More than 90 percent of Europeans living in cities are exposed to harmful levels of air pollutants, according to a new assessment from the European Environment Agency.
Concentrations of ground-level ozone, or smog, pose a danger to 97 percent of city populations,
Ammonia emissions from agricultural fertilizers are threatening sensitive ecosystems in U.S. national parks, a study led by Harvard researchers has found.
Thirty-eight national parks are seeing nitrogen deposition levels at or above the threshold for
Major projects aiming at capturing and burying carbon dioxide underground have slowed worldwide, according to a study by the Global CCS Institute in Australia.
Despite the common view among experts that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies could play a
Climate change could significantly transform up to 86 percent of the planet’s land ecosystems under worst-case global warming scenarios, according to researchers at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. That estimate is based on a 4 to 5 degree C temperature increase by the year 2100 — a scenario that is plausible given many
Still reeling from recent financial crises, Iceland is hoping to use its bountiful sources of geothermal and hydroelectric energy to help boost its economy. Among the country’s more ambitious plans is an undersea cable to carry renewable generated electricity to the U.K.
Amid clouds of steam spewing from magma-heated
Researchers found high levels of radioactivity, metals, and salts in sediments and water downstream from a Pennsylvania facility that treats fracking wastewater. Radioactivity levels downstream of the treatment plant were about 200 times higher than in surrounding areas, and concentrations of some salts and metals were also higher than background levels,
The Swedish furniture retailer Ikea will begin selling residential solar panels in its 17 UK stores within the next 10 months. The basic package’s $9,500 price tag will include 18 panels, installation, design consultation, energy monitoring, and maintenance.
With energy savings and current green energy
Saying it is 95 percent certain that humans have caused most of the global warming of the last half-century, scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned today that the world can afford to burn about 1 trillion more tons of carbon before facing extreme climate change.
Gains in air quality that would come from reducing greenhouse gas emissions could save up to three million lives per year by 2100, according to U.S. researchers.
Their findings, published in Nature Climate Change, come ahead of an important interim report by the Intergovernmental Panel
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will for the first time begin regulating carbon dioxide emissions from new coal- and natural gas-fired power plant sunder the Clean Air Act, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy announced. Speaking in Washington, McCarthy said, “Climate change is real, human activities are fueling that change, and
Storing carbon dioxide in the same shale formations that produce natural gas may be an effective way to sequester carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel-burning power plants, according to a U.S. study. Computer models by researchers at the University of Virginia suggest the Marcellus Shale, a 600-square-mile formation in the northeastern U.S. that is a center of
When renewable energy sources such as solar and wind farms generate more electricity than consumers need, storing the excess doesn’t always make sense, say researchers from Stanford University.
Large, grid-scale batteries capable of storing the extra electricity are resource-intensive and costly to
Despite decades of efforts that have dramatically improved access to clean water in India, more than 140 million people there still drink water contaminated by bacteria, chemicals, and other pollutants. Many of those Indians live in remote villages where it is not economically feasible to build infrastructure to filter water.
Scientists and government officials are questioning the way the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, widely considered the definitive authority on global climate risk, handles its major reports.
The panel typically issues “blockbuster” reports every five to seven years; the next is set to be