I'm a bit late but ...

That graph of German energy has some shenanigans in it.

It shows separate categories for "hard coal" and "lignite".

Lignite is coal. It is also called brown coal or soft coal, as opposed to anthracite/ black coal/ hard coal. It is by far dirtier in terms of CO2 and other pollutants.

IMHO, these two should have been given parallel names (either lignite and anthracite, OR brown coal and black coal) and they should have been adjacent on the pie chart. As it is it hides how much energy Germany really got from coal.

HOWEVER! Post Fukushima, Germany has decided to phase out all nuclear energy, and replace it with solar. They should be there in 10 years. They have also made big reductions in energy use.

Obviously Germany's not in it for the hunting. They've gotten soft when it comes to profits over people.

EPA Green Book air quality 1978 - 2010
 

The EPA Clean Air Act was established in 1974

Non-attainment = failed to mean standard
W = whole county
P = partial county

What happened in 2004 in OH, PA, WV, and many other states ?

We've been focused on energy lately, so I thought that this was appropriate. This site shows energy expenditure per capita for 2009 (though without much explanation).

http://energy.gov/maps/2009-energy-expenditure-person

Click on the states to get more details. I would have thought that California would be high, and Texas and Wyoming would be low, but that's not the case. It would be helpful to see a breakdown by end-use.

Well, the biggies for energy use are climate control and transportation, so a rural state, where you have to drive just to get to your mail box, would require more energy use than a city. And a temperate climate like California where you don't need much heating or cooling would be better too. Also, the cost of energy is going to depend on where the energy comes from, and the industry regulations you have in place.

Yeah, when you pack a lot of people into a small space, your rating on that chart gets better. Even in the areas where Texas has a high population, we're still really spread out. We have no viable/widespread public transportation in any of our cities.

Plus, heating is done by gas in most of the country, but cooling is still generally electric, which is less efficient. And we do way more cooling here than we do heating.

Do you use swamp coolers or is it too humid in Texas?

YMMV!

I have no idea what one of those is, so I'm going to guess it's too humid. It's just giant outdoor fan units, usually 2 of them for any house over about 1700 square feet.

This makes the issue pretty obvious...

There are some "interesting" stats from this link.

Chesapeake Bay has been having trouble for a long time (decades) with nitrogen rich runoff from farms and suburbs. It causes algea to grow, which kills the fish and shellfish in the Bay. The recent flooding is going to have a huge impact on the Bay. The amount of shit (literally) that has contaminated the Bay this week is remarkable.

Here's a picture from before the flooding. Taken August 23, 2011. Followed by a picture taken yesterday. (Thanks, NASA!)

Ugh, glatt. That sucks. :(

Here is a VERY interesting graph. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Since we've been discussing toast I thought this was interesting: