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EPA Calls for Pesticides Tests

The Environmental Protection Agency has called upon pesticide manufacturers to test 67 chemicals used in their products to determine if they threaten or disrupt the endocrine system in human and other animal populations.  "Researchers have raised concerns that chemicals released into the environment interfere with animals' hormone systems, citing problems such as male fish in the Potomac River that are bearing eggs."  The tests, which will eventually cover all chemicals used in pesticides, "will begin this summer and will focus on whether these chemicals affect estrogen, androgen and thyroid systems."  [Washington Post] 

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Germany Bans Genetically Modified Corn

German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced a ban on the cultivation of MON 810, a GM corn.  Sale of the seed will also be prohibited.  Aigner emphasized that this should be noted as an "individual case and not as a statement of principle regarding future policy relating to genetic engineering."  Monsanto, in turn, plans to sue.  [Spiegel Online]

50 Superfund Sites to See Stimulus Funds

The EPA has selected "fifty of the country's most polluted and hazardous waste sites...to receive a share of federal stimulus money to continue cleanup operations." $582 million will go to these Superfund sites in 28 states, many of which have seen cleanup processes stalled for lack of funds.  [Associated Press-Yahoo]

California Utility Makes Deal for Space-Based Solar Power

California's biggest energy utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, announced a deal Monday to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from outer space beginning in 2016. A startup company, Solaren, is planning to build the orbiting solar farm and then convert the solar energy "into radio frequency waves and [beam it] to a ground station in Fresno to be transformed back into electricity and fed into PG&E’s grid.  [Grist]

Related:

• Slideshow: Harvesting energy from the cosmos [MSNBC] 

The Carbon Footprint of Spam

Spammers worldwide "generated 62 trillion junk e-mails in 2008 that wasted enough electricity to power 2.4 million U.S. homes for a year."  [Associated Press-San Francisco Gate]