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fossil fuel

10/02/2018 / By David Williams

Biofuel challenges: Some green fuels can become contaminated with the wrong microbes

Biofuel is seen as a promising alternative to fossil fuels when it comes to serving as a viable source of energy, and for good reason. It offers a number of tremendous benefits, not the least of which is the fact that it’s much more environmentally friendly than current standard fuels. For this reason, its adoption […]

08/20/2018 / By RJ Jhonson

Hawaii is leading other states in generating renewable energy

The Aloha State could be the country’s leader in renewable energy as it moves toward getting 100 percent of its power needs from both solar and wind sources by 2045. As of this year, Hawaii gets around 33 percent of its power needs from rooftop solar, although there are days when the percentage goes up […]

08/18/2018 / By Edsel Cook

“The potential is huge!” say researchers who were able to develop advanced biofuels using only existing power plants

A decade’s worth of studies on biomass gasification has finally delivered “huge” results for Swedish researchers. In a Science Daily article, they announced breakthroughs in conversion technology that would let countries like Sweden produce large amounts of renewable fuels without the need to build expensive new power plants. Chalmers University of Technology (Chalmers) energy expert […]

08/18/2018 / By Edsel Cook

Useful way to repurpose invasive weeds: Water hyacinth, an invasive plant to river ecosystems, may prove useful for oil sorption

Those thick clumps of water hyacinth clogging our waterways might be useful for something, after all. A Thai study suggested that the invasive floating plant can be turned into biodegradable adsorption materials that can clean up oil spills better than polypropylene-based sorbents. The findings were published in the International Organization of Scientific Research. Polypropylene is a […]

08/09/2018 / By Edsel Cook

Biologists: Acid lakes are a new threat to our environment

The seas are not the only bodies of water that are turning more acidic due to air pollution. A new scientific paper warns that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is turning freshwater bodies into acidic lakes, an article in New Scientist states. Recently published in the scientific journal Current Biology, the paper investigated four water […]

08/06/2018 / By Rhonda Johansson

Free public transpo may solve air pollution problems in Germany

The German government has announced that they are considering making public transport free in five of their most polluted cities in a bid to control environmental pollution. The official statement was given in response to increasing pressure from the European Union (EU) to tackle the country’s deadly air pollution. The proposal was written by German […]

07/25/2018 / By Rhonda Johansson

High levels of radioactivity persist in Pennsylvania stream sediments 7 years after fracking wastewater disposal was restricted

Three wastewater disposal sites in western Pennsylvania have been analyzed to contain as much as 650 times higher radioactive sediments than unaffected sites upstream. These numbers are made even more shocking considering that more than seven years have passed since Pennsylvania’s government restricted the disposal of fracking wastewater into these sites. Authors of the new […]

05/31/2018 / By Edsel Cook

Duke suspends its plans for a new gas power plant and will focus on generating energy from pig waste

Duke University has indefinitely suspended its plan for a natural gas power plant on its campus. According to an article in the Energy News Network, the school will be getting its energy needs from methane biogas made from hog waste. The decision is the culmination of a two-year struggle between the similarly-named but unrelated Duke Energy and an alliance […]

05/21/2018 / By Edsel Cook

More than 200 chemicals found near fracking wells, some of them are known endocrine disruptors

A recent review of scientific literature has shown that the air in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) facilities – such as fracking wells – are laden with hundreds of potentially dangerous chemicals. Of those air pollutants, more than 30 may harm hormones and the endocrine system, according to a West Virginia Public Broadcasting article. Published in the journal Environmental […]

03/22/2018 / By Edsel Cook

German court rules cities may ban diesel engines

German cities are now allowed to ban diesel cars for the air pollution they generate, reported Deutsche Welle, after the country’s highest federal administrative court instructed the cities of Stuttgart and Duesseldorf to start thinking about enacting a year-round ban for older models. The recent ruling could be the final straw that breaks the stubborn back […]

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