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Solar power increase at California’s State owned facilities

sunFlag-USAMore State-Owned Facilities In California Going Solar http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4458 25 Aug 14 Two solar power installations totaling 3.22 megawatts have recently been completed at a state prison and state hospital in California.

The Department of General Services (DGS) managed systems are installed at Pleasant Valley State Prison (1.22MW) and Coalinga State Hospital (2MW).

“State agencies manage approximately 1,700 facilities that use about $200 million worth of electricity and natural gas every year,” said DGS Director Fred Klass. “Efficient operation of state facilities, including on-site renewable energy generation, is critical to achieving Governor Brown’s climate goals.”

In 2012, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued a sweeping executive order directing state agencies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions by 10% by 2015 and 20% by 2020, as measured against a 2010 baseline.

The order calls upon state government to slash mains-grid energy purchases for state-owned buildings by at least 20 percent by 2018.

The order also directs new State buildings and major renovations beginning design after 2025 be constructed as Zero Net Energy facilities; with an interim target for 50% of new facilities beginning design after 2020 to be Zero Net Energy.

Pleasant Valley State Prison is one of a dozen jails in California now using solar power. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says its use of solar will avoid an estimated 61,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions this year and will save taxpayers approximately $78 million in electricity costs over the next two decades.

The DSH-Coalinga array is expected to generate 24 percent of the hospital’s electricity requirements during its first year.

Both projects have been executed under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Under a PPA, a solar provider installs the system via third party financing and the electricity generated by the array is sold to the host facility at a competitive rate. The host facility is not required to pay any up-front costs.

DSG says state agencies will have around 38MW of installed solar capacity by the end of this year.

August 25, 2014 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

Michigan Senator prevented from speaking at hearing on Lake Huron nuclear waste dump plans

exclamation-SmJoint Review Panel on nuclear waste dump refuses to hear Pavlov’s testimony http://www.voicenews.com/articles/2014/08/14/news/doc53ed1501d6bf8967664942.txt?viewmode=3 By Jim Bloch Voice Reporter Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com

“…..Jamault said that the official list of all oral presenters will be published toward the end of August.
“Michigan State Sen. Pavlov has the full weight of the Michigan Senate behind him, and they are unanimous in their opposition to this plan,” said Beverly Fernandez, founder and spokesperson for the Canadian group Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump. “We find it shocking that the Joint Review Panel denied Senator Pavlov the opportunity to present the concerns of Michiganders at the public hearings in Canada.”

Pavlov, who represents District 25, which includes St. Clair and Lapeer counties, has been spearheading a movement to derail the plans of Ontario Power Generation to construct a deep underground repository for low and medium nuclear waste near Kincardine, Ontario, within a mile of the Lake Huron.

Many of the wastes to be buried in the dump will remain radioactive for more than 100,000 years, 10 times longer than the lakes have been in existence. To date, every deep underground waste facility in the world has leaked radioactivity into the environment, including the Waste Isolation Pilot Project near Carlsbad, N.M., on Feb. 14, in which 22 workers were poisoned, said Fernandez when she spoke at Pavlov’s July 29 town hall in Port Huron on the dump. OPG cited the operation of WIPP as a sterling example of safe underground storage of nuclear waste.

Pavlov and Sen. Mike Green will host another town hall discussion on the proposed dump at 7 p.m. Aug. 26 in the Port Sanilac Waterside Gazebo, which is located at 7299 Cedar St. in Port Sanilac, in Green’s 31st District.

The Joint Review Panel took testimony on OPG’s environmental assessment for 22 days last fall. The panel meets again for an additional two weeks of testimony beginning Sept. 9 in Kincardine. Within three months of the close of the hearings, the panel will issue a report about the proposed waste dump to the Canadian federal cabinet, which is expected to make a decision about the dump in 2015.

Residents may sign either or both of two online petitions against the dump: ProtectLakeHuron.comand StopTheGreatLakesNuclearDump.com………

Accepted written submissions may be viewed at ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents-eng.cfm?evaluation=17520&type=4. ……
Even though Pavlov will not be allowed to speak, his submission will be part of the permanent record as catalogued in the comment section on the website of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, said Lucille Jamault, communications officer, speaking from Quebec. The address of the comment section is available at ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents-eng.cfm?evaluation=17520&type=3.

August 25, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Story of one of the 21,000 soldiers exposed to Pacific atomic test radiation

 ‘The MoD’s nuclear test blinded me’ http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/502624/EXCLUSIVE-Brian-Jones-BLINDED WHEN the bomb dropped Brian Jones was staring right at it, unaware of the danger nuclear weapons could pose to him and his family. By: Jaymi McCann, August 24, 2014 The 19-year-old sapper witnessed nine nuclear bomb tests while ­serving with the Royal Engineers on Christmas Island between 1957 and 1958. Continue reading →

August 25, 2014 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

UN and Denmark help boost Renewable Energy Technology Transfer between China and Ghana and Zambia

renewable-energy-world-SmNew initiative boosts Renewable Energy Technology Transfer between China and Ghana and Zambia with UNDP and Danish Development Assistance as catalysts Jakarta Post  BEIJING, Aug. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — A milestone partnership was forged today inBeijing between China, Denmark, Ghana, Zambia and UNDP with the signing of a project agreement for Renewable Energy Technology Transfer.

This project is one of the first examples of triangular South-South cooperation betweenChina and Africa with support from a donor. Its objective is to ensure that Chinese renewable energy technologies are optimally responding to priorities and needs inGhana and Zambia, and critical skills are also transferred and developed to make the technologies actually work on the ground. This approach will have a tremendous impact on increasing access to energy for the rural poor in the two countries, and for other developing countries interested in such cooperation withChina in the future.
The project is part of the UNDP-China agreement for Strengthened Partnership signed in 2010 to promote South-South cooperation through innovative programmes. “UNDP is pleased to embark on this cooperation and is committed to making projects more impactful and more sustainable by providing ‘software’ support with the transfer of renewable energy technologies, rather than just relying on the traditional hardware of equipment or infrastructure,” said Xu Haoliang, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Director of the Regional Bureau ofAsia and Pacific
The Government of Denmark provided funding for the initial formulation of the project and a contribution of29.25 million DKK, equivalent of US$ 5.4 million, to UNDP for its implementation inGhana and Zambia. This implementation will be led by the Government of the two countries with the Ministry of Sciences and Technology as the Chinese counterpart institution, and support from the UNDP offices inBeijing, Accra and Lusaka……..

The project will help with achieving the objective of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) of the UN Secretary- GeneralBan Ki-Moon by increasing access to energy through off-grid and community-based electrification. Support will not be in the form of hardware transfer but instead will focus on creating conditions required to make adoption of renewable energy technologies more effective, removing barriers and strengthening local capacities to respond to national priorities and meet local needs.  ……

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.www.undp.org    http://prnw.cbe.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/new-initiative-boosts-renewable-energy-technology-transfer-between-china-and-ghana-and-zambia-with-undp-and-danish-development-assistance-as-catalysts.html

August 25, 2014 Posted by | AFRICA, renewable | Leave a comment

Bill in USA Congress supports plans in Kiev for an attack on Crimea

exclamation-Flag-USA“The Russian Aggression Prevention Act” (RAPA): A Direct Path to Nuclear War with Russia

The Russian Aggression Prevention Act”, introduced to Congress by U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), will set the US on a path towards direct military conflict with Russia in Ukraine. Global Research,  By Steven Starr , Senior Scientist, Physicians for Social Responsibility August 22, 2014

“………..RAPA supports plans in Kiev for an attack on Crimea

The Russian Aggression Prevention Act demands that Russia “withdraw from the eastern border of Ukraine,” which is by definition, the Russian border.  In other words, RAPA provocatively demands that Russia remove its own military forces away from its own borders, while Ukrainian military forces are meanwhile massed on the other side, attacking predominantly Russian cities.

RAPA also demands that “Russian forces must have withdrawn from Crimea within seven days of the enactment of the Act.” Not likely to happen, given that

(1) Crimea was part of the Russian empire from 1783 until 1954,

(2) withdrawal from Crimea would require Russia to abandon its only warm water port at Sevastopol, where Russian forces have been based, by internationally recognized treaty, since 1997, and

(3) more than three-quarters of all Crimeans voted “yes” to reunify with Russia, a vote which Russia accepted by its subsequent annexation of Crimea.

Thus, in the eyes of Russia, the requirement to “withdraw from Crimea” amounts to a US demand that Russia surrender Russian territory. Putin has just taken the entire Russian Duma (the Russian House of Representatives) to Crimea, to address them there and strongly make the point that there will be no withdrawal from Crimea.

RAPA, however, stipulates that the US does not recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea, and creates sanctions and legal penalties for anyone who does. RAPA therefore provides both military and political support for Ukrainian President Poroshenko’s stated goat that Ukraine will retake Crimea.

This goal was recently echoed by the Ukrainian defense minister, who was applauded by the Ukrainian Parliament when he told them that the Ukrainian army will “have a victory parade in Sevastopol“. These statements are taken seriously in Moscow, where they are viewed as a promise to attack Russia. Thus, Putin’s advisers are telling him he must fight today in Eastern Ukraine, or tomorrow in Crimea.

Any Russian military intervention in Eastern Ukraine would certainly be described in the West as Russian aggression in pursuit of empire, which would trigger deafening demands that US/NATO forces act to support Ukraine. Should NATO intervene, subsequent Russian military action against any NATO member would trigger the alliance’s Chapter 5 mutual defense clause, committing it to war with Russia.

Any major Ukrainian attack upon Crimea would make war with Russia inevitable. Ukraine appears to be preparing for such an assault by drafting all men of ages 18 to 60 years, in a forced mobilizationof its armed forces, which also includes calling up its active reserves of one million men, and bringing more than 1000 battle tanksout of storage.  Putin is being told by his close advisers thatUkraine will have an army of half a million men in 2015.

RAPA would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to train and arm the rapidly expanding Ukrainian armed forces, and position US/NATO forces for rapid intervention on the side of Ukraine in the event of a Ukrainian-Russian war. Thus, the many political and military provisions of RAPA would certainly act to fully encourage Ukraine to carry out its stated policy to retake Crimea. The Republic of Georgia attacked Russian forces in 2008 with far fewer US promises of aid. Of course, RAPA would also arm Georgia, too………..http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-russian-aggression-prevention-act-rapa-a-direct-path-to-nuclear-war-with-russia/5397171

 

August 25, 2014 Posted by | politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons do not make us more secure: quite the opposite

Nuclear weapons do not make us saferhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nuclear-weapons-do-not-make-us-safer/2014/08/22/185b4644-28ad-11e4-8b10-7db129976abb_story.html  David Krieger, Santa Barbara, Calif.Are NATO-based nuclear weapons really an advantage in a dangerous world, as Brent Scowcroft, Stephen J. Hadley and Franklin Miller suggested in their Aug. 18 op-ed, “A dangerous proposition”? They are not. They make the world a far more dangerous place.

Nuclear deterrence is not a guarantee of security. Rather, it is a hypothesis about human behavior, a hypothesis that has come close to failing on many occasions. Additionally, nuclear weapons are not “political weapons,” as the writers asserted. They are weapons of mass extermination.

The United States and the other nuclear-armed countries are obligated under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and/or customary international law to pursue negotiations in good faith for an end to the nuclear arms race and complete nuclear disarmament. This is the substance of the Nuclear Zero lawsuits brought by the Marshall Islands against the nine nuclear-armed countries at the International Court of Justice and in U.S. federal court. The United States continues to evade its obligations. Rather than continuing to posture with its nuclear weapons in Europe, the United States should be leading the way in convening negotiations to eliminate all nuclear weapons for its own security and that of all the world’s inhabitants.     The writer is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

August 25, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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