Lifeboat Foundation

In the 1960s animated sitcom The Jetsons, George Jetson commutes to work in his family-size flying car, which miraculously transforms into a briefcase at the end of the trip.

A new study of the environmental sustainability impacts of flying cars, formally known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOLs, finds that they wouldn’t be suitable for a Jetsons-style short commute.

Continue reading “A Jetsons future? Assessing the role of flying cars in sustainable mobility” »

A team of researchers with members from Norway, Austria, Russia and Germany has found a kind of bacteria that oxidizes methane. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their findings and suggest their work could lead to progress in combating global warming.

Scientists have reached consensus that global warming is happening, and that it is because humans continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The main culprit is carbon dioxide, but there are other greenhouse gases making their way into the atmosphere, as well—one of them is methane. Humans produce methane naturally, via flatulence, as do animals. It also results from production of rice and other crops, and released it during oil extraction. To combat global warming, we stop emitting methane, or find a way to remove it. In this new effort, the researchers report a natural way to remove methane from the air by supporting a type of bacteria that oxidizes it.

Scientists have suspected for many years that one or more types of bacteria oxidize methane because testing has shown that methane levels drop in places where there is soil present.

Continue reading “Bacteria that oxidizes methane found in common soil” »

A Black Hole of Global Warming Stupidity has been formed. Beware of the event horizon.

Meteorologist and founder of most-read climate website in the world named senior fellow.

Three years ago, we heard how scientists from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology had created transparent wood – it could serve as a cheaper alternative to the silica-based glass currently used in windows and solar cells. Now, the material is additionally able to store heat and later release it.

Almost 5 years after Elon Musk allowed other manufacturers access to Tesla patents without fear of legal action – effectively making them open source – Toyota has announced that it’s opening up its vehicle electrification patent archive to help speed up the development and adoption of electric vehicles.

Plastic pollution is something everyone should not be aware of. In the news, a lot of focus has been on the plastic pollution created by the fashion and food industry, but sometimes it seems like the toy industry is getting a pass. If you think about it, the majority of children’s toys are made of plastic. According to Plastics, 90 per cent of all toys on the market are made of plastic, which is a ridiculous amount of plastic. So where do the discarded toys, that do not end up charity shops, end up? Plastic toys are becoming a substantial environmental problem, especially as quite a few can be found living in their new home, the rubbish dump.

Raising sustainability-conscious kids is not easy, so why are companies not making it easier for parents? Well, a few small startups have been leading the movement by embracing circular economy principles. They are focusing on locally making toys from recycled straw, sawdust and plastic milk bottles, but I do wonder whether their efforts to create a sustainable toy market will lead to large mass producers like Hasbro. I am optimistic and believe it is possible. My optimism strengthened when I heard that Danish toy company Lego has begun the production of a new line of sustainable Lego accessories made from plant-based polyethene derived from sugarcane ethanol, as opposed to the polyethene from oil.

“The investment announced is a testament to our continued ambition to leave a positive impact on the planet, which future generations will inherit.”

Continue reading “Lego Makes A ‘Breakthrough’ In Producing Plant-based Bioplastics Toys Available Next Month” »

Tesla has released a video showing the first delivery of a vehicle to a customer using a Tesla Semi electric truck prototype – showing a glimpse of a future with zero-emission electric vehicle deliveries.

Over the last few quarters since Model 3 production has been somewhat sustainable at high volume, Tesla has had issues delivering the high numbers of vehicles.

Continue reading “Watch Tesla use its electric semi prototype to deliver a Model X to customer” »

Human agency and oversight — AI should not trample on human autonomy. People should not be manipulated or coerced by AI systems, and humans should be able to intervene or oversee every decision that the software makes. — Technical robustness and safety — AI should be secure and accurate. It shouldn’t be easily compromised by external attacks (such as adversarial examples), and it should be reasonably reliable. — Privacy and data governance — Personal data collected by AI systems should be secure and private. It shouldn’t be accessible to just anyone, and it shouldn’t be easily stolen. — Transparency — Data and algorithms used to create an AI system should be accessible, and the decisions made by the software should be “understood and traced by human beings.” In other words, operators should be able to explain the decisions their AI systems make. — Diversity, non-discrimination, and fairness — Services provided by AI should be available to all, regardless of age, gender, race, or other characteristics. Similarly, systems should not be biased along these lines. — Environmental and societal well-being — AI systems should be sustainable (i.e., they should be ecologically responsible) and “enhance positive social change” — Accountability — AI systems should be auditable and covered by existing protections for corporate whistleblowers. Negative impacts of systems should be acknowledged and reported in advance.

AI technologies should be accountable, explainable, and unbiased, says EU.

A Dutchman completed an epic 95,000 kilometre (59,000 mile) journey by electric car in Sydney Sunday in a bid to prove the viability of such vehicles in tackling climate change.

Wiebe Wakker drove his retrofitted station wagon nicknamed “The Blue Bandit” across 33 countries in what he said was the world’s longest-ever journey by electric car.

The trip from the Netherlands to Australia took just over three years and was funded by public donations from around the world, including electricity to charge the Bandit, food and a place to sleep.

Continue reading “Dutchman ends ‘world’s longest electric car trip’ in Australia” »