September 1, 2008The future of trainsNature News: Rail travel produces more than a third less emissions than road transport — even though trains carry 7% of traffic, they emit just 0.2% of the carbon monoxide, 2% of nitrogen oxides and 1% of the volatile organic compounds. Although electric passenger trains are relatively green, most of the world's trains are used for haulage and run on diesel. Nature's Duncan Graham-Rowe sees how trains are switching to a greener track. August 28, 2008Solar thermal power plant gets close to the cost of coal
Christian Science Monitor: From five miles away, the Nevada Solar One power plant seems a mirage, a silver lake amid waves of 110 degree F. desert heat.
As the first commercial “concentrating solar power” or CSP plant built in 17 years, Nevada Solar One marks the reemergence and updating of a decades-old technology that could play a large new role in US power production, many observers say. “Concentrating solar is pretty hot right now,” says Mark Mehos, program manager for CSP at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Co. “Costs look pretty good compared to natural gas [power]. Public policy, climate concern, and new technology are driving it, too.” Today the United States has 420 megawatts of solar-thermal capacity across three installations – including Nevada Solar One. That’s just a tiny fraction (less than 1 percent) of US grid capacity. But Nevada Solar One could signal the start of a CSP building boom. August 27, 2008US scientists challenge UK over new coal power plants
The Guardian: The British government will lose its leadership position on climate change and risk scuppering a global deal to cut emissions if it presses ahead with a new generation of dirty coal power, say leading US scientists and environmental leaders.
The heads of three influential groups, the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council, representing more than 2 million members, have written to the foreign secretary, David Miliband, warning that the UK proposals for up to eight new coal plants threatens the chance of the US joining a post-Kyoto international agreement to be agreed in 2009. A recent report by the IPPR said the European Union's goal of reducing emissions from the power sector and heavy industry through its emissions trading scheme would collapse if the go-ahead were given to seven new coal plants in the UK and up to 75 across Europe./p> August 20, 2008How to improve the car
Nature News: With the world's love of cars showing little sign of abating, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to make vehicles less polluting and oil dependent. Nature's Duncan Graham-Rowe looks at some of the technologies that could keep us on the road
July 22, 2008The next generation of fuel efficient planesSlate.com: Airlines are suffering because of high fuel prices in the worst downturn the industry has seen in 8 years. In the short therm the airlines are raising prices and canceling routes, but over the longer haul, they need to start looking at two kinds of changes: a different kind of plane and a different kind of fuel says reporter Christopher Flavelle. May 30, 2008US effort to push clean coal cools because of high costsNew York Times: Plans by the Bush administration to develop clean coal technology, where carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants is pumped back into the ground appear to be stalling despite support from President Bush, the three main presidential candidates, many other members of Congress, industry and environmentalists. “It’s a total mess,” said Daniel M. Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. |
SearchCategoriesArchives
Recent Posts |
