International Energy Agency – Electricity 2024 Analysis and forecast to 2026 – “Electricity is central to the functioning of modern societies and economies – and its importance is only growing as technologies that run on electricity, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, become increasingly popular. Power generation is currently the largest source of carbon… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Energy
How to Get the Most Out of EV Features in Google Maps
MakeUseOf: ” Google Maps provides info on the availability & power capacity of charging stations to ease EV trip planning. Choose the right charging station with the correct plug type for your EV to avoid issues. Utilize Google Maps & EV apps to plan road trips, extending battery life & ensuring a smooth journey. With… Continue Reading
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks
“EPA develops an annual report called the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (Inventory), that tracks U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and sinks by source, economic sector, and greenhouse gas going back to 1990. EPA has prepared the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks since the early 1990s. This annual report, provides a… Continue Reading
State of the Air 2024 report
“The State of the Air 2024 report finds that despite decades of progress cleaning up air pollution, 39% of people living in America—131.2 million people—still live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. This is 11.7 million more people breathing unhealthy air compared to last year’s report. Nearly 4… Continue Reading
The reckless policies that helped fill our streets with ridiculously large cars
Vox – Dangerous, polluting SUVs and pickups took over America. Lawmakers are partly to blame. Cars, you might have noticed, have grown enormous. Low-slung station wagons are all but extinct on American roads, and even sedans have become an endangered species. (Ford, producer of the iconic Model T a century ago, no longer sells any… Continue Reading
LED lighting is bright, efficient, and perhaps a problem
CBC: “The global transition to LED lighting seems to be having some concerning impacts on the natural world and human health. These energy efficient artificial lights produce different spectra than older incandescent technology, or the natural light of the Sun that life on Earth evolved with over billions of years. LED lighting is brighter, bluer,… Continue Reading
Global study revealed world’s biggest known plastic polluters
Washington Post: “Every year, companies produce more than 400 million metric tons of plastic. Some of that plastic spills onto waterways or beaches, clogging streams or floating in huge gyres in the ocean. Some of it breaks down into tiny microplastics or nanoplastics that float in the air and enter human lungs, blood and organs.… Continue Reading
What Really Happens When You Trade In an iPhone at the Apple Store
Bloomberg [unpaywalled]: Apple touts its network of shredding robots and contractors as a greener way to reuse old gadgets. A lengthy court battle and a Businessweek investigation have cast some light on the recycling industry’s dirty secrets. Few workers at the recycling plant had access to the secure room that some called the “Apple cage.”… Continue Reading
Why are American roads so dangerous?
FT.com [no paywall]: “Bad driving is probably playing a bigger role in the fatality rate than larger cars and longer journeys. Car-centrism in the US is clearly part of its road safety problem — it’s about culture more than geography. So committed are Americans to their cars that 63 per cent of people choose to… Continue Reading
Microplastics are everywhere — we need to understand how they affect human health
Microplastics are everywhere — we need to understand how they affect human health. Nat Med 30, 913 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02968-x. “As evidence emerges describing the accumulation of small plastic particles in various organs and tissues of the body, a much deeper understanding of the effects of these particles on human health is urgently needed. The world… Continue Reading
If you’ve got an EV, Google Maps is about to become much more valuable
Washington Post [no paywall]: “Google has announced new features in its Maps app designed to help electric car drivers find a charge. The updates include a tool to help drivers find nearby chargers with real-time information about availability and charging speed, the ability to find charging stops on longer road trips and more detailed instructions… Continue Reading
Staggering quantities of energy transition metals are winding up in the garbage bin
Grist: “To build all of the solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehiclebatteries, and other technologies necessary to fight climate change, we’re going to need a lot more metals. Mining those metals from the Earth creates damage and pollution that threaten ecosystems and communities. But there’s another potential source of the copper, nickel, aluminum, and rare-earth… Continue Reading
