February, 2014

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Watch the Great Lakes Freeze Over

TIME Ecocentric

Correction appended February 26 You can measure a winter in many ways: temperature records, snow cover, even travel delays. But to truly see how frigid this winter has been—at least for the eastern half of the U.S.—you need to go way up. Satellite imagery shows that an incredible 88% of the Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie—are now frozen over.

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Top 10 Women of Solar

Women in Cleantech and Sustainability

Posted by Guest Contributor Anyone who’s tried to get a ticket to the consistently sold out Women in Solar Breakfast panels during Solar Power International knows the female contingent of this industry is passionate about carving out and defending their seats at the proverbial table. Whether it’s educating women on installing systems or empowering them to speak out against the “booth babe” culture at conferences, their dedication to solar power and advancements in the field are truly astoundin

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Cliff Majersik, IMT, Identifies Efficiency as Energy’s Biggest Asset

Cleantech Blog

The Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit working in the areas of energy efficiency, green building, and environmental protection. Much of IMT’s effort goes toward correcting inadequacies in the construction/remodeling vertical that prevents investors from taking a stake in energy efficiency and sustainability in the United States.

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How Uncle Sam Is Helping to Feed the Honeybees

TIME Ecocentric

When I wrote a cover story last August about the plight of the honeybees, I didn’t think I’d still be talking about it half a year later. Yet this afternoon I went down to Washington to address a meeting of the National Garden Club—and the topic, of course, was honeybees. I wish I’d had better news to offer. Scientists still don’t know exactly why rates of honeybee loss have been so high in recent years, though there has been some promising research identifying new viruse

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How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES

Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions

Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.

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Nuclear Fusion Just Got a Little Closer to Becoming a Reality

TIME Ecocentric

When physicists first split the atom in 1938, in the process known as nuclear fission, the feat led very quickly to the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ended World War II. A mere decade or so later this destructive force had been tamed to power the first commercial nuclear power plants. In the late 1940’s, meanwhile, physicists forced atoms to combine against their will to create hydrogen bombs in what’s called nuclear fusion, and they thought they could follow up in the civilian

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Volcanoes May Be Slowing Down Climate Change

TIME Ecocentric

Small volcanic eruptions might be part of the reason why the pace of global warming hasn’t kept up with previous predictions, a new study published in Nature Nature Geoscience suggests. Eruptions of at least 17 volcanoes since 2000, including Kasatochi in Alaska and Merapi in Indonesia, seem to have had a cooling influence on the temperature of the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere.

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Save the Polar Bear—Today Especially

TIME Ecocentric

It’s International Polar Bear today, so if you live within shouting distance of the Arctic Circle, hug the closest polar bear. (Actually do not do that—an adult male polar bear is nearly half a ton of hungry predator and they are extremely dangerous.) Still, the beasts deserve a little tenderness. The polar bear is now considered a vulnerable species, under threat from the loss of its sea ice habitat.

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Can Urban Beekeeping Stop the Beepocalypse?

TIME Ecocentric

I’m just going to say it: Los Angeles is abuzz over urban beekeeping. For years the city has had a thriving underground beekeeping culture, with hives kept in backyards by Los Angelenos who want their honey extra local. It’s part of a national trend that has even luxury hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria in New York keeping bees on city roofs or in tiny urban backyards.

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Oklahoma Shakes—Is Fracking to Blame?

TIME Ecocentric

It’s been a shaky week in Oklahoma. The Sooner State has experienced more than 150 earthquakes over the past week, far more than the Okies usually get. And while the vast majority of the quakes were fairly minor, one, on Feb. 16 measured 3.8 on the Richter scale, followed by a number of aftershocks. There’s been little damage reported, but the quakes jolted folks in a part of the country who aren’t accustomed to the Earth moving under their feet. “[It] felt like bombs goi

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California’s Farmers Need Water. Is Desalination the Answer?

TIME Ecocentric

President Obama will get to see California‘s disastrous drought first hand today on a visit to the farming city of Fresno. It won’t be a pretty sight. While the conditions are arid across the state, with 91.6% of California in severe to exceptional drought, agricultural areas are suffering the worst. The state’s Central Valley has long been the fruit and vegetable basket of the country, growing nearly half of U.S. produce.

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The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. ♻️ Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene

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California Is Finally Set to Get Rain, But It Won’t Quench the Drought

TIME Ecocentric

How extreme is the drought in California? Right now the federal government says that every square mile of California is in some state of drought—and 14.62% of the state, concentrated in central California’s agricultural heartland, is in the most extreme state of exceptional drought. Rainfall in some of the most populated parts of the state have been all but nonexistent—since July 1, San Francisco has experienced just 5.85 inches of rain, about 35% of what’s normal, and Los Angeles ha

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A Landmark International Agreement to Halt Wildlife Trafficking Is Just the Beginning

TIME Ecocentric

Leading nations gathered in London this week for the highest-level meeting ever to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife products. Illegal wildlife trafficking—the unlawful slaughter of endangered animals to trade their valuable parts—has risen alarmingly in recent years. Campaigners estimate that more than 30,000 elephants were killed in Africa last year for their ivory and 1,000 rhinos killed in South Africa alone, an increase of some 5,000%.

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Japan Mulls Nuclear Revival Not Even 3 Years After Fukushima

TIME Ecocentric

If there was one thing that seemed certain in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in 2011—the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl—it was that nuclear power in Japan and the rest of the world was in major trouble. Japan, which before Fukushima had generated 30% of its electricity from nuclear, eventually took all of its 50 commercial reactors offline to pass new safety tests.

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Quit Your Whining—For the U.S., January Wasn’t That Cold

TIME Ecocentric

I should be in Florida. I was supposed to fly to Miami from New York this morning to report a magazine story, but my flight, along with more than 12,000 others, was cancelled thanks to the massive winter storm currently ravaging the East Coast. So instead I wound up staying home, helping my injured girlfriend wade through the snow to the doctor’s office, struggling through the latest storm in the winter that will never end.

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Electrofuels Are the Future: The Driving Force to Decarbonizing Heavy Transport

Speaker: Ayesha Choudhury - Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets at Infinium

With the first wave of the energy transition, renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) have begun replacing coal power generation. However, some sectors are lagging behind and struggling to decarbonize more than others, including large-scale transportation like commercial aviation, shipping, and rail transit. Electrofuels (aka eFuels) are the next generation of solutions to help the hardest-to-abate sectors pivot from their reliance on fossil fuels.

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The Making of an Ice Storm

TIME Ecocentric

How severe is the combination snow and ice storm whiplashing the Southeast today? At 7 AM today a weather balloon was launched from Atlanta, to aid meteorologists in determining just how badly screwed the Peach State was. (Answer: very.) Heavy ice began to accumulate on the balloon, until it was finally lost at about 12,500 ft. (3,810 m) above the ground.

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White House to Toughen Fuel Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles

TIME Ecocentric

When it comes to environmental initiatives, President Obama’s controversial efforts to impose some form of greenhouse gas regulation on America’s power plants have gotten most of the attention. There’s good reason for that—the utility sector is the single biggest carbon emitter in the U.S., and the future of coal power in particular could decide the climate future of the U.S.

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U.S. Confronts Wildlife Trafficking With Ivory Trade Ban

TIME Ecocentric

Wildlife trafficking—the illegal killing of endangered animals and international trade in their parts—isn’t just a conservation problem. It’s a worldwide threat, one tied to global crime syndicates and international terrorism. So it’s good to see the U.S.—the second-biggest market for legal and illegal ivory after China— beginning to take the problem more seriously.

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Five Questions with DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman

TIME Ecocentric

There’s never a bad time to be named CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but when Ellen Kullman took over the 211-year-old DuPont at the beginning of 2009, things could have been better. The global economy was tanking, sales were dropping and the future was hazy. Fast forward five years later, though, and DuPont is surging. Kullman has transitioned the company away from some of its traditional fields—including the performance chemicals business, best known for its nonstick frying pans and paints

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AR/VR Simulations for Sustainable, Regenerative, Circular Cities

Speaker: Nik Gowing, Brenda Laurel, Sheridan Tatsuno, Archie Kasnet, and Bruce Armstrong Taylor

With 191 country signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement now hard at work in the race to zero carbon by 2050, much of the heavy lifting in ecosystem sustainability falls on the shoulders of the world's densely populated urban centers. This conversation considers how today's AI-enabled simulation media, such as AR/VR, can be effectively applied to accelerate learning, understanding, training, and solutions-modeling to sustainability planning and design.

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While Britain Floods, Politicians Debate Climate Change

TIME Ecocentric

Britons are normally never more comfortable than when talking about the weather, but recent extreme weather events have began to test that theory. Since December, the U.K. has faced a relentless assault from some of the worst winter weather on record. It began with the worst storm and tidal surges in 60 years hitting the North Sea coastline, floods that ruined Christmas for thousands across Surrey and Dorset and in January, the most exceptional period of rainfall since 1766.