• Katie Herzog
• austin
• business & technology
• December 27, 2015
• 0 Comments

Angry moms get gun-toters booted from Whole Foods

Welcome to America: Home of the free, land of the gun nut. “Open carry” has been in the news this month as Texas implemented a law allowing people to openly carry guns in public as though this were, I don’t know … Syria or 1860. Lest you think this is just Texas being Texas, it’s not: Texas is the 45th state to pass an open carry law, and in the vast majority of those states, you don’t even need a permit. (Incidentally, the NRA spent nearly $300 million in 2013, according to its most recent published tax information. No word on how many lawmakers that bought.) Not everyone is thrilled to see their fellow citizens toting firearms to the mall or the movie theatre…

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• Tyler
• 2013-it-wasn
• canada
• December 27, 2015
• 0 Comments

Solar is booming in Ontario, but you’d never know it from the data

Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator released its annual “Electricity Data” report on Tuesday, and it breaks down the supply mix in 2015, 2014 and 2013. On the surface there hasn’t been a big shift over the past three years. We see that nuclear and hydro output has been fairly consistent. Natural gas generation was up slightly in 2015 compared to 2014, but was still lower than 2013 levels. Coal has been completely phased out, but at only 2 per cent of the mix in 2013 it wasn’t a dramatic change. Wind as a share of the electricity mix has doubled to 6 per cent since 2013. Electricity from biofuels more than doubled, but still represents less than 1 per cent of the mix. Then there’s solar. Looking at 2013 data, you might be confused …

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• Tyler
• british
• canada
• December 26, 2015
• 0 Comments

Could proposed B.C. refinery be the future of liquid fuels?

A shorter version of this story appeared originally in the Toronto Star. By Tyler Hamilton As oil giants headquartered in Calgary face the reality that the best days for their industry could be behind them, the towns of Chetwynd and Dawson Creek in northwestern British Columbia hold out hope that better times lie ahead. It is on about 1,000 acres of land straddling both municipalities that a small B.C.-based company called Blue Fuel Energy plans to build an industrial-scale refinery that could create enough low-carbon gasoline to fuel 20 per cent of vehicles in Canada’s third-largest province. Called the Sundance Fuels project, it’s expected to create about 1,500 construction jobs and another 150 permanent positions. But beyond a boost to the local economy, the project carries …

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• admin
• aip
• american
• December 26, 2015
• 0 Comments

Shifting winds: An early warning for reduced energy

Chinook winds can precede large shifts in wind power output from wind farms — a challenge for companies seeking to provide a constant stream of green energy to consumers. By establishing a connection between local meteorological events and power grid output, the researchers hope that they may ultimately help grid operators more accurately predict fluctuations in flow and manage the grid accordingly.

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• admin
• education
• electrochemistry
• December 26, 2015
• 0 Comments

Perpetual youth for batteries?

A key issue with lithium ion batteries is aging. It significantly reduces their potential storage capacity. To date, very little is known about the causes of the aging effects. Scientists have now come a step closer to identifying the causes in their latest experiments.

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• admin
• following
• france
• December 26, 2015
• 0 Comments

Aerodynamic effects can save tens of seconds in cycling time trials

Will the Tour de France prologue in Utrecht get the winner it deserves? New aerodynamic research shows that riders in a time trial can save vital seconds by riding closer to the following team car. Over a short distance like the prologue of the Tour de France, that can save as much as 6 seconds: enough to make the difference between winning and losing.

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• admin
• alternatively
• case
• December 26, 2015
• 0 Comments

Storage advance may boost solar thermal energy potential

Engineers have identified a new approach for the storage of concentrated solar thermal energy, to reduce its cost and make it more practical for wider use.

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