A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Covering the world's fastest growing energy source in the world's most promising geographic market." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Register HERE to receive NAW's news headlines. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| © Copyright 2008 Zackin Publications Inc. • All Rights Reserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The EERE Network News is also available on the Web at: www.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm January 16, 2008News and Events
Energy Connections
| ||||||
News and EventsInterior Department Finds No Major Impact from Cape Wind Project
The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has issued a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the Cape Wind Energy Project and finds no major environmental impacts from the proposed project. The MMS is the lead federal permitting agency for the Cape Wind project, a 468-megawatt wind power plant proposed for Horseshoe Shoal, a shallow part of Nantucket Sound located about five miles from the shore of Massachusetts. Cape Wind Associates, LLC first filed a permit application for the plant with the Army Corps of Engineers in November 2001, but the Energy Policy Act of 2005 shifted the permitting authority to the MMS. The company plans to begin construction on the project in 2009 and start operating the plant in 2009. The MMS filed the report with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, January 11. The DEIS labels most impacts of the project as "negligible" or "minor," with only a handful of impacts rising to the level of "moderate," including visual impacts. The report lists the ways these impacts will be minimized, including the elimination of daytime lighting on the wind turbines and the use of only 57 warning lights at night. The DEIS also found the Horseshoe Shoal site preferable to alternative sites that were studied and found that building the facility would be preferable to the likely alternative, a fossil-fuel power plant. The MMS will begin accepting comments on the DEIS on Friday, January 18, at which time a Notice of Availability for the DEIS will be published in the Federal Register. Written comments will be accepted through March 20, and the MMS will hold public hearings on the document at four locations in Massachusetts from March 10-13. See the press releases from Cape Wind Associates and the MMS, or go directly to the full DEIS (PDF 5.48 MB). Download Adobe Reader. The MMS also issued a record of decision on its Offshore Alternative Energy and Alternative Use Program last week. The decision formally establishes the program and, according to MMS, "reinforces the agency's intent" to finalize regulations for the offshore development of renewable energy, including both offshore wind power and ocean energy technologies. See the MMS press release and the record of decision (PDF 50 KB). GM, Toyota, and Fisker to Launch Plug-In Hybrids by 2010Domestic, foreign, and specialty automakers arrived at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Michigan, with plans to launch a commercial version of their plug-in hybrid concepts by 2010. The Saturn division of General Motors Corporation (GM) is the latest to join the plug-in hybrid bandwagon and plans to be the first with a full-production product, as the company announced its intent to launch a plug-in version of the Saturn Vue Green Line SUV as early as 2010. The Saturn Vue Green Line Plug-In Hybrid, which made its world debut at the auto show, combines a lithium-ion battery pack with GM's dual-mode hybrid system. The vehicle's battery pack can be recharged in four to five hours by plugging it into any standard 110-volt electrical outlet, and in early testing, the batteries allowed the vehicle to travel for more than 10 miles at low speeds using electric-only propulsion. GM has also suggested that its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid may be released by 2010. See the GM press release. Toyota Motor Corporation is taking a more conservative approach, with plans to sell plug-in hybrids only to fleet customers in the United States and elsewhere by 2010. Toyota does not say which vehicle will be available as a plug-in hybrid, though most industry observers expect it to be a new version of the Prius. The vehicle will feature a lithium-ion battery pack, and Toyota is currently investigating the feasibility of mass production at a battery plant in central Japan, owned by Panasonic EV Energy Company, Limited, a joint venture of Toyota and the Matsushita Group. Toyota is also providing its plug-in hybrid prototypes for an executive shuttle service at the auto show. See the Toyota press releases on the 2010 plans and the current prototypes.
And last but not least, specialty automaker Fisker Automotive has unveiled the prototype of the car that Earl Hickey would drive: the Fisker Karma. Featuring a lithium-ion battery pack and a plug-in hybrid system developed by Quantum Technologies, the Fisker Karma is designed to travel up to 50 miles using only its electric drive. The luxury sports sedan is currently slated to beat its competitors to market, with initial deliveries starting in late 2009. The vehicle will feature an all-aluminum body, with an optional solar roof. The Fisker Karma will have an annual production of only 15,000 cars, and unfortunately, most of us would need to win the lottery to afford it: the starting price for the vehicle is $80,000. See the Fisker Automotive Web site and press release (PDF 95 KB). Download Adobe Reader. Chrysler Unveils Electric-Drive Concepts and Diesels in DetroitChrysler LLC brought a wide range of green vehicles to the Detroit Auto Show, including three concept vehicles that incorporate electric drive technologies. The Dodge ZEO concept—short for "Zero Emissions Operation"—is an all-electric sport wagon combining a 64-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack with a 200-kilowatt (268 horsepower) electric motor. The rear-wheel-drive vehicle accelerates to 60 miles per hour (mph) in less than six seconds and has a range of at least 250 miles. The Chrysler ecoVoyager concept combines a similar battery pack and motor with a small hydrogen fuel cell to achieve a 300 mile range. The vehicle can travel about 40 miles on battery power alone and can accelerate to 60 mph in less than eight seconds. And the Jeep Renegade concept, a plug-in hybrid, combines a lithium-ion battery pack with dual 200-kilowatt electric motors on each axle. The Jeep can travel 40 miles on battery power alone and can travel 400 miles with the help of its 1.5-liter, 3-cylinder clean diesel engine. The vehicle features a lightweight aluminum architecture. Chrysler intends to pursue these new drive concepts through ENVI, an in-house organization formed late last year with a focus on electric-drive vehicles and related technologies. See the press releases regarding ENVI, and specifically the Chrysler ecoVoyager, Dodge ZEO, and Jeep Renegade concepts. Chrysler also announced that the all-new Dodge Ram 1500 pickup will be available as a hybrid in 2010. The Dodge Ram HEMI Hybrid will combine a two-mode hybrid system with a 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine. For the 2009 Dodge Ram, Chrysler is launching an improved version of its HEMI V-8 engine featuring variable valve timing and a four-cylinder mode with an expanded operating range. The result is more power and torque, along with a 4% increase in fuel economy. Dodge has also announced that it will introduce a new Cummins turbodiesel engine for its light-duty pickup trucks after 2009. Compared to an equivalent gasoline engine, the new diesel engine will provide a dramatic increase in low-end torque, up to a 30% improvement in fuel efficiency, and a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. It will also meet 2010 emission standards in all 50 states. Dodge currently offers a 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel in its Ram Heavy Duty trucks, and that engine meets the 2010 emission standards. See the Chrysler press releases regarding the Dodge Ram HEMI Hybrid and the new HEMI and diesel engines. The Detroit Auto Show, officially called the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), opens to the public on Saturday, January 19, and runs through Sunday, January 27. The NAIAS Web site features photos, videos, and press releases from the auto show. See the NAIAS Web site. Ford Vehicles to Employ the Fuel-Saving "EcoBoost" EngineFord unveiled a new fuel-efficient gasoline engine at the Detroit Auto Show. Called the "EcoBoost," the new engine combines direct injection and turbocharging to achieve a 20% improvement in fuel economy, 15% lower carbon dioxide emissions, and superior driving performance. The engine injects gasoline directly into each cylinder, and because the fuel charge is cooler and denser than in current gasoline engines, its combustion is more efficient. Turbocharged direct injection is already used in a variety of diesel engines, but is harder to employ in a gasoline engine. The new EcoBoost engine will first appear commercially in the Lincoln MKS Sedan in 2009, and within the next five years, it will be available in half a million vehicles carrying the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands. The engine will be available in both four-cylinder and six-cylinder models. See the Ford press release and the EcoBoost Web page. For now, though, the engine is featured in the Ford Explorer America and the Lincoln MKT concepts, which are both on display at the Detroit Auto Show. The conceptual reworking of the Ford Explorer SUV uses unibody construction (as opposed to a heavier truck frame), lightweight materials, and the smaller EcoBoost engine to cut its weight by 150 pounds, while a six-speed transmission and electric power assist steering helps the vehicle to achieve a fuel economy improvement of up to 30%, compared to today's V-6 Explorer. The Lincoln MKT concept features a flex-fuel EcoBoost engine that is capable of running on E85, a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. See the Ford press releases for the Ford Explorer America and the Lincoln MKT concepts. Ford's Land Rover division also arrived at the auto show with a green concept vehicle: the Land Rover LRX hybrid concept. The vehicle combines a two-liter turbodiesel engine with an electric motor integrated into the vehicle's rear axle. The motor would allow the vehicle to run under electric power up to 20 miles per hour, and would also provide additional torque when needed. In combination with other Land Rover technologies, the hybrid system is expected to cut fuel consumption by 30%, compared to similar-sized SUVs. See the Ford press release. Detroit Goes Small with Ford Verve, Daimler Smart Car
Automakers continued an emphasis on smaller cars at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. Ford Motor Company unveiled the Ford Verve concept vehicle, a four-door small car slated for production in 2010. Ford also displayed a three-door version of the Ford Verve, which was first introduced at last year's Frankfurt Auto Show. According to Ford, small cars and crossovers are the only vehicle types with projected near-term growth in the United States. See the Ford press release and Verve Web page. If Ford is right, Daimler has the jump on it, as the company is now selling its smart fortwo in the United States. The diminutive two-door car, also on display in Detroit, achieves 33 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 41 mpg on the highway under the new fuel economy regulations developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. According to Daimler, more than 30,000 Americans have placed a $99 deposit on the smart fortwo, which is available through 70 carefully selected dealerships located in major U.S. cities. The smart fortwo is available in three trim levels, with the least expensive starting at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $11,590. See the smart USA Web site and Daimler's smart press kit. Fuel-Cell-Powered Cadillac Provoq Unveiled at Electronics ShowGM's latest incarnation of its "E-Flex" propulsion system—the one initially designed for the Chevrolet Volt—is a fuel-cell-powered crossover vehicle carrying the Cadillac badge. The Cadillac Provoq concept vehicle was unveiled last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is also on display at the Detroit Auto Show. The vehicle achieves a 300-mile range by packing two high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks beneath its rear cargo floor. It combines an 88-kilowatt fuel cell with a 60-kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack that can store up to 9 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy. It features a 70-kilowatt coaxial motor drive system for the front wheels and a 40-kilowatt motor in each of the rear wheel hubs, providing enough kick to boost the vehicle to 60 miles per hour in about 8.5 seconds. The vehicle has a top speed of 100 miles per hour. Additional features built into the Cadillac Provoq include a solar panel integrated into its roof, brake-by-wire technology, and front grill louvers that close at highway speeds to enhance the vehicle's aerodynamics. See the GM press release, and a selection of photos of the Cadillac Provoq. | ||||||
Energy ConnectionsReport: Electric Utilities Investing Billions in TransmissionThe U.S. electric utility industry invested $6.9 billion in transmission projects in 2006, and members of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) plan to invest another $38.1 billion from 2007 to 2010, according to a new EEI report. This represents a 60% increase above the amount invested from 2003 to 2006. EEI is the association of shareholder-owned U.S. electric companies and represents about 70% of the U.S. electric power industry. The EEI report notes that transmission lines are being added for a variety of reasons, and one is to connect remote renewable energy resources to the electrical grid. The report specifically notes that EEI members are building the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, which includes more than 250 miles of new and upgraded high-voltage transmission lines to support renewable generation development in California. They are also building the Southwest Minnesota Wind Expansion Project, which involves installing about 220 miles of new transmission lines and upgrading 300 miles of existing transmission lines to deliver more than 800 megawatts of wind resources to the electrical grid. The EEI report includes detailed descriptions of each transmission project. See the EEI press release and the full report. | ||||||
| This newsletter is funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and is also available on the EERE Web site. You can subscribe to the EERE Network News using our simple online form |
- The BRAD BLOG - http://www.bradblog.com -
'Send Lawyers, Peace and Money': New Hampshire Election Contests Get Technical, Testy Before They Even Begin
Election Integrity Experts Converge and Join Both Republican and Democratic Candidates in Quest for Transparency
New Hampshire Secretary of State Questioned About Documentation, Poll Records and Diebold Memory Cards...
Posted By Brad Friedman On 15th January 2008 @ 04:27 In Diebold/Premier, Election Irregularities, Election 2008, BlackBoxVoting.org, New Hampshire, Dennis Kucinich, Harri Hursti, Albert Howard | 13 Comments
By Brad Friedman from Sacramento...
Election Integrity experts from around the country have been converging on the Granite State over the last several days, in preparation for "historic" state-wide hand counts of New Hampshire's Primary Election ballots, The BRAD BLOG [1] has learned. Counts of votes in both the Democratic and Republican side will begin in earnest this Wednesday, as long as the two contesting candidates deliver certified checks by 3pm on Tuesday, in an amount determined on Monday by Secretary of State William M. Gardner.
The battle for transparency and accountability on the ground, where some 80% of the state's ballots were tallied only by error-prone, hackable Diebold optical-scan voting machines, without human audit or spot-check of any kind, in last week's first-in-the-nation Primary, is already growing heated on both sides of the aisle, and even inside the statehouse as of Monday.
While representatives from each of the contestants have reportedly been working together on several aspects of the two separate counts --- each claiming to have requested the hand-counts in order to help answer questions about anomalous reported results --- what has become immediately clear, during our interviews with several members involved in the challgenges, as well as Election Integrity advocates now in New Hampshire and elsewhere, is that these election challenges may not likely mirror the partial recount in 2004, held at the request of then-Presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
As a two-page request for a detailed list of ballot and voting machine-related public documents and records, obtained by The BRAD BLOG [1], as submitted on Monday to Gardner by the previously obscure Republican candidate Albert Howard made clear, the battle for integrity and transparency in post-election challenges, may have finally caught up with the technical sea-changes in voting equipment that have overtaken the American election system over the last several years.
Due to extraordinary complexities in the ever more complicated computer systems, scanners, tabulators, record sets, databases and proprietary programming that have now been employed by election administrators across the country, the once simple task of examining and recounting paper ballots --- where they still exist, as they do in New Hampshire --- has grown exponentially more technical and confusing.
Early word on the ground in New Hampshire's capitol city of Concord, along with concerns from candidates, surrogates and election experts alike, suggests that these "recounts" could be like no other, in the history of the country...
News of Note JOHNSTON, Iowa (Reuters)- Outside the headquarters of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc, the pavement is iced over and workers arriving for the day are bundled up against the cold. Top Stories This Christmas marked the third anniversary of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004. While reconstruction has inched forward in the affected countries, in Sri Lanka, one of the hardest-hit areas, progress remains challenging. Unlike Indonesia’s Aceh province, which in the disaster’s aftermath was able to overcome a decades-long armed conflict, Sri Lanka actually lapsed back into internal fighting a little more than a year after the waves struck. Widespread development and use of organic standards began in the 1980's to safeguard and systematize an alternative way (organic) of agriculture and handling food. Among a detailed list of prohibited substances in organic systems are chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. Because the organic system recognized from the start that it would likely remain a small component of agriculture, and that contamination would inevitably happen through background pollution such as polluted water, air and drift, it proposed a system based on a "practice standard," rather than on measuring the purity of an end product. Increasing amounts of ice mass have been lost from West Antarctica and the Antarctic peninsula over the past ten years, according to research from the University of Bristol and published online this week in Nature Geoscience. Meanwhile the ice mass in East Antarctica has been roughly stable, with neither loss nor accumulation over the past decade.WWF and the government of Abu Dhabi today launched a Sustainability Strategy to deliver the world’s greenest city. Masdar City will be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, meeting or exceeding a set of stringent sustainability goals established under the "One Planet Living" program established by WWF and environmental consultancy BioRegional. | ENN Spotlight
More Top Stories
At the December Council, EU Fisheries Ministers determine quotas for fishing in EU waters for the following year.
Piles of trash have lined the streets of Naples since waste collection stopped before Christmas after dumps in the region were declared full. The crisis has led to protests. |  |        | ||
| Explore ENN.COM Animals | Agriculture | Ecosystems | Energy | Business | Climate | Pollution | Green Building | Sci/Tech | Lifestyle | Health | |||||
| Member Press Releases By: the International Fund for Animal Welfare The International Fund of Animal Welfare (IFAW) held a landmark "Lobster Gear Summit" today in conjunction with the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen's Association (AOLA), connecting regional lobstermen groups with fishing gear manufacturers, federal and state fisheries officials and rope-recycling specialists for a day of information sharing, fact-gathering and strategic planning. The meeting was held in order to discuss what is needed for industry-wide compliance toward recent equipment mandates issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). By: the Globe Foundation of Canada A report by the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), states Canada can achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets of 20 percent by 2020 and 65 percent by 2050 by implementing a clear, consistent and certain emission price signal across the Canadian economy as soon as possible. The report, Getting to 2050: Canada's Transition to a Low-emission Future, argues the immediate introduction of market-based policy in the form of an emission tax or a cap-and-trade system or a combination of the two is economically feasible and quite likely only way of achieving the government's stated emission reduction targets. By: the Center for Biological Diversity The federal government Friday proposed protecting the black abalone as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. The action comes in response to a formal administrative petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in December 2006 that sought protection of the species. The black abalone, an intertidal mollusk historically ranging from near the California-Oregon border to Cape San Lucas, Baja California, has declined by as much as 99 percent in most of its range. By: World Land Trust On the 17th January the World Land Trust and their Patron, Sir David Attenborough, will launch Webcam in the Forest at the Linnaean Society of London, as part of its ongoing program of showing to the world at large, conservation in action. By: Earth Policy Institute "With the record for 2007 now complete, it is clear that temperatures around the world are continuing their upward climb", writes Frances Moore in a recent Earth Policy Institute release, "2007 Second Warmest Year on Record". "The global average in 2007 was 14.73 degrees Celsius (58.5 degrees Fahrenheit)-the second warmest year on record, only 0.03 degrees Celsius behind the 2005 maximum. Looking at the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 temperatures averaged 15.04 degrees Celsius (59.1 degrees Fahrenheit)-easily the hottest year in the northern half of the globe since the record began in 1880." By: the Center for Biological Diversity In response to an April 2006 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that the Amargosa River population of the Mojave fringe-toed lizard, Uma scoparia, warrants consideration for protection as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The agency will now begin a one-year status review of the species. By: the Center for Biological Diversity On behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Environmental Law Center today filed suit in federal court in the central district of California to challenge the Department of Energy's October 2007 designation of the Southwest National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor - a sweeping, 45-million-acre area that includes seven southern California and three Arizona counties - for failing to analyze the environmental impacts of the corridor. By: Network for New Energy Choices The Network for New Energy Choices (NNEC) is delighted about Governor Eliot Spitzer's support of clean energy technologies and policies in his State of the State speech. Specifically, NNEC is pleased with his mention of net metering. The Governor spoke encouragingly about New Yorker's ability to run their meters backwards with clean technologies, like solar and wind. Net metering is the billing arrangement by which customers realize savings from their renewable energy systems, where 1-kWh (kilowatt-hour) generated by the customer has the exact same value (in cents/kWh) as 1-kWh consumed by the customer. Editor's Note : 'Network News' features press releases submitted directly by organizations in ENN's member network. This content is not specifically endorsed or supported by ENN and is not subject to ENN's editorial process. | |||||
| Home | Member Press Releases | Submit News | Contact ENN | |||||
The New York Times | The Candidates Discover the Economy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011408L.shtml
The editors of The New York Times write, "The presidential candidates are only beginning to recognize what many voters have already figured out through painful, personal experience: the economy is in trouble and unlikely to improve without some sensible government response." Meanwhile, Michael Barbaro and Louis Uchitelle, of The New York Times, report, "Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a bulwark against recession over the last year even as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to slow sharply at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy."
Paul Krugman | Responding to Recession
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011408M.shtml
Paul Krugman writes for The New York Times: "Since this is an election year, the debate over how to stimulate the economy is inevitably tied up with politics. And here's a modest suggestion for political reporters. Instead of trying to divine the candidates' characters by scrutinizing their tone of voice and facial expressions, why not pay attention to what they say about economic policy?" William Greider, writing for The Nation, also weighs in on the Democratic candidates' economic plans.
Eco-Economy Indicator -- GLOBAL TEMPERATURE
January 10, 2008
Eco-Economy Indicators are the twelve trends the Earth Policy Institute tracks to measure progress in building an eco-economy. Taking the earth's temperature tells us about the relative health of the planet.
2007 SECOND WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD
Northern Hemisphere Temperature Highest Ever
Frances C. Moore
With the record for 2007 now complete, it is clear that temperatures around the world are continuing their upward climb. The global average in 2007 was 14.73 degrees Celsius (58.5 degrees Fahrenheit) -- the second warmest year on record, only 0.03 degrees Celsius behind the 2005 maximum. January 2007 was the hottest January ever measured, a full 0.23 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous record. August was also a record for that month, and September was the second warmest September recorded.
Looking at the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 temperatures averaged 15.04 degrees Celsius (59.1 degrees Fahrenheit) -- easily the hottest year in the northern half of the globe since the record began in 1880, and more than a degree warmer than the 1951–80 average...
For entire text see http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/2008.htm
For data see http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/2008_data.htm
For an index of Earth Policy Institute resources related to Temperature and Climate see http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/index.htm
And for more on the effects of rising temperature and how to stabilize climate, you may be interested in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester R. Brown (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008). Information about this book is on-line at http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm.
Earthen flooring is nothing more than what it sounds like — humble, natural earth compacted with straw or other fibers and stabilized with various natural oils to form eco-friendly high-quality flooring. These floors are easy to clean, comes in a variety of textures, colors, and materials. It can be installed over nearly any subflooring, it integrates well with radiant heat systems and it’s one of the cheapest flooring methods either conventional or green.
Brussels - EU Fisheries Ministers have gambled on the future of Europe’s fish stocks, said WWF at the conclusion of the EU Fisheries Council yesterday night in Brussels.
The recent price rally in farm commodities such as grains, oilseeds and sugar beet can be attributed partly to higher biofuel demand but their share of the blame has been exaggerated, a top official of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
An Italian couple from Naples have applied for asylum in Switzerland, saying toxic waste dumped around the city poses a health risk to their unborn child.