Blue Living Ideas - Water Conservation and Availability Tips, News, and Technology

Senator Kyl Cries Crocodile Tears for Arizona Solar Water Usage

Posted on Aug 24, 2010 by Susan Kraemer.

Recent hearings for a proposed 340-MW Hualapai Valley Solar Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project in western Arizona has brought up water yet again, in a report from Energy Prospects.

Arizona’s Republican Senator Kyl has stepped in to battle against using Arizona’s sun potential for solar CSP. (He was recently famous for saying publicly that we should extend the two trillion dollar tax cuts for the rich rather than extend the unemployment benefits, during the worst recession since the depression).

Senator Kyl claims that solar CSP uses too much water. The plant he opposes would use 800 gallons per MWh, the same as a Palo Verde nuclear plant. Yet he supports the nuclear plant, and even wants Renewable Energy Standards changed so nuclear power qualifies as “renewable”.

90 Degree River Shuts Down Southern Nuclear Plant

Posted on Aug 24, 2010 by Susan Kraemer.

As a result of the record high temperatures engulfing the South (and much of the planet) the Tennessee Valley Authority has had to shut down its largest nuclear power plant for the 40th day since July 8th, the TimesFreePress reports. The Tennessee River in Alabama is just much too hot.

The river water rose to a record 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the heat wave that hit the East Coast this August. This violates the permit TVA has with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

Any possible non-nuclear-effluent cause for 90 degree river water near nuclear reactors was not within the scope of the original licensing and permitting.

Stupid Policy that Endangers Species: Army Corps of Engineers Scorched Earth Levee Vegetation Removal

Posted on Aug 17, 2010 by Jennifer Lance.

Last summer, we reported about the Army Corps of Engineers plans to cut down trees along levees, even though their roots provide soil stabilization. Once again, this policy has drawn fire as failing to “consult with federal wildlife agencies” to protect species under the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity intends to file a lawsuit in federal court over habitat protection.

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Stop The Water While Using Me!

Posted on Aug 12, 2010 by Scott James.

When I used to guide backpacking trips, I worked with a guy who pointed out to our group every morning and every night that they had just brushed their teeth without running water. His point was that they should turn the water off when they brushed their teeth at home. It’s a simple enough idea that saves a lot of water over time, if everyone does it. And now there is a brand of bathroom products that puts that message on the bottle and the tube. The “Stop the Water While Using Me!” Shop is a website that sells just 3 products- shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste- that each have the simple “Stop the Water While Using Me!” message in place of a logo. [...continues...]

Garbage Sails Toward China’s 3 Gorges Dam

Posted on Aug 09, 2010 by Scott James.

David de Rothschild famously built the Plastiki out of plastic bottles and sailed it from California to the fabled Pacific Garbage Patch. The journey took months to plan and more than a year to fully realize. But if he were in China on the Yangtze River, all he would have to do to see the problems a garbage patch can cause a waterway is walk to the shore. Recent rains in China have washed thousands of tons of garbage toward the locks of the Three Gorges Dam. Their state media said that it is so thick that people can stand on it in some places. [...continues...]