carbon emissions
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Research indicates that carbon dioxide removal plans will not be enough to meet Paris treaty goals
New research indicates a large “emissions gap” between what actions nations have committed to help remove carbon from the atmosphere and what’s required to meet Paris treaty goals.
From toilets to the sky: UK startup makes waste into low carbon jet fuel
Firefly Green Fuels, a UK-based company, has developed a new form of jet fuel that is entirely fossil-free and made from human waste.
Researchers quantify the carbon footprint of generating AI images
Researchers discovered that generating an image using artificial intelligence has a carbon footprint equivalent to charging a smartphone.
Biden administration announces first recipients of $7 billion hydrogen hub program
The Biden White House will deliver $7 billion in funding for seven regional “hydrogen hubs” that will work to produce more than three million metric tons of clean hydrogen per year.
Amazon's emissions increased dramatically last year despite carbon neutrality goal
The company doubled the size of its fulfillment network last year.
India will implement a battery swapping policy to boost EV sales
As part of a plan to boost EV sales, India is introducing a battery swapping policy.
Google Cloud will show users their gross carbon emissions
The company says Earth Engine can help businesses tackle climate change.
The future of diamonds is in recaptured CO2 pollution
The program resumed in 1951 and, by 1954, had succeeded in creating the first commercially viable lab-grown diamond. Gem-quality lab-grown diamonds wouldn’t arrive in jewelry displays until the 1980s.
F1 engine makers are testing sustainable fuel
F1 aims to hit net zero carbon emissions within 10 years.
Microsoft and 12 others join Amazon's climate change initiative
Unilever also pledged to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Google says it offset all of the emissions it has ever generated
Google eliminates its 'entire carbon legacy' and plans to use only clean energy by 2030.
Microsoft used hydrogen fuel cells to power a data center for two days straight
Microsoft announced Monday that hydrogen fuel cells powered a row of its datacenter servers for 48 consecutive hours, bringing the company one step closer toward its goal of becoming “carbon negative” by 2030. Microsoft is exploring how the clean technology could be used to fuel more aspects of its operations. The tech giant laid out plans in January to “ultimately remove Microsoft’s carbon footprint” by 2030.
Microsoft plans to be 'carbon negative' by 2030
2019 was the second-hottest year on record, and it's going to take a lot of effort to slow the Earth's ever-rising temperatures. Today, Microsoft announced details on what it'll do to help: the company now plans to be carbon negative by 2030. "While the world will need to reach net zero [carbon emissions], those of us who can afford to move faster and go further should do so," Microsoft president Brad Smith writes. "That's why today we are announcing an ambitious goal and a new plan to reduce and ultimately remove Microsoft's carbon footprint." That's a big change from Microsoft's plans to reduce carbon emissions by 75 percent that were announced just over two years ago.
Honda will offset 60 percent of its US electricity use with wind and solar
Honda plans to cover 60 percent of the electricity used at its North American manufacturing plants with renewable energy. Beginning next fall, Honda will purchase 530,000 MWh per year from the Boiling Spring Wind Farm in Oklahoma. In fall 2021, it will begin receiving 482,000 MWh per year from a Texas solar facility. According to Honda, this deal is the largest single purchase of solar and wind power by any automaker.
Microsoft announces plan to make the Xbox carbon neutral
Microsoft has joined other major tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Sony in laying out some new commitments to mitigate climate change. One of the more eye-catching measures it detailed was a pilot project to make 825,000 Xbox consoles carbon neutral. It says those'll be the first carbon-neutral consoles.
Amazon employees will reportedly walk out over climate change inaction
More than 900 Amazon employees plan to protest the company's lack of action around climate change. In an internal petition, the employees have pledged to walk out on September 20th at 11:30AM PT. They've outlined three demands: that Amazon stop donating to politicians and lobbying groups that deny climate change, that the company stop working with oil and gas companies on fossil fuel extraction and that Amazon achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Google pledges to 'maximize' recycled material in own products
Google has been making consumer hardware under its "Made by Google" brand -- like its Pixel phones and Google Home Minis -- for three years, and dabbled in other hardware for a few years before that. Now, it's ready to make its products more sustainable. Starting in 2022, 100 percent of its Made by Google products will include recycled materials and will maximize recycled content whenever possible. By 2020, 100 percent of all shipments going to or from customers will be carbon neutral.
Bipartisan highway bill proposes $1 billion for EV charging corridors
Today, a bipartisan group of senators are introducing the largest highway legislation in history. The America's Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019 proposes investing $287 billion over five years in federal transportation projects. While it includes standard measures like funding for highways and bridges, at least a few billion dollars are slated for reducing carbon emissions and installing EV chargers along highway corridors.
NASA's next satellite wants to know where all our carbon dioxide is going
Scientists have a pretty good idea what man-made greenhouse gasses are doing in our upper atmosphere, but not all of humanity's emissions stay up there. A good deal of that gas floats back down to Earth, seeping into the world's oceans and being absorbed by soil and plants on land. We're all familiar with this process, but NASA is looking for specifics: where on Earth, exactly, is this gas going, and why haven't we seen an increase in forestation to keep pace with our increased carbon emissions? That's what NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory hopes to find out. Tomorrow, it's launching Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 -- a satellite built specifically to keep an eye on how carbon dioxide is distributed across the globe.
Google details its carbon footprint in new report, makes you think twice about Rickrolling someone
The folks in Mountain View have always been obsessed with performance, but until now, Google had never come clean with the nitty-gritty surrounding power usage. A new report published by the company tells all, revealing that the search giant emits 1.5 million tons of carbon annually; a figure roughly on par with the UN's operational footprint, or slightly more than the amount produced by the entire country of Laos. The docket also breaks down the carbon emissions by activity, too: individual searches yield 0.2g, ten minutes of YouTube emits 1g and the average Gmail user produces 1.2kg of CO2 over a year -- which on average equates to a grand total of 1.46kg of CO2 per plebe across its properties. According to Google, that's a figure that would have been higher had it not custom designed its data centers, achieving a fifty percent reduction in energy usage versus the industry average. Plenty of infographical delight awaits you at the source below.
