Technology
Schumer and flame retardants
New York’s U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer recently proposed legislation to ban the use of ten toxic flame retardants in children’s products and home furniture.
Valuable sludge
This summer, the world’s largest working advanced sludge digestion plant opened in Manchester, UK and it showed that the power-hungry process of treating waste can be self-sufficient in terms of energy use. The Davyhulme facility handles the sewage of 1.2 million people and it can actually export surplus power to the U.K. grid.
Natural foods and GMOs
More and more people are trying to make smart choices about the foods they eat. They care about where their food comes from. The food industry has responded to this trend by marketing numerous products with labels like “organic”, “natural”, “artisanal” and so forth.
How green are electric cars?
Cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline have some important environmental advantages, not the least of which is that they don’t have exhaust pipes emitting greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution. But the electricity they run on has to come from somewhere and greenhouse gas emissions are often involved in generating electricity.
Ethanol from corn waste
Corn ethanol comprises 10% of the US gasoline market as a result of federal mandates. This heavily subsidized product consumes billions of bushels of corn each year. While originally touted as beneficial to the environment and to the economy, corn ethanol has proven to be highly controversial. Corn ethanol production has come under attack for its energy efficiency, environmental impact, and effects on land use.
Sharing a cab
If you have ever been stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in New York City – and if you have ever been to New York City, you surely have – you probably noticed that a large percentage of the cars on the road are taxis. In fact, New York has over 13,000 cabs on its streets.
Vertical farming
Feeding 7 billion people is clearly one of the greatest challenges we face and estimates are that by the end of the century, the world’s population could reach 10 to 12 billion people.
The hydrogen economy
Many automakers believe that the ultimate replacement for gasoline power will be hydrogen fuel cells. In order for this to come about, production of hydrogen will need to be economical and energy efficient.
Hydrogen from water and sunlight
If hydrogen fuel cell cars are going to become commonplace, we need cleaner and cheaper ways to produce hydrogen. Making it from natural gas is not environmentally desirable and so far, using electrolysis to break apart water has been too energy intensive and too expensive.
Splitting water with a AAA battery
Several major automakers are betting on hydrogen fuel cell cars as the non-polluting future of personal transportation. Indeed both Toyota and Honda will begin selling fuel cell cars in the US some time next year.
Hydrogen cars are coming
Cars that run on electricity instead of fossil fuels are becoming increasingly common and may eventually replace their internal combustion counterparts entirely. However, it is not at all certain what the source of electricity in cars will be.
Energy from stopping trains
Hybrid cars, buses and trucks are as much as 30% more energy efficient than their conventional counterparts. The bulk of this energy savings comes from regenerative braking. This is the process of recapturing the energy that is lost to friction in the process of slowing or stopping the vehicle. Instead of heating up brakes, the wheels slow down by turning a generator and making electricity that can be put to use to power the vehicle or other onboard systems.
Algorithms and ecology: A new partnership.
If you shop online, this is a familiar scenario: You click on a product like a book, and the online merchant presents you with a list of related items. “If you like X, you might also like Y.” Behind the scenes, the merchant has assigned a series of attributes to each product. For instance, the new Sibley Guide to Birds is classified as nonfiction, recent, about nature, about birds, illustrated, a field guide, and so on. Based on that information, the merchant might suggest a different bird book, or a memoir about birding.
[Read more…] about Algorithms and ecology: A new partnership.
Zombie computer servers
One of the burdens of the digital age is the energy consumption by computer servers. There are nearly three million data centers across the US where about 12 million machines provide the services we get from the internet. This infrastructure consumes about 10 billion watts of electrical power, roughly the output of 10 nuclear power plants.
Saving energy and birds
A comprehensive study by the Smithsonian Institution and the US Department of Fish and Game this year found that hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year in the United States as a result of collisions with buildings. Given that a large number of bird species in this country are in significant decline, the building collision problem is a serious one.
Renewables in China and India
As western industrialized nations make the transition over to renewable energy sources, there is great concern about what is going on in China and India. These two nations have the largest populations in the world and both are undergoing rapid and dramatic industrialization.
Wind farms and seals
When it comes to renewable energy, wind farms have been somewhat controversial. Some argue against them as a source of noise pollution, others find them eye sores. Then there’s the issue of environmental impact, with wind farms posing a threat to birds and bats. Yet new research shows that offshore wind farms could be a haven for some aquatic species – particularly, grey and harbor seals.
More efficient solar panels
The most important metric for solar panels is the cost of generating a given amount of power. As this number drops, the case for using solar power becomes increasingly compelling.
Environmental drones
