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Study reveals urgent new time frame for climate change

The seesaw variability of global temperatures often engenders debate over how seriously we should take climate change. But within 35 years, even the lowest monthly dips in temperatures will be hotter than we've experienced in the past 150 years, according to a new and massive analysis of all climate models. The tropics will be the first to exceed the limits of historical extremes and experience an unabated heat wave that threatens biodiversity and heavily populated countries with the fewest resources to adapt.

Oct 9th, 2013

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Plans to expand carbon dioxide capture technologies

An EU-funded research project, 'European carbon dioxide capture and storage laboratory infrastructure' (ECCSEL), joined leading research institutes from across Europe to prepare the research infrastructure needed to promote widespread CCS adoption.

Oct 4th, 2013

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Multidimensional maps to improve energy efficiency

Researchers are developing a multidimensional mapping tool to identify areas of similar climate, building practices, technologies and economics. This will aid efforts to improve the energy and resource efficiency of the built environment.

Oct 4th, 2013

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3D printing: The greener choice

New research shows that making stuff on a 3D printer uses less energy - and therefore releases less carbon dioxide - than producing it en masse in a factory and shipping it to a warehouse.

Oct 3rd, 2013

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Carbon capture plant turns emissions into baking soda

The term 'carbon capture and storage' seems only to appear when shortly followed by 'not commercially proven' or 'in development'. But construction has now begun on what will be the world's first commercial carbon dioxide mineralisation plant, in which carbon dioxide greenhouse gas is transformed into baking soda.

Oct 2nd, 2013

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Solving ethanol's corrosion problem may help speed the biofuel to market

To meet a goal set by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Renewable Fuels Standard to use 36 billion gallons of biofuels each year - mostly ethanol - the nation must expand its infrastructure for transporting and storing ethanol. Ethanol, however, is known for triggering stress corrosion cracking of steel. Researchers investigated the mechanism of how ethanol triggers stress corrosion cracking along with ways to circumvent this issue to prevent ethanol-related corrosion issues.

Oct 1st, 2013

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NREL releases new roadmap to reducing solar PV 'soft costs' by 2020

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently issued a new report, 'Non-Hardware ('Soft') Cost-Reduction Roadmap for Residential and Small Commercial Solar Photovoltaics, 2013'. The report builds off NREL's ongoing soft-cost benchmarking analysis and charts a path to achieve SunShot soft-cost targets of $0.65/W for residential systems and $0.44/W for commercial systems by 2020.

Oct 1st, 2013

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Predicting the life expectancy of solar modules

Solar modules are exposed to many environmental influences that cause material to fatigue over the years. Researchers have developed a procedure to calculate effects of these influences over the long term. This allows reliable lifespan predictions.

Oct 1st, 2013

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