Environment – Page 202 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Berkeley Lab Creates New Energy Model for Chinese Cities

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2010Environmentair-conditioning, China, china energy group, chinese cities, city, david fridley, energy consumption, eric masanet, julie chao, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, low-carbon city, suzhou, united states, urban-ram, urbanization

To tally the energy consumption of a city, the usual method is to add up all the energy used by residents—when they drive their car or turn on the air-conditioning—plus all the energy consumed by commercial buildings and industries in their day-to-day operations. But how should one account for the energy that went into building the office park where people work or paving the roads that people drive? And what about the energy required to make the clothes they are wearing? (more…)

Volcanic Activity in Arabian Desert Makes Case for Increased Monitoring

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2010Environmentarabian desert, arabian lava fields, harrat lunayyir, larger earthquake, lava field, red sea rift, saudi arabia, volcanic activity

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Underground magma movement was the trigger of a swarm of 30,000 earthquakes in Saudi Arabia last year, according to a new study published in Nature Geoscience Sunday. (more…)

The Root Impact of Climate Change

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 20101 commentEnvironmentatmospheric changes, christopher s bond, climate change, david koppenaal, dong xu, gary stacey, interdisciplinary plant group, jianlin cheng, ljiljana paša-tolić, melting glaciers, nutrient uptake, plant roots, rising ocean levels, root hair cells, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. — When people discuss climate change, they usually think of impacts above ground, such as atmospheric changes, rising ocean levels, or melting glaciers. Less attention is paid to the effects right under their feet. Now, with the help of a $1.2 million grant from the federal Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy program, University of Missouri researchers are peering underground to see how climate change affects plant roots.

(more…)

New Study Indicates Higher than Predicted Human Exposure to the Toxic Chemical Bisphenol A or BPA

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2010Environmentbertram drury, biomedical sciences, bisphenol a, body, bpa, environmental health perspectives, estrogen, frederick vom saal, george rottinghaus, human exposure, julia taylor, toxic chemical, university of california, university of missouri, veterinary medical diagnostic lab, vmdl, wade welshons

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Researchers have discovered that women, female monkeys and female mice have major similarities when it comes to how bisphenol A (BPA) is metabolized, and they have renewed their call for governmental regulation when it comes to the estrogen-like chemical found in many everyday products.

(more…)

Desert Dust Reduces Colorado River Flow

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 20102 commentsEnvironmentalan hamlet, brad udall, cires, climate change, colorado river basin, cooperative institute for research in environmental sci, desert dust, hydrology model, jayne belnap, land management, lower dust, rocky mountains, snow dusted, snowmelt, university of california, university of colorado, university of washington, water management

Dark-colored dust that settles on snow in the Upper Colorado River Basin makes the snow melt early and robs the Colorado River of about 5 percent of its water each year, says a new study co-authored by researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder-based Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.

(more…)

Great Lakes Water Quality is Focus of New $5-Million Grant

By Guest PostSeptember 20, 2010Environmentextreme precipitation events, great lakes, precipitation cycle, surface fresh water, water quality

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— How could climate change and our response to it affect the Great Lakes’ water quality? That’s the primary question a team of 27 researchers from across the University of Michigan and collaborators at other institutions will answer with a new $5-million grant from the National Science Foundation. (more…)

American Institute of Physics Reveals Us More Efficient Selenium Photovoltaic Cells

By Guest PostSeptember 20, 2010Environment, Scienceapplied physics letters, carbon-free electricity, less energy, light-catching elements, marie mayer, oxide elements, photo voltaic, photo-electrochemical water splitting, photovoltaic electricity, photovoltaic units, Rosalind, rosalind sanders, sanders, selenium, solar cover, solar power, sun energy, zinc oxide

Did you know that many analysts would like to identify light-catching elements in order to transform more of the sun’s energy into carbon-free electricity?

(more…)

Aerosols Control Rainfall in the Rainforest

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 20106 commentsEnvironmentaerosol particle, aerosols, Amazon rainforest, amazonia, amazonian basin, anne-marie schmoltner, anthropogenic, archeologists of the air, brazil, delphine farmer, ecosystem, environmental engineers, forest, global atmosphere, influence, joel kimmel, manaus, precipitation, qi chen, rainforest ecosystem, scot martin, secondary organic aerosol droplets, stephanie king, ulrich pöschl

*Precipitation-controlling aerosols over the Amazon rainforest originate from the forest ecosystem*

A team of environmental engineers, who might better be called “archeologists of the air,” have, for the first time, isolated aerosol particles in near pristine pre-industrial conditions.

(more…)

Category Archives: Environment