sustainability
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address this week highlighted a lot of issues related to energy and sustainability, sandwiched between opening and closing nods to the military. Which, when you consider the oil-rich hotspots where US armed forces have been engaged lately and how much fuel the
bus rapid transit
In a warming, rapidly urbanizing and penny-pinching world, what’s the best way to help move millions of people around cities without the carbon pollution of cars or the budget-busting expense of light rail? Many urban areas have found the answer in bus rapid transit, or BRT. Using standard-issue but
solar
There’s been plenty of squawking about the Obama Administration’s spending on solar-energy development (ie, the overwrought hoopla surrounding the Solyndra “scandal”). But any missteps the US government has taken pale in comparison to what’s been going on across the pond. Coming into office with the promise to
fish
Rising levels of dissolved carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans could drive fish “crazy,” seriously threatening their survival, according to Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Earth’s oceans are currently the largest natural “sink” for carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, and the amount
marine energy
North Sea oil production passed its peak more than a decade ago, but the UK is still looking offshore for future energy supplies … from the ocean waters themselves. With the potential to generate up to 27 gigawatts of ocean energy by 2050 — that’s as much as is produced by
energy savings
The smart grid is often referred to as the “internet of things,” but does the comparison really hold up? In one way, the analogy works pretty well: the “regular” internet links computers (and now smartphones, etc.) around the world with one another to create one giant, interconnected, information-based thing. In
global warming
Averaged globally, temperatures around the world have been rising pretty much since modern instrumental record-keeping began. But average global warming doesn’t mean steady, year-round warming everywhere. Now, new research suggests that some of the cold, snowy winters that parts of the world have seen lately aren’t due just
heating and cooling
Maybe it’s Yankee thrift. Or maybe your blood really does get thinner in warmer climates. For whatever reason, it seems cold-hardy residents of New England keep their home thermostats set much cooler in the winter than do their Southern and Midwestern neighbors. Good thing, too: setting their thermostats low
economy
Innovation is good for the economy and jobs. But when times are tough — politically or economically — companies might not be able to innovate like they used to. And that’s exactly the problem many business executives are reporting these days. A whopping 88 percent of them say they’re finding
energy security
What will our energy landscape look like in, say, 30 years? As physicist Neils Bohr is quoted as saying, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” But that doesn’t stop us from trying to envision the future anyway. Here are a few prognostications about what
Energy
What do career politicians know about energy efficiency, renewables and low-carbon technology? The answer, in many cases, is (notwithstanding the occasional exception like German Chancellor/physical chemist Angela Merkel), “Probably not a whole lot.” And that’s cause for concern in an era when energy and carbon have become critically
electric cars
A record number of electric cars are making their debut at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and some of them wouldn’t have been possible without cost-sharing programs between automakers and the US Department of Energy (DOE). The program is aimed at finding new, more
