Green Living | Green living tips and advice

The Expert answers:

“Constitution rules them” thinks the upside-down-pyramid-scheme “supply-side/deregulation” policies of the right-wing Republicans and their new toy the fiscally-illiterate teavangelists is an example of “free market,” apparently, instead of the deficit-causing, nation-destroying garbage-policy war on the middle-class that is actually the case. Add to this equation you have cited the fact that the top 1% of our nation’s wealthiest is just that—1% of our 360,000,000 population—and their often-hoarded wealth does not sustain the masses. Trickle-on-down economics simply DOES NOT WORK, folks! Hasn’t the Great Depression, the Reaganomics-caused COLLAPSE of our savings and loan industry, the FINANCIAL SYSTEM MELTDOWN preceded by the housing and credit markets’ disasterous GOP-policies-caused COLLAPSE taught the right-wing Republicans anything? They simply do not seem to learn from their mistakes…nor are they even able to admit that they make mistakes, preferring instead to project blame onto the Democrats and now onto a hard-working, nation-saving President Obama (or previous to him, President Bill Clinton)—the ones who get voted in to CLEAN UP GOP-CAUSED MESSES!

The upside-down-pyramid of deregulated bottomless-pit-greed right-wing policies balanced on the ever-decreasing middle-class cannot be sustained, which is why the ill-conceived Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires or for corporate elites needs to be eliminated—the rates need to return to the Clinton 39% rate so that we can begin to pay down our Norquist-favored deficit and get this nation balanced once again. President Obama’s DEMAND-SIDE policies and the Democrats’ reinstatement of consumer-protecting and oversight-producing regulations has successfully reversed the hardening-of-the-arteries economic downfall from GOP totalitarianism, but now we need to GROW the economy with consumer spending and increased revenues so that all Americans can benefit from the recovery for which the foundation has been laid (see whitehouse.gov and recovery.gov for details).

The Expert answers:

A great example of a sustainable community is the original Disneyland proposals by Walt Disney. He included income for residents, housing, utilities, transportation, health facilities, shopping/supplies, and community centers.

The Expert answers:

If you looking at sustainable look at The Burton Green mountain project, or Holden outerwear. Holden isn’t marketing themselves as an Eco company but they are actually one of the leaders in it. Also Helly Hansen’s EkoLab. Or Patagonia. They’ve been making eco friendly close longer than most of us have been alive.

If you’re working at Echo Park there is a chance they will require you to wear their jacket as a kind of employee uniform, so make sure that’s the case before you drop a few hundreds dollars on a new jacket, as the eco friendlier ones are also usually more costly.

I’m also going to link this guy’s blog which is specifically about environmentally aware snowboarding. Http://www.vociferousvoid.org/

The Expert answers:

You can purchase from local company by supporting them
you can purchase value pack which mean instead of 24 pack, you can buy a 2L bottle instead in order to reduce waste.
Make sure you recycle all empty bottles and cans
make sure you purchase those ones that can be recycled.

The Expert answers:

1-2% on active duty is about the maximum, more if you have poorly trained and equipped troops. Less you you have very highly trained and equipped troops like the US.

The Expert answers:

>”Should China continue to develop?”

China can do whatever it wants – and it will.

China and India both have a major advantage as we move into the future.

>”China and India graduate a combined half a million engineers and scientists a year, vs. 60,000 in the U.S. In life sciences, projects the McKinsey Global Institute, the total number of young researchers in both nations will rise by 35%, to 1.6 million by 2008. The U.S. Supply will drop by 11%, to 760,000. ”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_34/b3948401.htm

Meanwhile, the US is racing to be the most scientifically illiterate developed nation in the world. And it is not simply a matter of honest ignorance. It is intentional ignorance based on an anti-science social / political agenda.

AGW deniers are fundamentally no different that creationists, flat-earthers, hollow-earthers, Bigfoot sleuths, birthers, and 9-11 and a host of other conspiracy freaks.

It seems unlikely that the best strategy to maintain our position in the future world is to make sure we are more stupid than everyone else, but millions of Americans (politically involved and active Americans) seem to believe that it is.

The Expert answers:

China will have to be a leader in green technology. They sure have been a leader in pollution

Time to correct flawed air pollution index

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-12/09/content_9143607.htm

these are some disturbing pictures

Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/05/content_12393503.htm

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/18/worldupdates/2009-09-17T232633Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-425385-1&sec=Worldupdates

pollution map

http://ditu.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&source=s_q&hl=zh-CN&geocode=&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=%E6%B8%A4%E6%B5%B7&msa=0&msid=118244671891871382452.0004763f27eca98ca1be8&ll=39.232253,94.746094&spn=58.283914,173.144531&z=3&brcurrent=3,0x358fcd4735ab4f7f:0xd93a2e2370e1b364,0;5,0,0

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6126874/China-riot-10000-villagers-clash-with-police-over-industrial-pollution.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/04/china-pollution-secrecy

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gVpKB8bQ-9TbbOGNmVXmxLcyzbiw

who even knows if any of this land will be habitable in ten years

The Expert answers:

Extinct in the world, but not in China? I don’t think that there are any such animals. Pandas do not qualify. They are indigenous to China.
Your question reeks of homework that you should do yourself.
Beasts of burden are ox and water buffalo, find your own pictures on google.
Major issues of the environment are water quality, air pollution, and soil contamination.

The Expert answers:

They can; we all can.

China has the expertise and technology (eg electric cars, carbon zero cities like Dongtan), and we will see much of it showcased at the Olympics.
China is also being badly affected by environmental degredation & climate change, eg dust storms in Bejing
They also have a centralised political system that can take unpopular decisions like population control.

However, they have bought into the capitalist measures of growth & aspiration. Western companies have invested heavily so will want their money back etc.So don’t expect then to buck the global trade system just yet.

The Expert answers:

– Dalia Lama is controlled by western countries

No.

– western countries want Tibet to free itself from china

No, some people want it to be free, others don’t care, others only want it to be free if the majority of Tibetans want it to be free.

– Tibet should always be apart of china

No, but that is for future governments to decide.

– china environmental issues are getting better

Yes there improving.

– polllution is cause by western compaines and china is not to blame

USA has some of the tightest enivormential controls in the world. China is like 40 years behind, one only has to look at the data for air pollution.

– monks attacked tibeten police first, and police had to defend themselves

Its hard to prove or disprove.

– china is not responsible for sudan or any genocide taking place

Correct the people of sudan are responsible but supplying arms or aid to one side does not make it better.

– western countries are trying to break china apart

No, some people in countries may wish for the down fall of China, just like some Chinese wish for the downfall of western countries.

– chinese news tell the truth while bbc and cnn are biased for western countries

No, Chinese will tell there version of the truth just like cnn and bbc will tell there version of the truth.

The Expert answers:

The following sites may give you the informaiton you need

www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/

environment.about.com/
www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/environmental_issues/
environment.about.com/cs/a.htm
www.grinningplanet.com/6001/environmental-issues-all.htm
www.dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Environment/

The Expert answers:

Sciencedaily

energy daily

terra daily

ScienceNews

All good free signups with loads of links

Health warning: you will see roboposted paid ads in the margins, giving you loads of Creationist cr@p or whatever else has been paid for. Do NOT confuse this with scientific content!

The Expert answers:

When I am in Tanzania next week, I will look for you.

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Times of India’s website provides general, accurate, well informed, readable and critical articles about environmental issues in India and elsewhere.

The Expert answers:

Environmental issues concerning Argentina are typical of those of most developing nations: poor water and air quality, deforestation, and soil degradation. Many non-governmental and governmental agencies work towards research and policy making that address pressing threats to the preservation of Argentina’s wondrous natural landscapes, forests, and farmlands.
Http://fsdinternational.org/ntlopps/country/argentina/environment

The major environmental issues in Argentina are pollution and the loss of agricultural lands.
Http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Argentina-ENVIRONMENT.html

Argentina also faces the issue of energy consumption and management and the inefficient use of non-renewable resources.
Http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/argentina/environmental_problems_argentina/

Argentina Environment – current issues
http://www.indexmundi.com/argentina/environment_current_issues.html

The Expert answers:

It doen’t really matter if there is enough oil to last us for 100 years. As you can see by the last run up of oil prices we will not be able to afford the cost of oil 100 years in the future.

We as world leaders need to migrate to renewable power sources such as solar, wind, wave, geothermal, and hydroelectric as first tier sources for the power grid.

While these are developing we will need to use clean coal to continue producing power for the grid. We have enough coal to last 400 years according to some estimates.

One of the most interesting ways to reduce the CO2 signature of the coal plants was proposed by a group at MIT. They used CO2 hungry algea to scrub out the CO2. The algae are latter harvested and oil is produced from the algae and used to produce Biodiesel. While biodiesel and diesel will be needed for sometime it has been determined that clean diesel and biodiesel are an improvement over the older diesel products. Biodiesle can also be produced from vegetable oils and waste cooking oil.

Agriculture is realing form price increases caused by the increase in using corn crops to produce ethanol for automobile fuel additives. But this chaos will only last as long as auto producers refuse to market electric cars. Hybrids are only a stop gap. Electric cars will drive more of the energy requirements to the power grid, a place were we can use renewable energy.

Then there is hydrogen power. It can be used two ways.
First hydrogen can be produced from the electrolysis of water into H2 and O2. Hydrogen is then run over a fuel cell to produce electricity and water. This system would be most effective if excess electricity produced for the grid were used to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen is then stored until needed during peak usage to keep from having to bring a coal or gas fired plants back on line.

The second way to use Hydrogen is to fuel automobiles, trucks, planes, and trains as well as powering homes and office buildings.

But I digress H2 is a topic for a later date.

We could easily intoduce massive solar and wind farms to replace coal, gas, and oil fired power plants. We could all easily be dirving electric cars if just the government, oil companies, and auto industry would cooperated and give the public the products needed to get off of fossil fuels.

The Expert answers:

Oil could run out in a short of a time as 20 years, but natural gas should last much longer. Our country has a ton of coal and natural gas, so if worst comes to worst we can always turn to them. When those run out however, we will have nuclear energy as a clear option. Ethanol, Wind, Solar, and Hydrogen Fuel Cell energy are all in their fledgling stages and haven’t yet proven that they are viable. I truly believe that our country will definitely be ready once fossil fuels cease to exist just because the plethora of options and the plethora of knowledge that scientists and other people have.

The Expert answers:

All forms of renewable/alternative energy come with their own list of pros and cons.

Windmills are great for producing energy in the plains states and coastal regions, but they are a hazard to birds.

Photovoltaic cells work well just about anywhere in the US. But if we used enough of them to provide a significant amount of our energy, we’d also be contributing to a warmer climate because of the heat being absorbed by the black surfaces of the solar panels.

Hydroelectric dams interfere with wildlife and increase the amount of water that is lost to evaporation.

One of the sources of energy that has the most promising future with regards to having minimal adverse impacts would be that derived from geothermal sources. However, geothermal energy isn’t as widely available as other sources of energy.

The answer might just be that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to any one single source of energy but rather to draw from a variety of sources.

The Expert answers:

When those methods of generating energy are no longer “alternative”, but are normal & usual…

The Expert answers:

Researchers I’ve spoken to in alternative energy seem to make more or less the same amount of money as researchers in other fields.

If you end up researching a ‘soft’ subject like geography or economics then you might be able to do some research into alternative energy – but it would be limited to studying things like its effect on society, and policies to encourage it.

Any hard science, maths or engineering will give you the grounding you need for ‘proper’ research into the technology.

Biologists can work on biofuels, chemists on biofuels and processing for things like solar panels. Engineers can work on anything and whilst a physics degree makes you particularly suited to solar power (provided you take the right modules in thermal & condensed matter/solid state physics), it gives you the tools to go into other areas too.

The Expert answers:

The internet is an amazing tool. As mentioned previously ,Union of Concerned Scientists of which I belong. Leonardo Energy, Earth Justice, Earth First, and Fixing the Planet are all good resources and chocked full of information and like minded people willing to help and educate.
At present there are many renewables vying for the front seat and only the future and research monies will tell. Bio mass looks promising if we can nail down the processing costs. Wind and solar need a shot in the arm for efficiency. Nuclear, heaven forbid as far as I’m concerned may become a player again.
There are plenty of blogs out there where a person can glean enough useful information without leaving your chair. Become part of the answer and you will learn exponentially, I guarantee it.
The US needs to heed the IPCC and make some sacrifices. The upper court system in this country is stacked with eco unfriendlies,Thanks to G.W. Which makes it very hard to win environmental cases in this day and age. I think a restructure is in order, the checks and balance system is out of balance. More research money and grants need to be slated for private individuals, to utilize and further the advancement of GREEN power.

The Expert answers:

It would likely depend on which of those energy systems you were working with.
If you generalize, and work on all of them together, you may be called a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’

The Expert answers:

Solar Cell – Renewable and Cleanest Energy Source:

Solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy. These are also called ‘photovoltaic cell’. Solar cells do not use chemical reactions to produce electric power, and they have no moving parts.

Photovoltaic solar cells are thin silicon disks that convert sunlight into electricity. These disks act as energy sources for a wide variety of uses, including: calculators and other small devices; telecommunications; rooftop panels on individual houses; and for lighting, pumping, and medical refrigeration for villages in developing countries. In large arrays, which may contain many thousands of individual cells, they can function as central electric power stations analogous to nuclear, coal-, or oil-fired power plants. Arrays of solar cells are also used to power satellites; because they have no moving parts that could require service or fuels that would require replenishment, solar cells are ideal for providing power in space.

A. Most photovoltaic cells consist of a semiconductor pn junction, in which electron-hole pairs produced by absorbed radiation are separated by the internal electric field in the junction to generate a current, a voltage, or both, at the device terminals. Under open-circuit conditions (current I = 0) the terminal voltage increases with increasing light intensity, and under short-circuit conditions (voltage V = 0) the magnitude of the current increases with increasing light intensity. When the current is negative and the voltage is positive, the photovoltaic cell delivers power to the external circuit.

B. Characteristics of a Solar Cell – The usable voltage from solar cells depend on the semiconductor material. In silicon it amounts to approximately 0.5 V. Terminal voltages is only weakly dependent on light radiation, while the current intensity increases with higher luminosity. A 100 cm² silicon cell, for example, reaches a maximum current intensity of approximately 2 A when radiated by 1000 W/m². The output (product of electricity and voltage) of a solar cell is temperature dependent. Higher cell temperatures lead to lower output, and hence to lower efficiency. The level of efficiency indicates how much of the radiated quantity of light is converted into useable electrical energy.

C. Cell Types: One can distinguish three cell types according to the type of crystal: monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous. To produce a monocrystalline silicon cell, absolutely pure semiconducting material is necessary. Monocrystalline rods are extracted from melted silicon and then sawed into thin plates. This production process guarantees a relatively high level of efficiency.

The production of polycrystalline cells is more cost-efficient. In this process, liquid silicon is poured into blocks that are subsequently sawed into plates. During solidification of the material, crystal structures of varying sizes are formed, at whose borders defects emerge. As a result of this crystal defect, the solar cell is less efficient.
If a silicon film is deposited on glass or another substrate material, this is a so-called amorphous or thin layer cell. The layer thickness amounts to less than 1µm (thickness of a human hair: 50-100 µm), so the production costs are lower due to the low material costs. However, the efficiency of amorphous cells is much lower than that of the other two cell types. Because of this, they are primarily used in low power equipment (watches, pocket calculators) or as facade elements.

D. Efficiency: Solar cell efficiencies vary from 6% for amorphous silicon-based solar cells to 42.8% with multiple-junction research lab cells. Solar cell energy conversion efficiencies for commercially available multicrystalline Si solar cells are around 14-16%. The highest efficiency cells have not always been the most economical — for example a 30% efficient multijunction cell based on exotic materials such as gallium arsenide or indium selenide and produced in low volume might well cost one hundred times as much as an 8% efficient amorphous silicon cell in mass production, while only delivering about four times the electrical power.
To make practical use of the solar-generated energy, the electricity is most often fed into the electricity grid using inverters (grid-connected PV systems); in stand alone systems, batteries are used to store the energy that is not needed immediately.

E. Advantages of solar energy: Solar cells are long lasting sources of energy which can be used almost anywhere. They are particularly useful where there is no national grid and also where there are no people such as remote site water pumping or in space. Solar cells provide cost effective solutions to energy problems in places where there is no mains electricity. Solar cells are also totally silent and non-polluting. As they have no moving parts they require little maintenance and have a long lifetime. Compared to other renewable sources they also possess many advantages; wind and water power rely on turbines which are noisy, expensive and liable to breaking down.

Rooftop power is a good way of supplying energy to a growing community. More cells can be added to homes and businesses as the community grows so that energy generation is in line with demand. Many large scale systems currently end up over generating to ensure that everyone has enough. Solar cells can also be installed in a distributed fashion, i.e. They don’t need large scale installations. Solar cells can easily be installed on roofs, which mean no new space is needed and each user can quietly generate their own energy.

F. Disadvantages of solar cells: The main disadvantage of solar energy is the initial cost. Most types of solar cell require large areas of land to achieve average efficiency. Air pollution and weather can also have a large effect on the efficiency of the cells. The silicon used is also very expensive and the problem of nocturnal down times means solar cells can only ever generate during the daytime. Solar energy is currently thought to cost about twice as much as traditional sources (coal, oil etc). Obviously, as fossil fuel reserves become depleted, their cost will rise until a point is reached where solar cells become an economically viable source of energy. When this occurs, massive investment will be able to further increase their efficiency and lower their cost.

For further information please refer
http://www.environmentengineering.blogspot.com

The Expert answers:

As the name suggest, it is renewable. It means that it can be used again and again but it will not last like coal and petroleum. For example, excess use of solar energy, wind energy will not reduce their stock and is always available forever.

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Less than 2%

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Agree. Definitin differs from place to place, society to society. Hence its development to help those who need help. In any form or any way. All encompassing. Beneficiliaty is the watchword!

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One way to sustain development while not raising the poverty level is to build in mandatory pecuniary debits to offset poverty increases.

The Expert answers:

Sustainable development is a buzzword from the UN that really means population control by restricting access to the environment. This will lead to an elite few, non elected people controlling our food, water, air, energy and housing while the general public is led like sheep to the slaughter – never suspecting until it is too late.
Harmonization is another buzzword that means all nations must conform to UN regulations even if they want higher standards. Any nation that doesn’t comply will be punished through trade sanctions.

The Expert answers:

Willingness to work hard and maintain change momentum. Change mindset. Change thinking. Look and take new challenges with guts! Women’s role is upped and men stop subjugating them and respect them. Www.bahai.org shows some sustainable devt around the world

The Expert answers:

Not the wrong category, just such a huge and obscure question. Many people have written entire books to answer that question. Maybe you could narrow it down a bit.

The Expert answers:

“Eco friendly” is not a clearly understood concept and many may offer different definitions. My preferred definition would be an activity which is environmentally sustainable in that it doesn’t use excessive resources to the detriment of the prevailing ecological system.

Any chemical – such as water or silicon – is not in itself ecologically damaging its the extent to which your use of this chemical will distort the ecology of your environment. E.g. A water based car wash may not be that damaging if you don’t use harmful detergent and you collect small amounts of naturally and sustainably obtained water.

The Expert answers:

People who use the swerly light bulbs,compost pile,recycle,conserve paper,water,anything that can be wasted. Go to www.thegreenteam.com to find out more. Also search on google.
Good luck on your project!
-mae

The Expert answers:

One thing you can do is to turn off your computer at night. Turning it off opposed to putting it in hibernate mode will save lots of energy. Riding your bike or taking public transportation will help. Can you encourage your parents to purchase local organic food? Not knowing how old you are makes this a little more difficult to answer. You can ask your parents to purchase only organic personal care items. There is also another really neat item you can get if you use a dish washer called Bag E Wash. This little devices fit into your dishwasher and you can put your used baggies onto the device to re-wash your baggies. Millions of baggies end up in the land-fill every year. Good Luck!

The Expert answers:

<=< I'm Trying. My Avatar is Proof. See if You can Figure it out !

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Www.Care2.com has a lot of great information on eco-friendly products. Give them a shot.

–Derek Marin
HomEx | Boston, MA
The Socially Responsible Home Cleaning Institute
http://www.CertifiedHomeCleaners.com

The Expert answers:

The basic idea that people who feel bad about something can buy them to get rid of the guilt.

The way that they work is that a very small amount (much less than the subsidies and tax breaks given to politically correct energy) of money goes to those who operate a wind turbine or solar panel (or even methane gas recovery systems at landfills, sometimes things that would have to be built regardless of whether any carbon credits were sold), the amount of money that the carbon offset actually provides is really too small to actually encourage use of politically correct energy, especially when you consider how much bigger the subsidies are (and they really are over-subsidised compared to how much energy they produce).

Of course there are renewable energy credit systems that do actually help, just that they cost so much more that the frauds out compete them (and governments don’t seem too interested in keeping that sector honest, some such schemes are actually run by the government, including some that sell more renewable energy than they actually generate (in other areas of the economy the word used for that is fraud)).

The main purposes that renewable energy credits serve are to act as indulgences and to help fool people into believing that fossil fuels can be replaced without using nuclear power (which thereby prevents fossil fuels from actually being replaced and keeps the coal and oil companies in business).

The Expert answers:

I don’t think the certificates are designed to save you money. My utility company has a program called greeen energy that cost me about 1/2 of 1%, so about $10 in the summer. They will buy electricity from renewable/clean sources in the amount that the participants in the program use. This helps build the demand for renewable energy and fund new projects. Part of the program also helps with the rebates offered for homes and businesses to install solar systems.

I know you can buy credits to offset travel and a variety of other things, but again I don’t think they are designed to save money. It is a way for people who want to do their part to reduce carbon emissions to help fund programs that will help reduce CO2 in other ways.

The Expert answers:

There is a table from the Dept. Of Energy that compares various vendors and their costs. See:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/markets/certificates.shtml?page=1

In effect, you are donating money to fund alternative energy sources (wind, solar, hydro, biogas) that subsequently feed into the nat’l power grid.

Since you are donating money, you might as well get a charitable deducation on your income taxes. The nativeenergy.com site won’t give a definitive answer on this question, but suggests you can do it.

So go with a group which is a charitable non-profit organization that clearly states donations are tax deductible. Look at your yearly electricity bills, multiply kilowatt hours by 2 cents and donate that much.

Unlike the carbon offset credits that are often nebulous and sometimes outright fraudulent, renewable energy credits (RECs) trace back to definite generating capacity that can be (and usually are) audited to make sure they are above board. (The US gov’t buys RECs, so any egregious fraud tends to get uncovered quickly.)

I think you are taking the right approach to renewable energy, and these projects will stand the test of time regardless of how the global warming issue pans out.

Despite all the bashing of the US, the graph at:

http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/newsreleases/GHG2006-en

shows how the EU-25 don’t come close to meeting their Kyoto promises.

The non-Kyoto country, the US, in 2006 DECREASED CO2 emissions in by 1.4%.

I guess that signing Kyoto and then reneging somehow makes countries feel noble and good about themselves. But buying RECs that actually do something doesn’t count.

The Expert answers:

I don’t know any web sites but I can tell you why I don’t like the idea of tax credits for alternative energy. Tax credits are a penalty against conventional energy sources. If the alternatives are so great they shouldn’t need tax credits to make them competitive. Using tax credits to make alternative energy able to compete with conventional sources doesn’t encourage the companies that make alternatives from improving their products to compete in a free market. The tax credits have to be replaced with some other source of revenue or savings. The term “savings” is not known to the government so they raise taxes or increase the deficit. Their is also the administrative cost of monitoring the tax credits. That means more government. Let the laws of supply and demand work without government interference

The Expert answers:

Sorry, but actually voting no would have required McCain to take a stand. Reread the article – he failed to appear for the vote 8 times. On one of those occasions, he was in his office and refused to come to the Senate floor. The man is a career politician to his core and cannot be taken at his word.

EDIT: To Cracker: Why does the government give tax breaks to oil companies? As you say, if it’s an economically feasible industry, it doesn’t need those. So you’re saying you’re with Obama on this one – we should eliminate those tax breaks and start taking some of the money back to help consumers? Now you’re thinking right!

The Expert answers:

Israel has pioneered the use of solar energy.
Http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts%20About%20Israel/Science%20-%20Technology/Solar%20Energy%20in%20Israel

Alternative Energy Research Program Launched by Weizmann Institute
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000255.html

Israel’s electric car will cut oil needs.
Project Better Place, owned by Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi, will provide lithium-ion batteries and the infrastructure to refresh or replace them, while Renault and Nissan will build the cars.
Http://www.metimes.com/Technology/2008/01/24/israels_electric_car_will_cut_oil_needs/7949/

Environmental Technologies and Alternative Energy Developed in Israel
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/2000_2009/2002/8/environmental%20technologies%20and%20alternative%20energy

The Expert answers:

You have to be careful though… Some alternative energies are just the oil companies “pretending” to have gone green…

Mike Huckabee is promoting Ethanol because he is a lobbyist for the oil commission from way back… Oil companies have been investing in Ethanol because it is controllable and won’t come from the United States… Which is very BAD for America.
(and some research indicates that the production of Ethanol leads to even more carbon emissions anyway)

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Those are big pants, andre

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Good

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Yes. Obama stated before the election that he would make the electric industry go broke to fix it. What did his supporters think he meant. Of course they will pass on the extra costs to the Consumer. ANd those of us retired will be moving into caves and using torches for light before he’s happy. But then he’ll try to tax the torches as a carbon fuel too.

SFC
US Army
retired
‘

The Expert answers:

Water is low, dry lands, animals need clean water so healthier people and area around them

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The question is not clear… One must guess what is behind teh phrase. And there is perception of unbalanced issues! Of course, there are environmental problems in Africa, however the resources to solve those problems are not there or are not sustainable. There are still too many decades of destruction and unfair economic exploitation that provoke this ever-worsening problem on environment management in Africa. Peace, training and education, investment and democracz could be some of the kez-words for the correct answer.

The Expert answers:

Climate change: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/11/africa/AF_GEN_South_Africa_Environment.php
Key issues in Tanzania:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=32564
Impact of global warming
http://globalwarming.house.gov/impactzones/eastafrica

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Maybe Save the Planet would work.

The Expert answers:

Sudan is a big producer of oil, so that’s probably why there are a lot of jobs in need over there. The US doesn’t import from them because of the war going on over there, but that hasn’t stopped China from buying their oil. I would think twice before heading off to work in a wore torn 3rd world country if I were you!

Australia is really big into mining, so I’m assuming that most of the jobs you’re seeing are for mining companies and such. In fact, Australia just elected a new president (or is it Prime Minister down there?) who I’ve heard is going to sign the Koyoto treaty, so maybe a lot of businesses there are preparing for that.