Clean

Bill Gates said the world probably won't meet the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping temperature rise below 2C. But he praised the COP28 summit for making progress on tackling climate change despite geopolitical tensions.“Climate progress is moving ahead even though we won't meet our highest aspirations,” he said in Bloomberg TV, citing the biggest-ever attendance at the annual United Nations summit and announcements on food and health initiatives. Keeping warming to 2C, the weaker goal agreed on at COP21 in Paris, “isn't…

December 1, 20232min readCan waste plastic can be converted into hydrogen gas and a type of graphene—at a profit?By Rebecca Sohn Hydrogen gas is a carbon-free energy source that can be burned in place of fossil fuels. But its most common production method relies on methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Other known methods are costly and resource-intensive. Now researchers have found a cleaner—and, in theory, profitable—way to make hydrogen gas from waste plastic. The process also generates graphene, an extremely valuable,…

Green ammonia offers a solution to one of the hardest tasks in decarbonization: replacing diesel in large ships. Yara is stepping forward with a commitment to launch the world's first clean ammonia-powered container ship, ready for service in 2026.Marine diesel is an incredibly convenient energy source for great big ships, storing lots of energy and being easily available whichever port you pull into. But while shipping is a relatively efficient way to move goods in bulk, it's also responsible for somewhere between 1.7…

Back in 2014, before the launch of the Namami Gange program, Mishra sat with Modi to discuss his hopes to clean the Ganges. Mishra’s foundation has since presented its own proposals for treatment projects, but has been ignored. The Pollution Control Board and state government dispute the foundation’s data; Mishra, meanwhile, says that the government’s figures, which are averages of samples taken from across the width of the river, do not reflect the reality experienced by bathers on the ghats, where sewers discharge into…

Artificial intelligence is now on the agenda as world leaders, climate diplomats and thousands of others descend on Dubai for the United Nations climate summit. Boosters of machine learning are pitching it as tool for unlocking enormous cuts to emissions.Some of the hardest to decarbonize sectors like cement and steel could particularly stand to benefit, according to a new report from the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum, an international climate forum organized by the government of Japan. The final version of the report…

Michigan has become the 12th state to pass landmark legislation that sets a 100% clean electricity deadline for utilities. Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) today signed the Clean Energy Future Plan into law. It requires Michigan utilities to source 15% of electricity from clean energy sources such as wind or solar through 2029. That requirement will then increase to 50% by 2030, 60% by 2035, and 100% by 2040. The new law includes the increase of utility energy efficiency requirements and…

Meta that it is rolling out new tools that will give eligible researchers access to data from its social media apps Facebook and Instagram in an effort to “support public interest research.” The , which were previously made available for beta testing, will share real-time information about the user-generated content including metrics like the number of times a Reel on Instagram is viewed or the amount of posts that are made on a Facebook page.The Meta Content Library will exist on the web through a controlled-access ""…

It’s not often a motorsports event puts an emphasis on sustainability. Then again, the Rebelle Rally isn’t your average motorsports event. Instead of being based on speed, the Rebelle is all about precise navigation. Over eight days of competition, teams of two drive street-legal vehicles to 20 or so checkpoints each day, all off-road and without using GPS. The teams plot latitude and longitude points on a topographical map and figure out a way to get to those checkpoints using only analog tools: a scale ruler; a plotter…

A set of features rolling out to Google Photos today will make it much easier to declutter your photo library, the company announced in a . Google Photos will now automatically identify similar photos that you took in rapid succession – helpful for those times when you clicked 50 shots of that gorgeous sunset to get the one perfect frame you will never look at again – and group them in a single “stack” to clean up your library.The service will select a top pick that best represents the moment, but you can manually choose…

Another AI-infused option promises to isolate your voice by learning how you speak. Known simply as "Voice isolation," this feature will be able to recognize your voice and suppress other voices and noises in the background so that your own words come through more clearly. All it takes is a brief enrollment period, says Microsoft, and the AI will know how to identify your speech. Added to Teams Phone and Teams Meetings, the new "Voice isolation" will roll out in early 2024.Also: Kubernetes made simple? Microsoft adds…