Earth Wise

Wind turbines keep getting bigger and bigger.  The reason is that the power a wind turbine can theoretically generate is proportional to the disk-shaped area swept out by its blades.  So, the bigger the blades, the more power can be produced by a single turbine. That being said, real-world turbines don’t achieve their theoretical power […]

A new study led by the University of British Columbia provides the first comprehensive look at what climate change, overfishing, and habitat destruction of coral reefs mean for their ecosystem services.  For humans, this means how the global decline in coral reefs has affected their ability to provide essential benefits including food, livelihoods, and protection […]

There is a lot of interest in carbon capture and sequestration (or CCS) in the context of trapping the carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.  The fossil fuel industry is especially enthusiastic about the potential for continuing to burn fuels without harming the environment.  Apart from the technical challenges, there is the […]

Light pollution is excessive or obtrusive artificial light. It’s a consequence of industrial civilization.  Too much artificial light can cause a host of problems, including disrupting ecosystems, causing adverse health effects, and wasting energy.  According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Exeter in the U.K., global light pollution has increased […]

Historically, the electricity sector in Australia has been dominated by coal-fired power stations.  Even now, coal accounts for about 60% of Australia’s electricity generation.  But since 2005, wind power and rooftop solar have led to a fast-growing share of renewable energy in total electricity generation. Australia is the second-largest exporter of coal in the world […]

Australia is no stranger to wildfires. But the 2019-2020 season proved to be particularly severe: wildfires destroyed 3,100 homes, displaced 65,000 people, and burned more than 72,000 square miles – roughly the same size as Washington State. The season is colloquially referred to as the Black Summer. According to a new study recently published in […]

The Western US is currently experiencing what might be the worst drought in over 1,000 years.   The region has seen many droughts in the past, but the changing climate is making dry years drier and wet years wetter.   Diminishing snow-packs mean that rivers, streams, reservoirs, and soil are not replenished enough in the spring and […]

The Department of Energy recently released three reports showing record growth in land-based wind energy, a growing number of offshore wind projects, and the continuing reduction in the cost of wind power. The U.S. installed a record amount of land-based wind energy in 2020.  In total, 16,836 MW of new utility-scale land-based wind power capacity […]

The federal government owns and operates about 645,000 vehicles.  Among them are about 200,000 passenger vehicles, 78,000 heavy-duty trucks, 47,000 vans, 847 ambulances, and three limousines.   About 225,000 vehicles are operated by the Postal Service.   Each year, these vehicles are driven about 4.5 billion miles and use about 400 million gallons of gasoline, producing 3.5 […]

In recent years we’ve heard more and more about cryptocurrencies.  They are digital currencies managed by a decentralized network of users.  No country, person, or other entity controls the value of a cryptocurrency.  Some people think that they will ultimately replace traditional currencies. The eventual status of cryptocurrencies can be debated endlessly but there is […]