As the promise of electric cars grows, so too does the potential of electric planes. These aircraft, whose motors are far more efficient, reliable and quiet than internal combustion engines, could help transform how we fly — if a few problems could be solved.

Electric motors are three to four times better than internal combustion engines at driving an airplane propeller. And the reliability of electric motors is “perhaps 10 times or even 20 times that of a piston engine,” said Brien Seeley, president of the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation, an independent flight test agency which hosts NASA’s Centennial Challenges for Aeronautics.

Because electric motors could be up to 95 percent efficient  compared to the 18 to 23 percent efficiency of regular engines – means they waste much less energy in the form of heat. As such, “they don’t need anywhere near the same amount of cooling air flowing over them that internal combustion engines do, which is a very big deal with airplanes” and accounts for a significant part of the drag they experience that can slow them down, Seeley said. [...]

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35258761/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

In the next five years, 585,000 households and businesses in the greater Montreal area will stop sending their table scraps and grass clippings to landfills, city officials said Monday. Federal, provincial and municipal governments came together to announce $559 million in organic-waste recycling projects for Montreal, Laval, Longueuil and communities on Montreal’s south shore. The money will be used for such things as new collection equipment and compost-recycling plants, including four on the Island of Montreal.

Two of the plants will capture the methane gas produced from the waste and recycle it to fuel other services, such as public transit — a process known as biomethanisation. Only about eight per cent of organic waste in Montreal is now recycled, said Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay. The goal is to boost that number to 60 per cent in the next 10 years. While it may take time to change people habits, the new plan is the only responsible solution to the city’s increasingly full landfills, Tremblay said.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/02/01/mtl-compost-plan.html#ixzz0ePkh7Gow

Although algae is currently the most energy-dense biofuel source, the cost of producing algae oil is prohibitively expensive. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the biofuel would cost around $8 per gallon at the pump. Other experts have even projected prices of more than $50 per gallon because of inefficient production and harvesting methods. However, a team of engineers plans to investigate whether algae commercially grown in the ocean on specialized platforms could reduce the high costs of biofuel production, potentially bringing our energy economy one step closer to shifting from fossil fuels to renewable resources. [...]

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34017483/ns/technology_and_science-future_of_energy/

Like the idea of free and clean solar power but hate the thought of ugly, black panels covering the roof of your home? Help is on the way. Scientists in Georgia and New Jersey are taking solar panels off the roofs of homes and cars, and moving them into basements and walls. The new panels could unobtrusively provide solar power while simultaneously protecting the delicate photovoltaics. “No one wants to buy a big, nice, fancy car with a huge solar panel on the roof,” said Zhong Wang, a scientist at Georgia Tech designing what he calls the world’s first 3-D solar panel system. Instead of using traditional solar panels, the Georgia Tech scientists will capture sunlight and turn it into electricity using fiber optics cables coated with zinc oxide, the same white compound lifeguards slather on their noses. The fiber optic cables, each one two to three times the width of a human, would be installed on the roof of a house, car or any other structure. [...]

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33793775/ns/technology_and_science-future_of_energy/

If you aim to reduce your consumption of domestic use products and enjoy concocting your own potions, this homemade recipe is for you! It will quickly restore the original luster of your gold or silver jewelery.

For silver jewelery: Soak a cloth with lemon juice and then rub away the dirty. Another option: it seems that when soaked in a glass of milk with a few drops of lemon, silver gets its shine on!

What about your BLING? Create a paste with a little baking soda and water. Then rub it on with an old toothbrush – and voila! shimmering gold. Even easier – try adding the toothpaste directly to the gold then rub.

Of course, as always when trying a new cleaning technique, begin on a small area that is not too visible. This info is shared in good faith – if it all goes terribly wrong – it ain’t our fault!!

Enjoy!

source: http://www.petitgestevert.ca/trucs-ecolos/blogue/2009/11/03/ranimer-les-bijoux-ternis-avec-une-recette-maison/

A new study from Toronto researchers suggests that the collapse of a large portion of the Antarctic ice sheet would shift the very axis of the Earth. Geophysicists at the University of Toronto explored the effects on North America and the globe, if sea levels were to rise due to the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. One of the most jarring predictions contained in the report, to be published in the Feb. 6 issue of the journal Science, is that the sea-change could shift the Earth’s rotation. “The melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will actually cause the Earth´s rotation axis to shift rather dramatically — approximately 500 metres from its present position if the entire ice sheet melts,” states a release from U of T’s physics department. There is a widespread belief among scientists that the ice sheet is especially vulnerable to rising global temperatures, and may be prone to collapse, which could trigger a rise in sea levels. Some analysts have predicted sea levels will rise by five metres — a value arrived at by taking the total volume of the ice sheet, converting it to water and spreading it evenly across the globe’s oceans. But the new report suggests that is too simplistic an approach, and some areas — North America and nations in the southern Indian Ocean in particular — would see much higher sea-level rises than other areas. “We´ve been able to calculate that not only will the rise in sea levels at most coastal sites be significantly higher than previously expected, but that the sea-level change will be highly variable around the globe,” said physics graduate student Natalya Gomez. The research suggests the melting of the sheet would change the balance of the globe — similar to tsunamis that move massive amounts of water from one area to another. Water would migrate from the southern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans northward toward North America and into the southern Indian Ocean. [...]

Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090205/sea_levels_090205/20090205?hub=SciTech

Many people choose cremation over burial because they think cremation is better for the environment. While it is true that cremation does not take up any space, it is also true that cremation creates air pollution. Some of the pollutants found to come from the smokestacks of crematorium include heavy metals, hydrogen chloride, dioxins and furans. One well respected author writes, “Anyone with green pretensions should think twice about cremation, which pollutes the atmosphere with dioxin, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide.” There is also an enormous amount of fossil fuels used to accelerate and sustain the fire which can reach temperatures of 1400 degrees to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. [...]There are many misconceptions relating to embalming and what the procedure entails. Essentially, the embalming process displaces blood from the body with a preservative fluid. Most embalming fluids contain formaldehyde. Choose a funeral home that uses a non toxic, biodegradable embalming fluid when circumstances permit. There are numerous benefits associated with the use of this fluid.

Source: http://www.greenfunerals.ca

A threatened species of whale that was nearly hunted to extinction seems to be making a comeback off Canada’s West Coast, according to observers. The North Pacific population of humpback whales has doubled in the past two decades, hitting close to 20,000 in the North Pacific, an international study released last year concluded, and local whale watchers say they can vouch for the results. Stubbs Island naturalist Jackie Hildering has seen the recovery of humpbacks first-hand while working in the Broughton Archipelago off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. Hildering said while sightings of the threatened whale used to be rare, this year she’s identified almost 50 individual whales including juveniles. “It’s been this amazing gift to see them come back,” she said. [...]

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/10/01/bc-humpback-whales-recovery.html

An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped. Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence of rapid change in the region. Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s. Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place. Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean. European Space Agency satellite pictures had indicated last week that cracks were starting to appear in the bridge. Newly created icebergs were seen to be floating in the sea on the western side of the peninsula, which juts up from the continent towards South America’s southern tip. Professor David Vaughan is a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey who planted a GPS tracker on the ice bridge in January to monitor its movement. He said the breaking of the bridge had been expected for some weeks and much of the ice shelf behind was likely to follow. [...]

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7984054.stm

To all our readers in the USA. Currently, there is a petition going around which aims to make your food safer:

“Every year, 76 million Americans are sickened and 325,000 are hospitalized from consuming contaminated food — and 5,000 of these people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Our food safety law clearly is not up to the task. Unbelievably, the Food and Drug Administration only inspects food factories on average once every 10 years, checks less than 1 percent of food shipments imported from China and other foreign countries and doesn’t even have the authority to force food companies to recall contaminated foods.

Continued outbreaks of food contamination over the last several years — from spinach to peppers to peanuts — have demonstrated that these outbreaks are not random, unpreventable occurrences, but are due to widespread problems with our food safety system.

Action sponsored by: Makeourfoodsafe.org/