Desert Solar May Pose Threat to Desert Biofuels

 

by Chris Clarke

on July 25, 2012 5:09 PM

Development in the desert can cause serious dust pollution, and utility-scale solar is no exception to that rule. Any disturbance to the desert's delicate soils can loose tons of dust into the air. (If you've driven past Ford Dry Lake on I-10 on a windy day recently, you've seen an example of this, as heavy dust off the Genesis Solar Energy Project routinely slows transcontinental traffic between Blythe and Indio.)

That dust can do more than decrease visibility, and breathability for that matter. It can also seriously affect desert plant life, including some desert plants that are being farmed as a renewable energy source themselves. And according to jojoba farmer Donna Charpied, dust blowing off the Desert Sunlight construction site adjacent to her farm in the Chuckwalla Valley has seriously damaged this year's crop of potential fuel oil.

Charpied, who KCET viewers may remember from an popular episode of California's Gold with Huell Howser, has been farming jojoba in the Chuckwalla Valley with her husband Larry for more than 30 years. Jojoba is an evergreen shrub native to the North American Deserts, including California's Mojave and Colorado deserts, whose seed is more than half oil. This oil is generally used in cosmetics and personal care products. Given its very long carbon chains it's long been touted as a potential biofuel crop. That's the use the Charpieds -- who call themselves "Jojoba Witnesses" -- have spent three decades promoting.

First Solar started building the 4,100-acre Desert Sunlight solar facility next door to the Charpieds' farm in September 2011, and Donna Charpied says the resulting dust has done serious damage to their crop. First Solar cleared about 1,000 acres of desert almost immediately on commencement of construction, she told ReWire, and winter dust storms off the site covered their jojoba while it was flowering, with disastrous results. According to Charpied;

When the female blooms, it sends out three little "hairs" or styles that produce a sticky substance to help catch pollen. The jojoba cannot distinguish between a particle of pollen or dust, and once it "thinks" it is pollinated it stops producing that sticky substance and goes into seed setting mode. We lost 50% of our crop this year due to false pollination, which would have been a bumper crop.

Dust, also called "particulate matter," is a serious health hazard regulated by the EPA and state air quality management districts. Aside from car crashes during dust storms, it can cause asthma and other respiratory ailments. Airborne soil is a known vector for valley fever, and apparently it's bad for a jojoba-fueled future as well.

Charpied finds it ironic that her crop losses due to fugitive dust from the construction site can be seen as a result of development of a utility-scale solar project built with nearly $1.9 billion in Federal loan guarantees. "We grow a true 'green energy' crop that lives 200 years," she says. "It converts CO2, and does not compete for water during the summer months. And we never received a dime in government money to produce it."

http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/biomass/biofuels/desert-solar-may-pose-threat-to-desert-biofuels.html

Fish oil supplements help heart disease patients

The products: All over the world -- Japan, the Arctic, Anaheim, wherever -- people who eat a lot of fish seem to enjoy unusual protection from heart disease. Not everyone can manage a plate of salmon or sashimi every night, but there's another option: fish oil capsules, the fatty extracts of anchovies, sardines or salmon poured into a package of gelatin.

FOR THE RECORD:

Fish oil: A May 5 Health section article examining the benefits of fish oil supplements said that "the Food and Drug Administration considers fish oil to be a nutritional supplement, not a medication." Lovaza, available by prescription, contains high concentrations of fish oil omega-3 fatty acids and is FDA-approved for treatment of people with very high blood triglyceride levels (more than 500 milligrams per deciliter).

Fish oil is loaded with two omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Studies in humans and animals suggest that these nutrients can help prevent blood clots, lower blood pressure and encourage healthy heart rhythms. Heart patients in Europe often receive prescriptions for fish oil capsules along with their beta blockers and blood thinners. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration considers fish oil to be a nutritional supplement, not a medication, but many Americans still buy the capsules in hopes of prescription-strength benefits.

Fish oil capsules are available pretty much anywhere vitamins are sold. Some typical examples: Nature Made sells 100 2.5-gram capsules for about $10. Each capsule contains about 650 milligrams of DHA and EPA combined. Ten dollars will also buy 100 capsules of Puritan's Pride fish oil, which contains about 360 milligrams of DHA and EPA per capsule. Don't like the fishy flavor? Natrol sells fish oil capsules laced with lemon oil to take the edge off. Pushing that concept to its outer limits, a company called GO3 sells chewable, strawberry-flavored fish oil tablets for kids.

The claims: There's an unwritten rule in supplement advertising: Products with the most scientific merit tend to make the most low-key claims. Accordingly, labels and websites for fish oil products generally don't promise miracle cures. The label for Nature Made fish oil simply states that "consumption of omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease." Using slightly bolder terms, the Natrol packaging says fish oil will "support optimal health, including cardiovascular health."

The bottom line: Eating fish a couple of times a week is undoubtedly a healthful habit, says Dr. Thomas Pfeffer, a vascular surgeon at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles and the president of the L.A. chapter of the American Heart Assn. But that doesn't mean everybody should be stocking up on fish oil capsules, he adds. "It's always better to get nutrients from whole foods," he says.

According to Pfeffer, fish oil supplements have "no proven benefits" for people who don't already have heart disease, which leaves out the great majority of Americans. (Some experts believe that fish oil might ease rheumatoid arthritis, depression and certain skin problems, but the verdicts aren't in yet.)

For people recovering from a heart attack, fish oil capsules just might have the power to save lives. A 2002 Italian study of more than 11,000 heart attack survivors found that taking one capsule containing 850 milligrams of DHA and EPA each day cut the risk of death in the next three months by 40%. After four months, patients taking the fish oil were also 50% less likely to die suddenly, a clear sign that the supplements helped prevent dangerous arrhythmias.

A 2007 Japanese study of more than 18,000 patients with high cholesterol found that adding 1.8 grams of EPA each day to standard treatment with statin medications reduced the five-year risk of heart attacks, bypass surgery and other cardiac "events" by about 20%.

The American Heart Assn. officially encourages people who have heart disease to eat at least 1 gram of DHA and EPA combined each day, about what you'd get from 2 ounces of Atlantic salmon. Although the AHA says fatty fish is the best source of DHA and EPA, it also says patients can take fish oil capsules with their doctor's OK.

Patients with high triglycerides -- a type of fat found in the blood -- are the only ones who get a clear-cut recommendation to take fish oil capsules. For these patients, the American Heart Assn. suggests 2 to 4 grams of DHA and EPA each day.

Dr. Stuart Connolly, director of cardiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, says there's a reason why neither the FDA nor Health Canada, that country's national health system, considers fish oil to be a pharmaceutical product. By any measure, he says, fish oil isn't likely to be as helpful as prescription medications.

But fish oil supplements are considered safe in recommended doses, and Connolly says he's "cautiously optimistic" that the supplements could be a healthful addition to medical treatment for heart disease.

Pfeffer says heart patients who want to try fish oil should probably stick with gelatin capsules containing about 1 gram of DHA and EPA combined per day.

http://www.latimes.com