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Tag: EPA

  • Lawmakers Call for Regulating Cryptomining

    Lawmakers Call for Regulating Cryptomining

    Several lawmakers have sent a letter to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy (DOE) to express concerns about cryptomining.

    Cryptomining has emerged as a resource-intensive task that is increasingly being viewed as climate-unfriendly. Lawmakers are now writing Michael Regan, Administrator of the EPA, and Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of the DOE, to provide additional information about the energy impact of cryptomining, including the impact it is having on residents and small businesses.

    In their letter, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Edward J. Markey, were joined by Representatives Jared Huffman, Rashida Tlaib, and Jeffrey A. Merkley.

    Cryptomining in the city of Plattsburgh, New York reportedly resulted in residential electricity bills that were “up to $300 higher than usual” in the winter of 2018, leading the city to introduce the nation’s first 18-month moratorium on new cryptomining operations. A recent study estimates that “the power demands of cryptocurrency mining operations in upstate New York push up annual electric bills by about $165 million for small businesses and $79 million for individuals.” Moreover, states like Texas with relatively cheap electricity costs are experiencing an influx of cryptomining companies, raising concerns about the state’s unreliable electricity market and the potential for cryptomining to add to the stress on the state’s power grid.

    The lawmakers point out that the problem is amplified by a lack of regulation and oversight for the industry in general, leading the lawmakers to reach out to seven of the top cryptomining companies in the US.

    The seven companies alone indicated that they presently have developed over 1,045 MW capacity for cryptomining. This is nearly enough capacity to power all the residences in Houston, Texas.

    The lawmakers also expressed concern over the carbon emissions the industry produces. While some of the top seven companies touted facilities that were using sustainable energy, other of their facilities produce massive amounts of carbon.

    For example, Riot indicated that its 51 MW Coinmint facility “utilizes nearly exclusively hydroelectricity, a zero-emission, sustainable energy source.” But its Whinstone facility, which is seven times larger, uses power from the Texas grid that relies on coal or natural gas for more than 63 percent of its generating capacity.

    The letter is the latest challenge for an industry already reeling from massive losses.

  • Companies Pull Out Of RSA Conference 2020 Due To Coronavirus

    Companies Pull Out Of RSA Conference 2020 Due To Coronavirus

    RSA Conference 2020 is one of the biggest security conferences of the year, but it will have to go on without some major backers due to the coronavirus.

    According to organizers, Verizon, IBM and AT&T Cybersecurity have pulled out of the conference amid concerns over the virus. In total, that brings the count to 14 companies who have withdrawn, including six from China, seven from the U.S. and one from Canada.

    San Francisco Mayor London Breed has tried to reassure attendees, emphasizing that the “risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 in San Francisco is low, as the virus is not circulating within our community.”

    Overall, only an estimated 1.2 percent of expected attendees have canceled. In the meantime, organizers provided the following recommendations for those attending:

    “In addition to following CDC recommendations like frequent hand washing, RSA Conference reminds attendees that other preventive measures have been put in place to help reduce the risk of infection. The Moscone Center is following recommendations in the US EPA’s Emerging Pathogen Policy regarding the use of cleaning disinfectants effective against the coronavirus and CDC health screenings for qualified travelers arriving from international destinations at the San Francisco International Airport.“

  • EPA Says Rolling Coal Is Illegal

    EPA Says Rolling Coal Is Illegal

    If you’ve ever been stopped at a red light behind or beside a big truck, you know well the scramble to roll up the windows when that behemoth starts rolling and exhaust comes spewing from its stacks. If, like me, you are not given to fits of road rage, you figure this is an innocent side effect of driving a diesel truck, and no reason to get your blood pressure up. Just pass the guy and get back to relatively clean air.

    But what if you found out that this guy was deliberately spewing more smoke into the air, and into the faces of you and your family, than he needed to? What if you found out that he had, in fact, deliberately altered his vehicle just to get laughs at you choking on his smoke?

    That’s some douchebaggery, by definition. Would it matter to you if the guy told you that he had a political point to make, an axe to grind with environmentalists?

    Me neither.

    But that is exactly what passes for “activism” in some of the less-enlightened parts of our Republic. While some people laugh about liberal environmentalists chaining themselves to trees to stall logging activities, or marching against mountaintop clearing, some think that “rolling coal”, the practice of modifying one’s injection pump on a diesel engine so that it spews even more smoke, is a valid form of free speech.

    Some of these paragons of higher learning seek out hybrid cars to dish out their free speech on.

    Well, the EPA says belching out poison gases is not protected free speech. According to the EPA website:

    It is a violation of the [Clean Air Act] to manufacture, sell, or install a part for a motor vehicle that bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative any emission control device. For example, computer software that alters diesel fuel injection timing is a defeat device. Defeat devices, which are often sold to enhance engine performance, work by disabling a vehicle’s emission controls, causing air pollution. As a result of EPA enforcement, some of the largest manufacturers of defeat devices have agreed to pay penalties and stop the sale of defeat devices.

    The CAA prohibits anyone from tampering with an emission control device on a motor vehicle by removing it or making it inoperable prior to or after the sale or delivery to the buyer. A vehicle’s emission control system is designed to limit emissions of harmful pollutants from vehicles or engines. EPA works with manufacturers to ensure that they design their components with tamper-proofing, addresses trade groups to educate mechanics about the importance of maintaining the emission control systems, and prosecutes cases where significant or imminent harm is occurring.

    Image via YouTube

  • Bee Kill-Off In A Parking Lot Due To Tree Pesticide

    Bee Kill-Off In A Parking Lot Due To Tree Pesticide

    A Target store in Wilsonville, Oregon was the site of a rare, deadly phenomenon on Friday.

    According to the L.A. Times, around 25,000 bees were killed around the store and fell to the ground from trees, littering walkways and the parking lot, due to a pesticide that had been sprayed in the foliage. The trees surrounding the area were mostly lindens, which attract bees with their sweet nectar.

    “It was a mistake to put it on linden trees in bloom,” said Dan Hilburn, director of plant programs with the Oregon State Department of Agriculture.

    Bumblebees weren’t the only casualties; ladybugs, flies, and honeybees were also found in the parking lot. Workers placed protective netting over the trees to keep more insects from dying, but the EPA is investigating to determine whether the fault lies with the pesticide company–for mislabeling the product–or with those responsible for spraying the trees. Thousands of dollars in fines may be accrued

    The warning label on the pesticide–Safari–reads, “This product is highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment or residues on blooming crops or weeds. Do not apply this product or allow it to drift to blooming crops or weeds if bees are visiting the treatment area.”

    An estimated 150 bumblebee hives were destroyed in the incident.

  • Honda Fit EV Gets 118 Miles Per Gallon

    Honda Fit EV Gets 118 Miles Per Gallon

    If you are tired of paying those high gas prices, but are unswayed by today’s hybrids and electrics, you might soon rethink your pessimism.

    The new 2013 Handa Fit EV has just been given the world’s best fuel efficiency rating by the Environmental Protection Agency at 118 Miles Per Gallon with an unprecedented consumption rating of 29 kilowatt hours (kWh) per 100 miles.

    The car is all electric, so the MPG is determined by an EPA methodology that compares the amount of energy used, with the equivalent in gasoline of how much it would take to run the same car.

    A years worth of electricity to power the car is estimated to cost $500. Wow. Compare that to the estimate for a conventional automatic gasoline Fit at $1,500. And that’s considered to be a fuel efficient vehicle.

    The Fit EV can go 82 miles before a recharge, more than enough to get to and from work for most people. That can be compared to the Ford Focus Electric, which gets 76 miles on a single “tank”, or the Nissan Leaf which caps out at 73 miles. The fit can be charged in three hours on a 240 volt system, putting out as much as 123 horsepower.

    It wil be available in California and Oregon this summer, but east coasters will have to wait until next year to try them out.

    As someone who has never driven a hybrid or an electric, I must say I am intrigued about the incredibly high fuel efficiency rating. With these high ratings, it is strange that better batteries have not been engineered to last longer and deliver more output.

    I’ve also heard the accelerating beyond 30 Mph is incredibly slow and driving at higher speeds reduces battery life quite a bit. Even using the heater or air conditioning can have a tremendous impact. High MPG or no, I think better, longer lasting batteries are going to be the key to getting people excited about electric vehicles.

  • Tech Companies Make EPA’s ‘Green Power’ List

    Since 2004 the Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of top companies that use what it calls “Green Power”. This quarter, 7 tech giants have made the list

    Green Power Resources include clean and renewable energy sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, wind and hydro power. The EPA ranks them in order of the number of kilowatt hours of green power they consume, so the larger the company, the bigger chance they have of making the list.

    Larger companies also have more money to spend on partnerships with the EPA. These companies do not necessarily have to generate or buy electric power for themselves, but rather buy energy certificates from companies selling “Green Power”. According to ZDNet, many companies do this just for the sake of building their green energy portfolio.

    Intel has topped the list since 2008, using 2.5 billion kilwatt hours of biomass, geothermal, hydro, solar and wind power. The amount of green power they consume compared to the total number of power consumption is high at 88 percent.

    Other top green power tech companies include Cisco Systems, Sprint, Dell, Google, and Xerox. These companies consume a lot of green energy, but their percentages are nowhere near Intel’s 88 percent.

    • Microsoft – 1.12 billion kW – biomass, small-hydro, wind – 46%
    • Cisco Systems – 268.6 million kWh – wind – 27%
    • Sprint – 176 million kWh – solar, wind – 5%
    • Dell – 119.4 million kWh – biogas, solar, wind – 29%
    • Google – 103 million kWh – biogas, biomass, small-hydro, solar, wind – 5%
    • Xerox – 101.4 million kWh – wind – 18%

    The alarming thing is the amount of non-renewable energy being consumed by these large companies who make the list of top green power consumers, but only use green power as a small percentage of their total power consumption. Sprint, for instance, uses or sponsors 176 million kWh hours of green energy. But when you take into account their percentage, they are using 3.5 billion kWh hours of energy from other, non-environmentally friendly sources.

    Perhaps a more telling list is EPA’s list of companies using on-site generators. This shows the companies that are taking a direct risk in investing large amounts of money to back alternative energy. Of tech companies, only Google makes the list, for investing in on-site biogas and solar projects.

    [Sources: ZDNet, EPA]