NYC's Tall Order for Greener Buildings

New York City’s building owners are facing a tall order: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced earlier this month that the city will become the first to mandate that existing buildings—from municipal offices to private businesses, hospitals, and apartments—must drastically curb their carbon emissions. Those who don’t comply will face hefty penalties amounting to as much as $2 million a year for a 1 million-square-foot building.  https://www.citylab.com/environment/2017/09/nyc-building-mandate-in-practice/540360/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlanticCities+%28CityLab%29
Article courtesy of City Lab by Linda Poon

Evaporation could power most of the U.S

In the first analysis of evaporation as renewable energy, the scientists found that evaporation-to-power devices on lakes and reservoirs could generate 325 gigawatts of electricity, or about 70 percent of current U.S. production. Evaporated power also could save large amounts of water in drought-prone regions and be available around the clock, getting around some cyclical challenges of solar and wind, they said.  https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060061719
Article courtesy of E&E News by Crista Marchall

Can This Tesla Alum Build the World’s Greenest Battery?

At Tesla, Peter Carlsson spent nearly five years at Elon Musk’s side, locating various parts of the Model S as the electric car company's global supply chain manager. "The overarching goal of Tesla is to help reduce carbon emissions, and that means low cost and high volume," Musk said back in 2006. "We will also serve as an example to the auto industry, proving that the technology really works and customers want to buy electric vehicles."  https://www.wired.com/story/ev-green-battery-factory-in-the-netherlands-competes-with-the-gigafactory/
Article courtesy of Wired by Eric Niiler

Renewable energy sets new record by producing nearly a third of UK electricity

Nearly a third of all UK electricity came from renewable sources in the second three months of this year, setting a new record for clean energy generation, the Government has revealed.  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/renewable-energy-electricity-new-record-uk-wind-solar-a7972266.html
Article courtesy of Independent by Ian Johnston

Alarm as study reveals world’s tropical forests are huge carbon emission source

The world’s tropical forests are so degraded they have become a source rather than a sink of carbon emissions, according to a new study that highlights the urgent need to protect and restore the Amazon and similar regions.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/28/alarm-as-study-reveals-worlds-tropical-forests-are-huge-carbon-emission-source
Article courtesy of The Guardian by Jonathan Watts

Why Mexico Is So Prone to Strong Earthquakes

Mexico’s location makes the country prone to strong earthquakes because it is in a so-called subduction zone.

Subduction zones are the parts of the earth where one slab of the crust is slowly sliding under another. In Mexico’s case, an oceanic plate — the Cocos — is gradually sinking beneath a continental plate — the North American.  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/world/americas/mexico-earthquakes-explainer.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront

Article courtesy of The New York Times by Matt Stevens

Big Energy Backs Hydrogen Power Storage

• Projects seek to hold electricity for weeks or months
• Technology remains expensive, may take decades to develop

           

The secret to switching the global energy system entirely to renewables may lay in the universe’s most abundant substance.
Hydrogen has drawn backing from big energy companies from Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Uniper SE in addition to carmakers BMW AG and Audi AG. They’re supporting research into how the element can be used to store energy for weeks or even months beyond what lithium-ion batteries can manage.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-05/better-than-a-battery-big-energy-backs-hydrogen-power-storage
Article courtesy of Bloomberg by Anna Hirtenstein

Breakthrough on nitrogen generation by researchers to impact climate-change research

Currently the world’s nitrogen cycle is unbalanced because humans are now responsible for adding more fixed nitrogen through ammonium to the environment than natural sources, said researcher Lisa Stein of the University of Alberta. Excess ammonium has implications on the climate and environment, from dead zones in oceans to a greenhouse gas effect 300 times that of carbon dioxide on a molecule to molecule basis.  http://edmontonjournal.com/technology/science/u-of-a-researchers-make-discovery-that-has-impact-on-climate-change-research
Article courtesy of Edmonton Journal by Rob Csernyik

Can this giant turbine turn the tide for ocean energy?

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick — The next great hope for renewable energy is moored to a dock in this Canadian port city. It resembles a beached Ferris wheel.

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Gallery: Can this giant turbine turn the tide for ocean energy?

Cape Sharp Tidal

Cape Sharp Tidals s

Andrew Maykuth

Timing is everything: The Bay of Fundy tides are on full display in Alma, N.B., where the water level rises and falls more than 40 feet in a few hours.

Andrew Maykuth

The Minas Passage in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, where the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy is organizing the deployment of four different types of in-stream tidal energy generators. Fundy's severe tides are funneled through the three-mile wide passage, magnifying their legendary force. The tides have proven to be a big challenge for engineers designing tidal energy devices. The first turbine deployed in these waters in 2009 got torn apart by the fierce currents.(Andrew Maykuth/Staff)

Andrew Maykuth

The Annapolis Tidal Generating Station in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Ocean Power Technologies

The PowerBuoy, built by Ocean Power Technologies, captures wave energy rather than tidal forces.

Black Rock Tidal Power

An alternative generator design incorporates an array of smaller turbines that are submerged near the water's surface.

Andrew Maykuth

Christian Richard, director of Cape Sharp Tidal

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Designed to capture the power of the legendary tides of the Bay of Fundy, the 52-foot-diameter Cape Sharp Tidal turbine endured the winter and spring on the seabed in Nova Scotia, generating electricity. Now in port for upgrades, the 1,100-ton machine looks as if it has survived a couple rounds with a powerful adversary.  http://www.philly.com/philly/business/energy/can-this-giant-turbine-turn-the-tide-for-ocean-energy-20170901.html
Article courtesy of The Inquirer-Daily News.com by Andrew Maykuth

Special Report: Boston hurricane barrier eyed; cost estimate $10B

With Tropical Storm Harvey inundating Houston, experts say Boston could face its own extreme flooding crisis in the next century — threatening massive damage and justifying a $10 billion hurricane barrier outside the harbor.  http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/08/special_report_boston_hurricane_barrier_eyed_cost_estimate_10b