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A new solution for our plastic waste?

May 16, 2012 by Katherine Friedrich
with 118 views
0

Polyester polyurethane is unappetizing to most living things – including the sea creatures who encounter it in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where recent news shows insects are starting to lay their eggs on pieces of plastic.What will we do with all the plastic we make – and the oil that we use to make it? Luckily, there are... [read more]

When Global Warming Hits Home (Literally)

May 12, 2012 by Peter Lehner
with 538 views
3

Photo by Sue Waters via Flickr

In a recent PBS documentary, the mayor of Norfolk, Virginia, Paul Fraim, talks about how flooding has become a monthly occurrence in his town, and how global warming and sea level rise are as much a daily issue for him as education and fighting crime. In some parts of Norfolk, streets turn into rivers at high tide. Homes are flooded five... [read more]

Dispatch from Kiribati: Can you "see" sea level rise?

May 2, 2012 by Simon Donner
with 334 views
0

Tarawa, Kiribati - This is my fifth time visiting Kiribati for research. I'm here working on a coral monitoring project together with my colleagues at the local government. For more, check out my Scifund site, which is dedicated to raising funds for the in-country side of the coral research. People at home often ask whether I have seen... [read more]

BP Employee Arrested For Destroying Evidence in Gulf Oil Disaster

April 25, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 194 views
0

Federal prosecutors have issued the first arrest related to the worst oil disaster in U.S. history. The Justice Department has charged a former BP engineer with destroying evidence on BP’s internal response to the disaster. [read more]

Energy and Climate Change in the American Southwest

April 23, 2012 by Ari Phillips
with 395 views
2

The U.S. Southwest is under water duress. More water is used in the region each year than the amount of rain and snowfall – a shortfall accounted for by diminishing groundwater reserves. Help this young journalist investigate these conditions! [read more]

UK Marine Energy Continues Aggressive Expansion

April 19, 2012 by Nino Marchetti
with 158 views
0

The British government has a launched a £20 million ($32 million) scheme to fund projects for groups of wave machines.The funding money is available for up to two pre-commercial projects and will allow the development of single device prototypes into a cluster of devices. The successful bids will test the operation of their... [read more]

Five Iconic Mountains Threatened By Climate Change

April 6, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 300 views
0

Glacial melt. Invasive species. Mudslides. Erosion. Mountains around the world are seeing major changes accelerated by a warming planet.Mountains represent 25% of the earth’s surface and host 13% of the world’s population. Warming-fueled changes are threatening sensitive ecosystems, water resources, climbing routes, and, in turn, the... [read more]

Cold Snaps and Snowstorms: Evidence of Global Weirding?

March 22, 2012 by Dan Huber
with 226 views
0

NOAA recently declared this winter to be the 4th warmest on record for the contiguous United States. That sort of announcement might be expected in a warming world. But what about the relatively cold winters of 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, which featured historic blizzards in the Midwest and the East Coast? Florida had snow seven times in... [read more]

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Is Water a Barrier to a Low-Carbon Energy Future?

March 19, 2012 by Jesse Jenkins
with 1,509 views
9

Ask an expert on clean tech what the largest barriers to a low carbon energy future are, and chances are they will list higher technology costs, policy barriers, or the need for new infrastructure to accommodate novel energy sources. [read more]

The Water Sector

March 10, 2012 by Rich Maltzman
with 797 views
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  We’d like to start you off here with some statistics about China.  And H2O. China accounts for 30% of the world’s population but has only 7% of the world’s freshwater supply. Since 2008, China has added more than 50 million people.  Stop for a moment and think about that. That’s like adding two Australias.  Or ten... [read more]

Tidal Energy: the Next Wave in Alternative Energy

February 13, 2012 by Antonio Pasolini
with 141 views
0

 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued its first pilot project license for a tidal energy project located in New York City’s East River. The project is owned by Verdant Power and is known as the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project. The project’s capacity is 1,050-kilowatts and uses the East River’s... [read more]

Power Plants Suffer Water Woes

December 5, 2011 by Jonathan Smith
with 295 views
2

Union of Concerned Scientists Image via Wikipedia A previous reprint of an article originally published in Ecocentric noted that power plants need lots of water primarily for cooling. “Several Texas power plants that rely on cooling ponds are in a tough spot because their reservoirs aren’t being replenished, and that lack of cooling... [read more]

Global Warning

November 17, 2011 by Karen Street
with 344 views
1

People hear climate change through different concerns. Some hear threats to the environment, others to people, and others still to national security. (Of course, there is overlap.) For those in the national security category, the National Security Journalism Initiative has created Global Warning. Water shortages in Yemen Go to A... [read more]

Understanding the Water- Energy- Food Nexus

November 4, 2011 by Lou Grinzo
with 323 views
1

“Understanding the Nexus”, Water Energy Food Nexus, Bonn 2011: Background paper for the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference is now available This paper for the Bonn 2011 Conference presents initial evidence for how a nexus approach can enhance water, energy and food security in a green economy by increasing efficiency, reducing trade-offs, and... [read more]

Thailand: Flood Maps and Disaster Monitoring Tools

November 2, 2011 by Solana Larsen
with 11,036 views
3

Flooded Temple. Photo from Pailin C

Last year, news reports described the flooding in Thailand as the worst that ever hit the country in many decades. But the flooding is worse this year. Most of the provinces are flooded, dams have reached their retention capacity, and the country’s premier industrial estate is completely inundated. The disaster center said that it... [read more]