Good News Notes: “Fossil fuels are driving up consumer energy costs, in part as a result of the industry’s exposure to the very climate disruptions it is continuing to worsen. These rising costs are yet another great reason to invest in clean energy now. Yet in a darkly ironic twist, fuel prices have been used…
Tag: fossil fuels
Project Vesta: Cutting-edge technology battles climate change by using olivine sand to pull carbon dioxide from atmosphere
Good News Notes: “In the battle against climate change, a San Francisco nonprofit has developed a cutting-edge technology that uses olivine sand to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions of all human activity around the world has surpassed 40 billion tons per year. Governments are now encouraging, and in some cases, requiring…
Tech Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes on How Australia Could Become a Renewable Energy Superpower
Good News Notes: “Australia is the world’s leading exporter of coal and liquified natural gas (LNG)—but the transition to green energy could make it a renewable energy superpower instead, says Mike Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder and co-CEO of the software company Atlassian, and a major investor in green projects. “Australia should aim for 500% renewables,” he said during…
Illinois becomes 1st Midwestern state to pass a law to phase out fossil fuels
Good News Notes: “At a time when the Midwest is being battered by more severe storms due to climate change, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a landmark law this month that will transition the state to 100 percent clean energy by 2045, with benchmarks along the way. While the effort has largely escaped national media attention, it…
Ocean Cleanup pilots ‘the first scalable technology’ to remove plastic waste from Earth’s waters
Good News Notes: “Each year, 8 million tons of plastic— the equivalent of a garbage truck load every minute — is dumped into the ocean, according to the World Economic Forum. The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands, is attempting to remove as much of that plastic as is feasible. “Our strategy…
Boston University to Divest from Fossil Fuel Industry
Good News Notes: “Boston University will divest from fossil fuels, starting immediately, President Robert A. Brown announced on Thursday, a decision reached amid increasing proof that burning fossil fuels is accelerating the harmful effects of climate change—and after nearly a decade of campus activism and protests. “This has been a long journey within the BU…
Novel Renewable Technologies That Could Power the Future
Good News Notes: “You’ve heard, of course, of solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric power plants, but did you know there are some other lesser-known renewable technologies currently in the pipeline? From stretchable or paint-infused solutions that can generate electricity from the Sun to ways for you to power your own electronics, the future of energy generation…
India hails ‘milestone’ for its renewables capacity, challenges remain
Good News Notes: “The Indian government has said that the country’s installed renewable energy capacity had “crossed the milestone” of 100 gigawatts. In a tweet Thursday, R. K. Singh, India’s minister of power, described the news as “another landmark day” in the history of the country’s power sector. The figure, which excludes large hydro, represents…
Mississippi-based biorefinery project to convert CO2 into sustainable aviation fuel
Good News Notes: “Sustainable fuel technology company Velocys has signed a strategic framework agreement with Koch Project Solutions (KPS) to develop a biorefinery project in Natchez, Mississippi, that will utilise both renewable power and carbon capture and storage. Sharing the news today (June 30th), Velocys said that the project is expected to produce approximately 33…
Waste hop stem in the beer industry upcycled into cellulose nanofibers
Good News Notes: “Some three quarters of the biomass in hop plants used in beer-making ends up in landfills. But a group of Japanese researchers has developed a technique that ‘upcycles’ that waste hop into cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). A paper describing the technique was published in the journal ACS Agricultural Science & Technology on June 11. In…