September 1, 2010
250 megawatt (MW) solar-thermal power plant – California Approved
written by Steven Barrymore
The California Energy Commission has given the go ahead for the construction of the Beacon Solar Energy Project (subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources) a 250-megawatt solar thermal power generation facility. Scheduled to be built on 2,012-acres in the Mojave Desert. The system will use a parabolic trough design — a series of curved mirrors which reflect the sun’s rays onto a glass tube (collector) containing a fluid that runs the length of the trough. The sun’s perpendicular position to the trough can be adjusted by a tilting mechanism. This will be the first solar thermal power plant permitted in California in two-decades.
Solar Trough System
The Beacon Solar Energy Project is part of a proposed 2,800 MW of solar power plant projects in California. That would be roughly enough energy to power 2.8 million homes a year.
The CEC’s last approval of Solar Electric Generating Systems was in 1990 with LUZ SEGS IX and X projects. Someone needs to design a smartphone app to control all this solar energy goodness.
August 20, 2010
EPA Wants Your Dirty Water Comments
written by Steven Barrymore
EPA steps outside the box. Or in this case, the watering hole. The EPA has launched a discussion forum blog to solicit comments on how best to protect America’s drinking water supply. The blog contains 4 separate topics for comments.
Addressing contaminants as a groups [sic] and better enhance drinking water protection in a cost-effective manner.
Fostering development of new drinking water technologies to address health risks posed by a broad array of contaminants.
Using the authority of multiple statutes to help protect drinking water.
Collaborating with states to share more complete data from monitoring at public water systems (PWS).
If you are an interested water expert, advocate or just part of the general water-drinking public, you can chime in on any of these topics. But do so before these discussion topics are closed. The EPA is leaving these topics open for about one month – they did not mention if the one month deadline is from the Aug 17 EPA website news release or one month from when the blog topics were posted (July 29). So, get comfy with a nice big glass of (filtered) water and blog away — your government needs you.
August 13, 2010
Real Wood Apple Skins
post by Steven Barrymore
When I saw the name KARVT, I had a vision of high-end Swiss wristwatches and brilliant diamonds displayed behind thick glass protected by a gun toting security guard in a jewelry store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. KARVT actually sells luxury of another kind — real wood skins for Apple MacBook and iPad.
Apple fans can swathe their precious gear in a luxurious wood finish. KARVT states that their skins are made with 100% real wood that is sustainable and eco-friendly.
In addition to their MacBook and iPad line, a new skin for the iPhone 4 and 3G is scheduled to start shipping August 20th — website is accepting pre-orders.
The new iPhone skins will be available in Bamboo, Cherry, Maple, Pine, and Walnut.
Prices for the iPhone skins range from $15 (3G version) to $25 ( iPhone 4).
KARVT Wood Skin
Macbook, iPad and iPhone are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.
August 4, 2010
Should Your Next Financial Advisor Be A Monkey?
posted by Steven Barrymore
Laurie Santos is cognitive psychologist at Yale and teaches monkeys to use monkey money in exchange for food. She posses a correlation between human and monkey repetition of errors in how we (they) handle monetary exchanges. In this TED video, she demonstrates that monkeys, as we humans, have many of the same predictable behaviors when it comes to the exchange of money for goods / services. Monkeys shown exchanging their token monkey money for grapes and having to buy from good grape dealers and shady grape dealers, this video is ready for prime time. Just don’t give up your financial advisor for the monkey equivalent, yet.
August 1, 2010
Protection Against Sun Exposure — There Is An App For That.
written by Steven Barrymore
For years it has been known that over exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays are harmful.
Too many rays can cause eye damage and skin cancer, any time of the year, no matter what color skin you have. Skin cancer outpaced other forms of cancers, breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancer in 2009. As we age, 70 million more aged Americans expected by the year 2030, our body organs are more susceptible to environmental hazards because of their diminished functions. All those older people walking around wearing wide-brimmed hats are doing themselves a good service. Protection from skin-damaging UV radiation.
The EPA is offering a smartphone app that gives mobile access to the daily UV index. The UV numeric index ranges from 0 to 11+ (index numbers in higher amounts correlate to skin-damaging UV radiation). The EPA app is available for Mobile Web online, in addition to Blackberry and Android phones. Go to the UV Index App page to install the app on your smartphone. Now you can carry protection in your pocket, and it does not come in a sealed wrapper.
Protecting the skin from excessive UV rays is not just for adults. Get the children started early. The EPA is offering the SunWise Program for Kids, Schools and Communities. Now kids can learn about protecting themselves from overexposure to the sun’s rays. The SunWise School Program is available to elementary or middle schools. Encouraging schools to develop sun-safe behaviors in schoolchildren and provide a sun-safe school environment.
Some simple things can be done now to help protect your skin, and your future health.
Do not burn — overexposure is preventable.
Between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. find a shady space to be. A cool drink would also help with your re-hydration.
Use a sunscreen with a SPF of at least 15.
Wear wide-brimmed hats, sun blocking sunglasses and protective clothing.
Avoid overuse of tanning beds.
Check the UV index on the mobile app you just installed.
And for the aged folks check out the Aging Initiative Website for information on growing older in this environment.
