THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Extreme heat has already made 2024 a busy wildfire year. More acres had burned in the US by mid-July than in all of 2023, and several communities had lost homes to wildfires. As fire season intensifies across the …
Read More »Enough With the Arrogant Attitudes Towards Extreme Heat
This story originally appeared on Vox and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A 4-month-old died in Arizona as temperatures climbed into triple digits. A 2-year-old died in a hot car, also in Arizona. At least four people have died from heat-related illnesses in Oregon. One motorcyclist died and …
Read More »Paris Mayor Defies Poop Threats to Swim in Seine, and Prove a Point
On a sunny Wednesday in Paris, the city’s mayor inches down a ladder into the blue-brown water of the river Seine, one cautious step at a time. After a few seconds, once Anne Hidalgo’s wet suit is completely submerged, she dons small dark goggles and dunks her face underwater—proving to …
Read More »The New UK Government Wants Clean Energy, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, and Public Transport Reform
The new Labour government in the UK set out its legislative priorities today after winning a landslide election on July 4. At the official state opening of parliament, King Charles III read a speech outlining the bills that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government will attempt to pass over the coming …
Read More »Cutting-Edge Technology Could Massively Reduce the Amount of Energy Used for Air Conditioning
The Chinese bus company couldn’t work it out. Some days when its buses merely crawled along Shanghai’s streets, their power consumption would go through the roof. The reason why was a mystery. So, a team from the US firm Montana Technologies flew out to investigate. They started clamping electricity meters …
Read More »It Will Soon Be Easier for Americans to Recycle Batteries
Do you have a collection of old cell phones in a desk drawer somewhere because you don’t know what to do with them? A new US initiative aims to make it easier for people to recycle phones, computers, and other battery-powered electronics. This month, the US Department of Energy announced …
Read More »Hurricanes Are Trapping Small Island Nations in Ever-Worsening Spirals of Debt
THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Hurricane Beryl laid waste to communities—even whole islands—as it barreled through the Caribbean over the past week. Never has such a powerful Atlantic hurricane arrived this early in the year: The ocean is usually too cool. Smaller islands …
Read More »America’s Aging Dams Are a Catastrophe Waiting to Happen
This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Minnesota’s century-old Rapidan Dam captured the national spotlight last week when its partial failure destroyed a home and prompted county officials to demolish an adjacent store. Yet it’s just one of hundreds of dams …
Read More »AI's Energy Demands Are Out of Control. Welcome to the Internet's Hyper-Consumption Era
Right now, generative artificial intelligence is impossible to ignore online. An AI-generated summary may randomly appear at the top of the results whenever you do a Google search. Or you might be prompted to try Meta’s AI tool while browsing Facebook. And that ever-present sparkle emoji continues to haunt my …
Read More »How to Build a Hurricane-Proof House
They couldn’t sleep. A hurricane was lashing their brand-new house with a torrent of wind and rain. Deborah Rodriguez and her husband were miles away, snuggled up in a hotel bed, but they could watch the drama unfold in real time: Their smartphones were connected to their home security cameras. …
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