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Misguided federal farm policies have encouraged the growth of massive confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, by shifting billions of dollars in environmental, health and economic costs to taxpayers and communities, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). As a result, CAFOs now produce most of the nation's beef, pork, chicken, dairy and eggs, even though there are more sophisticated and efficient farms in operation.

"CAFOs aren't the natural result of agricultural progress, nor are they the result of rational planning or market forces," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in UCS's Food and Environment Program and author of the report. "Ill-advised policies created them, and it will take new policies to replace them with more sustainable, environmentally friendly production methods."

"CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations" enumerates the policies that have allowed CAFOs to dominate U.S. meat and dairy production. For example, it found that from 1997 to 2005 taxpayer-subsidized grain prices saved CAFOs nearly $35 billion in animal feed, which comprises a large percentage of their supply costs. Cattle operations that raise animals exclusively on pasture land do not benefit from the subsidy. (To read the full report, go to: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/sustainable_food/cafos-uncovered.html)

The report also details how other federal policies give CAFOs hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to address their pollution problems, which stem from the manure generated by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of animals confined in a small area. The report estimates that CAFOs have received $100 million in annual pollution prevention payments in recent years through the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which was established by the 2002 Farm Bill.

"If CAFOs were forced to pay for the ripple effects of harm they have caused, they wouldn't be dominating the U.S. meat industry like they are today," said Margaret Mellon, director of UCS's Food and Environment Program. "The good news is that we can institute new policies that support animal production methods that benefit society rather than harm it."

Instead of favoring CAFOs, the report recommends that government policies provide incentives for modern production methods that benefit the environment, public health and rural communities. The report also shows that several smart alternative production methods can offer meat and dairy at costs comparable to CAFO products.

For example, some livestock producers move beef and dairy cattle frequently to different areas of a pasture, enabling them to spread out manure, prevent overgrazing, and take advantage of grass as a cost-effective source of animal feed. Meanwhile, some hog farmers have built hog hoop barns—open-ended structures with curved roofs—as an alternative to confining the animals in cramped buildings.

"Many farmers are succeeding when they work with nature instead of against it," said Gurian-Sherman. "These savvy producers are proving that hog hoop barns, smart pasture operations, and other alternative methods can compete with the massive CAFOs. And that's despite the fact that the cards are stacked against them."

In addition to steering taxpayer dollars away from CAFOs, the report also urges Congress to enforce laws that encourage competition so alternative producers can get their meat and dairy to consumers as easily as CAFOs. Making CAFOs, rather than taxpayers, pay to prevent or clean up the pollution they create is also critical, Gurian-Sherman said.

Mellon noted that next week the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production is expected to issue its final report that documents the effects of intensive animal production on humans, animals, and the environment. "When taken together," she said, "the two reports paint a grim picture of CAFOs and make strong, practical recommendations for new policies that can take us in a new, more efficient direction that will not fleece the American public."

Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa.org
Press Release dated April 24, 2008
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/sustainable_food/cafos-uncovered.html

With consumers facing higher electricity bills and a growing interest in limiting carbon emissions and fostering "green" power, the Maryland Energy Administration issued a detailed "Strategic Energy Plan" in January 2008. The plan's recommendations range from allocating revenues from selling carbon emissions permits to subsidize energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, to legislatively requiring utilities to reduce consumption, to decoupling utility profits from sales volume. Our panelists evaluated some of the many recommendations in the plan and offer general perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of its provisions.

Introduction: Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future
Moderator: Timothy J. Brennan, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future; Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Speakers:
Malcolm Woolf, Director, Maryland Energy Administration
Benjamin F. Hobbs, Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University ; Member, California ISO Market Surveillance Committee
Karen Palmer, Darius Gaskins Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
Panel discussion and Question and Answer Session

Resources For the Futures (RFF) www.RFF.org
http://www.rff.org/rff/Events/Curbing-Electricity-Demand-April-2008-First-Wednesday.cfm

Abstract: Numerous studies on housing markets indicate that neighborhood amenities such as trees and open space increase property values while the presence of hazardous facilities, pollution and flooding risks decreases housing prices. However, previous studies have focused on the direct impacts of neighborhood characteristics on housing prices using the Hedonic Price Model (HPM). Potential interactive relationships among neighborhood characteristics have not been clearly tested. This study examines direct impacts of urban forest on property values and indirect impact on the relationship between Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) chemical facilities and tax base property values in Tarrant County, Texas. Distance to hazardous chemical sites and the amount of foliage coverage within neighborhoods are measured using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and regressed to tax base property values. To test the indirect impact of trees coverage on the relationship between TRI sites and property values, the moderation model is examined with more foliage coverage (MF) parcels and less foliage coverage (LF) parcels. The empirical result of this study confirms the findings of previous studies suggesting negative influences of hazardous facilities, and positive effects from trees on housing prices. Furthermore, this study uncovers that amount of tree coverage within a neighborhood have an indirect impact on housing values. Specifically, trees in neighborhood environments significantly reduce the negative influence of distance to TRI hazardous chemical facilities. Negative influences of TRI hazardous chemical facilities appear not to be significant in many-treed neighborhoods while hazardous chemical facilities show negative influences on housing values in neighborhoods less-covered by trees.

Keywords: Moderation effects; Trees; Vegetation; Tax base property values; Geographic; Information systems (GIS); Toxics release inventory (TRI)

by Sang-Woo Lee 1, Pat D. Taylor 2 and Sung-kwon Hong 1
1. Department of Environmental Science, Konkuk University
2. Program in Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19108, 601 West Nedderman Drive, Arlington, TX 76019-0108, USA

Landscape and Urban Planning via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 86, Issue 2; May 26, 2008; Pages 171-176
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.02.002

Abstract:
This paper contains brief statements about three new low-cost methods of obtaining clean hydrogen in massive amounts.

In the first method, new technology for converting solar energy and water to hydrogen at a price of $2.50 for an amount of hydrogen equal in first law energy to that in a gallon of gasoline seems to follow from a company's announcement of their new technology, already working, in one fully industrialized plant, producing electricity at a price corresponding to that from coal.

In the second method, pure hydrogen (no accompanying CO2) can be obtained from natural gas and heat. The cost would be a little less than that of the low-cost hydrogen from water decomposition (and avoid storage of hydrogen for the 18 h/day of zero solar light).

In the third method, CO2 is extracted from the atmosphere and combined chemically with the low-cost hydrogen to produce methanol. On being used to produce heat or electricity (fuel cell), CO2 is left over. However, the amount of CO2, thus added to the atmosphere is just equivalent to the amount removed. The presence of low-cost hydrogen from water means that the resulting methanol will also be of low cost and be a cure for global warming without a radical change of distribution method.

Keywords: Hydrogen; Global warming; Oil-based economy; Fossil fuels

Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. The projected fall in the cost of solar-based electricity
3. Hydrogen from natural gas without co-production of CO2
4. The synthesis of methanol from atmospheric CO2 and solar hydrogen

by John O’M. Bockris; Haile Plantation, 10515 SW 55th Place Gainesville, FL 32608, USA

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 33, Issue 9; May, 2008; Pages 2129-2131
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.02.030

In the US, President Bush's proposed federal budget for the Fiscal Year 2009 would cut funding for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies by 69%, deferring research on hydrogen production to focus instead on hydrogen storage and fuel cell technologies that are needed to aid the development of a practical fuel cell vehicle by 2015.

Fuel Cells Bulletin via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 2008, Issue 4; April, 2008; Page 10
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1464-2859(08)70172-X

Abstract: A model of a solar–wind hydrogen energy system was applied to the Ceará state—Brazil and the prospects for reducing emissions of fossil fuels pollutants in such federal state were studied. This long-term study simulates three scenarios of fast, slow and no introduction of hydrogen in the energy balance of the Ceará state. Not including nitrogen oxides, if fuel burning continues, results indicate that hydrogen energy eventually will reduce to zero all emissions of fossil fuels pollutants in the Ceará state by the year 2060 in both scenarios of hydrogen introduction.

Keywords: Hydrogen energy; Fossil fuels pollutants; Ceará state
Key Variables: electric energy for desalination, fossil fuel price, hydrogen price, energy consumption/demand, gross product, hydrogen production (consumption) rate, quality of life, pollution, population, fossil fuel resources, solar insolation, fossil fuel pollution per unit energy, fraction of fossil fuels extracted per year, ratio of pollution produced by hydrogen to that produced by fossil fuels, ratio of hydrogen utilization efficiency to that of fossil fuels, Emissions of carbon dioxide in the Ceará state, Emissions of methane, Emissions of sulphur oxide, Emissions of nitrogen oxide

by E.M. do Sacramento 1, L.C. de Lima 1, C.J. Oliveira 1 and T. Nejat Veziroglu 2
1. Department of Physics, State University of Ceará, Fortaleza CE 60740-000, Brazil
2. Clean Energy Research Institute, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 33, Issue 9; May, 2008; Pages 2132-2137
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.02.018

Abstract: Over the last two decades, global electricity production has more than doubled and electricity demand is rising rapidly around the world as economic development spreads to emerging economies. Not only has electricity demand increased significantly, it is the fastest growing end-use of energy. Therefore, technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power make it an important contributor to the future world energy mix, particularly in the developing countries. This paper deals with policies to meet increasing energy and electricity demand for sustainable energy development in Turkey. Turkey has a total gross hydropower potential of 433 GWh/year, but only 125 GWh/year of the total hydroelectric potential of Turkey can be economically used. By the commissioning of new hydropower plants, which are under construction, 36% of the economically usable potential of the country would be tapped. Turkey's total economically usable small hydropower potential is 3.75 GWh/year.

Keywords: Hydropower; Renewable energy; Sustainable development; Large dams
Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. The role of hydropower in sustainable development
3. An overview of Turkey
4. Water resources management in Turkey
5. Energy utilization in Turkey
5.1. Energy resources
5.2. Development of electrical energy
6. Hydropower development in Turkey
6.1. Historical review
6.2. Hydropower potential
6.3. Current situation
6.4. Future aspects
6.5. Developments in Turkish energy sector policies
6.6. The importance of hydropower
7. Future energy and emissions projections
8. Conclusions

by Ibrahim Yüksel; Department of Construction, Technical Education Faculty, Sakarya University, 54187 Sakarya, Turkey

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 12, Issue 6; August, 2008; Pages 1622-1640
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2007.01.024