The town of Krommenie, near Amsterdam, the Netherlands is getting its own solar cycling path. The new installation is referred to as the SolaRoad Project by the private and public entities involved.
The SolaRoad Project has four different backers, the Province of North Holland, the Ooms Avenhorn Group, TNO and Imtech. Basically, solar panels will be used to pave the cycling path.
Ben & Jerry’s, some of the world’s best ice cream, my personal opinion of course, just got better. The company which has always been known for it’s social and environmental activism as well as its ice cream. Now Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever is going to green up its ice cream factory in the Netherlands.
Stockholm’s Central Station in Sweden and the Redditch borough council in Worcestershire, England have both come up with new ways to use “body heat”. Body heat from commuters in Stockholm’s Central Station is collected by heat exchangers to heat water for a nearby building. Redditch council wants to use the heat from a nearby crematorium to heat a local sports stadium and pool.
Climate researchers from around the world have created “a comprehensive reanalysis of all global weather events from 1871 to the present day, and from the earth’s surface to the jet stream level.” The project required over 80 million processing hours using super computers. The 20th Century Reanalysis Project will provide climate scientists with a longer timespan to study, improving climate models for future predictions.
Driving an electric vehicle (EV) is good for the environment but doesn’t decrease the likelihood that you will be involved in a wreck. That’s why GM and OnStar, in association with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), are going around the country training first responders in proper and safe methods for handling EV’s involved in accidents.
Dickson D. Despommier, Professor of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University is an avid proponent of vertical farming, using urban buildings to grow food. For him vertical farming represents the best way for future cities to feed their populations.
Imagine sending rockets into orbit with larger payloads using laser beams or microwave beams aimed at the rocket from the ground. That image could become reality with today’s technology according to scientists at NASA.
By using solar panels the 5th Marine Regiment has managed to cut their generator fuel consumption from 20 gallons to 2.5 gallons a day. That’s a tremendous reduction in fuel use. Instead of fuel the company uses a solar panel system called ExFOB.
Researchers Mark Delucchi and Mark Jacobson conducted a study of what renewable energy resources would be required to meet world demand by 2030. The number of wind and solar installations required is astonishing. It can be done but the policy changes required of political is more than likely insurmountable.
Placing nanocrystals of rock salt into telluride lead has turned out to be a breakthrough in efforts to turn waste heat into usable energy. The new material should be able to convert a record 14 percent of heat waste into electricity.