Relevant

 SEED online magazine looks into the growing need to combine social scientists with natural scientists to fight the growing concerns and problems associated with global warming. This five page online article titled ‘The last experiment' explains how experiments and research conducted by natural scientists are not going to be enough to combat this growing problem. Instead, social scientists are needed to find ways to inform the public of ways to help slow global warming and the different measures we can all take to help future generations. 

With 1.6 million members of his New Energy Army, Pickens is beginning to attract the attention of lawmakers both on the state and federal levels. He urges us to invest in solar and wind technology while these gas fields under the Marcellus Shale are tapped into and extracted. More information on his 50 year energy plan can be found at www.pickensplan.com.

California's Mercury News reports that "Ethanol from plants can fill up drivers' gas tanks, but people could drive 80 percent farther if we converted those crops into electricity, according to a new study by Stanford and University of California researchers." In terms of converting the plants into energy, the scientists considered conversion "into ethanol through fermentation" and converting the plants into electricity by burning biomass to power electrical generators. The researchers "compared the energy costs and output of the electricity and ethanol produced from the same patch of land," and concluded "that an acre of switchgrass could power a small SUV for 15,000 miles if converted into electricity, but 8,000 miles if turned into ethanol." Biofuel advocates counter that "battery technology is still developing," while ethanol uses technology that "is currently cheaper and more accessible." The researchers conceded "that their calculations do not account for every factor in comparing the two energies."