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Masdar: The World’s First Zero-Carbon City
In 2007, the Abu Dhabi government announced that it would create the world’s first zero-carbon city, which would be known as Masdar (Masdar means source in Arabic). The announcement stated that Masdar would rely solely on renewable energy (primarily solar), while yielding no waste. Masdar would become home to a university with the purpose of studying sustainability and attracting the top clean tech companies. All of the transportation in the city would be via Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) car, instead of traditional cars. The PRT vehicles would run on electric motors, making it clean and free of carbon. The car is autonomous, driven by a computer that navigates direction with the aid of small magnets that are embedded in the road. The PRT vehicle is capable of sensing other vehicles, so as to yield to other traffic. The urban layout of Masdar would combine 21st century technology with classic Arab design. Thus, Masdar would become a real life functioning lab for a clean and green future, as well as a bridge for Abu Dhabi as it preps itself for the eventual day when its oil will run out. A Middle Eastern emirate, Abu Dhabi controls 8% of the world’s oil ...- Bookmark :
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LiveProud And E-Waste
A group called LiveProud recycles trash collected from landfills and puts it to use in an athletic apparel clothing line. While other clothing manufacturers utilize recycled polyester, wool or plastic bottles, LiveProud picks up all sorts of electronics that are found in the trash to produce their clothing line. Some of LiveProud’s products include a $75 pair of Dahlia Yoga pants that are made from 60% recycled nylon, 10% lycra, and 30% coconut shells that were found in the trash. They also sell a Gutter-Bunny Flow Coat for $210, which was crafted specifically for people who commute on their bike. The coat has a shell made from recycled cell phones, computer shells, and keyboards, while its inner fleece was crafted from plastic bottles. Charles Bogoian and Phil Tepfer, the cofounders of LiveProud, were chosen as America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs in 2010 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Their unique point of view on recycled fashion brought LiveProud’s clothes to Boston’s GreenFest in 2010. Nearly 60% of Americans claim that they do not recycle printers, cell phones, televisions, or computers, according to a 2010 survey. Thus, there is plenty of electronic waste out there to be recycled into all sorts of new products. This wide ...- Bookmark :
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Tracking Climate Change From Space
A $424 million dollar mission by NASA recently launched its newest satellite that will orbit the Earth with the purpose of analyzing airborne particles of dirt scattered by volcanoes, forest fires, tailpipes, and smokestacks. The Glory satellite blasted off into space last month from the Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Taurus XL rocket. The satellite was boosted to an altitude of 440 miles, and met up with an armada of satellites that have been collecting climate data for many years. The main goal for the satellite is to study fine airborne particles that are known as aerosols. Aerosols are smaller than the diameter of a human hair follicle. Aerosols are pervasive specks that can track large distances across the planet and are mainly to blame for creating hazy skies. What scientists know about aerosols is very little, especially when it comes to their effect on the climate. Thus, a better understanding of aerosols is necessary for improving climate models. Average temperatures on Earth have gone up 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past one hundred years. Carbon dioxide is to blame, according to scientists, primarily from the burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. Aerosols have shorter life spans, living for ...- Bookmark :
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Coal
Coal is burned to generate power. It is commonly thought that massive amounts of coal are burned because it is cheap. The actual price of coal is much more than what it is actually purchased and sold for. The cost we’re referring to is related to the effects of burning coal on people’s health and the environment. The resulting consequences from burning coal costs over half a trillion dollars every year in the United States. That means each individual person living in the United States is responsible for $1500 of that cost to the environment and their health every single year. These numbers were derived from the results of climate change, including negative effects to the public health from sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and other emissions and toxins. Other reasons for the high costs include accidents that occur during transporting coal, government subsidies, the public health cost in regions that have coal mining, and the decline in value of the land near abandoned coal mines. This substantial impact makes other sources of energy that are renewable and clean like solar power much more appealing than burning coal, not to mention cheaper. The subsidies aspect of fossil fuels is one of ...- Bookmark :
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The Facts About Brown Fat
The human body produces a unique type of fat tissue that acts unlike other types of fat tissue, because it burns through excess energy instead of storing it. This type of fat is known as brown fat and healthy adults will have deposits of this adipose tissue. Researchers are hoping to study brown fat for its potential for weight loss treatments. Only newborn babies and rodents were known to have deposits of brown fat before more recent studies were conducted. Brown fat got its name from its unusually high concentration of dark-colored mitochondria, which are the part of the cell that sustain cell activity. The main purpose of brown fat is to regulate the temperature of the body. Thus, the cells full of mitochondria are set up to burn high amounts of sugar, which is the body’s fuel, and then release the energy as heat. Newborn babies are dependent on this mechanism to stay warm once they leave the comfort of the womb and enter the world. The body becomes better able to regulate its temperature as it ages and thus the brown fat deposits tend to lessen, and white fat steps up to fill the void. Biologically speaking, brown fat ...- Bookmark :
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