Category Archives: Climate Change

Morning News Podcast: Zero Emissions by 2050, Somaliland, Stock Prices

The International Energy Agency has published a report explaining what needs to happen if the world is to get to net zero emissions by 2050. It points to a transition away from fossil fuels on an epic scale.

Today Somaliland celebrates its 30th anniversary. It has been a quiet success story in a sea of instability. But what it craves is international recognition as a state. And soaring share prices are normally cause for cheer—unless your computers can’t keep up.

Energy: Why Hydrogen Is The Fuel Of The Future

There’s a lot of interest in the hydrogen fuel economy. Here’s what you need to know about how it works and the hurdles it faces.

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind. These qualities make it an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. It can be used in cars, in houses, for portable power, and in many more applications.

Climate: The Empire State Building’s Green Upgrade

Energy usage by large, old buildings like the Empire State Building represents a huge obstacle to cities’ dreams of carbon neutrality. New York City’s buildings account for 70% of its carbon emissions, for example, and half of those emissions are produced by the largest 5% of its structures. But retrofitting old buildings to make them more energy efficient represents a formidable challenge, both from an engineering perspective and in terms of convincing owners that doing so is in their financial interest.

Analysis: 5 Technologies Fighting Climate Change

With global temperatures rising the threat of a climate crisis has never been closer. From carbon capture to driverless cars, these cutting-edge technologies have the promise to help us fight the impending climate crisis.

Morning News Podcast: U.S. Climate Summit, Online Meetings & Award Shows

President Joe Biden laid out ambitious emissions targets yesterday, but in order to be taken seriously on climate change, America has some reputation rebuilding to do.

Researchers are starting to understand why online meetings are so exhausting—and are pinpointing the up sides of work lives lived increasingly online. And the waning influence of awards shows such as this Sunday’s Oscars.

Climate Views: Rising High Water Levels In Kenya’s Great Rift Valley (Video)

In Kenya’s Rift Valley, climate change has brought an unprecedented increase in annual rainfall over the past several years, drowning pastureland, farms, homes, schools, churches, clinics and businesses.

The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift, the eastern branch of the East African Rift, which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia.[1] It was formed on the “Kenyan Dome” a geographical upwelling created by the interactions of three major tectonics: the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates.[2] In the past, it was seen as part of a “Great Rift Valley” that ran from Madagascar to Syria. Most of the valley falls within the former Rift Valley Province.

Climate: How Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Impacts Electric Vehicles

The Biden Administration wants to bet big on electric vehicles. Can it implement policy that reduces transportation emissions while positioning America as the leader in global EV production?

Climate Change: The Challenges For Carbon Capture Technologies

Elon Musk, Microsoft and oil giants like BP, Occidental and Exxon Mobil are investing in carbon capture technologies. Carbon Engineering and Climeworks are two start-ups that have built machines to suck CO2 straight out of the atmosphere in a process known as direct air capture. But the technology faces a number of challenges, one of which is that there’s currently no market for the captured CO2. As a result, some companies are selling their captured CO2 to oil companies, which use it to produce even more oil.

Analysis: How America Can Build & Run A 100% Clean Electric Grid (Video)

The U.S. electric grid is outdated. Designed for a world that runs on fossil fuels, our grid needs some major tech upgrades in order to transition to a more distributed, all-renewable system. That means smart, internet connected hardware working in tandem with advanced data analytics software to ensure that supply and demand are balanced, even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.