Biofuels, Not the Only Option!

Transportation accounts for more than 40% of California’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the state relies on petroleum-based fuels for 96 percent of its transportation needs. Causing in January 2007, California Governor Schwarzenegger to issue an executive order mandating a statewide goal be established to reduce the carbon intensity of California’s transportation fuels by at least 10 percent by 2020 (“2020 Target”). Establishing a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) greenhouse gas standard for transportation fuels.

Late Thursday, April 23, becoming the first in the nation, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved standards to target greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels. With the aim to cut 16m tons/year of greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 2020. (more…)

Made in 1964, ‘The Incredible Mr. Limpet‘, a film set during World War II is about a man named Henry Limpet, who would rather be a fish than human. One day his dream comes true suddenly when he falls off the pier at Coney Island and transforms into a fish. From this point Henry finds his destiny, finding true love and working for the US Navy to help defeat Nazis submarines with a super-sonic roar. I loved this movie when I was a kid. Don Knotts looked astonishingly like his animated fish character, Mr. Limpet.

So, what’s this got to do with an environmental blog, you ask? Well, a school of mechanical, battery-powered robots in the shape of fish, that look surprisingly like a bunch of Mr. Limpets (without the glasses), will be released into the waters in the northern Spanish port of Gijon to help monitor pollution. Chosen because port authorities there had expressed an interest in the technology, and assisted with a 2.5-million-pound ($3.6 million) grant from the European Union, allows the robotic fish to patrol the harbor. (more…)