The furnace of the future: Computer servers?
“Computer data centers are energy-hogs that generate a ton of heat. Why not take advantage of that warmth, say researchers.” Read more…
(source: The Week)
Renewable energy's hidden costs
“Renewable energy sounds so much more natural and believable than a perpetual-motion machine, but there’s one big problem: Unless you’re planning to live without electricity and motorized transportation, you need more than just wind, water, sunlight, and plants for energy. You need raw materials, real estate, and other things that will run out one day. You need stuff that has to be mined, drilled, transported, and bulldozed — not simply harvested or farmed.” Read more…
(source: The Bulletin, via Slashdot)
Renewable energy consumption in the US
“Overall consumption of renewable energy, including hydropower, represented about 8 percent of total energy consumption in the United States in 2010.” Read more…
(source: Live Science)
Trees not adapting well to climate change
“More than half of tree species in eastern U.S. forests aren’t adapting to climate change as quickly or consistently as predicted, researchers said. Nearly 59 percent of the species examined in a study by Duke University researchers showed signs that their geographic ranges are contracting from both the north and south, a Duke release said Monday. … The Duke study’s findings show ‘a lack of evidence for climate-mediated migration, and should increase concern for the risks posed by climate change,’ Clark said.” Read more…
(source: UPI)
New independent analysis confirms global warming is totally for reals happening, OK?
“The University of California’s Richard Muller launched the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature study, yet another analysis [of global warning], this one independent and aimed at the skeptics. … The new study lined up almost perfectly with previous efforts, according to a Nature post. Spoiler alert: the planet is indeed heating up. Not that a new study is going to win over science-denying “skeptics,” but this is what good science does: questions itself.” Read more…
(source: MotherBoard)
Wind farms float among the clouds
“Imagine a city floating above the clouds and powered by a fleet of inflatable turbines, each one turning wind into electricity. While that city and its residents may still be in the realm of science fiction, the idea of airborne wind factories is slowly becoming reality. Several tech firms are trying out new designs to harness the potential energy of winds that travel faster at altitude than at ground level.” Read more…
(source: Discovery)
Inductive car charging: No plugs or exposed wires, no muss, no fuss
“Inductive charging works for your electric toothbrush and your iPhone’s external battery pack, so why not for an electric vehicle? HaloIPT, a New Zealand-based startup, sees inductive charging pads as a solution to the hassle of daily recharging of your EV or plug-in hybrid. Instead of remembering to plug in, a charging pad the size of a bath mat in the center of your garage floor would send electromagnetic waves to a converter in your car that does the recharging.” Read more…
(source: Extreme Tech)
World population to reach 7 billion in next few days
“The world’s population looks set to smash through the seven billion barrier in the next few days, according to the United Nations. It comes just 12 years since the total reached six billion - with official estimates saying the figure will top eight billion in 2025 and 10 billion before the end of the century.” Read more…
(source: Mail Online)
Top 6 innovations in solar power
“[T]he solar power industry has been pushing out innovations right and left, some of which have the potential to make a serious (and positive) impact on our energy systems.”
- Thin film solar
- Solar windows
- Solar balloons
- Hairy solar panels
- Microinverters
- Infrared spectrum solar panels
(source: Discovery)
British coffee-powered car breaks world record
“A bunch of crazy, tea-drinking northern Brits have set a new land speed record for a gasification-powered vehicle, fueled only by coffee beans. The car, which you can see in the image above alongside its engineer Martin Bacon and with the most awesome license plate in the world, is called — you guessed it — The Coffee Car, and it was created by the Teesdale Conservation Volunteers of Durham, England.” Read more…
(source: ExtremeTech)
NASA: It rained so hard the oceans fell
“According to this jaw-dropping NASA report, worldwide rainfall and snowfall were so extreme, in so many places last year, that sea levels fell dramatically.” Read more…
(source: Vancouver Observer, via Current)
5 major cities that are going to be destroyed
“If you turn on the news and hear that some city is being devastated by its fourth flood in 20 years, or that a village at the foot of some volcano has just been buried under lava, there is a 100 percent chance that someone in the room will ask, Why don’t those people just move? It’s a good question, and the answer gives us a nice insight into mankind’s absolute refusal to back down from nature, even if it means certain destruction.”
- San Francisco: earthquake
- Venice, Italy: sinking
- Seattle, WA: earthquake (Holy crap! That’s where I live!)
- Goma, DRC: volcanic eruption
- Dahka, Bangladesh: almost everything
Seeing Irene as harbinger of a change in climate
“The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change? The short answer from scientists is that they are still trying to figure it out. But many of them do believe that hurricanes will get more intense as the planet warms, and they see large hurricanes like Irene as a harbinger.” Read more…
(source: New York Times)
Cars could run on recycled newspaper, scientists say
“Tulane University scientists have discovered a novel bacterial strain, dubbed ‘TU-103,’ that can use paper to produce butanol, a biofuel that can serve as a substitute for gasoline. They are currently experimenting with old editions of the Times Picayune, New Orleans’ venerable daily newspaper, with great success.” Read more…
(source: PhysOrg.com)
The zero-carbon house: It’s just around the corner
“Homes are responsible for 23 percent of the energy used in the US and 18 percent of carbon emissions. In cities like Chicago, where the temperature can vary by 100 degrees, heating and cooling bills can be bank-breakers. But it doesn’t have to be this way.” Read more…
(source: Wired)
