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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A Swiss study links iron-rich dust deposited in the oceans with cooler periods during the past 4 million years.
</font><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128245.000-ironrich-dust-fuelled-4-million-years-of-ice-ages.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128245.000-ironrich-dust-fuelled-4-million-years-of-ice-ages.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>A Danish study of driftwood and berms implies that Arctic sea ice levels were 50% lower only 5,000 years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>One implication is that sea ice recovers more easily than we had thought, and that an Arctic tipping point is not imminent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>(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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>ice sheets will halt until we reverse greenhouse gas emissions.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14408930"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14408930</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">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The new energy.gov web site offers abundant information and advice on all aspects of energy production and efficiency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://energy.gov/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://energy.gov/</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">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A report on fusion power sees reason to hope that private development will lead to commercial availability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/08/really-cheap-really-clean-electricity-from-boron??cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-August10-2011"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/08/really-cheap-really-clean-electricity-from-boron??cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-August10-2011</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">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>From 1980-2000 the increase of methane in the atmosphere slowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Nature</i> 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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A combination of the two factors may be responsible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14476389"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14476389</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">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>China, spurred by the new national feed-in tariff, expects to double solar power to 2 gigawatts by year’s end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/13/us-china-solar-idUSTRE77C0AR20110813"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/13/us-china-solar-idUSTRE77C0AR20110813</font></a></p>
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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>Japan is putting their nuclear industry under the control of the Japanese Environment Ministry, their counterpart to the EPA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>(Imagine.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://ecopolitology.org/2011/08/13/japan-puts-nuclear-regulation-in-the-hands-of-environment-ministry/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://ecopolitology.org/2011/08/13/japan-puts-nuclear-regulation-in-the-hands-of-environment-ministry/</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
</font></span></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>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Apparently they have decided to withdraw from their project; the Tata site no longer lists any such auto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Wikipedia article cites difficulties with range and the low engine temperature (see the list of disadvantages in the linked article).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Honda displayed a 1,000 pound concept sports car with a compressed air motor in 2010.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Not due at the dealers anytime soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
</font></font><a href="http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2010/10/22/honda-air-compressed-air-car/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2010/10/22/honda-air-compressed-air-car/</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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