Net zero – site de știri și informații utile

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are partnering to launch a new supercomputer for climate science research, which will be the fifth supercomputer operated by the National Climate-Computing Research Center at ORNL. The National Climate-Computing Research Center (NCRC) was established in 2009 through a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Department of Energy. Its mission is to acquire, install, test, and operate supercomputers dedicated to climate modeling and simulations, with the aim of enhancing NOAA's climate modeling capabilities for critical climate research. Starting from 2021, NCRC has installed a series of increasingly powerful computers, each of them named Gaea. The most recent system, also known as C5, is an HPE Cray machine..

Climate change can impact baseball as warmer air is less dense and offers less resistance to a batted ball, leading to an increase in the number of home runs hit. A recent study has shown that around 0.8% of the home runs hit in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 2010 can be attributed to the effects of global warming, which has made the ball travel further than it would have otherwise. However, the impact of climate change on home runs can be considered an interesting academic result rather than a major concern for Major League Baseball (MLB). The study on the impact of climate change on home runs in baseball highlights how widespread the effects of climate change can be, even on seemingly unrelated aspects of our lives. The study on the impact of climate change on home runs in baseball analyzed game-day temperatures and home runs in 100,000...

According to the WTO , accommodations such as hotels contribute to approximately 1% of the world's total carbon emissions. A global report by Booking.com in 2022 found that the demand for sustainable accommodations is on the rise, with 78% of respondents expressing a desire to stay in an environmentally friendly property this year. The same report also found that 31% of respondents were not aware that sustainable accommodations were an option, while 29% did not know how to find sustainable hotels. To determine a hotel's sustainability practices, consumers should start by asking questions and doing research. Checking a hotel's website for a sustainability policy is a good place to start. Be careful, as greenwashing is a real issue, despite recent EU measures...

The term "fossil fuels" is very commonly heard nowadays. Most of the time, it is mentioned in the context of environmental problems, climate change, or the energy crisis. In addition to being a major source of pollution, humanity's dependence on fossil fuels has generated a certain amount of anxiety in recent decades and fueled the demand for alternatives. But what are fossil fuels actually? While most people think of gasoline and oil when they hear these words, they actually apply to many other sources of energy that are derived from decomposed organic material. How we came to depend so much on them and what we can look for in their place are some of the biggest concerns we face today...

A new recyclable electronics technology has been developed by engineers at Duke University. They have demonstrated that a crucial and relatively complex component for computers - the transistor - can be created using three carbon-based inks, hoping to inspire a new generation of recyclable electronics that will contribute to the fight against the global epidemic of electronic waste. The technology developed by Duke researchers uses nanocellulose as an insulating material and can be easily printed on paper or other eco-friendly flexible surfaces. The researchers are optimistic that these printed electronics, which are easily recyclable and multifunctional, will become very popular in the near future. People around the world are increasingly adopting electronics in their lives, and the number of discarded devices that no longer ...

Heatwaves can be deadly, especially when combined with high levels of humidity that make the air feel even hotter. The impact can be particularly strong in cities, which are often several degrees warmer than nearby rural areas due to the urban heat island effect. Here are some steps communities can take to adapt to climate change, which is making heatwaves more frequent and intense. One way to reduce the effects of heat waves is through emergency cooling centers. Nick Rajkovich, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Buffalo, worked with planners around the city of Cleveland to understand how they prepare for hot weather. Strategies include planting more trees and shrubs, which provide shade...

A start-up called Roofscapes, founded by three MIT students, aims to build green spaces on the sloping roofs of Paris, with the goal of reducing temperature, improving quality of life, and increasing climate resilience. The spaces would offer a way to increase local food production, incorporate biodiversity, reduce building temperatures, improve air quality, increase water retention, and provide residents with a new way to escape the dense urban congestion of modern times. The start-up uses wooden structures to transform the sloping roofs, which are ubiquitous in Paris, into accessible green spaces. Green roofs are one of the best ways to address the problems facing today's European cities, such as heat islands and excessive heat ...

There are a lot of precious metals needed for building batteries and other technologies essential for combating climate change, and some of them are found on the ocean floor. In particular, polymetallic nodules are small potato-sized pieces that contain manganese, copper, nickel, and cobalt, as well as traces of rare metals and lithium. Companies have begun exploring the possibility of extracting these nodules to obtain the precious metals they need. However, extracting these metals from the depths of the ocean can have a significant impact on marine ecosystems, so there is controversy over the validity of this process. There are also questions about the regulation of deep-sea mining and how the environmental impact can be managed. The United Nations (UN) has debated...

Every fall, snowshoe hares change their color from brown to white to blend in with the snow. However, with global warming and decreasing snow in the region, their colors could be dangerous for their survival. A recent study shows that with climate warming, snowshoe hares are waiting longer to turn completely white, making them vulnerable to predators. Unfortunately, waiting too long can be fatal for these hares, as they are less likely to survive the winter if they are still brown in the fall. The change in snowshoe hare colors is based on environmental factors such as temperature and snow depth, and the entire process of replacing fur can take a month. Due to these environmental changes, sometimes...

A Harvard student, Sebastian Lindner-Liaw, built a compressed air-assisted bicycle instead of lithium-ion batteries as a capstone project. The Engineering Design Projects (ES 100) course at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) challenges students to design a creative solution to a real-world problem. Sebastian's project aimed to explore the feasibility of using compressed air as an alternative energy storage solution that retains the advantages of electric bicycles, without the moral and ethical issues. Currently, electric bicycles are popular, but their lithium-ion batteries have a high humanitarian and ecological cost. Through his project, Sebastian Lindner-Liaw seeks to bring an alternative to these batteries and ...