Sandalwood Offers a Pathway to Reduced Animal Methane Emissions

Welsh University discovers way to reduce methane from cows and sheep

Research carried out by academics from Aberystwyth University has resulted in a discovery which could lead both to an improvement in milk and meat production and to a significant reduction in methane emissions from cattle and sheep.

The research team, led by Professor Jamie Newbold of Aberystwyth University, found that by adding sandalwood (or a sandalwood analogue) to animal feed the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as E.coli and Listeria in the rumen is reduced. As a consequence, energy which would otherwise be lost through the production of methane is diverted to increased milk and meat production.

At the same time there was a significant reduction in the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the global warming potential of the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. It is estimated that livestock produce 18% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all forms of transport combined.

Trials in a rumen simulating fermenter (Rusitec) confirmed that Javanol, a sandalwood analogue, reduced methane production by up to 25%. A reduction of 20% in methane emissions was achieved in field trials with sheep when 2ml of Javanol per day was added to their diet.

This is an exciting discovery in two ways," said Dr Ahmed Ali. "Firstly, there would be benefits to the agricultural industry through increased milk and meat production: this increase in productivity would be set against a background of growing pressures on global food supply.
Secondly, there could be a significant reduction in methane emissions."

"Overall, the project is a good example of a University and an SME collaborating on cutting edge research. If this project and projects like this, can be commercialised in global markets, that has to be the way forward for the knowledge economy of Wales."

This might be a plus for Wales, but what about use in Australia, especially those areas of Australia where sandalwood is grown - the NW of Western Australia, SW of WA as well as parts of the Northern Territory. Sandalwood and oil products from the tree are high value materials, strong in demand from perfumery manufacturers.

It is especially important for monsoonal tropical regions, as it is known that methane emissions in livestock increases when animals are on feeds with lower digestibility, a common issue in the dry season when dry feed is most commonly consumed.

Could a small addition of sandalwood or similar materials to metered and medicated water dispensing systems which are increasingly common, offer some options for reducing methane emissions of livestock in north Australia??

Small Business = Technological Cretins

A recent report has absolutely slammed the uptake of new technology by Australian businesses.

Low use of mobile phones and computers are targetted in the report based on some research by Telstra, Australia's largest phone company.

The figures are quite stunning, [ full news report here - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/small-business-lagging-behind-in-technology-study/story-e6frg90f-1226047835735 ]

Data for a sample of small businesses are that nearly one-quarter did not use a standard mobile phone, while 45 per cent did not have smart phones. One in ten did not have a computer associated with the business. Around half of the businesses surveyed did not have a website or use online transactions in their business.

I can understand the lack of a website - they can be a bit daunting and expensive at times for a decent website, but no online transactions is bit odd. How do they do their banking transactions or employee payments??

While I have no data for the Northern Territory, national figures do seem a bit odd based on what I see in local NT small business, or maybe it reflects the younger population here.

However..........Telstra thinks they may be on a winner in being able to provide services.

Most people just wish they would improve their telephone performance around the country.

Long Chain Omega-3 Oil from Plants - Soon

A pioneering Australian research alliance is leading the international race to break the world’s reliance on fish stocks for its supply of the vital dietary nutrient, long chain omega-3.

Three Australian organisations recently announced an A$50 million dollar research collaboration which will use leading edge gene technology to develop and commercialise vegetable oil which will contain the same high quality, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) rich long chain omega-3 that traditionally comes from fish.

This collaboration brings together Nuseed (a wholly owned subsidiary of Nufarm Ltd), CSIRO and the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Already as part of the project, CSIRO scientists have made a significant breakthrough by enabling canola plants to generate long chain omega-3 oils that contain DHA, something that up until now has only been found in beneficial quantities in ocean-based algae and the fish that eat it. Some land-based plants, like flaxseed, can produce short-chain omega-3 oils, but are unable to produce the more beneficial long chain omega-3 oils containing DHA.

Read the Full Article here.

CHOCOLATE TAX??

Here in Australia, chocolate eggs are very common gifts at Easter, with the egg representing life, as shown by the Christian festivity of the Resurrection, on what is celebrated as Easter sunday.

There has been a call by Tim Costello, the head of World Vision Australia for a tax on chocolate.



No, it is not a crazy thing, but all about the fact that much of the world's chocolate production comes from west Africa, where child slavery and related systems of indentured or sold adult slaves, do much of the work in cocoa production. it is estimated that about 97% of cocoa produced around the world involves child exploitation.


There have been some efforts to overcome the system with Greens chocolate [ based in the UK]attempting to break out of this production cycle, by introducing fair trade type policies around cocoa sales and purchases [ recently written about in Time Magazine], as have Cadbury's.








But the call from Tim Costello is new, and World Vision does have some clout in these issues. Read and hear more here -http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2011/3196200.htm .


It is not a nice issue to contemplate in a comfortable westernised society, but cocoa production does remain as one of the last areas of serious child slavery in the world.


Be aware of that fact as you eat your chocolate Easter eggs............or just about any other chocolate!!

NEW RECORD - World's Hottest Chilli Grown in Australia

A record worth claiming for some, and totally irrelevant for many others.

Have to have some levity ocassionally.

A chilli grower on the Central Coast of NSW, in Australia has produced what is believed to be the world's hottest chilli, the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T.

"It was like a eating a fruit salad and then it just exploded in my mouth, it was fantastic!" described Marcel de Wit, head grower at the Chilli Factory, the producer who grew the chilli.

This is supposed to be a new record, surpassing the chillies produced in Assam.[ http://abovecapricorn.blogspot.com/2007/08/hottest-chilli-in-world-officially.html ]

Full details of new record here - http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/04/12/3189542.htm

Sustainability - Great Disruption

In sustainability terms, as well as ecological, a population can grow, reach the limits then decline. For various reasons. Jared Diamond wrote of this theme in his books in the 1990s, as did Paul Erlich to some degree in "Limits to Growth" [1970s].

A recent book by Paul Gilding, "The Great Disruption" adds to the debate about sustainability. The book was reviewed here [ http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/storyview.asp?storyid=2336764&sectionsource=s0 ] during the week, and is now available for sale in Australia. No doubt Amazon will have it also.

The reviewer reckons it is a good read. But maybe they are too similar in views for a dispassionate review. Maybe there cannot be a dispassionate review of the topic.

Read it and comment.

It should stir considerable controvesy.

Mangroves - Worth Loving for Carbon Storage

Mangroves have been under threat as mankind increasingly lives near the water's edge - especially the saltwater edge!

Maybe recent events such as earthquakes and tsumanis might encourage a rethink living on the edge of the sea, but for now, many areas of mangroves are torn out for development - of various kinds.

One school of thought even suggests that their prsence along coastlines mitigates cyclonic storm surges and related events, preventing considerable damage, even some distance inland. I recall comments about several major storms in Asia where more damage occurred than might be expected due to the removal of protection from mangroves, torn out for aquaculture development.

Land developers commonly remove mangroves to develop canal estates too.

Some recent scientific research on tropical mangrove trees show they are better at storing carbon dioxide than most other forests, and cutting them down unleashes more greenhouse gas than deforestation elsewhere. Mangroves are so efficient at keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere that when they are destroyed, they release as much as 10 per cent of all emissions worldwide attributable to deforestation - even though mangroves account for just 0.7 per cent of the tropical forest area, according to some new research.

Daniel Donato, of the US Agriculture Department's Forest Service and lead author of a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, says mangroves store two to four times the carbon that tropical rainforests do. "Mangroves store a lot of carbon, much more so than most forests on Earth, on a per hectare basis," says Donato. "Since they store so much carbon, there's probably a lot being released from all the mangrove deforestation that's going on."

Yes, if you live near the coast you tend to dislike the mangroves - the source of mosquitoes and sand flies, midges and related biting insects.

Maybe it is better you protect yourself, and leave the mangroves to store carbon and protect us from natural disasters.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/04/04/3181798.htm?site=science&topic=enviro provides more details.

Snail Biosecurity - Even in Singapore

A visitor to Singapore sees a lot of hard surfaces and little of the green sites.

Seemingly the island appears as a large building, apartment and mall site.

However, surprisingly, the island does have a few biosecurity issues of concern.

A recent article expresses considerable concern over a snail found in some Singapore green sites, such as plant nurseries and remnant jungle areas.

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0328-hance_tcs_snail_singapore.html

African land snails are a particular issue of concern to many biosecurity agencies around the world, including Australia. The species in this article is not the normally noted one, but still a potential species of some concern. There are comparison photos in the article.

It is true that plant quarantine is often not an issue of major concern to Singapore, especially for outsiders, but it is for Australia.

The Singapore story seems to implicate plant imports as the source of the snail.

While plant imports to Australia from Singapore are not that common, orchid flowers can be a fairly common passenger item, and there is a history of insects as a free rider on the flowers.

Darwin - watchout for this snail.

Cheap Distributed Energy for Rural Development

In India, Tata, one of the industrial giants of the country is working through concepts to invest in cheap distributed power supply in rural areas.

The company believes there is a market.......if not today, then soon. And they are positioning themselves to be part of it.

Sure, one thinks of solar powered telephone towers, remembering that the entire microwave repeater system across the north of Australia was run on solar power, and that was 25 years ago. So that is not new.

There are other options too, including local use of biomass produced for fuel such as palm oil, or other crop oils used in small diesel motors to run local cottage industry or produce modest amounts of electricity.

Tata is doing this big time though.

Does their model also offer some hope for many other rural and remote regions across Asia and Africa especially?

Read more here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20047974-54.html?tag=mncol;mlt_related

Compadre Zoysia - Choice For High Profile Area in Central Palmerston, NT

As part of the beautification of the central area of Palmerston, the Palmerston City Council has used Compadre zoysia, sown from seed, as a key component of the landscape plan. Seed sowing offered a much lower cost than using turf sod, although slower, yet allowed satisfactory development over about 16 - 20 weeks of an area that will be used for many years. The area links the public bus terminal and many of the current office buildings at the northern part of the central business area, including the Council offices, Goyder building and Post Office.

Both sides of the pedestrian pathway are sown, with trees along the road verge.

The site was prepared and sown in mid 2010, on a reasonably shallow laterite site that had modest topsoil applied.

Although germination and establishment were slower than expected, the cooler conditions of the mid dry season impacted on this with growth quickly improving from September. Slow establishment is common in the Dry season, with almost any turf grass.

The site suffered due to prior rural use of the area, and numerous plants of the pasture species of stylo also established. Several rounds of herbicide sprays to control these weeds, along with sedges that appeared in the very wet conditions of the 2010/ 2011 wet season, were needed to develop a satisfactory turf surface.

Importantly for the Council, it does seem that reduced mowing frequency [about half of normal frequency] is practically possible with Compadre zoysia, achieving a great appearance at reduced mowing cost.

Mowing costs are a major component of long term turf maintenance on commercial areas, and less frequent mowing can reduce overall costs of the area. The aesthetics are superb.........even if it was raining when the photos were taken in mid March 2011!

There have been some initial additional costs with weed control, but they are not huge and mowing less often will recover these costs very quickly.

The area has been established only about 8-9 months, and with the shorter dense turf cover, it does look impressive.

Zoysia Compadre Turf at Darwin Waterfront - Early 2011 Update

The Darwin Waterfront Project used Compadre zoysia as the turf grass of choice, and it was sown from seed in late 2009. Conditions after sowing were not ideal, in fact definitely difficult, with very heavy tropical strom rain and problems with soil movement that required significant intervention by the contractor. Despite the problems, the area was sown and the Compardre zoysia grew satisfactorily after some repair work following the storm damage. Now, about 16 months later the area is fantastic.
The sown turf has very few weeds, is lush and green, and well used. Mowing frequency has been reduced to a lower level, turf density is very high and the grass provides great lateral density such that it is impossible to see any ground.

A great turf area has been achieved primarily through mowing and allowing the Compadre zoysia to develop its thick carpet of turf.



Especially important, has been the excellent growth in shady areas where ground cover is really no different to open sunny locations. Compadre zoysia is recognised as an excellent shade tolerant grass. It is soft, non itchy and usually well patronised by those using the swimming lagoon and wave pool.

Right now, that is not too many...........the rain has been keeping patrons away, especially tourists who are usually very regular users of the area!


The photos are from early March 2011, after about 3 months of very heavy wet season rain this wet season. There has been no problem with erosion and the grass is ...........well, great

This is a high profile site and Compadre zoysia has shown it can be a very acceptable and desirable turf lawn in the region.

Try it at your site by contacting us at office@abovecapricorn.com.au .

Wind Energy in China

The wind energy potential in China is very substantial.

The ordinary citizens of most western countries are generally ignorant of the advances that are happening in alternative energy developments in China, with many media stories focussed on energy from coal, and quite dirty energy too. Wind energy particularly has developed enormously over the past 15 years or so. In the mid 1990s, there were the emergence of some significant wind energy projects often funded by the EU or member countries.

Developments since then have been, well, like many things in China - absolutely enormous.

Currently, China's wind power installed capacity has reached 42GW at the end of 2010, and is the largest wind power producer in the world. By contrast Australia's wind energy capacity is about 2GW [2009 data], yet we have significant resources, not being used.

China is expected to increase capacity to 135 GW in 5 years and 513 GW in 20 years, according to some sources. This means in the next 20 years, China will add an average of about 25 GW of wind power installed capacity and invest more than 25 billion Euros in the wind power market every year.

The land-based wind energy resource in the western region of Xinjiang accounts for 37% of the national total. By the end of 2015, Xinjiang's wind power installed capacity will reach 60 GW.

To further enhance these develpment projects a major conference in May is being held in Urumqi [Xinchiang Province] to attempt to bring projects and money together.

China does need clean energy, as much energy currently is from some pretty dirty coal power plants. But.......watch China........I think we shall see a very large incease in alternative energy as a power source, with wind a large part of that increase.

They are planning a lot of nuclear power plants too.............although no doubt like others, the recent Japan incidents might influence their thinking.

Less Greenhouse Gas - Modest Steps and Tangible Actions Work

A lot of the debate around alternate energy, energy efficiency and even a carbon price or tax has focussed on climate change. That nebulous, end of century effect that no one is really sure about whether real or imagined, and which sceptics of climate change then have great delight in demolishing any argument to do anything about issues now. I am not a sceptic of man driven climate change, but for many it is just a difficult concept.

The ex Governator - or maybe the ex Terminator - has had quite a bit to say over the past few days, while delivering a very well received address at a conference in the US. And it offers some common sense about effecting change.

His premise is that climate change is just too abstract for most people to conceive [ apparently especially Americans] and that those wishing to effect change at grass roots level and in society need to be focussing more on real effects now, tangible things. These include:

• job creation from green jobs related to mandated renewable energy use,
• reductions in oil use and hence dependence on other countries for energy,
• energy efficiency that offers real benefits in reduced costs due to efficency improvements in homes and businesses,
• health benefits from reduced use of oil,
• vehicle efficiency improvements to reduce fuel use,

among a range of issues.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20037752-54.html?tag=nl.e703

offers a reporters view of the address.

This seems a very pragmatic approach, well wrapped in some humour too, and does offer a way forward at even local levels. Getting back to the old cliche - "act locally, think globally' a catch cry slogan of the environment movement. And implies a degree of personal responsibility, in California's case also in some areas offering state support.

There have been a number of reports available of business case studies that created quite substantial real $$ savings by embracing energy efficiency, for example and many jurisdictions do have programs to assist in taking this approach and actions.

Also read an earlier post - http://abovecapricorn.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-effect-climate-change-now.html

Clean Technology in Mexico - A Lesson for Australia?

To many Australians, Mexico is not on the business horizon. It might be a fun location to visit......but not for business.

That is a little different in livestock production where there has been a reasonably strong connection between the tropical livestock and pastoral industries for some time. Can Mexico offer some ideas for clean technology devlopment that might be relevant in Australia? They do have a large adjacent market in the US, although some would argue that Australia does have a similar market......the countries of Asia.

Mexico may have a few ideas to also show Australia in relation to development of major initiatives in clean energy including geothermal sources, at least in shallow source areas. Some might counter this and say, so does New Zealand in geothermal sources, with both using hot rocks and steam associated with vulcanism, not a situation seen readily in Australia though.

Mexico has also been ramping up PV use.

http://blog.cleantechies.com/2011/02/28/highlights-cleantech-mexico/

is a recent rticle highlighting developments in clean tech in Mexico.

Could some of this be relevant for Australia?

Carbon Pricing in Australia

July 2012 will see a carbon price implemented in Australia.

Is it a carbon tax? Well, yes I guess it is. But views as to using carbon tax versus an ETS have evolved and changed over the past several years, with the complexity and bureaucratic shemozzle of an ETS seen as a big stumbling block to any implementation of a scheme about climate change. A carbon tax is seen as economically efficient.

Neither is perfect.

A lot more detail still to come, and a few heads will no doubt get kicked along the way.
It is probably fair to say only the absolute diehard sceptics still subscribe to a view that climate change is not real and happening.....and maybe accelerating, even if there is some noise about normal cyclic movements in climate, sometimes attributed to changes in the solar energy cycles.

An interesting piece has been seen on the ABC web site today:[http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/25/3148883.htm ]

This is a reasonable cover of the issues, without getting into the trade exposed intensive industries arguments that were discussed during the previous ETS discussions.

But this option of a tax can be done now and should send appropriate signals to consumers and industry that there is not a free ride anymore.

It should be an interesting period over the next few years as this evolves......or gets stymied depending on how the political pieces fall.

How to Effect Climate Change - NOW

While we all wring our hands and think that government and our institutions are doing little about climate change - too hard, too many parties to get to work together and so on, there may be some options that can provide effect in both the near term as well as mid term.

And they use existing technology.........and can be implemented now.

Methane is a clear problem gas in the atmosphere, with much greater greenhouse gas potential than carbon dioxide. While methane from ruminants is often seen as giant problem, it is also a problem from termites. And either issue might not be fixed any time soon, although higher quality feed for ruminants does help in their case to reduce methane emissions.

The following link to a recent report published / presented on 23 February does seem to offer some sensible suggestions.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cutting-black-carbon-methane-immediate-climate-change&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_TECH_20110222

The issue of methane from landfill is a significant one and in Australia, many of the larger municipal sites do collect and utilise methane, with data available during the now aborted ETS scheme showing about an average of around 65% of produced methane being collected.

Australia is in the small league as regards landfills however, with much more potential in north America.

There is also a developing industry of anaerobic digestion of organic materials to generate methane, prior to aerobic composting. A sensible development, in both rural areas [ dairy herds, feedlots for example] as well as larger urban areas generating food wastes.

We need to start now though, if we are to have a reasonable chance of restricting temperature rise to the two degrees desirable.

Agriculture and Innovation

Agriculture and horticulture often get some bad publicity as being stuck in using ancient ideas and that people in these industries are old fuddy duddies without much innovation.

I would say that is probably the exact opposite of real world situations. Innovation is alive and very well in these two industries, and seems to have been around for well over a hundred years. While it is often true that farmers are older on average than the population, they still embrace new ideas.

Whether it has been mechanisation and machinery development, application of technology in plant breeding or use of new products including herbicides and pesticides, satellite navigation and related use in yield mapping of paddocks, driverless machinery, use of RFID systems for animal identification and management..............the list can go on, and on!!

This recent snippet reinforces the view that agriculture is VERY progressive, and has been for a very long time. I am sure that even today, the same story can be repeated about Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Argentine, as well as the USA.



February 1911 - Scientific American Magazine

Inventors and Farmers

“In all the history of empire building there is no chapter to compare with that which tells the story of the development of the great West from a vast stretch of prairie, desert and primeval forest into the richest and most extensive agricultural empire in the world.

The rapidity and completeness with which this transformation has been effected are chiefly due to the invention of agricultural machinery of wonderful precision and capacity. The mechanical engin­eer has at once simplified work and increased output from the farm.”


It is still taking place across all the major agricultural producing countries today.............2011!

Origin of Insecticides

In browsing Scientific American magazine of February 2011, the following brief note appeared in the highlights of 150 years ago - February 1861.

Modern agriculture and horticulture does have a degree of reliance on both herbicides and insecticides, although some would say that is changing as biotechnology makes advances and GM crops advance.

Whether true or not, pyrethrin was one of the very earliest insecticides. And the snippet below provides some interesting thoughts from 150 years ago.

February 1861 - Scientific American Magazine

Pyrethrin Insecticides


“A vegetable powder, under the name of ‘Persian Insect Powder,’ has lately been introduced into the drug market, for the extermination of insects, vegetable parasites, &c.

Until recently, the botanical source of this powder has not been known, except to its maker. For a number of years it was erroneously considered to be a native of Persia, but it has been traced beyond question by Dr. Koch, as having its origin in the Caucasian provinces, and to the contused blossoms and flowers of Pyrethrum roseum and Pyrethrum carneum.

It is of a yellowish, gray color, perfectly odor­less, yet slightly irritating to the nostrils; at first almost tasteless, but afterwards leaving a burning sensation upon the tongue.

As its effects for the destruction of bugs, roaches, parasites on delicate plants, &c. have been fully established, and it being otherwise harmless, its introduction into general use would be of great importance to families and horticulturists.”

Waste and Energy Management Gone Crazy

Stick a fork in it, we're done

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Green the Capitol initiative is over at the House's Longworth cafeteria.

By Charlotte Allen
February 13, 2011

After about a month in control of the House of Representatives, Republicans haven't managed to undo as many deeds of their Democratic predecessors as they'd like. They couldn't get rid of "Obamacare," and they haven't made much headway in slashing the president's $4-trillion budget. But the GOP has succeeded in short order in one critically important venture: getting rid of the "compostable" cornstarch-based knives, forks and spoons that were a universally — and bipartisanly — hated feature of the House cafeteria operation.

The tableware, the color of mucus and as bendable as a pocket watch in a Salvador Dali painting (and thus unable to pierce any foodstuff firmer than the innards of Brie cheese), was the most visible manifestation of recently deposed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Green the Capitol initiative.

That was her carbon-cutting effort to use the food-service and other House operations to fight global warming and a host of other perceived environmental, health and social ills. During the lunchtime rush, you could observe dozens of staffers struggling to stab lettuce leaves and poultry pieces with fork tines that appeared to be double-jointed as well as dull.

But on Jan. 25, Dan Lungren, the GOP congressman from the Sacramento area who now heads the House Administration Committee, directed the House chief administrative officer to trash — so to speak — the composting program, which converts the dining service's cornstarch tableware, along with its biodegradable plates, trays, cups and drinking straws, into garden mulch.

It turns out that the composting program not only cost the House an estimated $475,000 a year (according to the House inspector general) but actually increased energy consumption in the form of "additional energy for the pulping process and the increased hauling distance to the composting facility," according to a news release from Lungren. As far as carbon emissions were concerned, Lungren concluded that the reduction was the "nominal ... equivalent to removing one car from the road each year." He plans to switch the House to an alternate waste-management system recommended by the Architect of the Capitol, in which dining-service trash would be incinerated and the heat energy captured. "Composting releases methane," said Lungren's spokesman, Brian Kaveney, and methane gas, as even the most warming-conscious among us have to admit, traps atmospheric heat far more efficiently than carbon dioxide, the usual bugaboo of the climate-change crowd. Lungren's stick-a-biodegradable-fork-in-it (if you can) stance toward a linchpin of Pelosi's grand green plan marks the latest skirmish in a lifestyle war that may on its surface seem purely partisan: GOP global-warming skeptics versus a Gaia-worshipping Democratic Party.

But I'd say the battle lines are really between an elite determined to impose upon a captive populace its notions of what is good for it — cost be damned — and the populace itself, which would rather not be coerced.

In Pelosi's home territory, the city of San Francisco, composting is mandatory for householders, who face a fine if they throw orange peels into the trash rather than into their city-provided composting bins.

Plastic bags are against the law in large-chain stores, and plastic water bottles are against the law in City Hall. In the name of health you can't buy a soft drink on public property in San Francisco, and soon you won't be able to buy a Happy Meal with a toy at McDonald's for your kid.

The uber-bohemians of San Francisco love this sort of thing; others, maybe not so much.

Green the Capitol was launched in 2007, soon after Pelosi became speaker. The Longworth cafeteria, catering to House employees but also serving the public, was to be the carbon-neutral jewel in Pelosi's green crown. Out went the familiar mystery meatloaf and high-fat coconut cake and in came food that was organic, sustainable, locally grown and fair-traded. I visited the Longworth cafeteria in early 2008, soon after it reopened under Pelosi's rule. Not only had food been replaced with "cuisine" (roasted corn and poblano chili, anyone?), but there was also a sea of didactic signage. One sign reminded you that the beef in the hamburgers was "humanely raised" and "antibiotic-free." Other placards touted "cage-free eggs" and "rBGH-free milk." A poster trumpeted the "pulper," a costly machine that made compostable cubes out of food waste. And then there were the recycling stations, where a lengthy set of rules instructed diners on how to separate trash items and dump them into four different slots (coffee cups in the "compostable" slot, coffee lids in the "landfill" slot).

No sooner did the cafeteria reopen than the grousing began, from both sides of the political aisle.

Some diners tried to puzzle out what turkey escabeche might be and wondered what happened to the fried chicken. Others complained about the new high prices that accompanied the new haute offerings."I just wished my pay improved" along with the food quality, a Democratic aide complained to a reporter for Politico. But the bitterest carping was over that compostable flatware. A Hill urban legend circulated that the spoons would melt in a cup of hot coffee. They don't, but they do bend readily enough to make you think you're Uri Geller.

When I revisited the Longworth cafeteria last week, three years later, I could not help noticing that although the flimsy cornstarch tableware was still in use — it will be retired as soon as the stock on hand is used up — a sea change had otherwise occurred. The sermony signage was gone, as was much of the art-food: the purple Peruvian potatoes and the "panzanella station," where you could build a salad out of arugula, figs and large wedges of stale bread. The salad bar these days is, well, a salad bar, with trays of chopped olives, shredded carrots and garbanzo beans to top the lettuce. Serious efforts have been made to cater to the needs of House employees who can't afford Armani suits. Among the stations with the longest lunchtime lines was one labeled simply "BBQ." Its special was a $5.50 pulled-pork platter with two sides (including classic mac and cheese) and cornbread.

The years from 2006 through 2010, starting with the Democratic takeover of the House and ending with the party's rout after two years of Barack Obama's presidency, were four years of an effort by a know-it-all liberal elite to impose sweeping and extreme social and fiscal measures on a centrist-to-right public: four years of turkey escabeche, so to speak.

Now, with a GOP House and divided government, there seems to be a return to normalcy, and it's beginning with the promise of knives and forks that work.

Charlotte Allen is a Washington writer.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
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A stern reminder of what can go wrong with crazy ideas poorly implemented and totally out of touch with community ideas.

I am sure a program - a sensible program - could have been implemented in the cafetaria. And afterall, what would be wrong with ordinary plate and cutlery use, and washing them, with a sensible waste management program to handle the organic wastes? It is generally wiser to wash and reuse equipment rather than single use.

As for menu changes, are not they best organised with users views considered? If Jamie Oliver can do it for communities in the US, maybe he needs to be asked about the menus?

Oh well.......it is the USA I guess.

New Red LED to Boost Greenhouse Horticulture Production

SIEMENS subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors has developed a powerful LED for use in plant cultivation.

The new LED emits a deep-red light at a wavelength of 660 nanometers, the ideal light for plant photosynthesis. The LED has an efficiency of 37%, which is one of the highest for a light source of this colour, and yields considerable energy savings compared to conventional lamps. 5000 of the new LEDs were used in a pilot project in Denmark to illuminate a cultivation area of several thousand square meters.

The trial saw power consumption in the greenhouse fall by 40%.

According to Siemens, relatively little of the light used by plants for their growth is from the visible light spectrum. Chlorophyll molecules mostly absorb deep-red and blue light for the purposes of photosynthesis. The efficient red LED from Osram Opto Semiconductors has an emission curve that is very closely matched to the spectral sensitivity of chlorophyll. The new LED is based on the thin-film technology used for high power semiconductor chips.

In greenhouse cultivation, some plants are grown on several levels stacked on top of one another. For this reason, the new LED is available in two variants, each with a different beam angle. The Golden Dragon Plus has a beam angle of 170 degrees and is well suited for use in reflector lamps for illuminating large areas under cultivation. The Oslon SSL LED, with a beam angle of 80 degrees, is designed for use in multi-level applications, such as those for the cultivation of lettuce.

Using LED light, it is also possible to promote different growth phases of the plant under cultivation. Red light, for example, encourages plants to grow in length, whereas blue light fosters bud formation. Controlled variation of the proportion of blue light between ten and 30 percent can reduce the use of fertilizer and other chemicals.

The developers claim that compared to conventional high-pressure sodium lamps, the luminous efficacy of the system as a whole is 60% higher with red and blue LEDs. The diodes have a service life of 100,000 hours for maintenance-free operation for many years.

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This sounds pretty interesting for greenhouse growers, especially in higher latitudes where daylength and daylight is severely restricted in winter months. Even if only partially as effective as claimed.

As an aside.........I am sure that hydroponic marijuana growers will also find an exciting use for the technology too! [I am not advocating its use] Reports seem to indicate they usually apply the latest and greatest technology.