The U.S. Geological Survey has some insight into what lies beneath/near/on the Arctic Circle:

1. An estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil
2. Enough oil to supply the WORLD’s needs for nearly 3 years.
3. Maybe 1.670 trillion cubic fee of natural gas
4. About 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil
5. About 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas
6. About 20% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas liquids
7. Some 400 oil and gas fields north of the Arctic Circle
8. The home to polar bears already losing their natural habitat to melting of their land
9. A possible cause for a conflict between Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark and the United States who are laying claim to chunks of the huge energy resources.

So, should we go drilling or not? Remember what arthroscopic surgery can do before answering that question.

There are 239 billion green opportunities in China. That is, China is planning on spending Y2 trillion ($239 million) to ensure that renewable energy will account for 15% of the nation’s power by the year 2020. China is the world’s second largest energy user. A country one fourth the size uses more.

Presently, less than 10% of China’s power comes from renewable energy. The government has earmarked Y1.4 trillion from 2006-2010. The U.S. says the clean technology market in China will be about $186 billion in 2010 and grow to $555 billion by 2020. Okay, I lost track of how much money can be made.

Looking for a good business opportunity? Help China become greener. They’ll pay out the gazoo for any good idea you can come up with. The best ideas – clean coal and carbon capture technologies says one expert.

Do you have a green idea?

Hurricane season this year is expected to be longer, stormier and arrive earlier. Climate scientists are saying that this centuries storms are bigger than last century’s because the area of warm water that can support hurricanes is growing larger. The Atlantic Ocean is more hurricane friendly.

”There has been an increase in the seasonal length over the last century,” Jay Gulledge, a senior scientist with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

The estimated increase if 5 days longer than it was in 1915. The first named storm of this year arrived one day before the official hurricane season was to begin on June 1st. (I wonder, do hurricanes know they are not supposed to arrive before June 1st?)

There is no definitive link to global warming. (Give people time and they’ll find a way.) Climate models aren’t able to reproduce individual storms but the founder of the study above thinks out loud, “it’s likely that the warming caused by manmade greenhouse gases is a major factor in the seasonal shift based on observations of changes in recent decades and the predictions models are making for the changing conditions in the Atlantic basin.”

Let’s see, models can’t produce storms but they can predict. Hmm…something wrong here. The guy went on to say, “The length of the hurricane season is ‘one of the potentially big signals’ that could change in response to global warming.”

And he knows this because of why?

Japan has pretty much been at the forefront of highspeed train technology since highspeed train technology began existing. And thought it’s a bit of a surprise that they don’t hold the current train speed record, I never doubt that they’ve got new train technology around the corner.

So I’m not surprised that Kawasaki Heavy Industries just announced that they’ll be building a new rail line in Japan that will be faster than the previous record holder, the Shikansen.

The new train has a rather lame name “the Environmentally Friendly Super Express Train” but maybe it sounds cooler in Japanese. That is a pretty accurate assessment though. The train’s top speed will be around 217 miles per hour, achieving that speed with less fuel through use of aerodynamics and light-weight materials. Plus, a regenerative braking system will capture kinetic energy in batteries for later use.

Japan has always had a great rail system, but with 10,000 new miles of track planned for the next 20 years, and these new high-speed trains, it seems they’ll just be getting better.

This press release from the Willie Run ‘08 web site has more information:

Scheduled for departure from Midtown Manhattan on September 22, Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce from Atlanta’s Fitzgerald+CO will embark on “Willie Run ‘08”, the first-ever non-stop, cross-country trek powered entirely by Willie Nelson’s own BioWillie® biodiesel. The two-man team will follow the route of the infamous Cannonball Run and arrive less than 40 hours later in Los Angeles on September 24. They won’t stop for fuel. They won’t stop to go to the bathroom. In fact, excluding driver changes, they won’t stop for anything for almost 3000 miles.

Their vehicle of choice? The “Willie One,” a diesel Volkswagen Jetta with an additional 60 gallons of fuel capacity that, along with the diesel car’s superior fuel economy of approximately 45-50 mpg, will allow it to travel coast-to-coast without a single fuel stop.

Bristow and Pierce have been biodiesel supporters for years and are ardent fans of Willie Nelson. After discovering the BioWillie® brand and linking those two passions, they began developing a relationship with BioWillie® and creating print ads and other marketing concepts on a pro bono basis.

“We’d been working on the BioWillie brand for a while and we were doing some pretty cool stuff. But it occurred to us that we were working with Willie Nelson, the original outlaw of the music industry, so we needed to be doing something outlaw. So we came up with Willie Run ’08,” said Pierce.

There are plenty of questions that come to mind, especially “what about going to the bathroom?” Well, you can find out the answer to that and more in some pretty hilarious videos the guys have posted on their web site: willierun.com.

This story from Biodiesel Magazine says the money is from donors from all over the state:

The initial idea of the fundraiser was for donors to pledge five dollar amounts, signifying the approximate cost of a gallon of biodiesel. Iowans across the state, including biodiesel producers, marketers, and railroad companies all contributed to the effort.

Julie Vyskocil, a biofuels specialist with the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said the support received from the biodiesel industry and Iowans, demonstrating their concern for a fellow Iowa community in need, was overwhelming. “Donating biodiesel was a unique and practical way that we could help Parkersburg,” Vyskocil said. “Iowa is the leader in renewable fuels production and it seemed fitting to donate fuel produced in the state of Iowa that would be necessary in the rebuilding process.”

The money will go toward buying biodiesel that runs the equipment that continues to cleanup and rebuild the town. If you remember the photo on the left from right after the storm happened at the end of May, the town doesn’t look like that anymore. But there’s still plenty of work to do. It’s nice to know that biodiesel will be part of that effort.

The dilemma for those who want to see ethical change in the fashion industry is how to encourage the new generation of designers to get interested. “Make Your Mark” is one solution that is showing some fabulous results. It was a national competition that allowed young designers to be mentored by top sustainable fashion labels. For six months each of the winning designers was taught the tricks of the trade by a label of their choice.

The Eco Design Award in Sapporo, northern Japan, is a small but growing event inviting designers to think about materials and shapes, and come up with great design. Last year, the lovely handmade recycled wine bottle lamp shown here won the Grand Prix. Designed by Kusumoto Sukehiro at ni-un pet, a glass artist based in a very small wooden house, who has quite a following at least in Japan (and Finland). SECCO sells it online for 39,000 yen.