carbonneutral

UCR’s Charles Cai and a newly installed 20-gallon CELF reactor that will be used in the scale-up project. Credit: Stan Lim / UCRIn the process of converting plants into fuel, the initial phase — decomposing the plant material — has consistently posed the greatest challenge. Recent research reveals that incorporating an easily renewable chemical during the pretreatment phase could, at last, render the production of advanced biofuels economically viable and carbon neutral.For biofuels to compete with petroleum, biorefinery…

Graphical abstract. Credit: iScience (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109154 International flights can transport us to most of the world's major cities within a day or two and later bring us home—often for less than a thousand dollars per seat. This jet-setting, however, comes with a heavy carbon emissions cost. Flying coach from Los Angeles to London adds more carbon into the atmosphere than the average lifetime carbon…

A simple, cheap pretreatment promises to radically cut the price of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from waste wood biomass – potentially making it cost-competitive with fossil-based jet fuel, while cutting down emissions by up to 80%.SAF isn't a perfect green solution to aviation – indeed, no perfect solution exists at this point. Running SAF instead of jet fuel still produces carbon dioxide – but it's a higher-purity fuel, producing up to 3% more energy while burning cleaner, with heavily reduced sulfur and…

Rick Fox has spent a lot of time in Hollywood, so naturally he has more than one origin story. Canadian-born, Bahamian-raised Fox played professional basketball in the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s, starring for the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. After retiring from the sport in 2004, he became a full-time actor, appearing in everything from Ugly Betty and The Big Bang Theory to Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! In 2015, he bought into a League of Legends esports team, a venture that ended in considerable acrimony four years…

Ford made a huge announcement Monday, revealing the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center is officially open for business. The new EV center is Ford’s first carbon-neutral plant and will be the home for its next-gen EVs, including the electric Explorer and an upcoming sports crossover EV. Founded in 1930, Ford’s assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, has built nearly 18 million vehicles. Monday’s announcement marks a new era for Ford’s European operations. As its first carbon-neutral assembly…

The Cupertino-based company, Apple, announced on Thursday its commitment to…

Back in 2017 Apple moved its headquarters to the spaceship-like Apple Park, which runs on 100% renewable energy thanks to a massive installation of 17 megawatts of solar panels on to campus’ roof. There are other clever design elements like using natural ventilation for 9 months out of the year instead of using heating or air conditioning. With Apple’s HQ already carbon neutral, the company is now working doing the same with its manufacturing partners. They currently use 13.7 gigawatts of renewable electricity, up 30%…

In 2019, Apple announced its ten-years goal to become completely carbon-neutral by 2030. While its offices already are, the company is taking an extra step to make its supply chain carbon-neutral. After all, it’s not Apple offices that represent a threat to climate change but how manufacturers extract materials, produce gadgets, and recycle the Cupertino firm’s products once the customer upgrades to a new model. That said, Apple has announced its manufacturing partners now support over 13 gigawatts of…

IH610 in Texas, pictured here, offers an example of concrete pavements. Pavements are one of many applications for concrete. Credit: Pixabay Almost 2.8 million lane-miles, or about 4.6 million lane-kilometers, of the United States are paved. Roads and streets form the backbone of our built…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Pangaea was the name Alfred Wegener gave to the supercontinent that existed on Earth 250 million years ago. Over the course of many millions of years, this supercontinent broke into different pieces, which became the landmasses we see on the globe today. Extensional forces on the tectonic plates causes continents to break apart—as Pangaea once did—creating new ocean basins. Large parts of…