Apple’s data centers now use 100% renewable energy, including solar, wind and geothermal energy — the company no longer powers any of its operations with coal or other fossil fuels. In fact, last December, Apple powered up a 100-acre solar farm adjacent to a North Carolina data center. Using fuel cells made by Bloom Energy Corp., which generates energy from biogases, Apple is able to generate 60% of all the energy it needs to run the data center onsite. Read more about it from Bloomberg, here.
The news can be harrowing these days for environmental advocates working on climate change issues, of which this is obviously a thoroughly tiny aspect. This stuff is important enough, though, that even modest good news and developments should keep making the rounds.
» A big country that’s hard to keep wired: Even before the power outage that turned off the lights off in half of India, the country had power and capacity problems, leading Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to push for $400 billion in capacity improvements over the next five years. Another issue at play? High demand. The way that states pay for electricity in India is that they buy energy a day before, and are penalized if they use more than allotted — and some of the states affected by the power outages had excessive draw downs, which led to the power outages.
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» That’s half the country: Another huge chunk of India’s 1.2 billion people are working without power today after grids in more than a dozen states broke down. ”This is the second day that something like this has happened. I’ve given instructions that whoever overdraws power will be punished,” said Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who is trying to restore essential services such as mass transit.
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» Bigger than the entire U.S. and Canada population, combined: Northern India’s power grid apparently couldn’t handle all the people on it, so down it went early Monday morning. While roughly 60 percent of power has been restored, fans and air conditioners stopped working in 90-degree heat, and the city of New Delhi basically went dark. On the other hand, the annoyance wasn’t one that Indian residents had never experienced before — the country has fairly regular power outages, and backup generators are a way of life for hospitals and businesses.
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But the president had an alternative to drilling - and this is why debating him would be just one of those moments where you could almost sell tickets for charity. The president said we have to be practical, drilling won’t solve it. And then he offered his practical solution. Anyone here remember what it was? Algae.
Newt Gingrich, in his speech after winning his native state of Georgia, attacking President Obama’s energy policies - and arguing once again that he would be the best candidate to go up against Obama in a debate. (via dcdecoder)
One point CNN has made about Gingrich’s Georgia victory speech is that he appeared not to really give heavy shrift to Georgia, and instead focused his energy on broader political issues. What did you think?
I want to make sure that as President, I can disrupt the oil monopoly… we need to use a diversity of products, like natural gas.Jon Huntsman, who also stated support for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline as a means of American energy independence. Natural gas mining has become controversial in recent years, over health and environmental concerns posed by “fracking,” the explosive means by which natural gas is harvested from the earth.
Those little boxes that usher cable signals and digital recording capacity into televisions have become the single largest electricity drain in many American homes, with some typical home entertainment configurations eating more power than a new refrigerator and even some central air-conditioning systems.
That sucks. Perhaps we should unplug them when we’re not using them, since cable companies appear to not want to do that themselves. (Disclosure: We don’t subscribe to cable. We own a Roku instead.)
The best way for ethanol to survive is to stand on its own two feet, without spending something we don’t have to get something we’re going to have anyway.Sen. Tom Coburn • Making an argument against handing out ethanol subsidies — which cut gas prices but also cost the federal government $6 billion per year. An amendment to kill the subsidies passed both the House and Senate. In the case of the Senate, it was a straight-up bipartisan vote: 73-27. And a number of groups — including environmental groups — note that the subsidies are no longer needed because the federal government already requires refineries to mix ethanol and gasoline. However, don’t get too excited, budget hounds: The amendment is tied to an economic development bill that likely will not pass. source (via • follow)
In her last days, my mother occasionally became confused....
”The reporter...
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
One of the perks of being an early employee...
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#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
(via John Ness)
We are producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day. We can easily up that to about 300,000 a day.Libyan rebel spokesman Ali Tarhouni • The rebels have reportedly signed a deal with Qatar under which they’ll export oil to the nearby country. Ahh, oil politics, we’ve missed you. source (via • follow)
Frankly, the toilets don’t work in my house. And I blame you.Sen. Rand Paul • To Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency at the U.S. Department of Energy. Paul was arguing against efficiency standards for toilets and light bulbs at a National Resources Committee hearing. source (via • follow)
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