Archives
This Solar Powered Airport has Eliminated Electricity Bills
“Cochin International Airport, the world’s first 100 percent solar airport, is generating so much power from its massive solar array that the airport no longer pays for electricity.
Cochin started its solar journey three years ago when it installed solar panels on the roof of its arrivals terminal. It eventually blossomed into a 12 megawatt solar project after the airport commissioned German multinational engineering and electronics company Bosch to build the impressive $9.5 million plant that features 46,000 panels laid out across 45 acres of unused land near the airport’s international cargo terminal.”
Lead Taints Schools Throughout the Country
“…the federal government requires only about 10% of the nation’s schools and a tiny fraction of day cares — the 8,225 facilities that run their own water systems — to test for lead at all.
The EPA estimates that about 90,000 public schools and half a million child-care facilities are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act because they depend on water sources such as municipal utilities expected to test their own water. That means parents have no assurance lead isn’t seeping into children’s water from a school building’s pipes, solder or fixtures.”
New Solar Technology Possibilities are Endless
Its lightweight! Its flexible! It can be applied to any surface! The possibilities are endless.
Bacterium That Eats Our Plastic Waste
“Hundreds of millions of tons of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic are produced each year to package everything from sodas to shampoo. That only a fraction of this is recycled leaves much of it to rest in landfills and the ocean. But efforts to deal with this monumental mess may soon receive a much-needed boost, with scientists in Japan discovering a new bacterium with the ability to completely break down PET plastics in a relatively short space of time.”
21 Kids Take On Big Oil
“Hundreds of students, activists, professors and citizens concerned about climate turned out in Eugene, Oregon to support 21 young plaintiffs, ages 8-19, in what Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein call the ‘most important lawsuit on the planet right now.'”
Record annual increase of carbon dioxide
“The annual growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii jumped by 3.05 parts per million during 2015, the largest year-to-year increase in 56 years of research.
In another first, 2015 was the fourth consecutive year that CO2 grew more than 2 ppm, said Pieter Tans, lead scientist of NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network.
‘Carbon dioxide levels are increasing faster than they have in hundreds of thousands of years,’ Tans said. ‘It’s explosive compared to natural processes.'”
Off-Grid Solar Report
“It’s been a big week for reports that will be useful to those working to enable a broad range of off-grid energy solutions for the 1.2 billion people currently lacking access to modern energy.
First, today marks the release of the much-anticipated Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2016, published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the World Bank Group’s Lighting Global program, in cooperation with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA). The report addresses trends in markets for off-grid solar products and services, noting that annual investments into the sector have risen 15-fold from 2012 to $276 million in 2015 alone. To put this rapid investment spike in context: the total investment in the sector to date is $511 million.”
Alaska’s Warmest Winter
This winter’s shocking warmth in the Arctic, some seven degrees above average, has oozed into the Alaska which is experiencing one of its mildest recorded winters.
So far this winter, Alaska’s temperature has averaged about 10 degrees above normal, ranking third warmest in records that date back to 1925. Unusually warm temperatures and a profound lack of snow are affecting areas all over the state. The index which ranks the severity of winter shows Anchorage is having one of its gentlest winters on record.
Rooftop Gardening In Chicago
“As the sun rises, the glowing lights in the huge rooftop greenhouse dim. Here, lettuce never sleeps. It grows, quickly — much more quickly than it would in a farm field. And there is a lot of it, as well as other types of salad greens and herbs.
At nearly two acres, this greenhouse atop a soap factory in Chicago’s historic Pullman neighborhood is enormous. Its owners, New York-based Gotham Greens, claim there is no bigger rooftop greenhouse in the world.”
