Tropical peatland fires rank among the most dangerous and stubborn fires on Earth. Instead of racing through trees and vegetation, these fires smolder through dried wetland soils and large deposits of peat, often continuing underground at relatively low temperatures. That makes them extremely difficult to extinguish and exceptionally polluting. By one estimate, peat fires produce three […]
A solar bonds scheme could absorb the financial impact of rooftop solar, while keeping your energy bill savings. Here’s how. Interest in rooftop solar has surged in recent months, as Europeans scramble to protect themselves from the spiralling costs of fossil fuels. According to an EU-wide analysis published in the Nature Energy journal, rooftop solar photovoltaics (solar […]
Local communities in Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan are turning to the Indigenous practice of glacier grafting as water shortages take hold. The world’s highest peaks are located in the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges, part of a vast mountain belt stretching across Asia. But beneath their grandeur lie some of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems. […]
Glacial earthquakes are a special type of earthquake generated in cold, icy regions. First discovered in the northern hemisphere more than 20 years ago, these quakes occur when huge chunks of ice fall from glaciers into the sea. Until now, only a very few have been found in the Antarctic. In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, I […]
China has seen an explosive growth in its renewable installation, with coal’s share in its energy mix edging down in recent years. China’s solar energy capacity has surpassed that of coal-fired power for the first time ever. “As of the end of July this year, China’s installed solar power capacity reached 1.286 billion kilowatts,” China’s National Energy […]
Weather forecasters have warned that parts of Europe will be entering “flash-flood season” following a blistering summer. Europe’s blistering summer was a “grim illustration” of human-caused climate change. That’s what the European Commission said in June, when much of the continent was already baking under its third heatwave of the year. July and August provided […]
Rock glaciers look very different from conventional glaciers. Instead of exposed ice, they resemble sprawling fields of loose rock, while potentially concealing large quantities of ice below the surface. These formations are widespread across Utah’s Wasatch and Uinta ranges and can also be found on the Colorado Plateau in the La Sal Mountains near Moab. […]
Virginia Tech chemist and chemical engineer Guoliang “Greg” Liu and his research team have developed a method for transforming polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into polyalphaolefin, an important ingredient used in lubricants including engine oil. Published Aug. 5 in Nature, the work could offer a way to address two separate environmental problems at once: the difficulty of recycling […]
El Niño can supercharge the impacts global warming. But burning fossil fuels could also be strengthening the destructive climate phenomenon. A new study suggests that El Niños – the natural climatic chaos agent that pops up periodically and spikes global temperatures – are getting stronger because of human-caused climate change. El Niños are more than […]
Marine heatwaves are increasingly being recognized as more than an environmental problem. New research warns that prolonged periods of unusually warm ocean temperatures can also threaten human physical and mental health. Researchers from Adelaide University and the University of Hong Kong say marine heatwaves should be treated as an important public health concern. They argue […]
