What’s so scary about nuclear power plants? - Local / Metro - TheState.com

What’s so scary about nuclear power plants? - Local / Metro - TheState.com WASHINGTON — Nuclear radiation, invisible and insidious, gives us the creeps. Even before the Japanese nuclear crisis, Americans were bombarded with contradictory images and messages that frighten even when they try to reassure. It started with the awesome and deadly mushroom cloud rising from the atomic bomb, which led to fallout shelters and school duck-and-cover drills. The experts tell us to be logical and not to worry, that nuclear power is safer than most technologies we readily accept. But our perception of nuclear issues isn’t about logic. It’s about dread, magnified by arrogance in the nuclear industry, experts in risk and nuclear energy say. Japan Earthquake Nuclear Crisis In this image made off Japan's NTV/NNN Japan television footage, smoke ascends from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant's Unit 3 in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011. The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked Japan's stricken nuclear plant Monday, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and wounding 11 workers. (AP Photo/NTV/NNN Japan) “Whereas science is about analysis, risk resides in most of us as a gut feeling,” said University of Oregon psychology professor and risk expert Paul Slovic. “Radiation really creates very strong feelings of fear— not really fear, I would say more anxiety and unease.” Thirty years ago, before the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Slovic took four groups of people and asked them to rate 30 risks. Two groups — the League of Women Voters and college students — put nuclear power as the biggest risk, ahead of things that are deadlier, such as cars, handguns and cigarettes. Business club members ranked nuclear power as the eighth risk out of 30. Risk experts put it at 20. The only fear that Slovic has seen as comparable in his studies to nuclear power is terrorism. A Pew Research Center poll after the Japanese nuclear crisis found support for increased nuclear power melting down. Last October the American public was evenly split over expanding nuclear power; now it’s 39 percent in favor, 52 percent opposed. “Nuclear radiation carries a very powerful stigma. It has automatic negative associations: cancer, bombs, catastrophes,” said David Ropeik who teaches risk communications at Harvard University. You can’t separate personal feelings from the discussion of actual risks, said Ropeik, author of the book “How Risky Is it, Really?” But Ropeik, who has consulted for the nuclear industry, said those fears aren’t nearly as justified as other public health concerns. He worries that the public will turn to other choices, such as fossil fuels, which are linked to more death and climate change than the nuclear industry is. He cites one government study that says 24,000 Americans die each year from air pollution and another that says fossil fuel power plants are responsible for about one-seventh of that. At the same time, health researchers have not tied any U.S. deaths to 1979’s Three Mile Island accident. United Nations agencies put the death toll from Chernobyl at 4,000 to 9,000, with anti-nuclear groups contending the number is much higher. Since 2000, more than 1,300 American workers have died in coal, oil and natural gas industry accidents, according to federal records. Radiological accidents have killed no one at U.S. nuclear plants during that time, and nuclear power has one of the lowest industrial accident rates in the country, the Nuclear Energy Institute said. Ropeik calls this mismatch between statistics and feelings “a classic example of how public policy gets made — not about the numbers alone, but how we feel about them, and it ends up doing us more harm.” Alan Kolaczkowski, a retired nuclear engineer, faulted his own industry. “Those in the industry believe it is so complex it cannot be explained to the general public, so, as a result, the industry has a trust-me attitude, and that only goes so far.” Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/03/25/1750503/whats-so-scary-about-nuclear-power.html#ixzz1Hdz9xenP

Earth Hour- Will Save Energy

TOMORROW NIGHT, AUSTRALIA will be among the world's first nations to turn off the lights for Earth Hour. Famous national landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Federation Square will be plunged into darkness along with hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses to draw attention to the climate crisis.

The massive challenge of climate change is driven largely by our dependence on fossil fuel energy. The coal, oil and gas the world burns each and every year produces billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Securing a safe climate will require nothing less than an unparalleled restructuring of the global energy system.

With that in mind, many will wonder how switching off the lights for one hour a year helps. Is this approach really the best way to tackle climate change?

We must remember that a quarter of the globe's population is without access to electricity at all, and not because they choose to.

The world is fast approaching a population of nine billion people by 2050, and China and India are rapidly approaching super-power status. Does anyone really want to tell those who have experienced energy poverty that they must now restrict their usage?

Electricity has profited human civilisation beyond measure. When people lack access to electricity they are denied all of the benefits it brings, including - but not limited to - lighting, heating, transport, refrigeration, communication, and information. If such benefits sound like basic human rights, it is because they often are. Even if it were possible to argue that electricity is not essential for accommodating socioeconomic development, it is clearly impossible to prevent people using it at ever-increasing rates.

In any case, energy usage is not to blame for climate change; energy sources are. There would be no need to turn off our lights if they were powered by clean, renewable energy sources. That way we could both celebrate energy and its many rewards and be comfortable in the knowledge that we aren't jeopardising our climate and future generations.

Australia is rich with renewable energy resources. Powering our homes, schools, hospitals and industries entirely with the sun and wind is well within our reach.

Last year, my organisation Beyond Zero Emissions partnered with the University of Melbourne's Energy Research Institute to create the Zero Carbon Australia - Stationary Energy Plan. The Plan outlines a strategy to wean Australia off fossil fuels for good, using commercially available technology to harness the country's bountiful supply of clean energy. Such a strategy would cost households just eight dollars a week for ten years, and ensure a future less at the mercy of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and the adverse impacts of a changing climate.

Many people express concerns that solar and wind power is too variable to rely on for a constant source of energy. This concern is misplaced.

Concentrating solar thermal (CST) power plants operate differently to the solar panels commonly found on neighbourhood rooftops. They consist of thousands of mirrors that reflect sunlight onto a central receiver tower, which stores the sun's heat in tanks of molten salt. These solar power towers with storage can generate electricity for seventeen hours straight, without any sunlight at all. Our modeling shows that this game-changing technology coupled with geographically dispersed wind installations, existing hydro and a small amount of biomass can easily meet the nation's baseload electricity demands.

In contrast to Earth Hour's current focus, the energy future presented in the Zero Carbon Australia plan will not be achieved through simply reducing our electricity use. Of course increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and automobiles is important, but it is renewable energy substitutes for fossil fuels that will ultimately decouple our modern energy-intensive society from carbon emissions.

When we reconsider the problem of climate change as an energy challenge, human civilisation can turn its undivided attention to deploying the renewable energy technologies already at our disposal.

With renewable energy, every hour can be Earth Hour.

Mark Ogge is director of operations for Beyond Zero Emissions

Amazon Links for Earth Hour:
"Earth Hour 2009" Hoodie (dark)

Earth's Final Hour: Are We Really Running Out of Time?

Energy Lessons from Dubai

Dubai Chamber saves Dh5.5m in power costs


Mar. 25, 2011 -- DUBAI -- The Arab World's first green building, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry building, has successfully saved about Dh5.5 million in electricity costs within a period of 10 years. This has been achieved through conservation measures in their head office alone and aims to inspire others to follow the path to a sustainable future this Earth Hour and beyond.

"Earth Hour itself does not really save Dubai Chamber anything as we turn off our lighting and air-conditioning each evening anyway, and have done so for over a decade. This one simple practice has saved us thousands of dirhams in costs each year and reduced our carbon emissions significantly," said Annalies Hodge, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager of Dubai Chamber of Commerce. Air-conditioners and lighting together take up about 80 per cent of electricity consumption, so residents and businesses are advised to reduce their usage whenever possible.

"By simply turning up the temperature by 1 degree C, from say 22 degree C to 23 degree C, they can save up to nine per cent on their electricity bill. Regarding lighting, energy efficient Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs of Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) can reduce energy consumption by around 80 per cent and last much longer, too," she said.

In terms of water, simple tricks like putting a brick in the toilet tank can reduce the flush by a few litres and help save thousands of litres of water each day. Additionally, waste can be reduced by recycling and reusing items. Dubai Chamber is one of the landmarks in the UAE that will take part in the worldwide event and join the rest of the globe in an ongoing battle against climate change. It is known as the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Existing Building in the Arab World and the fourth outside of North America. Its green building programms helped reduce water and energy consumption by approximately 77 per cent and 47 per cent respectively between 1998 and 2008 and that led to significant carbon emission reductions and savings of around Dh7.1 million

"Just like the previous years, this year's Earth Hour will raise more awareness about climate change and encourage people to make small changes in their lives so they can live in a more sustainable manner throughout the year. The Chamber is targeting the business community as it encourages its members to participate in Earth Hour and adopt measures to conserve energy throughout the year as part of their responsible practices and make our communities a better place to live and work in," said Annelies.

farhana@khaleejtimes.com Mar 24, 2011 Khaleej Times

Farhana Chowdhury (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex)

Newstex ID: KRTB-0471-102006006

Nuclear crisis forces Japan to rethink energy needs

Mar. 25, 2011 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Reporting from Tokyo-- The first pitch of Japan's baseball season has been pushed back so that people don't waste gasoline driving to games. When the season does start, most night games will be switched to daytime so as not to squander electricity. There'll be no extra innings.

Tokyo's iconic electronic billboards have been switched off. Trash is piling up in many northern Japanese cities because garbage trucks don't have gasoline. Public buildings go unheated. Factories are closed, in large part because of rolling blackouts and because employees can't drive to work with empty tanks.

This is what happens when a 21st century country runs critically low on energy. The March 11 earthquake and tsunami have thrust much of Japan into an unaccustomed dark age that could drag on for up to a year.

"It is dark enough to be a little scary.... To my generation, it is unthinkable to have a shortage of electricity," said Naoki Takano, a pony-tailed 25-year-old salesman at Tower Records in Tokyo's Shibuya district, in normal times infused by pulsing neon lights.

The store has switched off its elevators and the big screen out front that used to play music videos late into the night, a situation that Takano expects to last until summer.

Japan's energy crisis is taking place on two fronts: The explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear compound and the shutdown of other nuclear plants owned by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (OOTC:TKECY) have reduced the supply of electricity to the capital by nearly 30%.

Nine oil refineries also were damaged, including one in Chiba, near Tokyo, which burned spectacularly on television, creating shortages of gasoline and heating oil. Gasoline lines in the northern part of Honshu, Japan's main island, extend for miles. About 30% of the gas stations in the Tokyo area are closed because they have nothing to sell.

Economists say it is difficult to parse out how much is the result of scarcity and how much comes from hoarding.

"We are close to getting back to the gasoline capacity we had before the earthquake, but we are hearing demand has been two- to threefold the normal volume," said Takashi Kono of the policy planning division in the natural resources and fuel department at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. "With that much demand, of course we're looking at a shortage."

The U.S. military has allocated up to 250,000 gallons each of gasoline and diesel for use in the relief operation.

Energy analysts expect the gasoline crisis to ease in the coming weeks as supply lines reopen and panic buying subsides. The electricity shortage, however, is likely to linger for months and might get worse as the weather warms up and people try to turn on their air conditioners.

Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Tuesday quoted an unnamed senior official of Tokyo Electric, which serves 28 million customers, as saying rolling blackouts could last a year.

Electricity is the talk of the town. Newspaper readers pore over detailed schedules of the rolling blackouts printed on the back pages. Many movie theaters are closed, companies have switched off unnecessary lights and advertising, restricted use of elevators and shortened working hours.

For now, gasoline shortages are disrupting both daily life and relief efforts.

In Akita, a city 280 miles north of Tokyo, the few gas stations that are open have lines extending as long as a mile and limit purchases to four gallons. It would hardly be worth the wait, except that people want gas for emergencies -- for example, if they need to flee radiation from the disabled nuclear plant.

The lack of gasoline for delivery trucks has aggravated shortages of key products, especially milk, bread, batteries, toilet paper and mineral water.

"You can't buy anything, you can't go anywhere, you can't do anything. We're basically hanging out at home," said Megumi Fukatsu, an accounting student in Akita.

Some of those left homeless by the quake and tsunami still have cars but can't use them, while relatives who would otherwise rescue them don't have the gas to reach the coastal areas. Some trying to flee the dangerous spewing nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture weren't able to do so because their gas tanks were empty.

Around Japan, a sympathetic public has been energized to help out earthquake victims with collections of clothing, blankets and food. But there is no way to get the aid to victims.

"Everybody is willing to donate. How we will drive this stuff to the coast, I don't know," said Noriyuki Miyakawa, a 19-year-old from Akita who was stuffing thick, fuzzy sweaters into cartons at a community center.

The electricity shortage will be harder to fix. Nuclear Waste Disposal Crisis

Besides the damage to the nuclear reactors, two thermal power plants were knocked out by the earthquake. And the energy grid in Japan is split in two, a peculiarity that means the energy-starved north cannot borrow from the south.

On the baseball diamond, Japan's Pacific League, which has a team in Sendai near the quake epicenter, has pushed back its season opener until April 12 to allow for rebuilding and energy conservation. The Central League has delayed its opener by four days, until March 29. Both agreed to avoid night games and extra innings.

If there is a silver lining to the crisis, energy analysts say, it will be an awakening in Japan about energy efficiency and conservation.

"It is going to be a different world," said David von Hippel, an energy analyst with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, a think tank. He predicts that the nuclear accident at Fukushima will turn Japanese public opinion against nuclear power and force the nation to look more closely at energy efficiency. "They'd done a very good job at improving efficiency in the first two oil shocks in 1974 and 1979, but since 2000, the curve has been pretty flat."

With energy twice as expensive as in the United States, Japan is a world leader in energy-efficient appliances, but homes here are often poorly insulated and bright lights are kept on late into the night for advertising. "You see these all-night vending machines lit up 24/7," said Von Hippel.

Yoko Ogata, 68, of Akita said that young Japanese will have to take a cue from the generation that remembers the deprivation after World War II.

"The young people take it all for granted. They don't know how to cope with shortages the way that we do," said Ogata.

The scope of the disaster does appear to be motivating the younger generation to take action. Students at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo last week organized a campaign for earlier bedtimes to save electricity.

"Lights out at 9 p.m.!" wrote the students on Mixi, Japan's most popular social networking site. If "I go to bed three hours early, and I did this for a week, that means I would have saved 21 hours -- almost a full day of electricity -- and I can pass that energy on."

barbara.demick@latimes.com Mar 25, 2011 Los Angeles Times


Special correspondent Yuriko Nagano in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Newstex ID: KRTB-1430-102027817

News: US EPA and Budget Cut

Congress' Failure to Pass Spending Bill Creates Chaos in Agencies
Mar 24, 2011 New York Times

EMILY YEHLE of Greenwire

As federal agencies enter their sixth month without Congress approving a long-term spending bill, some employees are digging into their own pockets for everything from a spiral-bound notebook to an airplane ticket.

Last week, Congress passed the fifth continuing resolution (CR) of this fiscal year, cutting about $6 billion from current spending. Lawmakers say a budget is forthcoming, but concern over a possible shutdown is palpable; 54 Republicans in the House voted against their own party's CR, with many claiming the cuts were not deep enough.

At U.S. EPA, employees say the uncertainty has translated to a decline in morale and a preoccupation with the possibility of staff cuts.

"I am seeing a lot of people frustrated with management and the Agency for not giving more information on what, if any, cuts will be coming and which programs will be impacted," said EPA scientist and union representative Edward Gusterin an email. "A lot of people are fearful of being moved to another position, losing their job or not getting the training they need."

EPA officials have cause to be especially on edge. House Republicans have taken aim at the agency, with many hoping to resuscitate a long-term CR that passed the House last month and would cut EPA's budget by $3 billion. The same bill would cut $1 billion from the budget of the Department of Energy, which Republicans have criticized recently for slow stimulus spending and flawed oversight.

Some Republicans also hope to restrict the administration's authority over key environmental issues, making agencies' future missions even more unclear.

Last week, Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Interior Department and EPA funding, said the short-term budget process makes agencies' work "extremely difficult" (E&E Daily, March 14).

"If I were a program manager," Moran said, "I don't know how I would cope with the situation."

Spokesmen from EPA, DOE and Interior declined to comment on how the CR has affected their agencies, currently or in the past. DOE spokeswoman Katinka Podmaniczkysaid in a statement that the department "continues to work with both sides on Capitol Hill to fund the government and keep its vital services and functions operating."

But a 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office provides some insight on how such uncertainty can limit management flexibility and increase employees' workload.

Denise Fantone, a GAO director of strategic issues who worked on the report, said her agency has not studied the current situation. But the report studied data from 1999-2009 to come to some conclusions about the overall effect of continuing resolutions on government operations.

Each agency is affected differently, Fantone said in a recent interview. Regulatory agencies, for example, may collect funding from nongovernment sources and thus feel the effects of a short-term CR less.

But CRs can affect contracts and hiring significantly. Short-term federal budgets can mean short-term agency planning with officials eventually compelled to quickly obligate any remaining funds at the end of a fiscal year. Employees might also have to issue contracts for shorter periods of time, repeating parts of the bidding process under each CR.

Such planning also affects hiring and training, Fantone said.

"Everything gets delayed and pushed back," she said. "You could hire at the end of the year, but that may be out of cycle with training cycle. ... There were certain opportunities that were missed."

EPA employees

John O'Grady, EPA Region 5 president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 238, said EPA has limited travel expenditures to 42 percent of the annual budget, causing employees to miss out on training opportunities.

One employee, he said, told him she would be paying her own way to a free training opportunity because she could not get her travel budget approved in time.

"The impact of this budget mess is that employees either miss out on free training that is of benefit to the government or the employees who need the training have to pay for the travel out of their own pocket in order to get the training," O'Grady said.

"While the training is not immediately mandatory for the employee, it is needed if they employee wants to advance in her profession and be on a level playing field with co-workers who have already received the training."

O'Grady said the CR's effects also have trickled down to mundane supplies. After he was told the agency could not afford to buy an 8.5-by-11-inch spiral notebook for air-enforcement inspections, he bought one himself. A handful of file folders, meanwhile, took more than a month to obtain, he said.

The lack of firm deadlines has also put research projects, regulation implementation and contracted jobs on hold, he said.

But the threat of job loss is what mainly haunts employees, some of whom experienced the government shutdown 15 years ago. Agency officials have been silent on their plans for that possibility, much to employees' chagrin.

"I have been getting questions on if employees can take on another job if they are furloughed, will they still have medical, etc.," Guster said, who is EPA Region 2 president of AFGE 238. "This time could be spent on their program work."

Copyright 2011 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Scotts Contracting House Coat Experience

When I first read about the House Coat Project sponsored by Cosign Projects and the Artist's vision.  I thought this could be the next great innovative Green Building product that could possibly spark the Housing Industry and Create Jobs for American workers.

Of course I wanted to get involved.  So I contacted Ms Leeza Meskin and emailed her the info from the About Me web page which highlights my varied construction experience (which was a perfect match for her needs).

She responded in turn and went over the particulars about the Project and the Community involvement with Special Attention on the Safety of the Crew and House.  I listened to her Artistic Vision and pointed out the Basic Safety Issues with working on a Roof and explained that all the Exhaust Vents should remain un-obstructed ( Heater, Plumbing Stacks, Attic Ventilation, etc) for proper air movement.  I said her project was Do-Able and I'd do my best to assist in bringing her vision to Life.

In my prior Community Projects, the Crews always seemed to be made up of too many Bosses and too few of Workers.  (Leaving me one of the few who are actually working.)

To my complete surprise and amazement was how well Her Crew worked together to overcome any and all the Barriers of this One-Of-A-Kind Project to life.

In the following You Tube Video courtesy of Anya Meksin and Cosign Projects is a film full of the snippets of the complete process.  Note: the Dare Devil on the Roof with me is the Artist Ms Leeza Meskin herself.  (she did receive a crash course on roof safety, ropes, knots and hitches Figure 8, Bow-Line, Square Knot, Half  &  Clove Hitch, Snub Hitch, etc)

• See the House Coat Video Here- You Tube

• St. Louis (KSDK) -- An addition to a house on Arsenal is sure to get attention.  A "House Coat" was added to a two-story row house at 2733 Arsenal Street.

It is a fitted semi-transparent spandex garment with a gold chain pattern designed by Brooklyn artist Leeza Meksin.

The official unveiling was on March 18.

Cosign Projects, based in St. Louis, directed the project.

• (KPLR)—St. Louis, MO

New York based artist Leeza Meksin is in St. Louis to wrap a building in art. She sewed together pieces of spandex sporting shiny chains. The South St. Louis home is on the corner of Iowa and Arsenal. The artist says it's her statement about bondage and extravagance. If the material holds up the exhibit will be up for another month.

Another art teacher from Washington University also helped

In a Future Post I will outline the Installation and Removal Process and supply a few more links to  all those who made it the House Coat Project possible.  Stay Tuned. For the Word Press Readers find Scotts Contracting House Coat Experience Here

Scotty, Scotts Contracting, scottscontracting@gmail.com

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Free Green Denim Insulation

Grant Applications for Free Denim Insulation Being Accepted

Last year, Cotton Incorporated and Bonded Logic Inc. teamed up to launch the Cotton. From Blue to Green.® UltraTouch Denim Insulation Grant Program. Grants are still available and the grant application was recently revised to make it easier for projects to apply.

The grant program helps community projects go green by providing grants of R-13, R-19, R-21and R-30 UltraTouch Denim Insulation. Applications are being accepted through Sept. 30, 2011.

Requests for insulation can be made by filling out the grant application on the www.cottonfrombluetogreen.org website. The request must be made directly by an architect, builder or licensed contractor working on the project or a company with one on staff, and meet the eligibility requirements as outlined on the website.

In 2006, Cotton Incorporated and Bonded Logic partnered for the launch of the Cotton. From Blue to Green.® denim drive program. Donated denim is given new life by converting it to UltraTouch Denim Insulation and provided free to communities in need to assist with building efforts, including Habitat for Humanity and Hurricane Katrina rebuild efforts.

Since the program launched, requests are received daily from groups looking to obtain the insulation for their community building project. The grant program is meant to address the needs of these groups and to help build green communities across America.