Nuclear Power's Future

Here is an article out of UC Berkeley on an assessment of nuclear power by Per Peterson, the chair of Berkeley's Department of Nuclear Engineering. If the global nuclear industry applies new designs, we can have safe, affordable, and abundant energy.

Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Company In Texas Cashes In

There are not may options for the disposal of radioactive waste withing the United States. One option is west Texas seems to have a prosperous future and it is a site owened by Waste Control Specialists. Read more here.

Happy Birthday Apple Macintosh

The invention and success of the Apple Macintosh personal computer has had a significant influence on smartphone technology and the way we all communicate.

Electric Cars Won't Save the Planet

The conclusionsn of a new research study published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal indicate that significant adoption and use of hybrid and all electric vehicles will not make any measurable difference in revesing the increase of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in earth's atmosphere. The major conributor to atmospheric pollutants comes for fossil fuel consumption in electric power plants. Changing this source is the only action that will made much difference. While it may still be a good idea to transition to all-electric vehicles to move away for the dependence on oil, we need to focus on other energy generation technologies if greenhouse gasses pose the threat some scientists claim.

Gamma Ray Burst Stuns Astronomers

Rawlemon Spherical Solar Energy Generator

A German architect, Andre Broessel, has invented a water and glass device to concentrate solar energy (up to 10,000 times) with a maximum conversion efficiency of 43 percent. It works even in bad weather.

Vaclav Smil - The Man Bill Gates Thinks You Should Be Reading

It's not that I hang on everything Bill Gates is promoting, but Vaclav Smil is someone I'll be reading more of over the next few months.  Here is a good introduction to his ideas that recently was published in Wired Magazine.

From his website:

Vaclav Smil does interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy.

He has published more than 30 books and some 400 papers on these topics. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Science Academy), the first non-American to receive the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology, and in 2010 he was listed by Foreign Policy among the top 100 global thinkers.

He has worked as a consultant for many US, EU and international institutions, has been an invited speaker in more than 300 conferences and workshops in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, and has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia. His wife Eva is a physician and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.