| Google invests in $5bn wind-power superhighway The Atlantic Wind Connection Project will serve 1.9m homes from New Jersey to Virginia with electricity from dozens of offshore windfarmsGoogle is extending its investment in green technology with a $5bn (£3.2bn) programme to build an undersea, wind energy transmission backbone along 350 miles of the Atlantic seaboard.The grid project, which stands to serve 1.9m homes from Virginia to New Jersey with up to 6,000 megawatts of electric power from dozens of windfarms 10 miles off the mid-Atlantic coast, is the most ambitious of its kind.Google announced it is working with Trans-Elect and two other firms, but has not offered a timetable for construction. "This system will act as a superhighway for clean energy," said Rick Needham, Google's green-business operations director.Investment in both wind energy programmes and the controversial extraction of shale oil from deposits in North Dakota, Montana and Alberta, Canada, has increased since the BP spill over the summer caused US lawmakers to curb permits for offshore oil and gas drilling.For Google, the Atlantic Wind Connection Project is in line with earlier investments. In May, it put $40m into two North Dakota windfarms, its first clean-energy investment. Two days ago the firm announced it had tested a self-driving electric car on Californian highways.Today's announcement offers hope that further investment will pour into the lagging US wind-energy programme. Consistent wind through Montana and the Dakotas, off the South Carolina coast and across the Texas panhandle gives the US windfarm industry an opportunity to supply significant amounts of electricity to the grid.But compared with China, now the leading manufacturer of wind turbines and solar energy equipment, the US had been comparatively slow in adopting the technology. Public opposition to windfarms, including a large project off the presidential holiday island of Martha's Vineyard, has taken years to resolve.That may now be changing: the Global Wind Energy Council industry group estimates wind-power investment may reach $202bn over the next 20 years.Charlie Hodges, a wind industry analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: "The North American wind industry hasn't had any players involved with the motivation and financial heft to really move this market forward. Google could play that role."GoogleWind powerEnergyRenewable energyEnergy industryUnited StatesEdward Helmoreguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Balancing Act Tried With China The Obama administration patted Beijing on the back over recent currency moves but opened a fight over whether the Chinese improperly subsidize clean-technology manufacturers. online.wsj.com |
Anita Hill's message for Virginia Thomas | Michael Tomasky Ginni's bizarre voicemail call for an apology only highlights the credibility of Hill's testimony against Clarence ThomasI was surprised to read that Ginni Thomas – the "nonpolitical" wife of "Silent" Clarence Thomas, the supreme court justice who, in 19 years, has still asked very few questions from the high bench – made her bizarre phone call to Anita Hill at 7:30 last Saturday morning.That's usually the sort of call one makes after knocking back a few drinks. Thomas may be a teetotaller for all I know. Or she may have been a nursing a hangover. Yes – she's clearly been nursing one for 19 years, ever since (by her interpretation) her husband was the "victim" of a "high-tech lynching" at the senate judiciary committee.The facts, for that dwindling number who care about them, continue to suggest otherwise. True, there is no proof that Thomas lied on the stand about his reported penchant for pornography or his alleged sexual harassment of Hill and other women in his employ at the time. But in their book Strange Justice, Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson, then with the Wall Street Journal, found, let us say, lots of spent ammunition lying on the floor. They concluded that the "preponderance" of evidence suggested that Hill was telling the truth.Many people forget now that the Democrats had a second woman ready to testify, but who did not end up appearing before the committee. She was ready to go but was not called. Angela Wright, who also worked for Thomas, told NPR in 2007 that Thomas had "perjured his way onto the court" and, by the bye, had this to say:I always knew him to be a mean-spirited, nasty, fairly unstable person. It was enlightening to read his account of his childhood, because that did put it in perspective. Actually, my heart went out to the young child Clarence once I understood he was a child whose father was absent, whose mother sent them away, who was raised by an unemotional grandfather. I finally understood where all his anger and mean-spiritedness came from. I knew it was there. And also, his self-loathing and his hatred for anything black or civil rights-oriented or affirmative action.Wright also said Thomas had made offensive sexual comments in her presence and pressured her to date him. Yet, 19 years later, here comes Ginni Thomas to stand by her man.Clarence ThomasUS midterm elections 2010Anita HillUS supreme courtUnited StatesUS CongressMichael Tomaskyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Key Kenyan minister steps aside Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula steps aside pending an investigation into his alleged role in an embassy corruption scandal. bbc.co.uk |
Pain Medication Safety Series Intro - Video Engaging Online Video Series Talks Pain Therapy Safety to Help Dissipate Fears feedproxy.google.com |