Flint water crisis: Michigan officials ignored EPA warnings about toxicity

Flint water crisis: Michigan officials ignored EPA warnings about toxicity

‘We all let the people of Flint down,’ authorities tells Congress in hearing that also highlights flawed water testing practices that persist in other major US cities

The Environmental Protection Agency warned of an unfolding toxic water crisis in Flint but was “met with resistance” by Michigan authorities, a fiery congressional hearing into the city’s public health disaster has heard.

Expert advice was dismissed, prompting Michigan’s government to issue an apology to the people of Flint at the hearing for sidelining people who raised concerns over dangerous levels of lead in in the city’s water.

Congress was also told that flawed water testing practices, now eliminated in Flint, are happening unchecked across the US, risking a much wider…READ MORE.

Solar, Wind, Hydro and Nuclear energy in China

Solar, Wind, Hydro and Nuclear energy in China
China ended 2015 with about 120 GW of wind power, 43 GW of solar, and 320 GW of hydro power.

In 2014, China’s wind power generation capacity reached 114.6 GW, and generated 153.4 TWh of electricity.  20 GW of wind would generate about 27 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity each year.  15 GW of solar would generate about 15 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity each year.  As of October 2015, China plans to install 150 GW of solar power by 2020.

At mid-2015 there were 25 nuclear generating units in commercial operation in China, with total installed capacity at 23.6 GW. China added 6 more nuclear reactors in the latter half of 2015 with 6.1 GW (45-50 TWh) of power. China’s 2015 nuclear reactors operating for a full year should generate about 210-240 TWh.

China become the world’s largest electricity consumer, passing the United States in 2011. In 2014, it generated 5583TWh, 25% more electricity than the US.

China’s electricity consumption reached 465.8 terawatt hours (TWh) in Nov of 2015, up 0.6% compared to the same period last year, according to statistics released by the National Energy Administration.

In the first eleven months of this year, the country consumed…READ MORE

What Are Microbeads And Why Are They Illegal?

As written in an article for Popular Science, Sophie Bushwick, microbeads have become more harm than help.Next time you wash your face, think of the sludge that you’ve just dumped in the rivers and ocean. Not from your skin. From microbeads.

Microbeads are tiny bits of plastic found in exfoliating body washes and facial scrubs. Since their introduction in 1972, they have made their way into more than 100 personal care products sold by companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and L’Oréal.
But there’s mounting evidence that these beads—while great at scraping dead dermis—are equally adept at killing marine life and bringing harmful chemicals into the food chain. Since 2012, when researchers …Read More

Image Source: 5 Gyres / YouTube

Turn Your Smartphone Into A Solar Panel

TURN YOUR SMARTPHONE INTO A SOLAR PANEL

Instead of searching for an outlet to keep your phone alive, what if all you needed was some sunshine? An MIT startup has created a transparent coating that transforms surfaces into solar panels.

The Trick

Typically solar panels soak up photons from the sun’s rays and convert them into electricity. The panels tend to be dark, because the darker a material, the more visible light it absorbs. The idea of transparent panels would usually get dismissed because they don’t, by definition, absorb any visible light—it just passes right through them.

The Tech

Ubiquitous Energy, a spinoff of MIT, has created a coating…READ MORE

Can We Stop The Surge Of Man-Made Earthquakes?

CAN WE STOP THE SURGE OF MAN-MADE EARTHQUAKES?

THERE’S A WHOLE LOT MORE SHAKING GOING ON IN THE MIDWEST LATELY—AND HUMANS ARE CAUSING IT.

Mark Crismon and I were sitting outside his Oklahoma house, looking at the day lilies that lined his pond, when our conversation was interrupted by a distant boom. “Did you feel that?” Crismon asked. “Just be quiet. Sit still.” He’s a lanky 76-year-old, retired from an electronics career, with gray hair combed straight back from his ruddy face. The booms continued, once or twice per minute; I felt them under my skin. “That’s a small earthquake,” he said, seconds before the sound recurred…READ MORE

Fossilized Tropical Forests Found In Arctic

The ice lands we know have not always been that way.  Evidence of that was given by Mary Beth Griggs in an article she wrote for Popular Science.

Svalbard, Norway is known for it’s splendid Arctic scenery, frigid weather and polar bears. But it wasn’t always like this. In a study published recently inGeology, researchers announce the discovery of a fossilized tropical forest in Svalbard.

Chris Berry and other researchers from Cardiff University found tropical tree stumps–the remains of an ancient tropical forest–during field work in the frigid latitudes.

380 million years ago, the continents were in vastly different places. The solid part of the Earth that we live on..Read more

Image Source: Bernt Rostad/Flickr CC by 2.0