Green Tech could blow GM crops out of water March 18 2014

The Universe – Sunday 22^nd September 2013 by Fr Sean McDonagh

Teagasc research unit at the Department of Agriculture in Ireland are collaborating with two Irish scientists to develop a new technology which could increase the output of crops by up to 30%, reduce the need for expensive chemical fertilisers and also help reduce global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into edible crops making GM crops obsolete.

The eco-friendly technology, called Vi-Aqua Water, was developed by Professor Austin Darragh and Dr JJ Leahy at the University of Limerick’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science.

Using natural elements of sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, the technology provides water with electromagnetic energy which will facilitate the metabolism of organisms. This, in turn, helps the organisms absorb nutrients. This technology will increase the natural immune system of plants and enhance root activity. It also stimulates photsynthesis and increases the absorption of carbon dioxide.

The technology is very simple, involving a biscuit-tin-sized unit which converts 24 volts of electricity into a radio signal which charges up the water using an antenna. Once the device is attached to a hose, thousands of gallons of water can be charged in ten minutes and the cost is minimal. Following extensive testing at Warrenstown Agricultural College, in County Meath, it is now being manufactured by ZPM Europe Ltd and being rolled out worldwide.

Professor Darragh said “Vi-Aqua makes water wetter and introduces atmospheric nitrogen into the water in the form of nitrates. It also helps rejuvenate soils by invigorating soil-based micro-organisms. We can also make water savings of at least 30%. When the water is treated it becomes a better solvent, which means it can carry more nutrients to the leaves and stem and percolate better down into the soil to nourish the roots, which in turn produces a better root system. Hence the reason you need less water and why you end up with larger and hardier crops.” This is very important as access to fresh water for human consumption, and especially agriculture, is becoming a major problem right across the globe.

Italy’s three largest agricultural co-ops are recommending the technology to the country’s farmers following recent crop trials and in India, government researchers have found that tea plant production could be increased by over a third while using far less water.

Scientists at Kew Gardens in London are also impressed, granting use of their official centuries old coat of arms on this new technology, which they have never done before. Impressed, the Kew Gardens botanists used the technology to restore to life a very rare orchid which had been lying dormant and practically dead since 1942. Amazingly, the orchid is now flourishing once again.

Lord Browne: Fracking will not reduce UK gas prices March 18 2014

Damian Carrington - The Guardian: Friday 29^th November 2013

Fracking is not going to reduce gas prices in the UK, according to the chairman of the UK’s leading shale gas company.

“We are part of a well-connected European gas market and, unless it is a gigantic amount of gas, it is not going to have material impact on price” he said.

Browne said there was no evidence that fracking itself had caused water pollution in the US, but said there had been “issues to do with the leaking of gas into aquifers as a result of imperfect operations, mainly to do with the concreting of well casings.”

Ministers rejected the Royal Society’s recommendation in June that specific fracking regulations are drawn up, a suggestion Browne backs, arguing that the current patchwork of regulation from the energy department, the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and planning rules are sufficient.

On Friday, energy minister Michael Fallon announced that the latest oil and gas licensing round had seen an all-time number of licenses awarded and that independent oil and gas companies would be encouraged to invest and undertake additional exploration. Lord Adair Turner, the former chairman of the Financial Services Authority and Committee on Climate Change, said that solar power costs had fallen “beyond our wildest dreams” by about 80% in five years.

Browne, once known as the “sun king” and who said he is now co-head of the largest private equity renewable energy fund in the world at Riverstone Holdings, said: “Solar is a very good technology and we should use more of it.”