Monday, March 31, 2014

White House embarks on climate change mapping project

The White House wants people and communities to be prepared for extreme weather events spurred by climate change, like coastal flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires. So, it's making data sets and maps from some of the country's top agencies available to the public in it's newly launched "Climate Data Initiative."
The maps and data sets are being collected in one Web site, data.gov/climate, which is full of open government data on the country's infrastructure and geographical features, like bridges, roads, tunnels, canals, and river gauges. The information comes from agencies such as NASA, NOAA, the Department of Defense, and the US Geological Survey.
Obama administration adviser John Podesta and White House science adviser John Holdren are leading the initiative. They called on tech innovators on Wednesday to use the data sets to help build interactive maps and data-driven simulations that could help people plan for natural disasters.
According to Podesta and Holdren, extreme weather events racked up more than $110 billion in damages and killed more than 300 people in the US in 2012.
"While no single weather event can be attributed to climate change, we know that our changing climate is making many kinds of extreme events more frequent and more severe," they wrote in a White Houseblog post. "Rising seas threaten our coastlines. Dry regions are at higher risk of destructive wildfires. Heat waves impact health and agriculture. Heavier downpours can lead to damaging floods."
Several companies have already expressed interest in joining the initiative. Mapping software company Esri said it will partner with 12 US cities to create free and open "maps and apps" that will help local governments plan for natural disasters. And, Google said it would pitch in one petabyte of cloud storage for the data sets, along with 50 million hours of high-performance computing with its Google Earth Engine platform.
"By taking the enormous data sets regularly collected by NASA, NOAA, and other agencies and applying the ingenuity, creativity, and expertise of technologists and entrepreneurs, the Climate Data Initiative will help create easy-to-use tools for regional planners, farmers, hospitals, and businesses across the country -- and empower America's communities to prepare themselves for the future," Podesta and Holdren wrote.
Currently the Climate Data Initiative is in pilot phase, so the data sets are limited to coastal flooding and sea level rise. But over time more data and tools will become available, such as information on health risks, food supply, and energy infrastructure.

th Wales, could produce power for about £100 per megawatt hour (MWh).

Three tidal lagoons could be in operation around Britain by 2021 producing large-scale low carbon power at a cheaper price than offshore wind, according to their developer, Tidal Lagoon Power.
The company said a report commissioned from management consultant, Pöyry confirmed the lagoons, starting with one at Swansea Bay in south Wales, could produce power for about £100 per megawatt hour (MWh).
tidal lagoon
"This study clearly demonstrates that tidal lagoons can rapidly become one of the cheapest sources of electricity in the UK. The more water we impound, the more power we produce, the less support we require," said Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power.
The £100 per MWh cost compares with recent government calculations for a deep sea offshore wind farm in 2021 of about £131 per MWh. The cheapest of the projects assessed, Lagoon 3, has a cost of about £90 per MWh, broadly similar to onshore wind, large-scale solar and even gas-fired plants, Shorrock said.
This month, plans for the world's first tidal lagoon power plant in Swansea Bay were accepted for consideration by the government's Planning Inspectorate. Tidal Lagoon Power is hoping construction can start in spring 2015 with the first power generated in 2018.
Environmentalists, who have scuppered other tidal projects such as the Severn Barrage in the past, remain cautious about the impact of the scheme on wildlife and a former business partner, Tidal Electric, claims to be in dispute with the Swansea Bay developers over the design of the scheme.

Tata Power, L&T keen to set up rooftop solar projects in Odisha

At least five companies including Tata Power and engineering major L&T have shown interest to develop rooftop solar power project in Odisha, according to official sources.

The companies have enquired about the the request for qualification (RFQ) tender floated by Green Energy Development Company Ltd (Gedcol), the nodal agency of the state government to develop on grid solar power in the state.

“About 4-5 companies have come, including Tata Power and L&T to discuss about the project details. We have not received any written communication from them so far,” said a senior official of Gedcol.

The rooftop solar energy project would cost around Rs 50 crore for installing equipment to generate 5 Mw power. The Gedcol will be providing the money from loan assistance financed by International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The last date for applying to the RFQ proposal of the state undertaking is April 29. The interested bidders would be responsible for operation and maintenance of the project, which will be installed ‘on buildings to be specified by Govt of Odisha in the cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack’, the RFQ paper said. The solar project is aimed at reducing ever-increasing power bills of government offices.The government has been criticised by the high court for not clearing large amount of pending power bills in a tariff hike case.

In October 2012, it was decided to set up solar lighting systems on rooftop of all government establishments, including offices, agencies, directorates and state PSUs situated in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, in order to trim power bills. Later the scheme would be expanded to other districts.

To tap the potential of solar energy production, the state government has formulated Odisha Solar Policy 2013, in line with National Solar Mission, to facilitate solar power projects inside the state.

As per data provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), almost all districts of Odisha receive an average solar radiation of 5.5 kWh/ Sqm area with around 300 sunny days every year. The feasible potential for power generation in the solar photovoltaic route has been roughly estimated as 8000 Mw.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Scott Neeson, former head of 20th Century Fox International left Hollywood to save children rooting in Cambodia's garbage dumps.He sold his mansion, Porsche, and yacht and set off for Cambodia to provide food, shelter, and education to destitute children. Scott now cares for more than 1,000 Cambodian children and their families.
Photo: #Respect

Scott Neeson, former head of 20th Century Fox International left Hollywood to save children rooting in Cambodia's garbage dumps.He sold his mansion, Porsche, and yacht and set off for Cambodia to provide food, shelter, and education to destitute children. Scott now cares for more than 1,000 Cambodian children and their families.

~Buzz~


Simulating with Proteus

https://youtu.be/GDxYzqvTcnI