News
Solar-powered Water Purification for Bangladesh
Written by Peter, on February 24, 2016
A new solar-powered water purification system has been chosen for distribution to rural communities in Bangladesh.
The technology was developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden. The water purification plants will use solar power to provide clean water to communities which are not connected to the electricity grid. Read more »
A Better Thermostat from the iPhone Designer
Written by Peter, on January 13, 2012
Tony Fadell, who led the team which designed the first eighteen generations of the iPod and the first three iPhones, has come up with the Nest thermostat for air conditioning systems. As you might expect, it looks a lot better and is much easier to use than current thermostats – and it also has some […] Read more »
Solar Plant Now Supplying “Baseload” Power
Written by Peter, on June 25, 2011
The world’s first solar power plant. to supply utility-scale "baseload" power has been launched near Seville in Spain. The 10 megawatt solar thermal Gemasolar plant has the capacity to store energy for up to 15 hours in molten salt batteries, enabling it to provide enough power for about 25,000 households for.24-hours a day. Read more »
Cleaning Up Fukushima with “Blue Goo”
Written by Peter, on June 20, 2011
Japanese authorities are using a blue liquid that hardens into a gel that is then peeled off surfaces, taking microscopic particles of contaminants, including radioactive pollutants, with it to clean up the contamination caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The "blue goo", or DeconGel, was discovered by accident in 2009 at the Hawaiian venture capital […] Read more »
New Research Estimates Larger Sea Level Rise
Written by Peter, on May 9, 2011
In 2007, the IPCC projected a maximum sea level rise of 59 centimetres by 2100. The IPCC acknowledged that this was likely to be an under-estimate because understanding of the processes happening on ice sheets was inadequate to enable reliable estimates to be made. A team of researchers led by Eric Rignot from Nasa’s Jet […] Read more »
World’s Largest Carbon Sequestion Demonstration Reported Leaking
Written by Peter, on January 13, 2011
According to the British Columbia news weekly, The Tyee, "the world’s first CO2 Measurement, Monitoring and Verification Initiative" in Saskatchewan, Canada, may have sprung a serious leak. The International Energy Agency and Canada’s Petroleum Technology Research Centre have been studying the Weyburn oilfield which is supposed to be a perfect model for greenhouse gas sequestration. […] Read more »
Malaysia Becomes Third Largest Solar PV Producer
Written by Peter, on September 8, 2010
As a result of a 450% increase in its production of solar photovaic cells, Malaysia became the world’s third largest producer in 2009. Malaysia’s output went from 0.16 gigawatts in 2008 to 0.72 gigawatts in 2009. Malaysia’s largest manufacturer is Q-Cells. According to the 2010 Photovoltaic Status Report, the second largest manufacturing country was Taiwan […] Read more »
China Launches First Offshore Wind Farm outside Europe
Written by Peter, on September 8, 2010
China has launched the first major offshore wind farm outside of Europe. China’s 102-megawatt Donghai Bridge Wind Farm, which has begun transmitting power to the national grid, is located in the East China Sea, near Shanghai. It is seen as signalling a new direction for Chinese renewable energy projects and the initiation of a national […] Read more »
More Climate Sceptics Changing Views
Written by Peter, on September 2, 2010
Paul Hanlon, the science editor of Britain’s Daily Mail has been possibly the UK’s most influential climate sceptic. Following a trip to Greenland he writes: "Yes, global warming is real – and deeply worrying". His article continues "I have long been something of a climate-change sceptic, but my views in recent years have shifted. For […] Read more »
New Advanced Climate Software Available Free
Written by Peter, on August 20, 2010
The Universities Corporation for Atmospheric Research has released new modelling software which will allow scientists to study climate change in far more detail. The software is available free from the Community Earth Systems Model web site. The Community Earth System Model will be one of the primary climate models used for the next assessment by […] Read more »