How much space would it take to solar-power the United States?
How much space would it take to put the whole of the United States on solar power. Well, it depends a lot on the region where you install those solar panels. Las Vegas gets almost twice as much solar energy as some other places, with 26.8 kilowatt-hours per day in a five-kilowatt system, compared Read More...
Smart windows could combine solar panels and TVs too
Imagine standing in front of a wall of windows, surveying the view. You hear someone enter the room behind you. You turn. "Welcome," you say. "Here is the video I wanted to show you." At the press of a button, the view vanishes and the windows transform into a high-definition TV Read More...
Are cotton totes better for the Earth than plastic bags?
A year or so ago, I decided to start using less plastic. I bought an insulated water bottle for my morning coffee, as well as bee’s wax wraps to replace cellophane, and I largely stopped putting my groceries in plastic bags. Instead, I switched to cotton tote Read More...
Should we sleep and wake early to boost our health?
When a recent study looked at health differences between late and early risers, it appeared to make grim reading for night owls. Increased risk of early death, psychological disorders, and respiratory illness were the stark findings from the paper, which backed up other research suggesting Read More...
How excess wind and solar power can be used to produce hydrogen
The British National Grid has warned that at times this coming summer there will be more electricity being generated than needed; when demand is low, solar output is high and some inflexible power stations are hard to turn off. The answer could be to use the excess power to generate hydrogen. Read More...
Study: Beaver dams reduce river pollution
New research shows that beavers remove lots of pollutants from creeks when building their dams. In a new study, scientists found that a single family of beavers remove high levels of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus from water that flowed through a 2.5 hectare enclosure in the UK. The sediment Read More...
Coal power is getting the cold shoulder in India as renewable prices plummet
Coal-based power plants fall out of favor with power distribution companies in India as the price of wind and solar power continues to plummet to record lows. Whereas wind and solar power tariffs are priced at around Rs 2.4 per unit, coal-based power is currently being sold at Rs 3.7 per unit. With Read More...
Seaweed could be an alternative to plastic packaging for food and beverages
Indonesia is the world’s second-worst offender in terms of dumping plastic into the sea. 90 percent of the country's plastic ends up in the ocean. And 70 percent of that waste comes from food and beverage packaging. To put an end to this incredibly wasteful use of plastic, one Indonesia-based Read More...
Here’s why you never seem to have enough time
If you feel like you never have time, that’s because you don’t have enough time. Nobody does. Time is, in our modern society, a scarcity, a “precious resource,” and the unspoken enemy that must be subdued. But this was not always so. At other moments in history, time was abundant. So what Read More...
Amazon is paying its employees $12,000 to train for a job at another company
The forward-thinking company helps employees forward their dream careers--even if it means it's not at Read More...