Vintage George Michael Autographed “Faith” Album Cover 1987

George Michael, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer. He rose to fame, as a member of the musical duo WHAM ! Their, hit singles included “Last Christmas” & “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go !”  “Go-Go,” became an international hit. George, donated, all his “Last Christmas” Royalties to Charity. George Michael, has always given freely to charity. He’s, sold more than 100 million records, and been anonymously generous throughout his career. Michael’s, $1.45 Million Pound purchase of the piano, John Lennon wrote “Imagine” on. Was, donated to the Beatles Museum. So, their fans can enjoy it.:)   In 1987, the 6 million singles “Careless Whisper” sold, on the, 20 million selling “Faith”Album = elevated George Michael to International Superstar Status. “Careless Whisper,” was a # 1 hit, in almost 25 countries. He, has 10 # 1 Hit Songs. “Careless Whisper,” was # 1, on Billboard’s Year End Charts. For, “I Knew You Were Waiting,” with Aretha Franklin, George received an R. & B. Duo Grammy,   From 1984-2004, George Michael was Britain’s Greatest Pop Star. Among, the first recording artists to tour China. His music, appealed around the globe. George’s generosity, rivaled his gift as an artist. He, will […]

Cities Hold Solutions To Climate Change

Cities, Citizens Tackling Issues and Opportunities

Cities around the world have multiplied their efforts to emit fewer greenhouse gases and brace for climate-change-driven natural disasters, scientists and environmentalists say.

Amid uncertainty over whether Washington will withdraw from a global accord to combat climate change, many people are increasingly pinning their hopes on cities to cut global warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Last month U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he was keeping an open mind on whether to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. He has appointed two climate skeptics to top jobs in his administration.

Below are five U.S. cities that left their mark on the fight against climate change in 2016:

Portland, Oregon

Portland made national headlines by pushing the frontiers of how municipal governments can speed up the transition from fossil fuel to clean energy. This month, the West Coast city of nearly 600,000 people said it was the first nationwide to ban the construction of new bulk fossil-fuel storage facilities on its territory.

“Now, more than ever, local community voices are needed, because the risks of not acting on climate change are just too severe,” Portland Mayor Charlie Hales said after adopting the new rules, which prohibit the construction of fossil-fuel storage facilities exceeding 2 million gallons.

Burlington, Vermont

This year, Vermont’s largest urban center put together a plan to pursue its goal of becoming a “net-zero city,” meaning it aims to consume only as much energy as it generates.

“We are doing things that other bigger cities sometimes really even aren’t thinking about yet,” said Neale Lunderville, general manager of the Burlington Electric Department, a part of the municipal government, in a telephone interview.

In 2014, Burlington, a former manufacturing town of 42,000 people, became the first U.S. city to run 100 percent on renewable energy, including wind and solar power, the Electric Department said.

San Diego, California

With a population of nearly 1.4 million people, San Diego was the largest U.S. city in 2016 to have committed to producing all its energy from renewable sources. The city, located in the drier southern part of California, has had to introduce water cuts to combat prolonged drought in the state, which has been aggravated by climate change.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer has committed $130 million of a $3.4 billion budget for 2017 to funding various projects to tackle climate change, such as installing solar panels, adding bike lanes and using energy-efficient street lights.

Cleveland, Ohio

In 2016, Cleveland, on the shores of Lake Erie, made progress on what could be the country’s first freshwater offshore wind turbine installation. As part of Project Icebreaker, six turbines are to be installed eight to 10 miles off Cleveland’s shore, with the aim of meeting 10 percent of the electricity needs of 6,000 homes.

The $120 million project, the brainchild of the Cleveland Foundation, a community group, received a boost in May when the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would award $40 million to help cover the construction of the wind turbines by 2018.

Baltimore, Maryland

In a first nationally, Baltimore announced in 2016 it would beef up its disaster-preparedness plans with neighborhood centers to help the most vulnerable residents, according to Kristin Baja, climate and resilience planner for the city administration.

The centers will be fully equipped with backup electricity and fresh water, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The seaside city of more than half a million people is particularly susceptible to flooding, hurricanes and storms.

“It’s an interesting model,” Garrett Fitzgerald, an adviser for the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, a coalition of U.S. and Canadian cities, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “People need a place to go that they can walk to, that they know, that they trust, where they feel safe.”

Sustainable Cities News via http://www.voanews.com/a/many-look-cities-reduce-emissions-fight-climate-changes/3654526.html

Carbon Capture Market Gaining Momentum

Fossil Fuels Only Part Of The Equation

The global carbon capture and storage (CCS) market is expected to exceed US $8.75 billion by 2025, according to a new report. The rising global energy demand along with the growing awareness towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions in most of the industrial economies is anticipated to drive the CCS market.

Currently, meaningful industrial CO₂ capture is required particularly in the power sector. The increasing adoption of gas injection techniques for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) across several matured petroleum reserves globally is expected to be one of the key factors driving CCS demand.

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is expected to account for the highest demand with a net worth estimated to reach over 6.18 billion by 2025. Prevalence of factors such as depleting oil reserves globally coupled with heavy dependence on crude oil imports mainly in the Asia Pacific region is anticipated to be one of the major reasons driving the demand for EOR activities globally.

CCS requirement in high purity industrial applications such as natural gas processing, coal to liquid (CTL), ammonia, and hydrogen production facilities holds immense potential for project demonstration. The segment is estimated to witness the fastest growth in terms volume of CO₂ captured. Carbon capture and storage demand in the industrial sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2016 – 2025.

Further key findings from the report suggest:

• The global CCS demand exceeded 61 million t in 2015 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6% from 2016 – 2025.
• Post-combustion capture technology is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR of 15.6% from 2016 – 2025.
• Pre-combustion capture technology demand in the US is estimated to exceed a total volume of 80 million t by 2025.
• Stringent regulatory framework for cleaner environment coupled with increasing CO₂ injection EOR technique in most of the depleted hydrocarbon basins are expected to be the major factors driving demand in North America.
• The Asia Pacific CCS industry is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 9.7% from 2016 – 2024.
• Key players include Shell CANSLV, AkerSolutions, Statoil, Linde Engineering, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sulzer.
• ACTL with North West Sturgeon Refinery CO₂ Stream in Canada, Future Gen 2.0 Project in US, Preheat CCS & Don Valley Power Projects in UK are some of the upcoming projects over the next few years.

Carbon Capture News via https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/26122016/carbon-capture-storage-market-to-2025/

Trees and forests can capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, return the oxygen to the atmosphere and store the carbon for centuries. Deforestation is disrupting this vital system, while contributing to global warming and climate change. Trees and forests can absorb some of the carbon dioxide that we all produce in our daily lives. Unfortunately, our remaining forests are under siege, which also threatens endangered species and entire nations. We can reverse the trend now by demanding forest conservation and reforesting as much land as possible.

Laurence Olivier Vintage Hand Signed Publicity Photo

Laurence Olivier, is a British actor, considered the Greatest Stage Actor of The 20th Century. With John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, Oliver Dominated the British Stage throughout the mid-20th Century. He served as co-director of The Old Vic. Where, his classic performances, in Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” “Hamlet,” and “As You Like It,” are legendary. By, 1940, Laurence Olivier was an International Star.   Huge, Motion Picture Success followed. Olivier’s, role in 1939’s “Wuthering Heights,” earned him a 1st Best Actor Academy Award Nomination. This was followed by 1940’s “Rebecca” and then “Pride and Prejudice.” = Great reviews for Laurence and box office success for all 3. He, would constantly return to the stage. However, his film work earned him 10 Acting Academy Award Nominations. The King of the Stage, even won a Best Actor Academy Award, for 1948’s “Hamlet.”   Laurence Olivier, is on every top 10 Best Actor List. Married 3 times, including 20 years to Vivien Leigh. His, acting was always meticulous. Perfecting every detail. An, Expert at voices and dialects. Although a few actors, possessed more skill. Laurence Olivier’s, incredible achievements can be attributed to dedication, scholarship, practice, determination and courage.   Laurence Olivier, is the Bravest Actor […]

3D Printing Cartoon Movie – A Fun Way To Look At 3D Printing

Sales Podcast – The Seven Elements Of All Sales

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3D Printing Cartoon Movie – A Fun Way To Look At 3D Printing

3D Printing Cartoon Movie – A Fun Way To Look At 3D Printing
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Internet Marketing – How Do You Pick A URL For Your Website?

Watch this quick marketing video showing how to pick URL’s for website marketing.

India Plants 50 Million Trees To Defend Against Climate Change

Reforestation Employed To Defend Ecosystems

By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic

India reports that volunteers planted 49.3 million tree saplings on July 11, shattering the previous record for most trees planted in a single day. That record was set by Pakistan in 2013 by planting 847,275 trees.

A reported 800,000 volunteers from Uttar Pradesh worked for 24 hours planting 80 different species of trees along roads, railways, and on public land. The saplings were raised on local nurseries.

The effort is part of the commitment India made at the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015. In the agreement, signed on Earth Day 2016, India agreed to spend $6 billion to reforest 12 percent of its land (bringing total forest cover to 235 million acres by 2030, or about 29 percent of the country’s territory).

Trees sequester carbon dioxide from the air, thereby reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. India has experienced substantial loss of its forest cover over the past few centuries, as people cut down trees for firewood, pasture, and to make room for development.

Other countries are also replanting trees. In December, African nations pledged to reforest 100 million hectares. A wide range of stakeholders, from countries to companies, also signed on to the non-binding New York Declaration of Forests that month, with the goal of halving deforestation by 2020 and ending it by 2030. The declaration also seeks to restore at least 350 million hectares of degraded land with healthy forests.

Still, the young trees aren’t out of the woods, yet. Saplings need water and care and are susceptible to disease. Experience shows mortality rates as high as 40 percent after such massive tree plantings. Officials will monitor the trees with aerial photography, to see which areas may need special attention.

“The world has realized that serious efforts are needed to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of global climate change,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said at an event promoting the planting.

Officials also hope the trees will improve air quality in India, which suffers from some of the worst in the world. Trees can help remove some pollutants from the air. Right now, six of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world are in the country.

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India, a nation of 1.25 billion people. Some of them may be able to breathe a little easier, and find shade under the trees.

“The biggest contribution of this tree planting project is, apart from the tokenism, that it focuses on the major issues,” said Anit Mukherjee, policy fellow with the Centre for Global Development. “It addresses many of the big issues for India: pollution, deforestation, and land use.”

Reforestation News via http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/india-plants-50-million-trees-uttar-pradesh-reforestation/

3D Printing Video â How Does A 3D Printer Use Recycled Materials?

We all know 3D Printing saves resources. Can we also use 3D Printing for recycling?