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Discovery finds waste sulphur can boost electric car industry
April 15, 2013 08:59 AM - ClickGreen Staff, ClickGreen
A new chemical process can transform waste sulphur into a lightweight plastic that may improve batteries for electric cars, reports a University of Arizona-led team. The team has successfully used the new plastic to make lithium-sulphur batteries and discovered other potential applications, including optical uses.
Global Food Prices Continue to Rise
April 12, 2013 08:59 AM - Sophie Wenzlau, Worldwatch Institute
As both climate change and population growth continue to increase, there is reason to believe that food commodity prices will be both higher and more volatile in the decades to come. Continuing a decade-long increase, global food prices rose 2.7 percent in 2012, reaching levels not seen since the 1960s and 1970s but still well below the price spike of 1974. Between 2000 and 2012, the World Bank global food price index increased 104.5 percent, at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent.
New Materials Promise to Dramatically Drop Photovoltaic Prices
April 9, 2013 08:41 AM - Cyrus Patten, Global Warming is Real
What is the single most significant barrier to widespread use of alternative energy? Is it the right wing climate change skeptics? No. It's economics. If there is not money to be made at the same scale as in the fossil fuel industry, and if renewable, clean energy does not become cheaper than fossil fuels, alternative energy doesn't stand a chance in the free market.
Yum! Brands announces 'greener' paper policy
April 8, 2013 08:51 AM - Editor, MONGABAY.COM
KCF, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell policy excludes fiber from conversion of old-growth rainforests to plantations. After a prolonged campaign by environmental activists, the world's largest fast food company has announced a new sourcing policy that will shift it toward greener packaging materials.
Real Time Forest Monitoring System Uses New Tech to Fight Deforestation
April 5, 2013 08:08 AM - Editor, Justmeans
Global Forest Watch 2.0 (GFW 2.0) is a powerful near real-time forest monitoring system launching this spring that combines satellite technology, new algorithms, cloud computing, mobile phone technologies, maps and human networks around the world to fight illegal logging and deforestation. GFW 2.0 is a major breakthrough, as it will create fast, online alerts that show when deforestation is taking place, particularly in remote locations. Currently, by the time satellite images of deforestation are viewed, the criminals are often far away as it takes around three to five years to produce a national forest cover map.
Samoa Air Charging Passengers by Weight. Good idea?
April 5, 2013 05:58 AM - Leon Kaye, Triple Pundit
Should bigger passengers pay more to fly on Samoa Air? Flying has long lost its glamour appeal for a bevy of reasons—among them the pesky charges airlines impose on baggage, meals and pillows—some air carriers charge to pick your own seat ahead of time. Now Samoa Air has stepped into new territory: the tiny South Pacific airline has a new policy charging passengers by how much they, and their luggage, weigh. We road warriors all have our airline stories, including ones of sitting next to someone who is, well, on the portly side. During a 14-hour flight last year my six-foot frame was wedged between an enormous oil rig worker whose mass, well, impinged on my seat. Not that I was going to say anything: it was a long flight, I had a few supplements and prescriptions to knock me out, and anyway he was flying home because his brother "had too much vodka and decided to play Russian roulette with his rifle." Mental amputation, not confrontation, was the better bet for me on that long and very uncomfortable haul.
Manufacturing Getting More and More Energy Efficient!
April 4, 2013 05:54 AM - Roger Greenway, ENN
The amount of energy we use to manufacture the products we use every day is a significant part of the energy needed to support out lifestyle. As the planet gets more and more populated, can we continue to make manufacturing more efficient, or are thee limits to this? A new report by researchers at MIT and elsewhere finds that the global manufacturing sector has made great strides in energy efficiency: The manufacturing of materials such as steel, cement, paper and aluminum has become increasingly streamlined, requiring far less energy than when these processes were first invented. However, despite more energy-efficient manufacturing, the researchers found that such processes may be approaching their thermodynamic limits: There are increasingly limited options available to make them significantly more efficient. The result, the team observed, is that energy efficiency for many important processes in manufacturing is approaching a plateau.
Pipeline Ruptured in Arkansas, Major Oil Spill
April 1, 2013 11:54 AM - Allison Winter, ENN
A leak from the Pegasus pipeline was discovered near Mayflower, Arkansas on Friday, leading to an estimated spill of over 10,000 barrels of Canadian Dilbit. Reports state that the pipeline was carrying Wabasca Heavy crude from western Canada when it ruptured. Wabasca Heavy is a type of diluted bitumen (a type of crude oil that is heavier than most conventional crude oil) from Alberta's tar sands region.
Lead-Based Paint Still Being Sold in Developing Nations
March 28, 2013 11:52 AM - Allison Winter, ENN
Lead is added to paint mainly to speed up drying and increase durability, but due to its toxic effects has been banned in many countries. Nonetheless, lead-based paint still poses a problem as older housing stock may contain lead-based painted walls. When this paint chips, inhalation and ingestion (particularly by children) can damage the nervous system and cause a slew of health problems. Despite the uproar of concern for this type of paint in western countries, new reports show that lead paint is still being sold in poor nations. Perry Gottesfeld, lead author for an investigative study, has discovered high levels of the heavy metal in numerous house paints for sale throughout the African nation of Cameroon. Further investigation has led the research team to conclude that there’s still plenty of lead paint for sale in other developing nations. Two years ago Gottesfeld was in Cameroon, where he and collaborators at a local NGO now report they had found nearly a dozen enamel household paints with so much lead in them they exceeded the U.S. standard by 300 times or more.
The Future of Chocolate
March 28, 2013 08:46 AM - Maryam Heinen , Organic Consumers Association
Back in the Mayan age, around 1100 BCE, cacao was recognized as a "super" food, traded as a precious currency with a value on par with gold and jewels Bythe 17th century the Spanish added sugar (cane) to sweeten it and the rest is history. As other European countries clamored to get in on the action—and started exporting cacao trees to their colonies—Africa soon became the world's most prominent grower of cacao, even though it's not native to that continent. Today, cacao has devolved into a byproduct of itself. Instead of being viewed as the sacred fruit that it is, with all its nutritional benefits, cacao is largely seen as a candy bar, a mid-day fix, loaded with sugar, milk, and other substandard ingredients.