Oil giant plans new platform near feeding ground of critically endangered whale

Sakhalin Energy Investment Company — part owned by Shell — has announced plans to build a major oil platform near crucial feeding habitat of the Western North Pacific gray whale population. Only around 130 whales of the critically endangered Western population exist today, and their primary feeding habitat — off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East — is already besieged by multiple oil and gas exploration and development projects.

The construction and operation of an additional off-shore platform could have numerous negative impacts on the whales, potentially disrupting feeding behaviours and increasing the chance of fatal ship strikes. Also, a third platform heightens the risk of an environmentally catastrophic oil spill in this sensitive habitat.

"Just around 30 female western gray whales of breeding age remain — the population is already on the brink of disappearing forever," said Aleksey Knizhnikov, Oil & Gas Environmental Policy Officer for WWF-Russia. "The loss of even a few breeding females could mean the end for the population."

Gray whales occur on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. However IUCN classes the critically endangered Western population as separate from the Eastern population, as genetic studies indicate that the two populations probably do not mix.

This idea is not well thought out. It's not fair to the whales to have to live in such a high risk situation. They should find another place, more stable and not as populated with endangered species to find oil.

Worlds Largest Solar Plant

A US based company, First Solar Inc. will be joining forces with a Chinese state owned utility company to construct the worlds largest solar power plant. The plant will be built in northern China's inner mongolia region and covers 25 square miles. The solar plant will generate 2GW when it is fully operationalwhich is equivalent to two coal fired plants. When the project is complete, the plant will be able to generate enough power for 3 million homes.

green energy ties with nuclear in the US

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released data stating that nuclear energy and renewable energy both accounted for 11% of the entire power supply in 2010. While nuclear power use is decreasing, renewable energy is steadily increasing. Within the renewable energy statistics biomass and biofuels accounted for 51.95% of renewable energy in the U.S while hydropower accounted for 31.5%, wind was 10.52%, geothermal 4.65%, and solar 1.38%. The only category of renewable energy that is declining is hyropower by 5.2% compared to the same period in 2009. The fastest growing category is wind which increased by 26.7%, next is biomass by 10%, and solar by 2.4%. In comparison nuclear declined by .5%.

http://inhabitat.com/renewable-energy-now-neck-and-neck-with-nuclear-in-the-us/

Tianjin Eco City

Tianjin Eco City is a 30 square kilometer city designed by surbana urban planning group as a model for chinese cities. The city will feature an advanced light rail transit system and will house 350,000 residents whom will be divided into seven different sectors including a lifescape, eco valley, solar scape, urbanscape, windscape, earthscape, and eco corridors. It will contain sustainable features such as solar power, wind power, rainwater recycling, and wastewater treatment. In order to reduce pollution 90% of traffic in the city will be public transportation. The city's completion date is expected to be sometime in 2020.

http://inhabitat.com/tianjin-eco-city-is-a-futuristic-green-landscape-for-350000-residents/

Methane Levels In The Gulf Return To Near Normal Levels

Only a month ago the disatorous BP oil spill in the gulf released tons of methane gas. Now, the gas levels in the ocean have returned to near normal levels. Surprising scientists at the rate they have returned to normal, the scientists immediately investigated what attributed to this sudden drop. The answer, bacteria that respirated the methane gas out of the ocean. Without these bacteria sealife would continue dying in high numbers. It just goes to show how the world has organisms that can adapt to any situation.


www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110106145436.htm

Bahrainian Farmland Being Destroyed

The 692 square kilometer island of Bahrain already has problems with groundwater sources, and the destroying of the farmland belt is not helping the matter. The population of 1,234,596 is still growing and is in need of more residential space so the remaining farmland is being destroyed to make houdsing developments. Only 30 percent of farmland remains in the rapidly growing small country. Water per capita is 154 cubic meters due to the increase in population and soon will be much less than that. Bahrain is in a crisis and with the limited resources the country has there is nothing that the country can do to quench the thirst of its citizens.

www.globalissues.org/news/2011/01/06/8102

One Man's Trash Is Another's Treasuer

A new energy source has been brought up in the media. The energy source, using household sewage to make electricity. The studies show that by extracting the methane and hydrogen from household sewage, the potential energy of the sewage is increased by 20 percent. The U.S. uses a little under two percent of its power to treat 2,500,000,000,000 gallons of wastewater a year. A gallon of sewage has the energy potential to power a 100 watt light bulb for five minutes. If the water treatment plants could use the energy in the wastewater to power the plant, the U.S. will save trillions of kilowatts of electricity per year.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110105121131.htm