A University of Utah engineer has developed a new method to remove oil sheen by repeatedly pressurizing and depressurizing ozone gas, creating microscopic bubbles that attack the oil so it can be removed by sand filters.
Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world’s largest lake and its smaller brethren.
Spurred by a warming climate, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade across the continental United States, new research shows. The ratio of record highs to lows is likely to increase dramatically if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to climb.
Because land use changes are responsible for 50 percent of warming in the U.S., policymakers need to address the influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in addition to greenhouse gas emissions.
Baylor University researchers have identified a key component that increases the toxicity of golden algae (Prymnesium parvum), which kills millions of fish in the southern U.S. every year.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to fund research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering on technologies that would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the capture and permanent safe storage, or sequestration, of carbon dioxide (CO2). The project is in collaboration with Southern Company, the parent company of Alabama Power.
A chemical culprit responsible for the rapid, mysterious death of phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean has been found by collaborating scientists at Rutgers University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). This same chemical may hold unexpected promise in cancer research.
The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) 2010 is seeking entries for “Map Open Space,” the first of four online, juried competitions offered by FLEFF during its yearlong rollout of blogs, screenings and other online, user-generated events.
The American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the U.S. Botanic Garden today released the nation’s first rating system for sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings.
The impact of airborne nitrogen released from the burning of fossil fuels and wide-spread use of fertilizers in agriculture is much greater that previously recognized and even extends to remote alpine lakes, according to a study published Nov. 6 in the journal Science.
An innovative proposal by the Ecuadorian government to protect an untouched, oil rich region of Amazon rainforest is a precedent-setting and potentially economically viable approach, says a team of environmental researchers from the University of Maryland, the World Resources Institute and Save America's Forests.
Heavy traffic corridors in the cities of Long Beach and Riverside are responsible for a significant proportion of preventable childhood asthma, and the true impact of air pollution and ship emissions on the disease has likely been underestimated, according to researchers at the University of Southern California (USC).
In Bangladesh cholera epidemics occur twice a year. Scientists have tried, without success, to determine the causes – and advance early detection and prevention efforts. Researchers from Tufts University have proposed a link between cholera and fluctuating water levels in the region's three principal rivers – the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna.
The new book, “Organic Farming: The Ecological System,” combines farmer experience with the latest scientific research to better understand the role of organics in modern agriculture.
Most land-use changes occurring in the continental United States reduce vegetative cover and raise regional surface temperatures, says a new study by scientists at the University of Maryland, Purdue University, and the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The remaining ice fields atop famed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania could be gone within two decades and perhaps even sooner, based on the latest survey of the ice fields remaining on the mountain.
Over nearly a century, thousands of residents and workers in Libby, MT, have been exposed to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore, leading to markedly higher rates of lung disease and autoimmune disorders, and causing to Libby in 2002 to be added to the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s “National Priorities List.”
A study published November 2, 2009 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) suggests that polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) may affect serum cholesterol levels in people. The authors, all from the Boston University School of Public Health, used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an ongoing survey of a representative sample of the civilian U.S. population that gathers data on dietary and health factors. NHANES is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A team of researchers from The Florida State University, Duke University and the National Marine Fisheries Service will study the environmental and economic impacts of the vast “dead zone” in the northern Gulf of Mexico on shrimping in the region, home to one of the nation’s most highly valued single-species fisheries.
Two Texas Tech University researchers are tackling the global warming debate from a Christian perspective with a new book, “A Climate For Change: Global Warming Facts For Faith-Based Decisions.”
Members of the press are invited to the unveiling and policy discussion of a major international study on the Public Health Impacts of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions being published in Lancet, just in time for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Learn more about the Energy Institute’s programs and meet its leadership, including faculty co-directors Catherine Wolfram and Severin Borenstein. The event is free and open to the public.
Hydrogen fuel, with steam as its only byproduct, would be the ultimate clean, green fuel. But it has failed to deliver on this promise due to one enormous stumbling block: storage capacity. Now UMass Amherst chemical engineers propose a computational model showing carbon nanotubes offer a solution.
The government of Cambodia has transformed a former logging concession into a new, Yosemite-sized protected area that safeguards not only threatened primates, tigers, and elephants, but also massive stores of carbon according to the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which worked closely with governmental agencies to help create the protected area.
With technology similar to that used by physicians to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, researchers are studying the metabolic activity of a pathogen shown to cause coral bleaching, a serious threat to undersea reef ecosystems worldwide.
Being green is not just watching what you eat and cutting back on the energy that you use. If you are a nurse, it can also apply to the way you do your job and the way that you treat your patients.
Recognizing the vital role business will play in responding to energy and climate change challenges, the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, is launching a new energy institute. The new Energy Institute at Haas will address both the rising need for research and the growing student interest in the markets, policy, and technology for sustainable energy.
Grinnell College has added two more Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings to its green campus commitments. The Joe Rosenfield '25 Center, the campus center opened in 2006, and the Robert N. Noyce '49 Science Center's second phase construction completed in 2008, are the two latest additions to Grinnell's LEED building certifications. The science center received the LEED silver designation, and the student center received the base certification.
The University of Delaware will host a conference on “The Ethics of Climate Change: Intergenerational Justice and the Global Challenge” Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30-31, at the Clayton Hall Conference Center on the University's Newark campus.
A study published October 19th ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) found that 2- to 5-year-old children diagnosed with autism or autism spectrum disorders (AU/ASD) had blood mercury levels similar to those of typically developing control children after adjusting for a variety of sources. The study was conducted through Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE), an ongoing study to identify and understand factors contributing to childhood AU/ASD and developmental delays.
Many trends start in California and then spread eastward across the US. When it comes to energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, California is taking the lead in retrofitting existing buildings to reduce energy use and emissions.
When a college student receives a new car, their first typical thought isn't how they'll dismantle the vehicle's engine and re-engineer it for maximum fuel efficiency and lowest possible emissions. But that's exactly what members of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team of Virginia Tech (HEVT) plan to do with a 2009 crossover SUV.
Everywhere you look on the Butler University campus in Indianapolis, there’s something “green” going on. A new classroom and lab addition to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences building was built following national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria. Ditto for renovations that brought an abandoned 80-year-old fraternity house back to life.
A significant gap lies between consumers’ attitudes towards “green” initiatives in the hospitality industry and their actual behavior, according to a study by two hospitality and tourism management students. Moreover, consumers who engage in environmentally friendly behavior at home behave differently when staying at a hotel, the study found.
An attribute of the Virginia Tech entry in the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an advanced shutter that slides along the north and south façades, providing insulation and protection from direct sunlight while allowing for indirect, natural lighting, views to the exterior, and privacy to those inside.
Where there are wildfires, there's smoke. And where there is climate change, there may be more--and more intense--wildfires. What does that mean for the health of the people downwind from the smoke?
Tree leaves may be powerful tools for monitoring air quality and planning biking routes and walking paths, suggests a new study by scientists at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, USA. The research will be presented at this month's Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon.
In the article “Growing Green,” appearing in the fall issue of the journal, Americas Quarterly, Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, says Latin America has a unique opportunity to emerge as a world leader in global conservation and the movement to mitigate global climate change, while pursuing sound and sustainable policies of economic growth.
The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife today holds a hearing to consider expansion of key environmental education and training programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Urban grasslands are an extremely common, but poorly studied ecosystem type. Many receive high rates of fertilizer, creating concerns about nutrient runoff and greenhouse gas emissions. Recent research has been focused on long-term study plots to evaluate multiple ecological variables in different components of the urban landscape.
Conservation biologists are setting their minimum population size targets too low to prevent extinction, according to a new study led by University of Adelaide scientists in Australia.
Research to develop a new method to detect biological and chemical threats may also lead to new approaches for removing pollutants from the environment.
The Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force will meet from October 12-14 in Portland, ME to continue developing critical management recommendations for small prey fish like sardines, anchovies and menhaden that are caught by commercial fisheries on a massive scale, almost always without consideration of their essential role in oceanic food webs.
For the first time, climate scientists from across the country have successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations for climate change, questioning previous assumptions regarding carbon feedback and potentially helping to refine model forecasts about global warming.