This may be a cost effective and reasonable way to put a big band aid on our climate issue. This would not be a solution, but could help significantly for the immediate situation.

As these boats would inject salty water vapor into the atmosphere, the brilliant white color of the formed cloud would greatly reduce the local atmospheric temperature. Enough of these systems working together could help reduce global warming. This is a band aid, not a long term solution.

I like this particular approach because it does not involve putting chemicals or large man made machines into the atmosphere, salty clouds are not too different from naturally forming clouds. The water would eventually precipitate and return to the ecosystem. This is also good, we do not need a massive clean up operation to later remove man made materials. In other words, we don't postpone one problem by creating another.

This is a reasonable approach allowing more time to get at the source of the global warming problem.

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As water temperatures rise in the Pacific Ocean, it historically tells us a lot about the rainfall we might expect. Currently, temperatures are close to what they were in 2002 and climbing. possibly getting near the 1997 and 1998 temperatures. In the winter of 1997 and 1998, the Bay Area received roughly double the normal rainfall.

Keep in mind, we also had significant flooding and blackouts from the rains in the 97' 98' winter.

Be prepared for flooding. Make sure you protect items that are not replaceable, like family photos. Make sure you have batteries, a working flashlight, radio, blankets stored up high in a closet in case you need them. A large plastic tarp can be incredibly useful for covering an area of a leaking roof or building an emergency raft. Did you know that wrapping the box spring of your bed with plastic makes a great makeshift raft? Create a calling tree if you need to relay messages that you are OK or need help. Have canned food and bottled water available for cooking and drinking. Candles with a long burn time, Duct Tape and water proof matches are also important items that you should have in your supplies.

Do not wait for winter storms before taking the above action. A few simple steps now can make you safe and comfortable when problems arise. Not to mention you will avoid the chaos at the stores when people suddenly realize they need these items.

Last, hope the rain really does come, but steady and without the flooding. We need the water to end the drought, but sudden downpours cause flooding and the related problems, so steady is the key.



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The Department of Energy announced the winners yesterday of $2.4 billion in grants for the advancement of battery and electric vehicle technology. The highly-competitive grant program had 48 lucky winners spread across the country.

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The competition to redevelop Chelsea's Pier 57 has been won by LOT-EK Architects who have proposed a shipping container shopping center. The plan includes a two-acre rooftop park and shipping containers recycled into artisan stores.

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We all know that CFL lights, the compact florescent spiral bulbs, are more efficient and are supposed to save us money. There were some issues with the early versions, but currently are living up to expectation most of the time. So now that the bugs are mostly gone and we are all used to them, we are being encouraged to adopt the LED technology. So here is the question - Which one is really better for the environment and uses less energy over its entire life.

The amount of energy used to actually light the bulb isn't necessarily the whole measure of energy efficiency. There's also the small matter of producing the bulb, shipping it around the world, and eventually disposing of it.

With that in mind, the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations conducted a study that compared regular compact fluorescents to LED lamps -- using one 25,000-hour LED lamp as a constant, compared to 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents (and 25 1,000-hour incandescents).

While it's still holding back on some of the finer details, the group did apparently find that LEDs are about equal to compact flourescents when the entire lifecycle of the bulb is taken into account, although it is quick to point out that LEDs should eventually win out as they become more efficient to produce.

As LED bulbs are still very expensive off the shelf, about $30 at Fry's, I will continue to use CFLs for most of my lighting. Keep in mind that it was only about 3 years ago that LED lights that replaced a standard incandescent were over $100 each. So the price is on the way down.

For now, don't feel that you have to convert. The LEDs do last a whole lot longer and may be desirable for difficult to access locations.