Electric vehicles use half the energy of gas-powered vehicles.

Kirk, K. (2024a, January 26). Electric vehicles use half the energy of gas-powered vehicles ” Yale climate connections. Yale Climate Connections. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/01/electric-vehicles-use-half-the-energy-of-gas-powered-vehicles/

There are many pros to electric vehicles, but the major one related to global warming is that they only require about half the energy needed for a gasoline engine. When a car that needs gas to function heats up, it burns fuel to move pistons and propel wheels. That heat is vented off and carries away most of the energy in the fuel, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. On the other hand, electric cars don’t burn fuels so there are no thermodynamic issues for converting heat to motion. It’s the same with wind, solar, and hydroelectric energy; they reduce pollution, but also decrease the total amount of energy since there’s no energy lost while burning fuel. 

As electric vehicles become more popular each year, their prices are also becoming more reasonable, ultimately getting people to buy them since they’re so much better for the environment. If this process continues, we will see a drastic decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere because gasoline cars won’t be as popular to be releasing carbon dioxide. We will need more charging stations around the country since that’ll be a necessity, but I hope people realize the amount of benefits electric vehicles have to gasoline cars.  

California wastewater to be recycled into tap water, according to new regulations.

Balarajan, B., & Mossburg, C. (2023, December 20). California wastewater to be recycled into tap water, according to new regulations. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/us/wastewater-california-regulations-board/index.html

California has found a new way to develop drinking water; Instead of toilet or shower wastewater going into the Pacific Ocean or getting used for farmland, it’ll be recycled for humans to drink. After the board had a unanimous vote, they got approval for new regulations which made California the second state to recycle wastewater into drinking water. Due to weather conditions getting warmer with climate change, just in 2023, more than 97% of California has been in severe drought which is the worst on record.  Many were against having to drink “toilet to tap” water, but researchers said that regulations are key to public trust and protecting public health. California has suffered decades of drought and it’s affecting residents and their access to clean water, so this recycling of water will be extremely helpful.

It’s very interesting getting to see how our world is adapting to circumstances after California has been in a drought for so long, researchers found something groundbreaking about recycling water from dirty water to clean, drinking water. This will improve our world knowing we won’t have that dependency on finding more water, but rather just being able to recycle the water continually. I’m interested in finding out more about how we can recycle other resources in our world to further improve global warming.

The Clean Energy Future is arriving faster than you think.

Gelles, D., Plumer, B., Tankersley, J., Ewing, J., Dominguez, L., & Popovich, N. (2023, August 13). The Clean Energy Future is arriving faster than you think. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/12/climate/clean-energy-us-fossil-fuels.html

About 20 years ago, any sort of renewable energy source such as solar panels, wind turbines, and battery-powered vehicles, seemed to be viewed as “niche technologies” and too expensive to which they were overlooked. Present day, however, wind and solar power are breaking records, and renewables are now expected to overtake coal as the world’s largest source of electricity. Our planet is experiencing some of the highest temperatures on record (some areas have even become incompatible with human life), and our government is finally taking action to slow down the increase of global warming by putting trillions of dollars into clean energy. Luckily, many researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs around the world have tried to improve the damage done by climate change and governments have invested plenty of money into renewable energy sources, so we’re now seeing a rapid drop in costs for solar energy, wind power, and batteries. 

I’m glad to see there are improvements made by our government to help with our dying planet, but I think it’s gotten so bad that we’re only now making an impact even though we should’ve started many years ago. I guess it’s still important that we’re starting sooner rather than later, but changes should’ve been made a while back. I think it’s also crucial that prices for these renewable energy sources are decreasing because then it causes people to use them more if they’re more accessible. I wonder what our world will be like in 20 years; will nothing change or will we see a large difference in the energy sources we are using.

Lab-grown meat is cleared for sale in the United States,

WIener-Bronner, D. (2023, June 21). Lab-grown meat is cleared for sale in the United States | CNN business. CNN Edition. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/21/business/cultivated-meat-us-approval/index.html

Upside Foods and Good Meat are two companies that have created cultivated meat, also known as lab-grown meat. They advertise their new product for two major reasons; 1. It’s meat without slaughter so there’s less damage to animals and 2. Without the need for animal agriculture, it can then decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Meat production has become a large component of climate change due to deforestation and loss of biodiversity and the factories they’re slaughtered in most of the time emit greenhouse gasses. Lab-grown meat endured an inspection to assess a firm’s food safety system issued by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. As this cultivated meat continues to spread throughout the United States and possibly to the rest of the world, it’ll be a large step toward a more sustainable world and have a large effect on global warming.

I knew how detrimental the meat industry is and how if people became vegan or at least decreased the amount of meat they were consuming, that would largely impact greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. That being said, it’s really important that they made this invention and that it got approved and is going widespread because it could be a good transition for meat-eaters to change to eating lab-made meat or not eating meat at all. This makes me want to find lab-grown meat and see what it tastes like knowing I’d be saving the planet one bite at a time. 

AC is hard on the planet. This building has a sustainable solution.

Duffy, C. (2023, July 27). AC is hard on the planet. this building has a sustainable solution – CNN.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/tech/geothermal-building-nyc-extreme-heat-mission-ahead/index.html

Studies show that in mid-July in Brooklyn, New York, temperatures reach high in the 90s while underground stays fairly in the 50s. 1 Java Street will soon be the biggest residential building with a “geothermal” heating and cooling system in the country. This method is a more environmentally friendly version of an HVAC system that doesn’t include “traditional AC units and natural gas” for the building to receive heat or AC. Geothermal plumbing is essentially sending water from a building into the ground below so on warmer days, the underground temperature will reduce any water from the building to help cool the buildings down and on cold days, it’ll be able to warm up the cold water to help with heating. This system is going to release about 55% less carbon and achieve net zero greenhouse emissions as more experts are trying to implement new solutions that’ll keep buildings cool while making them eco-safe. 

I thought this was an innovative idea to utilize the cool temperatures from underground to create an eco-friendly AC and heating system. It’s interesting to see what inventors will create using our Earth to combat climate change. They did say this was going to be an extremely expensive project, but I feel as though this system is worth every penny. The article brought up a good point that once investors invest in geothermal and companies support the creation of the technology, prices will eventually decrease, and it’ll become cost-efficient. They are already seeing rapid growth in this neighborhood and are thinking about spreading this system throughout the rest of the country. 

Hurricane Ready Solar Panels

Ludt, B. (2024b, January 24). World4Solar unveils hurricane-proof PV canopy. Retrieved January 25, 2024, from Solar Power World website: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2024/01/world4solar-unveils-hurricane-proof-pv-canopy/

 

World4Solar developed a new generation of solar panels that are hurricane resistant because they can hold up against category 5 and 175 mph winds. They do this because World4Solar upgraded the steel used to build them. These solar panels do not go on roofs, however. Instead, many people use them as an outdoor garage overhang similar to what someone would find in a parking lot. It can also produce 7.38 KW of electricity.

 

This new invention by World4Solar has great potential and practicality. Many hot countries and states that get a lot of sunlight reside on coasts. This means they see plenty of hurricanes and tropical storms. So it is very important to a solar panel buyer that their investment can withstand high winds. If they can’t, then it would be a waste of money. With this new enhancement, I think a lot more people will buy solar panels, helping the world decrease its carbon emissions.

New Solar Projects

Pickerel, K. (2024, January 19). Pentagon and more federal buildings are adding solar to their campuses. Retrieved January 25, 2024, from Solar Power World website: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2024/01/pentagon-and-more-federal-buildings-are-adding-solar-to-their-campuses/ 

 

In early 2024, there are 31 new solar power projects in development. These new projects are worth $104 million and are coming from the $250 million as a result of Biden’s new infrastructure law. The most notable project of the 31 is the solar panels being installed on the Pentagon. This is substantial because the government has the largest energy consumption in the United States. It is important to see their example for private parties to begin to conserve energy. Also on the horizon, there are two more projects coming out of the $250 million.

 

I think that this is a great use of government funding. Given that the government consumes the bulk of the energy in the United States, it is exciting to see that they are working on being more renewable. This is a good step in getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, a few solar panels is not going to be enough. There needs to be more funding and more action being taken by the government. $250 million barely dents the annual income of the government from taxes. I think that the government needs to set a great example and get to net zero or lower so that everyone can see the benefits and take action as well.

Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms

 

O’Brian, C.(2023, July 11) Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms. Retrieved August 21, 2023, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/empty -office-buildings-are-being-turned-into-vertical-farms-180982502/ 

 

During the pandemic, the vast majority of work transitioned to being entirely online. But even as the pandemic has ended the number of people working remotely has remained extremely high. This has led to lots of office space going basically unused. Many empty office buildings have been repurposed into vertical farms in order to not have all the space go to waste. They provide efficient and reliable food sources and provide economic opportunities.

 

Repurposing unused office space is an environmental solution to the challenges of urban cities. Verticle farming can use less energy and water more effectively, and with totally manipulatable conditions the yields are often far superior to traditional farming. The conservation of energy and water is one benefit but another is the massive amounts of land it saves. Traditional farming requires very large areas of land while vertical farming is much more compact. The land that would no longer be devoted to farming could be utilized in a number of ways including using it for renewable energy. This means that vertical farming could actually produce energy because the land it saves could power the vertical farm and there could still produce a surplus of energy. Another benefit is that with the empty office spaces getting put to good use it could encourage businesses to keep work remote which as was seen during the pandemic also reduces emissions because lots of emissions are produced as a result of people’s daily commutes to work which would be eliminated if they continued to work remotely.

Can the World Make an Electric Car Battery Without China?

Chang, A., & Bradsher, K. (2023, May 16). Can the World Make an Electric Car Battery Without China? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/16/business/china-ev-battery.html?searchResultPosition=34

China is much more advanced than the rest of the world; they just created an electric car battery that is sustainable for the environment. China continues to create such sophisticated inventions that it wouldn’t be possible to live without that country since the rest of the world may take decades to catch up to their intelligence. The battery assembly is complex and technical, but creates such a difference in the world if something made to help the environment is sustainable in its processing too. 

Considering China owns most of the cobalt mines in Congo, they are able to make the common type of battery, but also they have the most mining for lithium for a battery’s electric charge. This battery is complicated to form; to create one, cathode and anode materials are connected to thin sheets of metal which are about ⅕ the thickness of a human hair. Afterward, the batteries are stacked with separators, then moistened with electrolytes, and finally, rolled up. The entire process of creating the electrical car battery must be made in a room that minimizes air particles and moisture for it to work properly and efficiently. I think it’s important to take into account how China has advanced and how our world wouldn’t have created such change without them. This electrical car battery isn’t something that the rest of the world would be able to make for decades, so we should continue with China’s inventions. 

Climate-friendly air conditioning inspired by termites

 

Climate-friendly air conditioning inspired by termites. (2023, July 6). ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 21, 2023, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230706124549.htm

At Lund University in Sweden, new research was made inspired by termites. They discovered a new system for future buildings that achieves the same effect as traditional climate control, except this has a greater energy efficiency and it’s without its carbon dioxide footprint. Termite mounds have an advanced ventilation system that creates air circulation throughout the structure while can help regulating temperature and humidity. The interior of termite mounds consists of thousands of interconnected channels, tunnels, and air chambers that capture wind energy so they can breathe which is what the study focuses on. 

Many sensors and regulating devices are placed in a climate-adaptive building envelope through miniaturization (making something small), durability/sustainability, and cost reduction. This creates a regulation of the indoor climate and control factors that include temperature and humidity; this is all done without relying on large fans and heating and air conditioning systems. The mechanisms are dependent on being able to create complex internal geometries all of which is only possible through the process of 3D printing. I thought it was interesting how they were able to derive this climate control device from the idea of how termites live. They are two completely different topics, but somehow have the same concept. This is an issue we should all be discussing considering how much it can control the climate sustainably as temperatures continue to rise due to climate change.