News
Rising CO2 levels will intensify algal blooms across the globe
Rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere will stimulate harmful algal blooms at a global level.
This warning is issued by scientists Jolanda Verspagen and Jef Huisman of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on the basis of new mathematical models, laboratory experiments and field research. Their results will be published open access in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
New material could be used for energy storage
This ultralow-density, ultrahigh surface area bulk material with an interconnected nanotubular makeup could be used in catalysis, energy storage and conversion, thermal insulation, shock energy absorption and high energy density physics.
Ultralow-density porous bulk materials have recently attracted renewed interest due to many promising applications.
Turning bio-waste into hydrogen
Whilst hydrogen cars look set to be the next big thing in an increasingly carbon footprint-aware society, sustainable methods to produce hydrogen are still in their early stages. The HYTIME project is working on a novel production process that will see green hydrogen being produced from grass, straw and food industry residues.
When sustainability and bioeconomy are being discussed, the words 'hydrogen' and 'biomass' are usually not too far away - although rarely mentioned in the same sentence. But what if hydrogen could be produced directly from second generation biomass?
Study gives new perspective on agricultural plastic, debris burning, and air quality
To reduce fire hazard in the United States, wildland managers often utilize the silvicultural practice of mechanically cutting woody shrubs and suppressed trees (ladder fuels).
These cuttings and other post-logging debris are then burned during periods of low fire danger in order to dispose of the material.
Renewable energy is ready to supply all of Australia's electricity
In a recent article on The Conversation, University of Melbourne Professor Emeritus Frank Larkins wrote that Australia's targets to increase renewable energy will make electricity more expensive, thanks to problems with consistency and storage.
But Professor Larkins is several years behind developments in renewable energy and its integration into electricity grids. In fact, we already have technically feasible scenarios to run the Australian electricity industry on 100% renewable energy—without significantly affecting supply.
Ban appoints former Irish President Mary Robinson as special envoy for climate change
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed former Irish President Mary Robinson as his Special Envoy for Climate Change to mobilize political will and action ahead of the climate summit that the United Nations chief will convene in September.
Mrs. Robinson, who will continue to serve as President of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice, will work closely with Special Envoys John Kufuor and Michael Bloomberg in her new role.
To address climate change, nothing substitutes for reducing CO2 emissions
The politically expedient way to mitigate climate change is essentially no way at all, according to a comprehensive new study by University of Chicago climatologist Raymond Pierrehumbert.
Among the climate pollutants humans put into the atmosphere in significant quantities, the effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the longest-lived, with effects on climate that extend thousands of years after emissions cease. But finding the political consensus to act on reducing CO2 emissions has been nearly impossible.
New UN high-level body on environment opens inaugural session in Nairobi
A United Nations body that focuses on the environment and has representatives from all 193 UN Member States is meeting for the first time today in Nairobi, to discuss issues such as illegal wildlife trade, chemical waste and air pollution, and new universal development goals.
The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) “places environmental concerns on the same footing with those of peace, security, finance, health and trade for the first time,” the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a news release from its headquarters in Kenya. “For many, the creation of UNEA is the coming of age of the environment as a world issue.”
