The Meatless Mondays campaign encourages consumers to skip meat one day a week in favor of plant-based foods, and highlights how this simple action can help improve their health and reduce the environmental impacts of their diets. Seems small, but the collective impacts are potentially anything but. According to estimates by the Humane Society of the United States, if every American embraced Meatless Mondays, we would need to raise 1.4 billion fewer farm animals. That translates into a lot fewer toxic chemicals, reduced climate pollution, healthier soils and waterways, and a lot less animal cruelty.

But when a food company decided to implement the initiative in House of Representative cafeterias this month, the conventional livestock industry was quick to pounce-in highly hyperbolic fashion.

In a letter to the House Administration Committee, the euphemistically named “Farm Animal Welfare Coalition” called Meatless Mondays “an acknowledged tool of animal rights and environmental organizations who seek to publicly denigrate U.S. livestock and poultry production.” The group asked the Committee to inform the company that "it must cease immediately" any activity promoting Meatless Mondays. Unfortunately, the effort now appears dead in its tracks.

Last year, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) was similarly pressured into removing language promoting Meatless Mondays from a sustainability newsletter to employees after facing pressure from the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, which I discussed here. That’s right. Not a press release or any kind of policy document. An internal employee newsletter suggesting that one way to reduce their environmental impact while dining at their office cafeteria is to skip meat once a week.

This kind of bullying-and swift caving on the part of the House Committee-is shameless for sure. But it also suggests the conventional livestock industry knows it has something to worry about when it comes to American consumers. Despite this disappointing episode, public trends speak for themselves.

Meatless Mondays have become a cultural force, and more and more Americans are significantly cutting their meat consumption for their health, as well as a greater awareness of the environmental benefits of switching to plant-based options. On Mondays, it’s not uncommon for the hashtag #MeatlessMondays to be “trending” on Twitter, which means it’s one of the topics being tweeted about most often on that day. Prominent Americans from Bill Gates to Ellen DeGeneres to Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, and even Mike Tyson have embraced a reduced or no meat diet. Entire school districts are adopting Meatless Mondays in their cafeterias.

But while overall meat consumption is down (USDA data indicates that the average American will consume 12.2% less meat and poultry overall in 2012 than they did in 2007), the choices Americans are making when they do choose to eat meat are also changing. While sales of conventional meat are flat or declining, sales of healthier, more sustainably produced meats are up.

For reasons that include personal health, environmental concerns, animal welfare, taste, and quality, many consumers are seeking alternatives to conventional meat products, such as meat and poultry raised without reliance on antibiotics. And this isn’t going unnoticed. Mainstream consumer brands, restaurants, and food retailers like Applegate, Chipotle, Fresh Direct, and Panera Bread have responded to growing consumer demand and are successfully marketing and selling hundreds of millions of pounds of meat and poultry raised without antibiotics to customers across the country each year.

For example, while sales of chicken, turkey, pork, and beef raised without antibiotics remain a small segment of the market-accounting for just about 2% of total meal sales-demand is growing fast. By some estimates sales are up 25% in the past three years. USDA Certified Organic meats, which are just one segment of the no-antibiotics meat and poultry market, were the fastest growing sector of the $31 billion organic foods industry in 2011.

Reduced overall demand for meat coupled with rising demand for more sustainably produced meat is good news. Not just for our health but for the health of the environment.

The impacts of the conventional meat industry are notorious. Livestock production is in many ways the single most damaging sector of agriculture. It’s not only responsible for tremendous habitat degradation and biodiversity loss, erosion and desertification, air and climate pollution, but it is also the largest and least regulated source of water pollution in the nation.

Within the dominant production model, massive numbers of chickens, pigs and cows are confined in giant feedlots-often called factory farms-where they are routinely fed antibiotics to made them grow faster and to compensate for dirty, crowded and stressful conditions. These conditions create a breeding ground for antibiotic resistance bacteria, which escape in the air, water, on workers and the meat itself, getting into our environment and making people very sick. The public health and medical community has warned that this practice is endangering human health by contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistance in humans and putting the essential medicines we rely on at risk.

Swapping out meat for any number of lower-impact forms of protein just one day per week is one of the most impactful things concerned individuals can do to reduce their environmental “foodprints”. Far from some radical endeavor seeking to denigrate American meat and poultry producers, this simple action can also free consumers up to choose healthier and more sustainably-produced meat products when they do choose to eat meat.

Every day, farmers across the country are showing that we can produce meat in ways that are healthier for our families, our planet, and animals. And every week, concerned citizens and consumers across the country are voting with their wallets, simultaneously making Meatless Mondays increasingly mainstream and helping to bring an abundance of meat and poultry alternatives into the marketplace.

More and more, the bullies can’t beat the buyers.

Secretary of State John Kerry heads to New Delhi next week. The visit is a key opportunity for Secretary Kerry to reinvigorate U.S.-India cooperation on climate change and to continue to make progress under the Green Partnership, the landmark clean energy and climate change agreement forged by President Obama and Prime Minister Singh in 2009.

Since the Green Partnership was signed, the United States and India have made significant progress in creating the foundation for cooperative research, development, and policy endeavors on climate change and clean energy. For example, both U.S. government agencies and businesses played a major role in growing India’s solar energy market, which is now well over 1 gigawatt of installed solar energy. To build on this progress, Secretary Kerry should re-emphasize that the United States recognizes the importance of India’s goal to provide energy access to all, from its booming cities to remote rural areas, through clean energy.

One issue to watch for during these meetings is whether Secretary Kerry and Indian leaders will make progress on phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the potent heat-trapping chemicals used as refrigerants in both room and automobile air conditioners. With a rapidly growing economy, air conditioning use in India is on the rise and this increase is contributing to global warming through leakage of HFCs, escalated fuel consumption for vehicles, and an upsurge in electricity consumption for buildings. Room air conditioning is already responsible for recent peak-load electricity blackouts.

In advance of Secretary Kerry’s meetings, NRDC President Frances Beinecke sent a letter highlighting three priority areas for the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue:

Recently, the United States and China reached an agreement to work toward phasing down HFC production under the Montreal Protocol, the treaty that saved the ozone layer. As part of our ongoing project, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), and the Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), in consultation with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Manufacturers Association (RAMA) and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), we are conducting a study of the business case for Indian companies to leapfrog and phase-down HFCs. We’ll be releasing our findings on June 26 at the Montreal Protocol meetings in Bangkok. Indian leaders and Secretary Kerry could create momentum toward progress in phasing-down HFCs globally under the Montreal Protocol.

The Strategic Dialogue discussions hold much promise for progress on climate change that would benefit both countries. As we’ve seen climate disasters around the globe - from Superstorm Sandy to extreme heat events in India - now is the time for our leaders to take action to protect our economy and communities. We’ll be watching to see what our leaders can deliver.

Photo by Bhaskar Deol, NRDC

The team used a custom printer and ink to produce the batteries. A nozzle one millimeter wide deposited layers of nanoparticle-packed paste in a comb-like shape. A second printed comb nestled into the first, their teeth interlocked. These functioned as the two halves of electrodes, which conduct electricity.

After printing, the electrode layers quickly hardened and were placed in a small container filled with solution. The finished product measured in at less than a millimeter wide. The team published their work Tuesday in Advanced Materials (subscription required).

A battery like this could transform fields like robotics, which are limited by how small they can build product by currently available materials. It would benefit tiny flying and swimming drones that must work autonomously over long distances, plus medical implants and discrete, wearable electronics.

Other small batteries are made of layers of film, but are too thin to provide much power. This 3D printed variety is dense and thick enough to compete with a traditional battery, and it's also a lithium-ion battery: the same style as in a cell phone.

"The electrochemical performance is comparable to commercial batteries in terms of charge and discharge rate, cycle life and energy densities. We're just able to achieve this on a much smaller scale," co-author Shen Dillon said in a Harvard release.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Continue reading Mt. Washington Auto Road Alt Energy Summit piques our interest

Mt. Washington Auto Road Alt Energy Summit piques our interest originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nature News doi: 10.1038/nature.2013.13217

Continue reading Twizy Way gets a visit from Caterham F1 driver Charles Pic

Twizy Way gets a visit from Caterham F1 driver Charles Pic originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the announcement that the two remaining San Onofre nuclear plants in southern California are being retired permanently, you may wonder what will happen to the remains, some of which retain significant levels of radioactivity, and how the costs will be covered.

My colleague Jordan Weaver blogs in detail on the mess that a failure to plan for decommissioning --and its costs -- is creating around the country. California, however, has avoided the uncertainty on how to pay for decommissioning that is plaguing others that bet on atomic energy at a time when nuclear proponents still claimed its operating costs would be so low, it would be “too cheap to meter.”

Way back in 1983, when “nuclear dinosaurs” roamed the California Public Utilities Commission, an environmental colleague and I initiated an effort to require that utility customers’ contributions to decommissioning nuclear plants be invested in such a way that they would be available when the operational lives of these facilities were over.

We were residents of Humboldt County at the time, and the local nuclear plant had been shuttered seven years earlier due to its proximity to earthquake faults. What would happen when it was dismantled, we wondered? How would the utility (PG&E in this case) pay for it? What about larger nuclear plants? We, with other locals in a group known as the “Redwood Alliance,” decided to find out. We organized the first public conferences ever held on nuclear decommissioning.

The first event at Humboldt State University was keynoted by Amory Lovins, then a rising star in the energy world, who gained notoriety for his essay in Foreign Affairs magazine entitled: “Energy Strategy, the Road Not Taken.” The second was keynoted by Ralph Nader, whose organization the Critical Mass Energy Project had begun to wonder about the nuclear end-of-life issues, too. We invited experts from the nuclear industry, government scientists, economists and contractors from Battelle Pacific National Laboratory, and private sector scientists to help us figure it out. As we learned more, a plan began to take shape and we decided to plunge into the deep waters of the California Public Utilities Commission to propose a policy that would protect California’s people and resources when it came time to retire her nukes, big and small.

The idea was to ensure that funds for decommissioning would be protected from loss should a nuclear accident (or other factor) force the plant owner into bankruptcy. At the time, the two Diablo Canyon plants in central California represented half of all PG&E’s assets, and errors in the construction process had raised serious issues about the affordability of plant completion and operation. Having the money run out prior to completion could create a public safety challenge, we reasoned.

The proposal I made (with my friend and colleague J.A. Savage, now a prominent energy journalist and editor) was to set up an independently administered fund, external to the utilities’ assets. Contributions from ratepayers would be collected and when combined with earnings and interest over the plant’s lifetime, would pay for decommissioning when the time came. It was important that the funds be segregated from utility assets because if anything happened to the solvency of a utility (say in the event of a nuclear accident affecting a major portion of a utility’s capital investment), the fund could be protected from creditors. At the time many scoffed at the idea that a utility could ever go bankrupt. But in fact, California’s policy protected Diablo Canyon’s decommissioning fund during PG&E’s bankruptcy in April, 2001. Then- (and now) Governor Jerry Brown supported the proposal through his appointees at the California Energy Commission, and assigned Commission staff to assist us. Our proposal was adopted by the Public Utilities Commission and remains in effect. California is the only state with such a policy. The fund now contains more than $6 billion. Time will tell if it is enough.

California is not the only western state that has had to cope in recent years with the decommissioning of a large-scale nuclear reactor. Oregon’s 1130 megawatt- Trojan Nuclear Plant was retired in 1993 after 17 years of service under circumstances quite analogous to those faced by the San Onofre operators (the prospect of costly repairs persuaded the owners to cut their losses). Decommissioning began three years later and took almost nine years. The plant’s major radioactive parts were shipped to a low-level waste repository near Richland, Washington. The spent fuel will remain onsite indefinitely in protective concrete casks. The 2006 disassembly of Trojan’s giant cooling tower became a YouTube sensation.

The problem will only grow. Half of all U.S. nuclear plants are over 30 years old (and designed to last 40). The rest are all older than 20. While many have applied for (and 60 have received) 20-year license extensions, many may never take advantage as nuclear technology becomes increasingly uncompetitive with alternatives, including lower cost, less risky, renewable energy.

You may also be wondering how California will deal with the loss of 2200 megawatts that San Onofre once supplied. My colleague Devra Wang recently blogged on strategies for replacing this energy and related grid services principally with a mix of clean renewable power, demand response, and energy efficiency. California is crafting a clean energy solution to replace the San Onofre reactors. Other states facing similar problems should pay attention to this strategy.

Planetsolar, the world’s largest solar-powered boat, arrived safely in New York on June 17, 2013. She has been transformed into a scientific platform as part of the “PlanetSolar DeepWater” expedition, and has joined by a team of researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), led by Professor Martin Beniston, climatologist and director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva (UNIGE). Even though the crew and scientists aboard had to adjust their schedule to avoid tropical storm “Andrea,” they were able to accomplish a substantial portion of the intended mission objectives by taking measurements in the air and water. Their goal is to study the key parameters of climate regulation, especially atmospheric aerosols and phytoplankton. This sun-powered vessel is uniquely qualified to gather the information because it does not emit any polluting substances that could distort the data collected. The following is from the PlanetSolar press release.

Planet Solar Arrival in New York | 17 June 2013 | ©All rights reserved PlanetSolar

The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, the largest solar boat in the world, continues her US tour, and yesterday reached New York City. As part of the “PlanetSolar DeepWater” scientific expedition carried out by the University of Geneva, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar—transformed into a scientific platform—is enabling a team of researchers to take advantage of her exclusive features in order to conduct a campaign of physical and biological measurements along the Gulf Stream.

The navigation between the states of Florida and New York constitutes the initial phase of this unprecedented data collection on the Gulf Stream, an important regulator of European and North American climates. With the support of the Swiss Consulate General in New York, the solar vessel and her crew, consisting of both sailors and scientists, moored in the North Cove Marina in southern Manhattan around 12.00 noon (local time)

Planet Solar Arrival in New York | 17 June 2013 | ©All rights reserved PlanetSolar

After being forced to remain in Miami for a few days to avoid “Andrea,” the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic, the solar catamaran left the coast of Florida on June 8 to begin the scientific expedition studying the Gulf Stream. “Now we are in the thick of the scientific expedition. We have been travelling along the Gulf Stream since we left Miami, so we were already able to take the first measurements. A strong and favorable current enabled us to sail at over 8 knots at times!” explains Gérard d’Aboville, captain of the boat. However, another disturbance forced the ship to move away from the current during the second part of the trip. “A violent depression passed through the northeastern United States. We had to find shelter in Chesapeake Bay to let it pass. To avoid losing time, we traveled up the bay and passed through a canal into Delaware,” said the captain.

The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar has therefore launched the practical stage of her second life, and her arrival in the New York metropolis marks the passage of the first phase of this novel research campaign on one of the most important regulators of European and North American climates. Shortly after the ship’s arrival, Ambassador François Barras, Swiss Consul General in New York, enthusiastically declared, “Switzerland is proud to welcome PlanetSolar to New York. She is a great platform for promoting the spirit of Swiss innovation. The University of Geneva’s DeepWater scientific expedition demonstrates the high quality of research in Switzerland, and the boat raises public awareness about the use of renewable energies. All in all, PlanetSolar is an ideal ambassador!”

Headed by Professor Beniston, climatologist and director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), the onboard research team began taking measurements with advanced instruments in order to study the key parameters of climate regulation, namely aerosols and phytoplankton. This unique campaign requires researchers to “navigate along the Gulf Stream and collect scientific data in the water and in the air in order to improve our understanding of the complex interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, as well as the role these interactions play in climate change,” says Professor Beniston. In parallel, a pedagogical team has developed educational activities and resources designed to make young people aware of climate change and its impact.

The interdisciplinary team of scientists from the University of Geneva will sail along the Gulf Stream, passing through Boston, St. John’s (Canada), and Reykjavik (Iceland), and will disembark in Bergen (Norway) in August. The study of this ocean current will take the ship to the northernmost point of the Atlantic for the first time. The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar’s exclusive features are a major asset for the researchers: given the absence of polluting emissions, the atmospheric measurements won’t be distorted by residues associated with fuel combustion.

The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar and her crew will remain moored in the heart of the Big Apple from June 17—20. With the support of the Swiss Consulate in New York, events dedicated to the public and local authorities will be organized onboard.

High-tech instruments aboard the largest solar boat in the world

In order to collect a continuous series of physical and biological measurements in the water and in the air, the ship is equipped with 6 advanced instruments, including the “Biobox”, an instrument that was specifically developed by the Applied Physics Group at the University of Geneva for the study of aerosols at the interface between the atmosphere and the ocean. It is the only instrument to date capable of determining instantaneously the identity of aerosols using laser technology. It will be used aboard the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar for the first time.

About PlanetSolar

The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, built in Kiel, Germany, is a catamaran powered exclusively by solar energy. On May 4, 2012, after sailing for 584 days and travelling over 60,000km, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar completed the first solar-powered trip around the world.

For her 2013 expeditions, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar underwent major maintenance operations. The most significant optimization was related to the propulsion system—the surface propellers were replaced by a completely immerged system.

For 2013, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar’s crew is comprised of: Gérard d’Aboville (Captain), Andrew Mikkelsen (Second), Antoine Simon (electrical engineer), Hugo Buratti (seaman and steward), and Vincent Brunet (steward). During the “PlanetSolar DeepWater” expedition, the UNIGE scientific team will round out the crew.

After leaving Las Palmas (Spain) on April 26, 2013, the largest solar boat in the world reached Marigot, St. Martin (French Caribbean) 22 days later. The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar therefore broke her own world record speed for a solar-powered transatlantic crossing, set in 26 days during her trip around the world. In order to fund the 2013 campaign, PlanetSolar SA is supported by the University of Geneva, Ciel électricité, Switcher, the Swiss AOC-IGP Association, Younicos, Plantbacter, Actides, GoPro, Jean-René Germanier SA, BCCC Attorneys-at-Law, Tempur, Hempel, Présence Suisse, Energissima, l’UIM, YELLO, and Waste Free Oceans.

About the University of Geneva

Founded in 1559 by Jean Calvin and Théodore de Bèze, the University of Geneva (UNIGE) is now the second largest “Haute École” (institute for higher learning) in Switzerland, and ranks among the top 100 universities in the world. Crown jewel of the Calvin community, the institution enjoys a privileged international reputation and cultivates its openness to the world. UNIGE welcomes approximately 16,000 students each year to its eight colleges, dedicated to the study of the following key disciplines: science, medicine, literature, economics and social sciences, law, theology, psychology, and education, translation and interpretation sciences. UNIGE has three missions: education, research, and service to the community. Additionally, UNIGE has been a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) since 2002.

The University of Geneva would like to thank the Wright Foundation, the Henri Moser Foundation, and a generous anonymous donor for their support for the PlanetSolar DeepWater scientific campaign.

Author’s note: The next stop for Planetsolar is Boston, Massachusetts, scheduled for June 20. Education days are planned for the stopovers in both New York and Boston. The Gulf Stream tracking will continue as the boat continues to travel to the Far North, where she will put into port in St. John’s, Canada, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Bergen, Norway. You can follow the voyage of the solar-powered boat at: www.planetsolar.org/follow-us/itinerary-2013

PlanetSolar, World’s Largest Solar Boat Arrives in New York was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and , follow us on Facebook (also free!), follow us on Twitter, or just visit our homepage (yep, free).

South Africa wants to cut emissions to one ton per person by 2050. In a country of 50 million, this is a problem for a utility that generated 230 million tons in 2011.

South Africa taking three-year study to see if it's ready for EVs originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.