Technology
The cost of driving with electricity
With more and more electric cars and plug-in hybrids on the road, there is a growing interest in knowing the cost of driving using electricity. Most of us keep tabs on the price of gasoline and how it impacts our bottom line. But for people with cars that plug in, what is the relevant price? [Read more…] about The cost of driving with electricity
The ethics of birdsong apps
Tech-savvy birders are probably already familiar with digital field guides. Loaded onto smart phones and tablets, these tools put a wealth of information at your fingertips, with features including range maps, illustrations, and birdsong applications. [Read more…] about The ethics of birdsong apps
Invisible power plants
The mushrooming growth of rooftop solar systems is a good thing for the environment and for the overworked electric grid. However, in places like California, where there are now an estimated 150,000 such systems, utilities face a new kind of problem. [Read more…] about Invisible power plants
Trains, planes, and automobiles
When taking to the skies this summer, the environmentally-minded among us might feel a pang of guilt about the carbon footprint of our air travels. And, according to a report just published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, that pang is justified. [Read more…] about Trains, planes, and automobiles
Tilting at windmills
Throughout the Midwest, wind energy has caught on. In that region, ten states produce more than 10% of their electricity from wind, and Iowa and South Dakota top 20%. For the country as a whole, wind energy supplies 3.5% of our electricity, and at the current rate of growth this could reach 20% by 2030. [Read more…] about Tilting at windmills
An electric highway
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A key issue facing the widespread adoption of electric cars is the need for infrastructure to support charging them on the road. On the west coast, the Department of Energy has teamed up with utilities and transportation departments in several states on a project called the West Coast Electric Highway. [Read more…] about An electric highway
The many faces of biofuel
Biofuels are broadly defined as fuels derived from plants or plant material. They are often thought better than fossil fuels, because as plants grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the air. When we burn them, we return carbon dioxide to the air, but the net effect can be close to zero. [Read more…] about The many faces of biofuel
Offshore wind and marine life
The growing number of offshore wind farms is starting to provide real-world data on the effects of these installations on marine life. Long a source of concern among wind power opponents, the impact of offshore turbines on birds, sea mammals, and various undersea creatures is being carefully monitored at various installations. [Read more…] about Offshore wind and marine life
Listen to the science
I’m amazed at the rancor that surrounds climate change debates. Recently, a local newspaper described some of my experimental work investigating how elevated carbon dioxide affects poison ivy. Like most studies, we found that poison ivy grows faster under high CO2 conditions. [Read more…] about Listen to the science
A grid for the 21st century
We are all familiar with the vulnerabilities of our power system. Events like Hurricane Sandy, the 2011 San Diego blackout, and other widespread outages are all-too common. Our power system depends on centralized generation and long-distance transmission— making it susceptible to massive failures. On an average day, nearly a half million Americans spend at least two hours without electricity. Brownouts and blackouts cost the country up to $188 billion annually. [Read more…] about A grid for the 21st century
Energy from the deep earth
As one digs or drills into the Earth’s crust, temperatures increase at an average rate of about 25 C per kilometer or 60 F per mile. This heat stems from the molten conditions in the deep Earth, where magma is derived from Earth’s formation 4.6 billion years ago. [Read more…] about Energy from the deep earth
Our eye in the sky
Landsat 8, the latest satellite addition to the Earth’s observation system, recently received the ‘all clear’ to begin its 5-year mission recording global coverage of the landscape. And scientists around the world are breathing a collective sigh of relief. [Read more…] about Our eye in the sky
Energy poverty
A new report by a group of international agencies headed by the World Bank concludes that bringing electricity to all of Earth’s citizens by 2030 will require doubling or tripling the current annual spending of $400 billion a year. [Read more…] about Energy poverty
Avoiding a goose in the engine
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When we took to the air with our metal machines over a hundred years ago, the skies weren’t empty. They were full of birds. Orville Wright holds the distinction of being the first pilot to record a bird strike in 1905. Such incidents are now commonplace. [Read more…] about Avoiding a goose in the engine
Experimenting with a day off
In air pollution studies, it’s difficult to perform traditional science. Normally, we can’t stop running a city’s transportation system or power plants to assess the impact on our daily activities. But, inadvertently, we do perform some accidental experiments. [Read more…] about Experimenting with a day off
Vehicle-to-Grid
As the number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars starts to increase, people are thinking about ways to make use of a new potential power resource. Vehicle-to-grid or V2G is a system in which plug-in electric vehicles can communicate back and forth with the power grid in order to deliver electricity into the grid when it is needed and cut back their charging rate when it is scarce. [Read more…] about Vehicle-to-Grid
Geoengineering our planet
For years there has been public debate on whether human activity is the cause of global climate change. The consensus view now is that we have changed the climate, but doing so was not our intent. [Read more…] about Geoengineering our planet
Where do greenhouse gases come from?
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Greenhouse gases are responsible for our planet having the mild temperatures that make life as we know it possible. The most important ones – water vapor and carbon dioxide – have historic stable levels that are a result of a fine balance among various environmental processes on land and sea. [Read more…] about Where do greenhouse gases come from?
Habitats from offshore wind
