Planetary Ruin

In a conversation with Scott Sagan last week, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discussed a wide range of international conflicts facing the next president, as well as her experience as a high-powered woman in politics.

As Sagan, a professor of political science, and Albright rhetorically toured the globe, pausing at hot spots to probe serious policy issues, Albright delivered her advice with a dose of humor.

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Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it has developed an advanced fuel-cell vehicle that can run for 830 km (516 miles) on a single tank of hydrogen and in temperatures as low as 30 degrees Celsius below freezing (-22 F).

The zero-emission FCHV-adv will be leased to government agencies, among other possible users, in Japan starting later this year, a spokeswoman said.

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The Dept. of Energy joined forces with six major wind turbine makers this week in a bid to grow wind energy production high enough to account for a fifth of total generation by 2030.

The DOE and GE, Vestas, Siemens Power Generation, Clipper Turbine Works, Suzlon Energy and Gamesa Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding to advance wind energy manufacturing and address issues such as turbine reliability and standards, site strategies and workforce development.

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The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick an all-consuming addiction to carbon dioxide and said everyone must take steps to fight climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming was becoming the defining issue of the era and will hurt rich and poor alike.

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Dovetailing nicely into my post last week about the work GreenFuel is doing with algae and their emissions-to-fuel process, air carrier KLM reported last week their intention to begin testing airplanes that run on an algae-based fuel.

In a pilot program with AlgaeLink, a Netherlands-based global manufacturer of algae growing equipment and “earth-to-engine” technology, KLM expects to conduct test flights this fall. AlgaeLink will also open two plants this year in the Netherlands and Spain.

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