An intense winter weather outbreak, informally dubbed Winter Storm Uri by the Weather Channel, swept across the U.S., bringing snow, sleet, freezing rain and frigid temperatures. Texas was hit especially hard, with all 254 counties under a winter storm warning at the same time.
This year’s letter from Bill and Melinda Gates focused on nine things that surprised them. For the Microsoft-cofounder, one thing he was surprised to learn was the massive amount of new buildings the planet should expect in the coming decades due to urban population growth. “The number of buildings in the world is going to […]
Sweden inaugurated on Wednesday the first road of its kind that can recharge commercial and passenger car batteries while driving. The eRoadArlanda project consists of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of electric rail installed on a public road outside Arlanda Airport. The innovation was funded by the Swedish Transport Administration and is part of the government’s […]
Scientists at Stanford University produced a battery that generates electricity from an unlikely resource—sewage. Their microbial battery won’t be powering neighborhoods, but they believe it could aid the power used to treat wastewater, which accounts for about 3 percent of energy in developed nations like the U.S. The researchers hope the prototype, which is about the size […]
By Nathan August Seawater desalination with nothing more than a small electrical field? A simple new method of creating freshwater from seawater—that uses far less energy than conventional methods do—has just been developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Marburg in Germany. A prototype “water chip” developed by […]
Southern Environmental Law Center A new study of southeastern forests in the U.S. finds that in the long run, burning wood instead of fossil fuels to make electricity can reduce heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but not soon enough to prevent worsening the conditions leading to global climate change. The study also shows that […]
We can end America’s oil addiction, but two key events—yesterday and last week—tell us a lot about the challenges we’ll face as we make it happen. Last week, the delay (and potential cancellation) of the Keystone XL pipeline showed we can meet the challenge of organizing a grassroots-driven coalition to stop destructive oil development. That […]