Fusion energy needs more than a sustained fusion reaction before it can help the world produce sufficient carbon-neutral energy. The U.S. Department of Energy has identified a research and development agenda for a suite of technologies and processes to enable fusion. Two DOE officials named five of those pressing technologies in a webinar Thursday hosted [...]
Investment in fusion energy is about to go mainstream, according to the lead fusion coordinator for the U.S. Department of Energy. “As the technology continues to mature, there will be a point where private investors feel that they must be invested in fusion, and I feel like we’re starting to reach that inflection point,” Scott [...]
Those unusual frozen Februaries in Texas may not be so unusual anymore. Early winter has been warming across North America, but late winter is another story. Scientists have documented a cooling trend over more than 40 Februaries, marked by dangerous and increasingly common intrusions of Arctic air deep into the United States. “December has certainly [...]
If nuclear power has a future, it will likely be small, modular and water cooled, according to an expert with global credentials in nuclear research. “There are plenty of technologies now—50 different models around the world. Once one of them gets into a financially viable equation, that will capture the entire market,” said Alfredo Caro, [...]
The number and range of mosquitoes has boomed across North America in recent years, and with it, the number and range of mosquito-borne diseases. Ticks and fleas are following their lead. “Between the period of 2004 to 2016, the number of diseases caused by these insects— mosquitoes, ticks and fleas—has nearly tripled during this time [...]
It was supposed to be a dirty autumn and winter, with European nations scrambling to replace Russian gas with high-polluting coal. But according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the cold seasons so far have been the cleanest in more than 30 years. “There were widespread expectations that the fossil fuel [...]
On Dec. 19, the governments of 196 countries agreed to set aside 30 percent of the earth for wildlife, to slash subsidies to harmful industries, and to cut food waste in half, all in an effort to halt and reverse the collapse of the earth’s biodiversity. But science has shown that government efforts need individuals [...]
A Biden Administration effort to curb methane emissions on federal lands relies on a single phrase in the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 that may give the administration little leverage with the courts. The Administration is taking comments now on a proposed rule that would limit how much methane drilling companies can leak, vent, or [...]
A venerable energy-storage technology is getting a new lease on life thanks to a clever redesign and an agreement between the power industry and environmentalists. “Pumped storage is getting a second look. The sleeping giant is waking up for several reasons,” said Dan Reicher, a senior research scholar at Stanford University and a former U.S. [...]
Scientists have three main theories for the persistent decline in the numbers of monarch butterflies: • loss of their food supply to the herbicide glyphosate, • hazards along their four-generation-long migration from the Midwest and Canada to the mountains of Mexico, or • effects of climate change. “We accept that there’s probably some combination of [...]
