While some people still want to deny climate change or that Mankind has anything to do with it, the facts are stubborn: our planet is warming fast and it is our handy work.
Sciences
Stunner : carbon dioxide role known as early as 1932
While vested interests are still denying the warming role in our atmosphere of carbon dioxide, TreeHugger has unearthed a study from early as 1932 showing that this gas is actually warming our Planet. This was 81 years ago ! I had heard or rather read that this was known from at least since the 1980s … Read more
Graphene could bring solar PV efficiency to 60%
According to TreeHugger, graphene could offer 60% solar cell efficiency if it were to replace silicon in PV panels. As they note : ” Researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain have just published results from their experiments.”
” While their results so far will probably be more useful to make better image sensors, they still show promise for third-generation solar cells which could, in theory, reach efficiencies in the range of 60% (!),“
As current efficiency levels for commercial panels are below 20 percent, you can imagine the boost this could be to solar. As a matter of fact, when it will happen, it will bring a total paradigm shift.
A 1.5°C temperature rise could be game over for our civilization
Oooops ! According to Cleantechies, a 1.5°C temperature rise ” could unleash more than 1,000 gigatons of carbon and methane currently trapped beneath Siberian permafrost and accelerate global climate change. “ 1.5°C is considered as the low level of potential climate warming to date. This is even more worrying as such quantities of greenhouse gases … Read more
Here come the toilets of the future
Here is a smelly question : why are we putting together what Nature separates ? This is the question asked by a Swedish researcher about toilets. Putting urine and feces together is not a good idea as it is simply a waste of resources.
Moreover, flushing with liters and liters of perfectly drinkable water is a bad idea as water scarcity is already striking around the world and will spread as climate gets warmer.
Now here come scientists from Singapore with an idea that could revolutionize the way we dispose from our bodily waste.
WHO : diesel exhausts cause lung cancer
According to the World Health Organization : ” the WHO today classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans, based on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer.“ This is a bad news for me as I recently changed for a diesel car and I am amazed at how … Read more
For algae biofuels, it’s all about patience
Will your car – or mine, or any vehicle – be powered one day by algae ? Despite this solution being a great one compared to more traditional biofuels, we will have to be (really) patient as GigaOM notes : ” In 2010, Pike Research predicted that by 2020, the algae biofuel industry would only … Read more
Climate change to worsen allergies
If a weirder climate, rising sea levels and so on and so forth weren’t enough to motivate us to combat climate change, here is another reason to do so. As Al Gore notes on his blog : “Watery eyes, runny noses and puffy faces will abound this year as a warm winter, human development and … Read more
Global warming close to becoming irreversible
To Reuters : ” The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday. (…) As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be … Read more
Earth is losing 500 billion tons of ice a year
To the NASA : ” Using satellite measurements (…), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth’s land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica. ” ” The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth’s glaciers and ice caps during … Read more
Research on algae biofuels is booming
If traditional / first generation biofuels based on cereals are nowhere near being sustainable, the ones based on algae could be a good or even great solution in the not so far future… Some entrepreneurs and scientists are sharing this opinion as the New Mexico Business Weekly reports than at least three different companies are … Read more
Another reason to fight CO2 : ocean acidification
If climate change, rising sea levels and the threats to global peace and food production weren’t enough to you, here is another reason to fight carbon dioxide : ocean acidification. To Mongabay : ” Emissions of carbon over the last two centuries have raised the acidity of the oceans to the highest levels in 21,000 … Read more