Gas pipeline pressure to generate electricity
by David Masters
The National Grid is piloting a new energy creation technology that harnesses the energy stored in high pressure gas pipes. Natural gas has extremely high pressure when it is sourced from underground. This pressure has to be reduced eight times before the gas is suitable for use in homes - a process that wastes huge amounts of latent energy. The new technology uses a turbine to harness the energy created when the gas ...
Extreme UK floods commonplace by 2080
by David Masters
"Big Floods in Northern England Won't Be Freak Events by 2080" claims TreeHugger. Research by Dr Hayley Fowler of Newcastle University has found that severe storms will increase in frequency and severity. At the moment, severe weather hits the UK every 5-25 years. However, Fowler predicts that extreme storms - those which cause widespread flooding - will become more commonplace over the next 70 years. In addition, the amount of rainfall that falls ...
Koreans joyful over bicycle sharing
by David Masters
In Chongwan, Korea's eco-capital, 2,500 people have signed up as members of the city's first ever bicycle sharing scheme, which opened in October. Members of the NUBIJA scheme can use any of the 430 bicycles, placed at 20 locations around the city centre, free for up to an hour, whilst one day's hire costs around $1.50. Over 8,000 rentals have already been recorded. According to NUBIJA's policy aide, Ha Seung-woo, if ...
Recycled Materials Phones From Motorola
by Alan Harten
When we were about eight, my friend and I cut holes in the bottoms of two plastic coke bottles and attached them together to make a telephone, so that we could talk to each other from our adjoining houses. Now, all these years later, I feel that we have a strong case against Motorola Inc for patent infringement. The company has announced that it has followed up on our pioneering experiments ...
President Bush Announces Ocean Conservation Area
by Alan Harten
In what critics may well see as a last minute effort to secure his place in “green” history, American President George Bush yesterday announced that the best part of 200,000 square miles of the Pacific will become areas of conservation. All this comes just two weeks before he leaves the White House, and follows eight years of pro-oil exploration, anti-environmental programs. Bizarrely this announcement will actually make Bush the president who ...
Credit crunched learn to forage food
by David Masters
Courses in food foraging are booming as Brits look to slash their food bill and take up hobbies that don't cost a penny. The National Trust has started offering foraging lessons, whilst courses run by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and wilderness specialist Ray Mears are almost completely sold out. In past generations foraging was part of everyday life. During the second world war, it contributed significantly towards food eaten by rural ...
Motorola unveils world’s first carbon neutral mobile phone
by David Masters
Motorola has released the world's first carbon neutral mobile phone with the aim of making social responsibility 'accessible to people everywhere'. The Renew W233 is the first ever handset to be made using recycled plastic bottles. Its features are basic. No camera, no bluetooth, and a 128x128 CSTN display. It does, however, come with an MP3 player, and supports up to 2GB memory. The handset weighs just 83 grams. ...
Vegetarians are more intelligent, study finds
by David MastersChildren with a high IQ are more likely to become vegetarian, a university study has found. Researchers at the University of Southampton found that people who had become vegetarian by the age of 30 had a higher than average IQ as a child. On average, those who became vegetarian scored five IQ points higher in tests at the age of 10 than those who continued to eat meat. Out of the 8,179 people ...
Bright Or Dim? Hoarding Conventional Bulbs
by Alan Harten
The funny looking but now familiar energy-saving light bulbs are about to take over lighting up the lives of UK residents. Conventional tungsten filament bulbs are about to flicker out and die off once and for all. Shops across the country have now ceased ordering any further stocks of the little pear shaped bulbs that have illuminated the lives of the last few generations. And by 2012, they will be gone ...
Farms In The Sky
by Alan Harten
The world faces many great problems as we begin to move through the 21st century; global warming, getting carbon emissions down, lack of clean water, not to mention the over exposure of Big Brother contestants. One of the other major problems that will hit human populations over the next 50 years will be a lack of land for growing food. Many places on earth such as Australia and Russia are “empty” ...
New road surface generates power
by David Masters
A new road surface has been discovered that generates electricity as cars drive over it. Developed in Israel and announced last month by the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), the road surface contains thousands of miniscule piezoelectric crystal that generate electricity when squeezed together. According to the ETA, if the surface were installed on every British motorway, it would generate enough electricity to power 34,500 small cars. The problem with this 'solution' is ...
Beijing bans heavy-polluting cars
by David Masters
One in ten cars in Beijing have been banned from entering the city centre in a bid to reduce the city's pollution. The 350,000 banned vehicles are responsible for half of the notorious auto pollution in China's capital. After a three month grace period, drivers caught in a high emissions 'yellow-label' vehicle inside the city's Fifth Ring Road will be fined 100 yuan ($15), 13% of the average Beijing-dweller's weekly income. The emissions ...
Credit crunch inspires sustainable living revolution
by David Masters
It's happening already. The credit crunch - which was fuelled by people taking on unsustainable levels of debt - is forcing people to think about living more sustainably. According to a new study by the Association of British Insurers, Brits are making New Year's resolutions to save money, rather than spending everything they have and more in a fashion that fuels the flames of unsustainable consumption. What's more, people in the ...
Green Money To Boost US Economy
by Alan Harten
Companies all over the USA are anxiously creating environmentally friendly projects in an effort to secure themselves part of President-elect, Barak Obama's, 'Green Pot'. This pot is a $100 billion incentive for companies to create jobs and invest in projects that are both ecologically and financially beneficial. The target for Obama and his team, when they take office early in the New Year, is to use this pot to provide ...
Thousands Protest Against Tiger Sanctuary Expansion
by Alan Harten
15,000 people turned out in protest against the expansion of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in India this week, despite assurances that the expansion won't be at the cost of their homes. This is the 3rd such protest since November. In 2006 a government report suggested that thousands of homes would be in danger when the much needed expansion went ahead, but this is now no longer the case. There are ...