American Recovery Act turns growth green in Columbia

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Missourian) Brad McConnell was well aware of the nascent movement for energy-efficient housing when he started a contracting company last October that specializes in weatherizing homes. What he didn't foresee was the enormity of federal stimulus funding aimed at creating green-collar jobs to support the push for energy efficiency... 7/2

Joe Lenhard celebrates 80th birthday

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Atomic City Underground) In retirement, Lenhard switched gears and devoted much of his energy to economic development in Oak Ridge. In fact, many folks who know Lenhard today probably don't realize he used to oversee Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the scientific activities there... 7/1

The Consumer Stake In Energy Policy

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Paragould Daily Press) ??Consumers will be affected disproportionately. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory reported that consumers in the South and Midwest will incur double the price increases of lower-income consumers in the Northeast and West ??? a direct result of their limited renewable resources and coal-dependence... 7/1

Tennessee: Climate game changer

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Chattanooga Times Free Press) We need to understand climate change impacts are no longer hypothetical, said Dr. Thomas J. Wilbanks, a corporate research fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and an author of the national report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.... 7/2

A Trio of HPC Offerings Unveiled at ISC

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(HPCwire) DataDirect Network's historical leadership in high throughput storage has kept it atop the supercomputing world. Today, eight of the top 10 systems use DDN gear, including the petaflop-capable Jaguar supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab. Storage demand continues to grow in HPC... 7/1

Cosmic Fireworks

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Newswise) Even the most spectacular Fourth of July fireworks display pales in comparison to what takes place in nature. In a matter of seconds, a supernova releases more energy than the Sun radiates in its 10 billion-year life span, and the explosive event can briefly outshine its host galaxy. Neutron stars, the remnants of such cosmic fireworks, exhibit the strongest magnetic fields observed in the universe... 7/1

SPRI expands membership to include green roof and photovoltaic component suppliers

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Building Design and Construction) Currently SPRI, in conjunction with Green Roofs For Healthy Cities, is developing three standards for vegetative roof systems: wind resistance, fire resistance and a root penetration test method. It is also working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory on a study of the thermal performance of vegetative roof systems... 7/1

New chemical element to be synthesized in Russia

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(this);">(RT) The new element is expected to be synthesized by the end of this year at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the famed town of Dubna, Moscow Region. To achieve this, the target made of berkelium ??? which was first synthesized at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA ??? will be bombarded in the accelerator... 7/1

Bechtel Jacobs president Divjak to retire

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Knoxville News Sentinel) Divjak will be succeeded by Joe Nemec, another longtime Bechtel executive who was the initial president of Bechtel Jacobs when the company - a partnership of Bechtel National and Jacobs Engineering - became DOE's Oak Ridge cleanup contractor in 1998... 7/2

DeNuke gets rad support contract at Argonne

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Atomic City Underground) DeNuke, a nuclear staffing and support company based in Oak Ridge, announced today that it had received a competitively bid basic ordering agreement for health physics support at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois... 7/1

Contract for NFS good news

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Erwin Record) [editorial] It was most welcome news when Nuclear Fuel Services won part of a whopping $209 million contract that will continue its downblending operations and current employment levels at least through 2012... 6/30

Inspection notes missing in TVA fly ash oversight

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Knoxville News Sentinel) The field notes of the inspector who was the last to scrutinize the fly ash pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant disappeared from his desk while he responded to the Dec. 22 collapse at the facility and have not resurfaced, according to his deposition testimony... 7/2

North Korea test-fires 2 short-range missiles

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(AP) North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, a move that aggravates the already high tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and U.N. sanctions imposed as punishment... 7/2

States without budgets as key deadline passes

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(AP) The finances of several states around the nation are sinking deeper into chaos as lawmakers struggle to work out budget differences amid a recession that has wiped out tax revenue and set the stage for dramatic cuts in service and pay for government workers... 7/2

Governor says state couldn't afford GM demand on plant

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Knoxville News Sentinel) Bredesen told The Associated Press after a groundbreaking ceremony for a highway project in Nashville that GM had wanted north of $250 million in upfront money to select Spring Hill... 7/2

Obama: Health bill good for Tennessee

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Tennessean) President Barack Obama said Wednesday that health-care companies and their employees ??? including those clustered in Middle Tennessee ??? have nothing to fear from efforts to radically reform the system... 7/2

Losing jobs: East Tennessee no longer bulletproof, but still diversity cushions blow

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(WVLT) East Tennessee's so-called stalwart employers -- the Tennessee Valley Authority, the University of Tennessee, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- still provide cushions of stability, says Garrett Wagley, a recruiter for the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership... 7/1

The nuclear option

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Virginia Business) Groundbreaking on the $363 million project is scheduled for this month.?? In a year, more than 500 highly skilled workers are expected to begin making equipment to supply an anticipated global demand for new nuclear reactors.?? ???We literally will make Virginia the leader in a revival of America???s nuclear-manufacturing capability,??? promises the 47-year-old energy executive... 7/1

A House in the Woods, After the Woods Are Gone

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(NY Times) The beetles aren???t just claiming our forest. A hike to the hilltop behind my house reveals an entire mountain valley covered with dead and dying trees. On weekends and in the evening the valley is filled with the angry hornet-whine of chainsaws and the sound of crashing trees... 7/1

A Green Way to Dump Low-Tech Electronics

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(NY Times) the day after the nationwide conversion to digital television signals took effect on June 12, Mr. Reilly decided to take advantage of a new wave of laws in Maine and elsewhere that require television and computer manufacturers to recycle their products free of charge. He dropped off his television at an electronic waste collection site near his home and, he said, immediately gained ???peace of mind.???... 6/29

Secretary Chu Announces Two New Projects to Reduce Emissions from Coal Plants

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(DOE Press Release) U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that projects by Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Hydrogen Energy International LLC have been selected for up to $408 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act... 7/1

Remarks By the President on Energy

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(The Briefing Room) Thanks to broad coalitions ranging from business to labor; investors to entrepreneurs; Democrats and Republicans from coal states and coastal states; and all who are willing to take on this challenge -- we've come together to achieve more in the past few months to create a new, clean energy economy than we have in decades... 6/29

Senate FY 2010 NASA Funding Bill

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(AIP) Taking a different approach to the funding of the human space flight program than did the House, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its report, 111-34, accompanying its FY 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill. The House has passed its version of this legislation... 7/1

Government Makes $4 Billion 'Down Payment' on Project to Expand Broadband

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Washington Post) Vice President Biden yesterday announced guidelines for $4 billion in stimulus funds to expand high-speed Internet access across the nation, jump-starting a program that has been criticized for taking too long to get off the ground... 7/2

Ex-DHS Cyber Chief Tapped as President of ICANN

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Washington Post) Former Department of Homeland Security cyber chief Rod A. Beckstrom has been tapped to be the new president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the California based non-profit that oversees the Internet's address system... 6/26

Blink Twice if You Like Me

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(NY Times) Sara Lewis is fluent in firefly. On this night she walks through a farm field in eastern Massachusetts, watching the first fireflies of the evening rise into the air and begin to blink on and off. Dr. Lewis, an evolutionary ecologist at Tufts University, points out six species in this meadow, each with its own pattern of flashes... 6/29

Facebook's Easy Virtue

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(Washington Post) Whether our virtual virtuousness will result in real-world action is unpredictable, and has as much to do with human nature as it does with amassing enough numbers. This is the problem with activism born of social networking sites... 7/2

Will much of New Orleans be underwater by 2100?

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 04:30:00 EDT

(CS Monitor) Unless enormous amounts of soil are dumped onto the Mississippi River Delta, the region could lose up to 5,212 square miles of land to ocean and tidal marsh by 2100 ??? a result of sea-level rise and the land sinking... 6/30