OneDrop.org addresses a world class problem_Drinking Water Shortage-This is the Place to Post and Link

However, I am far from convinced that this initiative, if certainly better than none, is of the Prof David J.C. Mackay Class of Big Fixes. To quote David "Big Problems need Big Fixes, Big Actions. "Every big helps.

The Onedrop creator is better known as CEO of the Circque du Soleil, private trip to the Intl. Space Station etc.Guy Laliberté,LINK]

I scanned the list of subjects on Onedrop's Site to discover that I do all and more of the pledged actions!

Here is a copy of my comment contributed to OneDrop. Hopefully management "Gros Legumes"-Big vegetables" as they are called in French will find matter for reflection and action for a BIG FIX!

-Limit private and public manned space travel to the strict necessary. Right Guy?
-In order to invest much much more on intelligent water economies and cleansing, svp.

I shall put a link on one or other or all of my blogs but I do not want my readers to be taken to the cleaners or taken for less intelligent than they are!!!
PS We do almost all of the above, not necessarily for altruistic reasons but for pragmatic, economic ones. most are good for your pocket so please join me not the gas gelling, water wasting, polluting ("high fliers"?)

"Big problems need a big fix "every big helps"
quote Prof. David JC. Mackay FRS,
His book is   "Without Hot Air"

free online version and no paper wasted, but it's tough to read all that way as I mostly do or go to the library on foot.  I am lucky to live near the library although high level books are few and in english non-existent. More's the pity, such is the effect of clientelisme.
cf my approaches.
-Materials Science and Engineering Defined AND
-This-Above-All, this blog.
2 of Seven.

some Refs on Amazon

1 .                                  2.

THE MILLENIUM CHALLENGE:
MCC has approved over $7.4 billion in compact and threshold programs worldwide that support country-determined projects in such sectors as:
•agriculture and irrigation,
•transportation (roads, bridges, ports),
•water supply and sanitation,
•access to health,
•finance and enterprise development,
•anticorruption initiatives,
•land rights and access,
•access to education.

Comment on ref.2: Even at 10times the price of ref.1 it is certainly worth the inversment for serious national, regional, professionals, governance etc


Ref 3. in French from and  for Quebecois.
Eau potable au Quebec dans la vallee du Saint-Laurent: l'impact des changements climatiques.: An article from: Quebec Studies

Check of course: Drinking Water on Wikipedia

Top Article, Millenium Topic, Energy Biofuel and Food Dilema!

"Transportation bio-fuels such as synfuel hydrocarbons or cellulosic ethanol, if produced from low-input biomass grown on agriculturally marginal land or from waste biomass, could provide much greater supplies and environmental benefits than food-based bio-fuels. "

Neither Bio-diesel nor Ethanol, bio-fuel can replace much petroleum without impacting food supplies.

Even dedicating all U.S. corn and soybean production to bio-fuels would meet only 12% of gasoline demand and 6% of diesel demand.

To be a viable alternative to current transportation fuel, a bio-fuel should provide:
- a net energy gain,
-have environmental benefits,
-be economically competitive, and
-be producible in large quantities without reducing food supplies.

These criteria were used in life-cycle accounting, by the research team from the University of Minnesota to evaluate, ethanol from corn grain and bio-diesel from soybeans.

They conclude that:

Transportation bio-fuels such as synfuel hydrocarbons or cellulosic ethanol, if produced from low-input biomass grown on agriculturally marginal land or from waste biomass, could provide much greater supplies and environmental benefits than food-based bio-fuels.

Bio-diesel provides sufficient environmental advantages to merit subsidy. (debatable)

Some Life Cycle Accountancy results:
Energy Efficiency
-Ethanol yields 25% more energy than the energy invested in its production, whereas
-Bio-diesel yields 93% more.
Green House Gases (GHG) and Pollutants:
Bio-diesel better than Ethanol :
-Bio-diesel releases just 1.0%, 8.3%, and 13% of the agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants, respectively, per net energy gain compared with ethanol.
Bio-diesel better than Ethanol better than Fossil Fuels:
-Relative to the fossil fuels they displace, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced 12% by the production and combustion of ethanol and 41% by bio-diesel.
-Bio-diesel also releases less air pollutants per net energy gain than ethanol.

These advantages of bio-diesel over ethanol come from lower agricultural inputs and more efficient conversion of feedstocks to fuel.


Negative environmental consequences of fossil fuels and concerns about petroleum supplies have spurred the search for renewable transportation bio-fuels. Until recent increases in petroleum prices, high production costs made bio-fuels unprofitable without subsidies.

My Comment:
That bio-diesel provides sufficient environmental advantages to merit subsidy requires careful reading of the research paper and important effort in communication globally especially with special consideration given to possible negative signals given on food stress.

Source:
PNAS Dec 2008

Contributed by David Tilman, June 2, 2006Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of bio-diesel and ethanol biofuels Jason Hill*,†,‡,§, Erik Nelson†, David Tilman*,§, Stephen Polasky*,†, and Douglas Tiffany† +Author Affiliations Departments of *Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and †Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; and ‡Department of Biology, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN 55057