State GHG update from Stef

Stephenie, a very famous Unity College alum, sent in a comprehensive state GHG initiative report for us to post. Useful for students who need to know what's going on in the great State O' Maine for class projects, etc, but also useful for regular visitors from off campus. Thanks, Stef.

I posted the entire document itself as it was sent to me, so Stef's interesting links would all work. Click on the link below if you want to see the whole thing.

Maine moves forward in reaching reductions of greenhouse gases

By Stephenie J.M. McGarvey

The Department of Environmental Protection recently released their Second Biennial Report on Maine’s progress toward Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals to the Natural Resources Committee.
The report includes how options under the state’s Climate Action Plan are being implemented and how the state is progressing in reaching its goals of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. Excerpts are taken directly from the release of the report.

Great newspaper article on the new degree programs

Unity offering sustainability degrees


By Morning Sentinel staff, 02/09/2008
from the Morning Sentinel


UNITY -- Search for the term "sustainability" and Google will spit out 16 million Web references, all presumably revolving around practices that can be continued indefinitely without adversely impacting the environment.
Fortune 500 companies looking to save energy, homeowners hoping to curb their carbon footprints and presidential candidates on both sides of the political spectrum all have started preaching and practicing sustainability.

Twins!

One of our Hampshire ewes gave birth to twins on Friday. despite the cold, mother and lambs are doing well.

Photos will appear as soon as I can get some.

Mick

Baby lamb

This is the first of what should be four or possibly more UC FFA Club Farm lambs this spring. Mother and child are doing well in their lambing pen or "jug" at the Tinker Farm. For early lambs, a special pen with heat lamp and mother confined ensures survival in Maine winters. Luckily, it's relatively warm out today at around 25-28 F. The first worry the shepherd has is, is the lamb warm enough to survive? Most lambs that die shortly after birth do so from hypothermia because they're still wet and can't dry off and warm up. The mother's vigorous licking helps stimulate the lamb to move and get warm. The second question is, is it feeding? Lambs need calories to stay warm. As you can see, this one is. Lambs always wag their tail vigorously when they're getting milk.

These lambs are Hampshires and Hampshire crosses. I always think Hampshires are a too-skinny sheep. But then Aimee and I keep Corriedales, which are not only fatter, but have a good deal more fleece. Our own pregnant ewes are huge and will get even bigger by the time they're due, right around spring break.

You can time the birth of your first lamb of the season by separating the ram or "tup" in the fall. If he can't get to the ewes, he can't breed them, and the gestation period will ensure a later birth, which in Maine is very good policy. Last year at this time it was far too cold for early lambs. Cold weather and early births make for busy shepherds and sometimes a dead lamb.

Students may go visit, but are asked to go in the sheep shed only with FFA club members. There are three other pregnant mothers there, all due very shortly, so we don't need to get them running around all riled up, if we can help it.

Thanks to Aimee P for the great pictures.

Recycling announcement from Keith

I want to thank all for their help with our recycling program. The C.R.A.P. crew is doing a great job.

In an effort to help keep more items from the land fill I called Goodwill and the Salvation Army about becoming a drop off site for them. Unfortunately they no longer use drop off boxes because people were using them for trash, All donations must be taken to the stores.

So once a month starting February 20th we will be placing one of our trailers in the Eastview/Westview parking lot so people can drop off any unwanted items. Then we will deliver them to the Goodwill or Salvation Army stores. Please tell your friends and family. The more items the better. I will send a reminder on the 18th .

Keith

Giving up carbon for Lent

Gerry sent this one in. If you buy offsets, that definitely makes it an "indulgence." Where is Martin Luther when you need him?

And if Gerry is reading the Telegraph, will he vote "Tory" in November, and if so how?


Christians told: Give up carbon for Lent

By Paul Eccleston, Daily Telegraph

Two senior Church of England Bishops have called on people to give up carbon rather than chocolate for Lent.

The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones and the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, will make the call before the 40 days of Lent begins on Wednesday February 6. Lent is the time when Christians traditionally give up such things as sweets, chocolate or alcohol in recognition of the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert to prepare for his ministry.

Ultracapacitors -- better than batteries?

We're all familiar with batteries of various rechargeable and disposable varieties. The stored electrochemical potential energy in batteries allow us to start car engines, fire up laptops, take cell phone calls, and jam to music from ipods.

Batteries are clearly versatile devices for storing and delivering mobile power, but they have some drawbacks:

1) Charging can take a long time.

2) Batteries don't last forever, and they lose capacity and performance with use. Rechargeable batteries usually fail before the the devices they power rust, break, or become obsolete. This is inconvenient and not ideal from a sustainability standpoint (see 3).

3) Producing batteries requires large amounts of energy and toxic materials (which disposal safety hazards).

4) Battery performance in situations requiring large amounts of power or storage is lacking. In applications such as electric vehicles and off-grid RE homes, energy storage is still a critical limiting factor in terms of capacity and expense.

Enter ultracapacitors, technology that could potentially avoid many of batteries' drawbacks. Ultracapacitors charge fully in a matter of seconds or minutes rather than hours, take millions of charge cycles (they would likely outlast the devices that they power), and have higher power output than chemical batteries.

Capacitors are fundamentally very simple, storing energy by accumulating static electrical charges on parallel plates separated by an insulator. Capacitors have been around for a long time, and populate circuit boards of electronic devices for a variety of purposes. University researchers and a few R&D companies are now extending this technology to push the envelope of energy storage capacity, by increasing the surface area of the capacitor's plates, and by using insulators with special properties.

Are you CHARGED UP and ecSTATIC to learn more? Check this out.