Jim Conca

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It's Final -- Corn Ethanol Is Of No Use

Jim Conca

Can we stop pretending biofuel from corn is helping the planet and the environment? The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report reversing its previous support of biofuels, stating, “Increasing bioenergy crop cultivation poses risks to ecosystems and biodiversity” and “[Use of biofuels]…can lead to greater total emissions than when using petroleum products.”.

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Is America Doomed To Become A Second-Rate Country? Even In Nuclear?

Jim Conca

A new report by the National Science Foundation confirms China has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s leader in key scientific measures, including overall number of papers published and patents awarded. U.S. scientists also have serious competition from foreign researchers in some important fields.

Patents 311
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Cell-Based Meats Need An Ideal Matrix To Grow On

Jim Conca

Where and how you get your food really matters to the climate. Growing real meat without the animal, called cultivated meat, requires only a percent of the water and emits a percent of the CO2 of ordinary meat. But it needs a good foundation to grow on.

Energy 259
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Air Pollution Changes Through The Pandemic – A European Barometer

Jim Conca

A new study by Uswitch out of the United Kingdom shows some significant changes in air quality in many major European cities over the last two years. Athens, Greece improved air quality with a ~35% drop in pollutants from 2019 to 2021 while Reykjavík had the highest air pollution increase of ~14%.

Pollution 246
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Seafloor Mining For Rare Metals – A Brilliant Idea Or Another Environmental Catastrophe?

Jim Conca

Mining manganese nodules on the ocean floor for rare metals doesn’t generate toxic mine waste, uses no child labor and has a life-cycle carbon footprint 90% less than traditional mining. As long as care is taken with the ocean-floor habitat, it is superior to land mining in every way.

Waste 255
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PNNL’s Transactive Energy Coordination Puts The Smart In A Smart Electric Grid

Jim Conca

PNNL’s Transactive Energy Coordination technology offers a partnership between consumers and utility operators that could help keep the U.S. electric grid stable and reliable even in extreme weather with lots of renewables. It’s the kind of thing we imagine when we talk about a Smart Grid.

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We Can Store Our Excess Renewable Energy In An Energy Vault

Jim Conca

Energy Vault stores excess energy by efficiently transforming it into gravitational potential energy using 35-ton bricks that can be raised and lowered at will, and that can sit still storing the energy for any amount of time, before transforming the energy back to electrical energy when needed.

Energy 329