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Old American Dams Quietly Become a Multibillion-Dollar Threat | Wired Science | Wired.com
Last week, a Siberian hydroelectric dam failed when an explosion rocked the site’s turbine room, killing dozens and taking 6,000 megawatts of electricity offline.
While the tragedy’s ultimate causes are unclear, Russian media has been questioning the state of the aging Soviet-made infrastructure. Dams are getting older in the United States, too. The average age of America’s 80,000 dams is 51 years. More than 2,000 dams near population centers are in need of repair, according to statistics released this month by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
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Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs – A Tale From Dust to Dust | the Watt
If a CFL bulb lasts for longer than 50hrs, then the total life cycle energy consumption of the CFL will be lower than that of an incandescent bulb even though they are more complicated to make.
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BBC NEWS | South Asia | India crusader plans Green party
One of India’s leading environmental crusaders is planning to launch the country’s first Green party.
After his success in forcing old and polluting vehicles off the streets of the eastern city of Calcutta, Subhas Dutta says the time has come to set up a political party to protect the country’s environment.
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Companies’ CO2 cuts fall short of scientific needs: study
The world’s 100 largest companies are failing to meet scientific recommendations on cutting CO2 emissions to contain global warming, a new study released Tuesday warned.
“We are facing a Carbon Chasm,” said the study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent organisation based in London.
“To cut emissions in developed economies by the required 80 percent by 2050, we need to see a minimum annual global reduction rate of 3.9 percent” per year, it said.
“However analysis of reduction targets from the Global 100 companies shows they are currently on track for an annual reduction of just 1.9 percent” per year.
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NASA – NASA Ames Breaks Ground for ‘Greenest’ Federal Building Ever
NASA today held a ceremonial groundbreaking and dedication event for what is expected to become the highest-performing building in the federal government.
The new, environmentally friendly building at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. is being named ‘Sustainability Base’ in honor of the first humans to walk on the surface of another world from their Tranquility Base Apollo 11 lunar landing site 40 years ago. It will serve as a highly efficient collaborative support facility providing workspace for a wide range of NASA’s aeronautics and space exploration missions.
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First iPhone Augmented Reality App Appears Live in App Store
French app development shop PresseLite appears to have the first Augmented Reality (AR) supporting iPhone app live in the iTunes store, though we don’t know how they did it. It’s called Metro Paris Subway, and while the app isn’t new, it released a new version last week that added an AR overlay that displays information about Paris businesses when you look at the city through your iPhone’s camera.
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Visualizing The U.S. Electric Grid : NPR
The U.S. electric grid is a complex network of independently owned and operated power plants and transmission lines. Aging infrastructure, combined with a rise in domestic electricity consumption, has forced experts to critically examine the status and health of the nation’s electrical systems.
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Skin Deep – Confused by Sky-High SPFs? Take a Number – NYTimes.com
A sunscreen’s SPF, or sun protection factor, measures how much the product shields the sun’s shorter-wave ultraviolet B rays, known as UVB radiation, which can cause sunburn. It used to be that SPF topped out at 30. No more. These days, a race is on among sunscreen makers to create the highest SPF that R&D can buy.
If adequately applied, sunscreens with sky-high SPFs offer slightly better protection against lobster-red burns than an SPF 30. But they don’t necessarily offer stellar protection against the more deeply penetrating ultraviolet A radiation, or so-called aging rays.
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The UK police demanded to know the location of the Camp for Climate Action 2009 – this is Climate Camp’s response.
THAT is how to send a message. Calmly, reasonably, with good humour and honesty.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.