World first for Scottish tidal power

ScottishPower Renewables' £40 million 10MW tidal array development will harness the power of the Sound of Islay and generate enough electricity for over 5,000 homes - over double those on Islay. Amongst other things, the electricity produced will power eight whiskey distilleries!

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New wind farm for the Solent

MORE details about a giant offshore wind farm in the Solent will be given at a meeting at Lymington Community Centre between 2pm and 8pm on Thursday, March 24.

Dutch developers Eneco are holding a public information day for people to hear more about the wind park’s location and the planning process.

(From the Daily Echo)

The total wind power capacity installed [in Europe] by the end of 2010, in a normal wind year, produces 181 TWh of electricity (up from 163 TWh), meeting 5.3% of overall EU electricity consumption (up from 4.8% in 2009).

(From The Global Wind Energy Council)

Half The Sky movement

"Research shows, once you have satisfied your material *needs* there are very few things that elevate your level of happiness. One of those things is contributing to a cause larger than yourself... with our great good fortune, comes great responsibility"

Half The Sky

www.halftheskymovement.org

Half the Sky lays out an agenda for the world's women and three major abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute.

FITE is a global empowerment platform powered by Kiva.org, the nonprofit leader in microfinance, that is designed to foster Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship for women in the developing world.

FITE is a global empowerment platform powered by Kiva.org, the nonprofit leader in microfinance, that is designed to foster Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship for women in the developing world. Our mission is to provide women entrepreneurs access to small loans that will help them start or grow a business; and to help educate the public at large about the benefits of empowering women entrepreneurs so that they “can hold up their half of the sky.”


Sheryl WuDunn‘s book “Half the Sky” investigates the oppression of women globally. Her stories shock. Only when women in developing countries have equal access to education and economic opportunity will we be using all our human resources.  See the video below:

Bison Slaughter Averted

Bison Slaughter Averted (from the Defenders of Wildlife Blog)

Some of the last genetically pure bison in Montana could eventually be restored to the lands they once roamed.

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has decided to take no action in response to the state’s proposal to kill wolves in on Unimak Island

Alaska’s Unimak Wildlife to be Managed by Scientific Understanding of Caribou Decline
(From the Defenders of Wildlife blog)

In the US, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has decided to take no action in response to the state’s proposal to kill wolves in on Unimak Island, a unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Algae converted to butanol; fuel can be used in automobiles

Algae converted to butanol; fuel can be used in automobiles

Thursday, March 3, 2011 - http://bioenergy.checkbiotech.org/

A team of chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas has developed a method for converting common algae into butanol, a renewable fuel that can be used in existing combustible engines. The green technology benefits from and adds greater value to a process being used now to clean and oxygenate U.S. waterways by removing excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer in runoff.

The Fifth element .. an age-old botanical mystery

All flowers are made from four key elements - but new research suggests the daffodil's distinctive trumpet is, in fact, a new fifth element.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12615888

Also, interestingly, the daf also yields a drug, galantamine, that is used to slow Alzheimer's disease:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/8007175.stm

I find it amusing that the term 'herbal medicine' is used in such a derisory way.