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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Der Spiegel</i> describes safety concerns at the TVA’s Watts Bar plant (and, by implication, in the US nuclear industry generally).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,775209,00.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,775209,00.html</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Jim Hansen argues strenuously for a carbon fee—and for nuclear power, and for the limited potential of renewable sources—in this personal and informal blog entry, “Baby Lauren and the Kool Aid”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110729_BabyLauren.pdf"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110729_BabyLauren.pdf</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a new and much lower estimate of the human cost of a meltdown.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/science/earth/30radiation.html?_r=1"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/science/earth/30radiation.html?_r=1</font></a></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri"></font></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Solar energy is a bargain now for peak load.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Thanks to Pam Ingram for the link.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
</font></font><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/25/278369/this-looks-like-a-job-for-solar-pv-heat-wave-causes-record-breaking-electricity-demand/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/25/278369/this-looks-like-a-job-for-solar-pv-heat-wave-causes-record-breaking-electricity-demand/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>About a third of additional global warming has been masked in the last decade by aerosols in the upper atmosphere, much of it from coal plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://e360.yale.edu/digest/stratospheric_pollution_is_slowing_global_warming_study_says/3050/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://e360.yale.edu/digest/stratospheric_pollution_is_slowing_global_warming_study_says/3050/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Wind turbines are getting bigger, smaller, and stranger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>One moves in a figure 8 like a bumblebee’s wings and another looks like Sauron’s eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They are also being adapted to locations in new places. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wind-power-sidebar-20110724,0,7458534.story"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wind-power-sidebar-20110724,0,7458534.story</font></a><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>NOAA publishes not only a US drought monitor but an outlook (currently, though the end of October).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Texas and some contiguous states are expected to remain in trouble, while Florida and much of the rest of the Southeast should improve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>An experimental forecast runs through October 2012 (on the “seasonal outlooks” tab).
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/drought_assessment.shtml"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/drought_assessment.shtml</font></a></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font size="3" face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>One tundra fire in the Arctic in 2007 released as much CO2 as the Arctic vegetation sequesters in a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A drier, hotter Arctic may well see more first, creating a new positive feedback.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14306781"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14306781</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>US auto manufacturer’s fleets must average at least 54.5 mpg by 2025.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2097499/obama-announce-fuel-efficiency-standards?WT.rss_f=&WT.rss_a=Obama+to+announce+new+fuel+efficiency+standards"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2097499/obama-announce-fuel-efficiency-standards?WT.rss_f=&WT.rss_a=Obama+to+announce+new+fuel+efficiency+standards</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Gainesville Green allows you to compare the energy use of homes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://gainesville-green.com/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://gainesville-green.com/</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A new study indicates that Greenland’s contribution to sea level rise during interglacial periods of the last 125,000 years was less than had been thought, which implies that the West Antarctic’s contribution was greater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>(We are now approaching the maximum interglacial temperature.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/2087336/sea_level_rise_less_from_greenland_more_from_antarctica_than/index.html?source=r_science"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/2087336/sea_level_rise_less_from_greenland_more_from_antarctica_than/index.html?source=r_science</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font></p>
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