Researchers have reconstructed atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past 2.1 million years in the sharpest detail yet, shedding new light on its role in the earth’s cycles of cooling and warming.
The study, in the June 19 issue of the journal Science, is the latest to rule out a drop in CO2 as the cause for earth’s ice ages growing longer and more intense some 850,000 years ago. But it also confirms many researchers’ suspicion that higher carbon dioxide levels coincided with warmer intervals during the study period.
The authors show that peak CO2 levels over the last 2.1 million years averaged only 280 parts per million; but today, CO2 is at 385 parts per million, …

Study finds that climate’s influence on production, drying of fuels — not higher temperatures or longer fire seasons alone — critical determinant of Western wildfire burned area
The recent increase in area burned by wildfires in the Western United States is a product not of higher temperatures or longer fire seasons alone, but a complex relationship between climate and fuels that varies among different ecosystems, according to a study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and university scientists. The study is the most detailed examination of wildfire in the United States to date and appears in the current issue of the journal Ecological Applications.
“We found that what matters most in accounting for large wildfires in the Western …

The efficiency factor of solar cells is crucial for the success of generating electricity from sunlight. Systems in which light is concentrated 400-fold through lenses onto solar cells are proving to be particularly advantageous.
This concentrator technology enables expensive semi-conductor material to be replaced with cheaper lens systems, and greater efficiency to be achieved. In his thesis, physicist Marc Steiner from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg presented a way of increasing the efficiency of these concentrator solar cells even more.
The contacting of the semi-conductor layers plays a crucial role here, and Marc Steiner’s new simulation program optimizes the structure and configuration of the metallic contact fingers. These calculations yielded unprecedented efficiency …

A team of three Iowa State University researchers contributed to a study that found average wind speeds across the country have decreased by an average of .5 percent to 1 percent per year since 1973.
Declining wind speeds in parts of the United States could impact more than the wind power industry, say Iowa State University climate researchers.
Three Iowa State researchers contributed their expertise in modeling North America’s climate to a study to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres. The study – led by Sara C. Pryor, a professor of atmospheric science at Indiana University Bloomington – found that wind speeds across the country have decreased by an average of .5 percent …

In the past century of human history, we have known, almost exclusively, fossil fuels to be our main source of energy. However, before the industrial revolution, mankind existed successfully with biomass as the sole provider of energy. History shows us that biomass is a viable energy source on a basic level, but a century ago, biomass was overtaken by coal, gas, and oil.
Biomass is generally viewed as something associated with the third world. Yet there is another side to biomass; there is now something of a resurgence going on. As fossil fuel prices increase, biomass promises to play a more active role as a utility fuel, a supplement to natural gas, and a motor vehicle …

This is the most heated debate happening everywhere. Many people support the view that going green will actually cost them a little more. But, if you consider all the minute details, it is not the fact really. It is possible to be eco-friendly well within one’s budget even if it happens to be small start up business. Here are a few tips to go green and at the same time, save money on the office supplies.
1. Always buy products in bulk: This reduces the per unit cost and also reduces waste by using less packaging.
2. Recycle and reuse products: Toners, cartridges and other related products should always be reused rather than just dumping them out.
3. …

The potential economic benefits offered by the green economy in the current economic downturn will be explored on Budget Day by three leading experts in the fields of economics and environmental research: Dr Alex Bowen, of the LSE’s Grantham Research Centre, Professor Paul Ekins of Kings College, London and Dr Ralf Martin part of the ESRC’s Centre for Economic Performance.
Is the recession an opportunity to move away from some traditional, and environmentally unfriendly, industries to cleaner, greener industries to create new and sustainable employment?
The potential economic benefits offered by the green economy in the current economic downturn will be explored on Budget Day by three leading experts in the fields of economics and environmental research: …