Power News /powernews Power News - Power Information Sun, 22 Jan 2017 16:53:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2 Ending the hoax: Team Trump removes all references to ‘climate change’ on Whitehouse.gov web site /powernews/2017-01-22-ending-the-hoax-team-trump-removes-all-references-to-climate-change-whitehouse-gov-web-site.html /powernews/2017-01-22-ending-the-hoax-team-trump-removes-all-references-to-climate-change-whitehouse-gov-web-site.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2017-01-22-ending-the-hoax-team-trump-removes-all-references-to-climate-change-whitehouse-gov-web-site.html During the campaign, then-GOP nominee Donald J. Trump said he was not convinced that so-called “manmade global warming” and “climate change” was real, pointing out that instead of being “settled science,” there was plenty of conflicting information out there (not to mention outright fraudulent manipulations of temperature data).

As president, Trump’s position appears to be consistent with his skepticism.

Shortly after being inaugurated on Friday, the official Whitehouse.gov web site was scrubbed of all references to climate change. See the difference here.

During the Obama administration, the official White House site carried an information piece titled, “A Historic Commitment to Protecting the Environment and Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change,” which explained the former president’s commitment to policies that were ostensibly designed to reverse human impact on the climate through industrialization and modernization.

Obama, like all climate change hoaxers, claimed that it was the ‘biggest threat to our children’ than nuclear war or terrorism, and he regularly trotted out “data” that his federal bureaucracy claimed was “proof” that a) the Earth’s climate is “changing” and b) it’s because too many cows fart and too many Americans drive SUVs.

But Trump—and a host of genuinely independent scientists and climatologists interested in real data—has never bought into the hype. What’s more, he and millions of Americans watched as Obama’s business and economic policies destroyed jobs and opportunity because they were based on something more akin to a religion. (RELATED: How are ‘they’ fooling us today? Find out at Hoax.news)

“Climate skeptics are thrilled that one of the very first visible changes of the transition of power between President Obama and President Trump is the booting of ‘climate change’ from the White House website,” said a statement from Climate Depot, a project of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, or CFACT, which documents climate change hoaxes and phony data. “Trump is truly going to make science great again and reject the notion that humans are the control knob of the climate and UN treaties and EPA regulations can somehow regulate temperature and storminess. Welcome to the era of sound science!”

While the Obama-era climate change page has been taken down, the Trump administration has uploaded the president’s “America First Energy Plan” to the Whitehouse.gov site in its place.

“Energy is an essential part of American life and a staple of the world economy. The Trump Administration is committed to energy policies that lower costs for hardworking Americans and maximize the use of American resources, freeing us from dependence on foreign oil,” the plan says. “For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next 7 years.”

The plan also notes that “sound” energy policy must begin with the acknowledgement that the United States has vast, untapped energy reserves that have been placed under federal ‘protection’ for decades by previous administrations. The administration says it is committed to unlocking those reserves and embracing the shale oil and gas “revolution” that will bring good-paying jobs to millions of Americans. (RELATED: What’s going on with American energy? Find out at Power.news)

That kind of a policy plays right into the hands of the angry Left, which has claimed for months that Trump would destroy the environment by making our air and water dirtier. But such ridiculous claims are based on the irrational premise that our new president wants us to have dirty air and water—which is something he, too, would suffer.

The web site says there is an estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale in the U.S., along with oil, and natural gas, “especially those on federal lands that the American people own.” The administration would use the revenues from energy production to “rebuild our roads, schools, bridges and public infrastructure,” which Trump frequently brought up on the campaign trail. By tapping into U.S. reserves, energy prices will come down for all Americans, and “will be a big boost to American agriculture as well.”

The Trump administration also said it will be committed to clean coal technology, as well as reviving the coal industry so ravaged under the Obama regime.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

ClimateDepot.com

Breitbart.com

Whitehouse.gov

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Solar power has now become the cheapest way to produce electricity /powernews/2017-01-08-solar-power-has-now-become-the-cheapest-way-to-produce-electricity.html /powernews/2017-01-08-solar-power-has-now-become-the-cheapest-way-to-produce-electricity.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2017-01-08-solar-power-has-now-become-the-cheapest-way-to-produce-electricity.html The technology has been around for decades but because it was so expensive to produce and maintain, and because it was unreliable and short-lived, the use of solar panels to generate electricity on a large scale was not economically feasible.

But it appears as though the time for affordable, widespread solar power has come.

As reported by True Activist, new data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance that was released before Christmas indicates that solar power has now become a cheaper form of energy than wind power, while also out-competing coal and natural gas for the very first time. Now, with solar energy set to become the cheapest form of electricity production on the planet, it looks as though global energy markets are about to undergo a tectonic shift as more nations around the world shift to this completely pollution-free and renewable energy form.

In its new report called “Climatescope,” the BNEF examined conditions for investing in clean energy on and off the grid in nearly 60 emerging markets (i.e. “developing” nations). In those countries, solar power that is not government- or investiment-subsidized was actually found to beat out coal and natural gas, in addition to other forms of renewable energy production. This was not just occurring on an individual basis but on a grander scale.

Global production of solar-generated electricity setting records, lowering costs

The chart below shows how there has been a major decline in the average cost of solar power production compared to wind in some 58 emerging markets, including some of the world’s biggest economies in China, India, and Brazil. Since 2010, the BNEF found, cost of solar has declined by nearly one-third.

In 2016, True Activist reported, successive records for cheap power production were set in government auctions, where private corporations gathered to compete to receive lucrative energy production contracts. The first took place in January when a contract in India was able to produce electricity for $64 per megawatt-hour. In August, Chile broke all previous records when a deal was closed for solar electricity production for just $29.10 per megawatt-hour, or just about half the price of coal-produced power.

And the thing to keep in mind is that these two price records only represent the newest projects. Others, which will be completed by year’s end, are also set to shatter records once all of the solar projects completed in 2016 are tallied up and analyzed in the coming months.

Bloomberg says that it is very possible that the total amount of solar photovoltaic panels added around the world will pass those of wind turbines for the first time ever, as the latest BNEF projections indicate that about 70 gigawatts of new solar panel production will be finished in 2016 in comparison to wind, at about 59 gigawatts.

“However, this transformation is taking place largely in emerging markets,” True Activist reported. “Wealthier nations have not seen the same success, likely due to the fact that it is difficult for solar to compete with already existing billion-dollar fossil fuel infrastructure as well as the fossil fuel lobby’s hold on federal and state governments.”

That is especially true in the United States, where solar power generation has to go up against the massive subsidies received by the fossil fuel industry, which ostensibly drives down prices for fuels and natural gas.

Solar not picking up in the U.S.-yet

But solar power has also received subsidies from taxpayers. In fact, the Obama administration announced in August 2015 new efforts to bring renewable energy to more homes in the United States, but this came after the White House earmarked and spent more than $150 billion on what turned out to be money wasted in failed solar energy firms.

As the Gateway Pundit noted, that massive expenditure only increased total U.S. energy consumption via solar-generated electricity by about 1 percent.

“President Obama subsidized solar and other renewable energy in the United States with taxpayer money to the tune of $39 billion per year on average for the past 5 years,” the Institute for Energy Research reported. “These massive subsidies, however, have done little to increase the contribution of solar power to the electricity generation mix as solar is expected to produce just 0.6 percent of electricity generation this year. Disregarding the cost to the American taxpayer and the failed solar projects in the United States, President Obama has pledged billions of dollars to fund solar energy development in India.”

Still, as True Activist noted, subsidies to the U.S. fossil fuel industry are ongoing and much higher.

But clearly, as evidenced by solar energy production in emerging economies, there is much to be hopeful about, as solar-generated electricity appears to be on the rise globally, not in decline.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

TrueActivist.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

TheGuardian.com

InstituteForEnergyResearch.org

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Huge turning point for renewable energy: Solar power is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity /powernews/2017-01-04-huge-turning-point-for-renewable-energy-solar-power-is-becoming-the-cheapest-form-of-new-electricity.html /powernews/2017-01-04-huge-turning-point-for-renewable-energy-solar-power-is-becoming-the-cheapest-form-of-new-electricity.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2017-01-04-huge-turning-point-for-renewable-energy-solar-power-is-becoming-the-cheapest-form-of-new-electricity.html One of the most popular talking points when it comes to American politics and economics is the environment. Considering the fact that the earth will eventually run out of natural resources — despite the fact that it is often disputed how long that will take — it is extremely important that renewable energy sources are utilized. One of the arguments against renewable energy has been that it is too expensive. Now, it appears as though that will no longer be the case.

Tom Randall of Bloomberg Technology reports, “This year has seen a remarkable run for solar power. Auctions, where private companies compete for massive contracts to provide electricity, established record after record for cheap solar power. It started with a contract in January to produce electricity for $64 per megawatt-hour in India; then a deal in August pegging $29.10 per megawatt hour in Chile.”

This is excellent news for everyone, whether they are in the solar power business or not. The people of Earth desperately need to have renewable energy sources that we can fall back on whenever the resources that naturally exist dry up and we have to take another route in order to power our various devices. It appears as though solar energy is even more viable than wind energy in the long run, so it is a good thing that it is now at the forefront when it comes to renewable energy.

The fact that solar energy has become the cheapest form of electricity could not be better news. Hopefully, this will inspire the naysayers and people who have refused to accept that renewable energy is the way of the future to rethink their position. If there is one thing that often changes people’s minds, it is definitely the amount of money they can save if they come around to a new way of thinking.

But beyond the money that can be saved by investing in solar energy, it is important that these sources of renewable energy succeed so that they can become commonplace and eventually replace coal and other natural resources that, one day, will cease to exist. We are currently in the midst of a major shift in both economics and scientific discoveries. Both worlds are coinciding and the results could very well benefit the planet and its people. It’s up to us to acknowledge the great opportunity we currently have and capitalize on it to our best abilities.

 

Sources:

Bloomberg.com

Mashable.com

CleanTechnica.com

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Washington Post can’t stop faking the news: U.S. electrical grid “penetration” story a complete fabrication /powernews/2017-01-01-washington-post-faking-news-electrical-grid-penetration-complete-fabrication-russians.html /powernews/2017-01-01-washington-post-faking-news-electrical-grid-penetration-complete-fabrication-russians.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2017-01-02-washington-post-faking-news-electrical-grid-penetration-complete-fabrication-russians In a desperate effort to discredit Donald Trump and create mass hysteria across America’s gullible left, the Washington Post has, for the last several months, deliberately engaged in a shameless campaign of fabricating fake news stories.

Even as each story is proven to be based on pure fiction, the Washington Post rolls out yet more fake stories to try to justify their previous fake stories. The latest example of that came on Friday, when the WashPost completely fabricated another delusional paranoia episode in a story that claimed “Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont, officials say.” Click here for the current version of that story (which has already been radically altered from the original story).

Fanning the flames of delusional paranoia even higher, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy “…took the rhetoric to a whole new level by asserting a diabolical Russian plot to shut down the U.S. electrical grid in the middle of winter…a move that would most certainly kill off half the state’s population in an instant,” reports Zero Hedge.

Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept adds this observation:

The article went on and on in that vein, with all the standard tactics used by the U.S. media for such stories: quoting anonymous national security officials, reviewing past acts of Russian treachery, and drawing the scariest possible conclusions (“’The question remains: Are they in other systems and what was the intent?’ a U.S. official said”).

The media reactions, as Alex Pfeiffer documents, were exactly what one would expect: hysterical, alarmist proclamations of Putin’s menacing evil.

Reuters even picked up on the story, reporting the same false narrative the Washington Post fabricated, claiming: “A malware code associated with Russian hackers has reportedly been detected within the system of a Vermont electric utility.”

The problem with all this? The Washington Post’s original story was completely fabricated.

The Washington Post made it all up

They made it up. This is how the Washington Post now engages in “journalism.” As Zero Hedge explains:

Alas, there was just one minor problem, namely that the entire article was completely fabricated.  Apparently the esteemed “journalists” of the Washington Post didn’t even bother to contact the Burlington Electric Department to confirm their bogus story…and why should they…it fit the “Russian hacking” narrative so perfectly therefore it must be true, right?

Well, apparently not.  The quick spread of WaPo’s “fake news” story forced the Burlington Electric Department to issue a clarifying statement assuring worried residents that, indeed, their electricity grid had not been hacked, but rather a single “laptop not connected” to the grid had been found to have a malware virus.

In other words, the electric grid wasn’t “penetrated” by Russian hackers. What really happened is that somebody found a virus on a laptop.

Yeah, that’s it. And the virus they found can be downloaded by anyone. It’s not a super secret Russian spy virus. It’s just a readily available off-the-shelf virus on a regular laptop that wasn’t even connected to the grid.

Washington Post alters headline, adds editor’s note admitting the entire story was bogus

Caught in yet another totally fabricated lie, the Washington Post began to backpedal on its original story. It also added this editor’s note:

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.

In other words, the Washington Post just “made s##t up” and called it “news.”

Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept immediately ripped the WashPost for getting caught yet again completely fabricating false news:

There was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid.” The truth was undramatic and banal. Burlington Electric, after receiving a Homeland Security notice sent to all U.S. utility companies about the malware code found in the DNC system, searched all its computers and found the code in a single laptop that was not connected to the electric grid.

Apparently, the Post did not even bother to contact the company before running its wildly sensationalistic claims, so Burlington Electric had to issue its own statement to the Burlington Free Press, which debunked the Post’s central claim (emphasis in original): “We detected the malware in a single Burlington Electric Department laptop not connected to our organization’s grid systems.”

So the key scary claim of the Post story — that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid — was false. All the alarmist tough-guy statements issued by political officials who believed the Post’s claim were based on fiction.

Even worse, there is zero evidence that Russian hackers were even responsible for the implanting of this malware on this single laptop. The fact that malware is “Russian-made” does not mean that only Russians can use it; indeed, like a lot of malware, it can be purchased (as Jeffrey Carr has pointed out in the DNC hacking context, assuming that Russian-made malware must have been used by Russians is as irrational as finding a Russian-made Kalishnikov AKM rifle at a crime scene and assuming the killer must be Russian).

As the actual truth emerged once the utility company issued its statement, the Post rushed to fix its embarrassment, beginning by dramatically changing its headline.

The Washington Post now exists as a propaganda fiction rag that routinely fabricates delusional scare stories as click bait

The Washington Post is now officially a “click bait” rag. The “journalism” conducted by the paper is laughable and insulting to any intelligent person. They didn’t even bother to call the Burlington power company to confirm anything before running their fabricated scare story that dredged up fictional “facts” out of thin air.

The WashPost did do us one big favor in all this, however: It demonstrated yet again how mainstream media publishers are the kings of “fake news.”

This isn’t a one-time thing, either: The WashPost keeps getting caught again and again, knowingly and deliberately fabricating false news to scare America half to death. I’ve dubbed this practice “journo-terrorism,” and in an article describing journo-terrorism, I explain the real agenda of the Washington Post, NYT and CNN:

Their job in the leftist ecosystem of psychological warfare is to unleash vast fields of mental landmines that innocent American stumble into, setting them off and blasting apart their cognitive constructs. Once the old belief systems are eliminated, new beliefs are inserted through “info-doctrination” — i.e. repeated, daily news streams consisting of fear and lies that create “trigger conditions” in the minds of those being hypnotized.

It’s fascinating that planting actual land mines on battlefields is often considered a “crime against humanity,” but when journo-terrorists plant cognitive land mines across the psychological battlefield of America, it’s all “fact checked” into reality by Politifact, Snopes or the Washington Post. Suddenly the land mines are perfectly acceptable to the leftists. It is these land minds that are right now responsible for the massive psychological trauma being experienced by the crying, wailing leftists whose brains have been shattered by journo-terrorism from MSNBC, CNN, the NYT, the LA Times and so on.

That’s why I continue to call for the prosecution of anti-American journo-terrorists who are deliberately working to subvert America through the spreading of bogus, fabricated propaganda that’s knowingly created to harm America’s interests and terrorize its citizens.

We must stop the psychological terrorism being carried out by radical left-wing journo-terrorists

Journo-terrorism is psychological warfare, and it is being deliberately carried out every single day at the Washington Post, NYT, CNN, MSNBC and other “fake news” media outlets. These acts of journo-terrorism pose a grave danger to the American psyche and are deliberately pursued to undermine our Republic through the spreading of false fear.

These acts of journo-terrorism by the Washington Post are not mistakes. They are deliberate. They are premeditated. They are scripted with an intended purpose… and that purpose is rooted in subversion and the ginning up of baseless hysteria for political aims.

Free speech aside, the Washington Post is now knowingly yelling “fire” in a crowded room… even when there’s no fire. They’ve gone far beyond anything resembling “free speech” and have solidly become subversive enemies of the American people. Let us hope the new administration will do something to stop them before they are able to carry out more damaging propaganda campaigns against the American psyche.

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South Korea on the verge of unlimited energy breakthrough /powernews/2016-12-31-south-korea-on-the-verge-of-unlimited-energy-breakthrough.html /powernews/2016-12-31-south-korea-on-the-verge-of-unlimited-energy-breakthrough.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2016-12-31-south-korea-on-the-verge-of-unlimited-energy-breakthrough Scientists in South Korea have reportedly made a breakthrough toward harnessing an unlimited source of safe and clean energy via nuclear fusion.

The Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) reactor apparently set a world’s record recently by holding superheated plasma in a steady state for 70 seconds.

If implemented into widespread use, the nuclear fusion process — which is an alternative to nuclear fission and the radioactive waste that accompanies it — could revolutionize the energy delivery system by among other things also presumably eliminating reliance on fossil fuels and all the geopolitical, economic, environmental, and social ramifications that go with it.

Deploying the nuclear fusion technology in residential and commercial settings won’t happen tomorrow or the next day but it is no longer in the realm of science fiction because “research such as KSTAR proves that the burning of star-like fuel can be achieved and contained using current technology,” the Daily Mail claimed.

The KSTAR facility is located about 100 miles south of Seoul, and the reactor is capable of generating temperatures of up 300 million degrees Celsius (approximately 540 million degrees Fahrenheit) for plasma blobs.

Plasma blobs are held together by magnetic fields, according to Interesting Engineering, thereby creating helium atoms. The energy thus released is theoretically capable of generating “unlimited” power.

“Containing this ultra-hot type of matter is key to unlocking nuclear fusion, so it’s a big step forward in our attempts to make this clean, safe, and virtually limitless source of energy something we can rely on,” Science Alert explained, adding that this mode of operation could conceivably generate nuclear waste-free power for a millennium using just seawater, as long as the appropriate safety and sustainability controls are in place. Moreover, there is apparently far less risk of a plant meltdown using nuclear fusion technology.

“To put it simply, nuclear fusion is the process that makes the sun shine, with the nuclei of small atoms, such as hydrogen, squeezed together and heated to an extreme degree such that they fuse to form larger nuclei and release a burst of energy…Conventional nuclear power plants depend on materials such as uranium or plutonium to create the fission to generate energy, but the radioactivity of the resulting fragments are considered a crucial drawback. In a nuclear fusion reaction, however, problems about waste disposal are greatly minimized,” The Korea Times explained.

As Natural News has chronicled previously, traditional nuke plants here and abroad have introduced hazardous waste into the environment, so any discussion of nuclear power, conventional or otherwise, is bound to become immediately controversial.

Nuclear waste disposal is a hot-button issue, as it were, and has long been at the heart of opposition to nuclear power by environmental groups, suggesting that fusion process, if it fully proves out, might be a solution acceptable to all constituencies.

Parenthetically, Australia is reportedly considering building a gigantic nuclear waste storage facility in the sparsely populated southern part of the country. Some people believe that gathering nuclear waste together in one site makes it easier to secure, control and keep track of, minimizing the possibilities of widespread radiation exposure across multiple cities, and reducing the chances of these dangerous materials getting into the wrong hands and used in a dirty bomb. Others feel that the health concerns of radiation exposure are simply not worth it.

In a statement about what appears to be a new nuclear fusion benchmark, South Korea’s National Fusion Research Institute lauded the KSTAR reactor record as being in the “forefront in steady-state plasma operation technology in a superconducting device. This is a huge step forward for realization of the fusion reactor.”

Sources:

DailyMail.co.uk

InterestingEngineering.com

ScienceAlert.com

World-Nuclear-News.org

M.KoreaTimes.co.kr

NaturalNews.com

 

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Government considers using software that will disable all phone capabilities in moving cars /powernews/2016-12-30-government-considers-using-software-that-will-disable-all-phone-capabilities-in-moving-cars.html /powernews/2016-12-30-government-considers-using-software-that-will-disable-all-phone-capabilities-in-moving-cars.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2016-12-30-government-considers-using-software-that-will-disable-all-phone-capabilities-in-moving-cars The United Kingdom government is considering a measure to require prepackaged software technology to disable cell phone operation in cars, removing personal responsibility or privacy rights from the equation while adding a component of Big Brother in the name of public safety.

It’s already illegal to use any hand-held device for talking or texting while driving in the U.K., although many motorists there apparently ignore the law, which is why authorities are evidently seeking a way to jam cell phones altogether.

The only exceptions are for calling the British equivalent of 911 in case of an emergency or when a car is parked.

According to a 2014 report, distracted driving accidents were already on track to be the major cause of death on U.K. roads and to exceed drunk-driving-related fatalities.

Here in the U.S., the laws aren’t as strict as in Britain, but about 3,000 deaths and 431,000 injuries were attributed to distracted driver-related car crashes in 2014, according to the latest statistics published by the U.S. government’s Distraction.gov website. Moreover, 10 percent of all drivers 15 to 19 years old involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the accidents. Motorists in the age-20 cohort constituted 38 percent of the distracted drivers using cellphones when fatal crashes occurred, the website added.

Distracted walking is also an increasing danger, Natural News previously explained. Texting while walking is a major contributor to the deaths of pedestrians in traffic accidents, according to an August 2015 report by the U.S. Governors Highway Safety Association.

The Independent of London explains what regulators have in mind for smartphones, or what they call mobile phones in the U.K.

“Mobile phones could be set to automatically stop working in moving cars, making it impossible for drivers to text, call, or send emails at the wheel. The Department for Transport (DfT) is reportedly considering implementing new technology that would block phone signal for drivers. The software would make mobiles virtually useless by disabling any function that requires internet access or connection to a telephone network.”

Government officials plan to sit down with car makers and handset manufacturers in 2017 to explore various options, one of which could be a “drive safe” app on phones (equivalent to airplane mode) to disable distractions such as incoming calls, voicemail, texts, and email. According to The Car Connection, this kind of app in theory is a good idea but “in practice, it’s unlikely that consumers will use the software unless it’s automated or at least easy to activate.”

A new survey suggests that a majority of U.K. drivers are actually okay with potential regulations that would allow government to impose restrictions on cell phone use in cars. “Two-thirds of motorists think the Government should use technology to disable mobile phones in cars, research reveals. Half admit they cannot resist looking at their device in stationary or slow-moving traffic. And terrifyingly, reading texts or emails and checking social media are now more common than taking or making a phone call,” The Sun of London claimed.

If distracted driving accidents continue to rise, the next step — requiring automakers to install jamming devices in every new car off the assembly line — “would be a fairly foolproof way of addressing the problem. That said, many would see such an extreme move as a massive overreach by the government and an invasion of civil rights,” The Car Connection added.

The overall goal, according to one official, is to render smartphone use behind the wheel “as unacceptable as not wearing a seat belt or [drunk] driving.”

For better or worse, in general the mere threat of government intrusion is often enough for industry to make changes.

Sources:

Gov.UK

FleetNews.co.uk

Distraction.Gov

NaturalNews.com

Independent.co.uk

TheCarConnection.com

TheSun.co.uk

 

 

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Parents, clean out those drawers: Lithium batteries could cause terrible death from internal bleeding /powernews/2016-12-29-parents-clean-out-those-drawers-lithium-batteries-could-cause-terrible-death-from-internal-bleeding.html /powernews/2016-12-29-parents-clean-out-those-drawers-lithium-batteries-could-cause-terrible-death-from-internal-bleeding.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2016-12-29-parents-clean-out-those-drawers-lithium-batteries-could-cause-terrible-death-from-internal-bleeding Lithium or button batteries are the tiny batteries found in many toys, musical greeting cards, household appliances, and remote controls. Many parents, however, remain unaware of the safety hazards button batteries pose to their little one. While they may look harmless to you, if they are ingested they may choke the child or cause a lethal chemical reaction.

Parents all over the world are advised to clean out their junk drawers or boxes and get rid of old lithium batteries or store them in a closed box, tin, or container out of reach of children. Also, make sure to buy toys only from reputable manufacturers. These trusted brands make their products in a way that batteries cannot easily be accessed by young children.

A terrible death from internal bleeding

The shiny round shape of these small batteries easily attracts young children. Since they are about the same size of a smartie, toddlers often think it’s candy and pop it in their mouths. Once the battery is ingested it creates an electrical current which, in combination with salvia, produces sodium hydroxide or caustic soda.

When this happens, holes can burn through the esophagus. Once past the esophagus wall, caustic acid continues to burn through major blood vessels leading to internal bleeding, causing potentially fatal damage within a couple of hours.

‘The child can bleed to death,” Dr. Kate Parkins, a pediatrician and consultant at Manchester University Hospitals Trust, explained to the Daily Mail Online.

Once major internal hemorrhaging starts, it is almost impossible to stop. Also, if enough sodium hydroxide has built up the burning will continue, even though the battery has been removed, causing death up to a week after the removal.

What’s more, these tiny batteries don’t even need to be damaged or swallowed to cause severe injuries. Only a few minutes sucking on one of these batteries can cause terrible oral burns that may affect the child for life.

Lethal battery-swallowing cases on the rise

Since 1985, the number of battery-swallowing cases in America resulting in major or fatal injuries has increased six-fold. The symptoms of swallowing a lithium battery include vomiting, nausea, fever, and coughing. These, however, are often overlooked by doctors who may misdiagnose them as heartburn or a digestive issue.

In one case, it took doctors nearly eight weeks after the first visit to figure out what was wrong with 18-month-old Ellie Gatrell. By the time they removed the battery, scar tissue had narrowed Ellie’s throat so much that she was put on a liquid diet until her body was strong enough to undergo a series of operations – one only two weeks after the initial operation to remove the battery and four more over the following five months.

Some, however, are less fortunate than little Ellie. Last year, a two-year-old girl died after swallowing a button battery in the United States. Just a few days after Christmas, Brianna Florer started to vomit blood and turned blue. She was rushed to the hospital, where she died after two hours of emergency surgery attempting to stop the internal bleeding caused by a lithium battery.

And she is not alone. In 2013, a four-year-old Australian girl, Summer Steer, died after swallowing a lithium battery. She vomited half a liter of blood and was sent home twice before she died. One doctor diagnosed her with a simple nose bleed. Only after an X-ray was taken, was the battery was found. But it was too late. She died from a cardiac failure two hours later.

Sources:

NaturalBlaze.com

DailyMail.co.uk

Independent.co.uk

DailyMail.co.uk

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Prepping for an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack /powernews/2016-12-08-prepping-for-an-electromagnetic-pulse-emp-attack.html /powernews/2016-12-08-prepping-for-an-electromagnetic-pulse-emp-attack.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2016-12-08-prepping-for-an-electromagnetic-pulse-emp-attack EMP, or Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. Most of us have heard of it, some of us understand what it is and what it does, and those who have read “One Second After” have an idea of what will happen if we are attacked with it. Some additional info can be found at here.

Article by Ray

The U.S. Government created a commission to study EMP and what it could do to the safety and security of the United States. Unfortunately, this Committee published its report the same day as the 911 Commission, so it didn’t get much news coverage. You can read the report at www.empcommission.org. The bottom line in the report is that it is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ we will be hit.

EMP will take out everything electronic, whether it is connected to the grid or sitting unplugged on the kitchen counter. Things connected to the grid may fry from the 100,000 volt surge brought in through the power distribution lines.

Electronics with transistors or integrated circuits are extremely sensitive to static electricity, and can be destroyed by as little as 100 volts. Walking across a carpet and sparking to that door know is well over 1000 volts. The surge created by the EMP in your electronic device will be sufficient to destroy them if they are not protected.

One of the committee members likened EMP to a time machine, transporting our society from ‘today’ to ‘1870’ in about one second. We become, once again, an agrarian society, capable of supporting the level of population that we had in 1870. This means that there will be a lot of Americans dying.

Our goal, your goal, is to be among the survivors. There are many things that need to be done to prepare: learning survival skills, having land and gardening/preserving knowledge, and many other things.

Having communications and some of the gadgets survive could mean the difference between surviving and not surviving. Things like solar battery chargers, batteries, inverters, ignition systems for chain saws, critical farm equipment electronics, walkie-talkies, NV gear among others could be critical when the time comes.

What is EMP?

When a nuclear bomb is exploded above the atmosphere, it releases gamma rays in all directions. The ones that head towards the atmosphere strike air molecules and strip off electrons.

Those electrons and gamma rays head towards Earth, stripping even more electrons. This avalanche of electrons, called the Compton Effect, interact with the Earth’s electromagnetic field, creating very strong magnetic waves.

When a magnetic field crosses a conductor, electrical current is produced. When this EMP magnetic wave crosses power lines, electronic equipment, anything conductive, current is produced. Enough current could be produced to create fires, exploding transformers, extremely high voltage (current pushing through resistance results in voltage) which can break down insulation and create arcing and short circuits.

In 1962 the US detonated a 1.4 megaton bomb over one of the test sites in the Pacific. It was high enough that the island of Hawaii, 900 miles away, had 300 street lights go out, and some microwave links were damaged.

Hours after the detonation there were still surges and ripples in the power system. That was when we used vacuum tubes and before transistorized equipment was on the market. Today, with microcircuits and all of the very high tech equipment that we have in our homes, our factories and our defenses, we are more vulnerable than ever.

The U.S. Senate recently stripped funds for hardening the country’s power grid against EMP from a homeland security bill.

We are on our own.

What can be harmed?

Will EMP harm you? You, the human, will be safe. Magnetic waves, even very strong ones, will not harm you. MRIs use strong magnetic waves to make images of your innards.

But, look around you at anything with a wire or a chip. Whatever you see, be it toaster, TV, laptop, microwave oven, radio, chain saw, car, or truck, it is vulnerable, and the higher the technology the more vulnerable.

WSHTF you won’t need a TV, but you will need a radio, perhaps walkie-talkies, probably solar battery chargers, that ignition coil on your chain saw, maybe that night vision scope and whatever else you deem necessary for your survival. EMP won’t hurt you, but it may take away every electronic device that you posses.

If you are part of a group, you might consider building a larger box and sharing it, and the cost.

What can I do?

One way to protect your gear is to build a Faraday Shielded Box and keep your stuff in it. A faraday shield is simply a physical device that prevents electromagnetic radiation from passing, in or out. In our case, we’ll take a cardboard box, cover it with copper screening material, and then ground it well.

I’ll describe the one that I built and you can size it up or down as you think necessary. Copper screen material with wire spacing of 0.1” is needed, and is the most expensive part of the project. You can keep costs down by only making as big a box as necessary. But when you think of the cost, think of the cost of the items that you will be protecting and what it might cost you if they don’t make it.

I started with a 2’ x 2’ x 3’ cardboard box. I actually had two of them. I cut the top flaps off of one, and cut up the other to bend and fold a lid like a hat box, with about 2” of side overlap. I wanted a loose fitting top, with plenty of overlap on the sides. You don’t want any holes or gaps in the copper shielding, which is why I put the 2” flap on the lid for the box.

I laid out the screen coverage to minimize the number of lapped joints, cut the screen and used spots of hot melt glue to hold the pieces in place. I folded the screen around lips and edges, cut and tucked it into corners, and then used a very hot (150 W) soldering iron to solder all of the lap joints and corners. On the lid, not only cover the outside, but fold the screen into the underside for the side overlaps. You don’t want any missed areas of coverage of the screen.

Next, take a piece of bare #10 AWG or #12 AWG (house wiring Romex) and strip off the insulation. Form it into a loop with a pigtail. Now make a second one. Lay one on one side flap of the lid and solder the pigtail to the screen. Put the lid on the box and solder the other loop to the main box a couple of inches below the pigtail loop on the lid.

Your box is ready. Find an out of the way place where it can stay undisturbed. From the box, run a copper wire (#10 AWG) outside the house to a ground rod. You can use a ground rod of copper or galvanized steel, or you can get 10’ of ½” galvanized pipe. Drive it into the ground at least 8’, attach the copper wire to the clamp, and make sure that you always have the box and lid connected to the ground wire. At the box end of the wire, use alligator clips to conned the main wire to one of the pigtails and then make a short jumper between the two pigtails.

I haven’t finished stocking mine, but my list includes: night vision goggles, IR laser sight for the rifle, game camera, batteries, crank emergency radio, walkie-talkies, solar battery charger, 12V to 110 VAC inverter, ignition coil for the chain saw and an alternator for the tractor.

Read more at: dailycollapsereport.com

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10 Things to Have Ready before the Huge EMP /powernews/2016-12-08-10-things-to-have-ready-before-the-huge-emp.html /powernews/2016-12-08-10-things-to-have-ready-before-the-huge-emp.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2016-12-09-10-things-to-have-ready-before-the-huge-emp Dr. Peter Pry (Executive Director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security) warns that the consequences – of not being prepared for this event – are much more severe than one may think:

Article by Claude Nelson

“within a year of an EMP event at least 2 thirds or the us population will perish from starvation, disease and social collapse”

Former CIA double agent (Reza Kahlili) who spent time in the Iranian Army confirmed that the Iranian have conducted missile tests of ships in the Caspian See that are consistent with an EMP attack:

“They are going to get to the Gulf of Mexico with ballistic missiles and they can launch one at a moment’s notice and they wouldn’t care about the repercussions”

Mostly because they can sink the vessel leaving no traces and because the US won’t be able to retaliate!

What if you woke up one morning and nothing worked? What if there was no electricity? What if all transportation came to a halt?

An EMP event would instantly destroy any means of telecommunication, bank account would disappear, planes would fall from the skies, nuclear plants would not be able to cool down the reactors, we would have no running water (water pumps) and every piece of electronics we use from pacemakers to phones to gasoline pumps would stop!

Your refrigerator will stop working and all your food will spoil in a matter of days! If you and your family are not together, you won’t be able to contact or see them.

This is a catastrophic threat and North Korea, China, Russia and even ISIS… they all understand it and they are all working on it. And if they’ll ever wage war on us, they would be stupid not to strike America’s Achilles heel!

If one of the nuclear powers blasts a nuclear weapon 275 miles above the US it will produce an EMP that will basically send us, the Canadian and the Mexicans back to the Dark Ages.

Will we be able to fight back in case of a nuclear war?

I don’t think so! Probably most of our ICBM’s will turn into a pile of junk (although some are EMP hardened). The communication lines and mobiles will become useless. And on top of that, I don’t think that our ballistic missile defense (BMD) system will work at all after a powerful HEMP.

I have something you need to watch. It’s much better than I am at explaining the threat. Watch it and learn what you should fear most, what an EMP effects and how you can protect your electronics, car, mobile phones, etc.

Years ago the US Army indeed straightened some military equipment against an EMP attack. The congressional study EMP Report (back in 2004) indicated potential casualty rates of 90%. The result: the commission was disband! What the US does to prevent an EMP attack right now? NOTHING!

So here are some useful things to protect yourself from an EMP:

1. Build a Faraday Cage

A Faraday cage is a sealed enclosure that has an electrically conductive outer layer and a non-conductive inner layer. The purpose of this box is to protect any electronics inside it in case of an EMP. There are basically two simple ways of building a Faraday cage:

  • by wrapping a non-conductive box (such as cardboard or wood) in a conductive material (such as aluminum foil)
  • by using a conductive box (like an ammo can) and isolate the inner walls of the box with foam (polystyrene) or a cheap Yoga mat or maybe window insulating foam

2. Store in your Faraday Cage the most important survival electronics like:

  • A radio (for communication and gathering information);
  • An old laptop computer with downloads of ebooks and stored personal information or at least a manual on how to make a generator using materials you can find in your home;
  • A set of walkie-talkies that run on rechargeable batteries;
  • A small generator;
  • A manually rechargeable flashlight (most flashlights have electronics in them so they will also fry);
  • Electronic parts for cars;
  • Any electronic equipment you don’t use on a regular basis buy may need when SHTF like: night vision and other electronic optics, solar battery chargers, drills;

3. Store fuel

This does not mean you have to store tons of fuel. You won’t want to be seen driving around. Just a few gallons in a small tank that will allow you to conduct a few basic unpredictable operations like: bringing your family home safe or an emergency getaway car in case things get really bad in your town. (That only if you manage to protect your car against the EMP)

4. Save your car!

Basically you have 3 good options:

  • Place in the Faraday cage the vital electronics your car needs (doubles) and replace them after the EMP (PCM – Powertrain Control Module, Electronic Fuel Injection, Electronic Ignition and possibly even other parts depending on the vehicle)
  • Buy a cheap old back-up car that does not have vital electronic parts (like a 1984 Toyota Hilux 4×4 – around $1200).
  • Harden your car against EMP’s and park it in a sheet metal shed or steel building. You can also buy EMP shielding devices that zip or wrap around your car’s wiring.

5. Plan on living self-sustained

This means fulfilling all our 3 basic needs: water, food and shelter!

Have in mind a place where to procure water when there will be no running water. Have in mind a place where you can plant and harvest crops. Buying at least one acre in the countryside would give you at least something to plan with.

One of the best ways to do that is by building a system totally independent from the environment. I have something you need to watch. It’s much better than I am at explaining the threat. Watch it and learn how you can build your own independent eco-system capable of producing food in any crisis and why you should not wait.

6. Stockpile essentials like:

  • Food – for at least 5 months (winter plus two more months) – if you have a plan to go “self-sustained” and a 12 months if you don’t plan to do that. Remember that there will be no refrigeration. You’ll have a few long term food options like: Pemmican, Hardtacks, cans (more foods that will outlast you)
  • Water – This is actually the most important event for which you need to store water! Even in case of droughts people don’t die because of the lack of water (they die of hunger). But this is not the case. In case of an EMP there will be no running water, and if you are not close to a river or a fountain you may die. You need to know your location and set in your mind a walking route to a local fountain or a nearby river. If it is 3 days away (walking) it is not good. Store water for at least 10 days and head to the water source to get more water reserves starting day one.
  • Tools like an axe, a knife (learn how perfectly sharpen your knife) first aid kit and antibiotics (you won’t be able to call 911 – read more: The only 4 Antibiotics You’ll need When SHTF), personal hygiene items, boots, matches and so on.

7. Some things you should have in the car

We all spend a lot of time driving and you should not be totally surprise if an EMP gets you stuck many miles away from home on a deadly cold winter or in a desert miles away from water. Whatever the case, it doesn’t cost you anything to keep some of your equipment ready in your car:

  • warm clothing
  • long term food (some emergency food ration bars) and water (at least 1-3 gallons)
  • a fire starter
  • a knife
  • maybe a fold up bike
  • and whatever you think – depending on the distance and time of your journey;

Also… if you plan on a remote and long journey you may want to consider throwing your bug out bag into the trunk.

8. Secure Your Home against Looters

OCOKA is a military term that stands for:

  • Observation and fields of fire
  • Cover and Concealment
  • Obstacles
  • Key Terrain
  • Avenues of Approach

When setting up home defenses OCOKA should always be kept in mind and each principle addressed. Following these five key principles, you will greatly improve your security and survivability. This is one of the things that I’ve learned from a well-known army officer vet Steve Walker, for whom I have all the respect in the world. Watch his video and learn quite a few efficient and unconventional fast-tips about protecting your family in time of war or social chaos.

9. Some things you need to have at home

These things will become important valuables after an EMP:

  • When your bank account will disappear or you won’t be able to withdraw your money, you’ll be in trouble. Keep some cash and some gold (doesn’t lose value as normal currency does) at home.
  • Charcoal – you can make a lot of things with it (from water filters to gun powder)
  • Duct tape, Cable Ties and Super Glue (if you want to build or improvise something, like a simple wind generator you’ll need these)
  • Lamp oil, Candle Wax and Wicks
  • Vaseline
  • Paracord
  • Alcohol
  • Soaps

Anything you know it will be useful for you – depending on your bug out plan. (37 Things you need to hoard – Video)

10. Consider buying, making or learn how to make a simple Survival Generator

This generator has to be small enough to fit in your Faraday Cage. Some generators can be really expensive, but if you know where to look and what to buy you can get a small one for $200-$300 (1200 Watts). An electric generator using wood as fuel would be perfect. Otherwise, you should also consider storing more fuel.

If you want to save some money you can also DIY. You can try The DIY String Motor or The DIY Back-up Generator.

US Army EMP Simulation – White Sands Missile Range:

Read more at: askaprepper.com

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An EMP Attack: The Weapon That Could End Life As We Know It /powernews/2016-12-08-an-emp-attack-the-weapon-that-could-end-life-as-we-know-it.html /powernews/2016-12-08-an-emp-attack-the-weapon-that-could-end-life-as-we-know-it.html#respond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://162.244.66.231/powernews/2016-12-09-an-emp-attack-the-weapon-that-could-end-life-as-we-know-it There is one weapon that could instantaneously cause the end of the world as we know it in America – an electromagnetic pulse attack (EMP).

Article by Tara Dodrill

The Blaze TV recently focused an entire segment of the For The Record show on the ever-present dangers of an electromagnetic pulse attack – a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by the rapid acceleration of charged particles. It would be detonated high above cities via a missile, frying the power grid.

It might sound like science fiction, but the EMP Commission, established by Congress, spent years warning DC legislators about the dangers of an EMP attack, which could cause a power grid failure and “significant damage to critical infrastructures and thus to the very fabric of US society.”

Some believe an EMP attack would cause hundreds of thousands of deaths immediately when airplanes fall from the sky due to control panel failures. Civil unrest also would occur quickly once citizens are faced with a lack of water and empty grocery stores shelves. The EMP Commission warned about both scenarios.

Senior military personnel, lawmakers, intelligence analysts and government officials believe the Obama administration is not taking the threat of an EMP attack seriously enough, according to The Blaze TV special.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey said this about electromagnetic pulse threats:

9/11 was a wake-up call that enemies of the United States were looking to launch massive attacks. What if the government in North Korea or Iran really thought that the world would be so much a better place and that they themselves would be so much more likely to go to heaven if they could just kill as many Americans as possible? These guys lust after mass destruction.

Woolsey added the federal government was not seeing the big picture clearly. The former CIA director said that both China and North Korea present problems that the United States has still not fully grasped. He considers the rogue nation of North Korea extremely dangerous.

Harness the power of the sun when the power goes out…
Heritage Foundation defense and strategic analysts urged Congress to develop, test and field US defenses against EMP attacks, including enhanced ballistic missile defenses able to counter short-range missiles which carry EMP warheads. Detonating a ballistic missile with an EMP head while still at a high altitude would allow energetic particles “released during the explosion” to “disable, damage or destroy all unhardened electronic devices within the line of sight of the detonation,” the analysts said in a report.

Another excerpt from the Heritage Foundation report about an EMP attack reads:

A rogue state would not need a long-range ballistic missile to deliver a nuclear warhead. Even short-range ballistic missiles carrying an EMP device or a nuclear warhead launched from a ship off the U.S. coast could impact millions. Today, over 30 countries, including Iran and North Korea, possess ballistic missile capabilities.

When Newt Gingrich addressed members of the House Electromagnetic Pulse Caucus, he warned those in attendance than an EMP attack could “end it all” in America. Gingrich detailed how the fallout from even a high-altitude EMP nuclear blast could destroy the power grid and a multitude of electronics on the ground in the near vicinity.

Gingrich added:

This could be the kind of catastrophe that ends civilization – and that’s not an exaggeration. The reason I began focusing on this a decade ago is there are very few events you can’t recover from. You can recover from 9/11, you can recover from Pearl Harbor. This is really different. This creates such a collapse of our fundamental productive capacity that you could literally see a civilization crash and tear itself apart fighting … internally.

The EMP Commission established by Congress warned that “an EMP attack could potentially disrupt the food infrastructure over a large region encompassing many cities for a protracted period of weeks to months.” The problems is confounded because supermarkets “typically carry only enough food to provision the local population for 1 to 3 days.” Supermarkets “replenish their stocks on virtually a daily basis from regional warehouses that usually carry enough food to supply a multi-county area for about one month.”

A domino effect, the commission said, would occur during an EMP attack:

The primary avenues for catastrophic damage to the Nation are through our electric power infrastructure and thence into our telecommunications, energy, and other infrastructures. These, in turn, can seriously impact other important aspects of our Nation’s life, including the financial system; means of getting food, water, and medical care to the citizenry; trade; and production of goods and services. The recovery of any one of the key national infrastructures is dependent on the recovery of others.

Do you think the United States should do more to prevent an EMP attack and a scenario often known as a TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) event?

 

Read more at: offthegridnews.com

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