A Sandia National Laboratories report details a procedure to quickly determine whether utilities need an additional unintentional islanding study when evaluating the proposed interconnection of new distributed generation (DG), which includes photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Islanding occurs when the DG continues to energize a load well after it is disconnected from the utility source, and when established accidentally, islanding can adversely affect personnel safety and equipment integrity. Followi...
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Food waste is categorized as food that has been discarded or gone uneaten. It can consist of raw, cooked, edible, and inedible (bones, etc.) materials. In the United States more than 34 million tons of food waste is generated and 1.3 billion tons globally.

Generating this type of food waste has both economical and environmental consequences. No matter who you are, a portion of your income goes to buying food. Therefore, you are throwing away money. By taking part in simple practices you ca...

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They have pledged to work with suppliers to improve their water practices, and partner with nongovernmental organizations, UN agencies, governments and public authorities, investors, and other stakeholders on water-related projects and solutions. 
 
In the communiqué, they called on governments to:
- Develop policies and incentives to improve water productivity and efficiency in all sectors, especially agriculture.
- Establish fair and appropriate valuation of water for agriculture, industry...
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NASA Quest Challenges are Web-based, interactive explorations designed to engage students in authentic scientific and engineering processes. The solutions relate to issues encountered daily by NASA personnel.

The content of NASA Quest Challenges follows real NASA tasks with the goal of involving young people in developing tomorrow's solutions, while inspiring them towards careers in science and engineering. As students work in teams to mirror NASA career roles, agency experts are available to ...

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Last week, at the release of the White House Girls in STEM video, some of the Nation’s top women scientists and engineers took a break from their daily responsibilities at the heights of Federal, private, and academic science and technology enterprises to urge girls to open their minds to careers in these fields. Their voices joined a chorus of women across the country who are making it part of their mission to inspire students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Over the...
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Join or host one of our STEM education workshops!

Give us a call or send an email to: website [@] microempowering.com and we can coordinate our agendas or provide you with a vast list of resources and materials such as;

Resources:
PBS, public television stations and content producers rely on organizations like the following to help us stay informed about STEM initiatives.

International Society for Technology in Education: ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and educati...
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The biggest employers in the world account for a vast percentage of global GDP. In some cases these organizations aggregate tremendous amounts of value to the local economy via Research and Development (R&D). In the chart below, the defense industry, energy corporations as well as retail and fast food industries are the clear winners... 
 
What a few people realize is the amount of R&D and innovations fostered by these companies. 

Equipments and solutions we often take for granted, such as cellu...
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To repair the planet, business must go further than simply doing less harm. In the second of a series of posts examining investment models that help restore the resiliency of business, society and the earth, Capital Institute's Susan Arterian highlights the efforts of Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperatives.

Inspired by the Mondragon group of cooperatives in Spain, the Evergreen Cooperative members are attempting to "build resiliency and redefine wealth through hands-on ownership of capital, a mo...
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Poland has signalled its opposition to an EU plan for deeper carbon emission cuts, which environment ministers will discuss on Friday.
 
Denmark, currently steering EU negotiations, is backed by the UK in calling for a 25% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020. Previously the target was 20%.

But Poland, reliant on coal for more than 90% of its electric power, fears the move would make energy more costly. Coal and other fossil fuels emit CO2, seen as a catalyst for climate change.

Poland's Gazeta Wyborc...
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Microfinance funding is becoming more transparent. More than 60 microfinance funders regularly report information on their microfinance portfolio to CGAP, and extensive data are available on microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) through Symbiotics and MicroRate. 

In 2011, CGAP surveyed the 20 largest microfinance funders, which represented over 85% of commitments reported in the previous survey year. Based on the findings of that survey and previous surveys, this Brief describes global trend...
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The National Petroleum Agency (ANP) said it would suspend Chevron's activities in Brazil until it had established the cause of an oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

  
Source: BBC and AFP
 
Chevron has apologised for the leak, but has stressed it acted as rapidly and safely as possible to contain it. The Brazilian government has fined Chevron US$28m (£18m) for the spill. Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said Chevron could face further fines if an investigation into the ...
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The Environmental Audit Committee considers the extent to which the policies and programmes of government departments and non-departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development, and it audits their performance against any sustainable development and environmental protection targets. Unlike most select committees, the Committee’s remit cuts across government rather than focuses on the work of a particular department.

According to the report, the G...
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The relentless rise of electricity prices over the past decade has made many consumers more conscientious about how they use electric power. Many of those conscientious people may find it frustrating — to put it mildly — that their daily or even hourly efforts to turn off devices they're not using hasn't delivered the results they'd expected.

The blame belongs to the growing number of "vampire" or "phantom" electronic products that populate today's typical home. An alarmingly large numbe...
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Via Newsday, with commentary of Brandon Miller

Here's some good news for New Yorkers who are tired of West NY getting attention for their (amazing) wind farms.

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has applied to develop an off shore wind farm 24km off the coast of Long Island that would begin pumping 300 MW of energy into the region, but whose capacity would be 700 MW (to be achieved by 2016).

According to Newsday (subscriber's only), the project comes with a price tag of about $1.5 billion.

No...

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Via Wikipedia and Scientific American

A recent poll by the Magazine Scientific American sponsored by Shell over 50,000 readers answered the following question; Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is one method being developed to capture and store the CO₂ that comes from burning fossil fuels--essential to help mitigate serious climate change. The International Energy Agency says it could account for nearly 19% of the total CO₂ reductions needed by 2050.
Do you think CCS should be developed? (Ch...
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By Rose Anderson

Providing access to safe water is a priority for all nations, as water is a limited resource essential to human health and economic activity. For many people in Africa, there is little or no access to safe drinking water. Water scarcity in Africa is expected to increase in the near future due to economic growth and increasing populations. By 2025, 45% of the populat...

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