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"content": "\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/quest/2012/12/20121203science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47607\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 636px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-47607\" title=\"Bishop Ranch, San Ramon Fast Charger\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch.jpg\" alt=\"Bishop Ranch, San Ramon Fast Charger\" width=\"636\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch.jpg 636w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bishop Ranch, San Ramon Fast Charger\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Imagine pulling up to a gas station and finding out that the pumps aren’t working or that you have to be a subscriber to fill up. Those are just a couple of the challenges that drivers of electric cars face as public charging stations slowly roll out. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/author/alisonvandiggelen/\">Alison van Diggelen\u003c/a>, herself an early adopter, explores the growing pains of building an electric car charging network and the fledgling new industry rising up to meet the challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>________ \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Range Anxiety - A Short Leash\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47412\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 189px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47412 \" style=\"margin-top: 5px;margin-bottom: 5px;margin-left: 0px;margin-right: 7px\" title=\"KQED's Alison van Diggelen gets a fast charge with Ecotality's Blink network, at Intuit Campus, Menlo Park\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/Ali-charging-at-blink-fastcharger-189x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"253\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alison van Diggelen gets a fast charge with Ecotality's Blink network, Intuit Campus, Menlo Park\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Electric vehicles are a popular and \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/electric-cars_n_2115124.html\">growing trend\u003c/a> in California. But it can take hours to charge them, and there are \u003cem>only a handful\u003c/em> of fast chargers in the whole state. I recently visited one of California’s fast chargers at a Silicon Valley software company’s parking lot in Menlo Park, eager to get a charge for my all-electric Nissan Leaf. I’d traveled over 35 miles (that’s 70 round trip) from my home charger, and range anxiety had kicked in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, I did make it home, but only after bypassing another fast charger that required I swipe a membership card which I don’t have. I used \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plugshare/id421788217?mt=8\">an app\u003c/a> on my phone to find the charger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John O'Dell, Senior Editor \u003ca href=\"http://www.edmunds.com/about/authors/john-odell.html\">at Edmunds.com\u003c/a> says for electric cars to catch on it's vital to have a reliable charging network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Public charging infrastructure is critical to the widespread acceptance of plug-in and particularly battery electric vehicles. Because without public chargers you basically have a fairly short leash on your vehicle and you are not going to be willing to drive it long distances.”\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although most driving and charging takes place within 40 miles of home, the lack of freedom to go much further has become a roadblock to purchasing electric cars for many Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Loosening the Leash\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Terry O’Day, with New Jersey-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrgenergy.com/about/index.html\">energy company NRG\u003c/a>, is hoping to loosen the leash on electric cars. I caught up with him at a charger at a San Francisco parking garage. As part of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/11/cpuc-20121106.html\">settlement\u003c/a> over claims stemming from California’s energy crisis, NRG will install 200 fast-chargers and wiring for 10,000 standard chargers statewide by 2016. NRG is calling its fast chargers, “Freedom stations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re not tethered to a radius…this is much more like a gasoline fueling infrastructure where you can fast fill anywhere you need to go,” says O’Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47423\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 274px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47423\" title=\"Terry O'Day heads NRG's California charger roll out\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/Terry-ODay-heads-NRGs-CA-charger-rollout1-274x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"274\" height=\"253\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Terry O'Day heads NRG's California charger roll out\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fast chargers can give fifty miles of driving range in fifteen minutes. But because there are only a few, drivers usually opt for a standard charger, which can take more than three hours to get the same driving range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fast Charger Challenges\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking for a well distributed network, like a cell phone network. It’s a small “d” democratic network that provides freedom to move within a region,” says O’Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, a multitude of challenges face NRG and other charging companies, like Bay Area-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.chargepoint.com/\">ChargePoint\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.ecotality.com/\">Ecotality\u003c/a>. Fast chargers produce very high voltage. They require complicated permitting. And they cost upward of $40,000 each.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the financials don’t add up says NRG’s Terry O’Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public charging infrastructure is extraordinarily expensive and there aren’t enough cars right now so there isn’t an effective business model to make the investment work,” he says.\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how many companies does it take to install a comprehensive network of electric vehicle chargers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not as simple as changing a light bulb,”\u003cem> \u003c/em>says\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ravi Brar, CEO of Ecotality, in San Francisco. \u003cem> \u003c/em>“It takes some effort, cooperation and coordination. It’s a sea change… a revolution in transportation. The biggest challenge might be that there are a hundred little challenges.”\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to date, there hasn’t been much coordination. There are \u003ca href=\"http://green.autoblog.com/2012/10/17/sae-sets-standards-for-dc-combo-fast-charging/\">two different standards\u003c/a> for fast chargers: one US-European, one Japanese. It’s much like the format war between VHS and Betamax. One of them will likely lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47417\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 337px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47417\" title=\"Japanese CHAdeMO fast charger and standard port on Nissan Leaf\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/Japanese-CHAdeMO-fastcharger-and-standard-port-on-Nissan-Leaf-337x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"337\" height=\"253\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Japanese CHAdeMO fast charger and standard port on a Nissan Leaf\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to complicate matters, Tesla Motors, a leading electric car company, is building a \u003ca href=\"http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger\">proprietary network \u003c/a>of fast chargers, which won’t work with either standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pat Romano, CEO of ChargePoint in Silicon Valley, describes the current state of electric car charging as “somewhat of a mess,” but he’s optimistic the fast charger standards will get sorted out in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Second Inning\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Romano takes a long view and uses a baseball analogy, describing 2009 as the “first inning,” when modern chargers were first going in and electric cars were just being announced by car makers. Today, he says we are solidly in the second inning.\u003cem>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nTo date, about 50,000 plug-in cars have been sold in the U.S. About one third of those sales were made in California, thanks to \u003ca href=\"http://www.afdc.energy.gov/laws/state_summary/CA\">pioneering state rules\u003c/a> that include rebates and carpool privileges for drivers of electric cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are over 1000 public chargers in California today. Romano predicts a tipping point by the end of 2014, when he expects to see hundreds of thousands of electric cars on the road and lots more chargers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we hit about the 5th or 6th inning the mass market is really taking it up,” says Romano.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For early adopters like Terry O’Day, of NRG, it’s not surprising the demand is growing for electric vehicles.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s quick off the line, unexpectedly fast, it’s quiet. You feel like you’re part of a revolution when you’re in the seat of an EV,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many enthusiasts, he believes more chargers will help boost electric car sales. Under the NRG mandate, fast chargers alone are set to quadruple in California in the next year. And just as all eyes were on California as the state launched its \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/audio/cap-and-trade-101-how-californias-carbon-market-works/\">Cap-and-Trade program\u003c/a>, the world will be watching to see if this public charger roll out helps jump start electric car sales in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>____\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More resources on Electric Driving and Charging\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/series/clean-car-diaries/\">Clean Car Diaries\u003c/a> - over 25 stories from the Quest team on driving electric cars\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity.html\">Alternative Fuels Data Center\u003c/a> - Dept. of Energy Resource for EV Charging, locations and incentives\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://drivingelectric.org/\">Driving Electric\u003c/a> - Online community for plug-in drivers\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.facebook.com/groups/BayLeafs/\">San Francisco BayLEAFs\u003c/a> - Facebook community for Nissan Leaf drivers\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.plugshare.com/\">Map of Charger Locations \u003c/a>- Locations and reviews of all charger types, public and private, nationwide\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47607\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 636px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-47607\" title=\"Bishop Ranch, San Ramon Fast Charger\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch.jpg\" alt=\"Bishop Ranch, San Ramon Fast Charger\" width=\"636\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch.jpg 636w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/bishop-ranch-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bishop Ranch, San Ramon Fast Charger\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Imagine pulling up to a gas station and finding out that the pumps aren’t working or that you have to be a subscriber to fill up. Those are just a couple of the challenges that drivers of electric cars face as public charging stations slowly roll out. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/author/alisonvandiggelen/\">Alison van Diggelen\u003c/a>, herself an early adopter, explores the growing pains of building an electric car charging network and the fledgling new industry rising up to meet the challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>________ \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Range Anxiety - A Short Leash\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47412\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 189px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47412 \" style=\"margin-top: 5px;margin-bottom: 5px;margin-left: 0px;margin-right: 7px\" title=\"KQED's Alison van Diggelen gets a fast charge with Ecotality's Blink network, at Intuit Campus, Menlo Park\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/Ali-charging-at-blink-fastcharger-189x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"253\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alison van Diggelen gets a fast charge with Ecotality's Blink network, Intuit Campus, Menlo Park\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Electric vehicles are a popular and \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/electric-cars_n_2115124.html\">growing trend\u003c/a> in California. But it can take hours to charge them, and there are \u003cem>only a handful\u003c/em> of fast chargers in the whole state. I recently visited one of California’s fast chargers at a Silicon Valley software company’s parking lot in Menlo Park, eager to get a charge for my all-electric Nissan Leaf. I’d traveled over 35 miles (that’s 70 round trip) from my home charger, and range anxiety had kicked in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, I did make it home, but only after bypassing another fast charger that required I swipe a membership card which I don’t have. I used \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plugshare/id421788217?mt=8\">an app\u003c/a> on my phone to find the charger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John O'Dell, Senior Editor \u003ca href=\"http://www.edmunds.com/about/authors/john-odell.html\">at Edmunds.com\u003c/a> says for electric cars to catch on it's vital to have a reliable charging network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Public charging infrastructure is critical to the widespread acceptance of plug-in and particularly battery electric vehicles. Because without public chargers you basically have a fairly short leash on your vehicle and you are not going to be willing to drive it long distances.”\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although most driving and charging takes place within 40 miles of home, the lack of freedom to go much further has become a roadblock to purchasing electric cars for many Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Loosening the Leash\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Terry O’Day, with New Jersey-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrgenergy.com/about/index.html\">energy company NRG\u003c/a>, is hoping to loosen the leash on electric cars. I caught up with him at a charger at a San Francisco parking garage. As part of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/11/cpuc-20121106.html\">settlement\u003c/a> over claims stemming from California’s energy crisis, NRG will install 200 fast-chargers and wiring for 10,000 standard chargers statewide by 2016. NRG is calling its fast chargers, “Freedom stations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re not tethered to a radius…this is much more like a gasoline fueling infrastructure where you can fast fill anywhere you need to go,” says O’Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47423\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 274px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47423\" title=\"Terry O'Day heads NRG's California charger roll out\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/Terry-ODay-heads-NRGs-CA-charger-rollout1-274x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"274\" height=\"253\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Terry O'Day heads NRG's California charger roll out\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fast chargers can give fifty miles of driving range in fifteen minutes. But because there are only a few, drivers usually opt for a standard charger, which can take more than three hours to get the same driving range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fast Charger Challenges\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking for a well distributed network, like a cell phone network. It’s a small “d” democratic network that provides freedom to move within a region,” says O’Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, a multitude of challenges face NRG and other charging companies, like Bay Area-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.chargepoint.com/\">ChargePoint\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.ecotality.com/\">Ecotality\u003c/a>. Fast chargers produce very high voltage. They require complicated permitting. And they cost upward of $40,000 each.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the financials don’t add up says NRG’s Terry O’Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public charging infrastructure is extraordinarily expensive and there aren’t enough cars right now so there isn’t an effective business model to make the investment work,” he says.\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how many companies does it take to install a comprehensive network of electric vehicle chargers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not as simple as changing a light bulb,”\u003cem> \u003c/em>says\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ravi Brar, CEO of Ecotality, in San Francisco. \u003cem> \u003c/em>“It takes some effort, cooperation and coordination. It’s a sea change… a revolution in transportation. The biggest challenge might be that there are a hundred little challenges.”\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to date, there hasn’t been much coordination. There are \u003ca href=\"http://green.autoblog.com/2012/10/17/sae-sets-standards-for-dc-combo-fast-charging/\">two different standards\u003c/a> for fast chargers: one US-European, one Japanese. It’s much like the format war between VHS and Betamax. One of them will likely lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47417\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 337px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47417\" title=\"Japanese CHAdeMO fast charger and standard port on Nissan Leaf\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/Japanese-CHAdeMO-fastcharger-and-standard-port-on-Nissan-Leaf-337x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"337\" height=\"253\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Japanese CHAdeMO fast charger and standard port on a Nissan Leaf\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to complicate matters, Tesla Motors, a leading electric car company, is building a \u003ca href=\"http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger\">proprietary network \u003c/a>of fast chargers, which won’t work with either standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pat Romano, CEO of ChargePoint in Silicon Valley, describes the current state of electric car charging as “somewhat of a mess,” but he’s optimistic the fast charger standards will get sorted out in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Second Inning\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Romano takes a long view and uses a baseball analogy, describing 2009 as the “first inning,” when modern chargers were first going in and electric cars were just being announced by car makers. Today, he says we are solidly in the second inning.\u003cem>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nTo date, about 50,000 plug-in cars have been sold in the U.S. About one third of those sales were made in California, thanks to \u003ca href=\"http://www.afdc.energy.gov/laws/state_summary/CA\">pioneering state rules\u003c/a> that include rebates and carpool privileges for drivers of electric cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are over 1000 public chargers in California today. Romano predicts a tipping point by the end of 2014, when he expects to see hundreds of thousands of electric cars on the road and lots more chargers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we hit about the 5th or 6th inning the mass market is really taking it up,” says Romano.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For early adopters like Terry O’Day, of NRG, it’s not surprising the demand is growing for electric vehicles.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s quick off the line, unexpectedly fast, it’s quiet. You feel like you’re part of a revolution when you’re in the seat of an EV,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many enthusiasts, he believes more chargers will help boost electric car sales. Under the NRG mandate, fast chargers alone are set to quadruple in California in the next year. And just as all eyes were on California as the state launched its \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/audio/cap-and-trade-101-how-californias-carbon-market-works/\">Cap-and-Trade program\u003c/a>, the world will be watching to see if this public charger roll out helps jump start electric car sales in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>____\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More resources on Electric Driving and Charging\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/series/clean-car-diaries/\">Clean Car Diaries\u003c/a> - over 25 stories from the Quest team on driving electric cars\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity.html\">Alternative Fuels Data Center\u003c/a> - Dept. of Energy Resource for EV Charging, locations and incentives\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://drivingelectric.org/\">Driving Electric\u003c/a> - Online community for plug-in drivers\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.facebook.com/groups/BayLeafs/\">San Francisco BayLEAFs\u003c/a> - Facebook community for Nissan Leaf drivers\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.plugshare.com/\">Map of Charger Locations \u003c/a>- Locations and reviews of all charger types, public and private, nationwide\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "China’s ‘Gridlock’ May Slow Conversion to Clean Energy",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Similar challenges could confront California\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_47201\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 337px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/11/16/china%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98gridlock%e2%80%99-may-slow-conversion-to-clean-energy/china_grid_sm/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-47201\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-47201\" title=\"China_grid_sm\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/China_grid_sm-337x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"337\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The source of China's electricity--largely coal-fired power plants--is also a major reason for its poor air quality. (Photo: Marjorie Sun)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As recent events on the East Coast have graphically shown, the “grid” that provides our electricity can be a fragile thing. Building a modern, more resilient version will cost hundreds of billions of dollars—but most agree it’s essential to a cleaner, more energy-efficient future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a challenge confronting California and the nation—as well as other nations—notably China, where the aging grid is already proving to be an obstacle to “greening” that nation’s energy production.\u003cbr>\nThe country plans to spend $530 billion dollars to revolutionize the way its electricity is distributed. But one of China’s main technical challenges, it turns out, is not all that different than what we face here in the U.S: how to integrate renewable energy, like wind and solar power, into a new electric grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Energy Challenge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s Sunday afternoon in Shanghai at a store called Suning. It’s one of China’s biggest chains for appliances. It brims with the latest models of rice cookers, refrigerators and more.\u003cbr>\nTina Wong, a property manager, is shopping for an air conditioner to replace her old Toshiba. I ask her what kind of air conditioner she’s looking for. “Big one,” Wong says. “I have one too small like this -- not good enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, in essence, is one of China’s biggest energy challenges today. There are millions more Chinese like Tina who are plugging in appliances typical of a Western lifestyle. This exploding consumerism -- plus the construction of new high-rises, like many in Shanghai, and new factories -- has intensified the nation’s thirst for electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Massive New Infrastructure Project: A New Grid\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So to satisfy this soaring need, China’s main state-owned utility has launched a monumental infrastructure project to build a “strong, smart grid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the ‘strong’ really refers to the high-voltage system,” says Matt Lecar. He’s a grid expert at GE in San Francisco and a consultant to the China Electric Power Research Institute. “They've actually put a lot of investment into creating kind of a national backbone infrastructure, which is something we don't have in the U.S.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a backbone formed by building six ultra-high-voltage transmission lines crisscrossing the country. They will carry the highest alternating current in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chivas Lam, a partner at Qiming Venture Capital in Shanghai, says, “The majority of the resources -- the coal, the natural gas, the hydro -- is in the western or central part of China, while the load center is on the east coast, primarily.” That means electrons have to travel up to a thousand miles or more. “So obviously,” Lam says, “the better way is to generate the power locally rather than shipping or transporting coal and then using the electricity transmission network to transmit the power to the end user.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And by doing so, conserve natural resources, cut pollution, shrink the country’s carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. The new smart grid will significantly boost the use of wind and solar power to generate electricity. It’s part of China’s plan to get 11 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuels by 2015 and cut down its dependence on coal, by far its main source of power -- and of its air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Problems Integrating Renewables\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But integrating China’s new wind power capacity into the grid has been problematic. Wind farm construction here has so outpaced the grid build-out that nearly a quarter of China’s turbines stand idle because they’re not yet connected to the grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>China’s utilities ran into another huge problem last year. Tom Pellman, a policy advisor for Vestas Wind Systems in Beijing describes, “a series of large grid accidents in which a power line failure caused hundreds of wind turbines to suddenly trip off the grid and stop producing energy.” The accidents led to a major shift in planning for the grid, focusing more effort on how to make the system smarter and more resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Smart Part of the Grid\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of a smart grid is through more sensors, more controls downstream, to have tighter control, to be able to deliver the right energy to the right places at the right time,” says GE’s Lecar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among these “sensors and controls” are “smart” meters, digital electric meters that have stirred opposition in parts of California where critics allege safety and privacy problems. While U.S. utilities are aiming to install 15 million smart meters by 2015, China claims to have already deployed more than three times that many. Foreign businesses are vying for a slice of the action. This year, Bay Area-based companies, including Echelon and Glen Canyon, have formed partnerships with Chinese firms to develop more products, including smart meters, for this giant market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Race To Power\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a Beijing subway car, an old man in threadbare clothing plays a traditional Chinese stringed instrument for money as he weaves through a crowd of other Chinese, texting on their smartphones and listening to iPods. It’s a snapshot of a complex challenge in China’s race to power; millions of poor Chinese and the expanding middle class here are all part of a populace hungry for a more modern lifestyle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>China’s new “smarter, stronger” grid is scheduled to be up and running by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, in essence, is one of China’s biggest energy challenges today. There are millions more Chinese like Tina who are plugging in appliances typical of a Western lifestyle. This exploding consumerism -- plus the construction of new high-rises, like many in Shanghai, and new factories -- has intensified the nation’s thirst for electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Massive New Infrastructure Project: A New Grid\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So to satisfy this soaring need, China’s main state-owned utility has launched a monumental infrastructure project to build a “strong, smart grid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the ‘strong’ really refers to the high-voltage system,” says Matt Lecar. He’s a grid expert at GE in San Francisco and a consultant to the China Electric Power Research Institute. “They've actually put a lot of investment into creating kind of a national backbone infrastructure, which is something we don't have in the U.S.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a backbone formed by building six ultra-high-voltage transmission lines crisscrossing the country. They will carry the highest alternating current in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chivas Lam, a partner at Qiming Venture Capital in Shanghai, says, “The majority of the resources -- the coal, the natural gas, the hydro -- is in the western or central part of China, while the load center is on the east coast, primarily.” That means electrons have to travel up to a thousand miles or more. “So obviously,” Lam says, “the better way is to generate the power locally rather than shipping or transporting coal and then using the electricity transmission network to transmit the power to the end user.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And by doing so, conserve natural resources, cut pollution, shrink the country’s carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. The new smart grid will significantly boost the use of wind and solar power to generate electricity. It’s part of China’s plan to get 11 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuels by 2015 and cut down its dependence on coal, by far its main source of power -- and of its air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Problems Integrating Renewables\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But integrating China’s new wind power capacity into the grid has been problematic. Wind farm construction here has so outpaced the grid build-out that nearly a quarter of China’s turbines stand idle because they’re not yet connected to the grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>China’s utilities ran into another huge problem last year. Tom Pellman, a policy advisor for Vestas Wind Systems in Beijing describes, “a series of large grid accidents in which a power line failure caused hundreds of wind turbines to suddenly trip off the grid and stop producing energy.” The accidents led to a major shift in planning for the grid, focusing more effort on how to make the system smarter and more resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Smart Part of the Grid\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of a smart grid is through more sensors, more controls downstream, to have tighter control, to be able to deliver the right energy to the right places at the right time,” says GE’s Lecar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among these “sensors and controls” are “smart” meters, digital electric meters that have stirred opposition in parts of California where critics allege safety and privacy problems. While U.S. utilities are aiming to install 15 million smart meters by 2015, China claims to have already deployed more than three times that many. Foreign businesses are vying for a slice of the action. This year, Bay Area-based companies, including Echelon and Glen Canyon, have formed partnerships with Chinese firms to develop more products, including smart meters, for this giant market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Race To Power\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a Beijing subway car, an old man in threadbare clothing plays a traditional Chinese stringed instrument for money as he weaves through a crowd of other Chinese, texting on their smartphones and listening to iPods. It’s a snapshot of a complex challenge in China’s race to power; millions of poor Chinese and the expanding middle class here are all part of a populace hungry for a more modern lifestyle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>China’s new “smarter, stronger” grid is scheduled to be up and running by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Q & A - How Will the Solar Industry Shake Out?",
"title": "Q & A - How Will the Solar Industry Shake Out?",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46781\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/panel.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46781\" title=\"panel\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/panel-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar panel at SunPower in San Jose, CA.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It's been a bumpy year for the solar industry despite record growth, something we explore in \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/audio/looming-trade-war-shakes-up-u-s-solar-industry/\">this week's radio story\u003c/a>. I spoke with Shayle Kann, Vice President for Research at \u003ca href=\"http://www.greentechmedia.com/research\">GTM Research\u003c/a> about the recent turmoil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s this past year been like in the solar industry?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Globally, it's a tough year in solar. We have massive oversupply of solar panels, so it's been a really hard time for solar manufacturers. And demand on a global level is growing, but relatively slowly this year as compared to the past couple of years, where we've seen really massive growth. The big reason for that is that Europe has slowed down as incentives have been pulled back from European governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The US, on the other hand, as far as the solar market goes, is pretty strong this year. We're looking at what we expect to be about 71 percent growth in solar installations in 2012 over 2011. So that's a strong growth rate, but it is slower than we've seen. In 2010 and 2011, the market more than doubled. So it's slowing down a bit, but solar is still growing fast throughout the US.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And China has emerged as a big player...\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chinese manufacturers of solar panels have been gaining more and more market share. It's not to say that Chinese manufacturers are the only ones. In fact, the largest market share in the US is held by SunPower, which is a US-based manufacturer. But Chinese players have a really big role to play here. And that, in conjunction with a few other things, has resulted in what has become something of a mini \"trade war\" in the solar industry, headquartered in the US but occurring in other places as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This spring we saw the U.S. Commerce Department levy trade tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Are people paying more because of them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's been sort of a strange situation because the way that the tariffs worked out in the US, they apply to photovoltaic cell manufacturing. The reason that matters is that the solar panels are basically manufactured in four steps. The cell manufacturing is really the third of four steps. The fourth step is assembling those cells into panels, or modules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The way that the tariff ruling worked out in the US is: the only thing that really matters is where the cells themselves are manufactured. And the result of that has been that a lot of Chinese manufacturers have essentially started tolling, or having somebody else manufacture their cells for them offshore, most popular being Taiwan, then shipping them back into China, assembling them into modules and sending them to the US, not being subject to the tariff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, that does create a cost impact. We estimate it to be something like six or seven cents per watt, which is a little less than 10 percent of the cost of a module, which means there has been a very slight incremental cost impact to anybody who's buying solar panels in the US, but it hasn't been very big. On the scale of a system (we're talking about a panel that costs maybe 80 cents, and a system that costs three or four dollars per watt), a five-or-six cent cost impact isn't huge. So it's had a slight impact, but it hasn't derailed the US market in any major way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have the tariffs caused any US installers to stop buying Chinese panels?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think a lot of them at least opened their eyes to some non-Chinese manufacturers that they wouldn't have before. It did provide an opportunity for them to step in and gain some share where they didn't before, but it did certainly not result in installers in the US stopping using Chinese panels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How dramatically have solar panel prices dropped in the past few years?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's been huge. If you look back at even late 2008, panel prices were up close to $4 a watt. Today, they're down in the 70 cent per watt range. So that is an enormous decrease over the course of just four years. And they're continuing to fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is an important point to make, which is: given how far panel prices have fallen, it becomes less and less important to look for cost reductions from the panel itself. The cost of the solar project isn't just the panel. There's other hardware that gets installed, there's labor, system design, engineering, and financing, and all these other costs, that increasingly are becoming the place where the bottleneck lies in getting costs down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are we going to see a big shake-out in the industry?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We're in the midst of a big global solar panel manufacturer shake-out. It's not just true in the US. This year, we have something on the order of about 30 gigawatts of solar demand globally, compared to about 60 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity. So there is a huge oversupply, resulting in lowered margins, strained balance sheets for every single solar manufacturer everywhere. We're starting to see this consolidation and shake-out take place. That will be occurring for at least a year and a half before it really settles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the future like for US solar manufacturers?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a tough time to be a solar manufacturer anyway, no matter where you're from. It's particularly difficult to be manufacturing in the US, where your cost structure is going to be higher than it would be if you were in a low-cost location like China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, we think the way you can weather the storm is by differentiating in terms of how you're selling into the market. Providing additional services to your customers, doing things like getting into project development yourself. But to be sure, if you cannot weather a very, very difficult storm in which you're not going to be making money for the next 18 months, then you better be looking for a drastic change in your strategy pretty quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We still have a global oversupply. So maybe it (the tariff) provides a bit of an incremental benefit to US solar manufacturers, but it really hasn't fixed the issues that they're facing on a global scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talking about the solar manufacturers these days is kind of depressing, but talking about the solar market in the US is a pretty positive story. Solar deployment remains a positive story, even if solar manufacturing is tough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Produced with Nicholas Christen.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Plummeting prices, trade war, record growth – it’s been a busy year for the solar industry. Reporter Lauren Sommer talks to a solar analyst about how California is doing in the rapidly changing global market.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46781\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/panel.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46781\" title=\"panel\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/panel-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar panel at SunPower in San Jose, CA.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It's been a bumpy year for the solar industry despite record growth, something we explore in \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/audio/looming-trade-war-shakes-up-u-s-solar-industry/\">this week's radio story\u003c/a>. I spoke with Shayle Kann, Vice President for Research at \u003ca href=\"http://www.greentechmedia.com/research\">GTM Research\u003c/a> about the recent turmoil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s this past year been like in the solar industry?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Globally, it's a tough year in solar. We have massive oversupply of solar panels, so it's been a really hard time for solar manufacturers. And demand on a global level is growing, but relatively slowly this year as compared to the past couple of years, where we've seen really massive growth. The big reason for that is that Europe has slowed down as incentives have been pulled back from European governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The US, on the other hand, as far as the solar market goes, is pretty strong this year. We're looking at what we expect to be about 71 percent growth in solar installations in 2012 over 2011. So that's a strong growth rate, but it is slower than we've seen. In 2010 and 2011, the market more than doubled. So it's slowing down a bit, but solar is still growing fast throughout the US.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And China has emerged as a big player...\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chinese manufacturers of solar panels have been gaining more and more market share. It's not to say that Chinese manufacturers are the only ones. In fact, the largest market share in the US is held by SunPower, which is a US-based manufacturer. But Chinese players have a really big role to play here. And that, in conjunction with a few other things, has resulted in what has become something of a mini \"trade war\" in the solar industry, headquartered in the US but occurring in other places as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This spring we saw the U.S. Commerce Department levy trade tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Are people paying more because of them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's been sort of a strange situation because the way that the tariffs worked out in the US, they apply to photovoltaic cell manufacturing. The reason that matters is that the solar panels are basically manufactured in four steps. The cell manufacturing is really the third of four steps. The fourth step is assembling those cells into panels, or modules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The way that the tariff ruling worked out in the US is: the only thing that really matters is where the cells themselves are manufactured. And the result of that has been that a lot of Chinese manufacturers have essentially started tolling, or having somebody else manufacture their cells for them offshore, most popular being Taiwan, then shipping them back into China, assembling them into modules and sending them to the US, not being subject to the tariff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, that does create a cost impact. We estimate it to be something like six or seven cents per watt, which is a little less than 10 percent of the cost of a module, which means there has been a very slight incremental cost impact to anybody who's buying solar panels in the US, but it hasn't been very big. On the scale of a system (we're talking about a panel that costs maybe 80 cents, and a system that costs three or four dollars per watt), a five-or-six cent cost impact isn't huge. So it's had a slight impact, but it hasn't derailed the US market in any major way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have the tariffs caused any US installers to stop buying Chinese panels?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think a lot of them at least opened their eyes to some non-Chinese manufacturers that they wouldn't have before. It did provide an opportunity for them to step in and gain some share where they didn't before, but it did certainly not result in installers in the US stopping using Chinese panels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How dramatically have solar panel prices dropped in the past few years?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's been huge. If you look back at even late 2008, panel prices were up close to $4 a watt. Today, they're down in the 70 cent per watt range. So that is an enormous decrease over the course of just four years. And they're continuing to fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is an important point to make, which is: given how far panel prices have fallen, it becomes less and less important to look for cost reductions from the panel itself. The cost of the solar project isn't just the panel. There's other hardware that gets installed, there's labor, system design, engineering, and financing, and all these other costs, that increasingly are becoming the place where the bottleneck lies in getting costs down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are we going to see a big shake-out in the industry?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We're in the midst of a big global solar panel manufacturer shake-out. It's not just true in the US. This year, we have something on the order of about 30 gigawatts of solar demand globally, compared to about 60 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity. So there is a huge oversupply, resulting in lowered margins, strained balance sheets for every single solar manufacturer everywhere. We're starting to see this consolidation and shake-out take place. That will be occurring for at least a year and a half before it really settles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the future like for US solar manufacturers?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a tough time to be a solar manufacturer anyway, no matter where you're from. It's particularly difficult to be manufacturing in the US, where your cost structure is going to be higher than it would be if you were in a low-cost location like China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, we think the way you can weather the storm is by differentiating in terms of how you're selling into the market. Providing additional services to your customers, doing things like getting into project development yourself. But to be sure, if you cannot weather a very, very difficult storm in which you're not going to be making money for the next 18 months, then you better be looking for a drastic change in your strategy pretty quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We still have a global oversupply. So maybe it (the tariff) provides a bit of an incremental benefit to US solar manufacturers, but it really hasn't fixed the issues that they're facing on a global scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talking about the solar manufacturers these days is kind of depressing, but talking about the solar market in the US is a pretty positive story. Solar deployment remains a positive story, even if solar manufacturing is tough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/quest/2012/11/20121105quest.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46765\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/DSC00476.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46765\" title=\"DSC00476\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/11/DSC00476-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A worker handles solar panels at SunPower's manufacturing plant near San Jose.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Talk to anyone in the solar industry and they’ll tell you: it’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times. Solar installations are booming, but there’s also a looming trade war with China. Citing illegal subsidies, U.S. officials have placed trade tariffs on Chinese solar panels. American solar companies are split on whether it will be good or bad for the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Solar Manufacturer\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At SunPower’s solar manufacturing plant near San Jose, workers screw frames onto shiny, six-foot solar panels as they come off the line. “We are running 24 hours a day,” says quality engineer Eric Kao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This plant has had a long list of notable visitors: Governors Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Energy Secretary Steven Chu. That’s because SunPower is one of the top suppliers in the country -- and because there aren’t many solar plants left to visit. It’s getting lonely to be an American solar manufacturer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to require being lonely to be one of the winners but it’s unfortunate that there aren’t many American solar companies,” says Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower. He says five years ago, things were looking good for U.S. solar manufacturers. There were growing markets in Germany, Japan and California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of the industry participants were making good profits. Well, that attracts competition,” he says. Chinese manufacturers flooded the market with solar panels. Within four years, panel prices fell seventy five percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The economics have gotten way, way more challenging. It's difficult for some companies to make it,” Werner says. SunPower has survived, but is just hoping to break even this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, several American solar panel companies filed a trade complaint against China, saying Chinese solar companies are getting illegal subsidies and are dumping panels on the US market. In May, the U.S. Commerce Department agreed and levied trade tariffs of 25 to 35 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Werner says while SunPower didn’t directly join the complaint, it does stand to gain. “Let’s just say it won’t hurt our pricing but I don’t know if it will be a big advantage. Having a trade war is definitely not good for the industry so we need to sort this out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solar industry doesn’t need more bad news, says Werner, especially after the political scandal over one particular bankrupt solar company. “It’s amazing how many people know the name of that company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Solyndra, that is. It’s a name Werner avoids saying, much like like Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter. “Well see, if I name the company then I’m just propagating the whole deal,” Werner says. Tariffs or no tariffs, Werner says some US manufacturers may not make it either. It’s an entirely different story with solar installers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Flip Side: A Solar Installer\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Sungevity’s Oakland headquarters, a team of sales people grabs maracas off their desks. “So the maraca shake happens when there’s a sale,” says Danny Kennedy, president of Sungevity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sungevity is one part power company, one part internet startup. It designs residential solar systems virtually by using satellite photos of each house. Like online shopping, Sungevity makes a sale before a truck ever goes out. And sales have been good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We grew gangbusters in 2010. Doubled again in ‘11. Have continued to grow this year,” says Kennedy. That’s thanks to a new option for customers to lease a solar system, instead of buying it upfront. It’s also more affordable because panels are cheaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something I think we should celebrate – the fact that we’re driving cost out of clean energy,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sungevity buys panels from the US, Korea and from China. Even with the trade tariffs, prices are about the same because Chinese solar companies have found a loophole. The tariffs are only on solar cells, not the entire solar panel. So, the cells are manufactured offshore and put into panels in China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kennedy says focusing on these manufacturing jobs is a mistake. The real green jobs are elsewhere. “There’s more job density in the sales, finance, installation and maintenance end of the value chain than there is in the factory. It’s probably a ratio of three to one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California leads the nation in solar jobs. Kennedy is concerned that a trade war with China would put them at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s crazy talk. We’re growing faster than any industry over a hundred billion dollars in value in the global economy. And yet, there is this nabobs of negativity around us that are causing concerns in the investment community,” says Kennedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Solar’s Teenage Years\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAll of this adds up to some major growing pains for the industry. “It is totally a teenager in a lot of ways,” says Dan Kammen, a professor at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The industry is growing dramatically. There’s also incredible turmoil. And there are some teenagers who are clearly going to be young prodigies and others who are going to go into rehab,” says Kammen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When companies fight over market share and race to the lowest price, Kammen says it’s the startups with cutting-edge technology that just can’t compete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A battle between the two biggest players, the US and China, is one where we might actually have casualties that aren’t just business casualties, they’re actually, pieces of innovation getting lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trade tariffs won’t be final until the US International Trade Commission rules on whether China has been illegally subsidizing their solar industry. That decision is expected on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to require being lonely to be one of the winners but it’s unfortunate that there aren’t many American solar companies,” says Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower. He says five years ago, things were looking good for U.S. solar manufacturers. There were growing markets in Germany, Japan and California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of the industry participants were making good profits. Well, that attracts competition,” he says. Chinese manufacturers flooded the market with solar panels. Within four years, panel prices fell seventy five percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The economics have gotten way, way more challenging. It's difficult for some companies to make it,” Werner says. SunPower has survived, but is just hoping to break even this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, several American solar panel companies filed a trade complaint against China, saying Chinese solar companies are getting illegal subsidies and are dumping panels on the US market. In May, the U.S. Commerce Department agreed and levied trade tariffs of 25 to 35 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Werner says while SunPower didn’t directly join the complaint, it does stand to gain. “Let’s just say it won’t hurt our pricing but I don’t know if it will be a big advantage. Having a trade war is definitely not good for the industry so we need to sort this out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solar industry doesn’t need more bad news, says Werner, especially after the political scandal over one particular bankrupt solar company. “It’s amazing how many people know the name of that company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Solyndra, that is. It’s a name Werner avoids saying, much like like Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter. “Well see, if I name the company then I’m just propagating the whole deal,” Werner says. Tariffs or no tariffs, Werner says some US manufacturers may not make it either. It’s an entirely different story with solar installers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Flip Side: A Solar Installer\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Sungevity’s Oakland headquarters, a team of sales people grabs maracas off their desks. “So the maraca shake happens when there’s a sale,” says Danny Kennedy, president of Sungevity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sungevity is one part power company, one part internet startup. It designs residential solar systems virtually by using satellite photos of each house. Like online shopping, Sungevity makes a sale before a truck ever goes out. And sales have been good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We grew gangbusters in 2010. Doubled again in ‘11. Have continued to grow this year,” says Kennedy. That’s thanks to a new option for customers to lease a solar system, instead of buying it upfront. It’s also more affordable because panels are cheaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something I think we should celebrate – the fact that we’re driving cost out of clean energy,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sungevity buys panels from the US, Korea and from China. Even with the trade tariffs, prices are about the same because Chinese solar companies have found a loophole. The tariffs are only on solar cells, not the entire solar panel. So, the cells are manufactured offshore and put into panels in China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kennedy says focusing on these manufacturing jobs is a mistake. The real green jobs are elsewhere. “There’s more job density in the sales, finance, installation and maintenance end of the value chain than there is in the factory. It’s probably a ratio of three to one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California leads the nation in solar jobs. Kennedy is concerned that a trade war with China would put them at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s crazy talk. We’re growing faster than any industry over a hundred billion dollars in value in the global economy. And yet, there is this nabobs of negativity around us that are causing concerns in the investment community,” says Kennedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Solar’s Teenage Years\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAll of this adds up to some major growing pains for the industry. “It is totally a teenager in a lot of ways,” says Dan Kammen, a professor at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The industry is growing dramatically. There’s also incredible turmoil. And there are some teenagers who are clearly going to be young prodigies and others who are going to go into rehab,” says Kammen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When companies fight over market share and race to the lowest price, Kammen says it’s the startups with cutting-edge technology that just can’t compete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A battle between the two biggest players, the US and China, is one where we might actually have casualties that aren’t just business casualties, they’re actually, pieces of innovation getting lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trade tariffs won’t be final until the US International Trade Commission rules on whether China has been illegally subsidizing their solar industry. That decision is expected on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "In Livermore, Still Waiting on Nuclear Fusion",
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"content": "\u003cp>The National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, has been called a modern-day moon-shot, a project of \"revolutionary science,\" and \"the mother of all boondoggles.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NIF, as it's known, is a five-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded super laser project whose goal is to create nuclear fusion – a tiny star – inside a laboratory. But so far, that hasn't happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The facility, which began operating in 2009 after a decade of construction at a cost of almost $4 billion, points 192 football-field-sized lasers at one tiny capsule the size of a peppercorn and filled with hydrogen. It creates degrees of heat and pressure never before achieved in a lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing outside NIF’s target chamber in 2008, about a year before NIF’s dedication, Director Ed Moses called NIF “more far-out, and far cooler than anything in science fiction or fantasy.”\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nA tiny star for a blip in time\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a brief period of time, not a hundredth or a thousandth, but a billionth of a second,” explained Moses, “we will raise the temperature of the target to a hundred million degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s higher temperature and more pressure than exists at the center of our sun. It’s a hundred million times more pressure than you’ll find at the deepest part of the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under those conditions, the hydrogen atoms could enter into a state of controlled nuclear fusion. (In nuclear \u003cem>fission\u003c/em>, as in nuclear power plants, energy is generated by splitting atoms. Fusion is the opposite: Atoms are smashed together.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is referred to as “ignition.” It would put out more energy than the lasers had put in to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46415\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 172px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Hohlraum-dime-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46415\" title=\"Hohlraum & dime copy\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Hohlraum-dime-copy-172x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"172\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">192 powerful lasers create star-like conditions inside a peppercorn-sized \"hohlarum.\" Credit: NIF\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If scientists can make ignition happen at NIF, that achievement could, theoretically, be parlayed into a new kind of nuclear power plant. Unlike fission plants, which eat up uranium and generate radioactive waste, these fusion plants would run on water, and create virtually no waste at all.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nWaiting to ignite\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At NIF's \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmaDCgpHcH0\">dedication\u003c/a> in 2009, George Miller, then-head of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, seemed to believe that ignition was right around the corner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we will get ignition,” Miller told the crowd. “I think we'll get ignition relatively shortly after we turn the facility on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the strength and functionality of the lasers have received praise from the physics community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The laser has been working phenomenally,” said Christopher Deeney, who directs the Division of Defense Science at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees NIF. “It's the most controllable, precise laser the community has ever built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But ignition – the goal at the center of NIF’s name -- hasn’t happened. “We just haven't gotten it to burn yet,” explained Moses at a recent interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46416\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/LaserBay-0506-11956DP_14-300dp-1-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46416\" title=\"NIF-0506-11956_14: LB2 from crane (west view)\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/LaserBay-0506-11956DP_14-300dp-1-copy-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"n Facility)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside NIF, a football-field sized array of lasers. Credit: NIF\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a July 19, 2012 report, the NNSA concluded that “the probability of ignition before the end of December is extremely low.” The report called the functionality of the lasers “outstanding,” but blamed NIF’s computer simulations for the failure to ignite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An NNSA ignition deadline of October 1, 2012, has now come and gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moses bridles at the idea that anyone can put a deadline on this achievement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We never guaranteed anything on any particular date,” he says. “People have to sort of get used to that. That’s what great science is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, by law, on November 30th, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu is required to report to Congress on why NIF hasn't met its goal, despite significant cost to taxpayers: about 300 million dollars a year on top of over three billion in construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Christopher Paine, a longtime NIF critic with the Natural Resources Defense council, this amounts to an “I told you so” moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This project has gone on a long time,” he says, “billions of dollars invested. But to what end?\"\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nWhat is NIF for?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paine's criticism of NIF boils down to two objections: the project's expense and what you might call a muddled sense of purpose. What, in other words, is NIF for?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are three answers to that question, explains a 2009 NIF \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixhyPN0r3g\">promotional video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“NIF will explore controlled nuclear fusion to ensure global security, enable sustainable clean energy, and advance our understanding of the universe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s break that down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reason number one:\u003c/em> Global security. This is the primary intent of NIF, and it has to do with the fact that actual nuclear bomb tests have been banned worldwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because NIF simulates a nuclear reaction in a tiny pellet, you could test the strength of nuclear bombs without having to actually explode them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paine believes that’s unnecessary. \"We haven’t had NIF for the last 20 years,\" he says, \"and we've been maintaining the stockpile.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NNSA\"s Deeney disagrees, calling NIF a “key element in our stockpile stewardship program.” He says important experiments can be done at NIF even without ignition. “We're committed to NIF for the long term,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reason number two:\u003c/em> Clean, fusion energy. This is a very long-term goal. Even if NIF does achieve ignition, it could take decades to adapt that technology into a working fusion power plant, something that could power a light bulb in your house.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nA 100-year solution to a 20-year emergency\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paine says with climate change, we don't have that kind of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dealing with climate change is a 20-30 year planetary emergency,” says Paine. “Fusion energy is irrelevant to that timescale. Humanity needs to change its ways now. It needed to change its ways yesterday. Fusion energy is a 50 to 100-year project with no assurance of success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46418\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/target-chamber-install.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-46418\" title=\"target chamber install\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/target-chamber-install-450x253.jpg\" alt=\"N\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NIF's 192 lasers culminate inside this target chamber, which contains the hohlraum. Credit: NIF\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But it's \u003cem>the third reason\u003c/em>, to “advance our understanding of the universe,” that Moses emphasizes these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Higgs Boson was just discovered at the [Large Hadron Collider] in CERN, at a cost of ten billion dollars,” he points out. “Was it late? Was it early? Was it on time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer, he says: Who cares? Moses calls these types of projects “grand challenge science,” and insists they cannot be performed on deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not grand challenge science if you know the answer before you start,” says Moses. “And this is exactly that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NNSA's Christopher Deeney also declines to predict when NIF will achieve its goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now we will not make a prediction of when ignition will happen,” he says. “It's still a discovery science project. Right now it's unpredictable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's the case NIF's advocates will have to make to Congress at the end of this year. It’s worked so far. After all, NIF has something for both sides of the aisle: Democrats like clean energy, Republicans like weapons security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But everyone likes a breakthrough, and at NIF, that's still out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, has been called a modern-day moon-shot, a project of \"revolutionary science,\" and \"the mother of all boondoggles.\" NIF, as it's known, is a five-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded super laser project whose goal is to create nuclear fusion – a tiny star – inside a laboratory. But so far, that hasn't happened.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, has been called a modern-day moon-shot, a project of \"revolutionary science,\" and \"the mother of all boondoggles.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NIF, as it's known, is a five-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded super laser project whose goal is to create nuclear fusion – a tiny star – inside a laboratory. But so far, that hasn't happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The facility, which began operating in 2009 after a decade of construction at a cost of almost $4 billion, points 192 football-field-sized lasers at one tiny capsule the size of a peppercorn and filled with hydrogen. It creates degrees of heat and pressure never before achieved in a lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing outside NIF’s target chamber in 2008, about a year before NIF’s dedication, Director Ed Moses called NIF “more far-out, and far cooler than anything in science fiction or fantasy.”\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nA tiny star for a blip in time\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a brief period of time, not a hundredth or a thousandth, but a billionth of a second,” explained Moses, “we will raise the temperature of the target to a hundred million degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s higher temperature and more pressure than exists at the center of our sun. It’s a hundred million times more pressure than you’ll find at the deepest part of the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under those conditions, the hydrogen atoms could enter into a state of controlled nuclear fusion. (In nuclear \u003cem>fission\u003c/em>, as in nuclear power plants, energy is generated by splitting atoms. Fusion is the opposite: Atoms are smashed together.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is referred to as “ignition.” It would put out more energy than the lasers had put in to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46415\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 172px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Hohlraum-dime-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46415\" title=\"Hohlraum & dime copy\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Hohlraum-dime-copy-172x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"172\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">192 powerful lasers create star-like conditions inside a peppercorn-sized \"hohlarum.\" Credit: NIF\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If scientists can make ignition happen at NIF, that achievement could, theoretically, be parlayed into a new kind of nuclear power plant. Unlike fission plants, which eat up uranium and generate radioactive waste, these fusion plants would run on water, and create virtually no waste at all.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nWaiting to ignite\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At NIF's \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmaDCgpHcH0\">dedication\u003c/a> in 2009, George Miller, then-head of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, seemed to believe that ignition was right around the corner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we will get ignition,” Miller told the crowd. “I think we'll get ignition relatively shortly after we turn the facility on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the strength and functionality of the lasers have received praise from the physics community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The laser has been working phenomenally,” said Christopher Deeney, who directs the Division of Defense Science at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees NIF. “It's the most controllable, precise laser the community has ever built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But ignition – the goal at the center of NIF’s name -- hasn’t happened. “We just haven't gotten it to burn yet,” explained Moses at a recent interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46416\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/LaserBay-0506-11956DP_14-300dp-1-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-46416\" title=\"NIF-0506-11956_14: LB2 from crane (west view)\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/LaserBay-0506-11956DP_14-300dp-1-copy-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"n Facility)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside NIF, a football-field sized array of lasers. Credit: NIF\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a July 19, 2012 report, the NNSA concluded that “the probability of ignition before the end of December is extremely low.” The report called the functionality of the lasers “outstanding,” but blamed NIF’s computer simulations for the failure to ignite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An NNSA ignition deadline of October 1, 2012, has now come and gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moses bridles at the idea that anyone can put a deadline on this achievement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We never guaranteed anything on any particular date,” he says. “People have to sort of get used to that. That’s what great science is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, by law, on November 30th, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu is required to report to Congress on why NIF hasn't met its goal, despite significant cost to taxpayers: about 300 million dollars a year on top of over three billion in construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Christopher Paine, a longtime NIF critic with the Natural Resources Defense council, this amounts to an “I told you so” moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This project has gone on a long time,” he says, “billions of dollars invested. But to what end?\"\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nWhat is NIF for?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paine's criticism of NIF boils down to two objections: the project's expense and what you might call a muddled sense of purpose. What, in other words, is NIF for?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are three answers to that question, explains a 2009 NIF \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixhyPN0r3g\">promotional video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“NIF will explore controlled nuclear fusion to ensure global security, enable sustainable clean energy, and advance our understanding of the universe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s break that down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reason number one:\u003c/em> Global security. This is the primary intent of NIF, and it has to do with the fact that actual nuclear bomb tests have been banned worldwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because NIF simulates a nuclear reaction in a tiny pellet, you could test the strength of nuclear bombs without having to actually explode them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paine believes that’s unnecessary. \"We haven’t had NIF for the last 20 years,\" he says, \"and we've been maintaining the stockpile.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NNSA\"s Deeney disagrees, calling NIF a “key element in our stockpile stewardship program.” He says important experiments can be done at NIF even without ignition. “We're committed to NIF for the long term,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reason number two:\u003c/em> Clean, fusion energy. This is a very long-term goal. Even if NIF does achieve ignition, it could take decades to adapt that technology into a working fusion power plant, something that could power a light bulb in your house.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nA 100-year solution to a 20-year emergency\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paine says with climate change, we don't have that kind of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dealing with climate change is a 20-30 year planetary emergency,” says Paine. “Fusion energy is irrelevant to that timescale. Humanity needs to change its ways now. It needed to change its ways yesterday. Fusion energy is a 50 to 100-year project with no assurance of success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46418\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/target-chamber-install.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-46418\" title=\"target chamber install\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/target-chamber-install-450x253.jpg\" alt=\"N\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NIF's 192 lasers culminate inside this target chamber, which contains the hohlraum. Credit: NIF\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But it's \u003cem>the third reason\u003c/em>, to “advance our understanding of the universe,” that Moses emphasizes these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Higgs Boson was just discovered at the [Large Hadron Collider] in CERN, at a cost of ten billion dollars,” he points out. “Was it late? Was it early? Was it on time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer, he says: Who cares? Moses calls these types of projects “grand challenge science,” and insists they cannot be performed on deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not grand challenge science if you know the answer before you start,” says Moses. “And this is exactly that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NNSA's Christopher Deeney also declines to predict when NIF will achieve its goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now we will not make a prediction of when ignition will happen,” he says. “It's still a discovery science project. Right now it's unpredictable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's the case NIF's advocates will have to make to Congress at the end of this year. It’s worked so far. After all, NIF has something for both sides of the aisle: Democrats like clean energy, Republicans like weapons security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Women in Science: Meet a Mathematician, a Physicist and a Geologist Through Art",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/10/23/women-in-science-meet-a-mathematician-a-physicist-and-a-geologist-through-art/il_fullxfull-385270093_qj0a/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46345\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a.jpg\" alt=\"Linocut of the Enchantress of Numbers, Ada Lovelace - by Ele Willoughby\" title=\"il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46345\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week was \u003ca href=\"http://findingada.com/\" title=\"Ada Lovelace Day\">Ada Lovelace Day\u003c/a>, a celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, and math. Historically dominated by men, these fields have recently grown more welcoming of women, though sadly a few \u003ca href=\"http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3079&buffer_share=6f292&utm_source=buffer\" title=\"Bias in Academia\">challenges\u003c/a> linger. But there's nothing like role models for inspiring the scientific spirits of today and tomorrow! And Marie Curie isn't the only one out there--history is rife with lesser-known but no less fabulous female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46340\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 318px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/10/23/women-in-science-meet-a-mathematician-a-physicist-and-a-geologist-through-art/adasplashshirt-e1350402217169-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46340\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/adasplashshirt-e13504022171691-318x360.png\" alt=\"Ada Lovelace - Sydney Padua\" title=\"adasplashshirt-e1350402217169\" width=\"318\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-large wp-image-46340\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ada Lovelace - Sydney Padua\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is a prime example: though ALD has raised her profile, she's not yet a household name. But as the world's first computer programmer, she deserves to be. She gets extra credit because her programs were written for an entirely theoretical machine, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage\" title=\"Charles Babbage - Wikipedia\">Charles Babbage\u003c/a>'s analytical engine. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analytical engine was never realized, but Babbage's notes on a much simpler device, the difference engine, were finally translated into reality 120 years after his death. One of these remarkable machines is housed at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.computerhistory.org/\" title=\"Computer History Museum\">Computer History Museum\u003c/a> in Mountain View, where you can also learn more about Lovelace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, for those who prefer to learn everything via the internet, check out the fantastic footnotes in \u003ca href=\"http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/\" title=\"2D Goggles\">The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage\u003c/a>. In addition to being a serious nerd, the author is a professional animator. Lovelace is lucky to have her as a \u003cem>re-animator\u003c/em>! Heh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46339\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 391px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/10/23/women-in-science-meet-a-mathematician-a-physicist-and-a-geologist-through-art/il_570xn-387227875_o18c/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46339\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_570xN.387227875_o18c-391x360.jpg\" alt=\"Madame Wu and the Violation of Parity\" title=\"il_570xN.387227875_o18c\" width=\"391\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-large wp-image-46339\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madame Wu and the Violation of Parity - Ele Willoughby\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Speaking of portraits of women in science, check out this \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/83367125/linocut-history-of-physics-madame-wu-and\" title=\"Madame Wu - Etsy\">woodcut\u003c/a> of experimental physicist Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997). Wu emigrated from China to America in 1936 to get her doctorate at UC Berkeley under \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lawrence\" title=\"Ernest Lawrence - Wikipedia\">Ernest O. Lawrence\u003c/a>. She later used her expertise in beta decay (a type of radioactivity) to prove the suspicion of a couple of theoretical physicists that the weak force \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parity_(physics)#Parity_violation\" title=\"Wikipedia - Parity Violation\">disobeys the law of parity\u003c/a>. The theoreticians won a Nobel Prize in 1957. Whether Wu's exclusion from the award represents bias against women or experimentalists at the time (the other guys were Chinese too, so it wasn't sinophobia), who knows, but a couple of decades later Wu got the first \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Prize\" title=\"Wolf Prize - Wikipedia\">Wolf Prize\u003c/a>. She would have turned 100 this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women like Lovelace and Wu are particularly inspiring because they entered STEM fields at times in history when few women saw it as an option. But valuable role models can also be found among contemporary female scientists--such as the creator of the Madame Wu woodcut! For her day job, geophysicist \u003ca href=\"http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~willough/\" title=\"Eleanor Willoughby - U Toronto\">Eleanor Willoughby\u003c/a> studies \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate\" title=\"Methane Clathrates - Wikipedia\">marine gas hydrates\u003c/a> at the University of Toronto. But as \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/shop/minouette\" title=\"minouette - etsy\">minouette\u003c/a>, she makes and sells beautiful linoleum block prints on Etsy, many of them inspired by \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/96847205/roentgen-x-ray-thermochromic-linocut\" title=\"Roentgen Print - Etsy\">science\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/112425952/darwin-on-galapagos-2nd-edition-lino\" title=\"Darwin Print - Etsy\">scientists\u003c/a>--including the print of Countess Lovelace, Enchantress of Numbers, shown above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poor Ada died too young, but her spirit may be soothed by the knowledge that, almost two hundred years later, she's inspiring new generations of mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>h/t to \u003ca href=\"http://thefinchandpea.com/2012/10/16/the-art-of-science-madame-wu-and-the-violation-of-parity/#more-7145\" title=\"Finch and Pea - Madame Wu\">The Finch and Pea\u003c/a>\u003c/em> for the Wu linoprint\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/10/23/women-in-science-meet-a-mathematician-a-physicist-and-a-geologist-through-art/il_fullxfull-385270093_qj0a/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46345\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a.jpg\" alt=\"Linocut of the Enchantress of Numbers, Ada Lovelace - by Ele Willoughby\" title=\"il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46345\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_fullxfull.385270093_qj0a-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week was \u003ca href=\"http://findingada.com/\" title=\"Ada Lovelace Day\">Ada Lovelace Day\u003c/a>, a celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, and math. Historically dominated by men, these fields have recently grown more welcoming of women, though sadly a few \u003ca href=\"http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3079&buffer_share=6f292&utm_source=buffer\" title=\"Bias in Academia\">challenges\u003c/a> linger. But there's nothing like role models for inspiring the scientific spirits of today and tomorrow! And Marie Curie isn't the only one out there--history is rife with lesser-known but no less fabulous female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46340\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 318px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/10/23/women-in-science-meet-a-mathematician-a-physicist-and-a-geologist-through-art/adasplashshirt-e1350402217169-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46340\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/adasplashshirt-e13504022171691-318x360.png\" alt=\"Ada Lovelace - Sydney Padua\" title=\"adasplashshirt-e1350402217169\" width=\"318\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-large wp-image-46340\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ada Lovelace - Sydney Padua\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is a prime example: though ALD has raised her profile, she's not yet a household name. But as the world's first computer programmer, she deserves to be. She gets extra credit because her programs were written for an entirely theoretical machine, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage\" title=\"Charles Babbage - Wikipedia\">Charles Babbage\u003c/a>'s analytical engine. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analytical engine was never realized, but Babbage's notes on a much simpler device, the difference engine, were finally translated into reality 120 years after his death. One of these remarkable machines is housed at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.computerhistory.org/\" title=\"Computer History Museum\">Computer History Museum\u003c/a> in Mountain View, where you can also learn more about Lovelace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, for those who prefer to learn everything via the internet, check out the fantastic footnotes in \u003ca href=\"http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/\" title=\"2D Goggles\">The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage\u003c/a>. In addition to being a serious nerd, the author is a professional animator. Lovelace is lucky to have her as a \u003cem>re-animator\u003c/em>! Heh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46339\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 391px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/10/23/women-in-science-meet-a-mathematician-a-physicist-and-a-geologist-through-art/il_570xn-387227875_o18c/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46339\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/il_570xN.387227875_o18c-391x360.jpg\" alt=\"Madame Wu and the Violation of Parity\" title=\"il_570xN.387227875_o18c\" width=\"391\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-large wp-image-46339\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madame Wu and the Violation of Parity - Ele Willoughby\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Speaking of portraits of women in science, check out this \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/83367125/linocut-history-of-physics-madame-wu-and\" title=\"Madame Wu - Etsy\">woodcut\u003c/a> of experimental physicist Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997). Wu emigrated from China to America in 1936 to get her doctorate at UC Berkeley under \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lawrence\" title=\"Ernest Lawrence - Wikipedia\">Ernest O. Lawrence\u003c/a>. She later used her expertise in beta decay (a type of radioactivity) to prove the suspicion of a couple of theoretical physicists that the weak force \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parity_(physics)#Parity_violation\" title=\"Wikipedia - Parity Violation\">disobeys the law of parity\u003c/a>. The theoreticians won a Nobel Prize in 1957. Whether Wu's exclusion from the award represents bias against women or experimentalists at the time (the other guys were Chinese too, so it wasn't sinophobia), who knows, but a couple of decades later Wu got the first \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Prize\" title=\"Wolf Prize - Wikipedia\">Wolf Prize\u003c/a>. She would have turned 100 this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women like Lovelace and Wu are particularly inspiring because they entered STEM fields at times in history when few women saw it as an option. But valuable role models can also be found among contemporary female scientists--such as the creator of the Madame Wu woodcut! For her day job, geophysicist \u003ca href=\"http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~willough/\" title=\"Eleanor Willoughby - U Toronto\">Eleanor Willoughby\u003c/a> studies \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate\" title=\"Methane Clathrates - Wikipedia\">marine gas hydrates\u003c/a> at the University of Toronto. But as \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/shop/minouette\" title=\"minouette - etsy\">minouette\u003c/a>, she makes and sells beautiful linoleum block prints on Etsy, many of them inspired by \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/96847205/roentgen-x-ray-thermochromic-linocut\" title=\"Roentgen Print - Etsy\">science\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/112425952/darwin-on-galapagos-2nd-edition-lino\" title=\"Darwin Print - Etsy\">scientists\u003c/a>--including the print of Countess Lovelace, Enchantress of Numbers, shown above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poor Ada died too young, but her spirit may be soothed by the knowledge that, almost two hundred years later, she's inspiring new generations of mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>h/t to \u003ca href=\"http://thefinchandpea.com/2012/10/16/the-art-of-science-madame-wu-and-the-violation-of-parity/#more-7145\" title=\"Finch and Pea - Madame Wu\">The Finch and Pea\u003c/a>\u003c/em> for the Wu linoprint\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "China Tries Greening from the Ground Up",
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"content": "\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/quest/2012/10/20121022science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46106\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 323px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-46106 \" title=\"Tianjinpanorama640x360\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"323\" height=\"177\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360.jpg 673w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360-400x219.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360-672x369.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sustainable city built from scratch: That's what developers are aiming for with Tianjin Eco-city. Photo: Marjorie Sun\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From green building rules to carpool privileges for electric cars, California has moved in recent years to plan for a more sustainable future. It’s a trend here, but nowhere is the urgency greater than in China, where hundreds of millions of people are moving to cities in pursuit of a better life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>China’s urbanization has come at a tremendous cost: pollution, traffic congestion, surging energy use and more carbon dioxide emissions. Now, China is partnering with experts in the Bay Area on a huge experiment—building new cities to be environmentally sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Eco-city Showcase\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zhang Xi is a pretty, willowy woman. And she’s an urban pioneer. She and her family are among the first tenants of Tianjin Eco-city, a showcase for China’s push to build sustainable cities from scratch. Zhang moved here from Beijing, about an hour to the north by bullet train. She was enticed by a new job and a shorter commute to work. Much shorter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just three minutes by elevator, so it's really convenient,” Zhang told me through a translator. She \"used to take the subway for half an hour, then change to a bus. That would take one hour.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Zhang, a customer service rep, lives and works in the same high-rise. Her quick commute—albeit an extreme case--is one of the core principles of an eco-city: cut car use. Walkable streets are key too-- short city blocks, intersections that are easy to cross.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The area bears no resemblance to what was here just a few years ago. \"When this project was first conceived in 2007, this was just a barren site,” said Ho Tong Yen, CEO of the company developing the Tianjin Eco-city and the visionary for this $8 billion experiment. “It comprised saline and alkaline land, polluted water bodies. There was nothing inherently ‘eco’ about this site at all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with the backing of the governments of China and Singapore, developers cleaned up the site. Clusters of new high-rises now dot the flat terrain here, with more under construction. There’s a mix of public housing and private, upscale apartments, all built to be energy-efficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five thousand families have already bought homes here. By 2020, if plans pan out, Tianjin Eco-city will swell to 350,000--nearly the size of Oakland. This development is one of dozens of pilot projects around China spearheaded by the central government to serve as models for future cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rural Migration Fuels Urban Problems\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The need is urgent. In the past year, the number of people living in cities here surpassed the rural population for the first time. While this migration has fueled China’s remarkable economic boom, major cities--like Beijing—are beset with pollution and traffic congestion, which wastes energy. What’s more, commutes between home and work are often long, which means more pollution and greenhouse gases. That’s because single-use zoning often separates commercial districts from residential areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problems are sure to worsen without better planning. By 2030, as many as 300 million more Chinese are expected to move from the countryside to urban areas. That’s enough people to create 79 cities the size of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tapping California for Advice\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So to prepare for that, several Chinese cities have partnered with a Bay Area firm for advice. One tip they got from Peter Calthorpe, president of Calthorpe Associates, an urban design group based in Berkeley: good urban design comes first, then add clean technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the mayor of a major Chinese city asked Calthorpe to redesign an area for a million-and-a-half people, the first things to go were the really long city blocks that are typical here. \"We got in and modified the street system so there were more human-scale blocks and smaller streets everywhere,” says Calthorpe. “We mixed the land use so you didn’t have to walk very far to school, parks or stores. And we concentrated development around the transit stations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calthorpe has applied some of the same principles to projects in the Bay Area, including new developments at Alameda Point and Bay Meadows in San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How ‘Eco’ is Tianjin Eco-City?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tianjin Eco-city executive Ho Tong Yen says, \"There is no one definition of what it means to be an eco-city. So what we have done is put together a set of key performance indicators, which we think are stretch targets; they are ambitious but achievable.” Those include 20% of the town’s electricity from renewable sources (low by some standards today), and half its water from harvesting rain and other “non-traditional” sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a popular new Korean restaurant in Tianjin Eco-city, it’s lunchtime and the place is packed. The restaurant is just a couple minutes walk from apartments and offices. Eventually there will be a light rail system and a large park extending through the middle of the city. But clearly there are still some design flaws to work out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"So just to get around the corner and up the street you have to walk a really long way,” says Cecilia Springer. She’s a Fulbright scholar who’s studied Tianjin Eco-city. “You can't really cut through the middle of the blocks.\" She also points out that to get to the closest major city center--in Tianjin--you have to get in a car and drive at least a half an hour. \"So one could call it a Chinese suburb,” Springer says, “and that raises a lot of questions of how green can a suburb can really be.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another valid question is how many “green suburbs” it will take to arrest the environmental consequences of China’s economic growth. It’s a race against time as millions more migrate to the nation’s cities and China’s growing middle class pursues a more comfortable, “Western” lifestyle.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_46106\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 323px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-46106 \" title=\"Tianjinpanorama640x360\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"323\" height=\"177\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360.jpg 673w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360-400x219.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/Tianjinpanorama640x360-672x369.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sustainable city built from scratch: That's what developers are aiming for with Tianjin Eco-city. Photo: Marjorie Sun\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From green building rules to carpool privileges for electric cars, California has moved in recent years to plan for a more sustainable future. It’s a trend here, but nowhere is the urgency greater than in China, where hundreds of millions of people are moving to cities in pursuit of a better life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>China’s urbanization has come at a tremendous cost: pollution, traffic congestion, surging energy use and more carbon dioxide emissions. Now, China is partnering with experts in the Bay Area on a huge experiment—building new cities to be environmentally sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>China’s Eco-city Showcase\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zhang Xi is a pretty, willowy woman. And she’s an urban pioneer. She and her family are among the first tenants of Tianjin Eco-city, a showcase for China’s push to build sustainable cities from scratch. Zhang moved here from Beijing, about an hour to the north by bullet train. She was enticed by a new job and a shorter commute to work. Much shorter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just three minutes by elevator, so it's really convenient,” Zhang told me through a translator. She \"used to take the subway for half an hour, then change to a bus. That would take one hour.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Zhang, a customer service rep, lives and works in the same high-rise. Her quick commute—albeit an extreme case--is one of the core principles of an eco-city: cut car use. Walkable streets are key too-- short city blocks, intersections that are easy to cross.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The area bears no resemblance to what was here just a few years ago. \"When this project was first conceived in 2007, this was just a barren site,” said Ho Tong Yen, CEO of the company developing the Tianjin Eco-city and the visionary for this $8 billion experiment. “It comprised saline and alkaline land, polluted water bodies. There was nothing inherently ‘eco’ about this site at all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with the backing of the governments of China and Singapore, developers cleaned up the site. Clusters of new high-rises now dot the flat terrain here, with more under construction. There’s a mix of public housing and private, upscale apartments, all built to be energy-efficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five thousand families have already bought homes here. By 2020, if plans pan out, Tianjin Eco-city will swell to 350,000--nearly the size of Oakland. This development is one of dozens of pilot projects around China spearheaded by the central government to serve as models for future cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rural Migration Fuels Urban Problems\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The need is urgent. In the past year, the number of people living in cities here surpassed the rural population for the first time. While this migration has fueled China’s remarkable economic boom, major cities--like Beijing—are beset with pollution and traffic congestion, which wastes energy. What’s more, commutes between home and work are often long, which means more pollution and greenhouse gases. That’s because single-use zoning often separates commercial districts from residential areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problems are sure to worsen without better planning. By 2030, as many as 300 million more Chinese are expected to move from the countryside to urban areas. That’s enough people to create 79 cities the size of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tapping California for Advice\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So to prepare for that, several Chinese cities have partnered with a Bay Area firm for advice. One tip they got from Peter Calthorpe, president of Calthorpe Associates, an urban design group based in Berkeley: good urban design comes first, then add clean technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the mayor of a major Chinese city asked Calthorpe to redesign an area for a million-and-a-half people, the first things to go were the really long city blocks that are typical here. \"We got in and modified the street system so there were more human-scale blocks and smaller streets everywhere,” says Calthorpe. “We mixed the land use so you didn’t have to walk very far to school, parks or stores. And we concentrated development around the transit stations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calthorpe has applied some of the same principles to projects in the Bay Area, including new developments at Alameda Point and Bay Meadows in San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How ‘Eco’ is Tianjin Eco-City?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tianjin Eco-city executive Ho Tong Yen says, \"There is no one definition of what it means to be an eco-city. So what we have done is put together a set of key performance indicators, which we think are stretch targets; they are ambitious but achievable.” Those include 20% of the town’s electricity from renewable sources (low by some standards today), and half its water from harvesting rain and other “non-traditional” sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a popular new Korean restaurant in Tianjin Eco-city, it’s lunchtime and the place is packed. The restaurant is just a couple minutes walk from apartments and offices. Eventually there will be a light rail system and a large park extending through the middle of the city. But clearly there are still some design flaws to work out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"So just to get around the corner and up the street you have to walk a really long way,” says Cecilia Springer. She’s a Fulbright scholar who’s studied Tianjin Eco-city. “You can't really cut through the middle of the blocks.\" She also points out that to get to the closest major city center--in Tianjin--you have to get in a car and drive at least a half an hour. \"So one could call it a Chinese suburb,” Springer says, “and that raises a lot of questions of how green can a suburb can really be.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another valid question is how many “green suburbs” it will take to arrest the environmental consequences of China’s economic growth. It’s a race against time as millions more migrate to the nation’s cities and China’s growing middle class pursues a more comfortable, “Western” lifestyle.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When San Francisco voters head to the polls in a few weeks, they’ll be weighing in on one of California’s oldest environmental battles. A large part of San Francisco’s water supply is stored inside a national park – in a reservoir built in Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists all the way back to John Muir have called on the city to store its water elsewhere so the valley can be restored. A November ballot measure would require the city to develop a plan to do that. But the battle over Hetch Hetchy is just as fierce today as it was a century ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s evident when you drive up to the entrance booth in Yosemite National Park on your way to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The ranger hands you a brochure from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission that reads: “20th century engineering marvel. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the keystone of this clean, efficient water and power delivery system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why would a city agency pass out promotional pamphlets about a reservoir? Probably to respond to people like Mike Marshall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This belongs to the American people. And what we can do – what San Francisco can be leaders in is draining this and bringing this incredible place back to life,” says Marshall, director of Restore Hetch Hetchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His group has a singular goal: drain the reservoir and make the valley a second Yosemite Valley. And for the first time in decades, that goal is in reach. Measure F on the San Francisco ballot would require the public utilities commission to draw up a plan, at the cost of $8 million, for draining the reservoir and finding new water storage. In 2016, that plan would go before San Francisco voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_45701\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/HetchHistoric.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-45701\" title=\"HetchHistoric\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/HetchHistoric.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"217\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1906. Photo: USGS.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We thought ‘what a great debate to have.’ Now that we know what we know, should we revisit a decision 100 years ago that had huge environmental consequences?” Marshall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>History of a Valley Turned Reservoir\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yosemite was already a national park when San Francisco went looking for a reliable water supply a century ago. The idea for a new reservoir didn’t get much traction until the 1906 earthquake, when much of the city burned to the ground. “They used that as a rallying cry and it was a huge battle in Congress,” Marshall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naturalist John Muir led the fight against it. He wrote about the valley’s sheer granite cliffs and scenic waterfalls, calling it a twin to Yosemite Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, he lost, and San Francisco began building the O’Shaughnessy dam in 1914 to collect water from the Tuolumne River. “Although they lost the battle, they launched a national environmental movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today the valley is under 300 feet of water, which supplies two and a half million people in San Francisco and cities around Silicon Valley. But the battle over Hetch Hetchy never really went away. In 1955, Sierra Club director David Brower made a film called “\u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/47620162\">Two Yosemites\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1988, the National Park Service \u003ca href=\"http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/nps_hh_restoration.pdf\">released a study\u003c/a> about what would happen to the landscape if the reservoir was drained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within a year of the river reclaiming itself, you’ll start to see green meadows along the banks. And within a few years you’ll start to see saplings and trees come up,” Marshall says. Within 50 years, the report says, oak woodlands would return and pine trees would be 50 feet tall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, there’s the question of what happens to the water supply. Marshall says it can be stored elsewhere. “People mistakenly believe Hetch Hetchy is our only reservoir. It’s one of nine reservoirs. So what our initiative does is ask San Francisco to plan to consolidate from nine to eight reservoirs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marshall says by expanding other reservoirs, using underground storage and recycling more water, San Francisco could make up for Hetch Hetchy’s storage. “We don’t recycle any water. We’ve stopped, for all intents and purposes, using groundwater, except for a little bit. Those are things we’re going to have to do anyway.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'Things Were Different Then'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at recycled water. We are building recycled water plants. We are building groundwater pumping wells,” says Michael Carlin, deputy general manager of the San Francisco PUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_45703\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/DSC00377.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-45703\" title=\"DSC00377\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/DSC00377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tuolumne River emerges below the O’Shaughnessy dam.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking at all those things. And to say, gee whiz, you also should just plan that your system is gone... doesn’t make any sense.” As a public employee, Carlin says he can’t take a position on the issue, but he has concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hetch Hetchy system is reliable, he says. The water is so clean, it doesn’t require filtration. And the PUC doesn’t own all the reservoirs in the system, so Carlin says they’d have to rely on other water districts if the reservoir was drained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Asking them if they’re willing to store San Francisco’s water there, the answer that we’ve gotten from them at least is no,” says Carlin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the cost. Studies throughout the years have put it between one and 10 billion dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC has never studied it, but Carlin doubts that would help. “There have been extensive studies in the past. They have come to the same conclusion which is just a set of questions. And the issue is whether any additional study will just lead you to the same set of questions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ballot measure has a number of opponents: San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Senator Dianne Feinstein and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, who say it’s a huge risk, because businesses depend on reliable water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we were to propose building this reservoir today in a national park, chances are it wouldn’t happen. But it happened in 1913. Things were different then,” Carlin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On November 6th, San Francisco voters will decide if they want to take a step toward rewriting that history.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When San Francisco voters head to the polls in a few weeks, they’ll be weighing in on one of California’s oldest environmental battles. A large part of San Francisco’s water supply is stored inside a national park – in a reservoir built in Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists all the way back to John Muir have called on the city to store its water elsewhere so the valley can be restored. A November ballot measure would require the city to develop a plan to do that. But the battle over Hetch Hetchy is just as fierce today as it was a century ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s evident when you drive up to the entrance booth in Yosemite National Park on your way to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The ranger hands you a brochure from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission that reads: “20th century engineering marvel. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the keystone of this clean, efficient water and power delivery system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why would a city agency pass out promotional pamphlets about a reservoir? Probably to respond to people like Mike Marshall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This belongs to the American people. And what we can do – what San Francisco can be leaders in is draining this and bringing this incredible place back to life,” says Marshall, director of Restore Hetch Hetchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His group has a singular goal: drain the reservoir and make the valley a second Yosemite Valley. And for the first time in decades, that goal is in reach. Measure F on the San Francisco ballot would require the public utilities commission to draw up a plan, at the cost of $8 million, for draining the reservoir and finding new water storage. In 2016, that plan would go before San Francisco voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_45701\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/HetchHistoric.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-45701\" title=\"HetchHistoric\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/HetchHistoric.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"217\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1906. Photo: USGS.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We thought ‘what a great debate to have.’ Now that we know what we know, should we revisit a decision 100 years ago that had huge environmental consequences?” Marshall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>History of a Valley Turned Reservoir\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yosemite was already a national park when San Francisco went looking for a reliable water supply a century ago. The idea for a new reservoir didn’t get much traction until the 1906 earthquake, when much of the city burned to the ground. “They used that as a rallying cry and it was a huge battle in Congress,” Marshall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naturalist John Muir led the fight against it. He wrote about the valley’s sheer granite cliffs and scenic waterfalls, calling it a twin to Yosemite Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, he lost, and San Francisco began building the O’Shaughnessy dam in 1914 to collect water from the Tuolumne River. “Although they lost the battle, they launched a national environmental movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today the valley is under 300 feet of water, which supplies two and a half million people in San Francisco and cities around Silicon Valley. But the battle over Hetch Hetchy never really went away. In 1955, Sierra Club director David Brower made a film called “\u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/47620162\">Two Yosemites\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1988, the National Park Service \u003ca href=\"http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/nps_hh_restoration.pdf\">released a study\u003c/a> about what would happen to the landscape if the reservoir was drained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within a year of the river reclaiming itself, you’ll start to see green meadows along the banks. And within a few years you’ll start to see saplings and trees come up,” Marshall says. Within 50 years, the report says, oak woodlands would return and pine trees would be 50 feet tall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, there’s the question of what happens to the water supply. Marshall says it can be stored elsewhere. “People mistakenly believe Hetch Hetchy is our only reservoir. It’s one of nine reservoirs. So what our initiative does is ask San Francisco to plan to consolidate from nine to eight reservoirs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marshall says by expanding other reservoirs, using underground storage and recycling more water, San Francisco could make up for Hetch Hetchy’s storage. “We don’t recycle any water. We’ve stopped, for all intents and purposes, using groundwater, except for a little bit. Those are things we’re going to have to do anyway.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'Things Were Different Then'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at recycled water. We are building recycled water plants. We are building groundwater pumping wells,” says Michael Carlin, deputy general manager of the San Francisco PUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_45703\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/DSC00377.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-45703\" title=\"DSC00377\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/10/DSC00377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tuolumne River emerges below the O’Shaughnessy dam.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking at all those things. And to say, gee whiz, you also should just plan that your system is gone... doesn’t make any sense.” As a public employee, Carlin says he can’t take a position on the issue, but he has concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hetch Hetchy system is reliable, he says. The water is so clean, it doesn’t require filtration. And the PUC doesn’t own all the reservoirs in the system, so Carlin says they’d have to rely on other water districts if the reservoir was drained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Asking them if they’re willing to store San Francisco’s water there, the answer that we’ve gotten from them at least is no,” says Carlin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the cost. Studies throughout the years have put it between one and 10 billion dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC has never studied it, but Carlin doubts that would help. “There have been extensive studies in the past. They have come to the same conclusion which is just a set of questions. And the issue is whether any additional study will just lead you to the same set of questions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ballot measure has a number of opponents: San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Senator Dianne Feinstein and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, who say it’s a huge risk, because businesses depend on reliable water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we were to propose building this reservoir today in a national park, chances are it wouldn’t happen. But it happened in 1913. Things were different then,” Carlin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On November 6th, San Francisco voters will decide if they want to take a step toward rewriting that history.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Creative Use of a Cancer Mutation May Improve Nylon Production",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/09/26/creative-use-of-a-cancer-mutation-may-improve-nylon-production/nylon-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-44992\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/nylon-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"nylon\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44992\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A cancer-caused mutation in a protein provides clues to improving the production of a chemical used to make nylon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Invented in 1935, nylon found its first use replacing silk in stockings. Supplies of nylon dwindled during World War II as the material was funneled towards making rope, parachutes and mosquito netting. Once the war ended, ladies formed long lines – \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/threaded/2012/09/stocking-series-part-1-wartime-rationing-and-nylon-riots/\">“nylon riots”\u003c/a> -- at local stores hoping to purchase easy-care nylon stockings once again. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now nylon is so common, in things from rope to zippers, that it’s hard to imagine supplies were ever low. It’s easy to make too: Mix two particular liquids and nylon strands form where the liquids touch. The synthesis of nylon is a common chemistry demonstration:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxkpctjDTr8]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those liquid precursors to nylon, including something called adipic acid, typically come from petroleum processing. Some chemical companies want to create environmentally friendly sources of these chemicals, starting from sugar instead of fossil fuels. These companies hijack and rework the metabolism of bacteria and yeast so the microbes convert sugar into commodity chemicals. Hopefully the final products will be cheaper than their petroleum-derived counterparts, as well as “greener” in terms of releasing less greenhouse gases during production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One company in California, \u003ca href=\"http://www.verdezyne.com/verdezyne/index.cfm\">Verdezyne\u003c/a>, has a pilot plant challenging engineered yeast to make adipic acid on a small industrial scale. Meanwhile, researchers look for other microbial metabolic pathways that could be altered to create the 6-carbon adipic acid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers in Germany cobbled together one \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bi1020056\">potential pathway\u003c/a> using proteins from several different bacteria. But this pathway is incomplete: one of the proteins works best using a molecule with five carbon atoms, instead of the six-carbon precursor needed to make adipic acid. Altering the preference of this protein with genetic engineering might make this pathway a viable bio-based route to adipic acid. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists redesign proteins using educated guesses, computer models and time-consuming rounds of evolution. While studying genetic mutations that turn normal cells into cancer, Hai Yan, at Duke University Medical Center, and his colleagues found clues that might help streamline the protein redesign for adipic acid production. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes those genetic mutations in cancer cells alter metabolic proteins like those scientists tweak for chemical production. In 2008 and 2009, Duke researchers identified an altered protein in cancer cells where the mutation created the reaction needed for the adipic acid pathway. But this cancer protein prefers five-carbon compounds, so the researchers couldn’t insert it directly into the catalytic pathway. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they identified a structurally similar protein in yeast that preferred six-carbon compounds and mutated it to resemble the change in the cancer cell protein. The altered yeast protein performed the reaction they wanted using a six-carbon molecule, thus completing the biochemical production pathway. The scientists even applied similar logic to redesigning a protein from bacteria, though this protein was less selective than its yeast relative. (\u003cem>Nature Chemical Biology\u003c/em>, DOI:\u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1065\">10.1038/nchembio.1065\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using this redesigned protein to make adipic acid in microbes is still a large challenge, as scientists would have to tinker with the microbe’s metabolism to increase adipic acid production. The big lesson from this work is in the design. Cancer-caused mutations that alter a protein’s function, though extremely rare, might be a useful source of information to guide other protein redesigns, the researchers write. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, this story is just reminder that science, like many aspects of life, is a creative process. You never know where you’ll find inspiration to solve a problem.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Chemists want to reengineer metabolic proteins and pathways in microbes so they can convert sugar into commodity chemicals. Now a mutant protein found in cancer cells provides clues to help scientists improve a protein that could help microbes create a precursor to nylon. In science, as in so much of life, inspiration can come from unusual places.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/09/26/creative-use-of-a-cancer-mutation-may-improve-nylon-production/nylon-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-44992\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/nylon-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"nylon\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44992\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A cancer-caused mutation in a protein provides clues to improving the production of a chemical used to make nylon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Invented in 1935, nylon found its first use replacing silk in stockings. Supplies of nylon dwindled during World War II as the material was funneled towards making rope, parachutes and mosquito netting. Once the war ended, ladies formed long lines – \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/threaded/2012/09/stocking-series-part-1-wartime-rationing-and-nylon-riots/\">“nylon riots”\u003c/a> -- at local stores hoping to purchase easy-care nylon stockings once again. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now nylon is so common, in things from rope to zippers, that it’s hard to imagine supplies were ever low. It’s easy to make too: Mix two particular liquids and nylon strands form where the liquids touch. The synthesis of nylon is a common chemistry demonstration:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/KxkpctjDTr8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/KxkpctjDTr8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those liquid precursors to nylon, including something called adipic acid, typically come from petroleum processing. Some chemical companies want to create environmentally friendly sources of these chemicals, starting from sugar instead of fossil fuels. These companies hijack and rework the metabolism of bacteria and yeast so the microbes convert sugar into commodity chemicals. Hopefully the final products will be cheaper than their petroleum-derived counterparts, as well as “greener” in terms of releasing less greenhouse gases during production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One company in California, \u003ca href=\"http://www.verdezyne.com/verdezyne/index.cfm\">Verdezyne\u003c/a>, has a pilot plant challenging engineered yeast to make adipic acid on a small industrial scale. Meanwhile, researchers look for other microbial metabolic pathways that could be altered to create the 6-carbon adipic acid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers in Germany cobbled together one \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bi1020056\">potential pathway\u003c/a> using proteins from several different bacteria. But this pathway is incomplete: one of the proteins works best using a molecule with five carbon atoms, instead of the six-carbon precursor needed to make adipic acid. Altering the preference of this protein with genetic engineering might make this pathway a viable bio-based route to adipic acid. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists redesign proteins using educated guesses, computer models and time-consuming rounds of evolution. While studying genetic mutations that turn normal cells into cancer, Hai Yan, at Duke University Medical Center, and his colleagues found clues that might help streamline the protein redesign for adipic acid production. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes those genetic mutations in cancer cells alter metabolic proteins like those scientists tweak for chemical production. In 2008 and 2009, Duke researchers identified an altered protein in cancer cells where the mutation created the reaction needed for the adipic acid pathway. But this cancer protein prefers five-carbon compounds, so the researchers couldn’t insert it directly into the catalytic pathway. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they identified a structurally similar protein in yeast that preferred six-carbon compounds and mutated it to resemble the change in the cancer cell protein. The altered yeast protein performed the reaction they wanted using a six-carbon molecule, thus completing the biochemical production pathway. The scientists even applied similar logic to redesigning a protein from bacteria, though this protein was less selective than its yeast relative. (\u003cem>Nature Chemical Biology\u003c/em>, DOI:\u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1065\">10.1038/nchembio.1065\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using this redesigned protein to make adipic acid in microbes is still a large challenge, as scientists would have to tinker with the microbe’s metabolism to increase adipic acid production. The big lesson from this work is in the design. Cancer-caused mutations that alter a protein’s function, though extremely rare, might be a useful source of information to guide other protein redesigns, the researchers write. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, this story is just reminder that science, like many aspects of life, is a creative process. You never know where you’ll find inspiration to solve a problem.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "What's Next for Nuclear?",
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"content": "\u003cp>Despite the accident last year at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, here in the United States, some policymakers – including President Obama – are pushing to expand nuclear energy as a source of abundant carbon-free electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It’s that simple,” said Obama in Feb. 2010, during a \u003ca title=\"Video of Obama press conference\" href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4eyH2haWWU\" target=\"_blank\">press conference at a Maryland nuclear plant\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work has started on four new multi-billion dollar reactors in \u003ca title=\"Southern Company\" href=\"http://www.southerncompany.com/nuclearenergy/construction.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Georgia \u003c/a>and South Carolina, the first to begin construction in the United States in more than 30 years. But observers disagree over exactly what this means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, we don’t know if there is a nuclear renaissance,” said Per Peterson, chair of the \u003ca title=\"UC Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering\" href=\"http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering\u003c/a>. “That will depend on whether these new plants that are under construction now can be built on schedule, on budget, at a reasonable cost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, nuclear energy provides \u003ca title=\"U.S. Energy Information Administration\" href=\"http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/nuclear_industry.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">20 percent of U.S. electricity\u003c/a> – far more than all solar, wind and other renewable sources combined. And a recent EPA study shows that in order for the country to reduce its carbon emissions enough to slow down climate change, it will need to boost its nuclear energy production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But skeptics argue that the country doesn’t need nuclear energy to meet its goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The notion that nuclear is the only option we have to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions is preposterous,” said \u003ca title=\"Ralph Cavanagh bio\" href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/about/staff/ralph-cavanagh\" target=\"_blank\">Ralph Cavanagh\u003c/a>, co-director of the energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cavanagh said that cost and risk have pushed utilities around the country away from nuclear energy and towards other renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and natural gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has two nuclear plants, the \u003ca title=\"Diablo Canyon Power Plant\" href=\"http://www.pge.com/myhome/edusafety/systemworks/dcpp/\" target=\"_blank\">Diablo Canyon Power Plant\u003c/a>, near San Luis Obispo, and the \u003ca title=\"San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station\" href=\"http://www.sce.com/PowerandEnvironment/PowerGeneration/SanOnofreNuclearGeneratingStation/default.htm?goto=songs\" target=\"_blank\">San Onofre plant\u003c/a>, near San Diego, which has been closed \u003ca href=\"http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/san-onofre-cuts-raise-questions-about-nuclear-plants-future.html\" target=\"_blank\">since Jan. 2012\u003c/a>, after problems were found with some of the tubes that carry steam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44378\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_at_Diablo_Canyon_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44378\" title=\"Per_Peterson_at_Diablo_Canyon_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_at_Diablo_Canyon_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Per Peterson, member of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant's Independent Safety Committee, in the plant's turbine room. Photo: Gabriela Quirós.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prospects for the development of new nuclear plants in the state stalled long ago. The Rancho Seco nuclear plant, in Sacramento, was closed in 1989 after a public vote. And California still has in place a 1976 moratorium on building any new nuclear plants until the federal government creates a permanent site to dispose of nuclear waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California and the rest of the country, nuclear accidents from the past continue to cast a shadow on the technology. The worst one to date happened with a devastating explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986, which released radiation across Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-eight rescue workers died from radiation exposure. Other health effects started to show up a few years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The primary finding so far is an increased risk of thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases in those who were children and adolescents at the time of the accident,” said \u003ca title=\"Dr. Lydia Zablotska\" href=\"http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/epidem/personnel/lzablotska.html\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Lydia Zablotska\u003c/a>, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMM-3VZV6Rs]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Lydia-Zablotska-interview.pdf\">Interview Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The radiation increased the risk of leukemia among the 600,000 workers who cleaned up after the accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers predict that the Chernobyl accident will cause 4,000 to 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer and 3,000 to 4,000 cases of leukemia. Fourteen deaths from thyroid cancer have been documented so far. And scientists are still following the population for other health effects that might appear later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of nuclear energy say that the risks of an accident should be weighed against the health effects from burning fossil fuels. The American Lung Association estimates 13,000 people die in the United States each year from breathing soot particles from coal-fired power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public health and environmental consequences of using fossil fuels are so enormous that they dwarf even the consequences of nuclear accidents,” said Per Peterson. “That said, we need to be moving towards new nuclear energy technologies that do not have the potential to release radioactive materials into the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Per Peterson and his students at UC Berkeley's Department of Nuclear Engineering are working on a new type of nuclear reactor they say would be safer and cheaper than those operating today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s nuclear reactors are cooled by water, which can cause problems if a plant loses power. The explosions at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, following an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, were brought on by a chemical reaction between water and the metal that protects the uranium fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44381\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/110321_1f_kokuen1_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44381\" title=\"110321_1f_kokuen1_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/110321_1f_kokuen1_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steam rises from a reactor at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in March 2011. Photo: TEPCO.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At Fukushima, water reacted with the metal cladding of the fuel to release hydrogen, which ultimately caused explosions,” said Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the water inside a nuclear plant can be problematic in other ways too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The water pressure built up inside the containment to very high pressures, causing leakage and requiring venting, which released radioactive materials,” said Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether it’s fueled by coal, natural gas or nuclear reaction, the goal at any power plant is to produce heat and turn water into steam. During a May visit to Pacific Gas and Electric’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Peterson stood on a hill above the plant’s two dome-shaped structures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Below us are the two reactor containment buildings that contain the nuclear reactors that are producing heat and boiling water,” he said. “The steam is going into that large turbine building behind and turning the turbines that turn generators and make the electricity that is going out over our heads into the center of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44400\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Diablo-Canyon-Power-Plant_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44400\" title=\"Diablo Canyon Power Plant_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Diablo-Canyon-Power-Plant_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Diablo Canyon Power Plant's two nuclear reactors are inside the containment domes. The brown building behind the domes is the turbine room. Photo: Gabriela Quirós.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the mid-1980s, Diablo Canyon’s two reactors were the last to go into operation in California. Today, they produce 16 percent of Northern California’s electricity, enough to power about 2 million homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nuclear reactions are an efficient way to produce heat. In a nuclear reaction, a particle called a neutron hits the nucleus of a uranium atom. The reaction – known as fission -- breaks the nucleus in two and releases heat, as well as more neutrons that go on to create a chain reaction of nucleus-splitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson aims to make nuclear plants safer by cooling the reactor’s core – where the nuclear reaction takes place – with a liquid other than water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fluoride salts that we’re developing as coolants boil at extremely high temperatures – above 1,400 degrees centigrade – which means that under the conditions we operate at, they’re always at low pressure,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To further reduce risk, Peterson proposes storing the fuel inside graphite pebbles, which wouldn’t melt down in an accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44371\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_and_his_reactor_model_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44371\" title=\"Per_Peterson_and_his_reactor_model_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_and_his_reactor_model_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Per Peterson, chair of the University of California, Berkeley's Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, examines his model of a pebble-bed reactor. Photo: Gabriela Quirós.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The pebbles would also offer another advantage over today’s reactors, said Peterson. In a room at the nuclear engineering department, his students have built a model of the pebble-bed reactor they’re testing. They use colored plastic balls slightly smaller than golf balls in place of the graphite fuel pebbles. And for research purposes, they’ve replaced the fluoride salts with water, which is easier to work with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The yellow, green and gray plastic balls move through a narrow plastic tank, mimicking the way in which graphite pebbles full of fuel might one day float through liquid fluoride salts in a real pebble-bed reactor. The moving pebbles would be an improvement over current reactors, which have to be closed down every 18 months to bring in fresh uranium rods, said Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes about 30 days for a pebble to go through the core, before it’s removed, inspected, and possibly reinserted,” he said. “That means you’re continuously replacing the fuel and you don’t need to shut down for refueling outages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson’s pebble-bed reactor could be in operation in 20 years, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Can nuclear power be produced safely and affordably? A scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, is working to do just that.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Despite the accident last year at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, here in the United States, some policymakers – including President Obama – are pushing to expand nuclear energy as a source of abundant carbon-free electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It’s that simple,” said Obama in Feb. 2010, during a \u003ca title=\"Video of Obama press conference\" href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4eyH2haWWU\" target=\"_blank\">press conference at a Maryland nuclear plant\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work has started on four new multi-billion dollar reactors in \u003ca title=\"Southern Company\" href=\"http://www.southerncompany.com/nuclearenergy/construction.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Georgia \u003c/a>and South Carolina, the first to begin construction in the United States in more than 30 years. But observers disagree over exactly what this means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, we don’t know if there is a nuclear renaissance,” said Per Peterson, chair of the \u003ca title=\"UC Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering\" href=\"http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering\u003c/a>. “That will depend on whether these new plants that are under construction now can be built on schedule, on budget, at a reasonable cost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, nuclear energy provides \u003ca title=\"U.S. Energy Information Administration\" href=\"http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/nuclear_industry.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">20 percent of U.S. electricity\u003c/a> – far more than all solar, wind and other renewable sources combined. And a recent EPA study shows that in order for the country to reduce its carbon emissions enough to slow down climate change, it will need to boost its nuclear energy production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But skeptics argue that the country doesn’t need nuclear energy to meet its goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The notion that nuclear is the only option we have to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions is preposterous,” said \u003ca title=\"Ralph Cavanagh bio\" href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/about/staff/ralph-cavanagh\" target=\"_blank\">Ralph Cavanagh\u003c/a>, co-director of the energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cavanagh said that cost and risk have pushed utilities around the country away from nuclear energy and towards other renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and natural gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has two nuclear plants, the \u003ca title=\"Diablo Canyon Power Plant\" href=\"http://www.pge.com/myhome/edusafety/systemworks/dcpp/\" target=\"_blank\">Diablo Canyon Power Plant\u003c/a>, near San Luis Obispo, and the \u003ca title=\"San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station\" href=\"http://www.sce.com/PowerandEnvironment/PowerGeneration/SanOnofreNuclearGeneratingStation/default.htm?goto=songs\" target=\"_blank\">San Onofre plant\u003c/a>, near San Diego, which has been closed \u003ca href=\"http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/san-onofre-cuts-raise-questions-about-nuclear-plants-future.html\" target=\"_blank\">since Jan. 2012\u003c/a>, after problems were found with some of the tubes that carry steam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44378\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_at_Diablo_Canyon_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44378\" title=\"Per_Peterson_at_Diablo_Canyon_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_at_Diablo_Canyon_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Per Peterson, member of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant's Independent Safety Committee, in the plant's turbine room. Photo: Gabriela Quirós.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prospects for the development of new nuclear plants in the state stalled long ago. The Rancho Seco nuclear plant, in Sacramento, was closed in 1989 after a public vote. And California still has in place a 1976 moratorium on building any new nuclear plants until the federal government creates a permanent site to dispose of nuclear waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California and the rest of the country, nuclear accidents from the past continue to cast a shadow on the technology. The worst one to date happened with a devastating explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986, which released radiation across Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-eight rescue workers died from radiation exposure. Other health effects started to show up a few years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The primary finding so far is an increased risk of thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases in those who were children and adolescents at the time of the accident,” said \u003ca title=\"Dr. Lydia Zablotska\" href=\"http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/epidem/personnel/lzablotska.html\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Lydia Zablotska\u003c/a>, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/bMM-3VZV6Rs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/bMM-3VZV6Rs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Lydia-Zablotska-interview.pdf\">Interview Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The radiation increased the risk of leukemia among the 600,000 workers who cleaned up after the accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers predict that the Chernobyl accident will cause 4,000 to 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer and 3,000 to 4,000 cases of leukemia. Fourteen deaths from thyroid cancer have been documented so far. And scientists are still following the population for other health effects that might appear later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of nuclear energy say that the risks of an accident should be weighed against the health effects from burning fossil fuels. The American Lung Association estimates 13,000 people die in the United States each year from breathing soot particles from coal-fired power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public health and environmental consequences of using fossil fuels are so enormous that they dwarf even the consequences of nuclear accidents,” said Per Peterson. “That said, we need to be moving towards new nuclear energy technologies that do not have the potential to release radioactive materials into the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Per Peterson and his students at UC Berkeley's Department of Nuclear Engineering are working on a new type of nuclear reactor they say would be safer and cheaper than those operating today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s nuclear reactors are cooled by water, which can cause problems if a plant loses power. The explosions at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, following an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, were brought on by a chemical reaction between water and the metal that protects the uranium fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44381\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/110321_1f_kokuen1_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44381\" title=\"110321_1f_kokuen1_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/110321_1f_kokuen1_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steam rises from a reactor at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in March 2011. Photo: TEPCO.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At Fukushima, water reacted with the metal cladding of the fuel to release hydrogen, which ultimately caused explosions,” said Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the water inside a nuclear plant can be problematic in other ways too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The water pressure built up inside the containment to very high pressures, causing leakage and requiring venting, which released radioactive materials,” said Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether it’s fueled by coal, natural gas or nuclear reaction, the goal at any power plant is to produce heat and turn water into steam. During a May visit to Pacific Gas and Electric’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Peterson stood on a hill above the plant’s two dome-shaped structures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Below us are the two reactor containment buildings that contain the nuclear reactors that are producing heat and boiling water,” he said. “The steam is going into that large turbine building behind and turning the turbines that turn generators and make the electricity that is going out over our heads into the center of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44400\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Diablo-Canyon-Power-Plant_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44400\" title=\"Diablo Canyon Power Plant_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Diablo-Canyon-Power-Plant_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Diablo Canyon Power Plant's two nuclear reactors are inside the containment domes. The brown building behind the domes is the turbine room. Photo: Gabriela Quirós.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the mid-1980s, Diablo Canyon’s two reactors were the last to go into operation in California. Today, they produce 16 percent of Northern California’s electricity, enough to power about 2 million homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nuclear reactions are an efficient way to produce heat. In a nuclear reaction, a particle called a neutron hits the nucleus of a uranium atom. The reaction – known as fission -- breaks the nucleus in two and releases heat, as well as more neutrons that go on to create a chain reaction of nucleus-splitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson aims to make nuclear plants safer by cooling the reactor’s core – where the nuclear reaction takes place – with a liquid other than water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fluoride salts that we’re developing as coolants boil at extremely high temperatures – above 1,400 degrees centigrade – which means that under the conditions we operate at, they’re always at low pressure,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To further reduce risk, Peterson proposes storing the fuel inside graphite pebbles, which wouldn’t melt down in an accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44371\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_and_his_reactor_model_resized.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-44371\" title=\"Per_Peterson_and_his_reactor_model_resized\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Per_Peterson_and_his_reactor_model_resized-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Per Peterson, chair of the University of California, Berkeley's Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, examines his model of a pebble-bed reactor. Photo: Gabriela Quirós.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The pebbles would also offer another advantage over today’s reactors, said Peterson. In a room at the nuclear engineering department, his students have built a model of the pebble-bed reactor they’re testing. They use colored plastic balls slightly smaller than golf balls in place of the graphite fuel pebbles. And for research purposes, they’ve replaced the fluoride salts with water, which is easier to work with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The yellow, green and gray plastic balls move through a narrow plastic tank, mimicking the way in which graphite pebbles full of fuel might one day float through liquid fluoride salts in a real pebble-bed reactor. The moving pebbles would be an improvement over current reactors, which have to be closed down every 18 months to bring in fresh uranium rods, said Peterson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes about 30 days for a pebble to go through the core, before it’s removed, inspected, and possibly reinserted,” he said. “That means you’re continuously replacing the fuel and you don’t need to shut down for refueling outages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "H2-Whoa: Computing With Water Instead of Electrons",
"title": "H2-Whoa: Computing With Water Instead of Electrons",
"headTitle": "QUEST | KQED Science",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43775\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/09/12/h2-whoa-computing-with-water-instead-of-electrons/lotus-leaf-resize/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-43775\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/lotus-leaf-resize-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"lotus leaf resize\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-43775\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The water repellency of a lotus leaf inspired scientists to recreate this kind of surface in the lab. Credit: Indoloony/{link url=” http://www.flickr.com/photos/indoloony/7561498510/”}Flickr{/link} \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Water and computers usually don’t mix, as anyone who has spilled a coffee on a laptop knows. Now researchers in Finland have used water to do computing tasks. They’ve stored information visually, as on a CD, by writing with water and recreated computer logic using water droplets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Information storage and logic require bits of information with two states: presence and absence. Lasers read CDs based on the presence or absence of a reflection due to pits in the surface of the disk. Logic depends on the presence or absence of electrons running through circuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for water-based computers, the researchers need to create two “states” of water. They do this using special superhydrophobic surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lotus leaves are the quintessential superhydrophobic surface, repelling water so effectively that droplets cleanly roll off a leaf, even when muddy. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP11A-KK5Gs]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compare that to a hydrophobic surface like the non-stick coating on a skillet. Water forms neat droplets on a freshly rinsed non-stick pan, but some of those droplets still stick to the pan when you hang it up to dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Materials scientists look to recreate superhydrophobic coatings in the lab, as potential coatings for waterproof clothing, reflective street signs and self-cleaning solar cells. Current coatings are not strong enough to be used commercially yet. Despite a variety of fabrication techniques, these surfaces share two common features: Superhydrophobic surfaces must be rough and slippery (meaning it’s covered with a hydrophobic coating).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Robin Ras, at Aalto University in Finland, and colleagues appear to have more computer-related plans for superhydrophobic surfaces. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, the researchers wrote letters atop a superhydrophobic surface covered with water, mimicking optical data stored on a CD. They designed the surface to have two superhydrophobic “states.” Switching between the states erased the letters, wiping the visual data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To create the two superhydrophobic states, the researchers looked to the hairy legs of water striders, insects that skate and jump across ponds. Layers of thin hairs \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/09/12/h2-whoa-computing-with-water-instead-of-electrons/\">trap a layer of air\u003c/a> between the hair and the water, preventing the legs from getting wet and helping the insect float on top of the water. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To mimic this structure, the researchers built a silicon surface with two sizes of fibers. First they etched relatively large cylinders (10 micrometers wide, or one-tenth the width of a human hair) into the wafer. Then they covered these cylinders with tiny nanoscale silicon fibers. A slippery hydrophobic coating covered these nanofibers. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To write the watery memory, the researchers submerged the patterned silicon wafer in water. The water first floats on a cushion of air surrounding the large cylinders. Then a specially designed narrow nozzle pushes the water between the posts. This compresses the layer of air so it hugs the tiny fibers rather than the large cylinders. This new superhydrophobic state changes reflectance of surface, allowing the researchers to read what they’ve written. They erase the data by tugging on the water with the nozzle so it floats on top of the large cylinders again (\u003cem>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.\u003c/em>, DOI: \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204328109\">10.1073/pnas.1204328109\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEWPIjLbrSE]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Ras and his colleagues demonstrated another kind of water-based memory, called flip-flop memory, using water droplets zipping along superhydrophobic channels carved in a copper plate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flip-flop memory changes state every time it’s addressed. In this water example, a water droplet sits at the end of a superhydrophobic channel. Under the right conditions, an incoming water droplet bounces into the resting drop, sending it zipping down another channel (\u003cem>Adv. Mater.\u003c/em>, DOI: \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201202980\">10.1002/adma.201202980\u003c/a>). The collisions resemble that of billiard balls, if the cue ball stopped rolling when it hit a new rack of balls. And the water memory can flip 100 times without a mistake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTnVwyWaVQw]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also patterned the channels to create logic gates, where droplet collisions affect their output path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s an example:\u003cbr>\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ckytxq0OWc]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These water devices are only one way that the natural world influences technology design. To learn more about biomimicry influences concrete, solar cell design and train aerodynamics, check out these articles:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"//www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_shares_nature_s_designs.html\">Janine Benyus: The promise of biomimicry\u003c/a>, TED talk, 2005\u003cbr>\n\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"//www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/biomimicry-gallery/?pid=1785%E2%80%9D\">\u003cbr>\nMother Nature as Engineer: 9 Design Tricks Borrowed From Biology\u003c/a>, wired.com\u003cbr>\n\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"//www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15480620%E2%80%9C\">Biomimicry: Beaks on trains and flipper-like turbines\u003c/a>, BBC\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43775\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/09/12/h2-whoa-computing-with-water-instead-of-electrons/lotus-leaf-resize/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-43775\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/lotus-leaf-resize-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"lotus leaf resize\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-43775\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The water repellency of a lotus leaf inspired scientists to recreate this kind of surface in the lab. Credit: Indoloony/{link url=” http://www.flickr.com/photos/indoloony/7561498510/”}Flickr{/link} \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Water and computers usually don’t mix, as anyone who has spilled a coffee on a laptop knows. Now researchers in Finland have used water to do computing tasks. They’ve stored information visually, as on a CD, by writing with water and recreated computer logic using water droplets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Information storage and logic require bits of information with two states: presence and absence. Lasers read CDs based on the presence or absence of a reflection due to pits in the surface of the disk. Logic depends on the presence or absence of electrons running through circuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for water-based computers, the researchers need to create two “states” of water. They do this using special superhydrophobic surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lotus leaves are the quintessential superhydrophobic surface, repelling water so effectively that droplets cleanly roll off a leaf, even when muddy. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/kP11A-KK5Gs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/kP11A-KK5Gs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compare that to a hydrophobic surface like the non-stick coating on a skillet. Water forms neat droplets on a freshly rinsed non-stick pan, but some of those droplets still stick to the pan when you hang it up to dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Materials scientists look to recreate superhydrophobic coatings in the lab, as potential coatings for waterproof clothing, reflective street signs and self-cleaning solar cells. Current coatings are not strong enough to be used commercially yet. Despite a variety of fabrication techniques, these surfaces share two common features: Superhydrophobic surfaces must be rough and slippery (meaning it’s covered with a hydrophobic coating).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Robin Ras, at Aalto University in Finland, and colleagues appear to have more computer-related plans for superhydrophobic surfaces. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, the researchers wrote letters atop a superhydrophobic surface covered with water, mimicking optical data stored on a CD. They designed the surface to have two superhydrophobic “states.” Switching between the states erased the letters, wiping the visual data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To create the two superhydrophobic states, the researchers looked to the hairy legs of water striders, insects that skate and jump across ponds. Layers of thin hairs \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2012/09/12/h2-whoa-computing-with-water-instead-of-electrons/\">trap a layer of air\u003c/a> between the hair and the water, preventing the legs from getting wet and helping the insect float on top of the water. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To mimic this structure, the researchers built a silicon surface with two sizes of fibers. First they etched relatively large cylinders (10 micrometers wide, or one-tenth the width of a human hair) into the wafer. Then they covered these cylinders with tiny nanoscale silicon fibers. A slippery hydrophobic coating covered these nanofibers. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To write the watery memory, the researchers submerged the patterned silicon wafer in water. The water first floats on a cushion of air surrounding the large cylinders. Then a specially designed narrow nozzle pushes the water between the posts. This compresses the layer of air so it hugs the tiny fibers rather than the large cylinders. This new superhydrophobic state changes reflectance of surface, allowing the researchers to read what they’ve written. They erase the data by tugging on the water with the nozzle so it floats on top of the large cylinders again (\u003cem>Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.\u003c/em>, DOI: \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204328109\">10.1073/pnas.1204328109\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/AEWPIjLbrSE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/AEWPIjLbrSE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Ras and his colleagues demonstrated another kind of water-based memory, called flip-flop memory, using water droplets zipping along superhydrophobic channels carved in a copper plate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flip-flop memory changes state every time it’s addressed. In this water example, a water droplet sits at the end of a superhydrophobic channel. Under the right conditions, an incoming water droplet bounces into the resting drop, sending it zipping down another channel (\u003cem>Adv. Mater.\u003c/em>, DOI: \u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201202980\">10.1002/adma.201202980\u003c/a>). The collisions resemble that of billiard balls, if the cue ball stopped rolling when it hit a new rack of balls. And the water memory can flip 100 times without a mistake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/GTnVwyWaVQw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/GTnVwyWaVQw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also patterned the channels to create logic gates, where droplet collisions affect their output path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s an example:\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2Ckytxq0OWc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2Ckytxq0OWc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These water devices are only one way that the natural world influences technology design. To learn more about biomimicry influences concrete, solar cell design and train aerodynamics, check out these articles:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"//www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_shares_nature_s_designs.html\">Janine Benyus: The promise of biomimicry\u003c/a>, TED talk, 2005\u003cbr>\n\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"//www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/biomimicry-gallery/?pid=1785%E2%80%9D\">\u003cbr>\nMother Nature as Engineer: 9 Design Tricks Borrowed From Biology\u003c/a>, wired.com\u003cbr>\n\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"//www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15480620%E2%80%9C\">Biomimicry: Beaks on trains and flipper-like turbines\u003c/a>, BBC\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "California's Prop. 37: Are GMO Labels a Scarlet Letter?",
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"content": "\u003cp>Proposition 37 could make California the first state in the country to require labels on foods made with genetically-modified ingredients. It’s shaping up to be one of the most contentious -- and certainly the most expensive -- battles on the state’s November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one side are organic food groups that have spent about $3 million in support of the labeling law. On the other are biotech firms like Monsanto, and food giants like Pepsi, Sara Lee, and General Mills, which have contributed upwards of $28 million to try and keep GMO labels off food packages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 37 passes, you’ll see a change in nearly every part of the grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take the cereal aisle, where Stacy Malkan with the \"Yes on 37\" campaign recently picked up a box of granola and pointed to the ingredients panel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of these products have corn syrup, cornstarch, sugar beets, and soy products that are genetically engineered,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the United States, up to 90 percent of those foods are grown from seeds that have been genetically modified. Scientists made changes in the plants’ DNA to make the crop, for example, resist pests, or stay fresh longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malkan thinks that's something consumers should know about.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nWould labels inform people? Or scare them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's not a warning sticker,” she says. “[it’s not] a skull and crossbones or anything. It's literally just a few words added to existing labels, just indicating [the food was] partially produced with genetic engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to the \"No On 37\" camp, there is nothing benign about a label.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take, for instance, Kent Bradford, a professor of plant science at the University of California, Davis, and director of its Seed Biotechnology Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradford's team works with, among other plants, lettuce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43645\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Bradford_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-43645\" title=\"Bradford_scaled\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Bradford_scaled-450x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kent Bradford directs UC Davis's Seed Biotechnology Center\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California supplies 80 percent of the nation's lettuce. But growers here, he says, increasingly find themselves at odds with a fact of nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lettuce, he says, evolved for a Mediterranean climate. Its seeds lay dormant when it’s hot, and germinate when it rains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s getting hotter here in California. And farmers want to be able to grow lettuce year-round, not just when it rains. So Bradford’s team is developing a new kind of lettuce seed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to several strands of straggly, stringy lettuce. At this overgrown stage, it's not appetizing-looking produce. But Bradford says these plants could help farmers adapt to a changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What we've identified here is if we turn off this one gene, it eliminates that mechanism of inability to germinate at high temperature,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GM isn't an ingredient, it's a technology \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of what bothers Bradford about Proposition 37 is that genetic modification isn’t an ingredient, like saturated fat. It's a technology, one capable of creating countless variations on nature, some of them potentially very useful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43644\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Lettuce_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-43644\" title=\"Lettuce_scaled\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Lettuce_scaled-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genetically-engineered lettuce can sprout in a hot, dry climate.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"You wouldn't want to label a screwdriver as dangerous just because someone might poke it through their hand or something.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradford fears that if Prop 37 passes, consumers will regard those GMO label as a scarlet letter, a signal that the entire technology is flawed and dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Why would they be putting this on the label if it weren’t something I should be concerned about?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, that's the question many consumers have about genetically modified foods: Are they safe?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is GM safe? Grappling with a scarcity of science\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the body of peer-reviewed research on GM foods is tiny, consisting of a handful of small studies done on mice. Some of these studies suggest possible links to immune-system impairment and other problems. Compared to the amount of research done on, for instance, BPA, it's a drop in the bucket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the American Medical Association and the FDA say that genetically-modified foods are safe to eat and do not need to be labeled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Prop. 37 advocates and critics of GM foods say the fact that the science is nascent only underscores the need for greater regulation and labeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say the process of genetic engineering can be imprecise, and that plant scientists may not always know the full, long-term implications of the crops they develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The jury is still out on the health effects,\" says Yes on 37's Stacy Malkan. \"And in many ways, the evidence hasn’t even been presented.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such concerns are widespread in Europe, where GM labeling is mandatory. But that's also increasingly the case in California, where a recent poll found 65 percent of voters planning to support Prop. 37.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the states, at least, it wasn't always this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We've been here before: The lesson of the Flavr Savr tomato \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Belinda Martineau was a plant scientist at the Davis-based biotech firm Calgene in the late 1980s and early 90s. She was part of the team that helped invent the Flavr Savr tomato, the world’s first commercially-available genetically modified whole food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martineau says she and others at Calgene weren't sure how the Flavr Savr was going to go over with the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Jurassic Park came out while we were readying the tomato for the marketplace,\" she recalls. \"We were worried about it. We were worried about the public’s perception.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43663\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 315px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Martineau.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-43663\" title=\"Martineau\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Martineau-315x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"315\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Belinda Martineau helped develop the Flavr Savr tomato\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So Calgene made a choice: total transparency. The Flavr Savr wasn’t just labeled, it came with a brochure shaped like a tomato.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It actually explained the genetic engineering technology in lay terms that people could understand,\" \"And it had a 1-800 number, in case people wanted to learn more.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No laws required that Calgene label the tomato. Martineau says the company wanted to label the Flavr Savr because they were proud of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"We wanted to be transparent\"\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We believed in what we were doing. We thought if we were careful about it, and transparent, that we could convince the public that they should be as enthusiastic about it as we were.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And shoppers were enthusiastic. In Davis, where Martineau lives, Flavr Savrs flew off the shelves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They had a policy at the local IGA that you could only purchase two Flavr Savor tomatoes per person, per day,\" says Martineau. \"How they kept track of that, I don't know.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What ultimately killed the Flavr Savr wasn't the public’s fear of genetic engineering. It was the technology itself. Flavr Savrs didn’t taste better than regular tomatoes and they were too difficult to transport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Martineau, there’s a lesson here. Not labeling, she says, makes the industry look like it has something to hide. She believes labeling is an opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is one of the best ways the industry can turn public opinion around, is to be honest, to be transparent. And to come out and be proud of their products.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 37 passes on November 6, the question is whether the public will see those labels the same way Martineau does.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Proposition 37 could make California the first state in the country to require labels on foods made with genetically-modified ingredients. It’s shaping up to be one of the most contentious -- and certainly the most expensive -- battles on the state’s November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one side are organic food groups that have spent about $3 million in support of the labeling law. On the other are biotech firms like Monsanto, and food giants like Pepsi, Sara Lee, and General Mills, which have contributed upwards of $28 million to try and keep GMO labels off food packages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Proposition 37 passes, you’ll see a change in nearly every part of the grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take the cereal aisle, where Stacy Malkan with the \"Yes on 37\" campaign recently picked up a box of granola and pointed to the ingredients panel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of these products have corn syrup, cornstarch, sugar beets, and soy products that are genetically engineered,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the United States, up to 90 percent of those foods are grown from seeds that have been genetically modified. Scientists made changes in the plants’ DNA to make the crop, for example, resist pests, or stay fresh longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malkan thinks that's something consumers should know about.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nWould labels inform people? Or scare them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's not a warning sticker,” she says. “[it’s not] a skull and crossbones or anything. It's literally just a few words added to existing labels, just indicating [the food was] partially produced with genetic engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to the \"No On 37\" camp, there is nothing benign about a label.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take, for instance, Kent Bradford, a professor of plant science at the University of California, Davis, and director of its Seed Biotechnology Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradford's team works with, among other plants, lettuce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43645\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Bradford_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-43645\" title=\"Bradford_scaled\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Bradford_scaled-450x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kent Bradford directs UC Davis's Seed Biotechnology Center\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California supplies 80 percent of the nation's lettuce. But growers here, he says, increasingly find themselves at odds with a fact of nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lettuce, he says, evolved for a Mediterranean climate. Its seeds lay dormant when it’s hot, and germinate when it rains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s getting hotter here in California. And farmers want to be able to grow lettuce year-round, not just when it rains. So Bradford’s team is developing a new kind of lettuce seed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to several strands of straggly, stringy lettuce. At this overgrown stage, it's not appetizing-looking produce. But Bradford says these plants could help farmers adapt to a changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What we've identified here is if we turn off this one gene, it eliminates that mechanism of inability to germinate at high temperature,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GM isn't an ingredient, it's a technology \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of what bothers Bradford about Proposition 37 is that genetic modification isn’t an ingredient, like saturated fat. It's a technology, one capable of creating countless variations on nature, some of them potentially very useful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43644\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Lettuce_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-43644\" title=\"Lettuce_scaled\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Lettuce_scaled-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genetically-engineered lettuce can sprout in a hot, dry climate.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"You wouldn't want to label a screwdriver as dangerous just because someone might poke it through their hand or something.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradford fears that if Prop 37 passes, consumers will regard those GMO label as a scarlet letter, a signal that the entire technology is flawed and dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Why would they be putting this on the label if it weren’t something I should be concerned about?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, that's the question many consumers have about genetically modified foods: Are they safe?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is GM safe? Grappling with a scarcity of science\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the body of peer-reviewed research on GM foods is tiny, consisting of a handful of small studies done on mice. Some of these studies suggest possible links to immune-system impairment and other problems. Compared to the amount of research done on, for instance, BPA, it's a drop in the bucket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the American Medical Association and the FDA say that genetically-modified foods are safe to eat and do not need to be labeled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Prop. 37 advocates and critics of GM foods say the fact that the science is nascent only underscores the need for greater regulation and labeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say the process of genetic engineering can be imprecise, and that plant scientists may not always know the full, long-term implications of the crops they develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The jury is still out on the health effects,\" says Yes on 37's Stacy Malkan. \"And in many ways, the evidence hasn’t even been presented.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such concerns are widespread in Europe, where GM labeling is mandatory. But that's also increasingly the case in California, where a recent poll found 65 percent of voters planning to support Prop. 37.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the states, at least, it wasn't always this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We've been here before: The lesson of the Flavr Savr tomato \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Belinda Martineau was a plant scientist at the Davis-based biotech firm Calgene in the late 1980s and early 90s. She was part of the team that helped invent the Flavr Savr tomato, the world’s first commercially-available genetically modified whole food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martineau says she and others at Calgene weren't sure how the Flavr Savr was going to go over with the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Jurassic Park came out while we were readying the tomato for the marketplace,\" she recalls. \"We were worried about it. We were worried about the public’s perception.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_43663\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 315px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Martineau.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-43663\" title=\"Martineau\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2012/09/Martineau-315x253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"315\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Belinda Martineau helped develop the Flavr Savr tomato\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So Calgene made a choice: total transparency. The Flavr Savr wasn’t just labeled, it came with a brochure shaped like a tomato.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It actually explained the genetic engineering technology in lay terms that people could understand,\" \"And it had a 1-800 number, in case people wanted to learn more.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No laws required that Calgene label the tomato. Martineau says the company wanted to label the Flavr Savr because they were proud of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"We wanted to be transparent\"\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We believed in what we were doing. We thought if we were careful about it, and transparent, that we could convince the public that they should be as enthusiastic about it as we were.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And shoppers were enthusiastic. In Davis, where Martineau lives, Flavr Savrs flew off the shelves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They had a policy at the local IGA that you could only purchase two Flavr Savor tomatoes per person, per day,\" says Martineau. \"How they kept track of that, I don't know.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What ultimately killed the Flavr Savr wasn't the public’s fear of genetic engineering. It was the technology itself. Flavr Savrs didn’t taste better than regular tomatoes and they were too difficult to transport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Martineau, there’s a lesson here. Not labeling, she says, makes the industry look like it has something to hide. She believes labeling is an opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is one of the best ways the industry can turn public opinion around, is to be honest, to be transparent. And to come out and be proud of their products.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
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"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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