Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Data Furnaces Arrive in Europe
May 28th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: Nerdalize is a small Dutch company that is trying to commercialise Microsoft’s data furnace idea. The first product is the eRadiator, which, given its size, probably contains two or three servers that pump out around 1000W of heat—probably just enough to heat a small room in winter. In an interview with the […]
State of Emergency Declared for Oil Spill Off Santa Barbara Coast
May 20th, 2015More oil drilling for New Zealand? Look and learn. Via: NBC: California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday issued an emergency proclamation for Santa Barbara County due to the effects of an oil spill near Refugio State Beach. Oil floating off the Southern California coast after a spill from a broken oil pipe now stretches about […]
Fracking Chemicals Contaminated Drinking Water in Pennsylvania
May 6th, 2015Via: The Verge: Traces of a chemical compound used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have been found in drinking water at three homes in Pennsylvania, according to a study published this week. The findings of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to growing concerns over the public health […]
Like Shale Oil, Solar Power Is Shaking Up Global Energy
April 27th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. — Unlike shale oil, however, solar power isn’t an unmitigated environmental disaster. Via: Reuters: One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world’s top industrialized nations. With nuclear power in the doldrums […]
Company Wants to Plant One Billion Trees a Year Using Drones
April 27th, 2015Terraforming… Our own planet. Via: Independent: A drone start-up is going to counter industrial scale deforestation using industrial scale reforestation. BioCarbon Engineering wants to use drones for good, using the technology to seed up to one billion trees a year, all without having to set foot on the ground. 26 billion trees are currently being […]
‘High Level’ of Radiation Detected in Tokyo Park
April 25th, 2015Via: BBC: Japanese authorities have detected an unusually high level of radiation around playground equipment in a Tokyo park, report local media. The park, in the Toshima ward in central Tokyo, has been fenced off. Authorities recorded up to 480 microsieverts per hour at one spot – nearly half the recommended annual limit of exposure […]
Robot Dies After Three Hours Inside Fukushima Reactor
April 14th, 2015Watch the radiation monitor numbers on the video (lower right). That thing hits 24.9 sieverts per hour. In case you don’t have an understanding of how deadly that is, see this handy radiation dose chart. Via: Guardian: Decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suffered a setback after a robot sent in […]
California Imposes First-Ever Mandatory Water Restrictions
April 2nd, 2015Via: Time: California’s governor issued unprecedented mandatory water restrictions for the entire state on Wednesday, in the face of a persistent drought that is growing dire. Governor Jerry Brown directed the State Water Resources Control Board to cut the state’s water usage by 25% by enacting a series of water-reduction practices, which could translate to […]
Peak… Sand?
March 26th, 2015Via: Wired: Apart from water and air, humble sand is the natural resource most consumed by human beings. People use more than 40 billion tons of sand and gravel every year. There’s so much demand that riverbeds and beaches around the world are being stripped bare. (Desert sand generally doesn’t work for construction; shaped by […]
Cost to Earthquake-Proof L.A.’s Crumbling Pipe System? $15 Billion
March 23rd, 2015Bone dry death trap… I wonder when I first used that term on here to describe where I’m from. Google spits up results from 2007, but I’m almost sure there are earlier ones. Anyway, quick hint about the phrase “mass evacuation”: You won’t want to be a part of that. Mmmkay? Via: Los Angeles Times: […]
