Editor's Note: This story is republished with permission from Txchnologist, a digital magazine that follows innovation in science and technology.
There's a large and growing list of renewable energy projects pumping out cleaner electricity these days. Photovoltaic panels produce direct current and solar concentrators drive steam turbines using sunlight. Wind turbines churning out megawatts of power dot the landscape of many countries. Other projects are looking to light communities through tides, running rivers and even the heat of the Earth.
The commercial success of the Ebberston Moor field depends on Third Energy being allowed to re-inject the potentially radioactive water that is produced with the gas back into what is known as the Sherwood Sandstone formation, which overlies the limestone where the gas will be extracted from. The sandstone lies 1400 metres below the ground. Notes of a meeting between Third Energy and the regulator involved, the Environment Agency, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), reveals that “the success of the Ebberston Moor Field is dependent on the disposal of [produced] water to the Sherman Sandstone.”
In writing about the importance of promoting private enterprise, as well as in many other sections of my work, I suggested an almost near certainty that the risk management industry eventually will facilitate resilience and structural adaptivity in our built environment. In my larger draft, I included a short section about this, which I am posting below (somewhat revised). I believe it is beneficial to share this section now in order to explain my optimism for resilience. (I also wrote short sections on Time, Rapid Change, Optimism, A Futurist Perspective, and The Human Factor but do not necessarily intend to post them here.)
The future will be all about risk and trying to find protection from the rapidly increasing threats to our world as we advance in population size, social/cultural/economic complexity, and cutting-edge science and technology. Risk underwriting will play a big role in how well or how poorly we adapt to accelerating change.
Sierra Leone will impose a three-day countrywide shutdown starting Sept. 19
Thomson Reuters Posted: Sep 06, 2014 7:12 AM ET
Last Updated: Sep 07, 2014 2:05 PM ET
Sierra Leone's proposed countrywide "lockdown" will not help control an Ebola outbreak and could lead to the disease spreading further as cases are concealed, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Saturday.
The government plans to order citizens not to leave the areas around their homes for three days from Sept. 19 in a bid to halt new infections and help health workers track down people suffering from the disease, the information ministry said on Saturday.
huffingtonpost.com - September 2nd, 2014 - Ban Ki-moon
Climate change has been one of my top priorities since the day I took office in 2007. I said then that if we care about our legacy for succeeding generations, this is the time for decisive global action. I have been pleased to see climate change rise on the political agenda and in the consciousness of people worldwide.
Head of Médecins sans Frontières says the world is 'losing the battle' as cases and deaths continue to surge
MSF - theguardian.com - by Sarah Boseley - September 2, 2014
Military teams should be sent to west Africa immediately if there is to be any hope of controlling the Ebola epidemic, doctors on the frontline told the United Nations on Tuesday, painting a stark picture of health workers dying, patients left without care and infectious bodies lying in the streets.
The international president of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), Dr Joanne Liu, told member states that although alarm bells had been ringing for six months, the response had been too little, too late and no amount of vaccinations and new drugs would be able to prevent the escalating disaster.
"Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it," Liu said.
A man who left an Ebola quarantine center in Monrovia in search of food was jeered by an angry and fearful crowd at a local market. The man was subsequently chased down by doctors and forced into an ambulance. (Reuters)
washingtonpost.com - by Lena H. Sun and and Brady Dennis - September 2, 2014
Leading international health officials said Tuesday that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is accelerating and the window for getting it under control is closing.
“Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it,” Joanne Liu, international president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders, said in a briefing at the United Nations. She faulted world leaders for failing to recognize the severity of the crisis sooner and said charities and West African governments alone do not have the capacity to stem the outbreak.
A health worker disinfects an ambulance at the John F Kennedy hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images
Nurses at Monrovia's John F Kennedy hospital say they will not return to work until they get protective suits and better pay
theguardian.com - AFP - September 2, 2014
Nurses at Liberia's largest hospital have gone on strike, demanding better pay and equipment to protect them against the Ebola epidemic which has killed hundreds in the west African state.
John Tugbeh, spokesman for the strikers at John F Kennedy hospital in Monrovia, said the nurses would not return to work until they were supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE), the hazardous material-style suits which guard against infectious diseases.
Recent Comments