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507 results for "carbon dioxide"
Plants to the rescue, absorbing more CO2 in response to climate change
Humans and animals produce carbon dioxide; plants and trees absorb it. Climate change is the result of the fact that we have disturbed that delicate balance with an explosive growth in the use of fossil fuels. For decades, we’ve been pumping billions of tons of harmful greenhouse gases into the Read More...
Transforming carbon dioxide into rock could help save the environment
Just a few years ago, Iceland’s largest producer of geothermal energy injected 250 tons of carbon dioxide into an underground repository of volcanic rocks. To their surprise, the carbon they had injected underwent a quick chemical reaction and formed into a rock called carbonate in two years’ Read More...
Sustainability leader wants to change the way, we talk about carbon
Carbon is not the enemy, says architect and sustainability leader William McDonough, the author and inventor of the concept of "cradle-to-cradle". In the climate conversation, almost all references to carbon are negative. We talk about needing to aim for "low carbon," and "zero carbon". But Read More...
Carbon-eating bacteria can help in the fight against climate change
A few years ago, scientists discovered a bacterium that breaks down cellulose—a tough organic compound found in plants—into usable biofuels without added enzymes. Now scientists have made another discovery about this bacterium: It can take up and metabolize carbon dioxide (CO2) as well. That Read More...
Commonwealth drives strategies to put climate change into reverse
Cities that mimic forests, bricks made from converted carbon dioxide and highways lined with wind turbines powered by traffic. These are ideas that, for now, still belong to a distant, brighter future – when the world’s focus can be turned from halting runaway climate change to actually Read More...
Turning CO2 to stone
Earth has limits to the amount of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere before the environment as we know it starts to change. Too much CO2 absorbed by the oceans makes the water more acidic. Too much in the atmosphere warms the planet. With emissions from our carbon-based economies rising, scientists Read More...
Solar up, coal down: U.S. shakes up energy supply
Solar power capacity in the U.S. will have nearly tripled in size in less than three years by 2017, amid an energy shakeup that has seen natural gas solidify its position as the country’s chief source of electricity and coal power continue to fade, according to monthly data published by the Read More...
Wind power could supply 20% of the world's electricity needs by 2030
According to a new report, wind power could supply as much as 20 percent of the world’s total electricity by 2030 due to dropping prices and pledges to take climate action. China is set to quadruple wind power capacity, and more investments are being made around the world to expand wind capacity Read More...
Scientists turn carbon dioxide into ethanol, by mistake
Scientists have accidentally done something incredible. They have created a means of transforming carbon dioxide into a clean fuel called ethanol, by mistake. The ethanol produced was said to be pure, meaning there are minimum side reactions. If produced on a mass-scale, this ethanol could be used Read More...
More than 190 countries agree on deal to limit global warming from air conditioners
This past Saturday morning in Rwanda, a landmark deal was agreed upon that will limit emissions of key climate change-causing pollutants found in air conditions. The deal will phase down the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons, known as HFCs, for use in air conditioners. HFCs are thousands of Read More...