Household size — the number of people living together under one roof — has been shrinking worldwide, and the trend could have major consequences for resource consumption, new research finds.
Although global population growth has been somewhat curbed in the
A new set of maps highlights the importance of habitat corridors in helping wildlife deal with the effects of climate change and deforestation. The series of maps shows more than 16,000 habitat corridors — swaths of land that connect forests or protected areas and allow animals to move between them — in tropical regions of Africa, Southeast Asia, and
As the continental U.S. faced frigid weather and major winter storms in January, Alaska experienced record high temperatures. A map based on NASA satellite data shows that the last half of January was one of the warmest winter periods in Alaska’s history, with temperatures as much as 40
The U.S. State Department’s long-awaited final report on the Keystone XL pipeline will likely conclude that the controversial project will not appreciably increase carbon emissions, according to Reuters.
The finding would not be the final word on the project, as the decision whether to allow the pipeline
Norwegians have been snapping up electric cars: In the last three months of 2013, the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf outsold all other cars, including conventionally fueled models. But rather than environmental concerns, a host of government incentives — totaling an estimated $8,300 per vehicle — are largely driving the boom, the
Researchers have created a new kind of generator that uses bacterial spores to harness the untapped power of evaporating water. Scientists from Harvard and Columbia universities have created small, prototype generators by coating a sheet of rubber with a soil bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, that greatly expands and contracts with changes in humidity.
As few as six of the world’s previous 19 Olympic Winter Games sites will likely still be wintry enough to host snow sports at the end of the century, according to a report by Canadian and Austrian researchers.
Iconic locales such as Squaw Valley, Utah, and
U.S. trains spilled 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013 — more than was spilled in the nearly 40 years since officials began tracking such accidents, federal data show. The majority of that volume came from two major derailments: a November incident in Alabama that spilled 750,000 gallons and a December incident in North Dakota that officials
Google’s purchase of Nest, a leading manufacturer of smart thermostats, further deepens the Internet search giant’s involvement in the green energy sector and is likely to help accelerate development of a more efficient
smart grid, experts say.
The dramatic increase in using natural gas to produce electricity in the United States has led to an equally dramatic decline in the amount of pollutants and carbon dioxide emitted from the nation’s power plants, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by researchers at the National
In 2013, the Chinese government approved 15 large coal mining projects that will produce more than 100 million new tons of coal a year. The expansion will lead to a 2 to 3 percent growth in coal production over the next several years, even as the country announced moves to reduce the severe air pollution choking major cities such as
City-dwellers in the U.S. have significantly smaller per-capita carbon footprints than their rural counterparts, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. But the carbon-intense suburbs surrounding major cities essentially cancel out the small carbon footprints of city residents, the study found.
Crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken field may be more flammable and explosive than previously thought, officials now say after a series of fiery railroad accidents.
The crude may contain more flammable gasses, be highly corrosive, or more sulfurous than crude from