Environment Articles

Environment | By Daniel Yergin @ Tuesday, 17th April 2007 @ 4:18 PM

Renewable electric power is beginning to soar. The current surge of activity, which has been accelerating over the last few years, is driven by several factors: high fuel prices; ongoing improvements in renewable power technologies; and increasing political support, which grows out of concern about energy security and climate change. Although renewable power is still generally more expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuels, the cost of renewables has declined significantly. ... more...

Environment | By Daniel Yergin @ Tuesday, 17th April 2007 @ 2:46 PM

Something big is going on throughout the energy business. It's a great bubbling of innovation in every part of the industry. This bubbling is the brew of many different ingredients-from the impact of high prices and geopolitical uncertainty to the growing focus on "clean tech" and climate change. Will Innovation Transform Energy? Though invisible to the consumer, an enormous amount of technological advance is embedded in every gallon of gasoline. Less than 30 years ago, the ... more...

Environment | By Warren Peters @ Tuesday, 17th April 2007 @ 11:02 AM

Although it is much less expensive to initially get hooked into the local electric company's grid than it is to set up and hook into wind turbines, in the long run one saves money by utilizing the wind for one's energy needs while also becoming more independent. Not receiving an electric bill while enjoying the advantages of the modern electrically-driven lifestyle is a wondrous feeling. Electric bills and fuel bills are rising steadily but the cost of wind turbine energy is zer... more...

Environment | By Michael Dappert @ Monday, 16th April 2007 @ 12:50 PM

On March 31, 2007, people and businesses in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one hour. The city streetlights and traffic lights were left on for safety purposes. Can you imagine a city like New York in the dark? Maybe some New Yorkers wouldn't care to go dark since it was not that long ago when they had a blackout. Well, can you imagine your own town in the dark for an hour some night? This seems like a really good idea. Why not try it here in the United States. Or,... more...

Environment | By Daniel Yergin @ Monday, 16th April 2007 @ 10:31 AM

When it comes to energy, Brazil is on its way to becoming a "global brand." Although the United States recently outpaced Brazil in ethanol production, Brazil is by far the leader in sugar-based ethanol. Its exports are growing, and it could become a major energy supplier to the world. But what Brazil is particularly known for is its grand conversion-moving almost 40 percent of its automotive fuel from gasoline to ethanol. Ethanol in Brazil is used in two ways: either blended, in a... more...

Environment | By Daniel Yergin @ Monday, 16th April 2007 @ 10:30 AM

The dramatic run-up in oil prices in recent years has been the subject of much attention and many headlines. What has received far less attention is another increase: the parallel rise in the costs of drilling for oil and building the infrastructure necessary to pump it out of the ground. This surge in costs has a significant impact on the oil industry's ability to meet growing global demand for oil and the timing of developments. These rising prices figure directly into the price o... more...

Environment | By Daniel Yergin @ Monday, 16th April 2007 @ 10:30 AM

The energy business has one of the longest timelines of any industry. Decisions are being made today for oil or natural gas fields that will only begin to flow fifteen years from now. A power plant approved tomorrow may be operating for half a century. And, increasingly, many of the big decisions will be measured not in the hundreds of millions, but billions, of dollars. Investors, in the meantime, have to decide where to put their bets on technologies that will take years to come to fruition.more...

Environment | By Matthew Hick @ Monday, 16th April 2007 @ 12:22 AM

Kitchen cabinets, furniture, perfume, even candles and air fresheners - they can all contribute to the air pollution in our homes. Dr. Bernard Hamel, former Director for the Institute for Environmental Studies at Drexil University, estimates that the levels of potentially deadly toxins in the average American home may be five times greater than the level of toxic pollutants found in the dirtiest city air. Indoor air pollution poses a far greater risk to our health than outdoor po... more...

Environment | By Kevin Dark @ Thursday, 12th April 2007 @ 6:45 PM

Times were when a computer that broke down would be taken to the repair shop and fixed for further use. Now, no sooner does the computer break down than you will feel the urge to simply junk it and purchase a newer system that offers more features. These days it has become very easy to go the green way and try and also make a savings and in this you will be helped by big companies such as HP that take in your old computers to take a load of your shoulders. Companies such as HP have some v... more...

Environment | By Ba Kiwanuka @ Tuesday, 10th April 2007 @ 1:25 PM

The legendary Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) once said: "The earth has enough for the needs of all but not the greed of a few." His words have since proved to be quite prophetic! The world today is in chaos and by that I'm not merely referring to the tumult taking place in the Middle East; what I'm talking about is the imminent extinction of hundreds of millions of people as a result of global warming. In both scenarios the United States plays a cent... more...

Environment | By Matthew Hick @ Monday, 9th April 2007 @ 12:27 AM

Biodiesels may be touted as the answer to all of America's energy problems. But are they? Yes, according to most experts. Biodiesels offer: -Cleaner air. -Cheaper fuel. -A renewable fuel source. -A homegrown fuel alterative, freeing the United States from an over-dependence on foreign oil. What Are Biodiesel Fuels? Biodiesel is a fuel for cars, trucks and busses, made from fatty acid alkylesters found in vegetable and soybean oil, animal fats and even recycled re... more...

Environment | By Warren Peters @ Saturday, 7th April 2007 @ 1:27 AM

In his State of the Union Address for 2007, President George W. Bush called for a 22% increase in federal grants for research and development of alternative energy. However, in a speech he gave soon after, he said to those assembled, I recognize that there has been some interesting mixed signals when it comes to funding. Where the mixed signals were coming from concerned the fact that at the same time the President was calling on more government backing for research and development, the N... more...

Environment | By Bob Carper @ Friday, 6th April 2007 @ 5:10 PM

Recycling has become a necessary way of life. It is just as easy to throw out to trash materials that can just as easily be recycled. The question is, who is going to be the one that does it? The answer is simple enough. Just hold up a mirror in front of your face. That is the person in charge of recycling in your household. What gets recycled? There are four basic recyclable materials. These are paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic. Let's look at paper first. Most recy... more...

Environment | By Ba Kiwanuka @ Thursday, 5th April 2007 @ 4:09 PM

These Days global warming is a very hot topic and little wonder, seeing as the earth grows hotter with each passing year. For a long time now the effect of man's industrialization and technological progress has quietly yet continuously eked away at the delicate balance of the planet's atmosphere and ecosystem, but within the last 30 or so years the pace of this damage has markedly accelerated! DOWNPLAYING GLOBAL WARMING In much the same way that big tobacco once ... more...

Environment | By Stephanie Foster @ Tuesday, 3rd April 2007 @ 12:27 AM

Many children today don't learn to think at all about the environment. Others do, of course, but if there's no example set, what else can be expected? This is something important for all parents to consider, although it can be easier for stay at home parents such as myself to set the example. I consider keeping to the facts to be one of the most important things you can do. You want your children to trust you, and if they find out you exaggerated, there goes some of that ... more...

Environment | By Matthew Hick @ Monday, 2nd April 2007 @ 12:24 AM

Biodegradable products should be good for the environment, but that's not always the case. What Is Biodegradable? To be classified as "biodegradable", a product must be able to be broken down naturally into the raw materials of nature and disappear into the environment. Truly biodegradable products will break down into: -Bacteria -Fungi -Simple organisms -Carbon -Hydrogen -Oxygen - Carbon dioxide Co2 and water H2O Just because a product... more...

Environment | By Andrew Bicknell @ Thursday, 29th March 2007 @ 1:10 PM

With the rising gas prices of today many people have begun to look for an alternative way to put fuel in their cars. A biodiesel kit fits the bill for many people who have started making this oil saving fuel in their own backyards. And why not make your own fuel, the hit to wallets and bank accounts with high gasoline prices makes finding alternative fuel sources imperative these days, particularly with the price of gas and oil in the news on a daily basis. A biodiesel kit is a great way ... more...

Environment | By Jay Moncliff @ Wednesday, 28th March 2007 @ 12:55 PM

Where did the word sustainability originate from? It came from the field of forestry, where it meant that we should not harm or hack more trees than the number growing. It meant that the hacking rate should always be lower than the growing rate. Then in the nineteen nineties, came the term Sustainable Development. This term has been recognized worldwide and has gained so much prominence that it is now commonly referred to as SD. Its concepts were born in the report Our Common Future (198... more...

Environment | By Derek Both @ Wednesday, 28th March 2007 @ 11:49 AM

When you think of air conditioning, do you ever wonder who made it, the history behind it, maybe different applications involved or even environmental concerns? Well, if so, then you have come to the right place. We will not only go over each of these but you will find that a Sub-Heading for ease of use marks each section. The Air Conditioner was first introduced in 1820 by Michael Faraday a British Scientist and Inventor. He discovered that by compressing liquefied ammonia you could... more...

Environment | By Derek Both @ Wednesday, 28th March 2007 @ 11:13 AM

Throughout history, people have been recycling waste materials in some way or another. The main reason that recycled materials were used, rather than new was that second hand material was cheaper to use. Today, we have other reasons for recycling our waste materials, such as preserving our planet, reducing waste materials being buried in the earth in landfill sites, and saving money by using second hand materials, rather than producing new materials. The first real recycling started out i... more...