Paradise or Oblivion details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system. This video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of Social Engineer, Futurist, Inventor and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco, which he calls a Resource-Based Economy.

The film details the need to outgrow the dated and inefficient methods of politics, law, business, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, and use the methods of science, combined with high technology, to provide for the needs of all the world’s people. It is not based on the opinions of the political and financial elite or on illusionary so-called democracies, but on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium with the planet that could ultimately provide abundance for all people.

Paradise or Oblivion, by The Venus Project, introduces the viewer to a more appropriate value system that would be required to enable this caring and holistic approach to benefit human civilization. This alternative surpasses the need for a monetary-based, controlled, and scarcity-oriented environment, which we find ourselves in today.

*This is NOT the “major motion picture” that The Venus Project is working towards but rather is a 52 min. documentary to introduce the aims and proposals to new people. Paradise or Oblivion will be released in March 2012 and we will post a link to the documentary as soon as it is released.

In the meantime, if you are not familiar with the work of Jacque Fresco and his Venus Project, here is a link to his highly informative newsletter and The Venue Project site. Fresco is one of the most brilliant minds of our time and his visionary proposals make total sense. He just raised funds to hire a screenwriter to develop a feature film that can inform the world that a solution exists to humanity’s challenges. This film cannot arrive too soon. Like Buckminster Fuller before him, the world is fortunate to have his brilliant mind and heart in service to life. NPD will continue to update readers on Jacque’s progress as it means our progress.

Here is a copy of Bill C-27 submitted to Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources as “An Act respecting the long-term management of nuclear fuel waste”. The other report was written by Mark Porringa of Zeropoint Techtonix Inc, 430 Bass Lake Road, R R # 1,Deep River, Ontario K0J 1P0 (613) 584-2960 fax: (613) 584-4616 porringam@aecl.ca . The text of Porringa’s brief descriptions of nine alternative, peer-reviewed techniques as candidates for the global clean-up of nuclear waste is copied below.

Mark Porringa’s Advanced Nuclear Waste Decontamination Technologies

The following is a reasonably comprehensive list of potentially effective nuclear waste treatment methods that might be employed to treat the entire range of radioactive wastes that have proven to be such a daunting and horrendously expensive problem for the nuclear industry (in all its forms) with major, long term implications for the environment.

A wide variety of methods will probably be required to accommodate the many different radioactive waste sources including high and low level, solids, liquids and gases. Process names used here are in some cases just convenient labels used to categorize and set them apart from each other.

Theories on several of these processes are still quite speculative and solid evidence that would pass conventional peer review is still lacking. This is after all a very new field of science.

Some of these technologies are already well protected by international or national patents, with additional US and international patents pending, and further patents may be obtained on new developments as they are made.

Brown’s Gas-Metal Matrix Process:

The BG-MMX process utilizes a patented electrolysis cell of the Australian Prof. Yul Brown’s design that is said to produce a stoichiometric mixture of monatomic hydrogen and oxygen or possibly a quasi-stable water molecule raised to a high-energy state. This gas has some very peculiar properties including the ability to sublimate tungsten (6000oC) with an implosive flame that burns cool in air with a temperature of only 130oC.

The gas is used to heat a proprietary mixture of metals and/or metal oxides including the radwaste to be neutralized. A highly exothermic radiant reaction appears to result in the immediate reduction of radioactivity approaching 95% of the original levels judging from preliminary tests, within seconds of treatment. The process is conjectured to be effective with high level solid wastes and possibly gasses, but probably not liquids. The high temperatures involved may also preclude the processing of more volatile wastes.

Since 1991, this technology has been successfully demonstrated, on a small scale, at least 50 times to US, Chinese, Japanese and United Kingdom officials on a variety of nuclear waste products including americium, cobalt, uranium, and plutonium. The technique can be applied for the immediate decontamination of stockpiles of nuclear waste materials being held near nuclear power plants. The process is very simple, safe, and inexpensive to develop further into robotics application for on-site treatment with no foreseen environmental effects.

Photoremediation:

The Photoremediation process of the American Dr. Paul Brown is essentially conventional physics, albeit applied in a new and novel way. The process involves the use of a high-energy electron beam impinged on a target which in turn produces a monochromatic gamma radiation that is tuned to induce photofission and photoneutron reactions in the target material causing rapid neutralization of radioactive isotopes. The efficiency claimed exceeds 500% due to the high cross-section reactions in the giant dipole resonance region. The 10 million electron-volt (MeV) electron beam produces typical fission reactions in the 200 MeV range effectively turning high-level solid wastes such as spent fuel into an energy source. The process is apparently intended for on-site treatment with some waste-partitioning required, an aspect which may not be desirable in certain countries.

While this idea is similar in topology to a system being developed by Los Alamos National Labs, Dr. Paul Brown’s approach offers several advantages: no need for extensive chemical pre-processing and the energy required to effect transmutation is greatly reduced. No new technology needs to be developed, yet the engineering of such a photon reactor must be completed and it could itself become a practical method for generating power.

ZIPP Fusion:

The ZIPP fusion process, identified by Mark Porringa, induces a wide variety of fusion reactions, resulting from the radial compression of individual diatomic and other simple molecules dissolved or suspended in a light water, carbon arc electrolysis cell. A variety of other cell configurations are envisioned.

The process appears to produce only stable isotopes, which should therefore make it capable of stabilizing a wide variety of radioactive waste materials. The theory on the process draws from condensed charge phenomena, Brown’s gas implosion, cavitation bubble collapse and sonoluminesence – all variations of the Casimir effect – which is believed to cohere the zero-point energy of quantum vacuum fluctuations. Transmutations using variations of this basic process may be applicable to a wide variety of nuclear wastes and appears capable of operating with an efficiency exceeding 100%.

A major implication of this process is that the strong force of the nucleus is understood as an ultra close range Casimir effect. Oakridge Nuclear Laboratories in the US in conjunction with several international collaborators have just (this month, in fact) announced a deuterium cold fusion process based on the essential elements of the ZIPP fusion process first reported in 1998. The process is very simple and inexpensive to develop.

RIPPLE Fission:

The RIPPLE fission process is an adaptation of existing potential technology utilizing a supersonic ionized gas to aerosol a counter flow heat exchanger that envelopes the radioactive waste aerosol in a vacuum induced plasma vortex which appears to disrupt the matter stabilizing influence of the quantum vacuum fluctuations resulting in “gentle” low recoil fission reactions which produce only stable fission products, with excess neutrons being prompt converted to protons via quenched beta emissions. The process is apparently proven with conventional non-radioactive wastes and is believed applicable to the entire spectrum of radwaste without the need for waste partitioning. This process is also conjectured to operate with an over-unity efficiency.

LENTEC Processes:

The Low Energy Nuclear Transmutation Electrolytic Cells of the Cincinnati group produce a variety of transmutation reactions using a variety of exotic electrolysis cell designs that generally produce condensed charge clusters composed primarily of up to 1011 electrons each. These electron charge clusters produced with the use of special electrodes can penetrate the nuclei of larger atoms in solution and transmute these atoms into stable elements.

The range of design and operating protocols and potential applications are essentially limitless provided for the waste that is dispersed in the electrolyte. The reported transmutation of thorium to stable titanium and copper by the Cincinnati Group and by the Salt Lake City group is one of the most dramatic examples of this type of treatment process. Application to other high-level liquid transuranic fissionable wastes such as surplus plutonium seems likely. The glaring absence of normal fission yield energies is perplexing but probably explicable as another form of low recoil fission reaction, similar to RIPPLE fission.

Plasma Induced/Injected Transmutation – PIT Processes (also known as HDCC):

Plasma induced/injected transmutation processes run include a gamut from recent achievements dating back to the Oshawa-Kushi cold plasma transmutations reported in 1964. The patented High-Density Charge Cluster (HDCC) process was first discovered by Kenneth Shoulders and added on to by Harold E. Puthoff. Later, the late Stan Gleeson discovered HDCC in properly processed solutions. Still later, Alexander Ilyanok of Belarus discovered HDCC, followed by Vasiliy Baraboskin in Russia.

The production of condensed charge clusters and various plasma glow discharge phenomena in a variety of gaseous atmospheres is again implicated as the underlying cause with what should be by now an obvious connection with the coherence of zero-point energy from the quantum or stochastic vacuum. Desk-top high energy particle accelerators have also been envisioned, based on the “piggy back” principle, in which the clusters permit acceleration of “piggy-backed” heaver +ions to extremely high energies capable of causing fusion and transmutations in target materials including those in solution and the materials of which the electrodes are composed. Brown’s gas implosion and cavitation bubble collapse reactions are also believed to be prevalent in these types of cells due to the prevalence of electrolysis.

A high-density charge cluster technology was discovered and used by Stan Gleeson to stabilize radioactive liquid wastes and has been developed further in the last 4 years by a group led by S-X Jin and Hal Fox. Best results for radioactive liquids have been demonstrated in the processing of thorium for a 30-minute period and achieving a reduction of radioactivity of about 90% from a liquid sample.

Kervran Reactions:

The very compelling evidence compiled by French Nobel candidate Dr. Louis Kervran has identified a wide range of nuclear transmutations in biological systems that have not been adequately explained. Coherence of zero-point energy via Casimir effects within the Somatid particles identified by the Canadian Gaston Naessens is implicated as a possible cause. A wide variety of in vitro and in vivo reactions are believed to be possible as proven in nature and numerous experiments typically involving a reaction medium composed of a dielectric fluid such as water. Highly radiation resistant microorganisms have been found thriving in the core of nuclear reactors indicating the possibility of microorganisms being capable of transmuting some bioactive nuclear wastes in the course of the normal metabolism of such organisms.

The Monti Process:

The Italian Roberto A. Monti’s process involves confined explosions involving proprietary mixtures of materials that include radioactive waste. Ignition of such mixtures causes nuclear transmutations resulting in reduced radioactivity (to near-background levels) following combustion, gradually over 1 to 4 days. This technique has been confirmed by the Italian ENEA and is supported by the French CEA scientists as a serious candidate for treatment of waste stockpiles. The system, as currently designed, required waste to be inserted into a chamber.

Higher Group Symmetry Electrodynamics:

Extremely weak, non-classical, higher group symmetry electromagnetic fields were found during a 1991 experiment made by Glen Rein to alter significantly the level of radioactivity in materials, even those in the environment. The experiments suggest that higher group symmetry electrodynamics modulate the quantitative and /or qualitative properties of radioactive species. If the non-classical fields directly affect the radioactive species, it is likely that the appropriate field parameters will be discovered to neutralize radioactive emissions. In 1999, a theoretical basis for the phenomenon was developed by the Welsh physicist, M. W. Evans, with the participation of Lt. Col. (retired) Thomas E. Bearden.

The technology is extremely simple and could be applied with minimum logistics for treating massive structures, in-toto outdoors, such as the Chernobyl disaster site.

President Obama’s State of the Union address this week called for new emphasis on transformative technologies and infrastructure investment, including energy efficiency and renewable energy measures.

I think that the president, in calling on Americans to muster their resilience, ingenuity and propensity for hard work, sounded the correct tone for rousing the nation from the malaise of the last several years.

If we’re lucky, the president’s speech allows us to resume a national conversation — largely held in abeyance during the fury of the 2010 election year — that recognizes green business as an appropriate vehicle for economic renewal.

To inform the conversation, I suggest that Americans consider a second green paradigm from an unusual source, the Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne and — although his work in the field is unknown to most Americans — a distinguished sustainability expert. In the new book and film, “Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World,” Prince Charles and his collaborators, Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly, link the emerging green economy to a return to traditional values.

While “Harmony” encourages the use of modern science, advanced technologies, and financial modeling to improve and decision-making, its authors make the case for a return to a worldview shaped by the requirements of Nature. This paradigm is at once deeply traditional and on the leading edge of 21st century thought.

On the one hand, it is rooted in — as “Harmony” details — the beliefs of the venerable Western, Asian and indigenous cultures, which placed reverence for the natural world at the center of their religious, social and economic systems. On the other hand, it asks us to replace the aging and increasingly ineffective industrial systems of the last two centuries in favor of sustainable technologies and practices aimed at restoring the balance between modern societies and the natural world.

What might “Harmony’s” world look like?

• Global acceptance and use of energy efficient and green practices to build and renovate property and infrastructure. As “Harmony” points out, this objective can be achieved in diverse ways. Indigenous and historic construction methods are frequently highly sustainable and energy efficient or can be combined with modern, sustainable technologies to good effect.

• New emphasis on the establishment or strengthening of self-sufficient communities, designed to encourage walkability, livability and interconnectedness. Prince Charles’s Poundbury is a pioneering example of such a community. In the U.S., new urbanist principles have been used successfully to guide the design of localities and neighborhoods similar to Poundbury. The responsible property investment movement, in which I have participated for some years, champions investment in livable, walkable and green communities, as does Prince Charles’s Foundation for the Built Environment.

• Increased use of sustainable farming methods and the integration of urban agriculture at the local and neighborhood levels. A return to fresh, community-grown foods promotes health, provides new connections with nature, and creates jobs. The use of energy efficient greenhouses makes it possible to source local produce year-round in diverse climates.

• Lifelong ecological education and training. An appreciation of nature and of local and global ecosystems can be incorporated in primary, secondary, university and adult education, as well as in professional training. Eco-oriented education can enrich lifelong learning for children, adults and elders, and provide preparation for entry into such 21st century professions as energy auditing, environmental engineering, or industrial design based on bio-mimicry.

• The expansion of global investment aimed at reversing climate change. Investment in this sector might range from public-private programs to develop next generation, sustainable technologies in the areas of energy efficiency, construction, agriculture and carbon sequestration, to international efforts that offer financing to developing nations and indigenous peoples to preserve the Amazon rainforest and other ecologically important sites.

As America looks to both traditional values and innovation to inform its future, Prince Charles’s worldview is fresh and compelling.

Image White House photo by Pete Souza via WhiteHouse.gov

Read more

Leanne Tobias is founder and managing principal of Malachite LLC, an advisory firm that specializes in the development, leasing, management, financing and certification of sustainable or green real estate on a global basis.

At the same SVN gathering an Innovation Award was presented to Tevis Howard, the founder of KOMAZA, a nonprofit social enterprise committed to reducing rural poverty in Africa by connecting poor farmers with high-value markets via sustainable forestry. Working in areas affected by desertification, the project has measurable positive environmental impacts.

You can be an early adopter for a mere $3500.

Who ever thought the wind turbines we’ve expected to move us away from fossil fuels would so soon be superceded by an innovative technology using the very same source? They’ve begun in Abu Dhabi but the Mojave could be next.

Or, it can be Wavestalks under the ocean – say between the Channel Islands and California’s coast.

Either way, they’re more compact and more efficient with ‘no moving parts’ since the whole stalk moves!

From Alyssa Danigelis

Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving. The designers came up with the idea for the planned city Masdar, a 2.3-square-mile, automobile-free area being built outside of Abu Dhabi. Atelier DNA’s “Windstalk” project came in second in the Land Art Generator competition a contest sponsored by Madsar to identify the best work of art that generates renewable energy from a pool of international submissions.

The proposed design calls for 1,203 “stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.

“The idea came from trying to find kinetic models in nature that could be tapped to produce energy,” explained Atelier DNA founding partner Darío Núñez-Ameni.

In the proposal for Masdar, the Windstalk wind farm spans 280,000 square feet. Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area.

“Our system is very efficient in that there is no friction loss associated with more mechanical systems such as conventional wind turbines,” he said.

Each base is slightly different, and is sloped so that rain will funnel into the areas between the concrete to help plants grow wild. These bases form a sort of public park space and serve a technological purpose. Each one contains a torque generator that converts the kinetic energy from the stalk into energy using shock absorber cylinders similar to the kind being developed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Levant Power .

Wind isn’t constant, though, so Núñez-Ameni says two large chambers below the whole site will work like a battery to store energy. The idea is based on existing hydroelectric pumped storage systems. Water in the upper chamber will flow through turbines to the lower chamber, releasing stored energy until the wind starts up again.

The top of each tall stalk has an LED lamp that glows when the wind is blowing — more intensely during strong winds and not all when the air is still. The firm anticipates that the stalks will behave naturally, vibrating and fluttering in the air.

“Windstalk is completely silent, and the image associated with them is something we’re already used to seeing in a field of wheat or reeds in a marsh. Our hope is that people living close to them will like to walk through the field — especially at night — under their own, private sky of swarming stars,” said Núñez-Ameni.

After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor’s diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. But Windstalks work on chaos and turbulence so they can be installed much closer together, said Núñez-Ameni.

Núñez-Ameni also reports that the firm is currently working on taking the Windstalk idea underwater. Called Wavestalk, the whole system would be inverted to harness energy from the flow of ocean currents and waves. The firm’s long-term goal is to build a large system in the United States, either on land or in the water.

From UK’s Daily Mail Reporter

VW’s ‘dung’ Beetle: The car that leaves nothing to waste… thanks to its methane gas-powered engine

A car powered by methane gas has been created by a team of British engineers. The vehicle named the ‘Bio-Bug’ is run reliably on biogas, which is produced from human waste at sewage works across the country.

Excrement flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes is enough to power the pioneering VW Beetle car for 10,000 miles – the equivalent of one average motoring year. This conversion technology has been used in the past but the Bio-Bug is Britain’s first car to run on methane gas without its performance being reduced.

Full speed ahead: The converted Beetle car that runs on methane gas that is a by-product of treating human waste

The vehicle’s improved reliability means that its makers believe it can ‘blow away’ electric cars and pave the way for a green motoring revolution.

Mohammed Saddiq, of sustainable energy firm GENeco, which developed the prototype promised that drivers ‘won’t know the difference’. He said: ‘Previously the gas hasn’t been clean enough to fuel motor vehicles without it affecting performance
‘However, through using the latest technology our Bio-Bug drives like any conventional car and what’s more it uses sustainable fuel.

Wessex Water’s Recycling Manager Sean Hill stands beside the Bio-Bug which has a top speed of 114mph

‘We thought it would be appropriate that the poo-powered car should be the classic VW Beetle Bug because bugs naturally breakdown waste at sewage works to start the treatment process which goes on to produce the energy. ‘At the moment we are using waste flushed down the toilets in homes but it won’t be long before the energy will also be generated through the treatment of food waste. ‘If you were to drive the car you wouldn’t know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around.’

The Bio-Bug is a conventional 2 litre VW Beetle convertible, which has been modified to run on both conventional fuel and compressed methane gas.

Power ranger: How the ‘dung’ Beetle car gets from A to B

The car, which has a top speed of 114mph, is started using unleaded petrol but automatically switches to methane when the engine is ‘up to temperature’. If the methane tank runs out the Bio-Bug reverts back to petrol.

Around 18 million cubic metres of biogas is produced from human waste every year at Wessex Water’s sewage treatment works in Avonmouth, Bristol.

The gas is generated through anaerobic digestion – where bugs which are starved of oxygen break down biodegradable material to produce methane. However, before the gas can be used to power vehicles it must undergo ‘biogas upgrading’ where carbon dioxide is removed to improve performance.

The Bio-Bug does 5.3 miles per cubic metre of biogas, which means that just one sewage works could power 95,400,000 miles per year saving 19,000 tonnes of CO2.

Lord Rupert Redesdale, chairman of The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association, believes that the Bio-Bug could prove to be the future of green motoring. He said: ‘This is a very exciting and forward-thinking project demonstrating the myriad benefits of anaerobic digestion. ‘Biomethane cars could be just as important as electric cars, and the water regulator Ofwat should promote the generation of as much biogas as possible through sewage works in the fight against climate change.’

GENeco, which is a sustainable energy company owned by Wessex Water, plans to convert its fleet of vehicles if the Bio-Bug trial proves to be successful.

President Barack Obama announced Saturday the awarding of nearly $2 billion for new solar plants that he said will create thousands of jobs and increase the country’s use of renewable energy sources.

Obama disclosed the funding in his weekly radio and online address, saying it is part of his plan to bring new industries to the U.S.

“We’re going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America,” Obama said.

The two companies that will receive the funds from the president’s $862 billion economic stimulus are Abengoa Solar, which will build one of the world’s largest solar plants in Arizona, creating 1,600 construction jobs; and Abound Solar Manufacturing, which is building plants in Colorado and Indiana. The Obama administration says those projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.