Coal Mining-Coal Fired Power Generation- Metallurgy Materials Advanced Proceses : Strong Focus on CO2 capture and storage-sequestration

Strong Determination and Innovation Required - Jobs? hence this short echo of this subject.
"Marshal plan to reduce the cost of this particular innovation is my wish for the new President of the EU _ 2009 with all respect Sir"

Link to my original post below:

Summary:
From local (motivation) to global...

Systems /Synergy 4 Approach:
-click to enlarge the Venn Diag image opposite.

1. Focus: CCS-Carbon, Capture & Storage,
2.Mining (Coal)– Motivation, Coal reserves France(58)-Scotland, Ayrshire...
3.Coal Powered Electricity & Heat generation,
4.Metallurgy/Materials/Advanced Processes,

It is common knowledge that immediate action is required and plebiscited. The 2009 clean economy appears to be the time to start -get over this crises stuff and no hedging!

One of my resolutions will be to report on these fields and contribute as far as my professional skills permit.


cf. Full post:
New Years Resolution Time: Systems - Synergy 4 Motivation, Innovation in Our Professional Disciplines: Materials-Minerals-Mining.

Nine Top Search Tips for Research and Innovation Ideas on the European Union (EU) Framework Programme 7 (FP7)

It is not always easy to know where to look in the huge European Research and Innovation data base for project ideas and possible collaborations, hence the following little guide from my recent experience. This follows my inclusion of the RSS feed link to EU programmes on the top left menu bar. Firstly it is well worth taking a squint at the Nine sub-feeds offered within the main entry. Of course there are new items, why not. More directly try the feeds to Offers, Projects, Partners and Results. Of course if you are a tried hand -What's New is the feed you are looking for. My own hit and miss attempt corrected let me share a few further indications of direct interest to researchers and innovators as follows:

An excellent place to start a search is the Find a Partner on the FP7 search page - Cordis Europa EU

The link I have given opens the search page with a menu bar on the left and a search box with four main key choices:

1. Search term or key words.
2 Profile type : Project proposal and/or Company Expertise.
3 Programme label eg FP7 (all of) or any one sub-project from a list of 34 sub-labels. multiple choices can be made.
4. A list of the world's countries allows one to seek a specific partner country.

I found that:
- ignoring steps 1and 4 and
-choosing project proposal and
-say a field such as NMP-Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies , all countries, (or Energy, Environment etc )

->an informative list of projects, contacts addresses and websites for further information can be generated and further reduced as required, to target precisely one's specific field(s) of interest.

In this knowledge sharing exercise I myself have learned a lot - only one but not the least of the added values in blogging.

Merry Xmas and have an enjoyable and profitable festive season and lots of good luck in 2009.

Green and Powerful -Energy Materials posted on Materials Science and Engineering Defined-Link

Link to Green and Powerful - Energy Materials - Happy Birthday, 1st Year of Materials UK KTN-Knowledge Transfer Network

Earthquake Advanced Detection - Gas Bubbles point to tectonic activity. A route to elimination or mitigation of resulting catastrophies?

Earthquake advanced detection - New Hope?

In their December 2008 issue, the leading french science research magazine, "La Recherche" reports the findings of an international geoscience research team.

The team, from France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and USA, investigated the submerged section of the North Anatolian fault within the Marmara Sea in Northern Turkey, using acoustic techniques and submersible dives.

It appears that the abundance of gas bubbles along fault lines are related to tectonic activity. Conversely, in this study the relative absence of gas bubble emission corresponded to fault lines which have been inactive for about the last 250 years (since 1766).
The most dramatic results of Tectonic activity are of course, Earthquakes, Tsunami and Volcanoes.

The research team are of course cautious in their erudite communiqué "The long term monitoring of gas seeps could hence be highly valuable for the understanding of the evolution of the fluid-fault coupling processes during the earthquake cycle within the Marmara Sea."

But naturally the question whose answer we are all are awaitingn put brutally is: "Does the appearance of gas bubbles indicate the the likelyhood of an emmanent earthquake, and what is the corresponding bubble intensity (the latter greatley studied in Steelmaking stirring processes amoungst many other processes).

Looking forward to strong development and hopefully positive innovation.

Reference:
1. La Recherche Dec. 08 N)425. print edition.
2 Géli et al, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, online 29/08/2008.

SPOOKY? - Coal Mining Debris Rule Is Approved - This adds to Industries already poor image as a major source of CO2-GHG Emissions

As a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK. I am posting this as much as a reminder-obligation to bring this article to the attention of out concerned professional members experts in the field as well as the wider blogger communities

"WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush’s last weeks in office.

James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, confirmed in an interview that the rule had been approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget. That clears the way for publication in the Federal Register, the last stage in the rule-making process.

Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, concurred in the rule, first proposed nearly five years ago by the Interior Department, which regulates coal mining.

Edward C. Hopkins, a policy analyst at the Sierra Club, said: “The E.P.A.’s own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality. By signing off on this rule, the agency has abdicated its responsibility.”

Environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council see the mountaintop mining rule and pending changes in air pollution regulations as part of a final effort by the Bush administration to cater to the needs of energy industries.

The proposal that would give more leeway to coal-burning power plants, to increase their emissions when they make repairs and renovations, was on the original wish list of the energy task force convened by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001."


SOURCES:

1. Full news article ....

2. Graphical representation of Mountain Mining

Innovation - Ancient Scientific Observations of a Supernova given a new lease of light! – Dark Matter, White Dwarfs, Explosive Death, Milky Way

Could beauty after all - "this time" - be in the eye of the beholder!

Disclaimer: None of the above astronomical terms is intended to offense.

Joking aside;

Tycho's Brahe’s supernova began on Nov. 11, 1572, when Brahe was astonished to see what he thought was a brilliant new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. The light eventually became as bright as Venus and could be seen for two weeks in broad daylight. After 16 months, it disappeared.

This sparked the beginning of Brahe's interest in celestial phenomena and my renewed interest in how scientists managed to carry out-their work in the economies of the time? But that will have to wait.

The direct light from the supernova swept past Earth long ago. But some of it struck dust clouds in deep space, causing them to brighten. That "light echo" was still observable. The new study was based on analyzing these wavelengths so confirming what had be largely circumstantial evidence.

The observations confirm that the supernova is of a variety known as 'type 1a'. These supernovae are created by the explosion of small, dense stars called white dwarfs. They are believed to explode with a standard brightness, which makes them a good tool for gauging the distance to far-off galaxies.

In recent years, such measurements have revealed that type 1a supernovae are farther away than expected, leading researchers to propose that a mysterious force called "dark energy" is pushing galaxies away from one another. Because Brahe's supernova is in the Milky Way, studying its remains could help astronomers to better understand type 1a supernovae and dark energy itself.

Hope springs eternally? Discuss.

Source.

Nature News; from Krause, O. et al. Nature 456, 617–619 (2008).

New European Record-Science and Engineering - Solar PV-Photovoltaic Energy Converstion to Electricity Efficiency Reaches 39.4%

Record breaking news was announced by a team from Fraunhofer ISE-Institute for Solar Energy working within the EU project: Fullspectrum. Their work was brought to my attention today 26 Nov. 08 and described in some detail by the EU- Research Information Centre (RI).

Dr Andreas Bett, Department Head at Fraunhofer ISE, considers this to be one more decisive step in making it easier to generate a more cost-efficient use of these types of cells for terrestrial applications in a relatively short time and underlines the aim of such innovative projects:

"To achieve the highest conversion efficiencies and so help the young technology to become market competitive and to further sink (lower) the costs of generating electricity from the sun for the future."

The EU- RI centre's news letter article also pays some "self" tribute to the EU - FULLSPECTRUM -project which it remarks was chosen as one of the 40 success stories of the 6th Framework Programme.

More detailed information may be obtained from the following sources:

Sources:

1. The EU- Research information centre.
which also provides links to many other R & D themes eg. Energy

2. Original link
39.7% – New European Record Efficiency for Solar Cells achieved by Fraunhofer ISE

3. FULLSPECTRUM -project website

Creating Tomorrow - Never so necessary - Organisational Change Processes & Strategy

Critical comments with references (links) on the white paper: "Creating a Value Driven Change Capability for Executing Organisational Strategy from Cranfield School of Management – April 2008" by Prof Chris Edwards and Rob Lambert of Cranfield School of Management.

Several links to posts or ebooks refers to earlier work on this, my first  blog.

Link: Limits to Nanoelectronics – Theoretical and Physical Limits-Plasmonics – Economic analogies of limits to growth from the bulk metals industry

The electronics we know in our computers today is, as the name suggests, based on the transfer of information with the help of electrons. Using electrons has allowed us to shrink the size of computer circuits without losing efficacy. At the same time, communication with the help of electrons represents a rather slow means of transmission. To alleviate this problem, light can be used instead of electrons. This is the basis of so-called photonic components. While the transfer speed in photonics is extremely high, the size of the components cannot be shrunk to the same level as ‘ordinary’ electronics.

For a number of years, so-called plasmonic components have proven to be a possible way around the dilemma of electronics and photonics. By combining photonics and electronics, scientists have shown that information can be transferred with the help of so-called plasmons. Plasmons are surface waves, like waves in the ocean, but here consisting of electrons, which can spread at extremely high speeds in metals.

The findings now being presented by the Swedish-American research team show that difficulties arise when the size of such components is reduced to the nanometer level.

LINK- Ashby Diagrammes, Granta Design, Materials selection software

Great Innovations Here.

Science, Engineering, Software and Design Excellence. Looks fantastic!

The web-zine, “Engineering Live” reports on the renowned work on materials selection and materials selection software by Cambridge Univ, UK Start-up, Granta Design*.

It’s all in the Eng Live title “almost” : "Materials selection software is simpler to use!

Almost as important as the many technical attributes – speed: ease to learn and use, a quick and simple method to specify design objectives; Eco Audit Tool for eco-design; capabilities for cost analysis; further plastic selection options; and extended coverage of medical materials, comprehensive data on the properties of materials combined with powerful graphical software for analysis and selection. Dimensions, cost, strength, CO2 footprint are all there. – AND

in the words of
“Dr Patrick Coulter, chief operating officer at Granta: "CES Selector 2008 responds to two key trends that we see in working with our customers:

-1. The need for practical design tools to enable decision making early in the design process, saving cost and time.
-2.The increasing importance of environmental objectives. Enhancements in these and other areas will increase the impact of CES Selector on key business issues in engineering enterprises."

[Fig RHS above- Plots materials properties in CES EduPack. In this case, Young's Modulus is being plotted against Tensile Strength for the natural materials in the new Bio Materials Database. Such plots offer a simple-to-understand and highly visual representation of materials properties.]

CES Selector enables designers, engineers and materials experts to explore materials and process options and to make and justify rational, auditable selection and substitution decisions.
It is particularly valuable in balancing competing engineering, economic and environmental objectives

A new Eco Audit Tool enables identification of the energy emissions from a product at different phases in its lifecycle, based on the materials and processes used.

If I stop my review here you will certainly suffer as much frustration as I will in not providing a satisfying introduction to this excellent work and materials selection and design tool not to mention the enhanced engineering knowledge and insight it provides students, lecturers and users alike. My full review and LINKS may be found on my Science & Engineering Blog

Sustainability_ The Ultimate Quest-Part IV_ Serendipity_From the Highly Specialised to the Full Catalogue of NAP eBooks

What I did not mention in Parts I,II or III was that,

I ran down Prof. Lasher-Trapp’s reference list from her paper in The Oxford Round Table ORT event and dug up another nugget for readers. This time it’s offered to read freely online by the National Academy of Science (NAS-USA) National Academies Press (NAP) cf NAP-widget in the RH Side bar.

This completes, at least for the time being, of my ORT reviews and sends the reader off at a tangent to the associated NAP book "EVALUATION OF THE NATIONAL AEROSPACE INITIATIVE" on my blog "This-Above-All" obviously...


EVALUATION OF THE NATIONAL AEROSPACE INITIATIVE
Committee on the National Aerospace Initiative
Air Force Science and Technology Board
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Finally to the summit of one Science Educational Tree to the important catalogue of freely available online ebooks:
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS, Washington, D.C

This-Above-All & more specifically to "This-Above-All_Books_Journals_Tools"

Sustainability_ The Ultimate Quest-Part III_Indictment _ORT Forum on public policy

Professor Ivor van Heerden, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Deputy Director, LSU's Hurricane Center, presented a provocative analysis of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, at the August 12, to 17, 2007, Oxford Round Table (ORT) held at St. Anne's College in the University of Oxford. The title of his paper was"Global Warming and Sustainable Development: Governing a Crisis.

Professor van Heerden's insights regarding failure of the levees in New Orleans have also been aired lately on NOVA, PBS. Professor van Heerden's paper, The Failure Of The New Orleans Levee System During Hurricane Katrina And Public Policy Needs For The Future was published in the Oxford Round Table Forum on Public Policy, Volume 3, Number 4, 2007, a publication of the Oxford Round Table. Professor van Heerden's new book The Storm has been cited as "gripping" and "compelling" by Publishers Weekly and CNN's Anderson Cooper.

ABSTRACT-excerpt: "
Oxford Round TableHurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana as a moderately fast-moving Category 3 storm. Thereafter 85 percent of Greater New Orleans was flooded, 1600 lives were lost and approximately 500,000 homeless. The hurricane protection system failed catastrophically with over half the levee system damaged or breached reflecting that the best science was not utilized in surge elevation determinations; a major misinterpretation as relates to the usage of surveyors datum's; levee designs did not account for poor soil foundations and/or underseepage; and, miles of levees lacked armoring to protect from waves. Surge elevations were exacerbated by the loss of coastal wetlands which since 1930 exceeds 500,000 ha.
As global warming accelerates, 'smart' planning is needed for many major ports and other coastal communities. Tropical cyclone surge management making full use of natural as well as man-made components needs to be augmented with sustainable development and some retreat from low-lying coastal regions. Retreat from the Louisiana coastal zone is a reality but coastal restoration in the key to the future habitation thereof, along with sustainable surge protection systems. This latter system must be complimented and protected by aggressive coastal wetland and barrier island restoration."

Professor van Heerden provided strong back-up to support his case:
Reviews and summary of The Storm
PBS article about hurricane Katrina and ivh about January 2005
Sciencenow Video
Segment of video from NOVA
Sciencenow/3214/06
Youtube video about hurricane Katrina and Ivor

Sustainability_ The Ultimate Quest-Part II_ MIT "Walks-the-Talk" _ORT Forum on public policy

Professor Jeffrey I. Steinfeld, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT-pdf), presented a [very important] paper titled "Leveraging International Collaborations for Climate and Sustainability Education" at the ORT session titled; Global Warming and Sustainable Development: Governing a Crisis, August 12 to 17, 2007, at St. Anne’s College in the University of Oxford. Professor Steinfeld’s paper was subsequently published with co-author Amanda Graham, also of MIT, under the same title in the Forum on Public Policy.

A shortened abstract of Professor Steinfeld’s and A. Graham’s ORT article is given below:

Abstract –Extract: MIT “Walks-the-Talk” ; quote

"Avoiding dangerous climate change, assuring secure and affordable energy supplies for future generations, and averting geopolitical conflict over scarce energy resources, are among the central challenges of global sustainability. Achieving these goals requires engaging multiple stakeholders having widely differing perceptions of the nature and urgency of the issues involved. A coherent but varied strategy for outreach and education is necessary in order to effectively inform and engage these multiple audiences.In the United States, public attitudes toward climate change and energy security have undergone a remarkable change during the past several years, as a result of economic pressures, perceived alterations to familiar climate patterns, and increasing attention by the media. In the absence of leadership on these issues at the national level, many states, municipalities, industries, and private actors have started taking steps to achieve greenhouse gas reductions and to begin the transition to a sustainable energy system. He describes how MIT “Walk’s-the-Talk”. "

Could there be a lesson for all here?

Further resources from MIT:
Jeff Steinfeld's Biography on MIT Chemistry Department Webpage

Martin Fellowship: Letter from Prof. Steinfeld
Excerpt:
"Humankind is currently engaged in an unprecedented, global-scale experiment involving the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere--all of the environmental systems on which our well-being depends. The hypothesis being explored in this experiment is whether human society can attain a sustainable relationship with our environment. We do not know what the outcome of this experiment will be--but we do know that if the experiment goes badly, we will not be able to return the sample to the Manufacturer and request a free replacement."

Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability
Foundation & List of Fellows
Laboratory For Environment and Energy:
Energy & Environment the LFEE newsletter

Numerous Publications Freely Available

Sustainability_ The Ultimate Quest-Part I_ The Oxford Round Table (ORT) Forum on Public Policy

This has been a round-about trip which I am sure many of you have encountered in your web searching and blogging activities. I have split the journey into several parts.

PART I:
My meanders began by a visit to a site which appeared via AdSense publicity on my blog, thanks to The “Oxford Round Table’s (ORT) Forum on Public Policy now celebrating their 20th birthday with an “Round Table” on Environment and Sustainability held between August 10 to August 15 at St. Anne's College, Oxford.

The ORT site also references papers published in the 2007 forum.

Prof. Ruth A. Reck, Univ. of California, Davis, coordinated the 2008 Oxford Round Table session entitled: Sustainability_ The Ultimate Quest. Ruth’s own paper was entitled Setting the Balance for Global Climate Change: Scientific Evidence and the Consequences for Society following her article published the previous year in The Forum on Public Policy, Vol. 4 No. 3, 2007, title: "Climate Change and Sustainable Development."

These meetings are distinctly Interdisciplinary. Scholars representing several disciples from Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States presented papers regarding the world quest for sustainability. They have an equally distinctive “OCDE – Forum” ring to them in both in name and in spirit, may I add.

Cf. Balancing Globalization. The OCDE forum 2006, title ! link via 2 previous posts on this blog:
1. Climate Change 3 part series from FT-Financial Times-"No getting away from it" Follow-up from OCDE Forum 2008?
2. OCDE Forum 2008 : Climate Change, Growth , Stability: Prime Innovation Motivation Conversation 2-4 June 2008?

Although all the papers presented, bar one are limited to subscribers. Arguably not the best way to achieve the global reach required for “The” number one world quest by Round Table participants. However the abstracts provide excellent summaries to the busy government or company executive, ONG, green movement activists, concerned scientists and general public.

Setting the Balance for Global Climate Change: Scientific Evidence and the Consequences for Society by Ruth A. Reck, Prof. of Atmospheric Science, Dept of Land, Air and Water Resources, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Univ of California.

Abstract excerpt quoted : (full description via ORT.)
"It has become clear to many scientists that the problems of global climate change are the most pressing issues the world faces, far exceeding the concerns of terrorism and the need to promote democracy around the world. In fact the outcomes of these other major concerns may hinge in great part upon our ability to deal with the consequences that changes in climate will have on the world's populations. Because climate has been recognized to be the most serious for the economically challenged peoples it follows that decreasing food availability, decreasing fresh water resources and deterioration of living conditions can but only add to the burdens of those less well off. Regions become politically more unstable the more unstable the weather that they experience. It is a natural consequence. It is within this frame of reference that we embark upon this topic of managing in the face of changing climatic conditions.

In this paper we review the present IPCC Reports, released in 2007, discuss the perilous nature of the current climate situation, and review some of the most recent research findings to support this conclusion. "

The full abstract is available via ORT Forum on Public Policy and from the glimpse above you can easily see that it is well worth the full read.

Note: The Oxford Round Table is a series of interdisciplinary conferences organized and run by an educational organization based in California and at Harris Manchester College in the United Kingdom, which is incorporated as a for-profit corporation in Kentucky,[1] and a not-for-profit corporation in Kentucky,[2] Illinois,[3] and England and Wales.[4] [main LINK]

The full paper title hinted at in the text above is "Clouds in a Warmer Climate: Friend or Foe?"[Pdf] by Sonia Lasher-Trapp. A little gem if I may say so.

For the "too busy executive here is a snip:

"From the most recent, best estimates, clouds
appear to be a “friend” in that they help to cool the earth and offset global warming, but it is yet too early to tell how their assistance may change as the earth‟s climate changes."

Source:
Oxford Round Table Forum on public policy

Forgotten Scientists? -"Should auld acquaintences be forgot and never brought to mind!"

"Should auld acquaintances be forgot

and never brought to mind!"

Here's a cup o'(of) kindness yet

For the "sake o' auld lang syne*""

(For "old time's sake")

Words by R. Burns.

The song is sung pretty near world wide to ring in the New Year.

Rather fitting both for the current "financial" crises, and specifically for my much more eminent colleagues Nobel Prize candidates - "The Nobel Class" most of whom will be forgotten to the general public, sometimes happily for some, sometimes not for others. Age and a rich experience is certainly a great compensation for some members of the "Nobel Class". Also it is only recently about the last ten years or so that breakthroughs in the more applied domains have been acknowledged, by the Nobel Committee, luckily for the general public and the many simply hardworking scientist or scientist turned manager!


This post follows directly and rapidly ("a quickie") following my previous post, yesterday here in "Conversations" cf. also my post this morning in my blog: "The Materials Chemists" on the "Human-Angle" in this years Nobel Prize 2008.

Thanks to internet and the press releases of the major Organisations, R&D Insitutes and Universities etc. I have been able to find the link to the French side in the isolation of HIV (V for virus) taken as an example in my previous post.

Without further ado here is the link in english to Institut Pasteur's role in this progress -LINK.

The important decision to tackle the problem in France dates from around 1982

Willy Rozenbaum, French clinician working at Hôpital Bichat at the time & Prof & Research Director Jean-Claude Chermann have been recently brought to the fore.

I hasten to add that, far from a specialist in these fields: medicine, biochemistry... I must refrain from further comment on the scientific approach. From a human stand point dare I say it, I refrained from donating blood for at least five years from 1986 to 1993.

Of course there are a number of famous cases of scientist being passed by which were certainly in the back-of-my mind (sub-conscience) I have a name on the tip of my tongue but ...

Let's not join the Financial Community and lose sight of realiy.

Cheers & keep fit & healthy.

NOBEL PRIZE AWARDS -2008 The Father of Invention - Mother of Great Innovation -A sure source for Discussion and Disagreement

No member of the scientific community nor blog on Science based Innovation can ignore the work done by the Nobel Prize Organization. This week and next will see the 2008 Nobel Prize winners. I have included for your keen attention the Nobel Prize Widget to keep us all informed. Feel free to "Innovated by sticking it on your blog or website.

"This-Above-All"
Now why, oh why, you may ask, have I brought up the "Conversation item in the title "A sure source for Discussion and Disagreement". Yes of course it is the title of my Blog and an underlying theme "across the board. More importantly, regular followers of science and scientific news, invention, innovation will have many ideas as to what this may be. For the less involved, including myself, I can easily imagine that there is substantial lobbying, battles in communication, and all manner of strategies and tactics involved, and projects which would benefit greatly from the renown of this most prestigious award (sorry for we contenders in "The Best or Worst Blog Awards contest!)...


More important in my opinion is the fact that so many scientists involved are "Nobel Class" and I wish to propose that the "Class" too should be given the just acknowledgement as it is neither possible nor desirable that "The Olympic Gold Medal in Science - The Nobel Prize" be given to "The Whole Class."



As a pointer or tag: let me just mention a great research start for a budding journalist could be the award of the 2008 Prize for Medicine. Do not get me wrong this is in no way "Bashing the French" with my superior english or something. Quite the contrary, just before writing this I was watching the excellent french daily medical magazine on the French-German joint TV Arte. An illuminating behind the scenes portrait of the role of about 5 professors and researchers associated with the prestigious Institut Pasteur played leading roles. Two are 2008 award winners. The project initiator in France Prof. Rosenbaum, presented his inside knowledge and the fact that his focus on preventive medicine and open communication, in the form of a Newsletter from an Atlanta Medical Institute brought immunodeficiency disease cases in US to his attention. He addressed The Institute Pasteur with the result we know today. The decision appears as I understand him to have been given to one leading but lesser known researcher, the youngster Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (b.1947) at Pasteur and the extremely well known Prof Montagnier(b. 1932), forced into retirement at 65y, a few years ago, now heading projects in USA. Prof. Rosenbaum paid great tribute also to the excellence of their US colleagues, with an enigmatic expression "perhaps too good."? And again "Pasteur's communication - [communication policy may be the new research winners "drug." -JA]

Now you see too that such a slant completely ignores that half of the Prize went to Harald zur Hausen (b. 1936), of the German Cancer Research Centre Heidelberg, Germany "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"

However the incredible human side of this very high level science remains to be told.

I posted a piece on the search for neutrinos - "The materials science of materials science" Link to my post and poem on Neutrinos in which I mention Clyde Lorrain Cowan, Chemist, WWII-Hero, and Nobel prize winner in Physics whose family encountered difficulty in having their father recognised also as a War Hero highly deserving a place of honour in the US Military Grave Yard in Arlington, Virginia. - now acknowledged.

To support this request for more on the "human angle" I would be pleased to have your comments and information, web links on such subjects. As a metallurgist and materials scienctist physics and chemistry will naturally be my prefered research areas.

Thanks in advance.

ref: Nobel Prize Organisation

Recession and The Environment II – Climate Change: Root Causes and Solutions

Confidential.

Here you will find further elements to support the daring- almost presumptuous hypothesis advanced in my previous post "Recession and The Environment I. "

Many of you may have been surprised, as I was myself, (confidentially) by the extent of my uncharacteristic daring leading to the first analysis and opinion, as to the root causes and solutions to the the top "Re-current Affairs" issue of the day: "Economic & Financial Recession" cf. Title above.

Well rather than back-off, I'm sure you will be pleased to read further evidence in support of my previous hypothesis. The urge to further research the issue came rapidly. Evidence came equally rapidly. A couple of Google searches and my experience of good sources turned up a comment on "Recession, Energy <=>Environment, Finite Resources, Climate Change

Contributor whose "alias?" is "MARKANASH" posted this comment 24 Sep 2008, on the Idle Scrawl Paul Mason's blog. Paul is a much travelled Economist and BBC reporter.

Quote:
"You're totally missing one fundamental point. Our present way of life is predicated on using tomorrow's money to pay for what we want today (debt). This in turn relies on endless economic growth. Economic growth on the scale to which we have become accustomed is based almost entirely on cheap energy - stacked and stored in the earth for millions of years and now having been gorged by humans for the past 100 years. The era of cheap energy ends about now; our Energy Return on Energy Invested will drop precipitously in the coming decade or two. No amount of fancy, debt-fuelled financial products, derivatives and systems will operate without reliable (ie cheap energy based) economic growth. The rates of economic growth we've experienced in our lifetimes are about to cease (or at least fall dramatically) as we figure out how to live within our energy means. So, forget trying to put back into its shell the scrambled egg that is now the Anglo-US financial system. Start figuring out how to live without cheap energy and, so, without unsustainable economic growth. I don't have the answers, but I do know that the transition from us relying on cheap (borrowed) energy to a lifestyle based on the sustainable use of real-time energy is going to be painful. Bankers and financiers have yet to see the problem, let alone figure out solutions. "


My rapid search turned-up complimentary evidence in support of MARKANASH's blunt opinion on bankers and financiers:

There is a very commonly held view and justifiable public outcry on executive remuneration packages-here "Top B's" B short for merchant bankers - and their followers. This is put forward by many as a leading root cause of the present predicament. Here I contend that this fits the "irresponsibility theme" under pinning Pacala's heart felt analyis and disgust, which I share to a large extent and amplify, need I add. (cf. my previous post).

One of my "hero's-mentors", here in France, is Jean Francois Kahn, JFK to the intimates, we have met a couple of times - no kidding. JFK, as he has done for several years now, again lashes out at the irresponsible discrepancy between Top Dog remuneration packages and results, and also to their collective disconnection or memory loss from common reality.
JFK has a very imagery way of situating the levels of such packages. He compares the the top Dog Salaries & remuneration packages to the number of centuries the common worker on minimum wage would need to work. Yes it runs into centuries! From memory this tallies up to something like from the 6th century to the present day (15 centuries)!!!

In the current case he considers that Bankers morality - professional ethics (responsibility) is strongly questionable and a major contributing factor to the current financial crisis and recession. He remarks that the president of Lehmans Bros helped himself to 23M$ salary or package last year while in the same year he recommended that the US admin. refuse a 5M$ budget to help under-privileged - the dirt poor US citizens. This is just one example of many. Kahn calling "a spade a spade" frankly considers this behaviour to be totally immoral, and who can disagree? I wonder how much fresh cash this approach may generate?

Here rests the case for the prosecution!

Source: Paul Mason's blog post "We are not doomed: Discuss" which started the debate among his contributors, eg. "markanash" quoted above amoung others. Paul supplies links to short summaries of underlying economic theory. It's a quick read & well worth a squint which is all the reading necessary - He defends the system concluding: "In short I propose what could come out of this is a highly regulated and more stable info-capitalism." Wonder why it did not come before? Then my experience comes from ... partly through Aeronautic & Nuclear Materials Quality Control, Assurance Standards & Stringent Clients Requirements - no kidding there, at least in the West. No wonder students flee the exigence of science and engineering!

Recession and The Environment I – Climate Change -Root Causes and Solutions

THE AIM of this post:

I propose to develop the hypothesis that lack of vigour to combat climate change, especially by world leading US administration, is one root cause, if not the main root cause for the current economic-financial recession. I base this on the stabilising wedge methodology proposed by Pacala & Socolow and specifically in the excellent interview given by Pacala to IOP – Environmental Research. (If you have any comments on where the European Union stands in this I'd be more than pleased to hear)

Introduction-Summary.

I can’t do a better summary of the IOP* – Pacala** interview than that of Liz Kalaugher, editor of the relative new IOP environmentalresearchweb.(start 2007)
[ *IOP is the highly respected, Institute of Physics UK – **Pacala is with R. Socolow, the inventors of the Wedge Methodology-Tool to combate climate change by innovation from existing technology [Link] both are professors at Princeton Uni., He describes this himself in the interview as “The wedges paper, was never really intended as a practical scheme for deploying technology but rather as a way to get people to think about the problem so that those who were stalling with obfuscatory language would have to stop."] – [Mores the pity, One step forward two steps back? – JA.]

To Quote Liz: “Back in 2004, Stephen Pacala and Rob Socolow of Princeton University, US, came up with the concept of "stabilization wedges", a way of mixing and matching currently available technologies to cut carbon emissions by the amount needed to stabilize the climate. The paper was a reaction to what Pacala and Socolow saw as strategy to stall action on global warming by the Bush administration by claiming that the world lacked the technology to tackle it. While any one of today’s technologies alone is unable to meet the challenge, the pair showed that a portfolio of such solutions would be up to the job.”

Pacala describes how emissions and the planet have changed since publication of the wedges paper, the potential effects of a recession, how easy it might be to invent-[Innovate may be a better term] our way out of the problem, and his new work on calculating fair national emissions caps by assigning individual carbon allowances. (rationing-ration cards for carbon footprints –WWII wartime – post wartime technique-JA)

Four aggravating main developments since the fourth IPCC Report 2007-International Panel on Climate Change .

1. The first change since the IPCC report has to do with emissions growing too quickly.
2-3. the second and third have to do with carbon sinks being weaker than they were before.
4. Even if carbon sinks had not weaken, Ice sheet dynamics impose a tightening of the original 50y target. Now we need to reach a much more stringent one nearer 30y than we thought it was"
“There’s no good news in the mix and there’s plenty of bad news but the jury’s still out, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Pacala & Socolow’s motives:

-Stop the Bush Admin from stalling.
-Stop ‘the group of scientists that were writing grant proposals masquerading as energy assessments.” - “The call for blue sky research.”
-Stop the “unhealthy collusion between the scientific community" who believed that there was a serious problem and a political movement that didn’t”.
(NB. I seldom use itallics, perfering Straight,Upright characters.)

As a wise experienced scientist Pacala concludes that:
“It would be astonishing if it [CO2 The Wedge Methodology-Tool] weren’t false in many ways, but what we said was accurate at the time (2004 &Today).

Pacala et al - current road-map on Carbon Footprint

A. More on Stalling - the Stallers:

The China –US CO2 slanging match and All stallers put roughly is:

eg. China says “You [USA] already had your economic growth and now it’s our turn” and US points its finger at China and says it’s not fair to expect us to do that unilaterally when you’re the largest emitter in the world now. [cf. P. Senges simplified vicious circle concept using the Cold War Nuclear Arms race -You increase "its worth a bomb" -We increase... = Inflation -worth a bomb(?) fortunately without the big bang-Ultimate Crash, yet! -JA)

Pacala replies: “This rhetoric of fairness that reminds me a little bit of the former rhetoric of technological unreadiness. It’s just a gigantic stalling gambit.”

He provides several strong arguments in support of this :
“Concept of fairness that "they" are actually using here do not appear congruent with the concepts of fairness we use in our everyday lives.”

“Past emissions in the US do not necessarily have anything to do with the people there today, many are relatively new immigrants.”

“You receive the benefits of your western standard of wealth and you distribute the emissions costs to everyone in the world. The same is true of the Chinese person who has your income. It’s not that I have anything against China, but I don’t see why the wealthy in Shanghai ought to get a free ride.” [ Pacala does not mention the relative statistics, but the point is general.]
“Those dollars and the emissions that go with them have exactly the same robber baron roots as the money in your bank account. Money is promiscuous – it travels around the world.”

B. THE FILTHY RICH:
“You receive the benefits of your western standard of wealth and you distribute the emissions costs to everyone in the world.”

Pacala et al. are working, in his own words, on a “fancy-schmancy statistical thing;” effectively an “Analytical Accountancy Method –ie physically based” bottom-up (individual) Emissions Capping System aggregating national caps to international one all based on the individual etc. [ a sort of Rationing system to call a spade a spade].

He only hints at some basics since at the time of the interview 12 May 08 their work had not been published.

“You could have one number for the whole world, reducing it every year. Although I can’t tell you precisely what the answer is because the work is not yet published, I will tell you that it simultaneously passes the laugh test and offers sensible”.

“One hint is that the climate problem turns out to be almost entirely a problem of the wealthy – 50% of emissions are caused by the top 700 million emitters. And a substantial fraction of those people – on the order of a fifth – actually live in developing countries.”

"It’s got a nice little [read nasty?] feedback loop in it, if you grow faster economically and you have a whole bunch of rich people then your target comes down faster. If you grow slower and your people stay poor then you never hit the cap."

[It’s well known that the wrong way forward is to have a Russian style economic and industrial collapse thereby reducing emissions drastically – The "wise-cracks” call this “Schumpeter"[Link1] destructive creation-innovation process[Link2] or something ” – (you can’t go down any further so, if you live through it, the only way is up-rebuild. Not sure if that's what Pacala mean't. There are well-off-rich & stinking rich, & same on the poor man scale. I must re-read him - JA]

“I’ve got money now and I’m the one that’s spending it. I’m getting all the pleasure but I’m distributing all the pain” says Pacala. [Sounds about right, and I would suggest to the chaps in Princeton, if their jobs are not on the line, that they would do well to start not at the bottom but near the National leadership level to be credible all down the line – battle of the comms-(communication) aside! If their jobs are at risk it's time to call on me, confidentially.

See what I mean: Pacala quotes “If the US will just get out in front and act unilaterally, it seems to me that’s a major missing element that would cause everyone else who’s missing their Kyoto targets to buck up and start to deliver on their own commitments.”

My proposed conclusion

But US did not sign Kyoto, and push it forward - as in the famous SALT treaties on nuclear arms of which I am no expert-, and this has sent all the wrong messages. It could plausibly be argued that this is the root cause of the current financial crash and recession-JA.

Solution-
cf. Pacala approach above and their abundant freely available online work.

Let me add: I urge you the source and comment -naturally praise is preferable, abuse tolerated, but Above-All all, information is necessary and will be shared unless otherwise requested. Fee free - Tighter emissions rationing is on the agenda and economic resession will not be tollerated - work that one out.

Source: Link

NB. As the fastest evolving current "Affairs" theme I have carried out a little more research and will share this with you in my next post.

Best Creative Errors - Can be Great Conversation Starters - One from Wired Science on "Dutch Flood Control Strategy"

This post is a direct result of my research to come to grips with the previous one - R.J. Barendse on the Dutch excellence on landscaping, land reclamation and flood control gained from the often wild North Sea over at least the last 500 years, at least until now.
[Direct Link to my RJB. Brad Delong previous post]

Pity I forgot the key words used on my google search but I dug-up a summary of one of the Dutch Plans to construct an off-shore barrier, an island in the form of a tulip, complete with super satellite images. The linking what the Dutch are likely to do on their home shores with much criticised apparently exaggeratedly luxurious plans such as those of Dubai and the UAE's sand bank islands known the Flat Counties record is to say the least "hazardous". (even if their is credible possibility of an " Armada" of Dutch designers and contractors on the UAE projects - Nothing like getting exercise and experience..! Pure supposition.) [cf also posted comments -Source I].
It has come back to me - I was looking for a reference to the enormous annual budgets the Netherlands will invest to allay predictions (near certitudes) of disastrous effects of climate change on the "Flat Countries" 2nd only to Bangladesh, I am led to believe. cf Source I below)

Well "Wired Sciences post" sparked an incredible list of comments, mostly critical and in down right disagreement at least equal in weight to those of my previous post. The comments are short and well worth a reading, many provide links in support of their facts and opinions. Great Stuff.

Let me conclude with supporting a "call" a possible new "conversation starter" to use Harvard Universities Eminent Professorial Blogs by quoting two posts from Wired Sci.

"Funny this article goes beyond the environmental issue of disappearing coastline and the dutch isles due to rising sea-levels.The location where the tulip is placed, is where the highest sea and river-mouth currents flow. It has been a plan for decennial to make an artificial island right there on that location. Shaping it into a tulip or a clog wouldn't be too bad whilst space-tourism is booming!Get your data right dudes, and read newspapers that have more foreign (worldly) news! Posted by: HO Winkelaar Dec 21, 2007 2:48:39 PM (cf. Wired ref below) and even more succinctly even if a bit large as the :
TOP 100 - The hottest competition online!
Posted by: gamblert Dec 21, 2007 5:14:49 PM "

May I add, that at a very rough guess, this competition is "awefully" near top position!


Source I : Wired Science post by By Alexis Madrigal.

Highly recommendable for the Satellite Photo of Dutch Coastline and Inscribed Future Landscape Design and even more so for the number and quality of comments generated together with commentators supported evidence, via their many links.

One Contributor even remarked caustically that:

"NB. This isn't even news, we (the Dutch) have had plans like this and executed then since 500BC."

Source II comment by
Posted by: Martijn ten Napel Dec 23, 2007 3:13:48 AM cf. Wired for all comments




First Class Sources on this "Millennium Class Approach are:

Flood Control in the Netherlands from Wikipedia.

And my favourite the excellent highly professional description of

the Dutch Approach - LINK to flood control and landscaping,

and a survey of Dams and Leeves

All Posted by: Gerard Dec 22, 2007 6:00:34 AM on Wired Science
Whose very mild closing comment "I'm sure that engineering a tulip shaped island is a better idea then having flood defences that are made out of thin foil" left me in the dark. Could he be referring to The US Flood Defenses? Thank you Gerard et al.

Guns, gems and steel: The Fate(s) of Human Societies

This is a link to post today on my "This-Above-All" blogsite. From an overview deductions from World History on the Fates of Human Societies, I choose to bring to the fore some reflections on Dutch past history from medieval time till the present day in their fight to master landscaping for agriculture and flood-fighting due to R.J. Barendse.

The above slightly modified title comes from a the book by J. Diamond "Guns grains and steel: The Fate of Human Society" and from it's review by the Economist and Academic, Brad Delong which in turn led to lively comments around 1999-2000, when the book was reviewed.

[LINK].

Coal Burning_Past Records from Arctic Archive_"Coal burning leaves toxic heavy metal legacy in the Arctic"More evidence militates for Zero Emissions

PNAS, Publications of the National Academy of Science, USA, have launched a new Interdisciplinary Initiative by means of their Journal calling for papers under the title: "Sustainability Science."

By some lucky co-incidence, the first Sustainability Science article, upon which I stumbled is entitled "Coal burning leaves toxic heavy metal legacy in the Arctic" and follows, fittingly my preceding link to my earlier poem "Open Cast Coal Mine" written as a contribution and despite apparent criticism, in support of a local coal mining and coal fired power project here in our region of France. My poem precedes this PNAS scientific evidence in calling for a Zero Emission approach.

"Coal burning leaves toxic heavy metal legacy in the Arctic" was written and edited by the following scientists:

Joseph R. McConnell* and Ross Edwards +Author Affiliations Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, NV 89512Edited by François Morel, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and accepted by the Editorial Board June 12, 2008 (received for review April 11, 2008)

PNAS in launching their call for papers to help materialise their-our "Sustainability Science" projects"may hopefully lead US government and major mining and energy companies to take a stronger stance on Zero Emission Coal Burning and Coal Fired Power Generation. This is the least one may expect from this most experienced World leader still a huge coal fired power generator. The developing world is watching!

The authors Abstract is given below:

Toxic heavy metals emitted by industrial activities in the mid-latitudes are transported through the atmosphere and deposited in the polar regions; bio-concentration and bio-magnification in the food chain mean that even low levels of atmospheric deposition may threaten human health and Arctic ecosystems. Little is known about sources and long-term trends of most heavy metals before ≈1980, when modern measurements began, although heavy-metal pollution in the Arctic was widespread during recent decades. Lacking detailed, long-term measurements until now, ecologists, health researchers, and policy makers generally have assumed that contamination was highest during the 1960s and 1970s peak of industrial activity in North America and Europe. We present continuous 1772–2003 monthly and annually averaged deposition records for highly toxic thallium, cadmium, and lead from a Greenland ice core showing that atmospheric deposition was much higher than expected in the early 20th century, with tenfold increases from pre-industrial levels by the early 1900s that were two to five times higher than during recent decades. Tracer measurements indicate that coal burning in North America and Europe was the likely source of these metals in the Arctic after 1860. Although these results show that heavy-metal pollution in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic is substantially lower today than a century ago, contamination of other sectors may be increasing because of the rapid coal-driven growth of Asian economies.

No_Holds_Bard: OPEN-SKY COAL MINE - Poem with Comments#links#links#links#links#links

No_Holds_Bard: OPEN-SKY COAL MINE - Poem with Comments#links#links#links#links#links

Maintenance underway - appologies for any inconvenience

Maintenance underway - my sincere apologies for any inconvenience encountered.
Please feel free to come back later.

"Companies Underestimate Climate Related Risks"; according to KPMG-Sustainability, NL. "the Front-line, Dutch Wing" of KPMG.

What's all the fuss about!

THE DRAUGHT & FAMINE MAP- (Provisional)

RISK HOT-SPOT MAP
Why Bother?






Policy Matters

• Warning also given that all sectors under-estimate the full extent of climate change risk.
• Six major industry sectors are in particular danger from climate change risks, claims professional services organization KPMG today.

Aviation, health-care, tourism, transport, oil and gas and the financial services sector all feature in the “danger zone” in a report on climate change risks from KPMG* – meaning that they score highly on the risks which face them yet score poorly in terms of their preparedness to face these risks. Financial institutions are particularly exposed to climate risks through their investment portfolios and through the risk to reputation as consumer awareness grows. LINK

Types of Risk Reported: Regulatory, Physical, Reputation and Litigation







One of the famous Big 5 Company Accounts Auditors KPMG needs no introduction to the Business & Financial world. I for one was unaware of the details of their work and approach to Sustainable Development confirming my quite accurate diminutive "SusDev." This work may be less familiar to Environmentalists and Ecologists...

If readers require further references to the KPMG - Accountants & Consultancy Group, I have provided a couple of links below
KPMG won Five Best Company Awards in 2008

Full Report on Climate Change in Your Business


Full Report PDF Link

KPMG nl_ Full Sustainability report & Full Thumbs



My original reference to this "Business Interest" in Sustainability is due the the French Business Paper
Les Echos, 28th May 2008. "Entreprises et Marches" P19.

Innovative Discussion on Engineering Fresh Clean Water by Whisson of Subiaco-Australia in the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues

David Bradley has once again brought us an excellent "Millennium Project Issue" but "only" No.5 on the National Academy for Science, Engineering Grand Challenges for the 21st Century namely to "provide access to clean water" - "The Life Saver of Life Savers" No Clean Water, no food, no healthy food. No Drinking Water - no... brain,(80% water, roughly) no R&D remember!

David's article entitled, "Water Water Everywhere" a title coined from the Samuel Taylor Coleridge's' poem "The Ancient Mariner" ("and not a drop to drink!")- may be found on his highly rated Sciencebase web-log, . This sort of scientific journalism is the sort, I believe, will help drive some of the "Optimistic pessimism [Link] over luxurious hang-ups away from Jeff Sachs & The Dismal Science Assocs. with a little help and strong, solid material equipment and organisational input from his "Hard Science friends."

For those who don't know, Jeff is Director of the The Millennium Project - Home at the Earth Institute at Columbia Univ. NY, USA. - and Economics is widely known as The Dismal Science.

(cf. Previous hopefully constructive criticism with links and comments [Link 1] , [Technical-to-do list: Link 2], Comment for comment [Link 3 ] )

MORE FOCUS:
Focus again on the issue David reports namely that "Fresh, clean water is going to be increasingly in short supply" despite current insufficient efforts (both in direction, quality and amount).

He points-out that "Despite the recent heavy rains across Southern Europe, the building of desalination plants in such regions, and the shipping in of water supplies from elsewhere is likely to increase in coming years, while desertification will maintain its dehydrating crawl and some regions of the developing world will continue to die of thirst in hotter dry season, while squandering the precious harvest of the rainy season."

HOPE - MENACE - OPPORTUNITY ("Men-Ace"?):

In a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues (2008, 8, 224-232), M. Whisson of Subiaco, in Western Australia, discusses two serious alternatives for providing even the most parched lands with unlimited fresh water. Both approaches are reminiscent of ancient, old world technologies, but could provide a modern solution. Whisson explains the problem:

The world water crisis may be more serious than generally appreciated. One reason for this is that the main response has been to increase storage of rain rather than to increase the amount of fresh water. Another is that fossil groundwater has been widely seen as inexhaustible.

David solicits the readers attention to the "Millennium" issue with a very dramatic example involving huge numbers in terms of demography our friends in India.

"Storage and redistribution of rain water, of course requires processing plants while those suffering debilitating and ultimately fatal arsenic poisoning on the Indian sub-continent are all too familiar with the effects of the desiccation of aquifers. " There are similar recent tales involving various countries in the European Union with lessor demographic impact, Roumania comes to mind.

David rhetorically asks

"So, what’s the answer? Solar-powered desalination certainly,

or perhaps the extraction of the hydrate component of abundant desert minerals such as gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate, 20% water by weight)?

THE SCIENCE ref Whisson:

“There are two, and only two, unlimited sources of water: the sea and the air,” says Whisson. The Earth has 1.26 x 10²¹ litres of water, of which 98% is seawater. The surface is acted on by solar radiation, turbulence and wind, which liberates water into the atmosphere ensuring that the lower 1 kilometre of the atmosphere (volume of 5 x 10⁷ cubic kilometres contains 1 x 10¹⁵ kg of water, which turns over with a half life of a few days.

THE HISTORICAL BACK-GROUND:

Harvesting of water from the air on a very small but socially important scale has a long history, as does desalination of seawater but, says Whisson, in the context of current and growing world needs, these approaches will provide nothing but a short delay in the onset of global life-threatening water scarcity. This is especially so, given their small, centralised scaling as industrial units.

THE INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS:

Instead, Whisson suggests two complimentary fresh water collecting systems and argues that they have no ultimate limitations, either because of the availability of water or because of environmental constraints.

The first system is the Water Road, a macro-engineering concept, which produces fresh water from seawater without the energy and processing demands of conventional desalination. It also offers a distributed network system that precludes many of the issues facing an industrial-style desalination plant. This system uses a large surface area to allow a non-fresh water supply to be distilled by solar and wind energy and trapped as fresh clean water.

The distillation would occur during the transfer of seawater inland (essentially given a kick-start by tidal surges) to the area of need, explains Whisson. This seems counter-intuitive, but immediately provides a high surface area, while the slow flow rate through a wide pipeline under a transparent heat-insulating cover means a large surface area of water is exposed to the sun over several days, with wind turbulence on the seawater surface acting like the natural process of transfer of surface water to the air over the open sea. This system of evaporation also avoids the inhibitory effect of water vapour saturation of the evaporating air. The concentrated seawater formed as a byproduct could be used to produce common sea salt at much lower cost and efficiencies than traditional drying pools.

The second system is a Water from Air system that uses a wind turbine to extract moisture from the wind. Whisson points out that at a relative humidity of 60%, a temperature fall from 20 to 5 Celsius would only require 10 grams of water per cubic metre of air. However, once it is recognised that a wind-driven turbine with an aperture of 10 square metres facing into a moderate breeze of 10 kilometres per hour would acquire 100000 cubic metres of air containing 1000 kg water every hour. Even with an efficiency of just 20% that would be a useful system, especially given that thousands of turbines could be installed in dry regions.

The two systems are seen as complementary,” explains Whisson, the Water Road providing water to large arid geographic areas, such as Western Australia, and the Water From Air units providing dispersed multiple water collection from the air wherever it is needed, whether on high industrial buildings, farm buildings, coastal cliff-tops, remote sand hills or small isolated communities.

THE JOBS: (TD - To Do) Input from all concerned wholeheartedly encouraged.

DRUM UP ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL INTEREST IN THESE PROJECTS: as above, Echo

DIRECTLY CONCERNED GOVERNMENTS - PROJECT PLANNING

COMPANIES INVOLVED:

JOBS...

The Millennium Project - Home

Linkedin - CSE - Customised Search Engine Trial on this Blog

CSE-Trial [LINK-html] & Hypertext enhanced Materials Science paper.

Jobs - Calling all Innovative Concerned Scientists, Technologists and Engineers - Appel aux candidats- from your partners.

Put Simply: "I am Calling You... can you hear me now"*, especially the chaps in the Agropolis - Centres of Excellence (?) of my neighbours VITAGORA Dijon (East Burgundy), Bordeaux (Aquitaine) and Montpellier (Herault) [France] and last but not least my old school classmates who chose "Food-Science at Strathclyde Uni. in Glasgow [Scotland]. You are all warmly invited to chip in on the recently posted Innocentive challenge call; "for a healthy indigestible perfume"-(anti-oxidant?), among many others - all disciplines cf. links below. Sorry about the pedantic title "healthy indigestible perfume" but there is a "strong sent of contract bound confidentiality" around theses challenges and as in many cases the "Question is 80% of the answer... As your preferred Pan-EU English native speaking associate, I can only elaborate privately and personally. Further there is nothing whatsoever to stop you signing-up without my assistance at the proposers web site * "I am Calling You... can you hear me now" is of course the theme song from the film "Baghdad Cafe." Mea culpa; I have been outrageously ignoring my credo which led me to so focus my first web-log on Innovation. I have a couple of opportunities to improve and make no bones about cutting & pasting my fruit-full Google search using my longstanding partner "Innocentive" as the unique key word. (On the same Google search page I took note of the following link, NineSigma which is, I am ashamed to say, new to me! I have just signed-up today to NineSigma, hope to be of assistance to all "Innovative, Concerned Scientists, Technologists and Engineers - Scientifiques - Techniciens - Ingenieurs - Responsible. Both on NineSigma and Innocentive Open Marketplaces... NB. There is nothing whatsoever to stop you signing-up at either or both of these Initiatives either individually or as an autonomous group of solvers. I wholeheartedly approve of all initiatives to "solve the enormous Global (Millennium) challenges facing us as Concerned Scientists, Technologists, Engineers & Managers. Google Search Sponsored Link Requests For Proposals We Connect Scientists And Inventors w/ Top Companies Seeking Innovation NineSigma, InnoCentive . InnoCentive is an open innovation community of smart, creative people who provide solutions to tough problems in business, science, product development, ... www.innocentive.com/ - 12k - Cached - Similar pages Solvers Seekers Business and Entrepreneurship About Us Open Innovation Marketplace Engineering and Design Life Sciences Chemistry More results from innocentive.com » InnoCentive - Open Innovation Marketplace Welcome to the InnoCentive Open Innovation Marketplace™! 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But, launching Innocentive was ... zero.newassignment.net/filed/innocentive_crowdsourcing_diversity - 50k - Cached - Similar pages InnoCentive Inc.: Private Company Information - BusinessWeek Get InnoCentive Inc. company research & investing information. Find executive management and the latest company developments. investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=951754 - 46k - Cached - Similar pages InnoCentive REALNEO for all Founded in 2001, InnoCentive connects companies, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations, all hungry for breakthrough innovation, with a global ... www.realneo.us/blog/mcshane/innocentive - 28k - Cached - Similar pages Elixir Pulls IPO, Mascoma Runs With Marathon, InnoCentive Gets an ... Economy provides news and insights for business and technology leaders about Boston-area information technology, biotech, energy, and other sectors of the ... www.xconomy.com> - 34k - Cached - Similar pages