Make Your Money Grow — More Seeds Means Fewer Weeds

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | No Comments

U.S. Department Of Agriculture
By Ann Perry

Farmers cultivating organic produce often use winter cover crops to add soil organic matter, improve nutrient cycling and suppress weeds. Now these producers can optimize cover crop use by refining seeding strategies, thanks to work by an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist.

In moderate climates, suppressing weeds in winter cover crops is important because weeds that grow throughout the year produce seed that can increase weeding costs in subsequent vegetable crops. ARS horticulturist Eric Brennan, at the U.S. Agricultural Research Station in Salinas, Calif., conducted studies comparing winter cover crop planting protocols in organic systems along California’s central coast.

Brennan looked at how seeding rates and planting patterns affected cover crop performance. He planted rye using three seeding rates: 80 pounds per acre, 160 pounds per acre and 240 pounds per acre. The seeds were either planted in a grid pattern that required driving a grain drill across fields twice, or in traditional rows. All seeding was carried out in October.

Brennan found that planting rye at higher seeding rates consistently improved early-to midseason rye biomass production and weed suppression. But he saw no consistent crop improvement from grid planting.

Brennan also studied seeding rates and planting patterns using a cover crop of legumes and oats. The seeds were planted at densities of 100, 200, and 300 pounds per acre and planted both in grids and traditional rows.

Results were similar to the rye cover crop results. As seeding rates increased, weed biomass production decreased from around 267 pounds per acre to less than 89 pounds per acre. In addition, planting patterns had no effect on cover crop yield or weed suppression.

Brennan’s findings suggest that increased seeding rates could provide organic producers with a cost-effective weed control strategy. However, planting in a grid pattern would probably not consistently boost the benefits of cover crops—and since it would require two passes through the field, grid planting would likely double dust production, fuel use, planting time and labor.

The research was published in the Agronomy Journal.

ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Eyes on Drilling

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | No Comments

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the creation of the “Eyes on Drilling” tipline for citizens to report non-emergency suspicious activity related to oil and natural gas development.

The agency is asking citizens to call 1-877-919-4EPA (toll free) if they observe what appears to be illegal disposal of wastes or other suspicious activity. Anyone may also send reports by email to eyesondrilling@epa.gov. Citizens may provide tips anonymously if they don’t want to identify themselves.

In the event of an emergency, such as a spill or release of hazardous material, including oil, to the environment, citizens are advised to call the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.

Public concern about the environmental impacts of oil and natural gas drilling has increased in recent months, particularly regarding development of the Marcellus Shale formation where a significant amount of activity is occurring. While EPA doesn’t grant permits for oil and gas drilling operations, there are EPA regulations which may apply to the storage of petroleum products and drilling fluids. The agency is also very concerned about the proper disposal of waste products, and protecting air and water resources.

EPA wants to get a better understanding of what people are experiencing and observing as a result of these drilling activities. The information collected may also be useful in investigating industry practices.

The agency works closely with state and local officials, as well as industry and public interest groups, to ensure that oil and natural gas drilling occurs in a manner which is protective of human health and the environment and complies with applicable laws. The agency is also counting on concerned citizens to report unusual or suspicious activity related to drilling operations.

EPA is asking citizens to report the location, time and date of such activity, as well as the materials, equipment and vehicles involved and any observable environmental impacts.

The Marcellus Shale geologic formation contains one of the largest mostly untapped reserves of natural gas in the United States. It underlies significant portions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York, and smaller portions of Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky.

Interest in developing Marcellus Shale has increased because recent improvements in natural gas extraction technology and higher energy prices now make recovering the gas more profitable.

Operators produce this gas through a process called hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Fracking requires drilling a well thousands of feet below the land’s surface and pumping down the well under pressure millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals to fracture the shale.

The process allows the gas trapped in the formation to flow to the well bore. Approximately 20 to 30 percent of the fluid flows back to the surface. This “flowback” fluid consists of fracking fluid and brines which contain dissolved minerals from the formation.

Operators are urged to recycle their flowback water for reuse in the fracking process, but some of the flowback is taken offsite for disposal. Chemicals used in the process are often stored on-site. Spills can occur when utilizing these chemicals or when transporting or storing wastewater, which can result in the contamination of surface water or ground water, which is used for many purposes including drinking water.

Instructions for the tipline can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/region03/marcellus_shale/tipline.html

Energy Data Available Anywhere, Any Time

Posted on | January 26, 2010 | Comments Off

Having rapidly established itself as a “go to” site for transportation and other related energy information, the Virtual Information Bridge to Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (VIBE) is expanding its reach to attract new users across the widest range of energy issues. A sister site to VIBE, called Open Energy Information, has been launched to allow organizations around the world to both post their own energy data and download data, for free.

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), VIBE is known as a state-of-the art presentation studio on the third floor of Building 16. Its walls are covered with flat-screen monitors aglow with widgets, home pages, Web links and sundry visual cues of the virtual world, all smattered among scores of more conventional pie charts, myriad bar graphs and a plethora of energy datasets.

To the world beyond the Laboratory, VIBE and Open Energy Information (OpenEI) contain that same treasure trove of information and a lot more — with every tidbit of data just a mouse click away from any internet-connected device, anywhere.

DOE Selects Platform for Internet Information Sharing
In recent weeks, the potential of VIBE has become apparent across the nation and around the globe.

Last month, OpenEI was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to fulfill the Administration’s commitment to open up the workings of the federal government through the Internet. DOE hailed OpenEI as the way to make energy information “transparent, participatory, and collaborative.”

“This information platform will allow people across the globe to benefit from the Department of Energy’s clean energy data and technical resources,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “The true potential of this tool will grow with the public’s participation — as they add new data and share their expertise — to ensure that all communities have access to the information they need to broadly deploy the clean energy resources of the future.”

Through VIBE and OpenEI, NREL is putting information and data at everyone’s fingertips, to use, to download, to build on, and to spur needed new analysis. The ultimate goal is to make the most relevant knowledge about energy issues available to anyone at any time, so that decision-makers in both the public and private sectors can help the nation achieve its clean energy goals.

Together, these digital assets provide worldwide access to NREL’s valuable analytical capabilities, and thus help transform energy markets, policy decisions, and technology investments.

Gateway to Allow International Exchange
OpenEI also was seized on by the teams representing the United States at international climate negotiations in Copenhagen and the Major Economies Forum (MEF). A new gateway was created specifically for MEF on the OpenEI platform, allowing participating countries to share data, information, resources and tools, including real-time activity tracking. It also will facilitate open participation and input via a “wiki” type collaborative system.

OpenEI, it is hoped, will leverage a wealth of data to allow MEF countries to share best practices and successful implementation strategies, facilitate collaboration with other nations and international organizations, provide global resource maps and information on hot-spot development, make available a portfolio of analysis tools to encourage sustainable energy development, maintain data about the status, characteristics and impacts of clean energy technology deployment, and accelerate development of clean energy through worldwide access to information.

Over time, the plan is to expand the OpenEI portal to include on-line training and networks of technical experts. The portal is co-funded by the International Energy Agency, United Nations Industrial Development Organization and many other international organizations.

Another new gateway that showcases the work of the entire Department of Energy national laboratory complex already is available on the OpenEI platform. That gateway, U.S. OpenLabs, was high-lighted at the Copenhagen Climate Conference last month.

VIBE and OpenEI will continue to evolve to support greater knowledge of energy issues and options, and strengthen sound decision-making for policy makers, researchers, technology investors, venture capitalists and market professionals across the U.S. and around the world.

Learn more about Energy Analysis at NREL.

— Gary Schmitz

FIRST INTERNATIONAL GREEN COMPUTING CONFERENCE

Posted on | January 25, 2010 | Comments Off

August 15-18, 2010, the International Green Computing Conference sponsored by IEEE addresses key issues and topics related to energy efficiency in computing and promoting environmentally friendly computer technologies and systems. The conference aims to provide a forum to a wide audience for discussing, sharing and investigating the state-of-the-art for all aspects of green computing, which include energy-efficient use of computers, design of algorithms and systems for environmentally-friendly computer technologies, and wide range of related topics. The conference will publish papers pertaining to hardware and software systems, algorithms, applications as well as power, energy and temperature related research areas of current importance to researchers, engineers and practitioners. The conference will hold forums and workshops on hot topics related to how the carbon footprint of computing can be reduced and how computers can contribute to the environment and overall well being of the planet. Topics of interest are: Power-aware software Code profiling and transformation for power management Power-aware middleware Power-efficient architectures and chip designs Resource management to optimize performance and power Runtime systems that assist in power saving Models for collective optimization of power and performance Monitoring tools for power and performance Algorithms for reduced power, energy and heat Power-aware applications Static and dynamic data allocation for distributed servers Efficient circuit design for energy harvesting Power efficient cluster and enterprise computing Power management at component level, including memory, disk. Configurable and renewable energy Low power electronics Embedded systems, ASICs and FPGSs Power leakage and dissipation Power implications for portable and mobile computing Power aware networking Reliability of Power-aware computers Use of sensors for climate monitoring Smart control for eco-friendly buildings Thermal control of data centers Energy recycling Energy efficient power and cooling infrastructure Review of Manuscripts———————All submitted manuscripts will be reviewed and evaluated on correctness, originality, technical strength, significance, quality of presentation, and interest and relevance to the conference scope. Papers must be received by March 15, 2010, by 11:59pm, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. Full manuscripts must be received by May 15, 2010, by 11:59 PM, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. Best Paper AwardsAwards will be given for best papers in different categories. Important Dates:Paper Due: Monday, March 15, 2010 Paper notification: April 30, 2010 Camera ready papers due: May 15, 2010 The final appearance of the accepted papers in the official conference proceedings (through IEEE Digital Library) is contingent on two conditions: (1) that at least one author of an accepted paper registers for the conference at the time of the submission of the final manuscript and (2) that one of the authors presents the paper at the conference in person. Full details of the conference may be found at the conference website: www.Green-Conf.org.

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