Earth Wise

In recent years, there have been efforts to change the nature of wood to give it new properties.  People have demonstrated so-called augmented wood with integrated electronics, energy storage capabilities, and other properties.  Several different groups of researchers have developed wood that is actually transparent. In 2016, researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in […]

The International Energy Agency, founded in 1974, keeps track of the world’s energy systems and anticipates how they are likely to change over time.  Policymakers around the world look to the agency’s annual World Energy Outlook publication for guidance. In 2000, the agency made the prediction that by the year 2020, there would be a […]

Glaciers represent the snows of centuries compressed over time to form flowing rivers of ice.  Glaciers always change, accumulating snow in the winter and losing ice to melting in the summer.  But in recent times, the melting has been outpacing the accumulation. Glaciers are a sensitive indicator of climate change.  They have been melting at […]

The western United States is entering the fire season under much worse drought conditions than last year.  Last year, 15,800 square miles burned in the U.S., mostly in the West. The western U.S. is in the midst of a 20-year mega-drought.  Rainfall in the Rocky Mountains and farther west was the second lowest on record […]

We have previously talked about installing solar arrays on the surface of bodies of water.  The idea is especially attractive in places like Japan where land resources are scarce.  There are several floating solar installations in the UK and the idea is starting to catch on elsewhere as well. It is quite possible that the […]

Trawling is a method of commercial fishing that involves pulling or dragging a fishing net – called a trawl – through the water or across the seabed in hopes of catching fish.  Commercial fishing companies favor towing trawl nets because large quantities of fish can be caught in one go.   However, the trouble with trawling […]

Carbon credits have been around since the late 1990s.  The idea is to offset carbon emissions from some carbon emitting activity – anything from a wedding in California to a factory operating in Minnesota – by buying carbon credits earned from a carbon-absorbing activity, such as planting trees in the Amazon. Blue carbon credits are […]

Climate change has driven countries, states, utilities, and corporations to set goals to eliminate power-sector carbon emissions.  So far, 17 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity over the next couple of decades.  Forty-six U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon-free no later […]

There is a great deal of interest in protecting nature and, in many cases, restoring aspects of nature that have been lost.  But what do these things really mean? What is most important?  Protecting iconic species?  Strengthening nature’s resilience?  Several recent scientific papers address these questions and come up with rather different answers. It isn’t […]

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia have been able to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells using material made from human hair. Perovskite solar cells are an up-and-coming technology that offers the possibility of making solar cells less expensive, more efficient, and flexible so that there could be solar-powered clothing, backpacks, […]