The U.S. military is embracing alternative energy—but not because of climate change. Up to half of the yearly American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan have been incurred guarding fuel convoys, and the Pentagon will no longer tolerate oil's "burden in blood."
The US military comes close to paying anywhere from $14 to up to $400 for a gallon of fuel (not to mention the cost in human lives).
I thought this concept of "microgrid" was worth thinking about.
This is an emerging "standard" in power generation: to shrink down the "grid", with a single point of entry into the "macrogrid". The design was made to be of service to the "macrogrid" (the existing centralized power system), and is wired in a way that allows the centralized power system to see it as one entity.
The article offers thirty-six ways life is getting harder for the Middle Class. This is the sort of thing I think we can start checking on via the 5CR (are these numbers really legit?) while also giving us more on which to base our own insights.
A new book on the future of water use in the 21st century. The interview here covers the basics (water really isn't free, etc). I suspect he's more optimistic about market solutions than reality warrants, but his examples are worth following up on:
Submitted by richardcadler on Fri, 05/06/2011 - 02:16
url:
about:blank
This makes a lot of sense to me, at least for people living in urban areas. Not possible here in the Midwest outside of Chicago, but maybe we'll see some progress toward making it possible over the next couple of decades:
