virginia – Alternative Energies

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benedictine
central
January 13, 2016
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Vulnerable grassland birds abandon mating sites near wind turbines

Shifting to renewable energy sources has been widely touted as one of the best ways to fight climate change, but even renewable energy can have a downside, as in the case of wind turbines’ effects on bird populations. In a new paper, a group of researchers demonstrate the impact that one wind energy development in Kansas has had on Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) breeding in the area.

Raven Rakia
children
council
January 2, 2016
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The real heroes of the Flint water crisis

On Sunday night, while smart people were probably doing anything other than watching the Democratic debate — good for you — I sat through two hours of the candidates praising themselves for not being Republican. It wasn’t until the very end that one of the current greatest environmental disasters in the U.S. was mentioned: the Flint water crisis. In case you’re Marco Rubio and haven’t heard about the crisis that has finally made its way onto every major news outlet: Flint’s water is poisoned. And it’s been poisoned for months — possibly for over a year. The city’s water supply has high levels of lead, caused by corrosive water from the Flint River deteriorating pipes. Children are showing high levels of lead exposure — which…

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america
american
January 2, 2016
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Stormy weather ahead for wind farms?

Researchers will study the vibrations of wind turbines at a large Chilean wind farm along with health impacts on nearby residents. The goal is to make wind turbines more acceptable. Currently, scientists lack sufficient understanding of wind turbines’ noise and best ways to mitigate the effects, they say.

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cambridge
dallas
December 31, 2015
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Silent flights: How owls could help make wind turbines and planes quieter

A newly designed material, which mimics the wing structure of owls, could help make wind turbines, computer fans and even planes much quieter. Early wind tunnel tests of the coating have shown a substantial reduction in noise without any noticeable effect on aerodynamics.

$Some gas produced by hydraulic fracturing comes from surprise source$

admin
director
Energy
December 29, 2015
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Some gas produced by hydraulic fracturing comes from surprise source

Some of the natural gas harvested by hydraulic fracturing operations may be of biological origin — made by microorganisms inadvertently injected into shale by oil and gas companies during the hydraulic fracturing process, a new study has found.

Katie Herzog
austin
business & technology
December 27, 2015
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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…