Scientists Propose a New Architecture for Sustainable Development
As a United Nations working group negotiates a set of “sustainable development goals,” 10 scientists and development analysts, in a commentary published today in Nature journal, have proposed a fundamentally different way to frame this concept…
Petroleum Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Automobiles Could Drop 80 Percent by 2050
A new National Research Council report finds that by the year 2050, the U.S. may be able to reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent for light-duty vehicles, cars and small trucks, via a combination of more efficient vehicles.
The World’s Largest Concentrated Solar Power Plant, Big Picture
The world’s largest concentrated solar power plant, Shams 1, launched on Sunday, representing a major milestone in the development of renewable energy in the Middle East. Taking three years to build, the $600m plant is located in Abu Dhabi’s western region, the heart of the UAE’s hydrocarbon industry.
U.S. Clean Energy Research To Be Paid For With Federal Oil
President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to authorize $200 million a year for research into clean energy technologies that can wean automobiles off oil.
Green versus Gray: Nature’s Solutions To Infrastructure Demands
An emerging hypothesis in environmental management settings is that investment in ecosystem-based green infrastructure solutions provides economically superior environmental quality outcomes when compared to investments in technology-based or “gray” infrastructure.
When to Say No
In itself, the Keystone pipeline will not push the world into a climate apocalypse. But it will continue to fuel our appetite for oil and add to the carbon load in the atmosphere. There is no need to accept it.
Ozone Layer Above North Pole Expected to Recover
Good news for the ozone layer above the Arctic.The Montreal Protocol is showing effects: according to recent measurements, the ozone layer over the North Pole should recover by the end of the century.
Meteorologist On Climate Change: Viewers Are Less Skeptical
The number of American adults who are “very certain that global warming is not occurring” has dropped from 16 percent in 2010 to 8 percent in 2012, according to a survey released by Yale University. But a recent poll still shows a nation split over questions of whether climate change is real, whether humans play a major role in it, and what can be done about it.
Recent Heat Spike Unlike Anything In 11,000 Years
A new study looking at 11,000 years of climate temperatures shows the world in the middle of a dramatic U-turn, lurching from near-record cooling to a heat spike.