Friday Five: November 30, 2012

The cost of our current ways of living have only just started to come to light.
Drought creeps across central U.S. with no relief in sight
"Amazingly, even with the colossal devastation from Superstorm Sandy in the Northeast, it's the drought that could do the most damage to the U.S. economy. 'Sandy's damages of perhaps $50 billion will likely be overshadowed by the huge costs of the great drought of 2012,' Masters reported."

We need drastic changes in how we do things if we have a hope of coming out of this period with a high quality of life for all.
150 miles of electric car range for under $10,000?
"Kleenspeed, which earlier this year set an electric car speed record in its EV-X11 at Laguna Seca in California, recently unveiled its KAR GT prototype at the San Francisco International Auto Show. The design is based upon the company's GenESSys Energy Storage System, which Autoweek reports could be up to 40 kWh of batteries, which is enough energy storage reportedly for the claimed 150 miles of range."

Or, better yet, maybe we can start rethinking our needs and behaviors to use less of everything.
Factoring in commuting costs
"Scott Bernstein, the president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago, argues that transportation costs are quantifiable enough that they ought to be factored into underwriting. And they were, during the first half of the last decade, in an experiment the center conducted jointly with Fannie Mae. Called a 'Location-Efficient Mortgage,' the product was a contrasting proposition to the 'drive till you qualify' strategy of finding an affordable home. The mortgage compensated borrowers applying to buy in areas with lots of transportation choices, and close to jobs and amenities."

We may even find other opportunities to use more natural methods of energy transfer to power our lives.
Spain expands renewables with wave-powered electricity plant
"Now, this town's few thousand residents have a small beach that's protected from raucous waves that roll in off the Bay of Biscay. They can stroll down a pier and out over the breakwater. And hidden underneath their feet, Spanish scientists like Gloria Etxebarria are busy generating electricity from these powerful waves.
'The government decided to build a breakwater to protect the harbor of Mutriku. And so making use of that decision, we decided to put there our wave energy plant,' Etxebarria says."

We also will learn better how our communities support us and provide us the best opportunity to survive.
Despite ruin, library offers books and community
"The Rockaways still look like ghost towns. But the community libraries are there — if only in the form of a bus, parked in front of the gutted, muddy Peninsula branch. Days after the storm laid waste to four Queens Borough Public Library branches in the Rockaways, a colorful mobile library bus has hummed just outside its former location on Rockaway Beach Boulevard, offering warmth, power outlets, emergency information and books."

Happy Friday!