Craig Atkinson

Now this is the kind of thinking that may save the world:

From Science Daily
Using a new electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell (MFC) that does not require oxygen, Penn State environmental engineers and a scientist at Ion Power Inc. have developed the first process that enables bacteria to coax four times as much hydrogen directly out of biomass than can be generated typically by fermentation alone.

If we could harness biological processes for treating human produced waste products AND for producing energy at the same time, the world would be in a far better position than we are today. This is amazing news!

Big huge congrats to Roi and his team at AIESEC Canada, including all the LCs that do the real hard work across the country for the growth they are achieving this year. Just a few days ago he was telling me on MSN about matching the previous two years high of 130 exchanges, now they are announcing they have become a global top 10 country again and have already hit 150 exchanges with 41 days left in their term!

In an e-mail just released:

AIESEC CANADA HAS REALIZED 150 EXCHANGES

Not only is this the first growth in exchanges for AIESEC Canada since 1999, this is the HIGHEST EXCHANGES RESULTS SINCE 2000-01 and we are only 6 exchanges away from surpassing that year’s results of 156!

GO GO GO!

In a recent comment, Matt exposes some NDP/Canadian Federation of Students election propaganda that has been looping around College and University campuses in recent weeks. Check out the full story in the Martlet (a UVic campus rag).

I wish there was some way I could get all the money back that I wasted on the UVSS and CFS during my 5 years in university.

I know who I’m voting for! John Nuraney, BC Liberals I’ve never hide my appreciation for what the BC Liberals did to turn around this province from middle of the road to first (in my humble opinion). I may even look into volunteering with John just to deepen my understanding of the political process. Another alternative is to volunteer with Virgina Greene in Vancouver-Fairview. Her campaign office is just beside my work.

Plus I certainly couldn’t stand seeing the NDP regain power despite all the push that the unions are giving them. Check out this waste of union dues run by the hospital employees union called DeceiveBC. Actually I did take the time to write in about a broken promise to remind the HEU of what a disaster it was when the NDP ran the province for 10 years and nearly bankrupted our universities by imposing a tuition freeze that left them unable to cope with rising enrollment and rising costs.

Hey there,

Are you linked in ? Why don’t you add me. Use craigatk with one of those funky gmail accounts!

Speaking of GMail. Did you know it can do Japanese now? I have mine set to it. I actually understand half of it, and the other half is just memorization of where things are from frequent use!

Wanted a summertime thirst quencher!

Glass of Water à la Craig

Craig’s glass of water recipe has been delighting parched palates for decades in Europe. With some experimentation, I was able to recreate that special taste for the well-equipped kitchen. Try adding a teaspoon each of cadmium and selenium for a delightful ruby tint!

Give it a go. It gets progressively more difficult from there!

I understand how light can be slowed down and even how light can be frozen but what I am thinking of is the reverse. Wouldn’t it be possible to reverse what these scientists are doing, by sending light through an environment of high energy particles and actually make light go faster than it does in a vacuum?

Apparently somebody smarter than me is investigating part of this idea and ensuring that we don’t violate the rules of relativity.

With that relief, I can sleep soundly tonight…

Sweet! Improvements for my Tablet. I’ve just installed it and already am digging the new theme, pen optimizations and applications! More info later…

You should read this!

You can help put an end to global poverty. The time to act is now.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “If everyone who wants to see an end to poverty, hunger and suffering speaks out, then the noise will be deafening. Politicians will have to listen.”

Here’s what we want in 14 words: More and Better Aid. Make Trade Fair. Cancel the Debt and End Child Poverty in Canada. Your voice when added to millions of others can help Make Poverty History.

“Widespread use of wood as a household fuel in sub-Saharan Africa will cause ten million premature deaths by 2030 and make a significant contribution to climate change, says a study published in Science today (1 April).

The study predicts that unless African households adopt cleaner, more efficient fuels, the equivalent of 6.7 billion tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere by 2050. This represents 5.6 per cent of Africa’s total expected emissions.

In 2000, nearly 470 million tonnes of wood were consumed in sub-Saharan African homes in the form of firewood and charcoal. Per capita, this is more than is used in any other region in the world.”

Perhaps the nearly endless energy of the sun could be better adapted for use in African households. I am interested especially in low-cost innovations that don’t require expensive, manufactured silicon based chips.

My favourite website for news, stories, life and knowledge about the continent is AllAfrica.com and you can find an aggregation of stories about sustainability in a special section.

This technology is amazing: Railpower can convert a 50-year-old pollution-spewing yard locomotive into a modern hybrid that emits 90 per cent less particulate matter and results in up to a 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The 60 per cent GHG savings is a direct result in the reduced quantity of diesel fuel that’s required. What’s more it can even save the railway lots of money.

CPR has agreed to purchase 35 of Railpower’s Green Goat hybrid locomotive systems over the next four years and is expecting cost reductions of $4 million annually.

A very interesting snapshot of a sustainable locomotive business that makes money, saves money and is much better for the environment.

Today on my way to work I was thinking about the future and in which industry the next really big revolution will occur. The kind of thing like the printing press, the automobile, the personal computer, the telephone, etc. I admit it. Revolution is about money. But it’s also about change. And hopefully positive change at that.

The BC Technologies Industry Association has developed a Power Technology Alliance.

The idea that British Columbia can be a world leader in generating smart energy solutions and exporting those solutions is not a new one. Forming the alliance, however, was the first pivotal step in creating an encompassing vision and a bold plan to move forward by means of a strong collaborative effort.

Many are not aware of what a burgeoning sector this is in BC even though power technology employs over 3000 people and has generated revenues in excess of CDN $ 700 million.

It is estimated that over the next twenty years worldwide demand for clean energy products and services will be in the range of U.S $ 3.5 Trillion (Source: Climate Solutions).

Some examples of areas where companies are working today:

Sustainable Power generation ( e.g. wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cells etc)

Alternative fuels ( e.g. biomass, hydrogen, natural gas)

Enabling Technologies (e.g. smart grid, power measurement, power electronics)

Storage (e.g. batteries)

Demand Side management ( e.g. efficient lighting, urban and building design)

I am a bit of an idealist and I do believe the world is ripe for drastic change in the next two generations in the way we are treating our home. My optimism comes from my own youth and the knowledge through experience in the way that kids today are growing up with a deeper understanding that they must do more to take care of the world than previous generations. I believe this understanding is pretty deeply rooted into the behaviours and thinking of these young generations.

Let the environmental revolution begin. I’ve been thinking alot about these issues in the past few years. Eventually I can forsee a shift in my work from technology to sustainability, but for now I’m happy to be working doing something that I enjoy. I’m also happy to be working with AIESEC International on the Sustainability Drive Team responsible for creating the Energy & Environment Learning Network. It enables me to stay close to the issues that I care deeply about without getting lost in life.

Here’s for hoping it isn’t some bizarre Google April Fool’s Prank!

It just keeps growing and growing!

And more!

According to GMail’s new features, it is here to stay with 1GB per user extra and as they Google engineers can bring more space online they will!!

I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail. Tonnes of it really. Since I went to using Google’s GMail last summer as my primary e-mail service, their gigabyte of e-mail has been steadily rising until last week I had filled 15% or about 150 MBs of e-mail since mid-summer. It was a minor concern to me because at this pace in another year or so, my GMail account would be full and since it isn’t easy to delete messages from it, effectively useless.

Thankfully, Google seems to have read my mind and has already increased storage and seems to have a plan to keep doing increasing as they can.

“A Google approach to math.
On the eve of Gmail’s one-year birthday, our engineers were toiling away furiously. Notes scribbled all over the walls. Complex calculations on napkins and empty pizza boxes. Millions of M&Ms.

The result?… starting today, we’re beginning the roll-out of our new and top secret Infinity+1 storage plan. The key features are:

Write, don’t worry.
You want to stop caring about storage. We want to keep giving you more. Today, and beyond.

The gift that keeps on giving.
1455.674250 megabytes of storage (and counting) for every user.

No complicated equations. No tough algorithms.
Just this one graph: ”

Now if only Microsoft and their MSN Messenger team would get their act together and realize they could allow users to add as many contacts as they want to their service if they would just think outside their own box.