13 Aug 2005
World's Largest Solar Array to use Stirling Engine

Stirling engines have always fascinated me: I built a kit engine for a high school science fair project many years ago, and still ponder why this marvel of efficiency hasn't received more attention. Maybe that's going to change...

Stirling engines are not a neglected or forgotten technology after all, according to a story at PESN. With 20 years of in-the-field fine-tuning, Stirling Energy Systems is now ready to go big -- real big. They signed a purchase agreement Tuesday with Southern California Edison (SEC), to install a 20,000 dish array that will cover 4,500 acres and will be capable of generating 500 megawatts of electricity -- more than all other U.S. solar projects combined -- making this the largest solar installation in the world.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Scientists aim for lab-grown meat

Factory farming carried to it's logical, horrific conclusion. To call this lab grown material "meat" or "flesh" is a gross insult to every living, breathing creature on the planet.

This is the point of divorce betwixt life and death - all that live depend on the death of other creatures for their sustenance. When this chain is broken, how much of link will remain between the inhabitants of our fair world? None.

They claim that this is being done to be "environmentally friendly":

Growing the meat without the animal could reduce the need to keep millions of animals in cramped conditions and would lessen the damage caused by the meat production to the environment.

I got some news for these folks: there's no need whatsoever for meat production to require these terrible things. It can be done quite efficiently and humanely, using techniques and methods developed by our ancestors over thousands of years of practice, and when done right good animal husbandry requires good environmental stewardship. I know this to be a fact, because I'm doing it right now!

How far are we from Soylent Green?

New techniques could lead to the mass production of meat in the laboratory, researchers say.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link