News – Page 63 – Alternative Energies

admin
climate
environment
January 15, 2016
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Vegetarian and ‘healthy’ diets could be more harmful to the environment, researchers say

Following the USDA recommendations to consume more fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood is more harmful to the environment because those foods have relatively high resource uses and greenhouse gas emissions per calorie, say researchers. A new study measured the changes in energy use, blue water footprint and GHG emissions associated with US food consumption patterns.

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brazil
copyright
January 15, 2016
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Brazil’s Renova faces strike threat at 737MW Alto Sertão 3

Workers at the 737MW Alto Sertão 3 wind complex being built by Brazilian renewables developer Renova Energia in the state of Bahia are preparing to go on strike in what they say is a bid to avoid further mass layoffs and guarantee payment of arrears to the contractors they work for.

admin
america
automobiles
January 15, 2016
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Fuel cell advance

Researchers report a breakthrough that promises to bring down the cost of hydrogen fuel cells by replacing expensive platinum catalysts with cheaper ones made from metals like nickel.

Suzanne Jacobs
climate
communications
January 15, 2016
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These bacterial communities are heating up the desert

Do you ever feel like this is a microbial world, and that we’re just living in it? It seems like every day, scientists are discovering new ways that these invisible communities are manipulating our health, impacting the climate, keeping ecosystems in check, and (maybe) occasionally killing off more than 70 percent of all species on Earth. Well, now we can add one more thing to their resume: heating up the desert. According to a new paper published in Nature Communications, bacterial communities that form on arid soil can increase surface temperatures by as much as 10 degrees C. They do this by secreting a kind of “sunscreen” that, while protecting the microbes themselves from harmful ultraviolet light, actually absorbs sunlight that would otherwise reflect off the soil…

Eve Andrews
article
magazine
January 14, 2016
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Happy birthday, Roe v. Wade! You’re in good company

Happy Roe v. Wade Day, everyone! Forty-three years ago today, the Supreme Court decided that a woman’s right to choose is protected under the Constitution. That’s not, for the record, because the U.S. Constitution makes any mention of reproductive rights, or uteri, or, for that matter, women at all — the right to choose falls under our constitutional “right to privacy.” (For a wonderful explanation of this, please read Jill Lepore’s New Yorker piece from last spring.) My generation has only known a post-Roe v. Wade America, and many (hi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz) claim that makes us “complacent” as our reproductive rights are trampled by overzealous state governments. To which I would respond: Well, we may spend literal days watching Scandal, but…

admin
chemical
metal
January 14, 2016
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Sponge-like material to more efficiently store natural gas

Researchers are utilizing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to develop a new type of storage system that would adsorb natural gas like a sponge and allow for more energy-efficient storage and use.

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court
Energy
January 14, 2016
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Vestas seeks margins and German satisfaction with Availon deal

Vestas wants to capitalise on the very healthy profit margins available in the growing global O&M business and regain customer satisfaction in the key German service market following its €88m ($95.9m) purchase of European independent service provider Availon, which was announced yesterday.