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Heat pumps cost about $17,000 each, but if every home in America had one emissions from residential buildings would fall by 36 to 64 percent, and the savings from lower bills and cleaner air would pay for them. The country is heading in that direction faster than you might think. Heat pumps are expensive. What…
Corn stalks can grow to become twice as tall as a person, which makes them vulnerable to wind and difficult for farmers to tend. But short corn stalks can stand up to windstorms, boost yields and benefit the environment. Recognizing this, leading seed companies have engineered seeds that result in short stalks, and they are…
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Upside Foods, which produces “delicious meat” grown in labs, was planning to sell its products in Miami starting in December, but then Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a ban on the meats, telling Upside to “take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere.” Now it’s up to the courts to decide. Upside Foods files lawsuit against Florida…
Cement production injects a significant amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, so a California company has invented a solution: cement-free concrete that exceeds trade standards for strength and durability, emits close to zero CO₂ during its manufacture, and over time can even absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere. It could be a game-changer for construction…
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It was a long time coming, but thanks to years of construction and solid political leadership, California is suddenly producing more energy from clean sources than the state uses. By depending on solar panels, wind, geothermal sources and hydropower, the state is proving that it is possible to run a large modern economy on clean…
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Even though Virgin Atlantic garnered headlines last year by staging the first transatlantic flight using corn-based fuels that are far cleaner than traditional kerosene-based jet fuel, a new report warns that developing those fuels would cause more problems than they would solve. The effort to find a solution continues, but success may be years away. ‘Magical thinking’:…
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Sweden has come up with an imaginative way to comply with the European Union’s landmark legislation that requires all new cars sold from 2035 to have zero CO2 emissions: an electrified highway. The first-in-the-world plan will allow cars and trucks to recharge while driving, and Sweden says it will be and running in 2025. Sweden…
Ships, planes, trains and automobiles are responsible for about a quarter of our planet’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, so the search is on for a green energy source that is cheap, powerful, lightweight and safe enough to be carried around. The problem is that each type of transportation has its own peculiarities, so there is no…
Animal behavior experts thought Charles Darwin was being heretical when he said that animals feel pleasure, pain, happiness and misery the same way humans do. Now, though, they’re not so sure. Startling new evidence is emerging that indicates Darwin was absolutely right. Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv223z15mpmo Related Reading
Wouldn’t you like to eat free for a year? It’s possible, and France is showing the way by banning supermarkets from throwing away unsold food and making big polluters financially responsible for the waste they create. France has even passed an anti-waste law that laid out dozens of objectives for waste prevention, including a national…
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