Random Notes  

China is looking to turn its vast trove of worthless (in the sense the full amount can't be sold at a decent price to anyone else) US dollars into ownership of oil reserves. Another example of "energy is money" (and not vice versa).

Mobjectivist talks about Buckminster Fuller's warnings about fossil fuel depletion. He also notes Kevin Drum's series on peak oil at Washington Monthly is getting a fair bit of attention.

Santos's planned experiment in producing his own food has me keeping my eye out for gardening related items - these all seemed to be relevant - "Survival Garden In A Hurry" on PeakOil.com, "DIY Hydro-garden" at TreeHugger and ROE3 has "Growing fly maggots as poultry feed" (via Energy Bulletin).

Alternative Energy blog has some more news on Enviromission's Victorian "Solar Tower" project. It may be shrinking in size, but they are claiming this is because the technology and design are getting better.

WorldChanging has a new post up on the benefits of using LED's for lighting - not only is the power consumption much less, but there are other cool things you can do in terms by varying intensity and colour spectrum as well.

LEDs are cooler and more efficient than incandescent bulbs (the theoretical efficiency of LEDs is such that a 3 watt LED could produce as much light as a 60 watt bulb - we're not quite there yet, unfortunately), and because they're electronic components, can be subject to far greater control and precision of use than previous lighting technologies. But getting to the point where we can start thinking of LEDs as reasonable replacements for traditional light bulbs was just the first step. As the RPI research suggests, the capabilities of "smart lighting" LEDs are far greater than just putting out light to read by, and we're just starting to explore what that might mean.

Odograph commented on my "Grass Power" post yesterday and suggested this article as another example of the use of grass as a biofuel source.

Green Car Congress has a note about the Rodent setting up a taskforce to look at mandated biofuel use.

"John Howard is commissioning a taskforce to examine the latest scientific evidence on the impacts of ethanol and other biofuel use on human health, environmental outcomes and automotive operations. On this basis, and taking into account the most recent economic analyses of fuel supply in Australia, the Taskforce will assess the costs and benefits of biofuel production. This is a possible precursor to new Australian legislation on mandated biofuel use."

Lastly, the GristMill has a post up about a documentary on the ANWR called "Oil On Ice" that sounds interesting.

World Environment Day is being held in San Francisco this year, from June 1-5. The associated Green Screen Environmental Film Festival kicks off on June 1 with Oil on Ice, the award-winning documentary on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by co-directors Bo Boudart and Dale Djerassi.

Oil on Ice is a handsome film, impeccably made. Virtually every frame contains an image of beauty: One goal at which it unquestionably succeeds is to refute the obscene contention by certain Alaska politicians (who shall remain unnamed) that the Refuge is nothing but a snow-seared wasteland. It also sparks a strangely wistful sense of wonder that the U.S. still contains an untouched swath of territory, as one commentator puts it, "just for the animals." That is, when you think about it, quite a remarkable thing in this day and age. Once surrendered, it can never be recovered.

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