US announces huge breakthrough in clean energy, but there are many caveats – National & International News – TUE 13Dec2022

US announces huge achievement in clean energy, but with many caveats. 91% of colleges mislead students about the cost of attendance. Corruption scandal rocks EU Parliament; World Cup host Qatar implicated.

NATIONAL NEWS

US announces huge breakthrough in clean energy, but there are many caveats

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced today that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has made a tremendous breakthrough in the quest to harness clean energy through nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion generates energy by fusing atoms together, as opposed to nuclear fission that goes on in nuclear reactors, which generates energy by breaking atoms apart. Fusion is the same process that generates the sun’s massive heat and energy output. For decades scientists all over the world have seen mastering fusion in controlled environments here on earth as the “holy grail” of energy production. But like the holy grail, it has proven elusive.

The LLNL scientists have managed to overcome an all-important threshold in fusion research: getting more energy out of a fusion reaction than you use to make it. The process focuses high-powered lasers at a small capsule containing hydrogen isotope fuels. This triggers an inward-directed explosion that melds the hydrogen atoms together to form helium. The fusing of those atoms generates energy in the form of heat. The process used by LLNL is just one method for achieving fusion (you can read about others here). However it is so far the first to achieve a net energy gain from atomic fusion.

Why we can’t declare victory just yet

While this is unquestionably a major scientific achievement, we are still a long way away from nuclear fusion being a practical, carbon-free energy source.

First of all, there is a huge asterisk that comes with LLNL’s achievement. When scientists describe a net energy gain, that applies only to the fusion reaction itself- in other words, the energy generated by the lasers to achieve fusion. It does not include the electricity needed to actually power the lasers.

Secondly, we are still decades away from being able to reliably produce this reaction at sufficient scale to be a viable energy source to power a whole city, or even just one factory. That is far beyond the time-scale in which climatologists say we must wean ourselves off of fossil fuels to avert the most disastrous consequences of climate change. 

91% of colleges mislead students about the true costs of attendance 

A review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that 91% of higher education institutions in the US do not provide prospective students with accurate information about the costs of attendance.

According to best practices, the GAO says that colleges should offer students a realistic picture of the net price of their education. This net price should reflect the total cost of tuition, books, housing and meals, subtracting only the amounts supplemented by grants and scholarships. In 2015, the Department of Education issued guidance to colleges directing them to provide clear and transparent cost analyses to students. Seven years later, most still aren’t doing this.

Currently, there is no standard issue form that colleges send to prospective attendees with this simple formula. Every institution has its own way of conveying this information to students, which makes it more difficult to students to compare and contrast information from different colleges. Even worse, this information is often either incomplete or uses misleading language. For example, some institutions send out letters describing loans as “awards”, implying they don’t need to be paid back. 

“Federal law doesn’t require colleges to include clear, standard information in all of their financial aid offers. Congress should consider mandating that colleges do so,” the GAO said. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the top Republican on the House Education Committee, has proposed legislation to do just that, describing the current situation as “egregious and unacceptable”. 

However, previous attempts at legislating these directives for colleges have not met with success. 

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Corruption scandal rocks European Parliament; World Cup host Qatar implicated

Police in Belgium and other EU countries have arrested current and former members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in connection with a growing corruption investigation. Among those arrested is former Vice-President of the EUP, Eva Kaili. Kiali an MEP from Greece’s center-left Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK), and joined the EUP’s influential Socialist & Democrats (S&D) group in 2014. Several other people close to Kaili, including her father and her partner, have also been arrested.

Police have also seized hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, at least €150,000 of which came from properties belonging to Kaili and her family. Police also seized €600,000 in a private home, and “several hundred thousand euros” in a suitcase in a Brussels hotel, though the reporting isn’t clear how much of this belonged to Kaili.

The Qatari connection

As of yet, officials haven’t yet stated where they believe the money came from. But Kaili’s cozy relationship with the wealthy country of Qatar is being closely scrutinized. In early November, Kaili attended high-profile meetings with Qatar’s prime minister, labor minister and others. In the weeks since, she’s run public interference for Qatar, which has come in for severe criticism.

Qatar’s last minute decisions to ban alcohol for attendees at its stadiums made headlines a few weeks ago. Qatari officials have also come down hard on any show of support for the LGBT community, turning away fans and even journalists wearing rainbow-colored clothing. In its years of preparation to host the World Cup, thousands of poor migrant workers have died in construction accidents and in sweltering heat. Kaili swept aside all these criticisms, praising Qatar’s labor reforms and describing the World Cup as “proof, actually, of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historical transformation of a country, with reforms that inspired the Arab world”.

Kaiki also recently advocated forcefully for visa-free travel to European countries for Qatari citizens. She made this recommendation despite not even being on the relevant committee.

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