Tag Archives: carbon footprint

Global Warming and the Future of Wind Power

Predicted wind power changes in North America, 2080-2100. Map courtesy of Kristopher Karnauskas and Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Geoscience, copyright 2017.

Alternative energy sources like wind offer a way to lessen a country’s carbon footprint. But global warming trends could soon change the way the wind blows.

As rapid arctic warming shrinks the heat gap between the North Pole and equator, Northern Hemisphere winds could lose some oomph — up to 40 percent over the next century, depending on region.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Winds Of Climate Change: How Global Warming Could Alter The Wind Power Landscape

The Foggy Future of Refrigerants

Freon tanks await recycling. Image courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stable, nontoxic refrigerants changed the world, transforming food storage, expanding Sun Belt populations, even helping early movie theaters succeed. But they also wrecked the ozone layer — Earth’s shield against harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Today, as stockpiles dwindle — and prices rise — due to phase-outs set by the Montreal Protocols 30 years ago,  the future of Freon and its successors remains in doubt.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
As Stockpiles Dwindle, Freon Prices Rise

Driving by Larch Light

Photo courtesy Glowing Plant.

Would you want to live in a world that looks like a Pandora knockoff, or blares like the wall decorations of a stoner crash pad? What if you couldn’t turn it off?

Such were the questions raised when a Kickstarter campaign launched to “create real glowing plants in a do-it-yourself biolab in California.” At first, observers merely wondered if the technology could work. But as time passed, their questions moved on to more troubling concerns regarding the unregulated spreading of genetically modified seeds…

Could glow-in-the-dark plants replace streetlights?