How much confidence do we have in the science?
Researchers use the scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships. This method requires that a
hypothesis be constructed. Scientists then design an appropriate well-controlled experiment to test that hypothesis. The results must be statistically significant and reproducible in order to be considered valid. There are a number of techniques that can be used to enhance the objectivity of a study as well as increase its statistical reliability.
In prospective medical research for example, we often use double blind, placebo controlled studies so that neither the researcher nor the patient knows if they are receiving the active drug or a placebo. This eliminates observer bias. Some times we cross the patient's over, so that the same patient takes both the active…
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What a waste, spewing valuable carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
The wonders we could create with this fundamental building block of life. Worse still, government bureaucrats with their limited intellectual toolbox want to treat this incredibly useful natural material as a harmful pollutant and tax it. Imagination, have we American's lost our capacity to think and innovate? Have we become mindless automatons who only see gloom and doom and ignore the opportunities right in front of our eyes? Carbon dioxide (CO2) doesn't have to be a tax on society; there are countless ways it could be turned into useful products for the betterment of mankind. Let's examine a few:
Back to basics -it's sophomore year in high school and it's the biology class that environmental scientists seem to have slept through…
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It was all about the battery, they will say, while viewing the Chevrolet Volt on its prominent display stand -- diagonally across from the Edsel in some car museum of the future.
Obama Motors (OM), formally known as General Motors (GM) has reiterated its commitment to deliver the green
Chevrolet Volt, plug-in electric car to showrooms in November 2010 as planned. This despite the fact that President Obama's own
task force concluded that the Volt would be too expensive to be commercially viable. Industry analysts estimate the cost of the Volt will be around $40,000. As a comparison, the
price of proven green fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Prius ranges from $22,000 to $24,270 for the base model and the recently introduced, Honda Motor Co.'s Insight hybrid, $19,800…
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Only one industrial country in the world has significantly reduced its carbon footprint, and that country is France. France, the sixth largest economy in the world, ranks 15th in
carbon dioxide emissions, behind pre-industrial economies like Iran and Indonesia. France has simultaneously, reduced its dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and oil. While we dither with small-scale experimental intermittent technologies like
solar and
wind in the United States, France has gone nuclear and clean. In 2008
wind and solar accounted for 1.1% of US energy needs and even if we meet President Obama's objective of doubling the amount by 2012, its contribution will still be inconsequential. In the best-case scenario for wind and solar, they might together generate 20%-25% of our clean…
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Coal-fired plants produce approximately 50% of the electricity in the United States and 82% of power-generated
carbon dioxide emissions. If electric vehicles are charged exclusively by coal-fired electricity they produce more
greenhouse gases than a traditional gasoline-powered combustion engine car. In the future, electricity must be generated cleanly if we expect automotive electric-drive technologies to reduce our carbon dioxide burden. Clean energy alternatives like
Wind and
solar power will probably make a significant contribution to clean energy generation, but realistically, we cannot count on these two sources for more than 20-30% of our electricity needs in the next 20 years. Even reaching these modest goals will require a major investment in energy infrastructure and fundamental advances in technology. In light of these realities, it…
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