Right access to the world

URGENT REPLY.

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:38:00 +0000

Dear friend,

I know that this letter may come to you as a surprise, I got your contact address from the computerized search. My name is Mr Bello Adama. I am the Bill and Exchange (assistant) Manager of Bank of Africa Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of twelve million five hundred thousand United State of American dollars (12.5 MILLION USA DOLLARS) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer Mr Kurt Kuhle from Alexandra Egypt who died along with his family in Siber airline that crashed into sea at Isreal on 4th October 2001.

Since I got information about his death I have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we can not release it unless somebody applies for it as the next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him in the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I don't want the money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.

Am contacting you because our deceased customer is a foreigner and a Burkinabe can not stand as a next of kin to a foreign customer. The banking guidelines stipulate that the fund should be transferred into the bank treasury after 9 years if nobody is coming for the claim.

I have agreed that 33% of this money will be for you as foreign partner in respect to the provision of your account for the transfer, 2% will be set aside for expenses that might occurred during the business and 65% would be for me, after which I shall visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated.

Please I would like you to keep this transaction confidential and as a top secret as you may wish to know that I am a bank official.

Yours sincerely,
Mr Bello Adama.

Will Obama be pragmatic in energy policy?

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:37:00 +0000

President-elect Barack Obama is proving to be remarkably pragmatic and centrist as he tackles the global economic crisis. Big tests are yet to come on energy, however.

Will Obama tilt toward fossil-phobic environmentalists who heavily influence the Democratic Party, or do-it-all pragmatists like his apparent choice for White House national security adviser, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones?

Jones' present job is chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, which contends that offshore oil drilling, clean coal technology and nuclear power have to be part of America's energy policy.

On Oct. 20, Jones made it clear at a panel discussion I was part of that he regards energy policy as "an international security issue of the highest order," which suggests that he will make it part of his portfolio at the National Security Council.

He released a step-by-step "transition plan" for energy that included "aggressively" promoting energy efficiency and alternative fuel research, but also domestic oil and gas exploration and elimination of restrictions against nuclear power plants, new electric grids, and oil and gas pipelines.

Such ideas are anathema to many Democratic "greens" – including leaders in Congress – who want to close down the carbon economy and base the country's energy future strictly on renewables such as wind, solar and geothermal power, plus conservation.

In particular, Jones has aroused the ire of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for backing disposal of the nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The power of the greens was also demonstrated by the toppling of Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the auto industry's longtime protector, as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

His replacement, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is a "green," and his coup was backed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

After behaving like a leftish liberal for much of his political career – and becoming the darling of the left during the presidential campaign – Obama so far is fulfilling his self-assessment that he's a pragmatist, willing to try "whatever works."

His economic appointments – Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary, Lawrence Summers in the White House, Christina Romer at the Council of Economic Advisers and Peter Orszag at the Office of Management and Budget – have sent reassuring signals to terrified financial markets. And his heavily leaked selections for foreign policy posts – Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, Jones at the NSC and possibly current Defense Secretary Robert Gates – definitely lean toward the "realist" or "national interest" school of foreign policy, not the "liberal internationalist."

On policy, moreover, Obama has shown reassuring resilience, utterly abandoning his previous intention to follow the Franklin D. Roosevelt model of crisis governing.

FDR famously refused to involve himself in policymaking to deal with the Great Depression from November 1932 until his inauguration in March 1933 and refused to have any contact with outgoing President Herbert Hoover's administration.

At his initial press conference as president-elect on Nov. 7, Obama repeated the mantra that "the country has only one president at a time." Crashing financial markets and the impending "Great Recession" – or worse – changed his attitude.

A good case can be made that George W. Bush will go down in history as another Herbert Hoover, but if Obama means to be FDR, at least he's starting early.

The case for Bush as Hoover is this: Bush's carelessness about deficit spending and doubling of the national debt created a nationwide atmosphere of fiscal irresponsibility, leading to over-leveraging (that is, massive debt accumulation) by investment banks, homeowners and consumers.

Bush maintained a hands-off attitude as the housing bubble expanded to the bursting point, as banks invested in impossible-to-understand mortgage-backed securities, and rating agencies slapped triple-A ratings on all of them. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have been un-Hoover-like in expanding government power to rescue the financial industry – Wall Street – but have been reluctant to adopt similarly aggressive policies to deal with the "Main Street" effects, including unemployment and home foreclosures.

For unexplained reasons, the Bush administration also has refused to adopt solutions backed by Sen. John McCain during his presidential campaign – revising the "mark to market" accounting rule and limiting "short-selling" by speculators, both of which are depressing bank stocks.

If Bush won't do anything about those policies, Obama should, along with passing a huge new stimulus package including infrastructure spending and middle-class tax cuts.

As a pragmatist, Obama is signaling that he won't raise taxes on rich people immediately – though he wants to for "fairness" reasons – but he should just declare that policy to spur investment.

And when it comes to infrastructure, Obama should encourage private investment as well as public. Besides roads and bridges, he should encourage wind farms, solar panels – and nuclear plants and offshore oil rigs.

The basis of Jones' case is that the United States will be heavily dependent upon fossil fuels for the next 20 years, until not-yet-mature alternative sources and conservation methods are developed.

The pragmatic thing for Obama to do is "do what works" in energy as well as the economy.

Morton Kondracke is executive editor of Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill.

Clean Energy Can Fuel Economic Revival, Green Groups Tell Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:29:00 +0000

President-elect Barack Obama can revive the U.S. economy - and aggressively combat climate change - by investing in clean energy technologies and strengthening environmental protections, the leaders of major U.S. environmental groups advise.

The recommendation is a central part of a lengthy wish list of policies sent to Obama's transition team Tuesday by a broad coalition of 29 of the nation's leading environmental and conservation organizations, who also urged the president-elect to swiftly reverse "eight years of environmental neglect" under the Bush administration.

"Our economy is suffering and so is our environment," Larry Schweiger, head of the National Wildlife Federation told reporters on a conference call. "The solutions to both go hand in hand."

The groups contend that difficult economic times provide opportunities, rather than obstacles, to tackling the daunting issues of climate change, clean energy and environmental protection.

Oak Ridge National Lab engineer Jeff Christian directs the design and construction of highly energy-efficient houses for low-income families. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

"Generating green collar jobs, making our offices and homes more efficient, rebuilding our water infrastructure, reducing our dependence on oil, reviving our ailing landscapes - these are solutions that can lead directly to economic prosperity, greater social equity and even enhanced national security," the coalition said in the 391-page report.

The solution to the nation's economic problems "is a new green economy," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. "Delay is not just bad for the planet, it is bad for the economy."

That message echoes some of Obama's own rhetoric on energy and climate change - last week he pledged support for a federal carbon cap-and-trade system, that would mandate cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and a further 80 percent by 2050.

Obama also outlined support for a $15 billion annual investment to support renewable energy and build a clean energy future, predicting the efforts would produce some five million new green jobs.

Those goals are in line with what environmentalists have long supported - a key reason the environmental groups are confident their agenda will now have a powerful advocate in the White House.

Workers install the first Mariah Windspire vertical axis wind turbine in the Midwest at the The College School, an elementary school in St. Louis, Missouri. October 2008. (Photo by Matthew Diller)

Obama has made it clear that his priorities "jive nicely" with the major concerns of the environmental community, said Maggie Alt, executive director of Environment America.

The environmental groups' planning document contains broad goals as well as specific recommendations for the White House and federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department, as well as the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy

"It covers a wide range of issues that merit prompt presidential attention, but it underscores the urgent need to build a green energy economy to tackle global warming," the groups wrote. "Most importantly, the document reflects a fundamental consensus that serious action is needed right now in order to usher in a healthier, cleaner, more prosperous and more sustainable era for America."

Along with the climate and energy recommendations, the groups call for a slew of policies to safeguard the Arctic, as well as steps to increase protection for wetlands, national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands.

The report recommends increased funding for conservation programs, stricter oversight of energy production from public lands and tighter air pollution standards.

The groups want Obama to reinstate a federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling along with a Clinton administration rule protecting roadless areas in national forests. They also want Obama to restore protections for endangered species weakened by the Bush administration.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District solar-powered hydrogen vehicle fueling station opened April 1, 2008. As solar panels make electricity, it powers the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen to make fuel for hydrogen-powered vehicles. (Photo by Keith Wipke courtesy NREL)

"There is lot of work to do to reverse the damage of the last eight years," Alt said.

In addition, the Obama administration should act quickly to reverse any last minute Bush rules that weaken environmental protections, Karpinski added.

"On day one they should place a moratorium on finalizing midnight regulations and reviewing those that have not yet taken effect," he said.

The environmentalists contend the widely anticipated economic stimulus package provides a critical opportunity for Obama to quickly signal his intention to follow through on his promises to solve the "entwined economic, climate and environmental crises."

Obama should lead the effort with bold measures to promote energy efficiency and spark increased development and use of renewable energy through modernization of the nation's electrical grid, the groups said.

"There's economic opportunity if we do this right," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The current electricity transmission grid is "a patchwork of antiquated technology" that loses 20-25 percent of electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, he explained.

Upgrading the grid can create jobs and unleash the potential of renewable energy, said Schweiger.

"This can get the system moving in terms of new energy … and allows us to invest in solar in the Southwest, wind in the Midwest and elsewhere and move that energy to places where it is needed," he told reporters. "Currently we do not have an infrastructure for that."

The following groups collaborated to produce the recommendations - American Rivers, Center For International Environmental Law, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends Of The Earth, Greenpeace, Izaak Walton League, League Of Conservation Voters, National Audubon Society, National Parks Conservation Association, National Tribal Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation, Native American Rights Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, Ocean Conservancy, Pew Environment Group, Physicians For Social Responsibility, Population Connection, Population Action International, Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, The Trust For Public Land, Union Of Concerned Scientists, and World Wildlife Fund.

Dead heat: This cemetery's otherworldly energy is solar

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:42:00 +0000

Maybe they're trying to bring the dead back to life.

A Spanish town alarmed about climate change has installed solar panels on its mausoleums, turning "a place of perpetual rest into one buzzing with renewable energy," the Associated Press reports with mirth.

The 462 panels are mounted on graves in the blue-collar town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet outside of Barcelona. The panels started absorbing energy from the sun to power the local grid last Wednesday, three years after the project began, according to the AP.

While this isn't the town's first green-energy project, or even the first time a Spanish cemetery has gone solar (Santa Coloma de Gramenet also has solar parks on the roofs of buildings, as do cemeteries elsewhere in Spain), it is believed to be the first time the panels have been put up over graves, the newswire says.

Santa Coloma de Gramenet took its unorthodox approach because its population of 124,000 people lives in a dense one-and-a-half square miles (3.9 square kilometers). There was little unused, flat and sunny land to install the panels, which will make enough energy to power 60 homes a year and eliminate 62 tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"The best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations," Esteve Serret, director of Conste-Live Energy, which runs the cemetery, told the AP.

Spain is the world's hottest solar market, with generous subsidies for manufacturers, plentiful sunshine and heavy demand from residents for energy-sucking air conditioning. Feed-in tariffs there guarantee 25 years of up to triple the market price for solar energy, and legislation would require all new buildings to include solar technology.

Challenges To Environmentally Responsible Energy Use In Today's Society

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Remember your first drive down the coast in your beat-up convertible, the ocean breeze tousling your hair, which at the time was still gloriously plentiful and, you hoped, desperately attractive to the person sitting next to you?

Chart of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are getting dirtier and harder to extract. (Credit: Illustration by Nicolle Rager Fuller. Chart figures are courtesy of the energy and resources group at the University of California, Berkeley. Chart authors are Adam Brandt and the late Alex Farrell, with additional analysis by Daniel Kammen.)

If that’s a California cliché, or if you never had a convertible, or if your hair was not that plentiful to start with, think about other lifetime memories: your first flight, your family road trip to Yellowstone, friendships made around the campfire, steam rising off a heated pool on a chilly night, a blast of air conditioning after a day in the withering heat.

Indelible moments and sensations dot our lives like mental sequins. And if you look up to the sky, the carbon atoms used in those moments are still there, each one knocking around with two oxygen buddies, trapping just a little bit of solar heat, forever unavailable in the fossil fuel form that society craves and loathes.

It is not an exaggeration to say that almost all our memories took carbon to make. Whoever invented the famous tag line for cotton growers just had the wrong raw material. Carbon: the fabric of our lives.

Now we are rushing to escape the energy culture as we know it, in order to remake it as we don’t know it. The irony is that a marginal amount of planning – continual improvement in mileage standards, closing of the loophole in those standards that exempted light trucks, steady federal investment in renewable energy – might have alleviated the energy and climate crunch facing us today.

“We could be using half the energy that we’re using,” says political scientist and energy policy expert Mark Bernstein, managing director of the new USC Energy Institute. Launched earlier this year, the think tank aims to build a community of energy and environmental researchers, expand research and education programs, engage outside companies and agencies, and – perhaps most important – help form good policy.

Such policy will have to fit through a shrinking window. Society had more options in the early 1970s, when the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was only around 320 parts per million – somewhat higher than the pre-industrial concentration of roughly 280 ppm. Today, with CO₂ levels nearing 390 ppm and growing faster than ever, time is a luxury. Predictions of looming “peak oil” – the point at which global oil production starts to decline – add to the urgency.

The energy crisis is not rushing toward the world so much as gaining on it. It’s more a problem from the past than a threat from the future. If only we could have some of that burned carbon back. “We’ve wasted an opportunity,” Bernstein says.

Bernstein’s job at the Energy Institute is to make sure we don’t find ourselves in the same boat 30 years from now. It is the ultimate cross-disciplinary challenge. Today’s policymakers need solid environmental research in a wide range of areas: atmospheric chemistry, land use, biology, physics, materials science, engineering, public policy, health, history – any field that touches on our relationship with the planet and its resources.

It’s a tricky balancing act.

Consider the now-notorious biofuel fiasco. In early 2008, a startling study in the journal Science pointed out what ethanol enthusiasts had overlooked: the huge amount of carbon released when forests are cleared for farming.

According to the study, only sugar cane is worth growing for ethanol. Unfortunately, sugar cane doesn’t grow in Kansas. Ethanol from corn or other plants actually puts more carbon into the air than gasoline, either directly from land cleared for agriculture or from an insidious cascade effect whereby U.S. soybean farmers switch their fields to corn, prompting Brazilian farmers to expand into the Amazon to replace the lost soybeans.

On the other hand, corn ethanol slightly lowers our dependence on foreign oil while enriching Midwestern farmers – a happy coincidence not lost on either political party’s presidential candidates during the Iowa caucuses.

By the time the Science study came out, the federal government had embarked on a bold plan to ramp up domestic ethanol production, largely from corn.

What the plan failed to consider, aside from the environmental cost, was the effect on world food prices. According to Time magazine, the corn needed to make an SUV-sized tankful of ethanol could feed a person for a year. A run-up in grain prices this year failed to derail the plan, despite an appeal by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas on behalf of ranchers blindsided by the skyrocketing cost of feed corn.

In the long term, seductive logic will not solve the energy shortage or abate the greenhouse effect. “Eventually facts count,” says USC chemist George Olah, a 1994 Nobel Prize winner whose achievements include crucial work on clean-burning, unleaded gasoline.

The question is, which facts?

Drawing on experts across the university, the USC Energy Institute stands to become a vital resource for both the research and policy communities. The stakes are high, and the problems complex. Acting correctly is as important as acting quickly.

“This is not just a question of inventing a new technology – it is a matter of changing the way we live and work,” says Randolph Hall, who as vice provost for research advancement guided the institute’s formation. “The Energy Institute is our way of capturing talent across the university toward this mission.”

It was a process that began with the recruitment of key faculty in 2005, when a barrel of oil cost $60 and the Toyota Prius was still an eco-nerd’s car, and culminated this year with an official launch, the installment of Bernstein as managing director and, most recently, the addition of Donald Paul, one of the world’s leading experts on the energy industry, as senior adviser to the provost on energy and technology.

Now comes the hard part.

The Chemists

First, what won’t work. According to Energy Institute experts, besides corn ethanol, you can forget about fusion (still a dream) and hydrogen (too expensive to store and distribute). Nuclear energy, a proven carbon-free technology, is tainted by public anxiety, high capital costs and proliferation fears, and remains something of a last resort. Don’t hold your breath waiting for some miracle of science, either.

“Everybody wants an easy solution,” says USC chemist and longtime Olah collaborator G. K. Surya Prakash. He knows the silver bullet impulse firsthand, having seen his promising but early-stage research cited in overly optimistic articles on another seductive concept: “carbon recycling.”

Prakash and Olah do indeed work on carbon recycling, and for years have been working on the energy problem out of their laboratories in the USC College’s Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. Their best prospect is the simplest hydrocarbon: methanol, a synthesis of one carbon, one oxygen and four hydrogen atoms.

Technically, methanol is not an energy source but an energy carrier – a convenient medium for storing and transporting energy.

Oil and gas are energy carriers, too. The ultimate source is the sun, which zaps Earth with what Olah calls “unholy” amounts of energy every day.

“Earth does not have an energy problem,” Prakash explains. “We have an energy-carrier problem.”

While that’s a bit like telling thirsty castaways on the ocean that they have a salinity problem – not really helpful in the here and now – Olah’s and Prakash’s little molecule could be the long-term energy carrier Earth has been looking for.

Unlike hydrogen gas, methanol is liquid at room temperature. Like petroleum, methanol could be transported and pumped in existing tanker trucks and gas stations. And it can be used to make gasoline, jet fuel, dimethyl ether (a diesel substitute) and all kinds of industrial plastics.

“Once you have methanol, you can make everything,” says Prakash.

Other bonuses: Cars can run on methanol with minor modifications. Methanol can be blended with gasoline and ethanol, and it can be made from biomass – organic waste – for less money than ethanol. And, crucially for the reduction of greenhouse gases, it is also possible to make methanol from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. And therefore, in theory, to recycle carbon.

But the story is not so simple, Prakash explains. (Remember, there are no easy solutions.) The caveats: Methanol is not found in nature, so it must be manufactured, which takes energy; methanol has toxic properties; carbon recycling works in the lab, but for commercial use it would need to be scaled up and improved in efficiency.

Caveats notwithstanding, the energy conglomerate UOP-Honeywell saw enough potential in Olah’s and Prakash’s portfolio of “methanol economy” patents that it bought an option to license the lot.

Interest in methanol is not just theoretical, Prakash notes. China is building plants that convert coal directly to a gas mixture, which then is used to make methanol. Such plants still release CO₂, though in a concentrated stream that would be easier to collect and recycle.

A new methanol plant in Iceland does much better. The plant uses geothermal steam for power, and makes methanol from CO2 released naturally by the steam vents. That makes the methanol produced fully carbon-neutral.

“Once there is a value for CO₂ and CO₂ abatement, all these technologies will become commercially attractive,” predicts Prakash, banking on an eventual carbon tax.

Taxing fuel is politically explosive, but some type of “soft” tax may be on the horizon. At a May 2008 forum on climate change policy hosted by USC’s Energy Institute, UCLA public policy scholar J. R. DeShazo sounded a rare note of optimism.

“At the federal level, a remarkable thing has happened,” he told about 100 assembled climate experts. According to DeShazo, both parties in Congress agree on the merits of a cap-and-trade system for regulating carbon emissions.

Cap-and-trade is a foul term to some environmentalists, because it grants explicit permission to pollute. But Adam Rose, research professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, who with Bernstein organized the Energy Institute forum, defends the idea.

“You limit the emissions, but then you give people the right to emit something,” he says. “Ironically, this gives them a stake in the environment. Prior to this, polluting was free; but now they have to use a valuable permit for each ton they emit.”

Total emissions would be capped while participants would be allowed to trade emission credits, Rose explains. Theoretically, the emitters who can cut back easily would do so at little cost, and make a profit by selling permits. Meanwhile, the emitters with high costs would buy permits because they are less expensive than mitigating the pollution. While the buyers don’t mitigate, they pay for it to be done by others.

“It’s a way of making people realize there’s a cost in emitting.”

The cost could be higher than people think. Bernstein and geographer Jennifer Wolch, director of USC’s Center for Sustainable Cities, want to quantify the health costs of fossil fuel emissions. They have access to ready data collected by the preventive medicine and environmental health faculty of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Led by Keck researchers James Gauderman and John Peters, the group made world headlines in 2007 when it published a study in the British journal Lancet that found stunted lung growth in children living within 500 feet of a freeway. Related studies from the group also found increased rates of asthma and other health problems.

Any accounting of carbon’s cost needs to include the public health burden of vehicle exhaust, Bernstein and Wolch point out.

“People are already paying a big bill, in the form of health effects and the economic burden of these effects – hospital bills, lost economic productivity – on society,” says Wolch, whose effort to tally the bill also involves Keck researchers Rob McConnell and Scott Fruin as well as her geography colleagues Manuel Pastor, Andrew Curtis and John Wilson, and Mansour Rahimi of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Whether they come via carbon tax or cap-and-trade, aggressive cuts in emissions are sorely needed, as climatologist Stephen Schneider noted emphatically at the Energy Institute’s May forum. The Stanford-based scientist was one of the leaders of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which concluded in 2007 that human activities were “very likely” (defined as over 90 percent confidence) changing Earth’s climate.

“We’re on a planetary sustainability train-wreck track, and something has to get done,” Schneider said in his keynote address at USC. “Your institute, I hope, will be at the front lines of that battle. The world badly needs people who do integrative work in the energy field.”

Bernstein, the institute’s managing director, has a résumé built for integrative work. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in applied mathematics from Ohio State before moving to the University of Pennsylvania for his Ph.D. in energy and environmental policy. He got a firsthand look at the nuclear industry while working for a plant construction company, then served on the faculty of Penn’s interdisciplinary energy program.

During the Clinton years, Bernstein worked in the White House Office of Science and Policy, where he launched a grant program to encourage energy innovation in residential construction. (The USC Viterbi School’s Behrokh Khoshnevis, inventor of an automatic system for making a concrete house, is a current grantee.)

Bernstein infuses his activities for the Energy Institute with a nuance rare among energy and environment experts. Take his position on the emotionally charged issue of offshore drilling. He agrees with other experts that any drilling today will not affect oil prices for at least a decade, while also acknowledging that the risk of disastrous spills is quite low.

The more important question, he says, is whether we should leave this oil in the ground and hold it as a strategic reserve. “If we use up all the oil in the United States now, then when the non-OPEC countries begin to run out, the only place to get oil will be the OPEC countries. To me, keeping it in the ground is like an insurance policy.”

A similar pragmatism marks Bernstein’s views on the energy and climate crises. Yes, he says, one could power the entire country on solar panels covering an area a third the size of Texas. Yes, he agrees, our power plants have enough capacity at off-peak hours to recharge plug-in hybrid cars for most U.S. households. But neither option is cost-effective now or in the near future.

Despite Al Gore’s call for a switch to all-renewable energy within 10 years, Bernstein finds it hard to imagine a future without coal and its huge carbon footprint, at least while we shuffle slowly toward alternative energy sources. As a result, he says: “I don’t think we can get away without doing carbon sequestration. We’re not going to cut emissions fast enough.”

Carbon sequestration refers to the process of storing CO₂ under ground. Don Zhang and Kristian Jessen, both from USC Viterbi, are the most recent faculty hires in this growing research field (like Rose and Bernstein, Zhang was recruited with support from the Energy Institute).

Zhang is an expert in reservoir simulation and sequestration modeling; Jessen has been studying CO₂ injection at the Weyburn oil field, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. At Weyburn, waste CO₂ from a coal plant is injected under ground and used to force out more oil from the aging field. Jessen called the results promising.

“The technology is there, it’s just very expensive,” he says. “But it’s time that we in the U.S. change the way we look at energy policy.”

As of this magazine’s printing, the Energy Institute was in talks with an outside company and potential international partners to offer USC expertise for test-site studies of carbon sequestration.

On another front, the Energy Institute is engaged in a bold thought-experiment. What would it take to make Santa Catalina Island fossil fuel-free?

The university has a longstanding relationship with the island through the USC Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center, a research institute heavily supported by the same Wrigley family behind the chewing gum, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and the Catalina Island Conservancy.

Bernstein helped start Catalina’s Sustainability Action Group, which also includes representatives from the Conservancy, the Santa Catalina Island Company, the City of Avalon, the Chamber of Commerce, L.A. County and Southern California Edison. The group has been exploring ways to achieve energy independence.

The project has yet to be green-lighted, but Bernstein says that weaning Catalina from fossil fuels is a surprisingly realistic goal (golf carts are already the principal means of island transportation, with gasoline used mostly for emergency vehicles and boats). If implemented, the project may serve as a model for hundreds of other communities.

To start, the island could easily achieve a 25-percent reduction in energy demand, Bernstein says.

He cites the work of Thomas Spiegelhalter, an energy consumption expert on the faculty of the USC School of Architecture, who has shown that common-sense measures and existing technologies can reduce energy use dramatically.

The second big gain for Catalina could come from a source we prefer not to think about: sewage. Renowned geobiologist Kenneth Nealson of USC College has been perfecting a genetically engineered bacterium that makes electricity from a diet most foul.

In just the last year and a half, Nealson’s group – including computational biologist Steve Finkel of USC College and mechanical engineer Paul Ronney and material scientist Florian Mansfeld of USC Viterbi – has improved the efficiency of the “bactery” many times over.

Scaled up for household use, it could generate as much electricity from sewage as the typical rooftop solar-panel installation.

Throw in existing methods of energy generation from waste – non-toxic burning of regular garbage, recovery of methane from sewage – some wind and solar installations, maybe a little tidal power, and all of Catalina could go fossil fuel-free, Bernstein says.

It’s been done before. A Danish island described this year in The New Yorker achieved carbon neutrality mostly through a combination of wind power and geothermal heat pumps for home heating and air-conditioning.

The problem is that every situation is unique. A metropolis, a wind-swept rock in the North Sea, a cool rain forest and a desert plain all have different energy needs.

“And this is why we have a hard time selling people [energy] policies,” says Bernstein. “Because it’s not simple. It’s a complicated story.

“We’re going to need some solar,” he says. “We’re going to need some wind; we’re going to need some hydro; we’re going to need some ocean; we’re going to need some biofuels made from non-food crops. We’re going to need a whole load of stuff, and it’s going to have to be a very diverse portfolio.”

For now, solar energy probably remains the darling of the group, at least in consumer appeal. It is clean, direct and easy to understand.

It is also expensive. But maybe not for much longer.

Led by chemist Mark Thompson, USC researchers are working on a new class of flexible solar panels that would be cheap, thin and easy to install on any surface. These panels still trail their stiffer precursors in efficiency, but Thompson’s group hopes to narrow the gap.

“The other side, where we can get an even bigger bang for the buck, is conservation,” he says. His laboratory is working on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that use even less energy than fluorescent bulbs, contain no mercury or other heavy metals, have a superior color spectrum and last around 25 years.

Thompson’s most recent major study on OLEDs appeared in the journal Nature. Universal Display Corporation, a major lighting manufacturer, has an option to license Thompson’s discoveries.

One can think of conservation as a resource like oil and gas, measurable by the amount of energy saved. If the world’s oil reserves are mostly mapped, its conservation reserves are vast and unexplored. This may be the last frontier in the energy universe.

Energy Meets Information Science

On the suggestion of Dean Yannis Yortsos, researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have banded together to apply some of the university’s greatest strengths – particularly in computer science and information technology – toward energy conservation.

Some time ago, UPS started planning its delivery routes to avoid left turns. That is a basic example of what information technology can do for conservation.

A core group at USC Viterbi, consisting of electrical engineers Urbashi Mitra and Dan Dapkus, mechanical engineers Roger Ghanem and Fokion Egolfopoulos, and computer scientist Gaurav Sukhatme, authored a white paper laying out a research strategy at the intersection of energy and information science.

“This is an area where Viterbi has a significant track record,” says Mitra. “Furthermore, we believe other organizations have overlooked the impact that information technology can make on this very important area of research: energy.”

The others may soon follow. At a hearing on Capitol Hill this summer, Dan Reicher, the head of Google’s energy and environment unit, expressed ideas similar to the USC group’s.

“The increasing interplay between energy hardware and information software – and the corresponding rise of the Internet and the connectivity it brings – adds to the potential to make and to use energy more productively,” Reicher told policymakers, according to The New York Times. “From smart meters and smart appliances to smart homes and a smart grid, we are poised to significantly advance our ability to monitor and manage energy.”

That list could have included smart engines. Separate from his bactery research, Ronney, with USC Viterbi colleague Martin Gundersen, hopes to squeeze more energy out of the humble but enduring internal combustion engine. The researchers are developing alternative ignition methods to make the air-fuel mixture burn more evenly.

“About 40 percent of your fuel energy actually goes right out your radiator,” says Ronney. “If you could burn fast without turbulence, then you could reverse-engineer the engine” for better fuel efficiency.

Gundersen, an electrophysicist who has collaborated with automaker Nissan, confirms that his “nanosecond pulsed-power” device ignites a larger volume than the traditional spark plug. Unfortunately, the old spark plug has a 100-year head start in research and development. “You really have to have a very robust and not terribly intrusive technology,” he says.

“On the science side, we need to understand better what’s really happening,” he adds, explaining that an improved scientific understanding may lead to new applications, such as improved ignition of alternative fuels.

USC Viterbi’s Egolfopoulos agrees. “The new revolution will come from introducing more science into our applications,” he says.

“What goes on inside an engine is one of the more complicated processes in [physics]. We are trying to understand at the molecular level what happens.

“Engineering will not be able to solve the problems of this century,” he adds – a striking admission from a mechanical engineer. “Without more mathematics, physics and chemistry, the future of energy-related technologies will not be as bright.”

His lab, in collaboration with the lab of USC Viterbi’s Hai Wang, recently solved a fundamental problem by showing that large hydrocarbons – like the ones in jet fuel – break up quickly into smaller molecules during combustion.

It was a big advance with big implications, because it opened the entire universe of gas turbines, including jet engines, to improved computer modeling.

“Understanding every single detail of fuel burning at this level is highly desirable, as it will lead to models that the industry can use to design the new generation of engines,” Fokion explains. “That will save billions of dollars to the industry and may result in a 10- to 20-percent increase of fuel efficiency.”

That would be a huge step forward, since according to Egolfopoulos, “[just] 1 percent improvement in a gas turbine equates to several million cars off the street.”

Egolfopoulos and Wang are now the principal investigators on a major grant for gas turbine modeling from the Air Force Office of Science Research. Their team includes researchers from Stanford, Princeton and Drexel universities, Imperial College of London and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In a parallel project, Egolfopoulos turned seed money from the USC Provost’s Office into grants from NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy for the study of biofuel combustion. Like other biofuel researchers, Egolfopoulos has become more skeptical than when he started. His results so far suggest that a biofuel engine produces up to 20 times more carcinogenic aldehydes than a regular gas engine (which, for the record, emits other carcinogens).

“Do you want your kids to inhale aldehydes?” he wonders.

A larger issue for Egolfopoulos is the conversion of farmland. “The moment you start messing with the land, you’re messing with the food chain,” he says. “Then people cannot buy milk for their children; they cannot afford vegetables.” In the long run it may be better to dig up fossil fuels, dirty as they are.

Except, dig them up more efficiently. This has been the aim of the Center for Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies, or CiSoft – a five-year-old partnership between USC and Chevron. CiSoft pairs industry experts with USC faculty to combine digital media technologies, data analysis techniques and classical petroleum engineering in the hunt for improved and automated oil-production methods.

As chief technology officer for Chevron, Donald Paul was half responsible for establishing CiSoft. His USC counterpart was Provost C. L. Max Nikias, then dean of engineering. Nikias proposed the venture when he met Paul at Chevron headquarters in 1999.

“There was an opportunity to find an intersection between traditionally disconnected areas,” Paul says. “Energy and its intersection with technology is the opportunity, many would argue, certainly for today. It’s at these intersections where you always get the most value.”

Now managed by Iraj Ershaghi, a professor of petroleum engineering in USC Viterbi, CiSoft has become the university’s biggest industry partnership.

It also remains one of a select and carefully chosen university joint ventures at Chevron, Paul says. He calls it “enormously successful” due to its influence across the company, with hundreds of technical, operational and managerial staff adopting CiSoft-driven practices.

Paul remembers meeting a chief mechanic in New Orleans who, thanks to CiSoft technology, was able to simultaneously monitor the maintenance schedules for thousands of compressors operating across the Gulf of Mexico. More significantly, Paul points to the hundreds of Chevron and USC experts who have attended CiSoft’s annual forum.

“The fact that many people are implementing the technologies and practices as quickly as they can tells me you’ve got the right thing,” he says.

The venture also has led to a unique master’s degree in petroleum engineering with an emphasis on smart oilfield technologies – a USC program that, according to Paul, now is steadily pumping out a critical mass of young technical talent.

It seems safe to assume that technology will continue to bring gains in our energy efficiency. The question is, will it make a difference?

“People tend to consume their efficiency gains,” Paul warns.

After the technological gains of the late 1970s, energy prices dropped, so consumers bought more powerful cars and moved into bigger houses farther from cities. Per capita energy use stayed more or less the same. Meanwhile, the population grew, and with it, total energy consumption.

One way to spring the efficiency trap would be to put a floor on the price of energy, to prevent backsliding by individuals and businesses. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and others have proposed such an approach, which would amount to a tax that would grow if the cost of energy fell.

The more pressing issue is how to lower the cost of energy in the first place. Paul’s expertise – which includes starting Chevron’s energy diversification portfolio – makes him a valuable counselor on the legislative, scientific and policy aspects of the energy problem.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a bachelor’s in mathematics and a doctorate in geophysics, Paul spent his entire career at Chevron. A theoretician with a practical bent, he moved easily between the company’s research complex in La Habra, Calif., and its operations and development effort in the Gulf of Mexico. After holding several management positions, he was appointed president and CEO of Chevron Canada in the mid-’90s, then became Chevron’s first CTO, a position he held for the past 11 years.

Fossil Fuels

After retiring from Chevron earlier this year, Paul renewed his partnership with Nikias as senior adviser on energy and technology. Part of his charge will be to work with Bernstein on expanding research programs through the Energy Institute. His take on conventional and alternative energy research: “Do it all. Do it now. The world is going to need all the energy we can develop.

“The size of the problem is what most people don’t understand,” he says. “You’re going to need absolutely every molecule. You’re not going to be able to choose.”

The problem with alternative energy is vexingly simple, Paul explains. Renewables like wind and solar pack a lot less energy than oil and gas.

It’s not that alternative energy won’t work. It’s that it takes work. Fossil fuels are easy, and we expect energy to be easy.

Fossil fuel is air conditioning at the touch of a thermostat; alternative energy is passive ventilation, a whole-house fan, heat pump, reflective roof and extra attic insulation, and a house that still is not always quite cool enough.

Fossil fuel is first love; alternative energy is marriage.

We will probably keep flirting with fossil fuels. Like other industry experts, Paul doubts the world can turn away from oil and gas any time soon. After all, fossil energy use is more than 80 percent and very large resources remain – especially for coal.

“And you’d better fix coal while you’re on the way,” he adds.

In a 2007 report to the Secretary of Energy by the National Petroleum Council, Paul (one of its principal authors) identified carbon capture and sequestration as “a critical path” for the United States and China.

But fossil fuels eventually will run out. One could argue that the best stuff, like sweet crude, is already on the way down. Energy companies are grubbing around for dirtier and more carbon-intensive alternatives (see diagram). Alberta’s tar sands are generating millions of barrels of oil, but also spewing millions of tons of greenhouse gases during the laborious extraction process.

At some point, we enter what Paul calls the “then what?” scenario. If the world cannot continue to increase its energy consumption, as it has done from prehistoric times until now, then what?

“Historically, economic growth has a very high correlation with energy consumption,” he says. The consequences of a world without growth would be at least as severe as those of a world without energy, he notes.

Try to imagine a zero-sum economy where a gain by one person must always come at another’s expense. Now try to imagine a civilization that accepts such a proposition.

The Scholars

People tend to think our appetite for growth was literally fueled by oil, and that before World War II – or at least before the Industrial Revolution – Americans lived in pastoral contentment.

The record shows otherwise, says USC’s Peter Mancall, associate vice provost for research advancement and a historian in USC College, where he studies and teaches early American history.

He cites a 1983 book, Changes in the Land, in which author William Cronon traced profound changes in colonial New England’s ecosystem back to British ideas about individual property and man’s dominion over nature.

Cronon famously concluded that in the settlers’ haste to exploit the New World’s vast resources, the “people of plenty” were a people of waste.

Although Mancall can point to alternative views in the 19th century, notably articulated in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, he finds that the legal system consistently favored exploitation over conservation. “The dominant tradition is one of economic development,” he says.

No matter how far back one looks, at least in American history, there is no large-scale model for a sustainable society. In growth speak, “sustainable” is just another word for “limited,” a concept as American as arugula pie.

In 2006, as part of a precursor initiative to the Energy Institute, cultural scholar Karen Pinkus received a seed grant to study alternative fuels and the American obsession with cars. Disillusionment set in when she realized our culture of consumption transcends individuals.

In her view, the current focus on individual action – buying hybrid autos, switching to fluorescent bulbs – only diverts attention from the real issues.

She argues that even the most appealing green consumer technologies, such as the famous and now-defunct General Motors EV-1 electric car, “are dangerous in that they distract us from issues such as the emissions generated by industrial production, by constant building of new housing, by the transportation of goods in a global economy, agribusiness and so on.”

Pinkus, a professor of Italian, French and comparative literature in USC College, has no single answer to the climate crisis, except to say that as a first step, we should “undo the certainty of common sense” – the belief that our society, as structured, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the necessary degree.

Such logic relies on “the same paradigms that got us into this mess,” she says. In other words, society needs a radically new approach.

Whether the world is up to the challenge is another question. In their 2004 financial guide The Oil Factor, noted money managers Donna and Stephen Leeb – whose only agenda presumably is to make good investment calls – advised readers to park some capital in defense stocks in anticipation of the coming “oil wars.”

Then again, maybe we will all learn how to share.

Perhaps the greatest source of comfort is Earth and its capacity to endure. In his presentation at May’s Energy Institute forum, USC College earth scientist Lowell Stott surveyed changes in the planet’s climate over a relatively short time span – a few centuries.

Stott, who served as a reviewer for the Nobel-winning climate change panel, specializes in paleoclimatology; the study of climate change over geological time.

But you don’t have to go back very far to see that Earth’s climate is capable of tolerating far greater change than we have seen to date. Stott presented evidence that the 19th century was far harsher, hotter and drier in California than the past 100 years. In fact, glaciers began receding well before the start of the Industrial Revolution.

“The climate always changes; it always has changed,” he told the audience.

The best we can do, he added, is to understand thoroughly the causes of global climate change, “and by doing so, make better policy choices.”

Good policy. There’s a natural resource that is clean, renewable and no more limited than human ingenuity.

Mental health system's troubles targeted

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:15:00 +0000

Statewide law enforcement authorities who came to Albemarle on Thursday to learn about the Thomas Jefferson Area Crisis Intervention Team heard an impassioned speech from a man who has seen a flawed mental health system at work.
Pete Early, a former Washington Post reporter and author of a dozen books, was the keynote speaker. His experience trying to find his adult, mentally ill son help led to the book “Crazy,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

“As a father of a son who has mental illness, I am a huge proponent of CIT because I know it can change and save lives,” Early told the crowd at the Albemarle Police Department on Fifth Street Extended.
The meeting focused on the CIT program, which trains officers to effectively deal with the mentally ill. The gathering was the first involving statewide authorities.
Numerous entities are involved in the local CIT program, including the Charlottesville, Albemarle and University of Virginia police departments, city and county sheriff’s offices, as well as the UVa Hospital, Region Ten and several other organizations.

According to Tom von Hemert, who runs the Thomas Jefferson Area CIT, the program’s popularity is growing.
Four Virginia jurisdictions use the program, and close to a dozen are working on implementing it, he said.
Officials from those departments heard several stories from Early, including how he had to lie to get his bi-polar son committed.
He also talked of several clashes between police and mentally ill individuals that ended tragically.

But the retelling of his experience at the Miami-Dade County Jail, which he detailed in his book, and a video of news coverage detailed just how flawed the criminal and mental health systems are.
The jail’s mental health ward on the ninth floor was known as “the forgotten floor.” Officials banished certain guards there to watch over mentally ill inmates. The inmates were held in tiny cells, and rarely if ever let out. Some were naked, others strapped to gurneys. Some had to drink from their toilets.
The way society views the mentally ill and how the system handles them need to change, Early said. Primarily, the system must stop sending the mentally ill to jails and prisons where they get no treatment.
“We need to turn mental illness back into a health issue,” Early said.He added that there needs to be more funding and creative thinking to fix systems tainted by bureaucracies.

This year, in response to the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, state legislators instituted more than two dozen changes to mental health laws. And Gov. Timothy M. Kaine authorized pouring $42 million into mental health reform.
Early pointed out that before former Gov. Mark R. Warner left office, he said it would take $460 million to fix the state’s mental health system.
The author said law enforcement can have a profound impact on correcting the system, “because you have clout.”
After Early spoke, the area’s three police chiefs — Albemarle’s John Miller, Charlottesville’s Timothy J. Longo and UVa’s Michael Gibson —spoke about the local CIT program, which began in 2005.

All three touted the program for its ability to enhance officers’ communication skills, how it cuts down on time street officers spend processing mentally ill individuals and how it helps keep those individuals from being locked up and instead puts them where they can get needed help.
All three also said there are big problems that need to be fixed.
Von Hemert said a key to the CIT program is how it helps so many government entities work together in handling the mentally ill, instead of simply shuffling them blindly through the system.
He believes the CIT program is a good start at fixing the mental health system.
And he said the word is spreading, to the point where other states and countries are utilizing CIT.
“It’s growing exponentially.”

Top 10 Games of This Generation

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:56:00 +0000

We're over two years into this current generation of consoles, so surely we've had some games that stand out by now? 411's Derek Robbins breaks down his top-10 favorite games of this console generation.

Hello and welcome to the 10th hour. As always, there are a couple of things that I would like to touch on before I proceed.

-I'm so glad that Major League Baseball got the NL MVP award correct. Albert Pujols was better than Ryan Howard in almost every meaningful stat. I can't believe people are actually pointing to RBI total as a reason why Howard should have beat Pujols. God, what an archaic way of justifying an MVP selection. What is this, the 1940's? Howard wasn't even the most valuable player on his team. The fact that some people actually think that two good hitting months from a HORRIBLE defensive player such as Howard can neglect a whole year from other players is kind of troubling. I may not be worthy of voting for the year-end-awards but I can tell you right now, Howard wouldn't even have made my Top-10 this year. When I heard John Fricke (I think that's who it was, he was subbing for Big Ben Maller on Fox Sports Radio) stating Howard's RBI total as a reason he should MVP and the fact the Phillies made the playoffs, I almost threw a cement brick at my radio. I was not pleased. Seriously, if you're going by two good months you may as well elect Manny Ramirez MVP. He had a bit more than two GODLY months in LA. The Dodgers certainly wouldn't have made the playoffs without him. I'm just glad Pujols won, I just think it should have been unanimous.

-I just beat Banjo-Kazooie for the second time…and I think it's awfully sad that all those fancy Stop n' Swop items I collected won't do me a lick of good. I know that RARE refuses to say what their plans originally were (for whatever reason), but seriously…what harm could it cause? My quest for knowledge can't be satiated, I must know what the hell that ice key does!

-So Animal Crossing City Folk is apparently Animal Crossing: Wild World – WII edition? Color me shocked. People get on the case of shooting fans for buying the same damn game over and over again but my count this is the third Animal Crossing game that is pretty much the same game as was released on the Gamecube (With WW's online, of course). Perhaps it's just my complete and utter hatred of Animal Crossing, but give me a break Nintendo.

Reader Feedback

Well, I didn't write last week's column so I don't really get to respond to the comments list. However, let's see what my fill-in Chris (we have a lot of those don't we?) Lansdell wrote about his top-10 retro games that he enjoyed that you, THE READER, probably didn't. Let's see how many of these I have heard of…

10-) Formula1 Built 2 Win – Never heard of it.
9-) Super International Cricket – Wow, people actually like Cricket based video games? That's interesting.
8-) Championship Manager 2 – I loathe soccer. Now if this was Baseball Mogul, we could talk. Of course, that's not exactly retro is it?
7-) Top Players Tennis – I have heard of this one, but I've never given it a chance. Early tennis games were such a drag.
6-) Jackal – I've not heard of this one, it seems interesting though
5-) Ultimate Basketball – I rented this and played it with my Dad once. It was a lot of fun, but I remember getting frustrated because my Dad had the block dunk timed rather well. Obviously not as good as double dribble, but it's still fun.
4-) Apocalypse – I remember reading about this once and thinking it sounded like ass. It still does.
3-) Tecmo World Wrestling is a fantastic title. Is it better than No Mercy or Here Comes the Pain? No. But it's still fucking awesome.
2-) Knights of the Round – Back in the days when I was a lowly MAME user, I had played this game and enjoyed it. It's hard not to have fun with an arcade beat-em-up though.
1-) Bushido Blade – A really quality title. I don't see how anyone could dislike it, to be quite honest.

Well, good job Chris. You're a good man. I'll, er, supply the stuff we talked about at a later date. THIRTY of them.

Top-10 Games of this Generation

This week, I'm going to rank the top-10 games of this current console generation. This does NOT include the PC, so don't expect any high tier PC-exclusive titles to appear here. This includes PC games that were later released on console, such as Half-Life 2. Also, there is a cut-off date that you'll do well to know. Any game that was released AFTER the month of October in 2008 is not eligible for this list. So if you were looking for Resistance 2 or Gears 2 you'll be out of luck. Sorry.

As a rule, I also need to have played the game. The only title I can think of that this might affect would be Fable 2…which probably wouldn't have made the list anyhow. Other than that, all is eligible, so let's get this started. These are *my* (since apparently I have to clarify that it's just my opinion and nothing official) top-10 games of this generation.

Given that this is a highly opinionated list, I'm curious as to what you think the top-10 games of this generation are. Feel free to leave your lists for us to gawk at.

And before you comment with: "OBLIVION!?!?!???"…I want to say that I absolutely hate that game and it's not going to be on this list. Sorry:

10-) No More Heroes - Looking down this list, you'll see a trend. Several things that I have listed are a sequel of some sort. The art of the intelligent property is a dieing one. The gaming industry today is filled with sequel after sequel and to be totally honest it's sort of a sad thing. Sure, these sequels can be good games, but there just seems to be less of a focus on new IPs. Well, for this game at least, that doesn't seem to be the case. No More Heroes is a great, original game that really shows that the Wii can be a system that people who actually play games can enjoy.

What made No More Heroes particularly strong was the boss battles. I would argue that the encounters you go through in the game may very well be the most impressive boss fights in video game history. Theoretically, each of the bosses you fight could very well have landed a role in another game as a final boss. It's all rather impressive. When you get right down to it, each boss battle is a duel. When you're playing through the game and run into mobs of enemies, you rarely fight only one. It's you versus a score of them. When it's boss battle time, typically it's a one-on-one affair.You have to use every skill you know in each fight, and if you're playing on the right difficulty level it can get quite intense. You know this is a pretty intense title when the third boss, Shinobu, has the ability to hand you your ass.

The boss encounters aren't the only great thing about No More Heroes. There are several other things, perhaps more minor, that really leap out at me. It's not a game that's meant to be taken at face value. You're not watching some roided up freak spewing out moronic dialogue just because they can…you're watching a satire, and I kind of like that. It's sort of an artistic game, and it shine through. Be it through the art style, the story, or, well, even the music. Yes, like most games I praise endlessly, No More Heroes has a pretty impressive soundtrack. It has a lot of tracks that are worth listening to multiple times. You got to enjoy that.

No More Heroes may be a fun game that's, well, different than the slew of other games that we have on the market right now, but it's not like it doesn't have problems. The over-world for instance is, as a whole, pointless. There are NO enemies in the over-world. You will never run into someone else to fight…everything is done once you get to your location. Honestly, when it gets right down to it, you have a big city for no real reason other than to have a big city. Is it trying to point out that a lot of games have these big cities with nothing to do? Or is it just Suda 51 adding something that he thought would help the game sell better? I couldn't tell you.

I also dislike the grinding you have to do between quests. You need money to go to the next boss encounter, and usually to get the money you'll have to do some sort of job to get it. These jobs all make use of the wii controls and, while decent the first time, are annoying when done all the time. I found myself just not doing these to get money in the end and playing the assassination missions over and over again. It was the game's insanely fun combat, so you really couldn't go wrong. Again, this is just another feature I think they added just because they could.

Even though I am poking at a couple of flaws that this game has, that shouldn't deter your attention from it. No More Heroes is a unique game with a satirical punch that you'd be pretty loathe to miss. It may be short, but the gameplay of the game is amazingly fun. So fun, in fact, that you'll probably be back for more around the time you beat it. It's not a perfect game, but in a world where a lot of the games are just cheap copies of each other…you can feel comfortable in playing this rather unique title. Plus, I mean, Travis Touchdown rules.

- Of course...Sylvia is another reason I love this game.

9-) Little Big Planet - This is the game that Sony was hoping would step up as THE big game of the Holiday season. Sure, while Resistance 2 might be the game they have aimed at older games, LBP sort of has a universal appeal. People of all ages can play it. It's easily accessible to both hardcore gamers and casual gamers, and it really seems that it's about as sure thing a hit as you can get.

Little Big Planet's gameplay is pretty basic. If you've played a side-scrolling platformer, you essentially know what you're getting into. Yeah, there are other things involved – such as the ability to grab onto things – but as a whole it's pretty basic. Here's the thing though, in most games with basic gameplay you'll come up with a pretty average game but this one goes beyond that. The single player levels are very well designed and creative making use of the gameplay in new and different ways. It may feel like something you've played before, but once you get to the core of the game it feels quite refreshing and you can really dig that.

The gameplay experience doesn't just end with the single player campaign though. LBP ensures replayability for as long as you desire by incorporating a fairly intuitive create system. It's not the most complex thing in the world, but if you really tinker with it, you can come up with some pretty ingenious creations. Don't believe me? Hop online with LBP sometime and see some of the levels that they have for offer. While some of the cooler ones, such as that one God of War level, may be gone now…the original creation levels are spectacular to say the least. World of Color, for instance, is extremely unique and shows a ton of creativity. If the userbase for the game can continue creating games like that, this is something I can see myself playing a couple of years down the road.

I usually have something to say about the soundtrack here, but it's usually not a statement as strong as what I am about to say. Little Big Planet's OST is probably the best in a game that I have heard since Chrono Cross came around to rock everybody's world. The songs are both soothing and catchy. Normally you would associate a game that appeals to kids and adults alike to have sort of a run-of-the-mill soundtrack but this one is really impeccable. Go to the levels situated in Mexico and tell me that it doesn't sound fantastic. I dare you.

LBP started its life with a share of problems. You know what I'm talking about – servers always down, lots of lag, etc – and that's a pretty big problem. Can you see Microsoft having a shitty launch for such a high caliber title? Can you imagine the frustration if Gears 2 had been released with internet issues? LBP had those problems. It was darn near impossible to consistently play online worlds the first couple of days. That's been fixed now, but I'm still waiting for the ability to make levels with friends online. Once that has been patched in, perhaps the game will rank higher with me.

Little Big Planet is a creative, original title that deserves a world of praise for what it does. It may not have the most in depth gameplay, but it makes use of what it has which is more than what can be said for a lot of other games out there. As far as I am concerned, Sony's big blockbuster for 2008 is a success.

8-) Call of Duty 4 - I like Call of Duty 4. It's a fun shooting title that is probably worthy of the praise that it gets. If you take it online, it's damn near impossible not to have fun with it. That said, I still don't think it's as fabulous as some make it out to be. It's fun, but it really doesn't make my world go ‘round, you know? I would be just plain dumb not to at least include the game on this list though, it's a quality title that I am going to recognize.

Perhaps my biggest problem with the shooting genre is addressed here. How many times do I have to go through Normandy? How many times must I liberate the French? How many times must I win World War II for the allies? Well, these pressing issues are no longer a concern here because, what a novel idea, Call of Duty 4 takes place in modern times! Thank God. This alone makes the game a million times more bearable to play. It has the same squad based AI gameplay you've come to know and love but THIS TIME IT TAKES PLACE IN THE GLORIOUS PRESENT. Thank God.

Adding to this modern package – which world at war lamentably decided to turn its back on, I assume because they are being made by different companies and we just desperately needed another World War II game – would be the multiplayer gameplay. As hyped up as Halo 3 was when it came out, CoD IV was played over LIVE more. That just tells you how impressive the multiplayer was. It takes the same formula that you typically would play the game with, but adds a bit of a twist, the level up system.

As an RPG gamer, this system is something that I embrace whole heartedly. Indeed, the idea of experience points gets me frothing at the mouth! When I first heard of this system though, I was a tad bit skeptical. "Oh," I said to myself, "I bet it's just another word for ranking like with what Halo has." I was wrong, I admit I was wrong, and I apologize for my mistake. As you level up, you can customize your characters class in the game. You can also gain access to new weapons and an assortment of other stuff. You gain EXP from completing various missions or winning in online battles.

This system even has something special for those of you who like to show everyone online how badass you are. Once you reach the max level, you can play in prestige mode. In this mode, you revert back to level 1, lose all your neato privileges, but you gain a special insignia that you can show off to people. That's right! People will know that at one point, YOU were level 55! IMPRESSIVE. You can do this up to 10 times with a new insignia being displayed each time. That's right, you can have your World of Warcraft in your CoD.

Sure, online combat may end up just being a grenade dodging experience…but that experience is pretty enjoyable. I missed out last year when I decided to not play CoD 4 because of my pre-conceived shooter hatred. I was wrong about the game, and since I probably won't be playing CoD 5, I see this one lasting me quite a while. Good job, guys. This is the last game I expected to praise.

7-) Super Smash Brothers Brawl - I am a huge fan of the Smash Brothers franchise and have been ever since the original game launched. It's been a fun party game that I would say is very easy to enjoy with people who may not play many games. It's so much easier to convince someone who has no gaming experience to play a game with Mario and Pikachu than to try out one with a hulking space marine. Smash Brothers Brawl took what made Melee such an impressive game and really expanded on it.

That's right, shockingly enough Smash Brothers Brawl is not Melee 2.0 like many figured it would. Coming with it is a whole new physics engine that makes it feel like a different game. Yeah, the characters control the same but the way you play needs to change if you wish to succeed. The same "tournament" moves that worked in Melee won't work for you in Brawl, so you need to adjust. I quite like that. Brawl may be a slower game than Melee, but it is able to get the job done.

The whole Brawl experience isn't simply about the gameplay though. Included in the package is what one could assume is a love letter from Nintendo. "A love letter?" you make ask. Well, what else can you say when Nintendo thrusts a soundtrack at you which is over three hundred songs deep? I don't care how hardcore of a Nintendo fan you are, there had to be something on there you hadn't heard for the longest time that gave you a nostalgia rush upon hearing it start up. The soundtrack isn't where it ends though, Nintendo also threw in a bunch of trophies and stickers, so you can look at their rich history more closely.

You think that's not enough though? Is this Nintendo self-masturbation not getting you off? Well that's not all they threw into the game. Returning are event battles, the classic and arcade modes and even a brand new story based single player mode. Now, a lot of people have shat on this mode, but in my opinion it's a pretty fun experience that I would liken to Kirby. If you play with a friend, I guarantee that you will have a good time. I'm not sure where all the ire is coming from, but in my opinion the story – which plays out like some sort of Nintendo fanfiction – is fun and worthy of play.

Is Smash Brothers Brawl perfect? Of course not. Sakurai was rushed in development. I'm pretty sure Nintendo just said: "Fuck it, just release the game already." There could have been more characters, there could have been a significantly better online mode, there could have been more gameplay features (For instance, where were the little awards after you finish a level in single player mode that have been in every Smash Brothers game ever? I really miss seeing stuff like JUDO MASTER – 1000 PTS on my screen!) , there just could have been more…

Even with that complaint, Smash Brothers is one of the most fun games you can play on your Wii. It is something that can entertain a group of people for hours at a time. It may not be the most original playing game of this generation, but as far as replayability is concerned I can almost assure you that by the time this generation is complete, Brawl will be my most played game. Some people don't like it as much as Melee, but I assure you that it is worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with its older brother.

6-) Grand Theft Auto IV - There have been two trends in gaming that I have noticed as of late. Whenever someone praises Shadow of the Colossus, I read/hear them saying: "Look at me, I'm a hardcore gamer and I play hardcore games. I like Shadow of the Colossus like every hardcore should." Hey, lool, that game is FANTASTIC…but people are making it out to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's not. It's not even as good as Ico. The second trend I noticed is that everyone seems to be hopping all over GTA IV. People are criticizing it left and right for pretty much no good reason. Some even call it a bad game. Why is this? I'm not sure. I wouldn't say GTA IV is the best in the series – San Andreas is better – but it's hardly a bad game. Quite the contrary, it's a great game.

What makes GTA IV so great? Well, the first thing that jumps out at me would be the story. As a story, I would say that GTA IV is the best in the series without question. Nico Bellic is by far the most likable lead that the series has seen. The story of him pursuing the American dream is an extremely interesting one…and one I wanted to see through to the end. I mean, come on, if you've played the game you KNOW you've shouted: "NICO! CAHSIN!" multiple times. Riddled through the story would be satire. Liberty City is one big satirical city, and looking at the game like this I can really respect it. Are there some crude jokes that anyone can get? Sure. The net cafe is called TW@T for goodness sakes. For every joke like that though, there is a lot of substance and I can quite appreciate it.

Going along with the improved story would be the improved gunplay. No longer is the auto-targeting system a hindrance. You can actually wield a gun with authority, aim it, and do a pretty damn good job. I would say that they put considerably more focus into the combat of the game than any other facet. It just feels really tight. I think if the PS2 Grand Theft Autos had a combat system half as competent as GTA IV's, they would have been held in even higher esteem. Can you believe that?

Perhaps my favorite thing about the game though would have to be the city. Usually in a game, the background is just there. In an RPG, the NPCes all say the same thing and it appears that the world totally revolves around the player. In GTA IV, it just doesn't feel like that. You look around the massive city, and every single citizen has a life of their own. News events happen in the city, crime still happens, everything goes on whether or not you want it to. I think that is really cool. Want something fun to do? Choose a random citizen and tail them for a while. You'd be surprised as to what you might find.

Does GTA IV do some things wrong? Absolutely. They took out the more sophisticated character tweaking that you could find in GTA San Andreas. I love Nico, I do, but I really would have liked to alter him as a character. Do I want him to be a morbidly obese Czech running around picking up hookers? You bet I do. I figure they took this out because more casual gamers found it too hard to deal with, which is kind of a shame. Another thing they could have improved was the driving. I get it, it's supposed to be more realistic. I have to be honest though, even if it's "realistic"…it takes away from the fun. If realism cuts from the enjoyment that can be had, I would just say knock it out. Driving around the city in San Andreas is much more enjoyable. This felt like a title where the words "Grand Theft Auto" were out of place.

I don't understand how people could dislike this game so severely. No matter how I twist my head and gaze at it, I still see a pretty polished product. Hell, even the newly revealed DLC looks pretty interesting. GTA IV isn't a perfect game, is it only receiving hatred because it got perfect scores? I have no idea, but I do know that it's one of the must play games of this generation.

5-) Bioshock (There are spoilers in this one, read at your own risk) - Do you like atmosphere? Do you like impressive story telling? Do you like 50's music? Well have I got a game for you! Bioshock very well be my favorite first-person shooter title in the longest time because it does everything right. The problem I have with shooters is that they all seem to run together. I can't tell the difference between like Call of Duty 2 or any Medal of Honor game. They all feel the same. Bioshock though is something different entirely. Like System Shock 2, which many consider its predecessor, the game is all about atmosphere.

You're stuck under water in what was meant to be an ideal society. Obviously, something went wrong and as you progress your way through the story, using audio logs, you slowly figure out what's been up. This sort of reminded me of Doom 3. In that game, when you came across a log you would usually hear a person during their last moments of life desperately saying something. It really enwrapped you into the experience and in Bioshock it does the exact same thing. I was really interested in what was going to happen to Jack.

Speaking of Jack, Bioshock has one of the most interesting twists ever. Jack was apparently born in Rapture two years ago and was genetically modified so he would mature quickly. He was also modified in a way where if someone were to use the key phrase "Would you kindly", Jack would obey that person. So basically, as long as someone could utter these words…you were under their control. Ryan, who to that point you assumed was the main badguy, orders you to kill him. This is when you realize that your assumed friend, Atlas, is actually the badguy who had you altered – Fontaine! He had been telling you to do things by using the phrase: "Would you kindly?" It may seem kind of confusing when I type it out here, but when you actually play and see it happen, you'll be quite impressed with what you see. It was one of the first times I was caught totally unaware about the on-goings in a game.

So we've established that the story is good, we've established that the atmosphere is good…but how about the gameplay? I like it quite a lot to be honest, it feels like I actually have to ration my bullets and what not to survive – but, it's not like I'm armed only with bullets. You also get to use plasmids, a sort of psychic maneuver, to get things done. Really, this is just like getting a fancy gun that does really odd stuff, but the differences in power is pretty neat. I like shocking or freezing my enemies, what can I say? It's a came that can be both creepy and fun, which is a challenge for atmospheric games.

Bioshock has a lot of things going for it, and luckily it is now available for the PS3, 360, and PC so even more people can enjoy it. I assume a lot of PS3 fanboys had been dissing it while it wasn't available on their console of choice…but now that it is, I ensure you, this is a gaming experience that you really need to visit. Rapture is such an interesting city, the gameplay is so engrossing, you really would be missing out.

4-) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Spoilers here too) - This was probably my single most anticipated game of this generation. A lot of people may absolutely loathe Metal Gear Solid 2, but I've never played a Metal Gear Solid game that I've hated and given the strength of Metal Gear Solid 3, my excitement for this title was pretty high. After all, it promised to end the story of Solid Snake. I wanted to see what would happen because, to be honest, Snake very well may be my favorite character in gaming. Surpassing even my beloved Vivi. SHOCKING!

Obviously the most important thing about Metal Gear Solid is the story. Without the story, you just have a fun stealth game. With the story you have Metal Fucking Gear Solid. So how was it? Well, it was pretty damn good. It offered closure to Solid Snake's adventures, it told us who the Patriots were, and it even supplied one of the most memorable moments in gaming history where you control Snake as he crawl his way through a room, his octo camo giving out due to the pure heat of the room, and a cutscene going on above your action. It was nice. Hell, it even helped pave the way for one of the coolest boss fights ever. So as an ending, it was satisfying…but I do have one complaint. If the game had just ended with Sunny asking if Hal was crying, it would have been perfect. I would have been perfectly pleased with what happened. No, no, they decided to bring Big Boss back and confuse the fuck out of everyone at the end. Look, the Big Boss stuff was cool and gave insight to the Patriots as an organization, but prior to that moment I was damn near in tears. I thought Solid Snake was dead. When all is said and done? He's still alive. It just wasn't the same. The emotion of the scene before it was erased. Even with those complaints, the story was still satisfying. Was it as good as MGS 3? No. It'll work though.

The story isn't the only reason to play the game though. After all, if the title wasn't at least fun, Metal Gear Solid would be much more serviceable as a movie. The game is still fun, and from a gameplay standpoint I'd say it's easily the best in the series. Gun play is heavily improved, stealthing around takes more finesse, it just feels like it's been pretty heavily tuned. That's not to say that Metal Gear Solid 3 didn't play well, but when comparing it to MGS 4 it feels awfully last gen. Unfortunately, that gameplay improvement doesn't extend to the bosses. While some of the encounters are pretty intense, I really don't think MGS 4's bosses were as interesting as The Cobra Unit. Some had really sad stories, but from a gameplay standpoint it just wasn't quite up with the predecessor. That's not including the final boss though. The encounter with Liquid Ocelot in the end felt right. It's what I was hoping for since Metal Gear Solid 2 concluded and the way the executed it was satisfying in every single way. Perhaps I was just high on the emotion, but that encounter was just excellent.

Speaking of excellent, the soundtrack in Metal Gear Solid 4 was also up to snuff. Old Snake, Theme of Love, and "Here's To You" are all very excellent songs. I would imagine that Old Snake is the title theme because it's the one that plays during the fight with Ocelot. It's a very fitting theme and if you haven't heard it, I would recommend you go to youtube and give it a listen. It's pretty special. Of course, I say that about every soundtrack ever it seems, so be a bit wary.

I'm not sure what else can be said about Metal Gear Solid 4 that hasn't already. Salmella had a big blowout on the Metal Gear franchise as a whole and if you feel like brushing up, I'd say that you should go check those out. It's just fantastic and even if you don't own a PS3, torrent the cutscenes or something so you can at least see how everything plays out. You won't regret it.

3-) Fallout 3 - It's a well known fact that I loathe WRPGs. If you place one in front of me, odds are I'll simply turn my head and stick my nose in the air. When a game offers you so many options but only one true ending, it just isn't my cup of tea. For instance, look at Oblivion above. I mentioned how it wouldn't make this list because I irrationally hate it. I thought Fallout 3 would be much the same, after all it's being made with the same engine and by the same company…but for whatever reason I absolutely LOVE the game.

That's right, I have found a WRPG that's not named Knights of the Old Republic that I like. Isn't this a shocker to you? I guess the setting really helps though. Something about a post-apocalyptic world really turns me on. Perhaps it's the thought that something like that could happen someday, so the possibility that it's KIIIIIINDA possible, really helps me along. Or perhaps it's the fact that it's fun. The thing with WRPGs that I've played is that they are just not fun. Period. I had to force myself to play through Oblivion, but I actually WANTED to play through Fallout 3.

Why is that though? Well, the gunplay actually helps. I like the shooting and I love the VATS system. VATS, if you're wondering, is a system where you can slow down the world around you and shoot the opponent in an area of opportunity. This takes about no skill to pull off but it looks damn cool. I mean, you know, injuring body parts? The opponents favoring that part of the body? That kind of thing is really cool to me. I also like that instead of finding all the badass weapons towards the end of the game, you can find a lot of broken super powerful weapons early on. For instance, about five hours in, you're given a mini-nuke. Five hours! It really helps things feel more realistic as opposed to: "Oh hey, you made it to a new area…magically everything is more powerful!"

Now going back to the story, it's pretty good. The writing is impressive and you'll feel compelled to see what happens. You can also, as is a staple of the genre, play in multiple ways and what I like is that there are varying degrees of bad and good. You can be saintly as all hell, you can be a decent guy, you can be a bit of a jerk…or you can be a downright ass. You want some examples of this? Harold the Tree man, a returning character from Fallout 2, requests that you put him out of his misery. You can kill him painlessly by simply stabbing him in the heart or you can cause him a lot of pain by burning him down. He pleads for you to not burn him down but you CAN dammit. It's interesting, to say the least.

The only real complaint I have about Fallout 3 would be the ending. It's putrid, it's something that I feel let down with, especially after playing so many hours to finish the game. Have you ever heard of an ending so putrid that people actually want Bethesda to patch THAT out? Well, now you have. I noted earlier in the year that Fallout 3 was supposed to have multiple variations on the ending, and while it does…most of those "endings" are just small changes in dialogue. That's cool and all, but they could have done better.

Fallout 3 is pretty much a complete package though. From the story, to the awesome music, to THREE DOG (AWOOOOOOOO), to the gameplay…everything about this game is great and is, in my opinion at least, the leading contender for the 2008 game of the year. I suppose the new Prince of Persia might have a say in how things turn out…but if the year ended right now, Fallout 3 would be the best game of the year. It's just damn good.

Or maybe I'm just super high on it because it's brand-spanking new.

2-) Super Mario Galaxy - You might be asking yourself why this is ranked number two while Smash Brothers is ranked seventh. Especially considering on the wii list I had SMG behind Smash Brothers. The thing is, my opinion on which I prefer varies, seemingly, from week to week. Right now I think Mario Galaxy is the more deserving title, so it gets the higher ranking. Of course, it's obvious that I'm a huge Mario fan. After all, my debut column in the gaming zone listed my top-10 favorite Mario games. Mama mia, what a mind numbingly average list that turned out to be.

So what makes Mario Galaxy so good? What makes it so interesting that it deserves mention? Haven't we already played as the plumber to death? Of course we have, but the thing is Mario continues to pump out quality title after quality title and this game is no exception to the rule. Super Mario Galaxy plays a lot like Super Mario 64, but with a few differences. Mario has a few more abilities than his 64 version and also the majority of the game takes place in space where the gravity is totally different. It helps each level feel unique, which you may not have expected given that every world takes place in cold un-embracing space.

I figure the return to fashion was due to the less than favorable reception of Super Mario Sunshine. Honestly, I'm still puzzled as to why people shat all over that game. Was it the lame final boss? Was it fludd? Was it the fact that it dared to be different than Mario 64 (AKA The Majora's Mask/Zelda II curse)? Normally I am fairly critical of moves like this…but in the case of Mario 64, I'm glad it went back to something more simple. It felt like a pure platforming experience and it was something the Wii desperately needed last year. Honestly, last year's Wii line up would have been damn near "disasterriffic" if it weren't for Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and possibly the Wii's Fire Emblem.

So looking beyond the gameplay, what else made SMG really stand out? Surprise, surprise, it's the old 10th hour standby: THE SOUNDTRACK WAS AMAZING. "Derek," ~~Nanette Manoire~~ you'll say, "You say everything has a great soundtrack!" No, but, for real this time! Super Mario Galaxy had one of the best OSTs of last year, highlighted by the superb remix of a Super Mario Brothers 3 song: Sweet Sweet Galaxy. Shit was rocking.

I declared this my 2007 game of the year wayyyy back on December 21st of last year. Looking at the number one game on this list, it appears that I had a change of heart as to what the best game of 2007 was. That doesn't change what I wrote back then though Amazing, amazing game and no matter what side of the console war you sit on…you need to play this. I honestly think the only people who don't like it are either A-) People who just hate videogames or B-) Biased towards Microsoft or Sony to an insane degree. Put your biases aside and just game!

…Says the Sony Reporter.

1-) Portal - The single best game out of the single best compilation package ever (well, I mean, it's right there with Mario All-Stars if it isn't) tops this list. It was my number two game of 2007, but time has proven kindly to Portal and it jumps to the number one spot as the best game of this console generation. Yes, a game with very little hype that's only three or so hours long manages to be the best game of this generation. You might think this is a bad thing, but the thing is – Portal is just that damn good and worthy of all the praise.

First, let's start with Portal's writing. It is pretty darn good. Portal's antagonist GLaDOS says some of the best dialogue in gaming. Now, Portal has gotten kind of popular since the last time I wrote about the game and certain phrases get repeated over and over again to the point that it seems kind of like "random humor." You know, THE CAKE IS A LIE. Yes, yes, good line. I'm not sure how that line caught on when there are significantly better lines in the game. I guess it's just sort of recognition that you did, indeed, play the game. Despite the perpetuation of that one line, the writing is simply fantastic and worthy of praise. Plus, it has a tie with God Hand's theme as the best credit song of all time. I don't care what you say, Still Alive is a good listen.

Of course, good writing only goes so far. If I wanted good writing, I would read a book (with pictures?). Portal also hits at home with the unique gameplay. You do everything through the first person perspective and your only "weapon" is the portal gun. You use this gun to set different portal openings for your character to step through. It seems simple, but as you get into the later stages of the game it gets more complex. You have to use the portals in innovative ways, such as jumping off the edge into the portal and having another portal shoot you out. After all, you just fell. Just because you went to another area doesn't mean your momentum stopped. It's a pretty neat usage of physics and I quite enjoy it.

Portal was such an interesting game that I'm not sure if a successful sequel could get made. Don't misunderstand me, I bet that the gameplay would be just swell…but how could you recreate the sense of humor the game had? It'd be a difficult task. Of course, I do want to see more games like Portal. I don't think we've had enough of the gameplay style. It'd be nice to see it replicated or straight up ripped off. The thing about a sequel though? I'm just not sure that I want to see it.

It's amazing that of the Orange Box, many people claim that their favorite game from it was Portal. The Orange Box was an amazingly good deal…and essentially the thing everyone was raving about was the thing most people were billing as a tech demo. If you know what you're doing in Portal you can beat it fairly quickly, but even so, the game is still replayable. If you haven't played it, go buy it. It's the best 19.99 you could spend.

Or, you know, pick up The Orange Box and also play the excellent TF 2 on steam with me. Your choice!

Honorable mentions: Gears of War, Dead Rising, Metroid Prime 3, Uncharted

Well that's it for this week. As always, if you wish to give me any feedback simply enter a comment down below or send me an e-mail at Dragonmaster_Alex_158@hotmail.com Your choice. Even if your comments are negative, I appreciate them as it feels it makes me better at what I do. So please tell me what ya think!

Before I go though, let's take a look around the game's section: express style. I'm running low on time.

Theo Fraser writes the Nintendophiles

Vincent Chiucchi inducts Total Recall into the Hall of Shame

He also writes the Select and Start News Report

Chris Vicari writes The PC Spotlight

Chris Evans writes his final PC-Centric Extravaganza. You did a good job at writing, and your column was worked hard on each time out. I wish him the best of luck. I am proud that you are wishing to spend as much time with academia as possible! You'll be missed.

Drew writes Coming Attractions

Rod Oracheski writes Coming Attractions

This is last week's 10th hour by Chris Lansdell. I just wanted to link to it because he did a good job. Here it is

Jordan Williams wrote this Working Title last week, but I'm linking it because he's been on a role lately.

Joe Roche writes The Full-Circle 360 News Report

AJ and Mike Minotti do the Exploding Barrel Podcast. They are coming up on their 60th podcast, so give them some love.

Well, that's it. I'm out.

'til the crossroads

Meizu M8 captured on video looking smooth, doing multitouch - Engadget Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:18:00 +0000

Oh M8, you've grown up before our eyes. It seems like just yesterday we were looking at your early incarnations and their uncanny similarity to certain other devices. And how could we forget those times we spent together waiting for you at trade shows, and ~~mocking~~ checking out your early hardware? And now look at you, all grown up and caught on video doing your thing. You know what? This actually looks pretty damn nice. Sure, the obvious major iPhone influence is still there, but we have to say, Jack Wong and co. have done a pretty good job of smoothing out this UI -- and we didn't expect to see multitouch working this nicely. Of course, the clip says more than we ever could, so go and wrap yourself in your grandmother's afghan, grab a steaming cup of coffee, head out to the porch of your 19th century farmhouse, and just listen to the wind chimes and smooth sounds of this video as you take a tour of the Meizu M8... after the break.

Alltel releases the HTC Touch Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:12:00 +0000

Alright T-Mobile, seriously, how can you charge $299.99 for a Wing on contract with a straight face (do carriers have faces?) while every single one of your competitors is rocking a device that's essentially two generations fresher for the same price? Alltel becomes the latest to add HTC's quintessential WinMo QWERTY smartphone to its stable, charging $279.99 for the privilege of adding a Touch Pro to your account on contract after $100 rebate. From the looks of things, it's basically Sprint's version with a tweaked version of the TouchFLO 3D UI that's either prettier or uglier than the stock build, depending on your point of view. Let's be honest, though: doesn't everything look good in VGA resolution?

Payback plan to invest in solar energy

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:57:00 +0000

A NATIONAL scheme to pay people for generating solar energy would drive a $17.9 billion investment in the industry, generate thousands of jobs and reduce Australia's carbon emissions by 4.6 million tonnes a year, a report to be released today reveals.

The report by Access Economics for the Clean Energy Council comes after Australia's biggest solar-panel factory, BP Solar, announced it would close its doors early next year, saying it could make panels more cheaply overseas.

The research shows that a gross feed-in tariff, under which people would be paid for all of the electricity they generated, including the energy they used themselves, would invigorate the solar industry, leading to strong take-up of solar panels and bringing forward investment in the technology.

The scheme would cost the federal Government $16.2 billion over the next 20 years if it were available to businesses and residents. It would cost less than half of that - $6.5 billion - if only householders were included.

The feed-in tariff would allow people to recoup the costs of their investment in solar panels within 10 years.

The report says an emissions trading scheme and mandatory renewable energy target were expected to be insufficient on their own to drive significant growth in the industry.

Feed-in tariffs have sparked rapid growth in solar industries overseas. In Germany, which implemented a gross feed-in tariff in 2000, solar installations have grown on average by 72 per cent over the past five years, and the industry has generated about 42,600 jobs.

The report predicts that some of the costs would be offset by a saving of $610 million by deferring new investments in electricity generation capacity.

The take-up of solar energy would help to reduce electricity demanded from the grid during peak periods.

Access Economics director Steve Brown said the research revealed there was potential for a strong solar photovoltaic industry in Australia, especially given Australia had the highest solar radiation levels in the world.

"We've seen overseas that the uptake of solar does respond to policy settings," Mr Brown said.

He said it was up to policy-makers and the industry to balance the costs and benefits of the scheme.

The solar industry and environmental groups have pushed strongly for a national feed-in tariff scheme, saying it would encourage the take-up of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse emissions.

Earlier this month, a federal parliamentary committee recommended that a national scheme be developed in consultation with the states.

It followed an agreement between Kevin Rudd and the states to consider options for a harmonised approach.

Many jurisdictions have already pushed ahead with their own schemes.

The ACT recently became the first Australian jurisdiction to announce the introduction of a gross feed-in tariff scheme. Householders and businesses that installed renewable energy systems, including solar panels or micro-wind turbines, would be paid for all the energy they produced at nearly four times the current cost of electricity.

Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have also introduced feed-in tariff schemes, but people are paid only for the excess energy they feed back into the system.

In South Australia and Queensland, the scheme is open to residents and small businesses, while Victoria's scheme is open only to householders.

Eclipse announces Fusion canvas and leather solar bag

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:48:00 +0000

One of the worst things that can happen to a traveling geek/businessperson is to have their gadgets run down before the day is done. Power for your cell phone

, MP3 player, or GPS device can be at a premium some days. A new messenger bag from Eclipse gives you a place to store all your gear and can help keep the gear charged at the same time.

The Fusion Solar Messenger bag can charge cell phones, MP3 players, and rechargeable batteries

or any other device that can be plugged into a 12V auto adapter. The solar charger itself is removable and can be used outside the bag.

Total power output for the charger is 2.5 watts, so it won’t be charging anything quickly. Other than then charger, the bag itself has what you expect a notebook bag to offer. It can swallow a 17-inch notebook and has numerous other pouches for phones and other gadgets as well. The bag is available now for $249.95.

New Xbox Experiences Launches To Great Deal Of Praise

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:06:00 +0000

Washington (ECN) - The New Xbox Experience launches to a great deal of praise this week for Xbox 360 owners.

November 19, 2008 marked a day that Xbox 360 users are never going to forget.

This was the launch of the New Xbox Experience which is like a second-coming of the Xbox 360.

This bring the Xbox 360 into the social market with a brand new interface, as well as the ability to create an avatar and take part in a party experience with up to 8 people being linked together to chat live share photos, etc.

Netflix has also joined up with Microsoft for the Xbox Experience.

This allows Netflix and Xbox Live subscribers to link their accounts and stream content over the Xbox 360 to their television.

This includes instant access to over 12,000 streaming videos such as movies and TV shows.

This bring the Xbox 360 into the realm of Facebook and MySpace, and it sure is impressive.

Apple's new MacBooks are HDCP-aware

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:28:00 +0000

In recent past Apple has been praised as a company that has at least verbally opposed DRM. More weight was given to their supposed DRM stance when they began offering some music from EMI without copy protection on iTunes. When it comes to hardware, however, Apple still seems to be in step with the industry. It's been discovered that Apple's new MacBook lines include full HDCP support, a technology intended to “ensure” that content being played back is only being played on “authorized” displays.

You can see an example of the technology in action here. The DRM-protected content refuses to play, due to an external projector attached to the machine being “unauthorized” to play it. In the future, Apple says, all of their hardware will support this feature. This could make keeping and playing back DRM-protected content even more cumbersome than it is now, with people finding themselves locked in not only to a particular machine, but to a particular display as well.

As the amount of HDCP-aware content increases you can expect more people to encounter this kind of issue as well. HDCP has been a controversial technology since its introduction years ago, though to date there has been very little fallout because of it. That could soon be changing.

HP unveils multi-touch consumer tablet PC

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:23:00 +0000

Apple may have popularized multi-touch screens with the introduction of its iPhone smartphone back in 2007, but the technology is just now getting a foothold in notebooks and desktops. One of the main proponents in these segments has been HP, which introduced the TouchSmart all-in-one media PC earlier this year and today is touting a new touch friendly model in the form of a tablet called the TouchSmart tx2.

While Apple’s MacBook line enables multi-touch gestures on the trackpad, the new HP Touchsmart tx2 actually lets you enjoy such functionality right on the 12.1-inch screen – whether or not this is in fact useful rather than just a nice perk remains to be seen.

It should be noted that Dell actually beat HP to the punch when it introduced multi-touch on its Latitude XT tablet back in July, but the technology was essentially limited to scrolling and zooming functions, whereas the tx2 will come with HP’s own MediaSmart software which adds a few more gestures to the mix.

Specs for the HP TouchSmart tx2 include an array of AMD Turion X2 processors, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, hard drives up to 400GB, and an optional ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics card. The tablet can be ordered immediately with prices starting at $1,150 and it will begin shipping in late November

U.S. consumer prices drop 1 per cent

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:00:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer prices plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October as gasoline pump prices dropped by a record amount.

The Labour Department said Wednesday that consumer prices fell by 1 per cent, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back to February 1947. The drop was twice as large as the 0.5 per cent decline analysts expected.

The big drop reflected not only a huge fall in gasoline and other energy costs, but widespread declines in other areas. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, fell by 0.1 per cent last month, the first drop in core prices in more than a quarter-century.

The big retreat in consumer prices reflects a remarkable turnaround from just a few months ago when a relentless surge in energy prices raised concerns that inflation could get out of control.

Since that time, the economy has been jolted by the most serious financial crisis in seven decades with all the turbulence expected to push the country into a severe and prolonged recession.

The U.S. troubles have quickly spread overseas, depressing growth around the world and cutting into demand for oil and other products, a development that has resulted in sharp declines in the price of crude oil and other commodities.

While some are worried that the price retreat could raise the prospect of a deflation, a prolonged bout of falling prices, most economists believe that current conditions are not likely to set the stage for such a development, which last occurred in the U.S. during the Great Depression.

Over the past 12 months, consumer prices have risen by 3.7 per cent, substantially below the 17-year high of a 12-month price increase of 5.6 per cent set this summer. Core prices are up 2.2 per cent over the past 12 months.

This price moderation is giving the Federal Reserve the room it needs to cut interest rates to battle the economic slump. The central bank is expected to cut the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to 0.5 per cent at its December meeting, even lower than the 1 per cent where the funds rate stands currently. The 1 per cent funds rate ties the record low for the past half century.

Toyota to close Canadian, U.S. factories for two days

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:50:00 +0000

TOKYO — — Reeling from a relentless sales slide, Toyota Motor Corp. [TM-N]said on Wednesday it would stop all of its North American factories for two days next month, while rival Nissan Motor Co. [NSANY-Q] renewed its pessimism over the industry's near-term prospects.

Tight credit and worries over the spread of recession around the world have battered car sales in all major markets, forcing automakers to cut production to prevent inventories from ballooning further.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, had already cancelled all U.S. production of slow-selling light trucks for three months this summer. A spokeswoman said production would be reduced further in 2009 at three U.S. assembly plants.

Toyota did not say how many vehicles' worth of production would be lost as a result of the two-day stoppage on Dec. 22 and 23, on top of a scheduled break for Christmas and New Year.

Toyota

Nissan

The worst economic crisis since the 1930s has hit healthy car makers hard and ailing rivals even harder, threatening the survival of Detroit's Big Three.

Chief executives of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC warned Congress on Tuesday that their industry was teetering on the brink of disaster as they pleaded for a $25-billion (U.S.) aid package to ride out the storm.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and Renault SA, speaking separately in Washington, chimed in with his own bleak view of the sector's short-term prospects with a reminder that Nissan was expecting virtually no profit in the October-March second half.

"We have to recognize 2009 will be one of the most challenging years for our industry and the whole economy in the last 50 years," Mr. Ghosn told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Mr. Ghosn told CNBC that U.S. industry-wide sales falling to 11-11.5 million vehicles next year was a "realistic" assessment. Sales totalled 16.15 million in 2007.

His deputy, chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga, told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday the company was sticking to its annual operating profit target of 270-billion yen ($2.8-billion U.S.). That would mean a second-half profit of just 78-billion yen — less than a fifth of last year's 424-billion yen.

Mr. Shiga added that if the U.S. and European governments offered financial assistance to their automakers to help them fund development of cleaner and more efficient technologies, Japan should follow suit to provide a level playing field.

"I would want the Japanese government to consider the same," he said at the unveiling of the third-generation Cube, remodelled for sale globally for the first time as smaller, fuel-sipping vehicles gain traction.

In the latest sign that the demand slowdown has spread to previously healthy emerging markets, a Toyota official said the automaker was tracking towards Chinese sales of around 600,000 cars in 2008, instead of an official target of 700,000 units.

"We haven't given up on the target, but if the current pace continues, it looks like we'll end with 600,000," a spokesman said.

Sales of 600,000 units would still represent a 20 per cent increase from last year.

In the more important U.S. market, Toyota's sales are down 12 per cent in the year to date, prompting the roll-out of zero-per cent financing and threatening to erase profits in the second half.

The automaker has the capacity to build about 2 million vehicles a year in the United States and Canada.

It produces cars, trucks, engines and other parts at 11 factories in the two countries, including at a joint venture plant with GM and a factory belonging to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, the maker of Subaru cars.

Toyota said it would also slow the pace of production at its Kentucky plant, which builds the gasoline and hybrid Camrys, among others, and halve its temporary workforce of 500 by March.

Its Indiana factory and California joint venture plant will reduce production of the Sienna minivan and Tacoma pickup truck indefinitely from January.

Earlier this month Toyota cut its production plans outside Japan by 7 per cent to 4.07 million vehicles for the business year to March 2009.

Mazda buys back chunk of own shares from Ford

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:35:00 +0000

TOKYO -- Mazda spent 17.8 billion yen ($184 million) to buy back 6.8 per cent of its own shares from cash-hungry Ford Motor Co., the Japanese automaker said Wednesday.

The move cames a day after Ford said it's slashing its stake in Mazda from an earlier 33.4 per cent to 13.8 per cent. That would still make Ford the top shareholder in Mazda, with which it has had a partnership for nearly 30 years.

The sale would give Ford 52 billion yen ($540 million) based on Mazda's closing stock price Tuesday of 184 yen, or $1.90 -- barely a quarter of what it was worth one year ago.

The move comes amid growing losses at America's major automakers, which are pleading with Washington for an emergency $25 billion bailout loan from the U.S. government to get through the economic slump.

On Monday, GM said it would sell its remaining 3.02 per cent stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million).

Mazda Motor Corp., which makes the RX-8 sports car and Miata roadster, bought 96.8 million shares at 184 yen ($1.90) a share, the Hiroshima-based company said. The shares rose in morning trading but then dipped one per cent Wednesday to 182 yen.

Ford racked up losses of $8.7 billion in the second quarter, its worst result ever, and has used up $11 billion of a cash stockpile in the past year.

Ford formed a capital alliance with Mazda in 1979, taking a 25 per cent stake. That was raised to 33.4 per cent in 1996 -- a controlling share in Japan.

Over the last decade, Ford helped engineer a turnaround at once-struggling Mazda, sending executives and sharing technology and auto parts to cut costs. Ford and Mazda have said they will maintain their strategic relationship.

Mazda has not given the identities of the other buyers. But Japanese media reports have listed Hiroshima Bank, auto parts maker Denso Corp. and trading houses as potential buyers.

Although Japanese automakers have also been hit by the global slump, especially the slowdown in the key U.S. auto market, they have fared relatively better than their U.S. rivals becauase of their reputation for making smaller, fuel-efficient models.

Mazda is expecting net profit to fall to 50 billion yen ($518 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2009.

Yahoo CEO says 'time is right' for new leader - Crave at CNET UK

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:21:00 +0000

Timing is everything. And, so, it should come as no surprise that Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang feels the 'time is right' for a new leader to guide the embattled Internet search pioneer. The company announced Monday that it has started a search to replace Yang as CEO.

Two weeks ago, Yahoo's proposed search advertising partnership with Google was abandoned, after federal antitrust regulators indicated they would challenge the deal. For Yahoo, that dealt a blow to its plans to generate as much as $800 million in additional revenue, and had served as a cornerstone to ward off an earlier unsolicited buyout bid by Microsoft and later a search-only hybrid offer.

The failed search advertising partnership, in essence, marked a closed chapter in a series of tumultuous chapters that engulfed Yahoo's operations for the better part of the year. There were the failed buyout bids from Microsoft, followed by a proxy fight from dissident shareholder Carl Icahn (who has since become a company director), then intense negotiations with federal antitrust regulators over the Google deal.

In his blog posting Tuesday, Yang offers this assessment of his CEO tenure over the past 18 months:

"Ever since founding Yahoo with David Filo 13 years ago, I've been passionate about this company, its brand, its employees, and the millions of people around the world who consider it their online home. That's why I accepted the Board's request to become CEO in June 2007, taking on the challenge of transforming Yahoo at a time when the industry was evolving quickly and we needed to rethink and restructure our business.
"And despite the tough external environment that we face, I truly believe we've made tangible progress in bringing our strategic vision to life. Most significantly, we've rewired our entire network to create a Yahoo that has opened its doors to outside publishers and developers. We've launched an advertising platform that we think will transform how ads are bought and sold online. And we've continued to grow our audience -- standing first or second in more than 20 product categories and demonstrating that Yahoo is the place users turn for major events like the Olympics and the Elections.
"And now I believe the time is right for us to bring in a new leader -- someone who will build on the important pillars we've put in place and who will take the reins on the critical decisions our company faces."

Yang notes he will continue to serve as CEO until a successor is named. Then he will resume his role as chief Yahoo, working on global strategy and improving the company's products and their development. Yang will also continue to serve on the company's board of directors.

In closing, Yang writes:

"It's been an extraordinary year here at Yahoo -- for all of us. I'm really proud of the determination and resilience of Yahoos around the world who are so committed to giving you the best Internet experience possible. It is for them, and for you, that I will always bleed purple."

Start building new atomic stations now, urges British Energy chief | Environment | The Guardian

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:10:00 +0000

The country should press ahead with building a new generation of atomic power stations to suck in investment and create jobs, British Energy said yesterday.

The company, which runs most of Britain's fleet of reactors and which reported a 50% slump in profits yesterday, has held talks with local communities around four possible sites.

Bill Coley, the chief executive, said it was important to halt the discussions at some stage and start the serious planning and building phase. "I think it's really important that the country gets on with this. We have a very old generating fleet and the UK needs new capacity.

"We can't meet our climate-change obligations without nuclear. It's just got to be done," he said.

British Energy expects to be at the forefront of a new-build programme with EDF of France, which has tabled a takeover offer for the British firm that has been agreed by its board. Coley said he was waiting for the green light from his shareholders and the European competition authorities.

The British Energy chief defended the £12.4bn deal, which came under renewed attack from some in the City, with the brokerage Evolution Securities saying that it significantly undervalued the power company. "We continue to consider the action by the British government in forcing the bid through as wrongheaded - but as we say, the offer is a done deal," said Lakis Athanasiou, an analyst at Evolution.

The United Nations environment programme called recently for a green new deal that would kickstart a faltering global economy by switching public money from carbon-intensive generation to clean-energy projects.

Coley said nuclear new-build would offer similar benefits. "It would bring a tremendous amount of investment into the country, create hundreds of jobs and would be great business for the domestic supply chain in this country," he said.

British Energy, which operates 15 reactors at eight nuclear power stations, posted a 49.7% fall in first-half earnings yesterday, but said it hoped for a better second half.

The group's pre-tax earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation in the six months to September 28 fell to £257m from £511m a year ago, owing to power station shutdowns and lower electricity output. It said it had put aside £2m to meet possible liabilities from using the failed investment bank Lehman Brothers as a counter party.

The company has seven reactors out of action due to unexpected or routine repairs but Coley said five would return before the end of December.

The group said there was potential to improve its output and performance in the remainder of the year. "We're looking forward to a good second half," he said.

Energy security 'must not be excuse to expand coal power' | Environment | guardian.co.uk

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:02:00 +0000

Activists from the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior enter the pier outside Kingsnorth power station in Medway, Kent. Photograph: Will Rose/Greenpeace

The government should not use energy security as an excuse to build unabated coal power plants, according to a study by energy and climate experts.

Investment should instead be focused on the country's gas power network to keep energy supplies secure while keeping a check on rapid increases in carbon emissions over the next decade, policy researchers have said.

Jim Watson, a climate and energy researcher at the University of Sussex, said that for the government to stay on a path to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, it must not allow the construction of new coal-fired stations simply with the promise that they might be retrofitted with carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) when that has been proven to work.

In a study carried out by colleagues at the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit in Sussex, Watson further argues for the introduction of an emissions standard for power stations that would restrict the amount of CO2 produced in the generation of electricity to 500g per kWh.

The team's proposals, which will be presented today at a meeting of the British Institute for Energy Economics, would put projects such as E.ON's proposed 1.6GW power plant at Kingsnorth in Kent in doubt, even through its manufacturers claim it could be built ready to install CCS technology when that has been developed.

"I'm increasingly convinced that anything companies sign up to on capture-ready is rather theoretical — that's by talking to companies as well as governments," said Watson. He added that a strong line from the UK on unabated coal would be important when the government's negotiators meet other countries to agree a new climate deal in the coming years. "It's important to send a signal that we're not just going to build new coal plants without CCS and cross our fingers."

In the past, the government's position on unabated coal power stations has been linked to energy security concerns — without new coal power plants, many have argued the UK will become increasingly reliant on gas supplies from regions that are politically unstable, such as Russia.

But Watson said that this concern was a red herring. "At the moment the UK has a sixth as much gas storage as Germany and with a similar demand. Ours is enough for a week or two, whereas in Germany it's enough to last two months. That's a very exposed system. If you're worried about gas that's one way to square it rather than to say we need new unabated coal because we're worried about gas, which is the wrong way to square the climate change and energy dilemma."

Watson's arguments for an emissions standard for power stations echo the calls of some NGOs on this issue. Earlier this year Greenpeace, WWF, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB called for a standard that would cap electricity production at no more than 350g of CO2/kWh. Currently, coal-fired power stations emit around 850g of CO2/kWh; oil-fired stations emit 590g/kWh and gas stations give out 370g/kWh.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy and Climate Change said: "Building on the UK's diverse sources of gas supply, the government is encouraging new investment in gas storage through reforms to the planning and consents regulatory framework in the planning and energy bills, now before parliament. Reforms will ensure the consents frameworks are fit for purpose, clear and consistent and reflect the national need for new infrastructure."

The spokesperson added: "UK is a global leader in promoting the deployment of CCS and is likely to have the first commercial-scale CCS demonstration project in the world. Our consultation on carbon capture readiness has now closed and we're considering the responses."

Novartis Brings "diabetes To Light", Unites With International Diabetes Federation To Show Commitment And Raise Awareness For Diabetes

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Novartis brings "diabetes to light" and unites with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) by taking part in the IDF's Monument Challenge and lighting the corporate headquarters in Basel, Switzerland in blue. The Novartis lighting ceremony demonstrates the commitment of the Company in providing innovative therapies for the treatment of diabetes and hopes it will help to raise awareness on World Diabetes Day, which is recognized globally on November 14.

Diabetes is a progressive disease in which control of blood sugar deteriorates over time. Diabetes is a disease that affects 53 million people in Europe2 and 245 million people worldwide1, making it the fourth leading cause of death in the world1.

Although there have been significant improvements in diabetes care over recent years, there is currently no cure for diabetes3, and at least half of all people with diabetes are unaware of their condition1.

It is because of the very serious nature of this disease that IDF and its partners, including Novartis, work so hard to raise awareness of diabetes among those who are at risk and their families. World Diabetes Day is an important global activity to assist in this goal.

"Diabetes presents the world with one of its greatest health challenges and is associated with many serious conditions, including cardiovascular disease," said Ameet Nathwani, MD, Global Head of the Cardiovascular & Metabolism Development Franchise at Novartis Pharma AG. "Novartis is committed to raising the standards for type 2 diabetes treatments and helping to improve the lives of all those affected by this disease."

The World Diabetes Day Monument Challenge encourages communities around the world to rally behind the call and light iconic landmarks and buildings in blue to mark the day. The Federation aims to light 500 monuments and iconic buildings across the world. In 2007 a total of 279 iconic monuments were lit as beacons of hope for the millions of people worldwide living with diabetes, reaching over 1.2 billion people.

"The World Diabetes Day campaign affords everyone the opportunity to make a difference. Together we can provide a strong global voice that can advocate for improved care for the more than 250 million people living with diabetes and the many millions more at risk. For our voice to be heard we need strong partners that support local, regional and global action. We welcome Novartis as an Official World Diabetes Day Partner," said Phil Riley, World Diabetes Day Campaign Director, IDF.

Since 2000, Novartis has partnered with IDF, supporting such important initiatives as the Pill Box Campaign in South Africa, Bermuda and India, distributing pill boxes to community diabetes support groups, doctors and pharmacies to encourage people to remember to take their medication.

Additionally, in 2007 Novartis worked with IDF to achieve a landmark United Nations resolution whereby the diabetes epidemic was recognized as a global threat; the first time governments acknowledged that a non-infectious disease posed as serious a threat to world health as infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The resolution designated the existing World Diabetes Day - November 14 - as a United Nations Day to be observed every year. It called on all nations to develop national policies for the prevention, treatment and care of diabetes.

hungry Senegal to go solar in energy overhaul

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:08:00 +0000

Senegal hopes to rein in surging electricity prices, reduce frequent blackouts and power most of its street lighting through an energy policy using solar panels, the government said on Friday.

Located on Africa's west coast at one end of the arid Sahel belt south of the Sahara, Senegal has huge solar potential but has so far lacked the expertise and investments to harness it.

President Abdoulaye Wade, 82, instructed his energy minister to extend the national electricity grid over the entire country and build a factory making low-energy light bulbs, a government statement summing up Thursday's cabinet meeting said.

U.S. space agency NASA scientists have identified a location in nearby Niger as the sunniest piece of land on earth, and renewable energy campaigners say the region has huge solar generating potential.

"He (Wade) has also decided to put in place an energy-saving and management policy to lower prices for electricity consumers and reduce the negative effects of costs on our nation's economic development," the government statement said.

Like many African countries, Senegal has suffered long-term underinvestment and neglect of its power network.

This has hampered economic development despite it being one of the region's most stable democracies since independence from France in 1960.

Last month, crowds of youths smashed up offices of the state power utility Senelec in the capital Dakar to protest against frequent power cuts due to load-shedding.

Wade said last year he was investigating installling a nuclear power station to help make up the generation shortfall, which would make Senegal only the second sub-Saharan African nuclear producer after South Africa.

Two years ago, Wade, an economist by training, launched "The Wade Formula" as a proposal for Africa's oil-exporting countries to share a proportion of their windfall profits from high world oil prices with their poor neighbours. So far none has done so.

Senegal generates a small amount of power from local natural gas, but depends mostly on oil-fired stations run on imported fuel, which has caused large electricity price increases in the past two years as world oil prices have reached record highs

3 Things About Solar Energy

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Ancient peoples from all over the world have utilized the power of the sun in so many ways, that amazingly, we still use some of them without even being aware of it. Here are 3 things you ought to know about solar energy.

1. Its one of the oldest, most dependable and most renewable forms of energy.

Day-lighting is probably the oldest solar power harnessing method, and this can be seen in architectural buildings with sunroofs or those with similar constructions as that of (glass) greenhouses. The oculus of the Pantheon in Rome is one very concrete example of day-lighting. Boats and a few water faring vehicles use portholes for day-lighting as well. There are also solar water heaters that can help heat water pipes and provide hot water to swimming pools and bath faucets. The Romans were able to harness solar power and provide the needed warm and hot water to the houses of its more affluent citizens.

Solar power can also be utilized in evaporation ponds. This is also one method used since time immemorial to harvest salt from salt ponds. These days, concentrating solar power in evaporation ponds can also be used as an alternative sewage cleaning system. This process helps disinfect microbes and other bacteria from the water, and aids in distillation as well. In case you are not convinced, you may want to consider the fact that you still hang out your clothes to dry and bleach light colored fabrics under the sun; and you seven let out shoes, cushions and anything with padding under the white light to help rid of unsightly smell.

2. The potential use for solar energy is still limitless.

As technology catches up with the needs of the times, people are finding more creative ways of using the harnessed solar energy. In ancient times, potable water was gathered from the distillation process using the heat of the sun. The same technology is now being developed further to help provide water to parts of the globe where clean running water is in great shortage.

As panels become smaller but with greater battery life, solar vehicles are slowly becoming a reality. Sun-powered cars, small planes and even water vehicles are being developed, but it would probably take a few more years or decades to make these commercially viable.

3. Photovoltaics is more common than you think.

In the present time, however, harvesting energy using solar panels with embedded cells is one of the most prominently used among all technology revolving around the power of the sun. Since the technology is now quickly becoming easier to use and cheaper to reproduce, more and more homes are turning to photovoltaics as an alternative source of electrical supply.

However, like all new technology, some can be overshadowed by hype or overly zealous marketing. If you are planning to have professionals install a solar energy system in your home, or you are planning to install one on your own, you would need more instructions.

For more great tips to save money by saving energy visit earth 4 energy. With the right motivation to reduce your bills by going green we enjoy working with others by revealing earth for energy secrets which most people will never know guide.

Renewable Energy Thrust Nets GeneSiC Semiconductor $1.5M from US Department of Energy

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:39:00 +0000

The US Department of Energy has awarded GeneSiC Semiconductor two separate grants totaling $1.5M for the development of high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) devices that will serve as key enablers for wind- and solar-power integration with the nation's electricity grid.

"These awards demonstrate the DOE's confidence in GeneSiC's capabilities, as well as its commitment to alternative energy solutions," notes Dr. Ranbir Singh, president of GeneSiC. "An integrated, efficient power grid is critical to the nation's energy future -- and the SiC devices we're developing are critical for overcoming the inefficiencies of conventional silicon technologies."

The first award is a $750k Phase II SBIR grant for the development of fast, ultra-high-voltage SiC bipolar devices. The second is a $750k Phase II STTR grant for the development of optically gated high-power SiC switches.
Silicon carbide is a next-generation semiconductor material with the ability to handle 10x the voltage and 100x the current of silicon, making it ideally suited to high-power applications such as renewable energy (wind and solar) installations and electrical-grid control systems.

Specifically, the two awards are for:
-- Development of high-frequency, multi-kilovolt SiC gate-turn-off (GTO) power devices. Government and commercial applications include power-management and -conditioning systems for ships, the utility industry, and medical imaging.
-- Design and fabrication of optically gated high-voltage, high-power SiC switching devices. Using fiber-optics to switch power is an ideal solution for environments plagued by electro-magnetic interference (EMI), and applications that require ultra high-voltages.
The SiC devices GeneSiC is developing serve a variety of energy storage, power grid, and military applications, which are receiving increasing attention as the world focuses on more efficient and cost-effective energy-management solutions.

About GeneSiC Semiconductor
Based outside Washington, DC in Dulles, Virginia, GeneSiC Semiconductor Inc. is a leading innovator in high-temperature, high-power and ultra high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) devices. Current development projects include high-temperature rectifiers, field-effect transistors (FETs) and bipolar devices, as well as particle & photonic detectors. GeneSiC has prime/sub-contracts from major US Government agencies, including the Department of Energy, Navy, DARPA, and the Department of Homeland Security. The company is currently experiencing substantial growth, and hiring qualified personnel in power-device and detector design, fabrication, and testing. To find out more, please visit www.genesicsemi.com.

Volvo XC90 R-design to debut at Guangzhou show

noreply@blogger.com (Arthur King) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:03:00 +0000

Shanghai, November 14 (Gasgoo.com) At the upcoming Guangzhou auto show, Volvo Cars will display its latest sport editions of S40, C30, XC90 R-design models along with the general Volvo C30, S40, C70, S80 and XC90 models. The new XC90 Sport R-design to make its China debut at the show will sell for 798,000 yuan ($117,000), said xinhuanet.com today.

The Volvo XC90 R-design is the epitome of the new-generation SUV model. Its design and equipment accommodate seven seaters and combines the functions of the coupe, sedan and crossover. The “R” of R-design stands for "refinement" as the XC90 is designed specifically for the more discerning consumer.

As a new concept in refinement, Volvo R-Design is first seen on V70, XC70 and S80 models, giving customers the higher levels of customization now so prevalent in the industry. The new product line is seen by the firm to highlight their increasing focus on making their cars 'more extrovert and emotional.'

Based on the XC90 Sport model, namely utilizing its sport chassis, the R-Design version also pinches silk matt finish details, brushed steel sill moldings and stylish blue-lit metal watch-style instrument dial faces. But exclusive to R-Design are 19-inch or optional 20-inch alloys, dual exhaust pipes and rear view mirror caps in a silk matt finish.

The engine is made mostly of aluminum and has a power output of 238 hp and torque is 320 Nm. All the engine variants with the exception of the five-cylinder 2.5 liter turbo get a six-speed Geartronic automatic transmission and upgraded All Wheel Drive featuring Instant Traction.