September 18, 2016

WSJ: In Fukushima, a Determination to Move Past Nuclear Power

Local governments are making progress on their goal of generating all of the prefecture’s power from renewable sources by 2040

Wall Street Journal | CASSANDRA SWEET | Sept. 13, 2016

IITATE, Japan—Many residents of Fukushima prefecture are still angry about the nuclear disaster five years ago that contaminated towns, farm fields and forests. But as the cleanup continues, local governments and some business owners here are channeling their frustration into something positive: clean-energy development.


Cattle farmer Minoru Kobayashi has built solar arrays on land that can’t be used for farming. PHOTO: CASSANDRA SWEET/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Fukushima prefecture, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Tokyo and roughly the size of Connecticut, was the site of the devastating meltdown of the Daiichi nuclear-power plant following an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Since then, most of Japan’s 50-plus nuclear plants, which were shut down after the accident for a safety review, have remained off line.

Determined to move away from nuclear energy permanently, local governments in Fukushima, as well as some local entrepreneurs, have taken advantage of national subsidies and embraced solar and wind power. Even as Japan’s overall move toward renewables appears to be stalling amid resistance from utilities and cheap fossil-fuel imports, the prefecture has made progress on its goal of generating 100% of the power its residents use from green sources by 2040.

New solar, wind and geothermal power generators, combined with Fukushima’s already abundant supply of hydropower, have boosted the share of renewable energy in the prefecture’s total power supply to more than one-quarter from one-fifth in 2009. By comparison, renewables made up just 14% of Japan’s overall energy production in the year ended in March...snip

...Left with fields that couldn’t be used for farming, Mr. Kobayashi, along with a group of local farmers and investors, built four 50-kilowatt solar arrays on their land and plan to build 12 more by the end of next year. The group is selling power to the local utility at prices set by the government and expects to turn a profit by the end of this year...snip
Read More: http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-fukushima-a-determination-to-move-past-nuclear-power-1473818580

Interesting that the WSJ left out any mention of Fukushima's plans for Hydrogen. Ignorance - or something else? Yet most people STILL have no idea that Japan has perfected a Hydrogen Fuel Cell car that needs no petrol and emits only water as exhaust. You'd think that would be big news.

Related: Fukushima Prefecture to become hub for hydrogen society
The Yomiuri Shimbun September 12, 2016

The government is initiating a project to produce hydrogen on a massive scale in Fukushima Prefecture, with the ultimate goal of creating a hydrogen energy-oriented society.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1127104986
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003201119

September 17, 2016

Former FBI Whistleblower calls for new 9/11 investigation

WhoWhatWhy.org | JEFF SCHECHTMAN | 9/16/16

Coleen Rowley was the whistleblower who exposed the FBI’s cover-up of the information from the Minneapolis FBI field office that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks. Rowley tells WhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schechtman that in her view, we still don’t know the truth about who was behind the attacks and she urges a new independent investigation. She argues that not just the FBI but other agencies also ignored a whole range of early warning signs

She explains that, when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in June of 2002, it was already too late to change course and that no one was interested in the truth she had to tell. She gives us firsthand stories of how she has seen the cover-up continue and become more pervasive.


Coleen Rowley Credit: Slowking/WikiMedia

Full Text Transcript:

Jeff Schechtman: Welcome to Radio WhoWhatWhy I’m Jeff Schechtman. For the 14th time we’ve recently marked the tragic events of 9/11. In so doing we are also marking an event that set in motion a chain of events that is bequeathed just two wars, thousands of deaths, random terror attacks, fear, and ultimately confusion about how we got here and what’s next. How did the cause of those attacks and even the failure to take action that could have prevented them lead us perhaps in the wrong national direction?

All of that and even the release of the 28 pages of the 9/11 report that we spoke with Sen. Bob Graham about last week, raises the specter of what we still don’t fully understand about what really transpired. And if we don’t, how do we know that what we’re doing today is the right thing to deal with terror, and to prevent future attacks? My guest Colleen Rowley was a longtime FBI agent and division legal counsel. She blew the whistle on the FBI’s failure to act on information provided by the Minneapolis field office that might’ve prevented the attacks. She ran for Congress in Minnesota and she continues to write and blog about US policy. It is my pleasure to welcome her here to the program. Colleen, thanks so much for joining us here on Radio WhoWhatWhy.

Colleen Rowley: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Jeff: You know in politics and I guess in the corporate world as well people like to say that the cover-up is often worse than the crime. In your view, talk a little bit about how did the initial FBI cover-up played a role, not in shaping the events of 9/11, not in allowing those events to happen, but in misdirecting us in terms of our response once it happened.

Colleen: Yeah, and it was not only of course the FBI if you realize that the Bush administration fought tooth and nail to have to stop or prevent any inquiry at all from the start. Dick Cheney made calls to Daschle so that they would not have the congressional inquiry. Basically at least I know from the FBI, eventually when a joint intelligence committee was started there was timeline made that [?] some crucial things, but actually then skewed the facts in one direction. People have kind of forgotten about this. It’s 15 years ago but in those first few months after 9/11, Condi Rice had gone out and said no one would ever have expected a plane to fly into a building. And that was really the narrative, that was the prevailing narrative. Nobody spoke up and said, “No, no, there had been [?] training exercises with that premise.” There had been planning for international conferences that plan, that took that into account. There had been a prior terrorist who had threatened to fly into I think the CIA headquarters etc.

All of the government aligned itself so as to put out a narrative that 9/11 was not ever, there was no warning about this and that there was nothing that could have been done. And at the same time then they were, with this prior agenda, to launch war on Iraq and course in the meantime they had to launch war on Afghanistan. And very quickly, what people didn’t know is that they got the lawyers at the office of legal counsel to begin writing memos that legalized, put legalized in quotes, things like torture. And this wasn’t a year later. This was really quickly, within days they were writing these memos. One memo written within a couple of weeks of 9/11 said that there would no longer be freedom of speech-that the First Amendment would have to take a backseat now to the necessities of war. And that’s almost a form of martial law. And that was all done secretly and so the people didn’t have any idea and again the news was not able, that quickly, to get out the facts. And that’s the sad story, that we ended up doing all of these things-launching war in Iraq that had absolutely no connection to 9/11, beginning to torture, beginning these series of kidnappings and indefinite detentions and black sites. Even the massive spying was begun quite soon after 9/11. And none of this had any real relevancy to how the attacks had actually occurred, weight of the facts behind it, because there had been no inquiry or no investigation...snip
Audio Interview and Full Transcript: http://whowhatwhy.org/2016/09/16/former-fbi-whistleblower-calls-new-911-investigation/

Download MP3 http://www.whowhatwhy.org/files/Rowley%20final.mp3

Coleen Rowley's Website
http://www.coleenrowley.com/blog/index.php


Coleen Rowley at her rally in Rosemount, Minnesota on September 17, 2006 Credit: Krispos42/Wikimedia

Coleen Rowley

...In January 1981, Rowley became a Special Agent with the FBI and was assigned to the Omaha, Nebraska and Jackson, Mississippi divisions. Beginning in 1984, she spent six years working in the New York field office on investigations involving Italian organized crime and Sicilian heroin. During this time she served three temporary assignments in the U.S. embassy in Paris and the consulate in Montreal. In 1990, she was transferred to the FBI's Minneapolis field office, where she became Chief Division Counsel. There she taught constitutional law to FBI agents and police officers, and oversaw the Freedom of Information, Asset Forfeiture Program, Victim-Witness and community outreach programs.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Rowley wrote a paper for FBI Director Robert Mueller documenting how FBI HQ personnel in Washington, D.C., had mishandled and failed to take action on information provided by the Minneapolis, Minnesota Field Office regarding its investigation of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. Moussaoui had been suspected of being involved in preparations for a suicide-hijacking similar to the December 1994 "Eiffel Tower" hijacking of Air France 8969. Failures identified by Rowley may have left the U.S. vulnerable to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Rowley was one of many agents frustrated by the events that led up to the attacks, writing:

During the early aftermath of September 11th, when I happened to be recounting the pre–September 11th events concerning the Moussaoui investigation to other FBI personnel in other divisions or in FBIHQ, almost everyone's first question was "Why?--Why would an FBI agent(s) deliberately sabotage a case? (I know I shouldn't be flippant about this, but jokes were actually made that the key FBI HQ personnel had to be spies or moles like Robert Hanssen who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden to have so undercut Minneapolis's effort.)

In May 2002 Rowley testified to the Senate and the 9/11 Commission about the FBI's pre-9/11 lapses due to its internal organization and mishandling of information related to the attacks.[2] Mueller and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) pushed for and achieved a major reorganization, focused on creation of the new Office of Intelligence at the FBI.[6] This reorganization was supported with a significant expansion of FBI personnel with counterterrorism and language skills.

In February 2003, Rowley wrote a second open letter to Mueller, in which she warned her superiors "that the bureau is not prepared to deal with new terrorist strikes that she and many colleagues fear would result from an American war with Iraq."[7] In April 2003, Rowley stepped down from her legal position to return to being a FBI Special Agent. At the end of 2004 she retired from the FBI after serving for 24 years.

Honors and awards

Rowley jointly held the TIME "Person of the Year" award in 2002 with two other women credited as whistleblowers: Sherron Watkins from Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom. She also received the 2002 Sam Adams Award.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleen_Rowley

September 16, 2016

3 Current Developments That Could Make Hydrogen Big By The End Of 2017

Seeking Alpha by Ralf Anders 9/15/16

The "hydrogen economy" is a very controversial topic. Some say it will be the next big thing, others say it's just a pipe dream that will never materialize. I'm with the first group, and here is why.

Reason 1: The Japanese Push

Olympic Games in Asia have always been a vehicle to show the economic potential and technological prowess of the hosts. In 1964, Japan inaugurated its iconic high-speed trains and afterward developed into a leading industrial country. South Korea joined the club after Seoul 1988 and Beijing 2008 were spectacular demonstrations of China's might.

[center][/center]
Tokyo 2020 will again be more than just a great sports event. Japan has great plans to use the Games as some kind of "innovation exposition." Of course, there will be robots of different kinds. Equally important are the projects around hydrogen and fuel cells. "The upcoming Olympics will leave a hydrogen society as its legacy," declared Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe. They want to establish a dense network of hydrogen stations and put tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles (FCEV) on the street...snip

Reason 2: The European Response

Seemingly, Japan has put itself at the forefront of the industry. But will Europe remain behind them? I don't think so, as there is too much at stake. Particularly in the Northern half of the continent, there is an extremely high density of powerful groups and high-tech companies that are organizing to develop the hydrogen economy.

[center]
http://hydrogeneurope.eu/[/center]

Gases giants like Linde (OTCPK:LNAGF) have developed advanced technologies for hydrogen production and handling. Integrated oil and gas companies like Total (NYSE:TOT) have made major strains into the market for many years, hoping to stay in business with hydrogen stations even if electric cars increasingly make traditional fuels obsolete...

Reason 3: The Chinese "Rush In"

China has taken the lead in wind power installations, photovoltaic module production and even super-computing. Today, it's impossible to ignore the China factor in any advanced industry. Of course, the "Energy Innovation Action Plan (2016-30)" also includes a chapter about hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The item "Research on methods to achieve low-cost and large-scale integrated hydrogen production, storage, transport and utilization" particularly catches my eye. China's wind turbines could be operated a lot more economically, if there's an efficient way to store surplus energy. This is why power-to-gas is a big topic in China, too...snip
Read More: http://seekingalpha.com/article/4006404-3-current-developments-make-hydrogen-big-end-2017

氢是头号

September 16, 2016

BBC: The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs

The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs was an eye-opening insight into our pill-popping culture

UK Telegraph Michael Hogan 15 SEPTEMBER 2016

“Come and get your pills! We are selling pills with side effects guaranteed! Gastric bleeding, sir? These can erode your stomach lining and kill you.” Setting up a mock market stall called The Honest Pharmacy was just the start of The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs (BBC One) – a blend of science documentary and social experiment which was both eye-opening and surprisingly entertaining.

The telegenic Dr Chris van Tulleken (this time without his screen sidekick, twin brother Xander) began by hitting us with a barrage of scary statistics. GPs in the UK prescribe over a billion tablets each year. That means the average Brit takes 100,000 pills in their lifetime. It’s a wonder we don’t rattle as we walk.


Credit: BBC

While many drugs undoubtedly do good and save lives, they can also be harmful – causing serious side effects and thousands of deaths each year. In a one-man bid to solve the over-medication crisis, van Tulleken set up shop in an Essex surgery to investigate whether patients really need their repeat prescriptions. Cue a voyeuristic glimpse into the confidential intimacy of GP appointments.

Could he wean young mother Sarah off the antidepressants she’d been taking for eight years? By making her swim in an ice-cold lake, yes maybe. Could he tackle Wendy’s chronic 20-year shoulder problem without her cabinet full of painkillers? Most definitely, by replacing pills with placebos, while encouraging daily exercises...snip
Read More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/09/15/the-doctor-who-gave-up-drugs-was-an-eye-opening-insight-into-our/

Programme website: http://bbc.in/2bXRv2y A two-part social experiment with Dr Chris van Tulleken.



Full programme on BBC iPlayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w532p

September 13, 2016

Green-powered boat prepares for round-the-world voyage

Vessel aiming to be the ‘Solar Impulse of the seas’ will be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen during its six-year voyage

The Guardian/Agence France-Presse
Monday 12 September 2016

Dubbed the “Solar Impulse of the seas”, the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.



A water-borne answer to the Solar Impulse – the plane that completed its round-the-globe trip using only solar energy in July – the Energy Observer will be powered by the sun, the wind and self-generated hydrogen when it sets sail in February as scheduled.

The multi-hulled catamaran is in a shipyard at Saint Malo on France’s west coast, awaiting the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and electrolysis equipment, which breaks down water to produce its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen.

“We are going to be the first boat with an autonomous means of producing hydrogen,” says Frenchman Victorien Erussard, who is behind the project – confidential until now – with compatriot Jacques Delafosse, a documentary filmmaker and professional scuba diver...snip

...“If there’s no sun or wind, or if it’s night, stored hydrogen – generated by electrolysis powered by the solar panels and two wind turbines – will take over,” he said...snip
Read More: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/12/green-powered-boat-prepares-for-round-the-world-voyage

Sur l'océan, l'hydrogène est numéro un

September 13, 2016

Fukushima Prefecture to become hub for hydrogen society

The Yomiuri Shimbun September 12, 2016

The government is initiating a project to produce hydrogen on a massive scale in Fukushima Prefecture, with the ultimate goal of creating a hydrogen energy-oriented society.

According to the “Fukushima plan for a new energy society” announced on Sept. 7, the government intends to enable large-scale production of hydrogen in the prefecture, which will become a model district, by utilizing renewable energy such as wind power. The prefecture’s power grid will be expanded to increase the use of renewable energy.



The plan was compiled and determined by a joint public-private sector conference held in Fukushima city. It involved the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry; the Reconstruction Agency; utility companies and other entities. Relevant ministries have requested expenditure of ¥75.4 billion in the government’s fiscal 2017 budget to carry out the project.

Hydrogen is drawing attention as a next-generation energy source because it does not emit carbon dioxide when used as fuel to generate electricity...snip
Read More: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003201119



福島県では、水素がナンバー1であります

September 12, 2016

Toyota constructs zero emissions building at Honsha Plant using pure H2 Fuel Cell Technology

Toyota constructs zero emissions building at Honsha Plant using stationary pure hydrogen fuel cell technology

Toyota City, Japan, Sept 12, 2016

Toyota Motor Corporation has installed stationary pure hydrogen fuel cells at the energy management facility which had been completed at its Honsha Plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, in August 2016. The fuel cells started operations on September 12.



Toyota is progressing with initiatives toward the fulfillment of the Plant Zero CO2 Emissions Challenge that was announced at the 2015 Toyota Environmental Forum. In connection with this, Toyota aims to completely eliminate CO2 emissions at the recently constructed new energy management facility through energy-saving measures, and the use of renewable and hydrogen-based energy.

Specifically, the energy-saving measures include, promoting conservation by allowing each employee to switch the air-conditioning and lighting on and off, as well as maximizing the use of natural lighting and natural ventilation. The measures are expected to reduce electric power consumption and CO2 emissions by half.

For renewable energy to be utilized at the plant, stationary pure hydrogen fuel cells with a rated power output of 3.5 kW have been installed. Additionally, an energy management system that combines solar power generation with storage batteries made by recycling used batteries from Prius hybrid vehicles has been put into operation.

With this system, energy demand from the energy management facility is being projected, and a corresponding efficient energy supply is realized mainly through the highly energy-efficient fuel cells. These are supplemented by solar power―which generates changeable supply of power, in combination with storage batteries. The excess thermal energy generated by the fuel cells is then used for air-conditioning...snip
Read More: http://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/toyota-constructs-zero-emissions-building-honsha-plant-using-stationary-pure-hydrogen-fuel-cell-technology/




愛知県では、水素がナンバー1であります

September 11, 2016

Haaretz- Israeli Solution for World's Oil Addiction: Engineered Algae

Algae can be engineered to hyper-produce hydrogen, a clean source of energy for cars and industry, too, say Tel Aviv scientists

Haaretz | Ruth Schuster | Sep 11, 2016


Single-celled algae produce hydrogen all day, not in one dawn microburst, it turns out.

You could be growing your own car fuel in some scummy green tank in your living room one day, with or without engineered fluorescent fish inside. No, you wouldn't be gassing the car or powering the house with fish pee, but with hydrogen produced by engineered algae.

Hydrogen is widely touted as the fuel of the future and now Tel Aviv University scientists have made two crucial discoveries. One is how algae produce it. The other is how to make them produce more of it, so hydrogen can be mass-produced, cheaply, and used not only in public transportation but industry.

"For the last 12,000 years we have been using agriculture to make food, but when it comes to energy, we are still hunter gatherers. Agriculture for energy is the next revolution," research leader Assistant Prof. Iftach Yacoby, head of the renewable energy laboratory at Tel Aviv University, tells Haaretz. "There are other ways to produce hydrogen, but this is the greenest, and is the only agricultural one."

In two separate papers published in the international science press, the TAU team describes the discovery that algae produce hydrogen from photosynthesis, not in a microburst at dawn, as assumed until now, but all the time. Secondly and crucially, they have engineered a way to boost production nearly fivefold by genetic engineering...snip

Making hydrogen all day long

Photosynthesis is a biochemical process by which competent plants, algae and bacteria convert light energy into chemical energy. Generally speaking, photoautotrophs start from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H20) that they first split into the composite atoms, carbon, oxygen and protons, using sunlight energy, then "cook" to make glucose sugar (?C6H12O6)...snip
Read More: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/science/1.741421

Hydrogen- The Next Big Thing™

בישראל, מימן הוא מספר אחת

September 8, 2016

Living in a Hydrogen World with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

Published on Sep 2, 2016: The author of Lives Per Gallon, Terry Tamminen, joins Stan The Energy Man to share the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation's work, his hydrogen house and what it's like to live in a hydrogen world.


Leonardo DiCaprio's Crusade:'The Revenant' star opens up about his dedication to saving the world from environmental catastrophe http://tinyurl.com/hyovmx6

ThinkTech Hawaii streams live on the Internet from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm every weekday afternoon, Hawaii Time, then streaming earlier shows through the night. Check us out any time for great content and great community.

Our vision is to be a leader in shaping a more vital and thriving Hawaii as the foundation for future generations. Our mission is to be the leading digital media platform raising pubic awareness and promoting civic engagement in Hawaii.
More videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ5BKpljxXj4Y8Ut164GnSg

About the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

History

In 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio established his foundation with the mission of protecting the world’s last wild places. LDF implements solutions that help restore balance to threatened ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and well-being of all Earth’s inhabitants. Since that time the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) has worked on some of the most pressing environmental issues of our day.

Through grantmaking, public campaigns and media initiatives, LDF brings attention and needed funding to four focus areas—protecting biodiversity, oceans conservation, wildlands conservation, and climate change. Several successful fundraising events have enabled LDF to scale up our grantmaking strategy, successfully driving support for innovative and impactful conservation projects around the globe...snip more: http://leonardodicaprio.org/about/

http://leonardodicaprio.org/

@LDF: H2 -> #1

September 8, 2016

This massive billboard was just set up across the street from The NY Times

36,424 views (at time of this post) in less than 12 hours



http://www.ae911truth.org/


Lots of attention on Reddit, the #9 top site in the US (Alexa)

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/duplicates/51mqng/this_massive_billboard_was_just_set_up_across_the/

15th anniversary this Sunday