Published on September 17th, 2008
A San Diego-based company says it’s engineered a new strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) — one of the bugs that causes food poisoning — that can produce a building block for plastic products without petroleum.
Genomatica, a company “focused on producing sustainable chemicals,” says its new version of the E. coli bacterium naturally produces 1,4‐butanediol (BDO), an organic and petroleum-based compound used to manufacture hundreds of different kinds of plastic, rubber and fiber products. The process not only uses 30 percent less energy than standard BDO production techniques, but can be fueled with non-food-based, renewable plant waste.
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Published on September 9th, 2008
Naomi Oreskes, one of the champions of sound science on climate change, has done it again, piercing through the veil of skeptic-speak and public misinformation to reveal another insight into the politics of global warming.
Oreskes, you might recall, is the University of California, San Diego professor of history and science studies who thoroughly discredited the argument that there’s yet no scientific consensus on climate change. Her 2004 analysis of 928 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1993 and 2003 found that not one author disputed the consensus that Earth’s climate is changing.
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Published on September 5th, 2008
California officials are reviving a long-unused water bank program to help ensure the thirsty southern part of the state has alternative supplies if winter snow and rain don’t replenish natural reservoirs.
Under the program, last used in 1992, the state can buy back water allocations from farmers in the Sacramento Valley who don’t need their supplies, then sell that water to agencies around Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and other dry regions.
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Published on June 17th, 2008
What price are you willing to pay to get the oil/coal/gas monkey off your back and switch your community to clean energy? Would you accept a long stretch of high-voltage power lines across your favorite scenic vista?
It’s a question I’ve taken on before in a post titled, “What Do I WIMBY (Want In My Backyard)?,” and it’s now cropped up in the news. The place: Southern California. The plan: San Diego Gas & Electric Company’s proposal to build one of the planet’s biggest solar power installations in the desert, along with wind and geothermal facilities. The opposition: environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity.
Why? Because the Sunrise Powerlink clean-energy project calls for 150 miles of high-voltage power lines, including spans through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the Cleveland National Forest and other protected parks and preserves. In fact, state and federal agencies analyzing seven potential routes for power lines ranked the path through Anza-Borrego as the second-worst in terms of potential environmental damage.
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