Category Energy & Environment

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Image source: On Innovation.com, via Flickr On the opening day of the COP21 global climate change meeting in Paris, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have announced they have joined together with other private investors to help fight climate change by investing in renewable energy.

There are some interesting things happening in Latin America these days regarding clean energy. For example, Uruguay is now spending 15 percent of its gross domestic product on renewables, representing 94.5 percent of its electricity generation and an investment of $7 billion over the past five years.

The development of an offshore wind farm generally encompasses four different stages, specifically pre-installation surveys, installation, operations and maintenance and decommissioning. This means that the sector requires a wide variety of support vessels in order to carry out the multitude of different tasks effectively.

Solar car park Image source: Burbank Water and Power (BWP), Flickr According to research by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, most cities in the US consist of 35 to 30 percent tarmac and concrete, 40 percent of which consists of parking space. Given that tarmac and concrete both absorb solar energy, they are both major contributors to the ‘urban heat island effect’ which makes cities hotter than the areas around them.

Renewable energy research and innovation is becoming increasingly important as the world seeks to counter climate change and decarbonize its energy system. At the core of this research, activity are a number of highly renowned and influential research centres that are leading the way in clean energy technology innovation and development.

Image source:Roland Tanglao, Flickr Hydrogen is a very clean fuel that is increasingly being used as vehicle fuel and to generate electricity. The problem is how to produce it efficiently without generating significant carbon emissions and at a competitive cost. A team of researchers at Imperial College is currently looking at the problem and think they know how to do it.

With all the controversy around nuclear power plants, there is no doubt that they are an amazing technological feat. But how exactly do they work?Here we take a brief tour around a nuclear power plant, and discuss the different types of plants, and some of the pros and cons of the technology.RELATED: NUCLEAR FUSION IN THE 21ST CENTURYHow does nuclear power work and what types are there?

The company is backed by Bill Gates, and uses AI to harness heat.November 20, 2019Our environment is in a critical condition and burning fossil fuels around the world is compounding this issue. However, we need these fossil fuels to generate enough heat to run the many cement, steel, and glass factories worldwide.

The problems using of carbon-based fuels are widely known. As non-renewable resources, their consumption is not sustainable, and they will deplete with use. Moreover, their use leads to an increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere and the release of other pollutants.The high concentration of CO2 resulting from the use of these fuels leads to global warming, which can be catastrophic for the survival of the many species that inhabit the earth.

A recent report continues to confirm that clean electrification through batteries is advancing at impressive rates.November 26, 2019Clean electrification of transport vehicles is advancing at impressive, and rapid, rates. This is fantastic news given the number of electric vehicles donning our roads is increasing each year.

According to the scientist we need a mobile & 34;major upgrade to the International Space Station.& 34;November 28, 2019In billions of years the Sun will burn our Earth up and all humanity will disappear. This is what astronomers have believed for decades.However, Harvard scientist Abraham & 39;Avi& 39; Loeb believes we may be able to change our fate if we relocate to other sections of the Universe.

The new tech will replace all plastic wraps in European markets by the end of 2021.December 01, 2019Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing problems of the 21st Century with plastic waste becoming near ubiquitous. It is estimated that just in 2016, the world produced over 320 million tons of plastic, and this number is set to double by 2034.

The energy will be converted into microwaves or lasers in Space and beamed back down to Earth.December 02, 2019Solar energy may jump up to an entirely new level by 2035, as we may see aerospace engineers harnessing the Sun& 39;s power from Space.The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) has stated that the nation will be doing just that and building a space-based solar power station in our lifetime.

Climate change doubters can no longer target climate models.December 05, 2019Climate change doubters claim that computer simulations that predicted climate change a few decades ago were inaccurate. Because of this, they also conclude that the public shouldn& 39;t listen to current simulation models either.

The world uses roughly 100 million barrels of oil each and every day in 2019. That& 39;s a significant amount of fuel that has to be pumped from underground, processed, and delivered to fueling stations across the world. This significant intake of non-renewable resources also means that oil companies are constantly looking for new oil reserves to tap into to meet the high demand.

TeamTrees was supported by some famous and powerful people in achieving its lofty goal.December 22, 2019Back in October 2019, Elon Musk donated $1 million to a tree-planting campaign. The move back then was seen as problematic as the CEO was testifying in court to being cash poor.Still, the results of the campaign definitely justified its cause.

The incident contributed 60,000 tons of methane to the atmosphere.December 22, 2019Back in February 2018, a natural gas well owned by a subsidiary of oil giant Exxon exploded at a fracking site in Belmont County, near the Ohio-West Virginia border. The incident forced nearby residents to evacuate their homes, but no one truly realized the true impact of the explosion at the time.

Located in East Antarctica, below the Denman Glacier, scientists used new methods to discover the depth of the land.December 18, 2019Researchers have discovered the deepest point on Continental Earth, and it sits beneath Antarctica& 39;s ice sheet. Located below the Denman Glacier in East Antarctica, the ice-filled canyon reaches as far down as 3.

What energy trends should you keep an eye on in 2020? These 7 promise to be some of the most exciting.RELATED: 7 CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2020Which country uses the most renewable energy?Many countries around the world are pushing forward with adopting renewable energy technology. But which ones are & 39;all in& 39;?

The fires seem to be worse in New South Wales.December 24, 2019New data is revealing that the bushfires currently raging through Australia have already emitted more than half of the country’s 2018 annual carbon dioxide emissions. Niels Andela, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and collaborator with the Global Fire Emissions Database estimates that the fires have pumped out a combined 306 million tons of carbon dioxide since August 1, according to TIME.