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U.S. utilities seek sun as Trump sides with coal, fossil fuels
The plunging cost of solar power is leading U.S. electric companies to capture more of the sun just when President Donald Trump is moving to boost coal and other fossil fuels. Solar power represents just about 1 percent of the electricity U.S. utilities generate today, but that could grow Read More...
Is America's most common pesticide responsible for killing our bees?
The most widely used class of insecticides in the world is facing a slow death. Called neonicotinoids, or neonics, these bug killers have long been used to coat seeds or treat millions of acres of farmland in the US. Research showing that they sicken or kill bees and other pollinators has already Read More...
Volvo creating carsharing business unit
The Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo has announced that it will be creating a new business division based around its carsharing work. While this will technically be a new enterprise, Volvo has actually been running a carsharing service known as Sunfleet for nearly 20 years now (since 1998), so the Read More...
Huge win for renewables in Maryland as lawmakers override governor's veto
Lawmakers in the Maryland Senate voted 32-13 Thursday to expand the state's renewable energy target restoring the Clean Energy Jobs Act and overriding Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of the measure in May of last year. The bill is now in effect. The bill increases requirements to use energy Read More...
Scientists develop a "better way" to produce renewable hydrogen
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a “better way” to make hydrogen using renewable energy according to a paper published this month in Nature Energy. Hydrogen has many potential applications and is already used Read More...
The future is mixed race because migration is essential to human success
Forget politics. We are a restless species, and our genomes reveal that even the most intimidating geographical barriers or political measures have managed only to somewhat restrict human movements. Today, international migration is increasing at one to two percent per year, with 244 Read More...
The largest coal-fired power plant in the West may close later this year
And to underline the message for the future of fossil fuels: The owners of Arizona’s Navajo Generating Station, the largest coal-fired plant in the west of the U.S. have announced that they consider closing the plant, because low natural gas prices and the rising costs of generating electricity Read More...
New report: Electric cars and cheap solar will halt fossil fuel growth by 2020
Solar power and clean cars are consistently underestimated by big energy, according to a new report by Imperial College and Carbon Tracker Initiative. The report projects that polluting fuels could lose ten percent of market share to solar power and clean cars within a decade. A ten percent loss of Read More...
The Netherlands keeps closing prisons because it doesn't have enough prisoners
The Netherlands closed five prisons in 2016 after the country closed 19 prisons in 2014 and eight in 2009. Crime is down, sentences are too and there are fewer and fewer inmates to put in the cells. Sweden is also closing jails for the same reason as the Read More...
Pain serves an evolutionary function: Comfort is not good for you
Our evolutionary drive has been to increase our level of comfort. We fled predators, froze in snowstorms, sought shelter from the rain, and hunted and gathered our food. And, today, our lives are surprisingly easy. When we need something we go to the store. But that’s a problem: comfort is Read More...