[GWSG] Iron again; no Arctic tipping point?; energy.gov; fusion again; methane factors; Chinese solar x2; nukes under EPA; Tata cars

[Tilley, Al]

1.  A Swiss study links iron-rich dust deposited in the oceans with cooler periods during the past 4 million years. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128245.000-ironrich-dust-fuelled-4-million-years-of-ice-ages.html

2.   A Danish study of driftwood and berms implies that Arctic sea ice levels were 50% lower only 5,000 years ago.  One implication is that sea ice recovers more easily than we had thought, and that an Arctic tipping point is not imminent.  (Though it provides no reason to doubt that the current trend of sea ice loss will continue to an ice-free Arctic, or hope that the disintegration of the Greenland  ice sheets will halt until we reverse greenhouse gas emissions.)  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14408930

3.  The new energy.gov web site offers abundant information and advice on all aspects of energy production and efficiency.  http://energy.gov/

4.  A report on fusion power sees reason to hope that private development will lead to commercial availability.   http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/08/really-cheap-really-clean-electricity-from-boron??cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-August10-2011

5.  From 1980-2000 the increase of methane in the atmosphere slowed.  Two Nature articles supply differing reasons: the greater attention to methane capture as it became a more significant fuel (in the form of natural gas, which is mostly methane), and the dampening effect of fertilizers on methane production by microbes in rice fields.  A combination of the two factors may be responsible.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14476389

6.  China, spurred by the new national feed-in tariff, expects to double solar power to 2 gigawatts by year’s end.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/13/us-china-solar-idUSTRE77C0AR20110813

7.  Japan is putting their nuclear industry under the control of the Japanese Environment Ministry, their counterpart to the EPA.  (Imagine.)   http://ecopolitology.org/2011/08/13/japan-puts-nuclear-regulation-in-the-hands-of-environment-ministry/

8.  Cherrill Heaton recalled to me the efforts by the Indian corporation Tata to develop a cheap auto powered by compressed air under a French design.  Apparently they have decided to withdraw from their project; the Tata site no longer lists any such auto.  The Wikipedia article cites difficulties with range and the low engine temperature (see the list of disadvantages in the linked article).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car  Honda displayed a 1,000 pound concept sports car with a compressed air motor in 2010.  Not due at the dealers anytime soon.  http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2010/10/22/honda-air-compressed-air-car/
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