staff Joseph Racalto, the former "driver" for Frank, in March 2010, Massa took on Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corporation and its CEO Aubrey McClendon, the natural gas "fracking king" and a proponent of non-coal carbon energy sources, including the Canadian Keystone oil sands pipeline project. McClendon has been a political donor to Democrat and Republican presidential candidates, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain.    ...   Chesapeake Energy is the major exploiter of fractured natural gas from the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio and shale oil from the Utica Shale of New York and its operations have contaminated fresh water supplies and caused earthquakes.    ...   WMR has obtained correspondence documenting Massa's opposition to Chesapeake's environmentally-damaging operations in western New York. In a January 10, 2010 letter to McClendon, Massa asks for a meeting to discuss a proposed Chesapeake disposal facility in the town of Pulteney in the pristine Finger Lakes region. Massa pointed out to McClendon that Keuka Lake was surrounded by several communities that relied on tourism and agriculture, both of which rely on clean water.    ...   Massa demanded that the politically-connected McClendon withdraw plans for the facility, which would store resurfaced fluids from hydraulic fracturing and endanger the fresh water resources of the region. The letter was followed by communications between members of Massa's staff and Frank's staff to bring down Massa in a contrived scandal.    ...   Earlier, on September 11, 2009, Massa took on President Obama on one of his pet energy projects, wind energy. Under Obama's "stimulus" package, designed to create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, including in wind energy projects, $74.6 million in taxpayers' money was awarded by the Departments of Energy and the Treasury to Canandaigua Power Partners, LLC and Canandaigua Power Partners II for wind projects in Cohocton, New York.    ...    The two firms are shell companies that operate on behalf of First Wind, a firm under investigation by then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for bribery, intimidation, and other misconduct involving wind energy projects across the northeastern United States. First Wind was financially backed by Dearborn Partners, a major source of campaign funds for then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. White House economic adviser Larry Summers was also linked to First Wind.    ...   Alarm bells went off among the Emanuel-Summers cabal after Massa's September 11 letter was received. The letter stated: ". . . the award of $74.6 million dollars to corrupt companies that have changed names time and again forming new LLCs and new Inc.s but maintaining their business model of lie, cheat, and corrupt at the expense of taxpayers has stirred great unrest in New York's 29th Congressional District." Massa pointed out that Canandaigua collected electricity production rewards for non-existent energy.     ...   Eventually, Massa was forced to resign. Republican Tom Reed replaced Massa in the 29th district and WMR's sources in the district report that Racalto and Reed continue to maintain a relationship. Reed is wholly-owned and operated by the natural gas fracking and the wind power industries. Frank has announced he is not running for re-election, citing re-districting. It is highly unlikely that the addition of a few hundred more Republican voters in Frank's heavily-Democratic district is the real reason behind his decision not to run again.
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Passive Solar Heating, Cooling

Buildings designed for passive solar and daylighting incorporate design features such as large south-facing windows and building materials that absorb and slowly release the sun's heat. No mechanical means are employed in passive solar heating. Incorporating passive solar designs can reduce heating bills as much as 50 percent. Passive solar designs can also include natural ventilation for cooling. Windows are an important aspect of passive solar design—for information on window technologies, see the Building Envelope section of the EREN Buildings page.

Design Principles

Proper building orientation, so the longest walls run from east to west, allows solar heat to enter the home in winter, while allowing in as little sun as possible during summer. Shading and overhangs also reduce excessive summer heat, while still permitting winter sun. In passive solar designs, the optimal window-to-wall area ratio is 25-35 percent.

Passive Solar Heating

In cold climates, south-facing windows designed to let the sun's heat in while insulating against the cold are ideal. In hot and moderate climates, the strategy is to admit light while rejecting heat. Interior spaces requiring the most light, heat, and cooling are located along the south face of the building, with less used space to the north. Open floor plans allow more sun inside.

The simplest passive design is the direct gain system in which the sun shines directly into a building, heating it up. The sun's heat is stored by the building's inherent thermal mass in materials such as concrete, stone floor slabs, or masonry partitions that hold and slowly release heat. With indirect gain systems, thermal mass is located between the sun and the living space. An isolated gain system is one where the system is isolated from the primary living area, such as a sunroom or solar greenhouse with convective loops into the living space.

Passive Solar Cooling

Many passive solar designs include natural ventilation for cooling. By installing casement or other operable windows for passive solar gain and adding vertical panels, called wing walls, perpendicular to the wall on the windward side of the house, you can accelerate the natural breeze in the interior. Another passive solar cooling device is the thermal chimney, which can be designed like a smoke chimney to vent hot air from the house out through the roof.

Trombe Walls

A Trombe wall consists an 8- to 16-inch thick masonry wall coated with a dark, heat-absorbing material and covered by a single or double layer of glass, placed from about 3/4" to 6" away from the masonry wall. Heat from the sun is stored in the air space between the glass and dark material, and conducted slowly to the interior of the building through the masonry. Adding a Trombe wall and south-facing windows is an easy way for a home to take advantage of solar heat.
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