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 years 2015 and 2016 saw record levels of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, even though human carbon emissions have stabilized in recent years. Now, scientists think they know why.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
NASA: Spike In Atmospheric CO2 Related To El Nino
No one expects the machinery of progress to roll backwards, but sometimes it seems that no one is watching the speedometer (or manning the brakes, assuming any exist). Is this a fair assessment? If so, should we be worried — and what can we do about it?
In this feature, experts on technology, risk, science, policy and neuroscience discuss risk, innovation and how our values affect our conceptions of both.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Experts Weigh the Risks of Innovation
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
April 2015 saw Tesla Motors’ entry into the home and industrial battery market. Thousands of pre-orders – and more than a little hype – attended the announcement, and it’s easy to see why: The promise of a cost-effective home battery, one that could make self-storage an equal or better option for solar customers than the prevailing sell-and-buyback model, could revolutionize the solar industry.
Yet some experts argue that the battery is not all it’s cracked up to be, while harsher critics accuse Tesla of using the storage cells as big green stalking horses, part of a plan to bilk taxpayers into subsidizing the company’s massive battery factory and R&D facility in Nevada. Read on as I make the connections in …