Sunday, July 12, 2015

Out on the piss? Danish festival recycles urine to make beer | World news | The Guardian

 

Organisers of Roskilde festival plan to collect 25,000 litres of waste liquid to fertilise barley crops that will ultimately be ‘beercycled’ into pilsner

Beer served at The Sinking Ships stall at the Roskilde festival in Denmark.

Beer served at The Sinking Ships stall at the Roskilde festival in Denmark. Punters in 2017 could sup lager made with the help of urine from this year’s attendees. Photograph: Torben Christensen/EPA

Helen Russell in Aarhus

Under a cloudless sky, shirtless Vikings with plastic cups of beer in hand are queuing excitedly along a patch of sawdust-covered earth to urinate in a metal trough. Their “contributions” are being collected in specially designed storage tanks, which will then be transported to nearby fields to fertilise malting barley for brewing beer.

“From piss to pilsner” is a new initiative being launched at Roskilde – northern Europe’s largest music festival – in Zealand, Denmark, this week. Organisers hope to collect 25,000 litres of urine from more than 100,000 festivalgoers.

If everything goes to plan, guests at Roskilde 2017 will be served beer from barley fertilised by their own urine. “It’s about changing our approach to waste, from being a burden to being a valuable resource,” says Leif Nielsen from the Danish Agriculture & Food Council (DAFC), which is partnering with festival organisers to promote “beercycling”. …

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APNewsBreak: US South getting its first big wind farm soon

 

On a vast tract of old North Carolina farmland, crews are getting ready to build something the U.S. South has never seen: a commercial-scale wind energy farm.

The $600 million project by the Spanish firm Iberdrola Renewables LLC will put 102 turbines on 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares) near the coastal community of Elizabeth City, with plans to add about 50 more. Once up and running, it could generate about 204 megawatts, or enough electricity to power about 60,000 homes.

It would be the first large onshore wind farm in a region with light, fluctuating winds that has long been a dead zone for wind power.

After a years-long regulatory process that once appeared to have doomed the plan, Iberdrola spokesman Paul Copleman told The Associated Press that construction is to begin in about a month.

Right now, there's not a spark of electricity generated from wind in nine states across the Southeast from Arkansas to Florida, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group.

But taller towers and bigger turbines are unlocking new potential in the South, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and the industry is already looking to invest.

And with the electricity system in the region undergoing a period of change as coal plants are phased out, some experts believe the door is open for renewables like wind.

Federal energy researchers have found stronger winds at higher elevations that can be tapped by new towers and bigger rotor blades. New federal maps of onshore wind flows at higher elevations than were previously available indicate that this new technology significantly increases the areas that wind can thrive, especially in the Southeast.

"If you go higher, the wind is better," said Jose Zayas, director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office at the Department of Energy. "The question is how you get there responsibly and economically."

The average tower height now in the U.S. is about 260 feet (79 meters); the new technology allows turbines to mine air at 460 feet (140 meters).

The project in North Carolina was not viable just a decade ago, company officials said. But the new, larger turbines unlocked the area's potential.

Wind farms in 36 states already generate about 5 percent of U.S. energy — low compared to other countries like Denmark (28 percent), Portugal, Spain and Ireland (16 percent each). South Dakota and Iowa already derive about 20 percent of their electric energy from wind, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The Energy Department believes the U.S. can generate 20 percent of the country's power with wind by 2030, and opening up the Southeast and other new areas is a key to achieving that goal.

There are hurdles: Utilities in most Southern states have not invested heavily in renewable energy. Also, only North Carolina has adopted a state law mandating utilities to increase their renewable energy portfolios.

But other factors are already forcing change in the region's energy market. Abundant natural gas, coal being phased out and aging nuclear plants are creating a potentially robust market for wind power as utilities seek the next best investment to add to their energy mixes, said Jonas Monast of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

Still, without state renewable energy mandates like North Carolina's, the growth could be slow going, experts said.

Another issue facing wind farms in the Southeast is protecting the region's birds and bats.

The danger of wind turbines to birds like rare golden eagles and bats has plagued or derailed major projects in the West. Avian research is now factored into decisions on where to put wind farms, and can make or break a project.

Because no wind farms exist anywhere in the South, little research has been done on the issue. Researchers and developers will have to catch up.

___

Dearen reported from Gainesville, Florida.

APNewsBreak: US South getting its first big wind farm soon

Some Republicans not cashing checks from Rauner : News

 

•  Kurt Erickson and Jordan Maddox The Southern Springfield Bureau

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SPRINGFIELD -- Republican lawmakers may be following Gov. Bruce Rauner's lead when it comes to his battle with House Speaker Michael Madigan, but some members of the minority party say the governor's decision to dole out $400,000 in campaign contributions to them during the final days of the legislative session was unusual and possibly inappropriate.

In what amounts to a rare departure from the unity GOP lawmakers have shown in Rauner's first six months in office, a handful of downstate Republicans say they have not cashed the checks Rauner's political fundraising arm made to their campaign funds because it could be viewed as him buying their votes.

"I don’t want to make it look like someone is influencing me from the administration. So, it’s setting in a drawer and we’re going to hold it," said state Rep. David Reis, a Willow Hill Republican, speaking of the checks worth $3,000 to $10,000 that Rauner sent to each Republican member of the House and Senate.

“I thought the timing was unusual. So while we are debating issues, I thought it inappropriate to accept it," state Rep. Keith Sommer, R-Morton, said last week.

In May, as the Legislature's regular spring session was lurching toward an uncertain end, Rauner sent checks worth a total of $400,000 to the 67 Republicans in both chambers. The first-term governor, a wealthy private equity investor before seeking the state's top office, had previously said he would back lawmakers who support his agenda, as well as use his considerable campaign fund to beat up on those who oppose him.

The move clearly made some lawmakers uncomfortable.

In the days after the checks went out, state Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, told the (Springfield) State Journal-Register, that Rauner might have waited until after the dust settled from the spring session.

In June, an expert on state campaign finance laws told Illinois Issues magazine that the contributions were "unprecedented."

“The idea of a governor making contributions to a whole caucus is something I don’t remember ever happening," retired University of Illinois-Springfield professor Kent Redfield told the magazine.

According to a review of the contributions as of last week, six members of the Senate had still not cashed their checks, including state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet.

In the House, 16 of the 47 GOP members had not cashed Rauner's checks.

In all, the lawmakers have collectively left $119,000 of Rauner's money on the table.

Rauner, the first Republican governor in a dozen years, has locked horns with the Democrats who control the House and the Senate, leading to a stalemate over the state budget that has left the state on the verge of a potential shutdown. The governor also has blasted state labor unions, putting some GOP lawmakers -- who represent unionized workers at state prisons, retirees and university employees -- on the hot seat.

Along with Reis and Sommer, state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, was among those who said the contributions felt odd.

"While we appreciate the donation, I haven’t made a final decision of where, if and when, that I’ll do with the check," Brady said.

Brady said he may even give away the money Rauner gave him.

"As far as depositing the check, as far as possibly using the check to go towards other charities, or to other areas that might be beneficial, that’s what I’m looking at," Brady said.

State Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, also said he's unsure what he'll do with Rauner's cash.

“I’ve received a few contributions here during the session and I’ve just put them aside rather than to open them and deposit them while there was still legislation going through the process. Timing is a bit unusual,” Moffitt said.

Although Moffitt said he'd "probably" cash the check after lawmakers end their impasse over the budget, he said the contribution made him uncomfortable.

"I just thought to receive it while there is still pending legislation, I’d feel more comfortable after the session is over. And this one just doesn’t want to end," Moffitt said.

Those who have accepted the cash include Republican state Reps. Tim Butler of Springfield, Adam Brown of Champaign, Tom Bennett of Gibson City, Terri Bryant of Murphysboro and Bill Mitchell of Forsyth,

In the Senate, those who took the money include state Sens. Tim Bivins of Dixon, Bill Brady of Bloomington, Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville, Neil Anderson of Rock Island, Dale Righter of Mattoon and Jason Barickman of Bloomington.

Rauner spokesman Lance Trover did not return messages seeking comment about the contributions.

kurt.erickson@lee.net

Some Republicans not cashing checks from Rauner : News