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This group's mission is to help shape green energy policy and to create and validate viable renewable energy sources.

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This working group is focused on viable green energy policy and technologies.
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admin Albert Gomez Brian Angus ChrisAllen david hastings docpj
JockGill Maeryn Obley mashalshah

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Lac-Megantic Train Blast: PM Harper Visits 'War Zone'

      

One witness said the fireball that followed the derailment was "like an atomic bomb"

bbc.co.uk - July 7, 2013

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the part of Lac-Megantic affected by Saturday's crude oil explosion looks like a "war zone".

At least five people died when runaway wagons packed with crude oil derailed and blew up early on Saturday.

Some 30 buildings had been completely incinerated by fires which engulfed the historic centre, said Mr Harper.

Police are trying to find 40 missing people: a nearby bar was said to have been crowded at the time of the blast.

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Peru Unveils Plan to Use Solar Panels to Provide Electricity to 2 Million People

Latin American Herald Tribune

July 10,2013

 

LIMA – The National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program will benefit more than 2 million people in Peru, Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Merino said.

The program will provide electricity to poor households using solar panels, Merino said.

The first phase of the program will focus on providing solar panels to 500,000 extremely poor households in areas that lack access to the power grid.

Bidding will be opened later for contractors to install the rest of the panels, Merino said.

 

Full article here

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Chapter 4. Food or Fuel? - Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity

earth-policy.org

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity

Chapter 4. Food or Fuel?

by Lester R. Brown

At the time of the Arab oil export embargo in the 1970s, the importing countries were beginning to ask themselves if there were alternatives to oil. In a number of countries, particularly the United States, several in Europe, and Brazil, the idea of growing crops to produce fuel for cars was appealing. The modern biofuels industry was launched. 1

This was the beginning of what would become one of the great tragedies of history.

Chapter 4. Food or Fuel?
http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep/fpepch4

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity
http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep

( ALSO SEE - http://resiliencesystem.org/chapter-5-eroding-soils-darkening-our-future-full-planet-empty-plates-new-geopolitics-food-scarcity )

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A Sustainable Energy Future is Within Our Grasp

 

internationalrivers.org - June 25, 2013
by Susanne Wong and Peter Bosshard

Renewables 2013 - Global Status Report
(178 page .PDF report)

The staggering growth in renewable energy has the potential to fundamentally change the way we generate and use power. Previously dismissed as marginal technologies, renewables have become “increasingly mainstream and competitive with conventional energy sources.” This is the conclusion of a new report on the global status of renewable energies by the REN21 Network.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ABOUT - REN21 - http://www.ren21.net/

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SolePower Shoe Insole Charges Your Phone While You Walk

mashable.com - by Vignesh Ramachandran - June 7, 2013

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Open Data by Default – The New Mantra of G8 Leaders

G8 David Cameron thanked NGOs and other organisations for their lobbying on transparency

submitted by Albert Gomez

ecodesk.com - June 20, 2013

G8 leaders have committed to implementing transparent strategies to report pollution levels and energy consumption through the Open Data Charter, signed by all G8 countries this week.

Environmental protection is one of the key targets cited in the charter that can be achieved through the use of open data. This is arguably the most important climate change-related commitment, as under the environmental umbrella comes natural resource use, extractive industries and conflict minerals, positive governance and budget allocation.

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Could Climate Bonds Become a Major Force in Green Finance?

submitted by Albert Gomez

environmentalleader.com - June 3, 2013

So-called “green” or “climate” bonds, being issued by a number of financial institutions and state governments as a means of generating funding for sustainable development and clean energy technology, are becoming increasingly popular and could become a major new force in the green investment world, according to the Globe-Net.

The World Bank developed the Green Bond concept in 2007/2008 and simplicity is key to its popularity, according to Globe-Net blog post. The World Bank’s green bonds are triple-A rated and can be traded as easily as other “vanilla” investments, offering investors a high rate of liquidity.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Big Oil Gets a Much Needed Reality Check

      

ecowatch.com - May 16, 2013

Launching today in Canada, Europe and the U.S., TarSandsRealityCheck.com presents up to date, accurate facts about Alberta’s tar sands to counter the high-level pro-oil sands lobbying ongoing in Canada, the U.S. and Europe around the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and Europe on the Fuel Quality Directive.

The digital campaign launches the same day Canadian Prime Minister Harper is expected in New York to address the Council of Foreign Relations and promote the tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline. It also comes just days after the Canadian government launched a new website as part of its massive pro-tar sands PR campaign.

For the first time, world renowned economists, scientists and academics, including Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon from the University of Waterloo and Dr. Danny Harvey from the University of Toronto, have come together to present peer-reviewed, easy to understand facts about the tar sands that counter misinformation spread by the oil industry’s glossy PR machine.

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Small in Size, Big on Power: New Microbatteries a Boost for Electronics

The graphic illustrates a high power battery technology from the University of Illinois.  Ions flow between three-dimensional micro-electrodes in a lithium ion battery.  Image - Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

submitted by Albert Gomez

news.illinois.edu - by Liz Ahlberg - April 16, 2013

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery – and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the new microbatteries out-power even the best supercapacitors and could drive new applications in radio communications and compact electronics.

Led by William P. King, the Bliss Professor of mechanical science and engineering, the researchers published their results in the April 16 issue of Nature Communications.

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Norway, Canada, the United States and the Tar Sands

It is crunch time on tar sands. (photo: Greenpeace)

Image: It is crunch time on tar sands. (photo: Greenpeace)

readersupportednews.org - May 11th, 2013 - Dr. James Hansen

Today 36 Norwegian organizations sent an open letter to Prime Minister Stoltenberg expressing opposition to development of Canadian tar sands by Statoil (the Norwegian state is majority shareholder of Statoil). Signatories include not only environmental organizations, but a broad public spectrum, including, appropriately, many youth organizations. It is encouraging that Norwegian youth press their government to stop supporting tar sands development, given the fact that Norway saves much of its oil earnings for future generations and given the fact that Norway is not likely among the nations that will suffer most from climate change.

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