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Pollution May Be Down, But Carbon Dioxide Is Soaring
It took no time for countries under quarantine to see energy use plummet, and with it, pollution levels. But even as citizens of Los Angeles and Jalandhar exuberantly posted photos of the Hollywood sign and the Himalayas visible without smog for the first time in decades, climate scientists warned the dramatic drop in emissions would do little if anything to slow the pace of global warming. [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
The Art of Putting Turbines in the Windiest Spot
First you need to go to the place, see it with your own eyes. Then we gather historic data from maps and models. After that we start collecting our own data. We install towers 100 meters to 120 meters tall that carry sensors like wind gauges, weather vanes, thermometers, and barometers. The towers gather data about the location for at least one year—ideally for two to three years. [ read more … ]
Clean energy gives boost to Iowa economy
In a way wind farms have become as synonymous with Iowa as corn or soybean fields. “Where wind energy is harnessed, economic progress follows. For our most rural towns, wind is powering more of the economy every day,” said Bill Anderson, executive director of the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation. “Expanding the development of this reliable, homegrown energy source in rural America will only become more critical in the weeks, months, and years ahead.” [ read more … ]
Green Stimulus Plans
Germany Just Unveiled the World’s Greenest Stimulus Plan
The plan unveiled late on Wednesday after 21 hours of intense negotiations is the most ambitious yet by any government to support green initiatives. Divided into 57 different points addressing sectors from taxes to families to agriculture, the budget allocates about 41 billion euros to areas like public transport, electric vehicles and renewable energy, according to calculations by Bloomberg News. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Inside Microsoft’s Mission to Go Carbon Negative
Joppa grew up in rural Wisconsin and met his wife, Jamie, in second grade. School bored him until he took a college course called Extinction of Species and then threw himself into studying ecology. After a Peace Corps stint in Malawi and a doctorate he earned in three years, he began work at Microsoft’s research arm, much to the horror of some colleagues. One professor told him, “Lucas, you could have been somebody!” [ read more … ]
Russia Declares Emergency After Arctic Oil Spill
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has declared a state of emergency in a region in northern Siberia after a huge oil spill turned a river crimson and threatened to inflict significant damage to the Arctic environment. More than 20,000 tons of diesel leaked into the Ambarnaya River near the city of Norilsk last Friday, after a fuel tank collapsed at a power plant. Norilsk Nickel, which owns the plant, said in a statement that thawing permafrost had caused one of the tank’s pillars to collapse. The oil leaked more than seven miles from the site. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.