Blatant Reality

A new 6m euro project in Scotland called BioMara has been launched to find the best kind of algae to derive biofuels. Compared to a lot of their American counterparts, this project will focus both on single cell algae (microalgae) along with seaweed (macroalgae). Here is what one researcher has to say about the project:

 “We do not know which strains are the most suitable to grow and convert, or the best cultivation conditions at large scales. We will therefore initially focus on creating new knowledge that should raise the efficiency of existing technologies as well as developing novel technologies. BioMara will further investigate process controls, engineering needs, supply chain issues and the social and economic impacts of algal biofuels,” says Stanley.

The European Union gave a Scottish led project roughly $7.5 million to study the feasibility of marine biomas being converted into fuel. This “marine biomas would, of course, include algae.
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More here

I almost forgot the today was in fact the fifth of November and while I was mourning last night’s results, the UK is celebrating Guy Fawkes Night. In honor of this most auspicious of nights, remember this poem:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

 

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Several days ago, I had a post that pointed out an ad campaign basically predicting a horrible future if Republicans were elected this November 4th. The thing about this ad that really got me was that instead of just being a simple “Vote Democrat or Else” ad, its message was “Vote for Obama who will be our savior from this almost certain horrible future.”

Anyways, I was curious to see who did this website since it seemed to be fairly sophisticated and I was surprised to find that the website is linked to a Filip Hammarstrom from Sweden. One can easily find this sort of information out using the free services like Domain Tools “WhoIs Search”.

A simple Google search of his name pops up one of Sweden’s largest production companies, Palladium, which has a Filip Hamarstrom is listed as a “Director & Editor” in the Contact page. This priduction company has done multiple videos for various different companies and organizations including the UN.

Now, could it be chance that the Filip who has registered the site has the same name of the Filip who works at Palladium? Sure, weirder things have happened. But with the professional quality of the videos at The Year 2048, one would think a production company, or at least someone familiar with these sorts of things, was involved. Plus, if you look at the address given from the WhoIs Search and compare it to the address of Palladium, you find that it is just a 15 minute drive.

Why is this all important? Well it just shows that foreign nationals are trying very hard to influence our election. I wasn’t able to find anything that directly associated these ads with the Obama campaign but if anyone else can find a connection, be sure to link to it in the comment section.

Is it just me, or is it weird that Wisconsin’s Governor Jim Doyle signed a “memorandum of understanding” with the UK back in May and now he is forming alliances with Germany in order to fight climate change?

The statement says that both Doyle and German officials agree that climate change and fossil fuel dependence require immediate action. They say low-carbon technology and the reduction of greenhouse gasses must be pursued.

 

Doyle says he looks forward to strengthening Wisconsin and Germany’s combined efforts to confront climate change and energy policies.

 

In May, Doyle signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom on how to better address climate change issues.

Weird.

A little while ago, I wished that all the Environmentalists would emigrate from the US to the UK. Looking back on that statement, I feel I may have been a little too harsh; that is a fate that you shouldn’t wish on any country. Plus it seems that there are some reasonable people left in the UK. Take a look at this opinion piece in The Economist from a University of London Professor:

Your assertion that “global warming is happening faster than expected” exhibits a disturbing degree of cognitive dissonance (“Adapt or die”, September 13th). Since 1998 the world’s average surface temperature has exhibited no warming, according to all the main temperature records. The trend has been a combination of flatlining and cooling, with a marked plunge over the past year; many countries, including Australia, Canada, China and the United States, experienced severe winters.

 

Moreover, recent work demonstrates that the Earth’s temperature may stay roughly the same for at least a further decade through the impact of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. In addition, the next 11-year cycle of solar storms—Solar Cycle 24—is late by more than two years. The sun is currently spotless, conditions that obtained during the “Dalton Minimum”, an especially cold period that lasted several decades starting from 1790 and which was implicated in the rout of Napoleon’s Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812.

 

Finally, one expert, Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, has gone so far as to give warning that the Earth may enter a new “Little Ice Age” for up to 80 years because of decreases in solar activity. The immediate portents thus point in the direction of a cooling period.

Wow, Professor Philip Stott is my hero and you know what the best part of this is? Dr. Stott has a blog dealing with the fallacies of Global Warming! What a great guy.

I don’t know if you saw this but it seems that a jury in Britain has decided that man made global warming is such a threat that is justifies breaking the law.

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

 

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a “lawful excuse” to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of “lawful excuse” under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

 

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain’s green agenda and could encourage further direct action.

 

Kingsnorth was the centre for mass protests by climate camp activists last month. Last year, three protesters managed to paint Gordon Brown’s name on the plant’s chimney. Their handi-work cost £35,000 to remove.

My first response was anger and that thought that this would set a precedence for other acts like this in the future, but then it dawned on me. This happened in Britain which isn’t the United States. That means that for the Greens to get the same kind of treatment, they would have to go to Britain. All this led me to the conclusion that this ruling will lead to a massive exodus of Environmentalists to Britain (and more importantly, out of the United States).

Isn’t this wonderful? This Brits have given us a great gift: giving the Greens an incentive to leave our country (where it is illegal to do this kind of crap).

Thank you Britain, thanks for taking one for the team.

Oh and at the very least, I’m sure this ruling has helped the sign industry by spurring the energy plants into buying this sign.

H/T Drudge

While the world focuses on Iran and tries to block it from gaining nuclear capabilities, many other countries are looking into gaining nuclear power. At least nine central and southeastern European countries either have nuclear reactors or are planning on getting them soon. The reasons states for going nuclear range from reliability to energy independence. You can see the complete list with each county named here.

It looks like the European Union might be rethinking their stance on getting 10% of their fuel from Biofuels by 2010.

Amid worries over food shortages and the destruction of huge tracts of rain forest to grow fuel crops, governments have begun backing away from their earlier enthusiasm for biofuels. The European Union is about to vote on whether to scrap its commitment to source 10 per cent of transport fuel from biofuels by 2010. In the UK, the government is digesting a report from the Renewable Fuels Agency which predicts that current policy will push grain prices in the EU up by 15 per cent, sugar by 7 per cent and oilseed by 50 per cent; the government is now considering amending its own targets. And in global terms, World Bank president Robert Zoellick has urged the G8 leaders to rethink the tariffs, tax breaks and subsidies that are fuelling the growth of biofuel crops.

The only reason I bring this up is because just this past Sunday, I mentioned how the EU’s goal of 10% biofuels has affected other country’s agricultural habits. Take a look (under the “Bad for Biodiversity” section).

Take a look at this and tell me this isn’t the US Government helping subsidize Europe’s self imposed high oil prices.

The scam — as Shadegg and others call it — is known as “splash and dash.” It stems from an existing $1 subsidy for every gallon of biodiesel fuel blended with regular diesel in the United States.

 

Here’s how it works:

 

Biodiesel is produced abroad using South American sugar cane or Asian palm oil and shipped to the United States, where it’s blended with just a “splash” of regular diesel.

 

A typical tanker-load of about 9 million gallons of biodiesel requires just 9,000 gallons of American diesel to make it qualify for the subsidy. But every gallon in the shipment garners a buck. The ship then makes a “dash” for Europe, where its fuel is sold below market rates.

 

That means each tanker-load that makes the dash nets importers about $9 million dollars in tax credits from the IRS. Lawmakers have estimated its cost to Americans at tens — or even hundreds — of millions each year.

 

And while Congress and the National Biodiesel Board say they know the loophole is being exploited — as America is exporting much more biofuel than it’s producing — they’ve been unable to identify the guilty companies.

 

“Ultimately when you dig down it gets to the point that you would have to have access to IRS information,” said Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board. “Taxpayer information is confidential, so we can’t have access to it.”

Luckily, Europe is mad about this too because it is hurting European biofuel producers and they demanding that the US stop this subsidy. Rep. John Shadeg, R-AZ is leading the charge to close this loophole. Hopefully he succeeds because the thought of us subsidizing another countries energy when our prices are outrageously high is completely asinine.