This article is concerning as the humble bee is vital to agriculture.

The rise in the use of chemicals in agriculture, including ‘systemic insecticides’ and those used to coat seeds, is being found to be damaging or toxic to bees. Some can, in combination, be even more potent to pollinators, a phenomenon known as the ‘cocktail effect’

These are among the findings of a new report published today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which has brought together and analyzed the latest science on collapsing bee colonies.

The study, entitled Global Bee Colony Disorders and other Threats to Insect Pollinators, underlines that multiple factors are at work linked with the way humans are rapidly changing the conditions and the ground rules that support life on Earth. It shows humans’ large dependency on ecosystem services even for such vital sectors as food production.

It indicates that bees are early warning indicators of wider impacts on animal and plant life and that measures to boost pollinators could not only improve food security but the fate of many other economically and environmentally-important plants and animals.

To read full article go to :  http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2724&Itemid=2

The next time you find yourself craving a mid-afternoon snack, make some time to think about what your stomach is asking for before you open the fridge door and stare mindlessly at its contents. The food inside isn’t going anywhere and I doubt that anything new will appear in the time it takes you to mentally fix a snack. However, every time you open the refrigerator door, the cold air that keeps your food fresh is running out the door and the warm air from the room is taking its place. This is a problem because now your refrigerator’s compressor is going to work hard to drive all that warm air out and bring the temperature back to normal, elevating not only your monthly energy bills, but also your environmental footprint.

According to Home Energy Magazine, door openings account for 7% of your fridge energy use while the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida says that poor open/close habits (like leaving the fridge door open while you soak your bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats with milk) waste 50 to 120kWh a year. In the long run, 50kWh of energy saved could run your dishwasher 20 times and 100kWh could run your washing machine 50 times, that’s almost a free load of laundry every week for an entire year.

So close the fridge door every time you’re not directly taking something out of it instead of daydreaming with the door open. Remember, it’s not a TV, even if you’re into super foods these days, your vegetables are not ready to entertain you with an improvised musical skit.

What if your laptop no longer needed a converter brick? What if the DC power from your solar panels was converted to AC electricity with virtually no power loss from the conversion? What if the regenerative brakes in electric drive vehicles could put power into the batteries with almost no loss from power conversion? New technology could reduce power conversion losses by an estimated 90 percent.

A company called Transphorm, whose investors include Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins and which was recipient of a significant ARPA-E grant to develop this technology, is poised to introduce their initial product offerings which can significantly improve power conversion. The technology is based on using gallium nitride instead of traditional components to greatly reduce the energy losses in power conversion.

The technology for these new devices is based on developments for the use of gallium nitride for LEDs. In addition to the significant improvement in efficiency, components made in this fashion would also be lighter than conventional converters.

The international BIOFerm provides clean renewable energy solutions by designing and constructing biogas plants to recover energy from organic waste and biomass.  Originally conceived as a way for farmers to recoup losses from excess crops, a BIOFerm biogas plant can serve anyone that creates 6,000 tons of organic waste in a year.  Not just farms.  According to Caroline Chappell of BIOFerm USA, a biogas plant “could be based at a university, a composting facility, a food processor – any producer of organic waste who is looking for alternatives to the landfill.”

To read more go to:     http://www.worldgreen.org/home/wg-feature-articles/5821-rethinking-resources.html

With the threat of rising fuel costs perhaps these scooters are the way of the future.

The Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter, created in collaboration with Intelligent Energy, a UK-based fuel cell company, has become the world’s first fuel cell vehicle that is about to be approved for mass commercialization. The company also said that the scooter and its components will be produced and sold in Europe.

“Suzuki Motor is pleased to announce that the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter has become the world’s first fuel cell vehicle to earn Whole Vehicle Type Approval in the EU,” said Osamu Suzuki, chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor.

The Suzuki Burgman scooter has been unveiled in Europe at a London City Hall event last month. It is equipped with the latest version of Intelligent Energy’s air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell system.

“Our aim is to make eco-friendly fuel cell scooters increasingly common in Europe, in line with the establishment of hydrogen filling stations and other necessary infrastructure,” he added.

A fuel cell-powered scooter looks promising, but how about the hydrogen infrastructure, indispensable for normal operation? Well, in countries like Italy or Germany you’ll be able, also soon, to charge your EV or hydrogen vehicle from roadside points, where the energy will come from solar panels.

The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported to developed countries is worsening water shortages in the developing world, a report says.

The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders. The Engineering the Future alliance of professional engineering bodies says this is unsustainable, given population growth and climate change.

It says countries such as the UK must help poorer nations curb water use.

“We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world,” said Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University and a member of the report’s steering committee. ”If we are to prevent the ‘perfect storm’, urgent action is necessary.” The term perfect storm was used last year by the UK government’s chief scientist, Professor John Beddington, to describe future shortages of energy, food and water.

Forecasts suggest that when the world’s population soars beyond 8billion in 20 years time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50%, with the need for fresh water rising by 30%.

But developing countries are already using significant proportions of their water to grow food and produce goods for consumption in the West, the report says.

“The burgeoning demand from developed countries is putting severe pressure on areas that are already short of water,” said Professor Peter Guthrie, head of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University, who chaired the steering group.

Embedded in a pint of beer, for example, is about 130 pints (74 litres) of water – the total amount needed to grow the ingredients and run all the processes that make the pint of beer.

A cup of coffee embeds about 140 litres (246 pints) of water, a cotton T-shirt about 2,000 litres, and a kilogram of steak 15,000 litres. Using this methodology, UK consumers see only about 3% of the water usage they are responsible for.

The average UK consumer uses about 150 litres per day, the size of a large bath.

Ten times as much is embedded in the British-made goods bought by the average UK consumer; but that represents only about one-third of the total water embedded in all the average consumer’s food and goods, with the remainder coming from imports.

The UK is not unique in this – the same pattern is seen in most developed countries.

Baking Soda is an inexpensive way to boost detergent and bleach performance, soften clothes, clean irons and control suds. It is one of the best things to green your laundry by reducing your dependence on chemicals.

Odors in our laundry are caused by bacteria. They can usually be removed as the detergent molecules break up the bacteria cells. In certain types of water and with some bacteria, the detergent needs a boost to work more effectively.

Baking soda helps to regulate the pH level in the washer water by keeping it from being too acidic or alkaline. By adding 1/2 cup of baking soda to each laundry load, detergents can work more effectively and reduce bacteria.

As a natural mineral, baking soda is less harsh on the environment than synthetic perfumes that mask odors. This also makes it a good choice for those with sensitive skin and allergies.

Once your washing is done use a clothesline rather than the dryer. This saves energy and your laundry will smell fresher.

The development of alternative energy has to go hand in hand with a reinforcement of the electrical grid, otherwise the latter will eventually become so busy and will cap the production to its capacity. Such is the case with Germany’s grid, which is an example of an imbalanced structure of solar and wind energy harvesters on one hand and the outdated grid, on the other.

Following a report from published in the NY Times, we find out the opinion of Oxford University economist Dieter Helm, who stated that “basically, governments have allowed the buildup of wind without thinking through the grid consequences. There are two responses: Stop wasting so much on the rapid development of wind and its questionable economics,

In most cases, the proliferation of alternative energy is done by government subsidies, but these are made without taking into consideration that it’s also necessary to invest in the grid. Up to 100 billion euros ($138 billion) are necessary to upgrade the grid over the next decade.

The projected production capacity, the one that’s been heavily invested in, is not always working at maximum parameters, but when that happens, the companies managing the grid need to put a hold on everything, because there’s too much energy to cope with. For example, when wind blew harder in Germany recently, their usual 5 GW reached 20 GW, and cross-border connection with grids in neighboring countries had to be shut down because they couldn’t handle the spike.

Read more: http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2011/03/03/european-supergrid/#ixzz1FbDvcWkm