"However, because nuclear energy is generated without releasing carbon dioxide emissions, which cause global warming, the increased sense of urgency in responding to climate change has given nuclear energy a chance at a renaissance."
DOE to offer $2.5B for carbon capture projects at power plants, industrial sites
"The program focuses on projects that can be replicated at power plants and major industrial sources of carbon emissions, such as cement, pulp and paper, iron and steel plants, the department said."
Venezuela’s Oil Industry, Reopening to Investors, Is Major Polluter
"'It’s not even happening once in a while anymore, we’re now talking about spills and leaks that are practically constant because there’s no personnel to handle them,' Mr. Quero said. Venezuela has seen many experienced oil field technicians and laborers flee the country over the past decade as the economy tanked and as the collapse of the local currency, the bolivar, rendered salaries the equivalent of a few U.S. dollars a month, oil union leaders say."
Centrus Competes Construction, Initial Testing of HALEU Demonstration Cascade
"Centrus’s pioneering cascade uses gas centrifuge machines, which feed uranium hexafluoride (UF6)—heated to a gaseous state—into a rotor inside the centrifuge machine. A rotor spinning at high speed inside a steel casing uses centrifugal force to concentrate the heavier U-238 isotopes at the outer wall of the rotor and the lighter U-235 isotopes toward the rotor center. The streams are then fed to the next machines in a “cascade” to achieve the desired level of enrichment. Centrus will use a 4.95% LEU feed material for its planned HALEU 16 AC100M-centrifuge cascade. It suggests roughly 85% of the separative work units (SWU)—a measure of enrichment needed to produce HALEU—is already contained in the LEU feed material."
Maximizing the climate benefits of natural gas exports
"Some opponents of gas contend that new gas pipelines will lock in long-term emissions, but much gas infrastructure can be retrofitted to carry hydrogen or carbon dioxide captured from power plants. European companies announced recently they will build new power plants that will run first on gas, then on hydrogen produced from gas with carbon capture and storage, and finally on hydrogen made using renewable energy. These investments are an example of what many energy technology experts expect to be a variegated electricity production system, with the wide range of natural gas and hydrogen related plants getting power from differing but increasingly clean sources."
Australia’s endangered wildlife gets lifeline from invention that hollows trees
"To date, thousands of hollows carved by Hollowhog tools have been installed around Australia, with the technology in use by state and federal government agencies, as well as land care groups."
Planting More Trees In Cities Could Slash Summer Heat Deaths, Study Finds
"The research identifies a way for city planners to combat the impact of rising temperatures, wrote Kristie Ebi, a professor for health and the environment at the University of Washington, in a linked comment. Such action is especially important as climate change continues to drive temperatures upwards and it must be combined with other initiatives like modifying infrastructure to reduce heat, added Ebi, who was not involved in the research. Ultimately, 'all heatwave-related deaths are preventable,' Ebi said.
For all their ferocity, California storms were not likely caused by global warming, experts say
"'Most recent storm systems don’t hold a candle to the kinds of extreme prolonged storms of the last century,' said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. 'They do, however, point in the direction of the episodes of hydro-climate we can expect to see more of due to global warming.'"
Single-use coffee pods have surprising environmental benefits over other brewing methods
Allyson Chiu of The Washington Post reports on a new study from the University of Quebec on single-use coffee pods. “Packaging accounts for a much smaller share, the data shows. Here’s the math for pods: Manufacturing them and sending the used ones to a landfill generates about 33 grams of CO2 equivalent. Producing 11 grams...
Environmental Doomism Ignores Innovation and Progress
The answer to our greatest challenges is not to simply deem humanity “unsustainable.” Rather, it is to double down on innovation and economic freedom which is making people’s livelihoods better and safer.