The once degraded forests in the Curacautin Valley in Chile have now recovered sufficiently, after hard work over the last decades, to be able to help provide a sustainable living to the people in the area, based on fair trade and responsible forest management principles.
Researchers in the college’s department of paper and bioprocess engineering are experimenting with different strains of bacteria that can ferment sugars extracted from wood into biobutanol that can be pumped into automobile gas tanks. They believe that biobutanol — more efficient than ethanol in producing energy and easier to add to the existing gasoline distribution infrastructure — could be the emerging biofuel of the future.
The map provides detailed graphs and analysis of 40 social enterprises in 16 countries that are overcoming vast hurdles in their respective markets to bring electricity or alternative fuel to 500 to 500,000 people apiece.
According to an article in Nature, researchers have spotted signs of recovery in the ozone hole above Antarctica. These first signs of human-caused shrinkage come 22 years after the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement that banned the use of ozone-depleting chloroflurocarbons.
The study details 12 technologies and 36 projects that convert wood to fuels including ethanol, butanol, diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel.
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its annual assessment of leading utility green power programs.
The American Physical Society has released a new assessment, titled “Direct Air Capture of CO2 with Chemicals,” to better inform the scientific community on the technical aspects of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
As concerns about air pollution from large dairies and other concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) continue to mount, scientists are reporting a practice that could cut emissions of the abundant agricultural gas ammonia by up to 30 percent.
The presence of even a simple chemical reaction can delay or prevent the spreading of stored carbon dioxide in underground aquifers, new research from the University of Cambridge has revealed.
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), a consortium of 98 doctorate-granting universities, has selected Rosenthal to receive the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award to pursue the novel research. Rosenthal is one of 30 award winners nationwide.
The production of wind energy in the United States in the next 30 to 50 years will be largely unaffected by upward changes in global temperature, said a pair of scientists who analyzed output from several regional climate models to assess future wind patterns in America's lower 48 states.
With more than 200 Earth Day festivals annually logged by the Earth Day Network – the leading organization that mobilizes the green movement across the world – across the country on April 22, the second largest was in Dallas.
Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation to phase out coal-fired energy production at the TransAlta power plant in Centralia.
Dealers in selected Canadian markets began taking orders for the Volt May 2.
<p>Con Edison and New York City commissioned and certified the solar energy system on the Brooklyn, N.Y., IKEA store. As one of the largest commercial rooftop installations in the city’s five boroughs, the 200 kW array occupies 19,000-square feet, with four module types, totaling 1,104 panels. The array will generage 240,000 kWh of renewable electricity annually for the store, the equivalent of eliminating the emissions of 32 cars, or providing electricity for 20 homes yearly. This effort reinforces the company’s commitment to sustainable business practices in addition to reducing its carbon footprint.</p><p>
“We are very excited about enhancing the sustainable contribution IKEA Brooklyn continues to make in the local community by generating electricity through solar panels atop our store,” said Mike Baker, the store’s manager. “This initiative helps improve the environment and contributes to our vision of creating a better everyday life for the many.”</p><p>
Other IKEA U.S. sustainable building initiatives include a solar energy systems operational in two stores and under construction in nine others. Additionally, both a solar energy and geothermal system were incorporated into the Denver-area store opening this year in Centennial, Col. IKEA Brooklyn additionally has 70,000 square feet of green roof, a 6.5-acre waterfront esplanade, multiple transit options and has been certified as a brownfield redevelopment. The store also has been certified LEED Silver.</p><p>
The 346,000-square-foot Brooklyn store opened June 18, 2008, on 22 acres along the Erie Basin waterfront in Red Hook, south of the BQE/Gowanus Expressway and southeast of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. </p><p>
Swapping pork and beef for crickets and locusts could help to save the planet by reducing livestock green house gas emissions by up to 95 percent.
Researchers will study shale and tight-sand formations at the molecular level to understand how it moves through pores a few nanometers in size.
The index was created using data sources that reflect energy creation, consumption, and ICT spending among the G20 nations over the past two years. Events from 2011 – including the Japanese earthquake and tsunami – were not taken into account in generating this year's scores. </p><p>
Despite the growing scientific consensus that global warming is real, Americans have become increasingly polarized on the environmental problem.
EPA has released the 16th annual U.S. greenhouse gas inventory.