Four Running Men Pollute More Than a Hybrid Car, Italian Study Claims
Watch the chart on the left... what do you think it represents?
Did you watch it carefully enough? This represents the auto industry's top notch statistic, claiming that 4 (four) running men (the average size) pollute more than 1 (one) hybrid car (carrying its 1.2+ tons and the four men) running at a speed of 30 km/h. Do you also think that's stupid? I did, too.
Sugarcane Crops Showed to Cool Climate
Sugarcane has been touted as a sort of an inefficient biofuel crop, since it consumes a lot of water and fertilizer, and hence its carbon footprint is not the best for such a purpose, compared to algae, for example. Sugarcane, on the other hand, can help cool the climate in a certain way.
Clean Water Harvested From Fog by Beetle-Inspired Device
Inspired by Stenocara gracilipes, a beetle found in the Namib Desert, MIT engineer Shreerang Chhatre developed a simple and efficient device that can harvest fog. Being actually an inexpensive way to provide clean drinking water, this fog harvesting device could be perfect for poorer countries, where water scarcity is still an unsolved problem.
Chicken Feathers Turned Into Reliable & Green Bioplastics
Chicken feathers could one day constitute a perfect bioplastic resource, with biodegradable properties and zero carbon emissions. Feathers had been used for hydrogen storage before, but only experimentally. They had also been used for bioplastics, but with limited success - so far.
China Continues to Pursue Its Nuclear Dream
When China announced recently that it plans to change its 2020 target for nuclear power the world dared to hope. But don't hold your breath: it hasn't announced how much they will change and whether it's for the long run!
Pineapples and Bananas Could Be Building Blocks for Future Cars
Various scientists have been arguing over bioplastics and their cleanliness to the environment lately. A new invention from Brazil creates bioplastics having the strength similar to Kevlar from bananas and pineapples. Alcides Leão, a researcher at Sao Paulo State University, and the project leader, says his bioplastics are "30% lighter and three to four times stronger."
Droughts Increase With Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, New Study Says
High concentrations of carbon dioxide could also affect atmospheric moisture, a recent study reveals. Long Cao and Ken Caldeira, from Carnegie Global Ecology found out an explanation for why the moisture increases with the decrease of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This finding could help us prevent droughts, economic instability and hunger.
Kenyan Forests Endangered by European Biofuel Crops, Local Protesters Say
Cutting down forests for the sake of planting zero-carbon biofuel crops is like fighting for peace - war will generate even more war. Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands seems to face such an issue, since European companies seeking to harvest biofuel crops want to destroy the forest.
Biochar, The Best Solution For Cattle-Linked Nitrous Oxide Emissions
The cattle growing activity has been associated for some time with increased greenhouse gas emissions, such as nitrous oxide. Grazed pastures have been studied and their increased nitrous oxide emissions have been proven to be reduced by biochar, which can sequester the embodied carbon in the soil and alters soil nitrogen transformations in a beneficial way.
Biomass-Produced CO2 Should Be Counted As Damaging to Global Warming to Some Extent, Researchers...
Since ages, it's been considered that if you burn biomass the net carbon dioxide emission is zero, since the CO2 emitted is equal to the CO2 absorbed in growing plants. A research conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) says otherwise: we should also count those CO2 emissions along with the ones produced by petrol, for example.
