Porous Si Gives Tenfold Increase In Li-Ion Storage

by Keid A

This story, from researchers at Rice University and Lockheed Martin.

Their goal is to increase our ability to store lithium ions in anode material for batteries, by using porous silicon instead of the more usual graphite substrate.

Lithium, the lightest metallic element, has a tremendous potential as a battery component because of its unique physical and chemical properties.

The researchers claim that their new technology stores ten times more lithium ions in the anode as current batteries.

continued at Daily Kos....

EPA v. MTR and USA v. China {eKos Earthship Friday}

by eKos

Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.

Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.

Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.

Tonight's editor is: Hopeful Skeptic with input from LaughingPlanet

All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.ss

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Addressing home affordability through energy efficiency in financing process

by A Siegel

There are a myriad of ways in which the U.S. home mortgage system is weak to even broken. The extent of the housing bubble to the shoddy paperwork (and, in too many cases, outright fraud) in foreclosures are just two minor little examples of the problems we face.

One contributing factor -- to the housing bubble, to foreclosure rates, to wasteful U.S. energy practices, to Americans' heavy carbon footprints -- is the absence of efficiency from the home financing process. The home financing guidance from the heavy-weights (the Fannies) doesn't take efficiency into account for determining mortgage affordability as there is not a serious consideration of the energy cost implications of a home purchase decision and how that can impact affordability.

There are at least two specific elements that the home loan process should consider:

• Location efficiency
• Building energy efficiency

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EPA Recommends Protecting Clean Water by Rejecting Giant WV Coal Mine

by Bruce Nilles

Hot off the presses: EPA just announced it is recommending rejecting the massive Spruce Mine in Logan County, West Virginia, for the simple reason that it can't comply with long-standing clean water protections. EPA Region 3 and Administrator Shawn Garvin recommended that the permit for Spruce be  withdrawn (read the recommendation in our press release).

In short, the proposed mountaintop removal coal mine would release huge amounts of toxic pollution into the state's waterways. That has been illegal across the country and today Lisa Jackson is proposing the same protections for Appalachia.  

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Getting the Most from Crops, in the Field and at the Market

by NourishingthePlanet

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet

In Cameroon, one of the foods that grows best is cassava. But farmers struggle with low yields because of pests and diseases that damage crops, making each harvest much more labor intensive than they are worth. "Farmers are spending more on planting materials and field maintenance to grow cassava and they are unable to make profit from the poor harvests," says Emmanuel Njukwe, Chief of Service for the Crop Improvement and Utilization Unit at The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). "They are fighting an expensive battle against pests and diseases."

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Blog Action Day: Water

by The Opportunity Agenda

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action.

This year's topic: water.

Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us who are subject to preventable disease and even death because of something that many of us take for granted.

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Weekly Mulch: When Will Our Water Be Clean?

by The Media Consortium

by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger

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Why Dick Cheney Sticks to Bottled Water

by Michael Brune

Americans should be able to drink what comes out of their taps without worrying that it will make them sick. So why would anyone insert a loophole into the Safe Drinking Water Act that subverts that basic right?

If you can't guess the answer, a quick history refresher should tip you off.

In 2005, Congress passed an Energy Act that included (thanks to meddling by former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney) an exemption for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from the protections of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. It's called the "Halliburton loophole" and it's a whopper.

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Gulf Watchers Morning Edition - BP Catastrophe AUV #409

by Lorinda Pike

You are in the current BP Catastrophe Morning Edition - AUV #409. ROV #408 is here.

The digest of diaries is here.

Please RECOMMEND THIS DIARY, the motherships have been discontinued.

Bookmark this link to find the latest Gulf Watchers diaries.

Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.

PLEASE visit Pam LaPier's diary to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

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Daily bigjac Poetry Slam

by bigjacbigjacbigjac

Fifty five degrees
here in Wichita.

Rowdy Joe,
my dog,
and I
walked about a mile;
a half mile south,
and back.

The cool air feels great
to both of us.
It makes things smell stronger
to littledog,
as I often call him.
He finds things to smell,
and he wants to linger,
and smell them some more,
more than I am willing to wait.
I am hungry,
when we walk.

Roommate Bob
fixed burritos.
My compliments to the chef.

red orbit dot com

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Whitman's One-Two Punch to Health And Environment

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

Some friends shared their frustration with trying to make sense of the interrelationship of AB 32 (California's climate change law), Proposition 23 (a ballot measure to nix our climate change law), and Proposition 26 (a measure to transform regulatory fees into taxes).  Essentially, the Whitman game plan is to give the sham appearance that she cares about our health, environmental resources and climate change impacts. In reality, she wants to enable corporations to continue to sicken people and damage natural resources while removing a key tool for corporate accountability.

Meg Whitman opposes Proposition 23, the ballot measure to nix our climate change law, and might hope that people won't notice that she also opposes our climate change law. Meg apparently does not want the voters to nix AB 32 because she plans to unilaterally nix our climate law by issuing a moratorium order on her first day as governor. Whitman also supports Prop 26, which would remove a key tool of corporate accountability for external costs of pollution and could be used for climate change impacts.

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