Nevermind the Bastille - French to Storm Mediterranean with Hydrogen Yacht

The Zero CO2 - the world’s first-hydrogen powered yacht - is expected to set sail around the Mediterranean Sea next March.

While most sailboats are typically by nature, a carbon-free form of transportation the Zero CO2 will have an electric motor driven by a hydrogen fuel cell. All other on-board energy needs on the Zero CO2 are to be obtained from renewable energy sources.

Zero CO2 is not just a yacht, its also a floating 12 meter laboratory.

The integrated on-board lab will study air and waterborne pollutants on its 10 month research mission with an eye to "develop and promote new energy sources that will replace fossil fuels and consequently lead to a reduction in carbon emissions and an improvement with regards to the greenhouse effect."

Following trial runs in Savoie, France Zero CO2 will be launched in the Mediterranean off the southern coast of France and head for Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Tunisia, Crete, Turkey, the Greek coast, Montenegro, Croatia, the Italian coast, Spain, and the Balearic Islands before returning to Marseilles in December, 2010.

During the mission researchers will also study the feasibility of green hydrogen production. This form of hydrogen would be produced by solar panels and wind turbines mounted on the roofs of port-side buildings.

The odyssey is also a vehicle to raise climate change awareness amongst sailors and promote respect for maritime environment. Now under construction, the boat is to debut at the Paris Boat Show in December.

Researchers: Damaged Ecosystems Can Recover

All hope is not lost. Try as mankind has to destroy our planet researchers at Yale University posit that, "most ecosystems globally can, given human will, recover from very major perturbations on timescales of decades to half-centuries."

Holly Jones a graduate student, and ecology professor Oswald Schmitz of Yales's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies are the authors of the Rapid Recovery of Damaged Ecosystems. Their findings indicate that only 15 percent of all damaged ecosystems are beyond recovery and that it is not too late to enact changes that can aid in the recovery of the majority of damaged ecosystems.

“The damages to these ecosystems are pretty serious,” said Schmitz. “But the message is that if societies choose to become sustainable, ecosystems will recover. It isn’t hopeless.”

On average forest ecosystems were found to recover in 42 years, ocean bottoms recovered in less than 10 years. Ecosystems affected by: invasive species; mining; oil spills or trawling recovered in as little as five years.

The study also concludes that most ecosystems take longer to recover from man-made occurrences than from natural phenomena such as hurricanes.

Way To Cut Cattle Methane, Threat To Environment, By 25 Percent

By developing equations that balance starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and other elements of feed, a Canada-wide team of scientists has given beef producers the tools to lessen the methane gas their cattle produce by as much as 25 per cent.

"That's good news for the environment," said Stephen Moore, a professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science at the University of Alberta in Canada. "Methane is a greenhouse gas, and in Canada, cattle account for 72 per cent of the total emissions. By identifying factors such as diet or genetics that can reduce emissions, we hope to give beef farmers a way to lessen the environmental footprint of their cattle production and methane reductions in the order of 25 per cent are certainly achievable."