Fujifilm’s FinePix Real 3D camera

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Fujifilm’s FinePix Real 3D camera, but as the twin-lensed shooter nears that scheduled September release some more details are spilling out — including the price, which will be “around $600″ at launch. Yeah, it’s steep, and that’s not all: to properly view the images you’ll need to either shell out for special prints with a plastic lenticular lens on it or buy a special stereoscopic LCD photo frame, and none of that really screams “cheap.” Honestly, our instinct would be to spend all that scratch on a good DSLR or even something like the Olympus E-P1, but there’s always a chance Fujifilm’s about to reveal the public’s deep-rooted desire for 3D snapshots.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/12/fuljfilms-finepix-real-3d-camera-to-launch-in-september-cost-a/

Your Brazilian Eco-Certified Wood May Be Coming From Protected Areas

If you’re looking to buy products using sustainably harvested timber from Brazil and it comes from the state of Pará, you may want to reconsider. Mongabay is reporting that a Brazilian federal prosecutor has launched an investigation into companies illegal harvesting wood from protected areas in the state and then passing it off as eco-certified in US, EU, and Asian markets:

Though right now no specific firms have been named (at least not in this English-language source, any Portuguese speaking TreeHugger readers care to help out?), some 3,000 companies are alleged to have been involved in the scheme. The timber involved is being sold to both furniture and construction companies.

Mongabay points out that the state of Pará has the highest rate of deforestation in the Amazon since 2006, being responsible for 43% of total forest loss.

And in case you needed reminding, globally, deforestation accounts for about 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transportation sector combined.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/your-brazilian-eco-certified-wood-may-come-from-protected-area.php

Enzyme Important In Aging Identified

The secret to longevity may lie in an enzyme with the ability to promote a robust immune system into old age by maintaining the function of the thymus throughout life, according to researchers studying an “anti-aging” mouse model that lives longer than a typical mouse.

The study, led by Abbe de Vallejo, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and immunologist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, reports that the novel mouse model has a thymus that remains intact throughout its life. In all mammals, the thymus―the organ that produces T cells to fight disease and infection―degenerates with age.

Results of the study are published in the July 7 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“These findings give us hope that we may one day have the ability to restore the function of the thymus in old age, or perhaps by intervening at an early age, we may be able to delay or even prevent the degeneration of the thymus in order to maintain our immune defenses throughout life,” said Dr. de Vallejo.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090710170109.htm

Declining Aral Sea: Satellite Images Highlight Dramatic Retreat

These Envisat images highlight the dramatic retreat of the Aral Sea’s shoreline from 2006 to 2009. (Credit: Image courtesy of European Space Agency)

New Envisat images highlight the dramatic retreat of the Aral Sea’s shoreline from 2006 to 2009. The Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth-largest inland body of water, but it has been steadily shrinking over the past 50 years since the rivers that fed it were diverted for irrigation projects.

By the end of the 1980s, it had split into the Small Aral Sea (north), located in Kazakhstan, and the horse-shoe shaped Large Aral Sea (south), shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

By 2000, the Large Aral Sea had split into two – an eastern and western lobe. As visible in the images, the eastern lobe retreated substantially between 2006 and 2009. It appears to have lost about 80% of its water since the 2006 acquisition, at which time the eastern lobe had a length of about 150 km and a width of about 70 km.

The sea’s entire southern section is expected to dry out completely by 2020, but efforts are underway to save the northern part.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090710092228.htm

New Group to Advocate for High-Speed Rail

President Obama strongly supports high-speed rail, environmentalists are behind it (well, at least some of them) and the Federal Railroad Administration is already reaching out to other countries that have had success with it. High-speed rail looks like it’s going to happen. The question now is what kind of system will be built – how extensive, how fast and how integrated. Last week a new organization was founded that aims to help answer those questions, and it has already unveiled a vision that is significantly more ambitious than plans that have been floated by the Administration in Washington.

The US High Speed Rail Association , based in Washington DC, plans to lobby for a state of the art rail system that covers the entire country and provides service on par with the most advanced systems in the world.

The organization’s first move was to unveil a map showing what a complete national system, built in 4 phases and completed by 2030, would look like (see map above; for the animated version, click here). The map bears a certain resemblance to the “Vision for High-Speed Rail in America” unveiled by the Obama Administration in April. Both are based on the same 10 regional corridors, but the Association’s plan seriously raises the bar. Calling for 17,000 miles of track, multi-modal stations and travel speeds of 220mph, the proposal bears a greater resemblance to rail maps in Europe.

The Association plans to generate support for the plan and help advance the industry by organizing a series of public events and conferences (the first one is scheduled for October 22-23 in Washington DC). A partnership with the International Union of Railways in Paris has also taken shape, and the Association plans on hosting tours of European and Asian high-speed rail systems.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/new-group-to-advocate-for-high-speed-rail.php

Carbon Capture and Storage Progressing Toward Feasibility

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has the potential to cut global Co2 emissions dramatically. We’re talking huge cuts. It has been estimated that a plant implementing CCS can cut emissions by 80-90 percent compared with a plant that doesn’t use CCS. Sounds great, right? Well, there are some some problems.

Cost is the number one challenge that CCS faces. “Applying it would significantly increase the cost of electricity beyond what society is likely willing to pay,” said Sarah Forbes,  a World Resources Institute Senior Associate. Another challenge is that no fully integrated demonstrations have taken place. The pieces have been tested individually, but the entire puzzle is yet to be seen.

But good news is here. Australia’s CO2CRC has recently taken a step toward saving the world from devastation. Having been commissioned to research carbon capture and storage, Australia’s most comprehensive post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture research facility will begin its CO2CRC H3 Capture Project. The research will take place at International Power’s Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

“The CO2CRC H3 Capture Project will trial three CO2 capture technologies with Australian brown coal flue gases and evaluate them for larger scale capture,” said Mr Barry Hooper, Chief Technologist of the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC).

The project is using the 30 metre high solvent capture plant installed by International Power as part of the Hazelwood Carbon Capture Project to test and evaluate new and improved solvents, compare equipment performance, investigate impurities removal and optimize solvent capture processes.

The project will also test the effectiveness of two new technologies: membranes and absorbents. Membranes, typically made of polymers or ceramics, can be used to sieve out carbon dioxide from gas streams. Carbon Dioxide seeps through the membrane’s pores and comes in contact with the solvent, which is selected specifically so that only Co2 is absorbed.

Adsorbents are solids (typically minerals called zeolites) that can capture Co2 on their surface, release the Co2 when a change in temperature or pressure is experienced and be reused over and over. These absorption technologies have potential to be more cost effective because they require less energy and they could have less impact on the environment.

“Projects such as this will make retro-fitting of post-combustion capture technology more practical and affordable for all power stations.”

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/10/carbon-capture-and-storage/

$560 Billion plan to bring African solar energy to Europe

Twelve European companies on Monday launched a 400-billion-euro (560-billion-dollar) initiative to set up huge solar farms in Africa and the Middle East to produce energy for Europe.

The consortium says the massive project could provide up to 15 percent of Europe’s electricity needs by 2050.

Engineering giants ABB and Siemens, energy groups E.ON and RWE and financial institutions Deutsche Bank and Munich Re are among companies which signed a protocol in Munich.

“Today we have taken a step forward” towards the project’s realization, said Nikolaus von Bomhard, head of the reinsurance giant Munich Re, which hosted the signing.

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MzUwNTQ

http://www.enn.com/business/article/40206