Just the Facts Radio – Page 13 – CFACT

Bone-chilling facts about electric cars in winter

The recent cold and snowy weather across much of the U.S. reminded us that driving in winter conditions can be quite challenging. But according to an article in the Washington Post, owners of electric cars may be facing some additional bone-chilling realities since batteries run down much more quickly in cold temperatures. A change of just 10 degrees can sap 50% of a battery’s output, and running the heater to stay warm or the car radio to stay informed can drain the battery even further. Adding insult to injury, drivers could come home to find their power off, meaning [...]

By

CFACT

|2014-06-12T22:56:36-04:00March 14th, 2011|Comments Off

Wind power’s feathery problem

What is a federal government to do? On one hand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking to declare the sage grouse an endangered bird. Yet on the other hand, the Obama administration would like to expand the use of wind power to generate electricity – on sage grouse habitat. The dilemma, as you might expect, is that the two priorities simply don't match. The wind turbines remind sage grouse of predators ready to swoop down on them. But the grouse habitat, according to wind energy advocates, also happens to be near an opening in the Rocky Mountains [...]

By

|2011-03-11T00:00:00-05:00March 11th, 2011|Comments Off

Hunting animals to save them?

How can we save endangered species like tigers and black rhinos? Terry Anderson, executive director of the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana, believes in an innovative solution, and here explains how it can work: “The free market can be endangered species’ best friend. Unfortunately, landowners in most countries have no right to wildlife, but do have their land use regulated to provide habitat. Such regulations make endangered species a liability. Some southern African countries, however, allow landowners to profit from wildlife, even through hunting endangered species such as rhinos. This makes animals an asset and gives [...]

By

|2011-03-10T00:00:00-05:00March 10th, 2011|Comments Off

Turning wind and solar into fossil fuel

If America started using more renewable energy from the sun and wind, what would happen on days filled with clouds and no breezes? Well this challenge may now be solved by the discovery of a microbe that converts electrical energy from the sun and wind, and stores it as methane.

By

CFACT

|2013-02-20T11:53:40-05:00March 9th, 2011|Comments Off

Good news for Happy Feet

Is the Antarctic ice sheet melting more rapidly because of manmade global warming? While some believe this to be the case, new research from Western Australia’s Curtin University appears to reveal otherwise. As reported in The Australian News, researchers using acoustic sensors at places in the Pacific and Indian ocean spent more than six years listening to cracking ice to determine if icebergs were peeling off Antarctica more rapidly. The system of underwater sensors, or hydrophones, were of the same variety used to detect underground nuclear explosions, and they found that after years of listening to snaps and cracks [...]

By

|2011-03-08T00:00:00-05:00March 8th, 2011|Comments Off

Coral reefs ravaged by predatory starfish

Starfish make for wonderful keepsakes, and one would find it difficult to believe they could be anything but harmless. But for conservationists concerned about declining coral reefs, there is a certain type of starfish, unlike Patrick of Spongebob SquarePants, that is anything but cutesy. This, according to Planet Ark News, which notes that outbreaks of the notorious “crown of thorns” starfish is wreaking havoc in Asia’s famous coral triangle where it feeds on the pithy rocks by spreading its stomach over them and then using its digestive enzymes to liquefy tissue. Fortunately, nature can manage such problems, since there [...]

By

|2011-03-07T00:00:00-05:00March 7th, 2011|Comments Off

Myths about green jobs

The creation of so-called “green jobs” is being touted as an important means of stimulating our economy. But according to economist Andrew Morriss of the group PERC, many of these green jobs are in fact harmful to economic growth. Comments Morriss: “Many of the green jobs being promised include the creation of more lawyers, bookkeepers and government workers. But creating jobs for writing and enforcing new regulations and processing paperwork does not add to economic growth, it slows it down. Growth occurs when unproductive jobs are minimized and goods and services are efficiently produced. Much of the promised boost [...]

By

|2011-03-04T00:00:00-05:00March 4th, 2011|Comments Off

Time to bag reusable shopping bags?

Efforts to replace plastic shopping bags with those made of cloth are being promoted on environmental grounds. But are certain health and safety concerns being overlooked? Well according to the first-ever study on this matter by the Canadian-based Environment and Plastics Energy Council, the answer is “yes.” The study found that sixty-four percent of the reusable bags it examined contained worrisome levels of unhealthy bacteria, with more than thirty percent exceeding levels considered safe by government standards. Since the study also found forty percent of cloth bags contained yeast or mold that can lead to food poisoning, it may [...]

By

|2011-03-03T00:00:00-05:00March 3rd, 2011|Comments Off

Plasma incineration a hot idea for garbage

The idea of turning garbage into energy is nothing new. But a super high-tech plasma technology is now gaining steam that uses heat three times as hot as the surface of the sun to literally disintegrate trash into its molecular elements. According to Popular Science magazine, one facility in Connecticut has a 15-foot machine that uses a 650-volt current passing between two electrodes to convert ordinary air into plasma – thus creating a field of extremely intense energy much like lightning. This energy is capable of breaking down virtually any waste – and the only by-products are a [...]

By

|2011-03-02T00:00:00-05:00March 2nd, 2011|Comments Off

Luxury, mid-sized or inflatable?

Everyone knows you can purchase cars which are luxury sized, mid-sized, and compact, but if some novel eco-entrepreneurs have their way there will be a new category to this list - namely, inflatable. That's right, a new inflatable electric car is being designed with promises of getting both great gas milage and roomy comfort all for the low price of under $5,000. The vehicle looks like a round edged sports car, and will be configurable online by each customer as to its color and trim. And as for safety, the car's developers insist it can be driven off a [...]

By

|2011-03-01T00:00:00-05:00March 1st, 2011|Comments Off

Drilling would ease gas prices

With gasoline prices rising again, many are asking what can be done to keep our fuel costs affordable. Dr. David Kreutzer, an energy economics expert at the Heritage Foundation, recently wrote a report on this issue, and offers this solution: “We need to drill. While not a cure-all, allowing new drilling in the gulf of Mexico and elsewhere would help moderate prices. This is simply the law of supply and demand. However, despite the majority recommendation of its own scientific panel, the Obama administration has stopped virtually all new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration should reverse [...]

By

|2011-02-28T00:00:00-05:00February 28th, 2011|Comments Off

Did the government save the Maguire daisy?

A perennial herb with dime-sized white or pink flowers, the Maguire daisy, was added to the endangered species list in 1985 when it was believed there were only 7 of them remaining in Utah. Since that time, government efforts to reestablish them were said to have been so successful that they were able to be delisted in January. But did the Endangered Species Act actually save the Maguire daisy? Perhaps not, at least according to a Fish and Wildlife official interviewed by the Salt Lake Tribune, who recently said that shortly after the daisy was listed, botanists examined the [...]

By

|2011-02-25T00:00:00-05:00February 25th, 2011|Comments Off

Recycling is for the birds?

Everyone knows that trash can be recycled into useful household items. But did you know that birds are also catching on to this?

By

Craig Rucker

|2013-04-17T16:09:56-04:00February 24th, 2011|Comments Off

Alarmists crying wolf about Australia’s floods

The devastating floods that recently struck Australia have been cited by some as yet more proof of the impact of manmade global warming. James Taylor, a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute, disagrees with this assessment and has this to say: “They are crying wolf. Global warming was not the cause of the floods in Queensland, Australia. In fact, NASA scientists say the heavy rains were actually caused by the current La Nina weather cycle. There will always be floods and other extreme weather somewhere on the planet, and propagandists will keep trying to fool people into believing that [...]

By

|2011-02-23T00:00:00-05:00February 23rd, 2011|Comments Off

Gulf spill: Small bacteria proved big help

Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists found methane concentrations 100,000 times above normal levels and feared the worst for the area’s eco-system. Now it appears one of the biggest heroes in this disaster saga came in the form of one of the smallest living organisms known to man. As reported in Popular Science, a species of methane-munching bacteria known as methanotrophs began proliferating after the spill, and within a period of months began to tidy up the area. In fact, so proficient were the organisms that when scientists took measurements in October [...]

By

|2011-02-22T00:00:00-05:00February 22nd, 2011|Comments Off