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Great news out of California last week… the rare species of the Pergerine Falcon was removed from the endangered species list. Scientists in California cited the ban on DDT as a factor for rejuvenating the species, which was one of the first animals protected under the California Endangered Species Act.

San Jose Mercury News has more on their web site…

EUREKA, Calif.—Scientists say a state ban on the pesticide DDT has helped revive the peregrine falcon, one of the first animals protected under the California Endangered Species Act.

The state Fish and Game Commission unanimously voted this month to remove the falcon from the endangered species list.

Before California banned DDT in 1972, the peregrine falcon was pushed to the brink of extinction. The number of breeding pairs fell to 10, far below the 100 to 300 pairs estimated to exist historically.

Scientists say the pesticide causes falcons and other birds to lay eggs with shells too thin to support the weight of their parents.

The number of peregrine falcons has rebounded over the past three decades after scientists launched a captive breeding and release program.

The peregrine falcon, or “falco peregrinus” is a fascinating animal, indeed. Be sure to check out Wikipedia for more information, as well as this cool video…

What happens when a town allows for untreated sewage to discharge from manholes, pipes and pumping stations into a creek that’s used as part of the town’s water source? That town gets sued by the EPA and state agencies – and that’s exactly what is happening to the town of Fort Gay, West Virginia.

Legal News Reporter Nicole Howley, reporting on Justice News Flash describes the situation in detail…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sued Fort Gay for clean water act violations involving untreated sewage.

Huntington, WV—The town of Fort Gay, West Virginia, are being sued to stop the discharge of untreated sewage from manholes, pipes, and pumping stations into the Mill Creek. The Justice Department and the West Virginia Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP) http://www.wvdep.org/, and Health and Human Resources (DHHR) http://www.wvdhhr.org/ all filed the lawsuit in behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.epa.gov, as reported by the EPA.

The lawsuit claims the town had several violations of the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act. The discharge of the untreated sewage could contaminate Fort Gray’s drinking supply, which then poses a threat to human health. Since January 2007 on several occasions, the West Virginia town discharged raw sewage from its pumping stations into the Mill Creek. The creek is reportedly a tributary of the Tug Fork River, which is the location of the main intake of the Fort Gay Water Works, just a half-mile down stream from the Mill Creek. The Fort Gay Water Works reportedly the main water supplier to the town. In addition, the lawsuit alleges the untreated sewage has been spotted in residential yards, basements, streams, and the Tug Fork River. Fort Gay also failed to comply with a 2003 EPA order to take all reasonable steps to minimize or prevent these potentially harmful discharges. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction directing Fort Gay to eliminate or reduce the danger to human health from the discharge of the untreated sewage, meet federal requirements, and the state-issued pollution discharge permit.

The raw sewage is home to viruses and protozoa in addition to other parasites, which can cause illness when they come into contact with humans. Adverse health affects of these bacteria can cause sore throats, stomach cramps and diarrhea. They can also cause life-threatening illnesses like cholera, dysentery, infectious hepatitis, and severe gastroenteritis.

If you’re concerned about the environment or adoption of alternative energy, you may want to see some strong innovations made to solar photovoltaic panels. While solar projects continue to command funding across the world, the issue at hand is one of scalability and efficiency.

The largest solar facility in the world is located in Germany. Consisting of more than one half million solar panels, the facility produces a mere 53 megawatts of electrical power. To put that into perspective – the facility that spans the area of 210 football fields powers just 15,000 households.

On this scale, its unlikely that any major movement can be made to solar without technical innovations to improve size, cost and efficiency of photovoltaic panels.

As Danny Vo from Cooler Planet reports…

The most carefully designed, expensive and complex photovoltaic solar panels in the world operate at about 40 percent efficiency. The same is true for concentrating solar power, or CSP, though CSP also offers the advantage of energy storage. In addition, some three-phase CSP operations (solar energy, desalinated water for shaded horticulture, and cooled water for HVAC systems) can raise overall efficiencies to about 70 percent.

Recent discoveries out of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, suggesting that indium/gallium/nitrogen alloys may be able to convert the entire spectrum of sunlight, still face a 70-percent ceiling. This, if commercially viable, is a 40 percent improvement over the most efficient multi-junction solar cell created, which is still rated at 30 percent.

A better margin is offered by scientists from Idaho National Laboratories, where the use of nanotechnology surface imprinting (of nano-antennas) allows infra-red capture. Infra-red is 47 percent of light’s spectrum, as compared to about 46 percent for visible light, and infra-red is also available at night.

Of course, there is currently no way to capture the energy produced, so the scientists are working to incorporate miniscule capacitors in the center of every nano-antenna, and this, if made commercially viable, would potentially provide up to 80 percent efficiency and change the paradigm for solar energy.

This is going to be the secret to solar’s success; not more solar, but better solar, allowing solar to eventually replace at least 25 percent of fossil-fuel electricity generation by making it both efficient and affordable.

With the “Cash for Clunkers” program ending today, our writing staff happened across a great article from Charles Herman, a member of the Business Unit over at ABC News.

Herman wrote a piece today, available online, that questions the environmental impact of the “Cash for Clunkers” program. The program, widely known to most Americans because of the rebate systems established by the government, has sparked little attention for it’s primary purpose – to serve the environment by putting more fuel efficient vehicles on the road.

As Charles Herman writes…

“Cash for Clunkers” has generated a surge in car and truck sales, as well as a comparable increase in complaints about the program. But whether or not the program — which is due to end at the end of the day today — meets environmental goals of reducing gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions has received less attention.

“As an environmental program, Cash for Clunkers is basically overpaying for the environmental benefits,” said Christopher Knittle, an economics professor at the University of California at Davis who analyzed the Cash for Clunkers impact on the environment.

It is yet another concern about a program that, despite its popularity and success, has been criticized from the beginning.

The analysis that Charles Herman references is also available online (in the form of a PDF) from Christopher Knittle, an economics professor at the University of California at Davis.

In his report , he provides this abstract:

The Cash for Clunker program aims to stimulate the economy, provide relief for automobile manufacturers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this research note, I present estimates of the implied cost of carbon dioxide reductions under the Cash for Clunker program. The estimates suggest that the program is an expensive way to reduce greenhouse gases. This is true under a wide range of assumptions regarding the increase in fuel economy of new vehicles purchased under the program, how long the clunkers would have been on the road if not for the program, and whether we account for reductions in criteria pollutants. Conservative estimates of the implied carbon cost exceed $365 per ton; best case scenario parameter values suggest a cost of carbon of $237 per ton.

[...]

In this note I discuss and show how expanding on this simple example changes the cost estimates. For example, the car may have survived for a longer, or shorter, time period. The new vehicle might be driven more than the clunker. Or, we may want to account for reductions in other pollutants. I do not discuss the merits of the program in terms of stimulus. While the program is an expensive way to reduce greenhouse gases, it is certainly possible that the stimulus benets outweigh the added environmental costs. I leave this question for a broader analysis of the program, but note that key legislators have suggested that the environmental gains from the program are large.

In short, most environmentalists feel that the campaign has been unsuccessful at best. Many, more politically charged, have voiced their opinions saying that the program not only provides no benefit to the environment, but, actually put more consumers at risk in a troubled economy because of their requirements to secure financing on vehicles purchased under the program.

What do you think? Was the CARS and “Cash for Clunkers” program a success? Did you take advantage of the program? We want to hear your thoughts, so speak up and voice your opinion using the comments area below!

If you have ever typed a question into Google or Yahoo before clicking “search”, you’ve likely seen a few of the many of question and answer sites online. Some, like Yahoo! Answers are incredibly broad and allow their users to ask just about anything, regardless of topic. The entire purpose being, your peers are then allowed to share their knowledge with you by answering your question, provide helpful answers, links of interest and more.

The environmental community finally has such an outlet – GreenAnswers.

What is GreenAnswers?
GreenAnswers appears to be a great resoruce because of what it is – the first focused Q&A site that allows you to ask and answer questions on a variety of eco-topics including Sustainable Living, Health & Wellness, Climate Change and more.

In their own words, and according to their about us page, GreenAnswers is…

GreenAnswers is a social question and answer site where people can ask, answer and learn about environmental issues. Everything on the site is driven by you– the community. From asking and answering questions, to voting on what makes a good answer, this is your site. As you participate, you can build your reputation by contributing helpful content. Additionally, you can help shape the reputations of your peers by voting on their content.

With our environmentally-minded community, we aim to build the authoritative resource on the web for environmental issues. The quality of our content is dependent upon this community. All we ask is that you treat your fellow members with respect. There is no need to agree, in fact, disagreements will make the site great, but we do ask that you do so respectfully. Other than that, the site is for you, the community. Enjoy it and please contact us if there’s anything we can do to improve!

We are currently in a private beta, so if you would like to request an invitation, please do so on our contact page.

And please remember, the content on the site is created by the community, so you should not rely on it for medical, legal or any other professional advice. You can read more about this in our Terms & Conditions.

As mentioned above, the site is currently in a private BETA, but is allowing for those interested to receive a private account invitation the moment the site is released to the public next month. EcoWorld has worked to secure a special invitation link for our readers, so make sure you take a moment to join the community with other EcoWorld users today!

Request an Account Invitation
To request your GreenAnswers.com account invitation, go here: http://greenanswers.com/invitation/ecoworld/058267

Take a few moments to review GreenAnswers today, too. There’s an abundance of information and Q&A already going on with the private members that we can learn from. Some of our favorites from cruising the site today include:

• Are there areas in the US that don’t meet drinking water standards?
• What are some educational but entertaining movies about the environment for children?
• Are environmental spring break trips becoming more popular with college students?

For more information about GreenAnswers, please see their blog.

Last week, the news out of Tempe Arizona was that First Solar, Incorporated had been hired to build a solar electric power generation facility to help power homes in the Los Angeles area. The 55 megawatt facility is to be built on land in Imperial County California and could help to power more than 17,000 homes after 2011.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has worked with the city council and First Solar, Inc. on these plans – and as of right now – approval of the facility lies in the hands of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa.

First Solar Inc. has other plans active for the greater Los Angeles area, as CNBC reports:

First Solar also said Tuesday that it will build two massive solar farms in Southern California as part of an agreement with Southern California Edison to provide power to about 170,000 homes.

The farms will be located in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Construction is expected to start in 2012 and end in 2015.

California currently has a goal of delivering 20 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and is considering legislation to increase the goal to 33 percent by 2020.

Tidal power projects in the Unites States are far less common than wind and solar energy production. One of the major reasons for this is the lack of tidal currents, comparatively speaking, with the rest of the world.

For the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission though, the next tidal power project may exist on the shores off of Maine. Tucked away in the northeast corner of our country, Maine has the largest tidal swing in the contingent United States.

While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has reached similar agreements with the states of Oregon and Washington, the agreement with Maine represents the first on the East Coast of it’s kind.

The Associated Press, via CNBC has more:

Maine Gov. John Baldacci, who was on hand for the agreement’s signing in Washington, D.C., said the state is committed to developing renewable resources.

“Our state has been aggressive in its pursuit of clean energy to help end our country’s dependence on fossil fuels, and this agreement will help establish a coordinated and responsible partnership between Maine and FERC,” Baldacci said in a statement.

Tidal power appeals in several ways.

Unlike the wind, tides are predictable. As an added bonus, water’s greater density means fewer turbines are needed to produce the same amount of electricity as wind turbines. Finally, there’s no interference with boats or aesthetic issues associated with wind farms because the turbines are deep underwater.

[...]

“If you ask me as a regulator, what are the environmental impacts, I say I have no idea,” said Dana Murch of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. “It’s of vital importance that we get some units in the water and see what the impacts are, because the energy potential is enormous.”

In Maine, there was a rush by the private sector to file preliminary permits with FERC for potentially lucrative underwater sites around the same time a 2006 study by nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute concluded that it made economic sense to look underwater for affordable electricity.

At one point, there were 17 different active permits in Maine; the number has since dropped to eight today, said Murch, the DEP’s dams and hydro director.

Ocean Renewable Power holds a permit for what may be Maine’s best site: the Western Passage in Passamaquoddy Bay, where twice a day the tide rises and falls 20 feet, generating swift currents.

The company hopes to install four turbines with a total of four megawatts of capacity in the Western Passage, as well as another turbine with one megawatt of power in Cobscook Bay. All told, the company believes there’s 100 megawatts of potential between the two sites.

Last Friday, thousands of scientists gathered to warm world leaders about global water management at the Copenhagen climate agreement.

CNBC has more on the meeting…

Participants at the World Water Week conference said climate change will severely affect water supplies and poorer countries need support to help them adapt.

“At the moment the water issue doesn’t get enough attention in the climate negotiations,” Anders Berntell, head of the Stockholm International Water Institute, told The Associated Press. “To be effective, climate negotiations must factor in the impact and importance of water for the world and, indeed, human well-being.”

After several rounds of global talks, world leaders will be meeting in December in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, with the aim of reaching a new accord to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Berntell said water issues are of primary importance because it plays such a fundamental role in economies, communities, and public health.

“When you change the availability of water, you change the prerequisites for farming — the possibility to feed this planet — and you change the possibilities for energy production, forestry and industries,” he said.

Scientists at the weeklong conference also demanded more effective use of water across borders and called for better cooperation between officials involved in land and forest management, climate questions and water issues.

Friday’s appeal ended a weeklong conference of more than 2,500 scientists, politicians and officials in the Swedish capital.

If you’re looking for something fun, different and environmentally minded this weekend in Iowa, perhaps Dig IN: the Decorah Iowa Green Initiative is an option.

The first ever event will feature a wealth of environmentally friendly topics, exhibits and activities including tours of 11 eco-friendly homes built in the area for the purpose of sustainable living.

Folks will also be welcomes at Luther College, where an electric vehicle fleet will be on display along with students and faculty who will be on hand to discuss how Luther College plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 50 percent over the next four years.

Here is an interactive map of the event’s sites:

View dig IN Map in a larger map

Names and Addresses of the Included Locations are:

Chamber & Visitors Center (Registration)
507 W Water St., Decorah, IA 52101

Foot-Notes Street Dance
Washington St., Decorah, IA 52101

Winneshiek County Farmers Market
Claiborne St., Decorah, IA 52101

Luther College – Baker Village
700 College Dr., Decorah, IA 52101

Winneshiek County Recycling Center
2510 172nd Ave., Decorah, IA 52101

Brockett/Ettlson Residence
1387 Coon Creek Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Grimstad Residence
2110 Twin Springs Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Kittleson Residence
1389 Coon Creek Rd, Decorah, IA 52101

Rotto/Rog Residence
1591 Manawa Trail Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Sliwa Meadow Residence
2682 Lannon Hill Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Rock Cedar Ranch
3469 Locust Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

The Kraus Farm
2912 Manawa Trail Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Patchwork Green Farm
3031 Middle Hesper Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Top of the Hollow Farm
2700 Happy Hollow Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Oneota Slopes
2665 Lannon Hill Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Seed Savers Exchange Heritage Farm
3094 N Winn Rd. Decorah, IA 52101

“FRESH” at Decorah High School Auditorium
100 E Claiborne Dr. Decorah, IA 52101

Garden Party
1575 Manawa Trail Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

McCaffrey’s Dolce Vita
2149 Twin Springs Rd., Decorah, IA 52101

Albert’s (within Hotel Winneshiek)
104 E Water St., Decorah, IA 52101

Oneota Community Food Co-op
312 W. Water St., Decorah, IA 52101

Rubaiyat
117 W Water St. Decorah, IA 52101

KDEC Green Expo
Just off Montgomery St., Decorah, IA 52101

More information on the event can be found on the digIN web site.

Here’s a little bit of feel good news for a Friday…

“A transition to renewable energy generation utilizing sources such as wind and solar could potentially eliminate 1,300 worker deaths over the coming decade,” one of the researchers said.

That’s from Renewable Energy’s Safety Benefits Praised, a recent article published on Occupational Health & Safety’s web site.

For many environmentalists and renewable energy enthusiasts, going green simply makes sense. It feels good, does good for the Earth and creates a cleaner and greener place to live for generations.

Now, there’s evidence to suggest it’s simply safer to use renewable energy sources.

Here is some more detail into the report:

Expanded use of renewable energies should appreciably improve the health of the 700,000 U.S. workers in the energy sector, researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin contend in a commentary published in the Aug. 19 issue of JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. Steven Sumner, M.D., who completed the work while a medical student, and Peter Layde, M.D., professor of population health and co-director of the Injury Research Center at the college, examined occupational health risks to workers in renewable energy industries compared to those in fossil fuel industries.

They pointed out the risk of workplace injury and death among energy workers is a hidden cost of energy production, known as an externality of energy; externalities of energy production include problems ranging from damage to the general environment to adverse health effects caused by pollution, injuries, and fatalties. Sumner, now an internal medicine resident at Duke University, and Layde concluded wind and solar energy appear to lessen injury risks because the energy extraction phase is minimized or eliminated in wind or solar energy production. Biomass, comprised of biofuels, organic waste, and wood derived fuels, currently accounts for more than half of U.S. energy renewable consumption and does not appear to offer a significant safety benefit to U.S. workers relative to fossil fuels, they found.

“The energy sector remains one of the most dangerous industries for U.S. workers. A transition to renewable energy generation utilizing sources such as wind and solar could potentially eliminate 1,300 worker deaths over the coming decade,” Sumner said.