Governments around the world have committed more than $200 billion toward technologies to cut dependence on fossil fuels, which should help keep green development moving despite the global economic crunch, an analyst for Deutsche Bank said on Tuesday.
Governments in the United States, Europe and Asia have also developed more than 250 policies since July last year that support alternative energy such as solar and wind power and climate-change mitigation.
“Stevie Wonder In Performance at the White House: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize” will showcase an evening of celebration with President and Mrs. Obama at the White House in honor of American musician Stevie Wonder’s receipt of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
The concert on Wednesday night featured performances by Wonder himself and Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Martina McBride, Esperanza Spalding, Will.i.am, and the gospel duo Mary Mary. The sixty-minute program will air tonight, Thursday, February 26, at 8 p.m. ET on PBS stations throughout the US.
The program is the first for the Obama administration in a 30-year series of ‘In Performance at the White House’ — broadcasts linking every president since 1978. Each ‘In Performance at the White House’ is produced by WETA, the Public Television station in the nation’s capital, and offers viewers a unique front row seat, right next to the First Family, for the best in music, dance and Broadway theater.
Michelle Obama opened the concert on a personal note telling stories about how Wonder had been a part of her life. “Tonight it is a huge thrill for me as we honor a man whose music and lyrics I fell in love with when I was a little girl. The first album I ever bought was Steve Wonder’s ‘Talking Book.’ I’d go to my grandfather’s, because he’d blast music throughout the house. And that’s where he and I would sit and listen to Stevie’s music together. Songs about life, love, romance, heartache, despair. He would let me listen to these songs over and over and over and over again. Years later, I discovered what Stevie meant when he sang about love. Barack and I chose the song, ‘You and I’ as our wedding song.”
ESFAHAN, Iran – Over the entrance to a synagogue nestled in this ancient city is a banner saying: “Congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution from the Jewish community of Esfahan.”
The reality of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran – its sophistication and culture – than all the inflammatory rhetoric of its leaders.
That may be because I’m a Jew and have seldom been treated with such consistent warmth as in Iran. Or perhaps I was impressed that all the fury over Gaza, trumpeted on posters and Iranian television, never spilled over into insults or violence toward Jews. (Photo: Rabbi shakes hands with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, www.mehrnews.ir)
Thanks to some MIT students, many people living without electricity in developing countries may benefit from a new human-powered washing machine that could save them precious time and hard labor.
The availability of a washing machine could also make a difference for the entire community by cutting down on the water pollution created in open streams and lakes from doing wash by hand.
The pedal-powered machine, built by MIT students and staff mostly from bicycle parts and empty barrels, could also be built locally, and thereby create jobs. The machine was designed to be easy and inexpensive to manufacture, using parts and tools that are readily available almost everywhere in the developing world.
(Photo: Students test the machine with orphans in Ventanilla, Peru, by Gwyndaf Jones)
The “motor” of the machine consists of a bicycle frame, with the chain running forward to a gear at the end of the washer drum’s shaft. The highest gear is the spin cycle, and the lowest gear is the wash cycle.
Under development for almost four years, the new machine — dubbed “bicilavadora,” combining the Spanish words for bicycle and washing machine — got its most rigorous workout last month when a team of MIT students took the latest prototype to an orphanage in the slums called Ventanilla outside Lima, Peru. With 670 resident children, the home generates enough laundry to keep the washer perpetually busy.
Lisa Tacoronte, a junior in mechanical engineering who worked on the project recalled setting up the machine. “Many of the children would watch us work, ask us questions at the same time or try to help us by holding things, or handing us tools while we built it.”
An earlier version of the washing machine, developed by mechanical engineering graduate student Radu Raduta, won first prize in the MIT IDEAS competition in 2005. That resulted in some funding for further development, which led Raduta to improve the design of the machine’s inner drum so that it could be more easily manufactured and transported.
The machine’s outer housing is made from a standard oil drum cut apart and welded back together to make a much shorter barrel, because “a full 55-gallon barrel is more laundry than any human can pedal,” explains Gwyndaf Jones, a D-Lab instructor who worked on the earlier version and who led this year’s Peru field trip. The inner, rotating drum is made from a set of identical plastic pieces bolted together, which can be taken apart and stored flat for easy transportation. That was the key part of Raduta’s design.
“The hardest part to build is the inner drum,” Raduta explains, “because it’s submerged in water, and full of clothing that can have metal buttons, which abrades the inner walls. It has to be stiff enough to keep its shape, but if it’s bare steel it will rust, and paint will peel off.” The key part of his thesis research was figuring out how to make the drum strong enough, cheap enough and easy and inexpensive to ship. His latest version is made from molded plastic panels, and when disassembled it is compact enough to fit in a suitcase — which is how the students took it to Peru for the January trip.
The test was not a total success: Some water leaked around the edges of the barrel, which could cause rust, and very inexpensive bearings used for the shaft were too stiff. But the basic design was well proven out, and with a few small changes an updated version should be able to handle the intensive workload. Further tests will be carried out this spring by other students.
While crucial pieces such as the inner drum segments were brought along from MIT, others including the outer drum and its supporting structure were built on-site. “We improvised for whatever we didn’t have and often learned how from locals like Wilbur and Gennard,” two of the older orphanage residents, Tacoronte says. “For example, we were unable to cut the two sides for the door on the outer drum that were parallel to the curved surface. Wilbur took up a chisel and went at it with a hammer. The door was done in seconds.”
She found the experience very inspiring. “The more time I spent there and the more amazing people I met, the more passionate and determined I became about finishing the lavadora and making sure it worked,” she says. After the first test run, with the high-gear spin cycle successfully eliminating most of the water from the drum, she says, “The moment they pulled out the merely damp sheets was exhilarating.”
In a 7-2 decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal law that bans convicted domestic violence abusers from owning guns.
“Firearms and domestic strife are a potentially deadly combination nationwide,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote.
“We are delighted,” said Sue Else, President of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). “Batterers should not have access to guns. This decision is a major victory for victims of domestic violence and their families.”
Just in time for the closing of Black History Month, the U.S. Mint launched a new coin Tuesday featuring jazz legend Duke Ellington, making him the first African-American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin.
Ellington won the honor of gracing the Washington, DC state quarter by a vote of D.C. residents, beating out abolitionist Frederick Douglass and astronomer Benjamin Banneker. (Read more at CNN.com)
Green energy and conservation has become a top priority for the National Guard. Efforts nationally since 2001 to conserve energy and fuel include a wind turbine outside the New Mexico National Guard headquarters, a solar array providing power for a New Jersey training center, and the Ohio Air National Guard’s alternative energy site in Toledo.
Every building under the military construction program now must meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s silver rating. (Read full AP report, via WTOP)
(Trenton training center’s solar array- photo by Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs)
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has opened its 200th school in Indonesia’s Aceh-Nias region, which was devastated by the December 2004 tsunami. As is the case with all UNICEF-built schools, it is both earthquake-resistant and child-friendly.
“With its child-friendly and earthquake-resistant schools, UNICEF has been setting new standards in reconstruction in Indonesia,” said Jean Metenier, Chief Field Officer of UNICEF Aceh and Nias. (Read more in Hindu Business Line)
Iran said on Monday it had been invited by Group of Eight president, Italy, to an international meeting on Afghanistan, which is also expected to be attended by the United States. Italy wants to hold a conference to bring the world’s richest countries together with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, China, and Turkey, among others, to find ways of bringing stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also seeks to involve Iran, which shares borders with both of those countries. (Read more at Reuters)
Nineteen political prisoners, including allies of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and five Buddhist monks, have been freed in military-ruled Myanmar as part of a general amnesty, an exile group said on Sunday.
The regime announced the release of over 6,000 inmates on Friday after United Nations human rights rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana ended a five-day visit during which he called for the progressive release of “prisoners of conscience.” (Read more from Reuters)
The little film that could, Slumdog Millionaire, took home 8 Oscars including best director and best picture at the 81st annual Academy Awards last night. Sean Penn was named best actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, and Kate Winslet was awarded best actress for her role in The Reader. Here are some of the highlights: Watch the video below or read full coverage in the LA Times.
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A new device can take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into fuel, says Craig Grimes (right), a researcher at Pennsylvania State University.
Powered only by natural sunlight, the carbon-cutting machine is able to convert a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapour into natural gas at unprecedented rates.
Mardi Gras appears to be recession-proof. While most Americans are stashing their cash, hundreds of thousands are spending their way through the Big Easy to celebrate Mardi Gras. Business owners in New Orleans, like the general manager at Pat O’Briens, are pleasantly surprised by the surge and expect it to get bigger as Fat Tuesday nears.
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Wal-Mart announced plans to test two different hybrid trucks and three different types of alternative fuels in an effort to double their fleet’s fuel efficiency. The company has already achieved a 25 percent increase in efficiency with its private fleet of trucks between 2005 and 2008. It hopes to double that by 2015.
Wal-Mart, which operates one of the largest private truck fleets in the world, will this year retrofit a portion of its fleet to run on reclaimed grease fuel from Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations. Trucks in Arizona will operate on an 80/20 blend of biodiesel made from cooking oil waste. Others will be tested on liquefied natural gas.
(Watch the video below or read more from Dallas Morning News)
More than 140 nations agreed on Friday to negotiate a legally binding global treaty to phase out the use of deadly mercury, a toxic heavy metal that threatens the health of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The deal came at a major UN meeting of environment ministers in Kenya after US President Barack Obama’s new administration said on Monday the United States had reversed its stance on the issue and was now in favour of a legal ban.
(Photo courtesy of Sun Star)
Blood donations save lives – even dogs’ lives. At the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank in Severna Park, Maryland, owners can bring their dogs in to make donations on a monthly basis. Regular donors like Ray Hindle’s dog Oscar are canine heros. They ensure a supply of the life-saving blood is ready in case of emergencies.
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A famous literary cafe in Baghdad has reopened two years after a massive bomb gutted the cultural heart of Iraq’s capital and brought tragedy to the owner’s family. Poets and writers can now sip coffee together in one of Baghdad’s most important neighborhoods.
Ben Affleck spread the word on the plight of victims of the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo at one of the week’s first glitzy pre-Oscar parties, a fundraiser for the International Medical Corps’ Congo work.
The actor, 36, also wrote an essay for the current issue of Time about his personal experiences after several visits there and the ongoing war and displacement in eastern Congo.
The event, held at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, was expected to draw fellow celebrities Diane Keaton, Felicity Huffman, Nicole Richie, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Spacey and Kate Walsh. Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Garner showed up and Sheryl Crow performed a four-song set. Anderson Cooper received an award for raising awareness of the situation in DR Congo.
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A precocious 11-year-old in the 5th grade, Ben Berrafato, is challenging one of America’s most endearing and widely held beliefs, eloquently arguing against the need for homework. He may be right, say experts like the author of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It
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The town of Seal Cove, Newfoundland has had a harrowing week. Neighbors have gone to bed each night to the wails of five dolphins, who’d been trapped in a small and closing gap in the ice of the community’s cove since the beginning of the week. Finally they decided to do something about it. . . (Read full story Toronto Globe and Mail)
(Photo courtesy of Sun Star)
