Elon Musk has tweeted that Tesla will make a quiet electric leaf blower.
In 2017, the California Air Resources Board, said that by 2020, the biggest single ozone polluter in California is going to be all this gardening equipment.
California has 16 million gas-powered garden machines from leaf blowers to mowers.
Two years ago a team of scientists visited Costa Rica’s subduction zone, where the ocean floor sinks beneath the continent and volcanoes tower above the surface. They wanted to find out if microbes can affect the cycle of carbon moving from Earth’s surface into the deep interior. According to their new study in Nature, the answer is affirmatively—yes they can.
This groundbreaking study shows that microbes consume and—crucially—help trap a small amount of sinking carbon in this zone. This finding has important implications for understanding Earth’s fundamental processes and for revealing how nature can potentially help mitigate climate change.
Continue reading “Microbes may act as gatekeepers of Earth’s Deep Carbon” »
An international research team led by The Australian National University (ANU) has made a new type of silicon that better uses sunlight and promises to cut the cost of solar technology.
The researchers say their world-first invention could help reduce the costs of renewable electricity below that of existing coal power stations, as well as lead to more efficient solar cells.
Senior researcher ANU Professor Jodie Bradby said silicon was used as the raw material for solar cells because of its abundance, low-cost and non-toxicity.
Continue reading “New type of silicon promises cheaper solar technology” »
Electricity harvested from the sun or wind can be used interchangeably with power from coal or petroleum sources. Or sustainably produced electricity can be turned into something physical and useful. Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have figured out how to feed electricity to microbes to grow truly green, biodegradable plastic, as reported in the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.
“As our planet grapples with rampant, petroleum-based plastic use and plastic waste, finding sustainable ways to make bioplastics is becoming more and more important. We have to find new solutions,” said Arpita Bose, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences.
Renewable energy currently accounts for about 11% of total U.S. energy consumption and about 17% of electricity generation.
Continue reading “Creating sustainable bioplastics from electricity-eating microbes” »
Imagine being able to use grass instead of plastic for #Straws…Zero Waste Saigon, which also sells the straws, says that finding a human use for the grass, helps preserve wetlands, which provide habitat for Sarus Crane birds, because it prevents them from being turned into crop land.
This man has come up with a super sustainable — and truly biodegradable —substitute for plastic straws.
Continue reading “Man Makes and Sells Compostable Wild Grass Straws” »
The Futurecraft Loop performance running shoes can be returned to Adidas, where they will be ground up to make more shoes, again and again.
So, recycling is a mess. Manufacturers have sold us on the idea that it’s the consumer’s responsibility to recycle the manufacturer’s product, ostensibly relieving the manufacturer of responsibility for all the trash their products generate. Meanwhile, despite many of us trying our best to uphold our end of the deal, recycling is complicated – and in the end, 91 percent of plastic, for example, is not recycled.
Continue reading “Adidas unveils running shoes that never have to be thrown away” »
Canada’s newly announced $5,000 incentive for electric vehicles is officially going into effect on May 1st next month and the federal government has released the list of eligible vehicles.
Tesla vehicles are officially ineligible for the incentive.
As we reported last month, the Canadian federal announced a new $5,000 incentive for electric cars with a $45,000 price limit, which virtually excluded Tesla vehicles.
Continue reading “Canada’s $5,000 EV incentive starts next month, Tesla officially disqualified” »
Scientists bring some functions in a pig’s BRAIN ‘back to life’ — four hours after the farm animal died„.
Scientists have been able to partially revive the brains of decapitated pigs that died four hours earlier in a groundbreaking study.
Continue reading “Scientists restore some functions in a pig’s BRAIN hours after it died” »
