Sorry, dear readers, about not being on the blogwaves in the past few days. I plead the press of work and beg your kind indulgence. Here are a couple of quick hitters for now. I do hope to have some heftier posts for you soon.
Biofuels and Food – Here’s a leader (Britspeak for editorial) from yesterday’s “Financial Times” that is hard-hitting and unequivocal: In the face of world food shortages and rapidly escalating prices, “producers should stop wasting food by subsidising biofuels” See Biofuels will not feed the hungry. See also my post below, Are Biofuels A Bummer?, from February 15.
Tech Miracles? – See these two items for fun, and perhaps profit: a compressed-air-powered car and nanotechnology that can provide personal hydrogen electrolyzers for all your needs. First, Tata Motors looks at air-powered vehicle “that would use air as fuel and emit no pollutants in city driving.” Works for me. How about this then from “EETimes”? Nanoparticles could make hydrogen cheaper than gasoline. QuantumSphere‘s “nanoparticle coatings could make hydrogen easy to produce at home from distilled water, and ultimately bring the cost of hydrogen fuel cells in line with that of fossil fuels.” See their succinct, convincing video.
Less Than Meets the Eye – This “Time/CNN” article, U.S. Remains Cool to Warming Pact, sums up the much-ballyhooed announcement the other day by a White House official that: “The U.S. is prepared to enter into binding international obligations to reduce greenhouse gases as part of a global agreement in which all major economies similarly undertake binding international obligations.” But as UNFCC executive secretary, Yvo de Boer, explains here (courtesy of AP), “If it’s a quid pro quo, then it’s a nonstarter.” Let’s also wait to see what the present administration says or does further on the cap-and-trade legislation that is wending its way through Congress.