How green is your school? Who gets bragging rights? According to rankings published in the Sierra Club’s Sierra Magazine, the greenest schools are Green Mountain (VT), Dickinson (PA). and Evergreen State (WA). Rankings were based on 162 responses to an 11-page questionnaire sent to 900 schools.
The nation’s greenest colleges
August 19th, 2010Basking in energy-efficient air conditioning
August 19th, 2010Did you know that the U.S. Department of Energy gives a $1,500 tax credit for air conditioning systems as well as for heat-effficient windows? DOE does. The homeowner in this article who installed a 16-Seer (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) system should save over $500 per year. Use it soon!
NASA tracks pollution flow from Russian fires
August 13th, 2010To say that ‘Moscow is experiencing forest fires’ doesn’t really capture the maginitude of the impact. NASA has released an infrared video taken with an instrument on its Echo satellite that shows the amount of carbon monoxide at 18,000 feet. The cloud blankets a wide portion of western Russia.
Recycling land for green energy ideas
August 13th, 2010Recycling is a green mantra, but is being given a new twist. Rather than build a solar farm on virgin, scenic, or agricultural land, why not site it on polluted land? It’s being done in California’s San Juaquin Valley. Transmission is nearby, there’s little wildlife impact, and few objections.
U.N. chief recommends small steps on climate
August 10th, 2010Copenhagen was pretty much of a fiasco, so Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the U.N., suggested that at the next conference, in Cancun, Mexico, in December, a better approach might be to try to take small steps in sparate fields that build toward wider consensus. Even that will be difficult.
Vast ice ”island” breaks free of Greenland glacier
August 9th, 2010In the last few days, a huge ice island broke free of Greenland, which continues to lose more glacial ice each year than snow adds. Is this evidence for global warming? Maybe yes, maybe no. Scientists can measure the ocean surface temperature, but know little about temperatures under the glaciers.
Drought strains Russian wheat supplies
August 9th, 2010Expect to pay more for a loaf of bread this Fall. Severe weather has reduced wheat crops worldwide, driving up prices. In Russia, drought has cut the winter crop by 20%, and sparked wildfires. In Ukraine, officials have imposed a wheat export ban. Europe is too hot and dry, Canada too wet.
Overcome by heat and inertia
July 29th, 2010Temperature records continue to fall across the country. In Washington D.C., which experienced it’s warmest June on record, Senators are picking up the debate on the climate change bill. While temperatures warm, glaciers melt, and sea level rises, there is little hope of that the bill will receive the necessary votes to prevent it from being stalled.
For now, with limited progress on U.S. climate policy, we must accept the fact that “hot is the new normal.”
Indoor living and the global greenhouse
July 29th, 2010Here’s a novel approach to reducing man’s energy footprint and thereby limiting climate warming. Let’s hope, however, that Mumbai isn’t air conditioned anytime soon.
Stephen H. Schneider, Climatologist, is dead at 65
July 29th, 2010This death notice could give people an idea of what climatologists actually do, thereby taking some of the mystery out of what is to many an arcane, unknown world.