Arctic sea ice coverage appears to have reached its lowest extent for the year and the second-lowest amount recorded since the dawn of the satellite era, according to observations from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. While slightly above the record-low minimum set Sept. 16, 2007, [...]
From time to time, we browse recently released Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports and highlight those with potential interest to our readers. This week’s release was so extensive we’ve organized documents into broad categories.
Have you ever sat in a traffic jam and thought about the fossil fuel being wasted? Or the effect of all those idling engines on air quality? Or the greenhouse gases being created? If only we could get around as efficiently as ants seem to find our picnics…
Samso is a Danish island that is perhaps the world’s first modern, completely self sustaining, energy producing community.
Samso has a population of 41 hundred people spread over 22 villages and numerous farms. Each year its population swells by 50 thousand as summer residents and tourists come to enjoy the quiet, quaint island way of life.
Noting that Brazilian authorities have significantly reduced deforestation over the last years, Norway will contribute US$1 Billion to Brazil’s Amazon Fund over the next seven years starting with US$20 Million this year. This makes Norway the first international contributor to the Amazon Fund, a major Brazilian effort to sharply curb deforestation of the world’s largest rainforest [...]
It seems logical that coal would be used as the predominant non-renewable fuel of the future until other non-petroleum-based substitutes are fully developed. Coal burns cleaner, despite the false image that associates coal with the dingy, smog-choked air of the old coal-burning cities and towns, particularly during the Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, according to The World [...]
Thinking green leads to new innovations in our home and city building.
Well, the green news today starts off white as in this headline from an article in the Los Angeles Times: “To slow global warming, install white roofs.” Such roofs and reflective pavement in the world’s 100 largest cities would have a massive cooling effect, [...]
After a frustrating year and half of delay the US Environmental Protection Agency has finally been able to introduce new regulations that target summer pollution levels.
The new regulations could result in a 25 percent reduction of smog-forming emissions and carbon monoxide from the nation’s motor vehicle sector.
Small gasoline engines that power pleasure craft boats and [...]
Just how limited are our fossil fuel reserves? Some estimates say our fossil fuel reserves will be depleted within 50 years, while others say it will be 100-120 years. The fact is that neither one of these projections is very appealing for a global community that is so heavily dependent on fossil fuels to meet [...]
We never really think about Earth as having weight because in space, it is actually weightless. Objects on Earth have weight and even mountains and oceans have weight.
So what does Earth weigh? Earth’s weight is 5.972 sextillion (1,000 trillion) metric tons, and it is actually gaining weight. That’s 5,972,000,000,000,000, 000,000 tons and gaining! Scientists refer [...]
