CTN EcoLogic

Montreal: Robotic foldout converted shipping container, solar powered diner.

It is called the MUV BOX. Pronounced MOVE BOX.

Located in Montreal’s Old Port, Müvbox offers a variety of dishes featuring lobster from Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Created from an old shipping container powered by solar energy, this concept is a modern-day reinvention of the old-fashioned canteen which creates an experience that’s environmentally-friendly, ethical and affordable. Every night, Müvbox vanishes back into its cube, redeploying early the next morning in less than two minutes, at the touch of a button! Whether you are an Old Port regular or simply passing through, stop by and grab a bite in a modern, refined setting in a box that has been all over the world. http://www.muvboxconcept.com/index_en.html

Get your Solar Powered Pizza there and do tell. We like the Art too. Nice.

Already got a call from Marcel… says the Lobster Roll is “way frikkin Great”

A surprising number of people dont think this is real. But it is.

Sir Richard Branson and a large team of world-class engineers and scientists have initiated the next level of sub-orbital space travel, and broke ground in New Mexico.

Click to see video

With New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Spaceport America officials and supporters of commercial space development in attendance, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport broke ground today in southern New Mexico. Today’s event delivered on the promise of an exciting new age for space exploration and development, as well as a bright future for the people of New Mexico and their children.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson remarked on the importance of the groundbreaking for the spaceport. “After all of the hard work to get this project off the ground, it is gratifying to see Spaceport America finally become a reality, New Mexicans have stepped up to the plate by making this investment. This groundbreaking ceremony is an important step toward our goal of being at the forefront of a vibrant new, commercial space industry.”

Executive Director Steve Landeene of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) commented, “The groundbreaking for Spaceport America is the beginning of a historic new chapter in New Mexico’s long legacy of space and cutting-edge technology. From the pioneering rocketry work of Robert J. Goddard in New Mexico in 1930, the beginnings of America’s space program in the 1940’s and 50’s to the ongoing NASA programs at White Sands Missile Range and now to Spaceport America, the Gateway to the Future.”

Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn
was excited to be at the groundbreaking for Spaceport America.

“The groundbreaking is an enormous milestone for Virgin Galactic which is investing over $300 million in developing a new space launch system which will operate at Spaceport America after it opens. Today’s event clearly signals the birth of a new commercial age in space and is a proud moment for the vision and foresight of both the people and government of the state of New Mexico.”

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group launched Virgin Galactic in 2004 with the objective of developing commercial space vehicles that would transform the safety, cost and environmental impact associated with manned space travel. As the spaceport’s anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic has been actively developing the technology to make low cost commercial space access a reality in conjunction with Burt Rutan and Northrop Grumman’s Scaled Composites, the company developing WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo for commercial spaceflight.

http://www.spaceportamerica.com/news/press-releases/244-spabreaksgroundnewmexico.html

The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program

Complicated stuff, but then this situation IS complex at the detail and execution level.

Washington, DC – Today, the Obama Administration announced $8 billion in conditional loan commitments for the development of innovative, advanced vehicle technologies that will create thousands of green jobs while helping reduce the nation’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil. The loan commitments announced today by the President include $5.9 billion for Ford Motor Company to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel efficient models; $1.6 billion to Nissan North America, Inc. to retool their Smyrna, Tennessee factory to build advanced electric automobiles and to build an advanced battery manufacturing facility; and $465 million to Tesla Motors to manufacture electric drive trains and electric vehicles in California.

These are the first conditional loan commitments reached as part of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The Department plans to make additional loans under this program over the next several months to large and small auto manufacturers and parts suppliers up and down the production chain.

Barack Obama:
“We have an historic opportunity to help ensure that the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks are made in America,” said President Obama. “These loans – and the additional support we will provide through the Section 136 program – will create good jobs and help the auto industry to meet and even exceed the tough fuel economy standards we’ve set, while helping us to regain our competitive edge in the world market.”

STEVEN CHU Secretary of Energy:

“By supporting key technologies and sound business plans, we can jumpstart the production of fuel efficient vehicles in America,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “These investments will come back to our country many times over – by creating new jobs, reducing our dependence on oil, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

ED NOTE:
Why we need a standard proven electric-car system and drivetrain.

To some people the TESLA appropriation may see unfair to other equally valid electric car makers. True. In exchange for this effort they will share the tech they get proven, for sedans and specifically for battery development and power management. This is important since the current Tesla uses 6000 Laptop batteries, and in essence the roadster is a steppingstone result of an ongoing process. Of course we will watch this, and have the expectation that a subsidized and affordable electric tech standard evolves from this. With Dr Chu available to oversee this, we have confidence in the process that would otherwise not be there.

Our opinion is that all the ecobenefits outweigh the pain-points at this juncture.

Daryl Hannah, NASA scientist James Hansen and former W.Va. Congressman Ken Hechler were among 31 people arrested at a non-violent protest of mountaintop removal coal mining near Massey Energy’s Goals Coal processing plant on June 23, 2009.

Whats this about? - more than fighting the claim of clean coal, its called MTR mining, Moutain Top Removal Mining. It is happening in Virginia. And there is more … A 2.8 billion gallon toxic coal sludge impoundment behind the earthen Shumate Dam hovers just a couple of football fields above the Marsh Fork Elementary School, while massive mountaintop removal blasts boom daily within a few feet, and where hundreds of concerned parents, families and citizens from around the country have gathered to call to an end to mountaintop removal–for the sake of the children, the coalfield communities, and the Appalachian mountains.

In this Video, NASA climatologist James Hansen reads ( attempts to read ) a Statement of this protest, he has only begun to speak when POLICE escort Daryl Hannah away for arrest.

If anything about this is true, its that Daryl can get cameras to show up and expose the existence of a cause. CTN has loads of Daryl Interviews that Neal Gray and the Camera crew have gotten with her, and every statement she makes is cogent and sincere. In this situation she sides with the planet and the local population and children around this and other coal production mining operations.

Massey is poisoning families just down the road from marsh fork. They’re poisoning children in the playground for profit and they know it…

Massey is known already to fund efforts to debunk out loud all claims that their coal business is a problem… which is a bit of a shame since none of their actions are defensible.

“I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen,” said Dr. James Hansen. “Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient. Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished.”
“Stopping coal emissions is 80 percent of the solution to climate change, and halting mountaintop removal is the essential, rational first step,” Hansen wrote. “Any politician who claims to support our children and the environment, but also supports mountaintop removal, is either a fool, a liar, or both.”

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MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL
Other protests are ongoing:

From http://mountainaction.org/wordpress/

ED NOTE/ commentary:
In suppression of peaceful dissent, powerful organizations use the POLICE as footsoldiers.
That, is unacceptable.

I have a big problem with some of this here and what is happening in IRAN… Dissent and Protest leading to arrest. This is not the way things should be. Rational dissent should be enough for any culture. When that is insufficient and actions include POLICE intervention, then the entire system is being “gamed” by both sides. I’m sure we are grateful for the nonviolent nature of the Marsh Fork events, but i am appalled that the Coal Coalition and irrational local Politics have cause this reaction to even have to take place.

…at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, takes questions from Facebook and the White House website about the President’s unfolding vision for a clean energy economy. June 24, 2009.