Vandana Shiva and economic growth

Alternative view of economic growth by Vandana Shiva.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva

Phosphorus - underrespected resource

Phosphorus is a very important resource for industrial agriculture. Phosphorus is mainly mined from rock phosphorus that is a limited resource.
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/phosphorus-000319.htm

Humans don't usually suffer from phosphorus deficiencies and too much phosphorus is not good for you. However, all plants need phosphorus to grow. Without adequate supply of phosphorus growth of plants is very small.
soils.usda.gov/sqi/publications/files/prole.pdf

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/33164

Phosphorus is a limited resource like oil. As we have peak oil, we also have peak phosphorus. Peak phosphorus is estimated to happen soon.

There are no substitutes for phosphorus in agriculture.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/33164

http://www.naturalnews.com/031516_agriculture_phosphorus.html

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/uow-wpu021411.php

Availability of phosphorus defines the fundamental maximum life sustaining capacity of planet earth. In many ways phosphorus is more fundamental to human life than oil. Oil has substitutes, phosphorus does not have any.
http://phosphorusfutures.net/

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/chemical-fertilisers-china/blog/44517/

Generational attitudes and Environmentalism

Generation Y is more likely than older generations to support clean energy and environmental protection and to believe climate change is happening and is caused by human activity, according to new Pew polling and analysis. Generation X is close behind. Boomers aren't so bad either. It's the old folks, the so-called Silent Generation aged 66-83, that are the big problem.

http://www.grist.org/climate-energy/2011-11-07-gen-y-and-gen-x-get-it-right-on-the-environment-old-folks-dont

http://bafric.blogspot.com/2011/10/climate-change-and-cocoa-production.html

Younger generations tend to have more positive attitudes toward efforts that address climate change.
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-01-23-under-25-should-be-pissed-about-climate-change-mark-hertsgaard

Climate change mainly affects young people as older people are likely to die naturally before any serious problems occur.

Recycling of electronics

Used electronics gadgets have some value left in them and there are number of companies offering to buy used electronics.

There's no question that smartphones have become a major investment for consumers. And with the pace of innovation accelerating, it seems like the minute you buy one smartphone, a newer and better one has been released. Reselling old devices to help pay for new ones is a great idea, but as I just pointed out, consumers must beware. A whole new industry has popped up to help people unload their old devices for cash, but as with all "gold rushes" there are often some less reputable establishments mixed in with legitimate ones.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57318211-266/dont-get-scammed-when-selling-your-old-iphone-ask-maggie/

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/cash-for-iphonescom-sparks-nevada-c496171.html

http://cashforiphones.com

http://blog.gazelle.com/posts/the-trashiest-iphone-case-ever/

http://www.gazelle.com/

For most products resale value is pretty low but for Apple products it is higher as there is demand for old Apple iPhone and Apple computers.

Eco datacenter dream by HP

Internet companies are learning that small towns are often great places to set up data centers. They have lots of land, cheap energy, low-cost labor, and something that may be a secret weapon in the race toward internet nirvana: cow dung.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/11/the-data-center-of-the-future/all/1

Energy is a limited resource and CO2 causes climate change.
http://enveconomics.blogspot.com/2011/07/green-it.html

Datacenters consume a lot of energy and many companies are trying to innovate new ways to save energy.

The dung-fired data center is closer than even Patel first thought. There are lots of places where they’d work, he says. You don’t need to build any special generators or equipment, and cows are everywhere. “We found many sites where it is totally doable today,” he says, “You can go anywhere from South Dakota to Wisconsin to Virginia. Even between Chicago and Indiana there are lots of dairy farms.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/11/the-data-center-of-the-future/all/1

Japan Is Bleeding

Japanese pay heavy price for cheap energy...

End of Oil

Oil is very important resource for any industrial and post-industrial nation. Wars are being fought in order to secure access to oil. If oil end; also most food sources end because agriculture needs inputs that are made from oil.
http://endofcrudeoil.blogspot.com/2011/09/proved-oil-reserves.html

http://enveconomics.blogspot.com/2011/07/top-10-countries-with-massive-natural.html

http://enveconomics.blogspot.com/2011/07/peak-oil.html

http://enveconomics.blogspot.com/2011/07/thorium-as-energy-source.html

A123 gets big Battery Deal for Wind Turbine Development in China

Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems today said it will supply an energy storage system attached to a wind turbine in a test that could lead to further grid business in China.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20083142-54/a123-scores-battery-deal-for-wind-power-in-china/

Wind Turbine does not provide constant and controllable supply of electricity and that is why grid needs energy storage in order to be fully able to utilize wind power.

Top 10 Countries with Massive Natural Gas Deposits

Energy runs the economy.
http://enveconomics.blogspot.com/2011/07/peak-oil.html

Natural Gas is one of the cleanest source of energy.
http://www.businessinsider.com/which-countries-have-the-most-natural-gas-2011-7

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=natural+gas&a=*MC.~-_*EnergyResourceData-

http://michelekearneynuclearwire.blogspot.com/2011/07/10-countries-sitting-on-huge-fortune-of.html
#1 Russia, over 25% of proven resources.





Fracking is a controversial method to extract natural gas from ground.

Peak Oil

There is limited amount of oil in the ground and eventually it will all be consumed.
http://arabnews.com/economy/article473059.ece

There are alternative energy sources such as Thorium.
http://enveconomics.blogspot.com/2011/07/thorium-as-energy-source.html

http://peakoil.com/

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-07-11/peak-oil-review-july-11

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8044

http://joneri.blogspot.com/2011/07/peak-oil-in-house.html

http://peakoilupdate.blogspot.com/2011/07/continuing-fukushima-impact-on-oil-and.html

http://endofcrudeoil.blogspot.com/2011/07/libyan-rebels-repaired-sarir-and-misla.html

Solar Sand Manufacturing

Markus Kayser - Solar Sinter Project from Markus Kayser on Vimeo.

In this experiment sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce glass objects using a 3D printing process, that combines natural energy and material with high-tech production technology.

http://www.markuskayser.com/
3D printing sand solar power

Thorium as energy source

India hopes it has the answer: thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive element, four times more abundant than uranium in the earth’s crust. 

 The pro-thorium lobby claim a single tonne of thorium burned in a molten salt reactor (MSR) – typically a liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) – which has liquid rather than solid fuel, can produce one gigawatt of electricity. A traditional pressurised water reactor (PWR) would need to burn 250 tonnes of uranium to produce the same amount of energy. 

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/952238/dont_believe_the_spin_on_thorium_being_a_greener_nuclear_option.html

http://alfin2100.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-about-thorium.html

http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2011/07/d-ryan-msrlftr-critique-not-ready-for.html

http://daryanenergyblog.wordpress.com/ca/part-8-msr-lftr/

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/07/could-thorium-solve-worlds-energy.html

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/A-Brief-Overview-of-Thorium-Energy.html

http://bethyada.blogspot.com/2011/06/thorium-nuclear-reactors.html

Some people think that Liquid Thorium reactors could provide energy without carbon emissions.

Water Lightning

Innovative lightning solution for poor. However, it provides lightning only when Sun shines into it.
http://www.visualnews.com/2011/07/14/bringing-light-to-the-poor-one-liter-at-a-time/

Green IT

Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The current preferred approaches are to impose carbon taxes and implement various forms of cap and trade, which effectively is a hidden tax. However another approach to help reduce carbon emission is to “reward” those directly who reduce their carbon footprint. The concept is very similar to the "Cap and Dividend" except rather than providing a tax credit, the consumer is offered a variety of free low carbon services and products. One possible reward system is to provide homeowners with free fiber to the home or free wireless products and other electronic services such as ebooks and eMovies if they agree to pay a premium on their energy consumption which will encourage them to reduce emissions by turning down the thermostat or using public transportation. Not only does the consumer benefit, but this business model also provides new revenue opportunities for network operators, optical equipment manufacturers, and eCommerce application providers.

 http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/

Green Technology

Green Technology Road Trip

Dematerialization and Rematerialization

Many processes in economy are cyclical in nature. It seems that both dematerialization and rematerialization at economy level cycle. I think the best way to achieve serious reduction in environmental impact is by moving with determination to service based economy where new ways to organize are used as substitutes to production.
http://minimrf.blogspot.com/2011/05/going-green-at-work.html

The greenest thing often is the thing that does not even exist.

Science is not objective

Science is not objective. Neither are the results of scientific inquiry. All science is fundamentally subjective, including natural sciences.

Environmentalism

This blog is about environmental issues and related business and economics.