The new plant, PS10 (Planta Solar 10), is the first commercial solar thermoelectric power plant in the world and has a peak capacity of 11MW - sufficient to generate 23 million kWh of electricity per year powering 6,000 homes and saving 18,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year. The plant took four years to build with construction finishing at the end of 2005 and has so far cost 35 million Euro. Construction was led by Solucar, an Albengoa company.
A second power tower, PS20 is being constructed which will produce around a peak of around 20MW of electricity. Construction began in October 2006.
PS10 is the first of a series of concentrated solar power plants which will total 300 MW of peak capacity by 2013 - enough to power almost 200,000 homes. The total cost of the project is in excess of 1.2 billion Euro.
First European Solar Power Tower
US vote says cigarettes are drugs
The US House of Representatives has voted to treat tobacco as a drug and have it regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The bill would tighten restrictions on advertising, impose new penalties for selling to children and require all new products to be approved by the FDA.
But the White House threatened to veto the bill, saying it would put an enormous burden on the FDA.
Exxon has record profit again on soaring oil prices
Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday soaring oil prices pushed its second-quarter earnings up 14 percent, again breaking its own record for the highest-ever profit by a U.S. company.
Net income in the quarter rose to $11.68 billion, or $2.22 a share, from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, last year.
TVNL Comment: They had lowered production based on much less demand and still posted record profits Do you understand what this means? Do you know the laws of supply and demand? This is simple and plain extortion made possible by Dick Cheney's energy policies.
Was 9/11 An Inside Job?
Regrettably, there is considerable evidence that elements of the Bush administration were complicit in the 9/11 attack, and may even have helped stage it.
Osama did not cooperate by acknowledging his role in the attack; on the contrary. In a statement on September 16, 2001 carried by Al- Jazeera, bin Laden categorically denied any involvement. Days later, he repeated this denial during an interview with the Pakistani newspaper Ummaut.[16] On November 3, 2001 Al-Jazeera released a third statement, in which bin Laden not only denied involvement but also accused the Bush administration of waging a "crusader war" against the Muslim world. To the best of my knowledge, none of these denials were reported in the US media. Why not?
Bush signs new rules, roles for spy agencies
President Bush approved an order Wednesday that rewrites the rules governing spying by U.S. intelligence agencies, both in the United States and abroad, and strengthens the authority of the national intelligence director, according to a U.S. official and government documents.
The order has been under revision for more than a year, an attempt to update a nearly 30-year-old presidential order to reflect organizational changes made in the intelligence agencies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
It was carried on in secret in the midst of pitched national debate about the appropriate balance between civil liberties and security, spurred by the president's warrantless wiretapping program.
Exxon, Chevron Rely on Record Prices for Gains as Output Drops
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. may report their lowest production since 2005, leaving investors reliant on record energy prices to drive profit gains at the largest U.S. oil companies.
Second-quarter output fell more than 5 percent, the most in at least a decade.
TVNL Comment: Record prices with reduced demand. Do the math. Thank Dick Cheney.
California to sue EPA on greenhouse gas emissions
California will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "wantonly" ignoring its duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft, and construction and agricultural equipment, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said on Wednesday.
"Ships, aircraft and industrial equipment burn huge quantities of fossil fuel, causing greenhouse gas pollution, yet President (George W.) Bush stalls with one bureaucratic dodge after another," said Brown, a strong advocate for the environment since his two terms as a liberal California governor in the 1970s and 1980s.
"Because Bush's Environmental Protection Agency continues to wantonly ignore its duty to regulate pollution, California is forced to seek judicial action," he said.
Strategy Against Al-Qaeda Faulted
The Bush administration's terrorism-fighting strategy has not significantly undermined al-Qaeda's capabilities, according to a major new study that argues the struggle against terrorism is better waged by law enforcement agencies than by armies.
The study by the nonpartisan Rand Corp. also contends that the administration committed a fundamental error in portraying the conflict with al-Qaeda as a "war on terrorism." The phrase falsely suggests that there can be a battlefield solution to terrorism, and symbolically conveys warrior status on terrorists, it said.
"The U.S. military can play a critical role in building indigenous capacity," it said, "but should generally resist being drawn into combat operations in Muslim societies, since its presence is likely to increase terrorist recruitment."
Democrats Urge Head Of EPA To Resign
Four Democratic senators called yesterday for Stephen L. Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and they asked Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to investigate whether Johnson lied in testimony to a Senate committee.
The senators, all members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Johnson -- the first career scientist to head up the agency -- had repeatedly succumbed to political pressure on decisions vital to protecting health and the environment.
The senators also allege in the letter to Mukasey that Johnson made false statements before the committee in January when he said that he alone had decided California should not regulate the gases blamed for global warming from motor vehicles.
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