Thereâs plenty of worrying environmental news out there, but over the weekend bloggers and reporters highlighted a few glimmers of hope, too:
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EnviroWonk: Seattle, following San Franciscoâs lead, has banned city purchases of bottled water. Planners figure the switch from bottled to tap water will save $58,500 as well as reducing plastic waste.
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Triple Pundit: The Beluga Skysailâs completion of a 12,000-mile journey proves that ships can use towing kites to reduce their fuel requirements â in this case, offsetting an estimated 20% of the engineâs power and saving $1000 per day on fuel.
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The Oregonian: Tax breaks and cash rebates have ignited a solar boom in Oregon; state officials expect the amount of solar power in Oregon to jump more than eightfold this year.
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Nature: A campaign by India's Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi is working to bring solar lighting to the developing world, improving health and working conditions for one billion people â and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, which has won it praise from IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri.
The last two items are via Environmental Health News, which has a special section for Good News.
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Another one in the eye for the solarists. K. Rypdal, JGR VOL. 117, D06115, 14 PP., 2012 doi:10.1029/2011JD017283:
Over at The Island of Doubt, James Hrynyshyn has a post about solar skepticism on the part of some researchers, who think that claims of increased efficiency are often overhyped.
Solar gardens in the state have just reached the 100 megawatt milestone.