tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50800351157832675982024-02-08T01:04:18.587-05:00GREEN PRCsEnvironmental Updates from the People's Republics of Cambridge and ChinaPhil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-72657225653479053612010-04-29T09:48:00.000-04:002010-04-29T09:48:32.798-04:00China Cleans Up<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFr2664MtlEjkI1eMZCxhdFtpCdnsu0s-AAlFgsD2p2Zz7e6CWa1H0_5ya9XY3UPaEoXMu5481cSDw9eq5QbDZLYok-no3SNjNXzvLBUrGQjY9GPdnXIiYVMku1MmHKExZCZfUMIjIrZ7a/s1600/DSC_1023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFr2664MtlEjkI1eMZCxhdFtpCdnsu0s-AAlFgsD2p2Zz7e6CWa1H0_5ya9XY3UPaEoXMu5481cSDw9eq5QbDZLYok-no3SNjNXzvLBUrGQjY9GPdnXIiYVMku1MmHKExZCZfUMIjIrZ7a/s200/DSC_1023.JPG" width="200" /></a>China exceeded U.S. investment in clean energy for the first time last year with deployments totaling $34.6 billion. The country still has a long way to go to clean up it's emissions--China surpassed the US as the global leader in C02 emissions several years ago--but they're moving quickly to clean up their act.<br />
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Technology Review posted a <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/25112/?a=f">slide show</a> today profiling some of the new technology they're committing to including offshore wind, utility-scale solar power, DC transmission lines, massive nuclear deployments, and coal with carbon capture and sequestration. <br />
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I was happy to see <a href="http://greenprcs.blogspot.com/2009/11/vacuum-tube-solar-hot-water-comes-to.html">vacuum tube solar hot water</a> included in Tech Review's lineup. Not the most cutting edge technology, but one in ten Chinese people now use these highly efficient heaters for domestic hot water. Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-15088603581334805742010-04-22T11:06:00.005-04:002010-04-22T12:01:50.808-04:00Mass Save Has New Website for Great Appliance Exchange<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ14sID_WyrjxegKO1usj3qSMLLs_nt5QvD9Onb4pGHeh8earOZiS69CGZmNpr36wub70LCkQ3eU4NkAhhDM1flMJ408PwDy5d9xIbOJMRVU2n6C5YGq3f7Jh4gFcsP3P1al5aDhGCnTbV/s1600/Inside_fridge.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ14sID_WyrjxegKO1usj3qSMLLs_nt5QvD9Onb4pGHeh8earOZiS69CGZmNpr36wub70LCkQ3eU4NkAhhDM1flMJ408PwDy5d9xIbOJMRVU2n6C5YGq3f7Jh4gFcsP3P1al5aDhGCnTbV/s200/Inside_fridge.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Many thanks to WBZ's John Karalis who a just tweeted the following;</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">"Mass Save system has crashed. Here's the new website to apply for rebates": <a class="tweet-url web" href="https://www.maswap1.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.maswap1.com/</a></span></span></span> <br />
http://twitter.com/JohnWBZ/statuses/12642694329<br />
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My wife and I had been speed dialing and refreshing the crashed Mass Save website for the past hour trying to land a reservation # for the appliance rebate program since it launched 1 hr ago. The new site was operating without a hitch and showed that $700,000 of the $5.4 million rebate was already gone. Seems I'm not the only one who found John's tweet.<br />
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Update: I just checked again, 1 hr and 10 minutes after the program began and $1.8 million of the $5.4 in funds is already gone. Better get on it quick!<br />
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Update # 2: One hour and 15 minutes after the rebate program began the new site that WBZ tweeted <span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"><a class="tweet-url web" href="https://www.maswap1.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.maswap1.com/</a></span></span></span> has also crashed. Wonder if they are cooking up a third site...<br />
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Update # 3: Two hours after the rebate offer began and one hour after Mass Save was able to piece back together a working website for the program, the money is all gone!<br />
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Here is the breakdown from https://www.maswap1.com/ at noon;<br />
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<table border="0" id="Table1" style="width: 300px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" valign="top"><span id="Label1" style="color: #64b006; font-family: Arial; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">Program Countdown:</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td> </td><td> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td> </td><td> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Starting Funds</td><td id="StartingFundsCell"> $ <span id="StartingFundsAmt">5,455,625.00</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Reserved Funds</td><td id="ReservedFundsCell">-$ <span id="ReservedFundsAmt">5,455,625.00</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td class="tableRow" colspan="2"> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Remaining Funds</b></td><td id="RemaingingFundsCell"> $ <span id="RemainingFundsAmt" style="font-weight: bold;">0.00</span></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table border="0" id="WaitListTable"><tbody>
<tr> <td>Wait List Maximum</td><td id="TableCell1"> $ <span id="WaitListMax">1,700,000.00</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Wait List Allocated</td><td id="TableCell2">-$ <span id="WaitListAlloc">402,000.00</span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td class="tableRow" colspan="2"> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Wait List Remaining</b></td><td id="TableCell3"> $ <span id="WaitListRemain" style="font-weight: bold;">1,298,000.00</span></td><td id="TableCell3"><span id="WaitListRemain" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></td><td id="TableCell3"><span id="WaitListRemain" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></td><td id="TableCell3"><span id="WaitListRemain" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></td><td id="TableCell3"><span id="WaitListRemain" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
There is still a chance participants could get funded through the waiting list, but who knows...<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">photo credit: wikimedia commons</span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-5038298605479053312010-02-22T18:24:00.001-05:002010-02-22T18:27:33.346-05:00China's Dino Hunter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzocNK5FJ1D9PBl9BvpsnPnSRBTexKn0xNid0_ZHmr92_qWAjNpW3-0Itsk2v98ujJOUyLA8R4QhNuu1z7FR7tFbsdqsTFKnIPUKT3oKPB54v4mHPhb4ZifcQMgk25nx_QE5VeqE7XoC_U/s1600-h/Xu+Xing+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzocNK5FJ1D9PBl9BvpsnPnSRBTexKn0xNid0_ZHmr92_qWAjNpW3-0Itsk2v98ujJOUyLA8R4QhNuu1z7FR7tFbsdqsTFKnIPUKT3oKPB54v4mHPhb4ZifcQMgk25nx_QE5VeqE7XoC_U/s200/Xu+Xing+image.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkCp_JbBdrQr23fkRx5kFXPg_BqoEK5biYeh1TKOqwP_S2BxRhA92PpgwdGasJoy6I-1ob_rjaJlgoecN3zj3-9cVgdIQSldH_vLX-7eDdVm-Nzs23OIQp_BksehdknADnYVK4D-9njp0/s1600-h/microraptor+reconstruction+by+portia+sloan+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkCp_JbBdrQr23fkRx5kFXPg_BqoEK5biYeh1TKOqwP_S2BxRhA92PpgwdGasJoy6I-1ob_rjaJlgoecN3zj3-9cVgdIQSldH_vLX-7eDdVm-Nzs23OIQp_BksehdknADnYVK4D-9njp0/s200/microraptor+reconstruction+by+portia+sloan+copy.jpg" width="193" /></a>I've had the privilege of many a late night call recently with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Xing">Xu Xing</a>, a paleontologist at the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> in Beijing who has described more dinosaurs than anyone else alive.<br />
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Xu is a leading proponent of the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs and over the past decade has uncovered a number of really unusual fossils, from a pint sized dinosaur with four wings to a feathered ancestor of <i>Tyrannosaurus rex</i>. You can read my interview with Xu in <i><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527475.900-xu-xing-unearthing-how-dinosaurs-became-birds.html">New Scientist</a>,</i> and find additional illustrations of what these feathered beasts likely looked like <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/finding-feathered-fossils">here</a>.<br />
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Having once worked as a biologist <a href="http://cacondorconservation.org/index.cfm">reintroducing California condors</a> to the wild, the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs seemed obvious to me. Condors have hard scales on their feet that, when seen up close, seem to scream out "we stem from an ancient line of reptiles!" <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1KGGBLh9hwiIdamTljn7o8pUf3uT79EQA-eZCItpyukHF2CaDxvxfYeXd9vzyeDX_CxupLV4rfG2Psu2qoS_DDUDE4yNCV2Dy1FlGMzPTGCfrPKJZwASeWefO32kKgL176-seTsaKYBIA/s1600-h/guanlong+reconstruction+by+Zhang+Zongda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1KGGBLh9hwiIdamTljn7o8pUf3uT79EQA-eZCItpyukHF2CaDxvxfYeXd9vzyeDX_CxupLV4rfG2Psu2qoS_DDUDE4yNCV2Dy1FlGMzPTGCfrPKJZwASeWefO32kKgL176-seTsaKYBIA/s200/guanlong+reconstruction+by+Zhang+Zongda.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJhbH-A5X6AlwvMsUiu3GKhSty7tJhCenCzajTp-3H38idcrcCp0CAH5fLaBFl3LgIYXNAvBuJh2BGFShNfq_asK75G4umeYbpvV3BD4Yz63VIkOll54YFKHcPruTFW1PyaAWgG9IcriQ/s1600-h/condor+image+P+Fund.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggJhbH-A5X6AlwvMsUiu3GKhSty7tJhCenCzajTp-3H38idcrcCp0CAH5fLaBFl3LgIYXNAvBuJh2BGFShNfq_asK75G4umeYbpvV3BD4Yz63VIkOll54YFKHcPruTFW1PyaAWgG9IcriQ/s200/condor+image+P+Fund.jpg" width="200" /></a>Talking with Xu, however, it seems my observations were only partly correct. Condors and all other birds do descend from dinosaurs, but the commonly held belief that scales = ancient and feathers = modern isn't so simple.<br />
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As Xu describes it, feathers likely first appeared in dinosaurs as little more than <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/01/13/to-attract-mates-this-dino-may-have-shaken-a-tail-feather/">eye candy</a> for perspective mates. As a result, they weren't an essential part of dino anatomy and their existence tended to drift in and out of different lineages depending on what was fashionable at the time.<br />
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A good example of this is <i><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/finding-feathered-fossils/6">guanlong</a></i>, a feathered <span style="font-size: small;">ancestor</span> of <span style="font-size: small;"><i>T Rex</i></span> that lived 160 million years ago. Nearly 100 million years later, <i>guanlong</i>'s ancestor, <i>T Rex,</i> walked the earth with nary a feather on its body. So based on what Xu tells me, it's the feathers as much as the scales on a modern condor that reveal the bird's ancient lineage. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Xu Xing photo courtesy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences</span> <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Illustrations of <i>microraptor</i> and <i>guanlong</i> by Portia Sloan and Zhang Zongda respectively</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">California condor photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.peregrinefund.org/default.asp">the Peregrine Fund</a></span><br />
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Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-49058565874953972712010-02-11T15:03:00.001-05:002010-02-11T15:38:38.060-05:00Solar Shingles Heat Up<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Th0s0_ptgTAZcEn2sp58TWYlv-cx9CdV0KAlfhS9xf01qNHdHiyJWlA9YGwoheNhKUbpwhumtUV_-hhxLzK02kSpBzHRLnif6S3gdOqADvsL2ruOmxXzQUopxATDQKqEHN5d3GNGNoam/s1600-h/shingles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Th0s0_ptgTAZcEn2sp58TWYlv-cx9CdV0KAlfhS9xf01qNHdHiyJWlA9YGwoheNhKUbpwhumtUV_-hhxLzK02kSpBzHRLnif6S3gdOqADvsL2ruOmxXzQUopxATDQKqEHN5d3GNGNoam/s200/shingles.jpg" width="200" /></a>Check out a recent story I wrote for Technology Review on a new <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/24383/?nlid=2678">plug 'n' play solar shingle</a> from Dow Chemical. Dow plans to release a small test batch of the solar embedded shingles later this year and while they haven't yet announced who will get them, I think they'd compliment <a href="http://greenprcs.blogspot.com/2009/11/vacuum-tube-solar-hot-water-comes-to.html">my solar hot water system </a>quite nicely. <br />
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My guess is this and other attempts to merge solar panels with conventional building materials will initially cost a premium and the technology will likely encounter some hiccups along the way. But, eventually, I think solar embedded shingles will become a standard part of new roofs. Like one industry analyst told me, "two hundred years ago they didn't build buildings with electrical systems in the walls and wiring buildings was a really expensive retrofit. Today, its standard practice."<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image Credit: The Dow Chemical Company</span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-35362845124619595912009-12-22T22:48:00.000-05:002009-12-22T22:48:07.767-05:00Cambridge Climate Emergency Congress<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IxyNWCL46O1HJEQBQiNbJf83ooPz3QuiLYFfLpRiQ20E33OTleE0c8tMLuOoZLgE0SmLguY48fvOkIbLOxKGWxYCius2cfJ76Eqfr3a-LpTj2MNuc_CbocSGdG6dMCtfOczF4w3y5zyW/s1600-h/CambridgeMACityHall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IxyNWCL46O1HJEQBQiNbJf83ooPz3QuiLYFfLpRiQ20E33OTleE0c8tMLuOoZLgE0SmLguY48fvOkIbLOxKGWxYCius2cfJ76Eqfr3a-LpTj2MNuc_CbocSGdG6dMCtfOczF4w3y5zyW/s200/CambridgeMACityHall.jpg" /></a> As world leaders gathered in Copenhagen, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Talk#Humor">Our Fair City</a> held <a href="http://www.cambridgema.gov/deptann.cfm?story_id=2420">its own climate summit</a> inviting townspeople to gather together and brainstorm ideas on how to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions. <br />
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On December 12, 100 Cantabrigians from <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1669487533/Cambridge-Climate-Congress-steps-toward-reducing-carbon-footprint">a high school student to a climate expert</a> spent the day at City Hall developing proposals that included <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/12/14/climate-congress-cambridge-city">eliminating all street parking by 2020 </a>and <a href="http://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/33245">incorporating landscaped or reflective roofs into building codes</a>.<br />
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The ideas seemed rather ambitious, but if the city plans to start meeting its greenhouse gas reduction goals it will likely need to get creative. In 2002 city officials launched<a href="http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/et/climate/clim_cte/index.html#plan"> a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions</a> by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. Earlier this year, however, they announced that despite their best efforts emissions have not only not decreased, but, <a href="http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/et/climate/clim_interim_recs_0609.pdf">have continued to grow</a>. <br />
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City officials will review recommendations from the recent summit and will announce how they plan to proceed <a href="http://www.cambridgema.gov/deptann.cfm?story_id=2457">on January 23</a>. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image: Cambridge City Hall courtesy of Wikimedia</span> <br />
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<img alt="" src="file:///Users/phil/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png" />Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-39823337106700810522009-12-10T09:36:00.014-05:002009-12-10T13:33:46.101-05:00Climate Sleep-Out in Boston Pays Off<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGVp46BiJ_GfmMjnIM_8Sr0WTvb0tXQ4PlG8VYw_c6s3_K86bRRZ0z29gYs5nUoGZZSfPuwKyzRxXL0nGX1MKwAeCHnpOulf6FtOPbrNeFyyVn2GnfSE39cc2ZEJOrcv0oGWApB6D1IAf7/s1600-h/the+leadership+campaign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGVp46BiJ_GfmMjnIM_8Sr0WTvb0tXQ4PlG8VYw_c6s3_K86bRRZ0z29gYs5nUoGZZSfPuwKyzRxXL0nGX1MKwAeCHnpOulf6FtOPbrNeFyyVn2GnfSE39cc2ZEJOrcv0oGWApB6D1IAf7/s200/the+leadership+campaign.jpg" /></a>For the past seven weeks, college students from around the region have been camping out on Boston Common on Sunday nights calling for Massachusetts to run entirely on clean energy by 2020. After <a href="http://theleadershipcampaign.wordpress.com/">a final, snowy sleepout</a><a href="http://theleadershipcampaign.wordpress.com/"></a> last Sunday, the demands of <a href="http://www.theleadershipcampaign.org/">The Leadership Campaign</a> were answered, sort of. <br />
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<a href="http://theleadershipcampaign.org/media/bill_introduce.html">On December 7, state officials introduced a bill</a> to create a task force charged with proposing ways to get Massachusetts to 100% clean electricity by 2020.<br />
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The resolution seems like a nice way of saying we've heard you, now bugger off, but then again Massachusetts <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20090627_3182.php">relies on coal for only 25 percent of its electric power</a> (about half the national average) and has set a goal of<a href="http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3pressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3&b=pressrelease&f=090113_Goals_Wind_Power&csid=Agov3%20"> 20 percent renewable electricity production</a> by 2020. <br />
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I wonder what it would take for the state to get to 100 percent "clean electricity"-- the Leadership Campaign seems to include <a href="http://www.newrules.org/sites/newrules.org/files/ESRS.pdf">fossil fuel plants that use waste heat capture and recycling in its definition of clean</a>--by 2020.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image Credit: Ian Maclellan for The Leadership Campaign </span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-12694942808957633712009-11-29T14:32:00.000-05:002009-11-29T14:32:35.252-05:00Sleeping With Swine Flu<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd5xqsnGi9oM5ysKHF3AuefJemJMZA5lEAiHih2iDGd5wAsldIar5EU9BbJFwR1Gb8VjUDX2b97INupuEdbnQ2q1UuvkN7TQ3jC85Qpy0WsH0RtqubXQLsVGmMh3S9o-R591QP9O2r1o10/s1600/sleeping+with+swine+flu+Globe+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd5xqsnGi9oM5ysKHF3AuefJemJMZA5lEAiHih2iDGd5wAsldIar5EU9BbJFwR1Gb8VjUDX2b97INupuEdbnQ2q1UuvkN7TQ3jC85Qpy0WsH0RtqubXQLsVGmMh3S9o-R591QP9O2r1o10/s200/sleeping+with+swine+flu+Globe+image.jpg" /></a>"If this turns out to be swine flu, would you still sleep with me or would you sleep on the couch?" My wife had come home from work looking like death warmed over, with barely enough energy to finish her dinner. She'd heard rumors of students and teachers coming down with H1N1 at the school where she works, but nothing had been confirmed. I dismissed her question at the time, saying we'd take it as it comes, and though it wasn't yet 8 o'clock, I started coaxing her toward bed... <br />
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<a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/11/29/sleeping_with_swine_flu/">A story I wrote in today's Boston Globe Magazine </a>charts my thought process later in the evening as I weigh whether or not I should join Rachel in bed and why, if one of us is to be banished to the couch, she assumes it would be me.<br />
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Rachel and I are regular readers of the "Coupling" stories written by local writers on the back page of each week's Sunday magazine. I didn't figure I'd ever have anything to contribute, but when I got to thinking about the swine flu question she'd posed to me, it seemed like such an obvious fit I just had to submit it.Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-62927187901391386832009-11-29T09:22:00.001-05:002009-11-29T09:26:01.793-05:00Vacuum Tube Solar Hot Water Comes to Cambridge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEima6VW77k65_Fmt95i1_T4tXwyXI7HFyzFvlgPso07l_ir2k5ck9S5RAW7zAeor9QYBfgZKHi7PCrv3ni13Vj-8evbtI82eLusYTyF8HLW0QeX943gOrY3yEg38Iq9w1-L0ZBlmBpfq1yU/s1600/bruce+install.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEima6VW77k65_Fmt95i1_T4tXwyXI7HFyzFvlgPso07l_ir2k5ck9S5RAW7zAeor9QYBfgZKHi7PCrv3ni13Vj-8evbtI82eLusYTyF8HLW0QeX943gOrY3yEg38Iq9w1-L0ZBlmBpfq1yU/s200/bruce+install.jpg" /></a>One of the first home improvements Rachel and I made when we purchased our condo here in Cambridge this spring was a solar hot water installation on our rooftop.<br />
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The system we had put in uses vacuum tubes, a newer, more efficient type of solar collector than the black box flat panels of old. As a writer covering energy and the environment in Cambridge and China, I'd spent the past three years tracing this new and exotic technology back to the factories and cities in China where they are surprisingly commonplace.<br />
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I first read about the tubes three years ago in <a href="http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2007/02/04/nothing_new_under_the_sun/">a story in the Boston Globe</a>. A family in Newbury, MA was using a massive installation to provide hot water and heat for their giant barn of a house. <a href="http://www.boston.com/realestate/gallery/green_gallery2?pg=12">A photo that went with the story</a> showed their installation covered in frost on a cold winter day. Somehow, despite the cold, the tubes were still kicking out 120 to 160 degree water.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMrnptNeEt9lDgxd2mtVT1ofQge1j0cUs1Rmg5SJCBca5ZSMeFbHu5fA-zyB1VJDnUReraZL2qYjJXudureBoTz82f-vJKpa4343QlUX5GXYVPdws2eVNKl84ItPH9ozY-U1ZyfUtdDSyv/s1600/vacuum+tube+diagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMrnptNeEt9lDgxd2mtVT1ofQge1j0cUs1Rmg5SJCBca5ZSMeFbHu5fA-zyB1VJDnUReraZL2qYjJXudureBoTz82f-vJKpa4343QlUX5GXYVPdws2eVNKl84ItPH9ozY-U1ZyfUtdDSyv/s200/vacuum+tube+diagram.jpg" /></a>The secret behind vacuum tubes that allows them to work just as well in winter as summer is, just as their name suggests, a vacuum space. The diagram at the right shows how the tubes work. Sunlight passes through a clear outer glass tube and travels through an evacuated space or vacuum where all of the air has been sucked out. The sunlight passes through this vacuum and then hits an inner black pipe that absorbs the sun's rays converting the sunlight to heat. What's key about all of this is that whereas light rays can pass through a vacuum space, heat can not. All of the heat is therefore trapped inside by this highly efficient, transparent insulator.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHu2hmkfb_zcAzZPg6yqXxus9OYavXVAT3PZ4Ldj9I102WXQeSqLXNUt27S4jFkfd6PQxWcC1NrBZE999vhUn7d1acS_v2GjY5Ft5ftUrKqdPJCcAZy-PybCXvf08Gpav8OGST9ToRpmZz/s1600-h/Sunda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHu2hmkfb_zcAzZPg6yqXxus9OYavXVAT3PZ4Ldj9I102WXQeSqLXNUt27S4jFkfd6PQxWcC1NrBZE999vhUn7d1acS_v2GjY5Ft5ftUrKqdPJCcAZy-PybCXvf08Gpav8OGST9ToRpmZz/s200/Sunda.jpg" /></a><br />
After I read the story in the Globe I found out that there are thousands of factories kicking out these tubes in China and roughly 1 in 10 Chinese people use them for their hot water.<br />
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Six months after first hearing of the tubes, I toured the RnD center of one of these factories in Beijing for <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626291.500-china-special-the-solar-power-king.html">a story I wrote for New Scientist</a>.<br />
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The story also led me to Rizhao, a city on the coast between Beijing and Shanghai where 99 percent of residents get their hot water from the sun. Here is a video I made from a rooftop of the city while talking with Rizhao's mayor, Li Zhaoqian.<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fYDBTPep8ic&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fYDBTPep8ic&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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By the time we had a chance to buy a place of our own I was totally sold on the technology and couldn't wait to put the tubes in on our own place. Evacuated tubes are still hard to come by in the US, however, and most of the installers I spoke with insisted they were no better than the flat panel solar collectors that had been around since the 70s. The estimates I got for flat panel installations, however, were twice the size of what I figured I could get by with using vacuum tubes. Then I found Bruce, a contractor with <a href="http://www.neshw.com/">New England Solar Hot Water</a>, who, like his company's name suggests, only does solar hot water installations. Bruce and his crew had been doing vacuum tube installs for years and were stoked to hear I'd actually toured some of the factories where they get their parts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioK1sVdxLhRKrePvkaPx9wwwYRMtjappd1ImvKkPOVatAkLF05w9uX01datcEKMENMNA5PKrc-tR8meOzvFImYGdIloFZxlqNtXsUC5DID4O_efinFriTTcaiCUoRhCGF5LEEshYwft5Oo/s1600/deck2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioK1sVdxLhRKrePvkaPx9wwwYRMtjappd1ImvKkPOVatAkLF05w9uX01datcEKMENMNA5PKrc-tR8meOzvFImYGdIloFZxlqNtXsUC5DID4O_efinFriTTcaiCUoRhCGF5LEEshYwft5Oo/s200/deck2.jpg" /></a><br />
In mid June they installed the collectors shown on the right that heat all of our domestic hot water; the water we use for showers, laundry, and in our sinks. The system is backed up by natural gas but on a sunny day like today, its unlikely we'll need it. At 9am, with an outside temp of 43 F, our tubes are already a toasty 95 F and climbing. Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-51180227268442156262009-11-21T11:46:00.007-05:002009-11-21T12:00:16.359-05:00DOE Bets $150 Million On Clean Tech<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOblkMYCUeq0Mwm3XjLXhLyGT9Y83ZSywHogGQ29dfG3fHoCOHAMIYaF0OmKlfi3PCCB-rOl9b1Uz7od0LYe2HaD8W1H__bfvppZfvQ9as4cMEwBSDvXDZV2O2p6DLytOCHMNaQuZeFbm/s1600/doe.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOblkMYCUeq0Mwm3XjLXhLyGT9Y83ZSywHogGQ29dfG3fHoCOHAMIYaF0OmKlfi3PCCB-rOl9b1Uz7od0LYe2HaD8W1H__bfvppZfvQ9as4cMEwBSDvXDZV2O2p6DLytOCHMNaQuZeFbm/s200/doe.gif" /></a>If you had $150 million to spend on boundary-busting energy research, where would you put the cash? The US Department of Energy's <a href="http://arpa-e.energy.gov/">Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy</a> (ARPA-E) has committed that amount with one lofty aim: to transform the planet's energy future: But which technologies are its best bets?<br />
To find the answers, check out <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427355.300-us-bets-150m-on-renewable-energy.html">a story I wrote this week in New Scientist</a>.<br />
This was an interesting story to write in that the Department of Energy had just dolled out millions of dollars for projects so risky that most were expected to fail, yet even if a few succeeded, they could have a transformative effect on the planet's energy future.<br />
What made the story more interesting is the vast majority of recipients, from industry giants to little known start up companies, had such a strong financial interest in keeping their projects under wraps that few would divulge what they were working on, even after they received secured funding.<br />
<a name='more'></a>To catch a sneak peak of the 30 odd projects that received funding-<a href="http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/10/26/flodesign-five-other-local-organizations-win-multimillion-dollar-arpa-e-awards/">five of which came out of Cambridge, MA and the surrounding area</a>-I filed a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of Energy. The FOIA request turned out to be really helpful especially with <a href="http://www.foroenergy.com/">Foro Energy</a>, a geothermal company working on a top secret new drill bit. If the company, which received the single largest grant from ARPA-E, is successful they could unlock massive reserves of currently untapped geothermal energy buried miles beneath the Earth's surface.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image Credit: US Department of Energy </span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-60667397286590799762009-11-09T20:48:00.000-05:002009-11-09T20:57:18.840-05:00Gore at Harvard<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgI0XCcvkHbiPifmwQ2qCeC4jAwmblGsZhDIvDd5N7crqJtOPM9idc8NPvC0Y57P8FXO-TFXIUqH4lfMy8QEK_JhY0CNqAI-s061HrZnkHLlpTbx4yjz9v9moBAqtwEn1HmpGF2nQ7muH/s1600-h/Gore+Our+Choice+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgI0XCcvkHbiPifmwQ2qCeC4jAwmblGsZhDIvDd5N7crqJtOPM9idc8NPvC0Y57P8FXO-TFXIUqH4lfMy8QEK_JhY0CNqAI-s061HrZnkHLlpTbx4yjz9v9moBAqtwEn1HmpGF2nQ7muH/s200/Gore+Our+Choice+.jpg" /></a>Former US Vice President Al Gore wasn't quite ready to give up telling inconvenient truths as he discussed his latest book <a href="http://www.rodale.com/al-gore-our-choice"><i>Our Choice: A plan to solve the global climate crisis</i></a> at Harvard this weekend.<br />
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Gore took the stage to a standing ovation before a capacity crowd at the First Parrish Church Meetinghouse in Harvard Square on 7 November to discuss his compilation of "all of the most effective solutions that are available now and that together will solve this crisis". <br />
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His talk, however, was a real letdown. Instead of laying out a blueprint for change, he droned on for close to an hour and a half reciting his tired inconvenient truths of climate change and the challenges of tackling political inertia.<br />
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Read <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/al-gores-convenient-solutions.php">my full write up</a> of the talk on New Scientist's newly launched <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/">CultureLab</a>.Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-58771684298779572922009-11-04T10:25:00.000-05:002009-11-04T10:25:11.974-05:00Out of Guangxi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosnBSvOGvmjFOdC6ZIS2L33HBiTXHlQ4zOeO2gnbt19h1qkestucraoA8v0n0q9NxFDU4o0uqW65e3P-Na1tQFMpiH0c1_hnjqrS4RUuJUC367zih0DHzyTbqxc-wFRjl5kDt_KSvvAq6/s1600-h/human+mandible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosnBSvOGvmjFOdC6ZIS2L33HBiTXHlQ4zOeO2gnbt19h1qkestucraoA8v0n0q9NxFDU4o0uqW65e3P-Na1tQFMpiH0c1_hnjqrS4RUuJUC367zih0DHzyTbqxc-wFRjl5kDt_KSvvAq6/s200/human+mandible.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Check out the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18093-chinese-challenge-to-out-of-africa-theory.html">story I wrote for New Scientist</a> this week on what Chinese paleontologists believe to be a 110,000 yr old human jaw bone (see photo on right).<br />
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If their claims about the fossil they found in China's southern Guangxi province prove true, it would raise some interesting questions about human origins.<br />
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Specifically it could challenge the widely held belief that modern humans are the direct descendents of Homo sapiens that migrated out of Africa around 100,000 years ago.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The fossil was uncovered in Chongzuo just 2 km from the Ecopark that I've visited a few times in the last couple years to write about biologist<a href="http://greenprcs.blogspot.com/2008/09/pan-wenshi-and-white-headed-langurs.html"> Pan Wenshi and the white headed langurs.</a> <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RjNB5xPcSx1Ayx8oDCnZQ2pctH5yWLn66a9Pvv5GI44SJIrkcuSqZgM5mp7_1iDd-u063zd4vLGHEzgHwAM-F15VdU25h5bXi3GrA11vjAtr_2GcTsVlLp4g42rFlHx12Iij5ucbkXpq/s1600-h/karsts+of+Chongzuo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RjNB5xPcSx1Ayx8oDCnZQ2pctH5yWLn66a9Pvv5GI44SJIrkcuSqZgM5mp7_1iDd-u063zd4vLGHEzgHwAM-F15VdU25h5bXi3GrA11vjAtr_2GcTsVlLp4g42rFlHx12Iij5ucbkXpq/s200/karsts+of+Chongzuo.jpg" /></a><br />
The area has some really steep limestone "karst" mountains that offer protection for the langurs today and are likely what preserved the recently uncovered fossil for so long. The limestone peaks have been rising for the past 2 million years at the same time that the landscape around them has subsided. As a result a cave that 110,000 years ago was easily accessible, is now more than 30 meters up a steep cliff face. <br />
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The team that found the jaw bone also excavated the fossilized remains of panthers, rhinos, and elephants from surrounding caves. And I thought the langurs were impressive.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image Credits: Fossilized mandible, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Karst mountains, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chongzuo Biodiversity Research Center, Peking University.</span></span><!--EndFragment--> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-24385096859234559442009-10-24T17:14:00.002-04:002009-11-10T20:28:30.831-05:00Obama At MIT<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAwvWctvQ_t408T59OCz_SR8jKbvexrZli0SIgKfs6CcHikW4by7xuY5HehwrBfNE6TSRLzlb6hss0VrN7e-ROTToPzzIwoY-ymw39IzOEyj2G70ynwkadUBTGu9mLgJBRiPEvh_2zYBi/s1600-h/barack-hope-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAwvWctvQ_t408T59OCz_SR8jKbvexrZli0SIgKfs6CcHikW4by7xuY5HehwrBfNE6TSRLzlb6hss0VrN7e-ROTToPzzIwoY-ymw39IzOEyj2G70ynwkadUBTGu9mLgJBRiPEvh_2zYBi/s200/barack-hope-poster.jpg" /></a>Check out <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18040-obama-says-us-in-global-race-to-develop-clean-energy.html">the story I wrote and filmed</a> for New Scientist of President Obama's address at MIT on Friday. <br />
Prior to his clean energy speech, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hz13IY28A6Jx1XbBR7Cp1WIiCQGgD9BGUO6O0">the cynics</a> had already written it off as a token "official" event to justify private funderaisers he would attend later in the day for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd.<br />
While there may be some truth to their claims, his arrival inside MIT's Kresge Auditorium created a buzz that was nothing short of flipping the switch on <a href="http://www.psfc.mit.edu/research/alcator/">Alcator C-Mod</a>, the University's nuclear fusion reactor.<br />
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Obama faces some <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/21/21climatewire-obama-to-give-senate-climate-bill-a-push-wit-53858.html?scp=5&sq=climate%20bill&st=cse">tough challenges</a>, <a href="http://people-press.org/report/556/global-warming">increasing skepticism</a>, and <a href="http://en.cop15.dk/">looming deadlines</a> as he and others look to move climate legislation through Congress. Here's hoping they succeed. <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">image credit: Shepard Fairey & AP</span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-38960685789938401442009-10-20T11:25:00.000-04:002009-11-10T19:39:04.206-05:00Clean Beams<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTDtPXEoYhKbDSeKh1h_Qy0BC0FlNerrsIdQHqgc3W0tlk2jfPhoFVZLZFQ-ZBpNnPn4XtA3ubTnLvtaNH4EA6BvYQNGXtUXFsW2IrFrqmrG9Kjk_xQIRCaD0GRiskbL6Z1eprsBVXgUD/s1600-h/ebeam_x220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTDtPXEoYhKbDSeKh1h_Qy0BC0FlNerrsIdQHqgc3W0tlk2jfPhoFVZLZFQ-ZBpNnPn4XtA3ubTnLvtaNH4EA6BvYQNGXtUXFsW2IrFrqmrG9Kjk_xQIRCaD0GRiskbL6Z1eprsBVXgUD/s200/ebeam_x220.jpg" /></a>Consumers may never hear of <a href="http://www.aeb.com/Electron_Beams/">Advanced Electron Beams</a>, but the technology the company has developed could fundamentally change the way everyday products are made in processes that could save millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.<br />
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Check out the following story I wrote about the Wilmington, MA startup for Technology Review; <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23712/">Clean Tech's Hot New Tool </a><br />
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AEB replaces the heat and/or chemicals that are typically used to drive industrial reactions with electron beams.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>For example, car manufacturers today use massive ovens to bake paint onto car bodies. If you zap the paint pigment with a cloud of electrons instead, you can get the paint to stick to the body panels with no heat in a process that uses 90 percent less energy. AEB isn't the first to make electron beams by a long shot, but if all works out, their smaller, cheaper beams may be the first to make it main stream.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image Credit; Advanced Electron Beams<br />
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</span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-14283545183430031752009-10-18T19:22:00.000-04:002009-10-18T19:47:04.527-04:00EcoRock<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbh-9AHdwWoqRRJmpYfLOvYIXfxxuRvWkWQ_nNMLjDi_FdlVWk2_4PlVh_3o9ThnE_Xtc2dSwnYyjPa-RahFt5_BzrDH4kaMjU56tkW72Oa5mByPPaqvik5UXaGI4oJQA7BM6tdVic_1Ru/s1600-h/ecorock-drywall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbh-9AHdwWoqRRJmpYfLOvYIXfxxuRvWkWQ_nNMLjDi_FdlVWk2_4PlVh_3o9ThnE_Xtc2dSwnYyjPa-RahFt5_BzrDH4kaMjU56tkW72Oa5mByPPaqvik5UXaGI4oJQA7BM6tdVic_1Ru/s200/ecorock-drywall.jpg" /></a>I recently co-authored the following feature for New Scientist profiling some of the hottest new technologies for a cleaner, less energy intensive world.<br />
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<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427281.400-better-world-top-tech-for-a-cleaner-planet.html">Better World: Top Tech For a Cleaner Planet </a><br />
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It was a fun project to work on and one that got me scouring the planet for the best in Clean-Tech. <br />
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Not every new development that I proposed made the cut, but, one in particular that deserves honorable mention is <a href="http://www.seriousmaterials.com/html/ecorock.html">EcoRock</a>; a new type of drywall (or sheet rock) that requires 80 percent less energy to manufacture than the conventional stuff.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>It turns out that drywall manufacturing today requires baking gypsum at 550 F in a process that emits on the order of 200 million tons of carbon dioxide globally each year. That's the equivalent annual output of more than 15 million cars.<br />
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The EcoRockers came up a with new recipe for their sheet rock that solidifies through a chemical reaction instead of heating. <br />
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The building material should be available on the West Coast this coming year, but at $14-$20 per 4x8 ft sheet, the cost will likely be double that of conventional drywall. Here's hoping the price nose-dives as production ramps up.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image Credit: EcoRock</span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-43441018356441239402009-10-10T22:37:00.003-04:002009-11-10T20:22:54.812-05:00Love That Dirty Water<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391166104967266978" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4UUC0iL0f0LpMwVmCqLyCCPXP1CKiZzutrKMJ18lGO03R5Nh1JJCpL-yoz-qYHwgAidunXrPJ02GuE_cUjisAu-SjLJwoqFdCNJKIYV1hRuvIS0D7jMlH0MEn2cLwDN0zDdAIeWuaVEcc/s200/Rachel.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 132px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /><br />
<i>"Raw sewage flowed from outmoded wastewater treatment plants. Toxic discharges from industrial facilities colored the river pink and orange. Fish kills, submerged cars and appliances, leaching riverbank landfills, and noxious odors were routine occurrences."</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">-<a href="http://www.crwa.org/cr_history.html">Charles River History, </a></span> <span style="font-size: 85%;">Charles River Watershed Association</span><br />
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<div>The river Charles has come a long way since the above description<br />
</div><div>from the 1960s. The EPA now gives it a B+ in its annual <a href="http://knight.miami.edu/blogs/joe/files/2009/08/charlesriverreportcard.jpg">Charles River Report Card</a>, up from a D just 14 years ago.<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391166243134419186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJm3MWLHxAZz4J65QIhDsr7L9LfzFD34iNEHIRAgETvesdfWnjcArhMgAmBGnJlp4u-SL8ApEt7JEQilELmTlk0YNw5p_jcxa6rRTmmMY8_JFvMZxWo6pVOykWSX79XzBrsvuPNa4NoMj6/s200/Ben+and+Heather.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 132px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /><br />
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<div>Rachel and I spent the afternoon with friends Ben and Heather paddling a section of the river in Newton, MA, about 10 miles west of Cambridge. <br />
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</div><div>The river still has room for improvement--<a href="http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/10/oysters_help_clean_the_charles.html">and additional cleanup efforts</a> are underway--but I'd give our afternoon an A+.<br />
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Nowhere does this seem to be more true than in Massachusetts. I've been looking into installing solar photovoltaic panels on our condo and with the combination of state and federal tax credits and rebates, they are practically giving the stuff away. <br />
<a name='more'></a>From what I can tell, a 5 kw, $50,000 system that would cover all of our electric needs and allow us to sell back to the grid would cost $12,000 after a $22,000 <a href="http://www.masstech.org/solar/res2009.html">state rebate</a>, a<a href="http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US37F&re=1&ee=1"> 30 % federal tax credit</a> (with no cap), and a <a href="http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=MA06F&re=1&ee=1">15 % state tax credit</a> (with a cap at $1000).<br />
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Unfortunately, it seems too many people have caught on to how good of a deal this is and <a href="http://www.masstech.org/solar/rebateletter10_09.html">starting tomorrow night at midnight</a> the state is scaling back its rebate. The 50K system that currently goes for $12,000, will now come in at $15,500.<br />
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Anybody want to spot me 12K by midnight tomorrow?<br />
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<span style="font-size: 78%;">image courtesy of <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCurrency_Federal_Reserve.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-38313072582735039702009-09-28T00:11:00.001-04:002009-11-10T20:27:21.133-05:0021st Century Barnraising<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzTpmbKVCjmIIpa5MNZ6th2YsuYAzGDU-D4hg1NphT0XhaFqZG5WMwr3WlK_SOXOIMv8PR6m40vTjZvAsFXNzddqtnwoebgaUlE5zFVSxEdbjpoT3Z4V4dV2sjyuLUqmwgTaCTf7ENGlM/s1600-h/Audrey.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387239609491492386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzTpmbKVCjmIIpa5MNZ6th2YsuYAzGDU-D4hg1NphT0XhaFqZG5WMwr3WlK_SOXOIMv8PR6m40vTjZvAsFXNzddqtnwoebgaUlE5zFVSxEdbjpoT3Z4V4dV2sjyuLUqmwgTaCTf7ENGlM/s200/Audrey.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 133px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LC-CkTtdzx5QctiQm-XyR-X2cmQHti5ljpmP5c-DTwvxD98ZeEOg5rXJljbLpoqyrlrsh_x3eY3i-dpIjfYLpAJdoUl8f5P7oVJeYjlpwknJp8fImylfM3zaewc0H50BcpX7idO9lpsw/s1600-h/Jason.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386371045543830178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LC-CkTtdzx5QctiQm-XyR-X2cmQHti5ljpmP5c-DTwvxD98ZeEOg5rXJljbLpoqyrlrsh_x3eY3i-dpIjfYLpAJdoUl8f5P7oVJeYjlpwknJp8fImylfM3zaewc0H50BcpX7idO9lpsw/s200/Jason.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 133px;" /></a><br />
For Centuries New Englanders have gathered to help their neighbors raise barns. This past Sunday my wife, Rachel, and I joined a group of our fellow Cantabrigian's in raising the energy efficiency of a neighbor's home.<br />
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For over a year the nonprofit <a href="http://www.heetma.com/index.php">Home Energy Efficiency Team</a> (HEET) has organized monthly weatherization parties for buildings here in Cambridge, MA. The hosting home provides the food, local weatherization companies donate insulation, caulk, foam, and other weatherizing essentials, and volunteers provide free labor in exchange for learning how to better insulate their own home. <br />
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Each barnraising starts and ends with a "<a href="http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11190">blower door</a>" test to determine how airtight <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Gz92ZIMXgF7yPKbuICXtP7O0FybYVj1jDJc-8JJQqGC4oKIVHByPNf5PSbaj0apw9Wv9QEan402dPEmAHPd2axGytxX6Qj8WD9WigCfh8ePOvRDmuiwJnl0yFMlgf-nRqKZjBU0wdsjj/s1600-h/blower+test.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387239758706160994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Gz92ZIMXgF7yPKbuICXtP7O0FybYVj1jDJc-8JJQqGC4oKIVHByPNf5PSbaj0apw9Wv9QEan402dPEmAHPd2axGytxX6Qj8WD9WigCfh8ePOvRDmuiwJnl0yFMlgf-nRqKZjBU0wdsjj/s200/blower+test.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>or leaky the building is. I'd heard about blower doors before but I'd never seen one in action. It's essentially an airtight collapsible door with a large fan in the middle of it (see photo). To run a test you jam the blower door into the building's front entrance, shut all other doors and windows, and then fire up the fan which tries to pump additional air into the building. Air flow monitors connected to the fan tell you how much air is being pumped in, which in turn tells you how leaky the building is.<a name='more'></a><br />
What I learned from the test is that even with all doors and windows closed<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9VZIDtXjjRDziSApvl9GPYTIBQYd_BhpLNOWSI94aYWPIT-LkSJe5gbW3gKVktFDbymEuOd0SqRrpljo8mW7BPpecO-x8ENaWJlMGw8pK22w_pkBXq-TJa6SoQOVbxJvrjvPbYtTsyNg/s1600-h/Rachel.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386370762472903890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9VZIDtXjjRDziSApvl9GPYTIBQYd_BhpLNOWSI94aYWPIT-LkSJe5gbW3gKVktFDbymEuOd0SqRrpljo8mW7BPpecO-x8ENaWJlMGw8pK22w_pkBXq-TJa6SoQOVbxJvrjvPbYtTsyNg/s200/Rachel.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 132px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>, buildings, even well insulated buildings, still leak a massive amount of air. Based on Sunday's pre-weatherization test, all of the tiny cracks and gaps in the three story home's window frames, door frames, and various other joints throughout its walls added up to the equivalent of a gaping 40" by 10" hole. <br />
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The core HEET team, including some pro insulators, gave us our marching orders; seal up as many cracks as possible and reduce that gap!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-JypI6N10Zz2PL0H0qh_BHsfCAvdt9e4iTALY_GI8KYIYysBHUZ5ZDzd0T2yhh-PSuHB3kB9p-UpODv7r-yAfNLdlRLW-3IKrl9Qvo8CJcm2LO5vxztybIeiyhAleTUxWjIZRhjZpWjm/s1600-h/Heather.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387250475788860626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-JypI6N10Zz2PL0H0qh_BHsfCAvdt9e4iTALY_GI8KYIYysBHUZ5ZDzd0T2yhh-PSuHB3kB9p-UpODv7r-yAfNLdlRLW-3IKrl9Qvo8CJcm2LO5vxztybIeiyhAleTUxWjIZRhjZpWjm/s200/Heather.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 150px;" /></a><br />
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Three hours and a half dozen boxes of pizza later, they ran a second blower test and air flow through the building had decreased by 25 percent! Not bad for an afternoon's work. <br />
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For anyone interested in joining in the fun, HEET is planning a massive <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGs4cC0xb2RkUGlHdC13a3p0d1E0T1E6MA..">weatherization blow out</a> next month to coincide with the <a href="http://www.350.org/plan">Inte</a><a href="http://www.350.org/plan">rnational Day of Climate Action</a> on October 24.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyIDI1YAuswCsHkpdbVmmYN73Wl2cYGfKQa-t3Is_VMsCv44Z3K76RDt_xGrq4HwndUhyphenhyphen0NmoSa-hAzNL3IOgsng07NkuA2VprR3F7vEMIbeXBdknXdaki03Ftp4BX4yNohU4kCtbSNk5/s1600-h/insulating.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386371524109350402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyIDI1YAuswCsHkpdbVmmYN73Wl2cYGfKQa-t3Is_VMsCv44Z3K76RDt_xGrq4HwndUhyphenhyphen0NmoSa-hAzNL3IOgsng07NkuA2VprR3F7vEMIbeXBdknXdaki03Ftp4BX4yNohU4kCtbSNk5/s200/insulating.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 150px;" /></a>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-40391328585942436672009-04-17T09:44:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.911-04:00First Sip<span class="description">Check out a couple of <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2008/09/pan-wenshi-and-white-headed-langurs.html">white headed langurs</a> in southern China as they come down out of the trees to drink from a recently built pond at the <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">Chongzuo EcoPark </a>in Guangxi Province, China. </span><br /><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8SO3l8brSTw&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8SO3l8brSTw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-13894033511604417942009-04-05T21:31:00.001-04:002009-11-10T20:26:06.163-05:00King Cobra III<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFHoRLFP1r5MmKN9tnTg9J_A7TXP5CpfrFWE-19F8e1b4DOasJwnujG7HkXWznEdbSdH3T5ZnK2Xd3SAvhlPC_LVOhBVyI95Jb8QARD82-fs4x231BU5av6ShGEJGE6ApslDZ76V8rUhL/s1600-h/cobra+close+up.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321552310191829874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFHoRLFP1r5MmKN9tnTg9J_A7TXP5CpfrFWE-19F8e1b4DOasJwnujG7HkXWznEdbSdH3T5ZnK2Xd3SAvhlPC_LVOhBVyI95Jb8QARD82-fs4x231BU5av6ShGEJGE6ApslDZ76V8rUhL/s200/cobra+close+up.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 133px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>A couple days after our <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/king-cobra-ii.html">recent run-in with a king cobra</a>, Pan pulled the snake out of the freezer for a full dissection. <br />
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He and his assistants spent a couple hours weighing, measuring, counting rings, extracting venom, and IDing organs. The cobra was likely 2-3 years old—on the cusp of breeding age—was just shy of 2 meters long, weighed 900 g (2 lbs), and had 56 dark bands from head to tail.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqO_bEaybbiaFCec7apok-Wi_5cbKZjL-FriOkYCI9v-vUmTnI8YlbczkLDSIB2i9C7G76hyphenhyphenqoJYc4WjHfReNvWOZiySDXxxUa67r5hEZ8-Cu7VG-2OQ_2V1PYMLbJntU8kRKUquDvNtW8/s1600-h/weighing.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321552463874787218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqO_bEaybbiaFCec7apok-Wi_5cbKZjL-FriOkYCI9v-vUmTnI8YlbczkLDSIB2i9C7G76hyphenhyphenqoJYc4WjHfReNvWOZiySDXxxUa67r5hEZ8-Cu7VG-2OQ_2V1PYMLbJntU8kRKUquDvNtW8/s200/weighing.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 133px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><a href="http://www.eol.org/pages/1055746?vetted=false&category_id=267"><br />
Like all king cobras</a>, it likely fed exclusively on other snakes and may have limited its diet even further to a single species.<br />
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At one point <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2008/09/pan-wenshi-and-white-headed-langurs.html">Pan</a> entertained thoughts of extracting the cobra's venom and injecting it, bit by bit, into a pig or water buffalo to cultivate antivenom. If someone was then bit on the reserve, they could simply withdraw some blood <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVU5FguR6IyGLIVvNjbOLPImB9JuEliI8PcCSYJyzc8Pu6kjMm2hkTe9GcwcPkF79oDzFX_8e8PpNUdxzUoYvs5PWS1X0T1dzlsuaWY1UR4XpESGiXxFWQqHNAr8KwHbi64I-BAReFA-eb/s1600-h/venom+extraction.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321553070831522290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVU5FguR6IyGLIVvNjbOLPImB9JuEliI8PcCSYJyzc8Pu6kjMm2hkTe9GcwcPkF79oDzFX_8e8PpNUdxzUoYvs5PWS1X0T1dzlsuaWY1UR4XpESGiXxFWQqHNAr8KwHbi64I-BAReFA-eb/s200/venom+extraction.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 198px;" /></a>from the by-then-resistant animal and inject it into the stricken person.—Snake antivenom available in hospitals worldwide is obtained in <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Fdac/features/995_snakes.html">more or less the same way</a>, by slowly building up venom antibodies in a horse or sheep.<a name='more'></a><br />
I figure Pan, who had a successful lab career before turning to conservation biology, would have as good a chance as anybody at hacking his own antivenom.<br />
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Still, I'm not sure I'd want the blood of a barnyard animal injected in me and hope I never have to choose between that and trying to hold out for an additional 2 hours to get <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwZ0E_8Tqa8x4qAvo4HJ2L012TLMMyH6YraQ0hFhYoiQHUmGRpuZMW26cmzZiMtXxpZMOUHOMJ-OV3-RefaG75lWrjcU8slYtnTw6zG-OaTzgfag5attdxbdCLU4IzmBBiIGrFTTEunWz/s1600-h/skinning.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321552689844208946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwZ0E_8Tqa8x4qAvo4HJ2L012TLMMyH6YraQ0hFhYoiQHUmGRpuZMW26cmzZiMtXxpZMOUHOMJ-OV3-RefaG75lWrjcU8slYtnTw6zG-OaTzgfag5attdxbdCLU4IzmBBiIGrFTTEunWz/s200/skinning.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 133px;" /></a>to the nearest hospital. Then again, future bite victims may not have the luxury of weighing such options as Pan wasn’t able to extract enough venom for the experiment.<br />
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After the dissection was completed, Pan gave the gal bladder to Jintong, the park worker who <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/king-cobra-ii.html">accidentally ran over the snake</a>. In Chinese medicine, snake gall bladder is <a href="http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/fachschaft/bs/06_04ChineseMedicine.pdf">thought to improve eyesight</a> and Jintong said he would put it in alcohol and share it with his family and friends.<br />
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This being China, we then divvied up the snake meat with Jintong and his family, chopped it, fried it in oil, added a dash of salt and hot pepper, and ate it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEXr3ZoEDM1Ufhdw6lJrQcF1W6Ik41syOvXiegTJRbkm8iSe_IMEWF9QRLL0lk6nunbr1mKYEHbS6p_YpoPxHlmrBBemC_f6hAi1U0DOoBLad8aeaNxjb6qPnqmXe7wEoAnDcoaWgqWN9R/s1600-h/chicken+and+snake.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321553319415700578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEXr3ZoEDM1Ufhdw6lJrQcF1W6Ik41syOvXiegTJRbkm8iSe_IMEWF9QRLL0lk6nunbr1mKYEHbS6p_YpoPxHlmrBBemC_f6hAi1U0DOoBLad8aeaNxjb6qPnqmXe7wEoAnDcoaWgqWN9R/s200/chicken+and+snake.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 133px;" /></a><br />
It was pretty bony, like a small fish, and I hate to say it, but it really did taste like chicken.<br />
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Phil<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5EoxNouZx9QgxqcycFLJdupTC5YolvR-TcgswKXAoC5W4t01QmDcrNMxtGUfOcqfBM4QlUgCLi7Q2kZJGBNzJ4J14fGwiMvvhCCFhRNdtlnwjvGs6HXd0oLvsQCyyI84q7SguXiyBqRo/s1600-h/tastes+like+chicken.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321553846197478098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5EoxNouZx9QgxqcycFLJdupTC5YolvR-TcgswKXAoC5W4t01QmDcrNMxtGUfOcqfBM4QlUgCLi7Q2kZJGBNzJ4J14fGwiMvvhCCFhRNdtlnwjvGs6HXd0oLvsQCyyI84q7SguXiyBqRo/s200/tastes+like+chicken.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 133px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-80699975120619223852009-03-25T20:47:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.923-04:00King Cobra II<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jrqaRGIlp6acMmsuZeSrCO32y9r7F3uivyeeIHcYRPDoc16I1mv7J9uHaDBtU__vGHiFxem0KK907VgQzmfZLUbAKNedfVywChTEZnjuXy5Y9ru4eTlZvwEmfyTwmxELTYGpm_TTOXdB/s1600-h/DSC_0208.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jrqaRGIlp6acMmsuZeSrCO32y9r7F3uivyeeIHcYRPDoc16I1mv7J9uHaDBtU__vGHiFxem0KK907VgQzmfZLUbAKNedfVywChTEZnjuXy5Y9ru4eTlZvwEmfyTwmxELTYGpm_TTOXdB/s200/DSC_0208.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317294062933058898" border="0" /></a>I started walking back to my room at the <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">Chongzuo EcoPark</a> the other evening after watching the langurs come down the mountain to their roost.<br />It was a warm evening and I'd stayed watching them settle into <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/dr-pans-secret-lair.html">their cliff face caves</a> a bit longer than usual. By the time I began the roughly 15 minute hike back to the reserve's headquarters, it was already quite dark.<br />I hadn't bothered to pack a flashlight as I knew the path fairly well and preferred to let the moonlight guide me.<br />Then, I started thinking about all the <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/king-cobra.html">warnings I'd recently read about cobras</a>.<span class="fullpost"> I flipped open my cell phone for what little light it offered and grabbed the first stick I could find.<br />After a couple minutes of fumbling around, Jintong, one of the reserve's staff, drove towards me driving an electric cart. He said he'd just run over a snake and proceeded to unfurl a very recently deceased, very large king cobra. He hit the snake on the path I was about to walk down, about 100 meters from my room.<br />Then, before I thought to ask for a ride, anywhere, he drove on. I froze, convinced every branch and twig I saw on the path before me was a king cobra.<br /><br /><a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2008/09/pan-wenshi-and-white-headed-langurs.html">Pan</a> told me afterwards that I needed to be especially careful this time of year. The temperature here on the edge of the tropics was just starting to rise and snakes were beginning to come out in the evenings to lie in open paths warmed by the sun.<br /><br /><a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2008/08/frogfurters-adventures.html">Rachel</a> would later tell me it snowed again in Boston and that sounded pretty nice to me.<br /><br />Phil<br /></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-12847226236256026232009-03-18T23:28:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.929-04:00The Chicken Coop<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik899XHR_kse7VEkvyiND_XgMZaitNIt4IhZmzo1qqBGVksqaf7ciP7AL4zOIyE7ystiA0QEk2lf5EUhmW5tQ2lR_2b1LlxZZanzADaMokxiB4xPaX0Exwbj5Grn_H0h980CQszkDKKiQg/s1600-h/pans+bed+small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik899XHR_kse7VEkvyiND_XgMZaitNIt4IhZmzo1qqBGVksqaf7ciP7AL4zOIyE7ystiA0QEk2lf5EUhmW5tQ2lR_2b1LlxZZanzADaMokxiB4xPaX0Exwbj5Grn_H0h980CQszkDKKiQg/s200/pans+bed+small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314738392574561474" border="0" /></a>Not far from the entrance to the <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">Chongzuo EcoPark</a> there is a collapsing cinder block building that once served as the living quarters for <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2008/09/pan-wenshi-and-white-headed-langurs.html">biologist Pan Wenshi</a> and his students.<br />I’ve seen animal enclosures in Chinese zoos that are nicer than this.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />The building—an abandoned army barracks—had no running water, no electricity, no door, and a gaping hole in one wall. Pan’s bed, shown here, was a thin wicker mat laid over a row of boards. Stumps and logs were used for seats and benches. Field notes were compiled by candlelight, and when it rained, water flowed into the building.<br />In 2000, the county government took pity on Pan and, to honor <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/science/23monk.html?_r=1&8dpc">what he'd done for surrounding villages</a>, they spent $1 million on park improvements, including a rather architecturally inspired research facility and living space.<br />Until recently, the cinder block building and its Spartan furnishings served as a museum of the not-so-good-ol’ days of '96 to '00. Since my last visit, it received a long overdue conversion to its current use; a chicken coop.<br /><br /><br />Phil<br /></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-78468270151893524272009-03-17T11:06:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.935-04:00Happy St. Pat's<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YWI7doWgeZlsAJd94mqHvh6cmbQWNluGyg_-uredD6kioMQlUpVVCoOl2lY9tmnomdaAqQomWYFeDmOoPL2UsaxqJ3xi8mwsF204hhKmHSwQ6pZwjDvnYjDSSdwZYWLvFxE5gSqkIZuA/s1600-h/st+pats+small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YWI7doWgeZlsAJd94mqHvh6cmbQWNluGyg_-uredD6kioMQlUpVVCoOl2lY9tmnomdaAqQomWYFeDmOoPL2UsaxqJ3xi8mwsF204hhKmHSwQ6pZwjDvnYjDSSdwZYWLvFxE5gSqkIZuA/s200/st+pats+small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314178521880831538" border="0" /></a><br />Happy St. Patty’s Day from the PRC. I took a break from <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">monkeying around in Chongzuo</a> to spend a couple days in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangshuo">Yangshuo</a>, China.<span class="fullpost"><br />Yangshuo was a once gorgeous, now overrun mountain town on the Li river in southern China that has been a backpacker mecca since us <span style="font-style: italic;">laowai</span> started descending on the country in droves in the 1990s.<br />The place is by no means the quiet retreat it once was, but anyplace serving the pride of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James%27s_Gate_Brewery">St. Jame's Gate</a> on March 17 works for me.<br />I spent the evening with Paul, an Englishman, and Joe, a local kid all of 10 years old.<br />Paul has taught English here for the last three years. He makes close to $1000 a month teaching business English in one of Yangshou’s many private schools. At this pay, he says he lives well; enough to eat out each night at the many restaurants catering to foreign tourists. He says he can’t stomach the local food, but he has a Chinese girlfriend and says the weather here beats dreary ol’ England any day.<br />Paul can’t stay long though as it’s “quiz”, or trivia, night at another nearby pub.<br /><br />Joe is friend of Paul’s and, based on his English skills, I get the feeling this isn’t his first night hanging out at <a href="http://www.guilin-yangshuo-guide.com/yangshuo-bars.html">The Alley Bar</a>. When Paul called him on his lack of green, he ran home and put on the sweater seen here. –When I ask Joe what St. Patty’s is all about, he says it’s when people wear green and drink stuff from Ireland. He says there is more to it than that, but he can’t remember the rest.<br />Joe first learned English from a Australian and does a wicked rendition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_Dundee">Crocodile Dundee's</a> “that’s not a knife, this is a knife”.<br />His favorite sport is rollerblading.<br />“I get nice air,” he says.<br /><br />Out of the blue, Joe hits me with the following riddle.<br />“Who is too rich?” he asks.<br />“Bill Gates,” I counter knowing China’s obsession with the world’s richest man.<br />“No, a river; it has banks on both sides.”<br />I go to give the kid a high five but he counters with “down low”, and then, withdrawing his hand, “too slow.”<br />Something tells me that of the two of them, Joe has the better gig. <br /><br />Phil<br /></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-5212766855074079012009-03-13T09:57:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.943-04:00King Cobra<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJckyeVksRckb_8ww-fI5MtPZuLTCd0inLOjP_AmdSyjCXhaSCLb-kY3QaOGVLjfl8whIBdAYCIs-4u6vXEwNGf4ut4tP4nKxHk2bdxlXUOE4lbIFLaj4v1UkLIpQHFe-hZz-D6yNfyp3/s1600-h/King+Cobra+Small.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJckyeVksRckb_8ww-fI5MtPZuLTCd0inLOjP_AmdSyjCXhaSCLb-kY3QaOGVLjfl8whIBdAYCIs-4u6vXEwNGf4ut4tP4nKxHk2bdxlXUOE4lbIFLaj4v1UkLIpQHFe-hZz-D6yNfyp3/s200/King+Cobra+Small.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312679954854718930" border="0" /></a>I could see moving to <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">Chongzuo</a>--the weather is nice enough, the food is delicious, and the wildlife can't be beat--if it weren't for the snakes.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />The reserve's walking paths are lined with billboards warning visitors of king cobras and urging them to stick to the main paths. Like most people, though, I tend to take warning signs aimed at tourists with a grain of salt.<br /><br />But just to be safe, I did some Googling the other day to find out just what these snakes are all about.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pitara.com/discover/earth/online.asp?story=21">A children's educational website</a> informs me that;<br />-The king cobra holds a record length of 5.58 m (18.3ft) for a venomous snake.<br />-It has a head as big as a man’s hand and can stand tall enough to look you straight in the eye.<br />-the king’s venom is actually less lethal than a common cobra’s. However, the king makes up for it by delivering more venom per bite...enough to kill an elephant or 20 people.<br /><br />"<a href="http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/avoid-snake-bites.cfm">Tigerhomes</a>" notes;<br />-Nearly ALL snakes will avoid man…there are however snakes known to aggressively attack man such as the King Cobra of Southeast Asia…<br /><br /><a href="http://www.priory.com/med/ophitoxaemia.htm">Medicine On-Line</a> weighs in with;<br />"The most common and earliest symptom following snake bite is fright, particularly of rapid and unpleasant death. Owing to fright, a victim attempts 'flight' which unfortunately results in enhanced systemic absorption of venom. These emotional manifestations develop extremely rapidly (almost instantaneous) and may produce psychological shock and even death."<br /><br />And here, again from Medicine On-Line, is the kicker;<br /><br />"On an average - cobras and sea snakes result in about 10% mortality [28]-ranging from 5-15 hours following bite."<br /><br />I don't think I'll be straying from any paths again anytime soon...<br /><br />Phil<br /></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-55926140143103905082009-03-12T09:21:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.950-04:00Bulbuls, Wagtails, and Great Tits!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxJUp3H8ZsyjXzXk1seQcMn1H1nflhItaD47H_Rdy5b3IFHDnUwbcc7nHF-UbvJNB3Trycj1OuoykFacUNmpbiItCwwM33Gk781cC7sLUQ-4e2Ez0JleS5d6tIzHS4-Ed5mKYpjWWY8HKg/s1600-h/red+whiskered+bulbul1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxJUp3H8ZsyjXzXk1seQcMn1H1nflhItaD47H_Rdy5b3IFHDnUwbcc7nHF-UbvJNB3Trycj1OuoykFacUNmpbiItCwwM33Gk781cC7sLUQ-4e2Ez0JleS5d6tIzHS4-Ed5mKYpjWWY8HKg/s200/red+whiskered+bulbul1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312296104044081410" border="0" /></a>There is a saying about the people of southern China that they eat anything with four limbs except tables, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/reader/0198549407?_encoding=UTF8&query=aeroplane#reader">anything that flies except airplanes,</a> and anything that swims except ships.<br />Perhaps, but birding in southern China's <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">Chong</a><a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">zuo EcoPark</a> is nonetheless amazing! <span class="fullpost"><br />Noisy flocks of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-whiskered_Bulbul">red-whiskered bulbuls</a> are found in spades in the reserve’s trees and tall grass. The birds remind me of the Steller's jays that steal French fries off the plates of unwary diners at <a href="http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/">Nepenthe</a> in Big Sur, California.<br />The following images—courtesy of the Peking University Chongzuo Biodiversity Research Institute—are all birds I’ve seen here this past week.<br /> <span style="font-size:78%;">red-whiskered bulbul above<br /><br />common tailorbird</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV67MM2plmrfzE8EMQ3vVKqrb2gwki59bvXitOeA38On8OcSfTampSIwrr1Cn_ewJye33sftPYlaGpmu9YeF9hnxb_6jpM8-ZeUw_wYuDB5uwJaYVhYnW4txuKeMztQX1gbpNUOnA5fQwa/s1600-h/common+tailorbird2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV67MM2plmrfzE8EMQ3vVKqrb2gwki59bvXitOeA38On8OcSfTampSIwrr1Cn_ewJye33sftPYlaGpmu9YeF9hnxb_6jpM8-ZeUw_wYuDB5uwJaYVhYnW4txuKeMztQX1gbpNUOnA5fQwa/s200/common+tailorbird2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312300818060970642" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />great tit</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82ZNDT4hYWDiAcqrTRz0ABWWDl5PF9TX-P25Tz5Qj88jhvKuFi0gsmtEryS5fvaHNpZVu7gt_GjgWPbmhXqD6MWBaMewSISsS0TIfL-enzVQNDauEQUdaoRx09lffTCouS51Jv6JlIRk7/s1600-h/great+tit.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82ZNDT4hYWDiAcqrTRz0ABWWDl5PF9TX-P25Tz5Qj88jhvKuFi0gsmtEryS5fvaHNpZVu7gt_GjgWPbmhXqD6MWBaMewSISsS0TIfL-enzVQNDauEQUdaoRx09lffTCouS51Jv6JlIRk7/s200/great+tit.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312300820817687458" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />cattle egret </span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixX6-i-qjtIICZDSPUSSyxWEicQGmG4N5GJsIHD7R29YXXRoQXDmNB2lKk2Q_22059HR61chsReyWkZYKGM7luQL6t-Uw3u0Y-e8kpdoDZMeLM8gn7ULplEpkuliV-BqSBgjZ57cAVZjDi/s1600-h/cattle+egret.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixX6-i-qjtIICZDSPUSSyxWEicQGmG4N5GJsIHD7R29YXXRoQXDmNB2lKk2Q_22059HR61chsReyWkZYKGM7luQL6t-Uw3u0Y-e8kpdoDZMeLM8gn7ULplEpkuliV-BqSBgjZ57cAVZjDi/s200/cattle+egret.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312300817208494242" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />white breasted waterhen</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtt01z1nnsOb0fGK8E49ggHLMnXUE6creLqF-9w11AW5IbJMlyn_IfjValUbDNwU2m7as9CPXNONWdHn47FpvQkbhvBPpwqI1RwMwIQUjvV-yfYYqLN0hFjJrQ5LW10pAh85TfPrG_YU2G/s1600-h/white+breasted+waterhen.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtt01z1nnsOb0fGK8E49ggHLMnXUE6creLqF-9w11AW5IbJMlyn_IfjValUbDNwU2m7as9CPXNONWdHn47FpvQkbhvBPpwqI1RwMwIQUjvV-yfYYqLN0hFjJrQ5LW10pAh85TfPrG_YU2G/s200/white+breasted+waterhen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312300817823380050" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />white wagtail</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3YCmzjx18eIvEp45jQjw2dnNs1z9kztqnw9A-u1dD_-5Y6jcOCOtARz1isULizHE47xA053s4suhLF-4Xrpkzb81EN5THpeBTzBqZAnkmGXHBwvGtUE7lifH8hHJv2ROtSglXGz6KFKh/s1600-h/white+wagtail1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3YCmzjx18eIvEp45jQjw2dnNs1z9kztqnw9A-u1dD_-5Y6jcOCOtARz1isULizHE47xA053s4suhLF-4Xrpkzb81EN5THpeBTzBqZAnkmGXHBwvGtUE7lifH8hHJv2ROtSglXGz6KFKh/s200/white+wagtail1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312300816211381954" border="0" /></a><br /></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5080035115783267598.post-74193847548484402512009-03-11T09:42:00.000-04:002009-10-18T11:43:39.957-04:00Dr. Pan's Secret Lair<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUuI6W-g33NrnD397rWU5O0m5_reApJXh3Anv1aHTiw_b0cep7-iF6VWlyJ5ADsW9JElECgbbtMJBipM1XEaYWjQEL6AcV0tzZAEjkkRyWUx4z-dW4XAV-3NT92ABbLX1wfHbQ442fiY9/s1600-h/DSC_0514.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUuI6W-g33NrnD397rWU5O0m5_reApJXh3Anv1aHTiw_b0cep7-iF6VWlyJ5ADsW9JElECgbbtMJBipM1XEaYWjQEL6AcV0tzZAEjkkRyWUx4z-dW4XAV-3NT92ABbLX1wfHbQ442fiY9/s200/DSC_0514.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311935842256677202" border="0" /></a><br /><br />At first glance, the Chongzuo EcoPark, where <a href="http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-in-chongzuo.html">biologist Pan Wenshi studies white-headed langurs</a>, appears as timeless as a Chinese landscape painting. Rugged <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst">karst</a> peaks shoot straight out of rice paddies and sugar cane fields tended by villagers and their water buffalo. It's a scene that seems little changed for thousands of years.<br /><br />The reality, however, is much more interesting.<span class="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBesww4g28Jp1hWc_SnzGzibj8Yfqdgrmw-xR_DrCGWjGyzTfJ7gg3OUK6s7hvfee-CmuvNO-dIZGDLAFLPThzzX-vTILqx5kseE_aeeRIPjaPV0fpuw54y8f06iiIpuzBAUlROhJxjYg/s1600-h/DSC_0003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBesww4g28Jp1hWc_SnzGzibj8Yfqdgrmw-xR_DrCGWjGyzTfJ7gg3OUK6s7hvfee-CmuvNO-dIZGDLAFLPThzzX-vTILqx5kseE_aeeRIPjaPV0fpuw54y8f06iiIpuzBAUlROhJxjYg/s200/DSC_0003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311931096654468162" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />The Chongzuo EcoPark is a former military base that was in the process of being decommissioned when Pan first arrived thirteen years ago.<br />Few signs of the area’s military past remain except for a massive munitions storage depot carved into the middle of one of the reserve’s mountains.<br /><br />Six-inch-thick steel reinforced cement doors guard the entrance to the now abandoned depot, but much of the inside remains a natural limestone cave.<br /><br />On one side of the mountain the cave opens to a cliff face about 70 meters <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFimgSSwUGF9eU9mT_4b78Oin1nvNqvIAUjWWW38IHmFv8QfU3YIE42q5TrYPVPLVkw4IhsSNhMqcp7bb7hheZSTPNeqlTyg9mmtSnRLmiKhSNH6iQ-Dseg0B7Ida4aEM4-C3BfHXC6yUY/s1600-h/DSC_0074.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFimgSSwUGF9eU9mT_4b78Oin1nvNqvIAUjWWW38IHmFv8QfU3YIE42q5TrYPVPLVkw4IhsSNhMqcp7bb7hheZSTPNeqlTyg9mmtSnRLmiKhSNH6iQ-Dseg0B7Ida4aEM4-C3BfHXC6yUY/s200/DSC_0074.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311931411487512610" border="0" /></a>above the valley floor where a langur family roosts most nights. Pan's assistants—LiJun, JinTong, and Lin—recently drilled a couple of cameras into the cliff face for some close up observations.<br /><br />The Chinese biologist is fascinated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology">sociobiology</a>, the theory that certain social behaviors—such as the practice of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide_%28zoology%29">infanticide</a> by male langurs—are evolutionarily advantageous.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHqGhOORTYvH-71QdEzeZkEqJjbpvvQO5gzlL4kGc8O3jBrS0Y1e3yDOwJIjqJYOQWsvnIVKkziuC_vgnO1xpm4lHD0LdVr7FkQEkuDUgcCA40SrVqZWAH8PYErV7_RJGgOqKIaiUadZU/s1600-h/DSC_0091.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHqGhOORTYvH-71QdEzeZkEqJjbpvvQO5gzlL4kGc8O3jBrS0Y1e3yDOwJIjqJYOQWsvnIVKkziuC_vgnO1xpm4lHD0LdVr7FkQEkuDUgcCA40SrVqZWAH8PYErV7_RJGgOqKIaiUadZU/s200/DSC_0091.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311937298748517330" border="0" /></a><br />With these cameras—which connect to a tent-enclosed-desktop inside the cave—he hopes to unlock the secrets of the animal's monkey business.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPrPL_JlvXFdWxU6MnPcmVEmTR8OYNIO-qCMwsp5OGSwxlWV5JASNcGEMAm2WMQ4OuZag1YJdr-q70C0HSS1YUJ9A0k6flsGTs5TGyqUrNOl_Wr3Ad9Y73uA2t8vkM-E_DVLQTucNz3E_A/s1600-h/DSC_0203.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPrPL_JlvXFdWxU6MnPcmVEmTR8OYNIO-qCMwsp5OGSwxlWV5JASNcGEMAm2WMQ4OuZag1YJdr-q70C0HSS1YUJ9A0k6flsGTs5TGyqUrNOl_Wr3Ad9Y73uA2t8vkM-E_DVLQTucNz3E_A/s200/DSC_0203.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311932484008446258" border="0" /></a><br /></span>Phil McKennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09249687571022065124noreply@blogger.com0