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A Great Lakes compact that would prevent the region’s water from being siphoned off into the thirsty Southwest and other dry parts of the country is a little closer to taking effect, now that lawmakers in Michigan have OK’d the deal.

The Great Lakes Water Resources Compact aims to protect the water rights of the eight states bordering the lakes: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Michigan’s approval of the agreement brings the number of states signed on so far to five: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and New York.

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In my talks, I have talked a lot about reinventing normal life and in particular our notions of mobility (among other things)…
Part and parcel is this idea that it’s a small world. We get this small world idea from Disneyland as kids (recall hearing mechanical children swaying to the refrain “Its a small world after all”) as well as from seemingly serendipitous encounters that are probably statistically ordinary in a world were people jet and motor around the country. It is easy to think that the world is small when one can get from point A anywhere in the global economy to point B anywhere in the global economy within a matter of hours (rather than days or months). It makes it easy for us spread out families and friends as people chase paychecks and jobs across the country if not the planet.

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Last week, UCLA Anderson hosted the California Clean Innovation conference to facilitate the new ideas that will drive the future of clean technology. I must admit to being a bit intimidated by the topics to be discussed - I’m far from technically inclined - but the event was well done and I learned a ton.

First, what we’re all interested in…the moolah. I’ve been hearing a lot about the investment going into clean tech these days. The first keynote speaker, Ira Ehrenpreis of Technology Partners in Palo Alto also explained why this is so.

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As a recent transplant to the Bay Area, I have noticed that San Francisco and Los Angeles seem worlds away from each other both physically and culturally. Now that a plan to build a high-speed train linking the two cities is moving forward, that distance will become a whole lot smaller—physically, at least.

In case you aren’t familiar with the plan, here are the basics: The California High Speed Rail Authority is in the beginning stages of building an 800-mile long high-speed train system that will serve every major city in California. The trains will be capable of speeds up to 220 miles per hour, and the trip time from San Francisco to L.A. will be only 2 hours and 40 minutes. That’s comparable to the time it takes to travel between the two locations on a plane.

By providing a viable alternative to energy-intensive car and air travel, the rail system will reduce carbon emissions up to 17.6 billion pounds per year and reduce oil consumption up to 22 million barrels per year.

Pretty amazing, right? And now the California High-Speed Rail Authority is going to get a boost with new member Thomas Umberg. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2005 the world was aghast by the images seen on television and newspapers of the mass destruction caused to human life and the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

A recent report reveals that State authorities are bolstering levees around Sacramento to prevent it from experiencing Katrina-like effects during a flood. They also hope that severe storms don’t hit the capital city before the completion of projects planned to end by 2012.

With the right combination of bad weather conditions, officials from the Department of Water Resources predict that the American River’s 18,000-square-mile watershed, along with the Sacramento River’s 23,000 square miles in Northern California, could flood the capital city under 20 feet of water, cause $25 billion worth of damage, and devastate homes in Sacramento-area communities.

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, flooding from the rivers would also leave “500 dead, 102 square miles flooded, and 300,000 people uprooted, an international airport and state agencies under water, and years of recovery.”

So what is the State doing to prevent Sacramento from becoming another New Orleans?

The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency has been designated to work with state and federal agencies to double Sacramento’s flood protection by using pre-approved $5 billion dollars in state bond money.

Stein Buer, the agency’s executive director, is working with The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal Bureau of Reclamation to reinforce the Central Valley’s 1,600 miles of levees, build a spillway channel for the Folsom Dam, and buttress Natomas Basin levees.

Besides infrastructure maintenance, other signs that people are preparing for the worst are building moratoriums near flood-prone areas and higher flood insurance prices.

Environmentalists are concerned about the environmental impacts of more levee construction, homeowners are upset at another high expense, and builders are dismayed at the inability to build, but state officials assure that their plans are in the name of safety.

Because, after all, how horrible would it be if Sacramento became another Katrina? Nobody wants that.

Photo: Wikipedia

Could you be breaking the law by brewing your own biodiesel for your car? You might not be aware that the feds and some states might require you to pay taxes for your grease-based fuel, as a retired chemist from Illinois rudely discovered last year.

It’s disturbing that you could face fines for doing something that’s both a money-saver and good for the environment. Still, I thought it might help any would-be biodiesel home-brewers out there to know where to find more information about the laws that might apply to you. Here are a few sites I discovered that might come in handy:

Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center: This page on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Website gives a state-by-state summary of incentives and laws affecting homemade biodiesel, other alternative fuels and alternative fuel-powered vehicles.

The California Center for Sustainable Energy: According to this site, “The first 400 gallons of home-made biodiesel is exempt from federal taxation and anything afer 400 gallons is subject to normal federal tax rates.” The center also advises home biodiesel-brewers to check with their state to see if state fuel taxes apply to them. You’ll also find lots of good links here on home biodiesel production, equipment suppliers and biodiesel fueling locations in the U.S.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory: While this site doesn’t specifically address biodiesel tax policies, it does feature a large number of informative publications about biodiesel production, handling, use, quality, stability, compatibility, emissions and fleet evaluations.

Other sites with lots of information about all aspects of biodiesel include the National Biodiesel Board and its companion marketplace site, AllThingsBiodiesel.com, the National Biodiesel Foundation, an article on “Greasoline” at the Journal of Young Investigators and, of course, Wikipedia (here and here).

Image credit: Mejidori at Wikimedia Commons, released into public domain.

Southern fast-food favorite Chick-fil-A is known for its commercials featuring a cow holding a sign that says, “Eat mor chikin.” But two University of Central Florida students have turned to the chicken chain for a new purpose: “Run your car on mor chikin (grease).”

Mechanical engineering students Eric Williams, Chad Heinrich and Michael Schulist turned to the University of Central Florida’s local Chick-fil-A for used cooking grease, which they convert into biodiesel fuel to run their cars. They’re also passing along 20 percent of their home-brewed fuel to the university, which is using it to power trucks, lawnmowers and other diesel vehicles.

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A new report from the National Research Council (NRC) finds numerous problems with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ followup recommendations for restoring wetlands and protecting southern Louisiana from another Katrina-like disaster.

Among the most worrisome findings in the paper: the Corps’ failure to “consider the potential for structural failure of levees and floodwalls.”

“As a consequence,” the NRC report states, “the true risk to homes and businesses and people behind structures has not been determined.”
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Rising prices for everything from copper and platinum to flour, gas and cooking oil are creating new markets for trend-minded thieves across the U.S.

With gasoline prices in the U.S. breaking new records weekly, for example, law enforcement officials are seeing more cases of cooking grease thefts from fast-food establishments and other restaurants. Why used grease? Because cooking oil can be converted into biodiesel fuel that can be sold at a cool profit.
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Worldchanging magazine has announced that it is selling the ultimate environmentalist gift for high school and college graduates: carbon offsets for life.

This means that for every donation above a certain level, Worldchanging will buy carbon offsets in the name of the graduate.

But the price of this gift is not cheap—the minimum donation is $6,000 to offset a graduate’s childhood, and the max is $25,000 to offset an entire career. It also raises an important question: what will such a present do to the mindset of the recipient? Read the rest of this entry »