World's first round-the-clock solar power plant (Gemasolar - a 15 megawatt solar power tower plant in Spain)

Eventually the plant will be able to supply 24hrs of uninterrupted production per day on most summer days, providing a higher annual capacity factor than most baseload plants such as nuclear power plants.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/picture/2011/aug/19/gemasolar-parabolic-power-plant-spain

http://www.torresolenergy.com/TORRESOL/NewsTS/gemasolar-solar-power-plant-reaches-24-hours-of-uninterrupted-production

Some interesting links / resources on obtaining changes to green behaviour

http://greenlivingblog.org.uk/2011/08/02/top-10-green-behaviour-change-resources/

GENI : Global Energy Network Institute

Interesting organisation promoting the interconnection of electric power networks between nations and continents (with accent on renewable energies).
http://www.geni.org/index.html

Also another great site on Environment,Ecology, Nature, Habitat, Gaia, Permaculture... (great links and ressources).
http://www.environment.gen.tr

Is the global economy a Ponzi (pyramid) scheme?

Great article comparing the global economy to a pyramid scheme - whereby people become richer in a very unsustainable manner by depleting natural resources and destabilising the climate and ecosystems :
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2009/03/08/203784/ponzi-scheme-madoff-friedman-natural-capital-renewable-resources/


See also :
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/08/240372/tom-friedman-the-great-disruption/
a discussion / review of the book "The Great Disruption" by Paul Gilding



Will have to get round to reading it.

Garbage Warrior

Will have to try and see this film sometime :
http://www.garbagewarrior.com/
Anyone else seen it yet ?

More info on the earthship initiative (which dates back about 40 years) :
http://earthship.com/

You can also rent an existing one for a few days.
E.g. in France : http://web.me.com/gilliantrott/Site/Welcome.html

Ebook readers more environmentally friendly than paper books ?

Are ebook readers (such as Kindle, Sony e-reader...) more environmentally friendly than paper books ?
Apparently yes, according to a CleanTech life-cycle analysis report which indicates that, on average, the carbon emitted in the lifecycle of a Kindle is fully offset after the first year of use.
http://cleantech.com/news/4867/cleantech-group-finds-positive-envi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10320334-54.html
http://gigaom.com/cleantech/why-the-kindle-is-good-for-the-planet/

The corruption is inherent in the system : Senate votes against eliminating $ 21 billion in taxpayer handouts for BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil,and Shell

Americans, your senators are not representing your interests, but those of big oil multinationals.

A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis found that:

Each senator who voted for Big Oil [on May 17] received on average more than four times as much [money from oil interests] as those who voted to end the subsidies.

Despite the fact that around 3/4 of the population are against such subsidies (a recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 74 percent of voters support erasing oil company tax breaks).

See full article here : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/lnawTU5lsjE/