NewsWatch: Sewer Sampling and Drugs, Flywheel Energy for Busses

Flywheel Energy Storage Shows Promise for Bus Efficiency
The system is to be tested initially in airport buses, starting this week. It uses a carbon-fibre flywheel spinning at up to 60,000 revolutions per minute to store energy recovered from the engine and braking, which it then delivers back when needed. Engineers that developed the system, hope it will increase buses' energy efficiency by 13 per cent in urban driving conditions. New Scientist

N.Y. Governor Forces Rent Control Issue
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that he would not let lawmakers leave the capital at the scheduled end of the legislative session early next week unless they had come to an agreement on how to extend the state’s rent regulation laws. The laws, which limit how much landlords can charge for more than one million apartments in New York City and its suburbs, expired at midnight Wednesday, and lawmakers did not appear close to a deal. New York Times

Two Bay Area Projects Approved for $2.7 Billion
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors signed off on plans for the 150-acre Parkmerced, a neighborhood on its southwestern edge, and Treasure Island, a 400-acre former military base situated 2 miles off the mainland near the Bay Bridge. The time it took for the two megaprojects -- with $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion budgets, respectively -- to wend their way through the planning and approval processes differed considerably. Architects Newspaper

Sewer Sampling Reveals Patterns Of Drug Use
While high school graduates in Oslo, Norway, partied hard for two weeks last spring during the so-called Russ graduation festivities, levels of the drug ecstasy spiked about 10-fold in the city's sewer system, according to new research. In the past few years, water quality specialists have monitored such illicit drug use through sewage sampling there and in other cities, including London and San Diego, to observe the effects of drug control policies. Now researchers demonstrate that so-called passive filters provide an efficient and inexpensive means to measure drug use over weeks in municipal wastewater. Chemical & Engineering News

Proposed California Law Would Require Sea Level Rise Planning
The California State Assembly recently passed a bill that, if it becomes law, would require trustees of public lands to create plans for projected sea level rise by July 1, 2013. The bill asserts that these lands serve “the benefit of all the people of California,” and describes numerous economic and social rationales for planning for sea level rise. The text states that approximately 80 percent of California’s population lives within 50 km (31 mi) of the ocean, coastal commerce contributes more than $50 billion per year to the state’s economy and employs 500,000 persons, and projected sea level rise endangers properties with a value totaling $100 billion. American Planning Assn.

Media Neglecting Courts, Schools, Local Affairs, says FCC Report
A 478-page FCC report, "Information Needs of Communities,"  maintains that decent local news outlets are disappearing nationwide, with the result that far fewer newspaper reporters are covering “essential beats” such as courts, schools, and local affairs. In New Jersey, for instance, the number of reporters covering the statehouse dropped from 35 to 15 between 2003 and 2008. In California, the number fell from 40 to 29. Similar numbers can be found pretty much everywhere. Center for American Progress

Mayors: Rust Belt Rising
"I was a GM brat myself," says Kris Ockomon, the imposing mayor of Anderson, Indiana, in his spirited Hoosier twang. "Both my parents retired after 30 years of service. It's been a way of life around here." Onearth

White House Promotes Smart Grid
This week Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced new initiatives to support the development of the smart grid. But he also warned that the United States isn't doing enough to get the grid ready for cheap renewable energy. And he acknowledged privacy concerns are making some utility customers wary of new smart meters, which are a key component of the smart grid. Technology Review