Extra cost for Hybrid cars is down to $2500

Technology Review – an accumulation of improvements have lowered the cost premium on hybridcars from $6000 to $2500. The extra cost is about 40% of what it was a few years ago. The drop in cost is due to an accumulation of incremental technology improvements, along with economies of scale. And advances going forward—better batteries, …

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Climate Change questions do not need to be conclusively answered to determine global actions for the next 30 years

The following questions do not need to be answered to determine energy and transportation policies for the next thirty years. Is the world warming ? How much might the world be warming ? Is there climate change ? Is human created carbon dioxide the primary impactor on the climate ? The reason they do not …

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Net carbon dioxide uptake by land and oceans doubled during the past 50 years

Nature – One of the greatest sources of uncertainty for future climate predictions is the response of the global carbon cycle to climate change. Although approximately one-half of total CO2 emissions is at present taken up by combined land and ocean carbon reservoirs, models predict a decline in future carbon uptake by these reservoirs, resulting …

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XPrize founder Peter Diamandis talks Asteroid Mining as his Next Big Venture

Peter Diamandis X PRIZE Founder/Chairman on his next big venture (asteroid mining). Forbes – Peter Diamandis’ $10 million X Prize bounty sparked a boom in commercial space tourism. Other Xprizes – * Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin raised $30 million to put a robot on the moon * Bill and Melinda Gates are sponsoring …

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Fund Managers consider China Hard Landing Fears are overblown

Morningstar – In general, [Prominent emerging market fund managers] managers say that concerns about a “hard landing”–meaning that the Chinese economy will head south quickly and suffer a serious slowdown or even a recession–are overblown. Many, though, do expect China’s economy to continue slowing, partly due to government actions, and they do worry about the …

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Nuclear Regulatory Commission Hearing has charged testimony

The House Oversight hearing on the leadership of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is today The word from tweets and emails is that no one is playing nice at the hearing and the testimony is “hair raising”. It appears that compromise will not be possible and that either Jackzo or the four other commissioners will have …

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Quantum Dot OLED for paper thin displays

OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays have been getting market share with thinner displays than LCD, lower energy usage and are competitive on cost. Quantum dots(QDs) are a new alternative form of light emitting technology and incorporating them into OLED displays brings many added benefits. • Better colour purity : the colour produced by QDs …

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New nanoscale electronic state discovered on graphene sheets

Eurekalert – Researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) have discovered electronic stripes, called ‘charge density waves’, on the surface of the graphene sheets that make up a graphitic superconductor. This is the first time these stripes have been seen on graphene, and the finding is likely to have profound implications for the exploitation …

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George Monbiot urges Greens to purge themselves of Chris Busby

Chris Busby appears in a video broadcast on YouTube. In it he makes a number of wild allegations. Among them is a startling conspiracy theory: that the Japanese government is deliberately spreading radioactive material from Fukushima all over Japan. The reason, he says, is that when clusters of childhood cancer start appearing in Fukushima, the …

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Revolutionary Material Dramatically Increases Explosive Force of Weapons by Five Times

A revolutionary material that will replace steel in warhead casings will bring added lethality and increase the likelihood of a hit on an enemy target, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced August 10. By combining several metals with standard manufacturing techniques, High-Density Reactive Material (HDRM) has the potential to dramatically increase the explosive impact …

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