Category Archives: The Environment

There are 42 gallons of oil per barrel, but a much lessor amount gets converted into gasoline. Using simple refining techniques, just 5% (Venezuela) to 30% (Texan and Arabic) of the oil can be converted to gasoline. More advanced (and … Continue reading →

This is definitely discomforting news, especially since the largest source of carbon capture (carbon sequestration) is forests. Instead of selling forests, we should be adding dozens of trees per person on the planet… Check out this project to develop a … Continue reading →

On February 9th, 2007, the affable Richard Branson and the former US Vice President Al Gore announced a $25 MM prize for a viable idea that will reduce the growing volume of greenhouse gasses over a ten year period. The … Continue reading →

In the war of the machines, a new breed of cleaner, faster, and smarter cars is coming to the market and ready to destroy their older, dirtier, and less efficient Detroit counterparts. There is the Tesla Roadster, which looks like … Continue reading →

Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore Announce The Virgin Earth Challenge a $25 MM Global Science and Technology Prize This is republished from The Virgin Earth Challenge site. To encourage a viable technology which will result in the net removal … Continue reading →

The phrase of our generation will be “Carbon Sequestration,” which is the means by which human beings and nature eliminate carbon from the atmosphere. Whether you believe in Global Warming, Global Dimming, or any other variant of the eco-theory du … Continue reading →

A Hydrogen based energy economy is the future, right? Probably not. Some recent research estimates that just 75% of energy is wasted in a Hydrogen energy economy. The large amount of energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds (water, … Continue reading →

A solar cell developed by Boeing-Spectrolab has achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7%. This is in contrast to the 12% efficiency common in current solar cells. This should eventually lead to solar systems that produce electricity at $0.08 to … Continue reading →

There are two environmental by-products of burning coal: acid rain and carbon dioxide. Burning coal produces about 9 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year which is released to the atmosphere, about 70% of this being from power generation. Other … Continue reading →

So, how would you change the world? I heard a great and simple answer: “I switched all my lights last week to fluorescent bulbs. Imagine if everyone did that?” Approximately 20% of electricity use goes towards lighting, and certain fluorescent … Continue reading →