There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is we are doing our darnedest to destroy the planet where we live. The good news is that astronomers think it’s just a matter of time before they find the Earth’s twin. Astronomers said that last week they found three super-Earths, bigger than our planet, rocky and orbiting a single star. Dozens of other masses were found around other stars.

“Being able to find three Earth-mass planets around a single star really makes the point that not only may many stars have one Earth, but they may very well have a couple of Earths,” said a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C.

The key word there, of course, is theorist. As for me, since we are messing up this planet so badly, I can’t imagine why the Creator would give us another one to destroy. Still, the theorists are predicting they will find Earth’s twin in the next five years or so, give or take a millennium maybe?

“What is amazing to me is that for thousands of years humans have gazed at the stars, wondering if there might be another Earth out there somewhere,” Boss told SPACE.com. “Now we know enough to say that Earth-like planets are indeed orbiting many of those stars, unseen perhaps, but there nevertheless.”

Indeed they are orbiting though unseen? I don’t get it. Where is the proof? Still, like Jody Foster’s dad said in some movie, “If there is no life out there, it’s a terrible waste of space.” Do you think there is life out there? Why?

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Tokyo passed a mandate for large office buildings, shops, hotels, universities and factories to cut their CO2 emissions. About 1,300 establishments which use 1,500 kiloliters of crude per year will be affected. The hope is to reduce energy consumed by 15-20% by 2020. Tokyo creates about 4.5% of Japan’s overall CO2 emissions, and these 1,300 businesses are responsible for about 40% of that total.

Tokyo’s governor says, ”I want Tokyo to take the lead in efforts against global warming in Japan.” The plan will take affect in 2010 and each company affected will be required to submit a five-year plan. For those who can’t make the grade, emissions quotas can be purchased. Cut their energy use down or pay up. In Japan the feeling is somewhat, if it’s good for Tokyo, it’s good for the country. We’ll see.

In the meantime, why doesn’t every major city in the world follow suit?

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I laughed when I read the Audi A8, W12 Quattro review. I read those kinds of articles because among other things I get paid to drive cars and write reviews about them. SeeLand Rover LR3 HSE, 2008.

That’s not what makes me laugh. The Audi review made me laugh out loud actually. I mean how many times do you get to read gas-guzzler and solar-powered in the same sentence. The$120,000 base sticker price Audi A8 has tons of extras running up the price to $140,565. (FWIW, the most expensive car I have driven was aJaguar Super V8, 2008). The Audi has a solar-powered sunroof ($790). I suppose it’s been added to help ease the guilty of having a 6.0 liter engine, 12 valves, a 450 horsepower engine AND, this is the kicker, having to pay $1,700 in extra for a tax. It gets a whopping 13mpg in the city (estimate) and 19 mpg (estimate) on the highway.

Seriously, who would have thought you could use solar-powered and gas-guzzler in the same sentence, on the same machine?

What kind of car do you drive?

Casio Computer has found a way to substitute fluorine gas for sulfur hexafluoride.  Sulfur hexafluoride is used in the processing of silicon thin films for LCD panels. As greenhouse gases go, sulfur hexafluoride is also 20,000 times worse than CO2. Casio thinks that if it eliminates this chemical the company will reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by about 205.

Casio Computer says  -

“Fluorine gas is difficult to handle because it is highly reactive and potentially explosive. The company solved this issue through careful management of hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid levels. For the processing of silicon thin films, the company determined it could achieve the same quality as with sulfur hexafluoride by optimizing the volume of fluorine gas used and adjusting the voltage and other parameters.”

Evaluation of the use of fluorine gas will continue until the end of the year at such time a decision will be made. Does that line “highly reactive and potentially explosive” concern anybody else besides me? Casio also makes dandy wrist watches that can do all sorts of things, elevations, barometers, hail taxi cabs and such.

“Hey, Taro! Where’s you arm?”

“Ah, just another failed fluorine test for Casio. No big deal.”

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Beijing is getting serious about clean air during the Olympics. The city has removed one half of all government vehicles from the streets of Beijing. The move eases congestion, reduces emissions and saves resources for a greener Olympics, which start 8-8-08. “The government wants to take the lead in guaranteeing smooth transport during the Games,” said a transport official.

The move is more aggressive than an initial plan to ban just 30% of all government cars starting on July 1st. Happy, of course, are the Beijing cabbies. Business is good and traffic is far less congested as they haul around their fares. Beginning on July 20th, Beijing will ban 70% of all government vehicles until September 20th. Altogether, some 210,000 vehicles are expected to be sitting in garages. That number is in addition to the half of 3.3 million cars that will be parked on 0dd-even days. The 12 million commuters in the city can expect some 4 million more to crowd onto buses and other public service vehicles. To meet this demand, some 2000 buses and three new metro lines will be added or extend their operating hours. A 4-day trial period last year showed that it works.

Now, if the city really wanted to save money and do something about hot air, they would try to reduce the number of people that create congestion in the government bureaucracy by 70%, too. And, if that works, help us out here in the U.S. please.

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Ask a Chinese person and they will tell you China had it first. China has the oldest. China has the most. It was invented first in the Middle Kingdom. It is everything. So, why not ‘living fossils’ too? There are at least two living fossils in China. The Chinese sturgeon and Chinese alligator.

China sent five pre-historic Chinese sturgeons to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. The never-t0-be sashimi dish is called “living fossil of fish” or “Giant Panda in the water.” Hong Kong’s visitors are home to the only human-bred Chinese sturgeons living in sea water. Why five? To coincide with the Beijing Olympics. What pre-historic fish have to do with the modern Olympics is beyond me. The sturgeon species supposedly dates back to the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs still roamed the land. It seems to me that most fish were here from the beginning. Even the Flood of Noah’s time couldn’t snuff them out.

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fishermen (alligatorermen?) have found a wild Chinese alligator that is also being referred to as a living fossil. The alligator was guessed to be about 40-years old. (Why didn’t they just ask?). It was the first sighting of an alligator in the district of Wuhu in more than 30 years. This alligator species was supposedly very plentiful some 230 million years ago (if you believe the Earth is that old), but now there are only about 150 in the wild. The Yangtze alligator as it is also known is one of the world’s most endangered creatures. Gosh, what would Marco Polo say if he saw this fellow?  Since 1979, the Chinese Alligator Breeding Research Center in Anhui has seen the number of alligators at the center rise from about 200 to more than 10,000.

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John McCain wants to save fuel and reduce emissions. (Don’t we all?)  If elected he is willing to earmark $300 million to encourage innovation on a new car battery. I wonder if he couldn’t just buy the technology from Toyota for about half that price. That $300 million is equal to everyone in the United States ponying up $1. McCain wants to do better than Toyota’s hybrid technology.

McCain says the battery should have the “size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.  My administration will issue a Clean Car Challenge to the automakers of America, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit based on the reduction of carbon emissions. For every automaker who can sell a zero-emissions car, we will commit a 5,000 dollar tax credit for each and every customer who buys that car.“

A $5000 tax credit? Will that go for anyone buying the Honda FCX Clarity? McCain says that if the US can do Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Apollo moon landings, silicon chips and the Internet, then surely we can do a zero emission battery.

“For all the troubles and dangers our energy vulnerability presents, we know that we can overcome them, because we have overcome far worse problems and met far greater goals.”

So, what do you think? Does America have what it takes?

It’s not the extinct white dolphin or something you might see at one of those incredible hotspots for whale watching, it’s the world’s largest shark, the whale shark. Researchers down under, that’s down under (Australia) and down under (underwater) attached devices for observation to eight sharks 8 meters (26′) long off Ningaloo. The devices which are designed to release from the sharks on command, track every move the giant fish makes over several hours.

The whale shark dives like a hawk, then soars like an eagle, using momentum and gravity to conserve energy. Momentum and gravity for conservation of energy? Is there something we landlubbers can learn here because to be honest the whale shark is as big as a bus!

Image by Rob Hughes

Image by Fiona Ayerst

The study was done under pretenses of protecting the whale sharks against whom or who? People who might stick devices to them maybe?

The devices are supposed to reveal where the sharks feed and breed so that we humans can know where and when to leave them alone. How about we just leave them alone. But, then if we aren’t careful, hunters will find them. And if the hunters don’t get them, pollution might.

So, do we study animals or should we leave them alone? What do you think?

Japan was going great guns on adding wind power generating facilities…until last year. The number of new facilities added in ‘07 was half of what was added in ‘06. New wind turbines that started operation in Japan last year had a capacity of 185Kw. It was double that in ‘06.

There are reasons for the drop off:

1. Utilities in northern Japan which is best suited for wind turbines have restricted the construction of new sites

2. New earthquake-resistance standards are tougher even for planned facilities

3. The strong euro and high prices for steel materials make wind turbines much more expensive

4. activists fighting for protection of scenery in the area are preventing progress in use of wind turbines

5. activists fighting on behalf of animals in the areas are preventing progress as well

Japan has a goal of 3 million KW generated by 2010. As of 2007, the capacity was 1.67 million. The goal now seems unattainable. Some 40% of the country’s overall wind power capacity is generated in Hokkaido, Aomori, and Akita, all in northern Japan.

Question: Why can’t we all get along?

Mazda Motor Corp has a hydrogen-powered minivan coming to Japan for lease beginning next March.  The minivan will have hydrogen-combustion and an electric motor. Mazda is the Japanese affiliate of Ford Motor Co. The company received permission from Japan’s transport ministry to test the Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid. The Premacy is known as the Mazda5 overseas.

The minivan has a generator-powered electric motor and a rotary engine. (And, the Mazda goes ummm…). Emissions are water vapor only. Lease costs will be Y420K ($3800)/month! I think, I’ll take a his and hers.

BMW AG is Germany’s attempt to develop a fuel-cell system. Electricity is generated through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Honda’s Clarity will be available for lease in the US next month. Both cars have zero-emissions.