Efforts to build larger wind turbines able to capture more energy from the air are stymied by the weight of blades. A Case Western Reserve University researcher has built a prototype blade that is substantially lighter and eight times tougher and more durable than currently used blade materials.
Satellite views of the Midwestern United States show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion (ppb) along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than $1 billion in lost crop production, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
Billions of people owe their lives to nitrogen fertilizers – a pillar of the fabled Green Revolution in agriculture that averted global famine in the 20th century – but few are aware that nitrogen pollution from fertilizers and other sources has become a major environmental problem that threatens human health and welfare in multiple ways.
Formally established just three years ago, aeroecology is the study of flying and floating organisms in the air they inhabit.
The same University of Washington researcher who used chemical sleuthing to deduce what’s in fragranced consumer products now has turned her attention to the scented air wafting from household laundry vents.
Findings, published online this week in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, show that air vented from machines using the top-selling scented liquid laundry detergent and scented dryer sheet contains hazardous chemicals, including two that are classified as carcinogens
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a new tool to allow 28 industrial sectors to submit their 2010 greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution data electronically.
Except for the few temperate regions on the West Coast, air conditioners are now standard equipment in most homes, especially in those newly constructed.
Eutrophication harms the environment in many ways. Unexpectedly, nitrogen fertilizer may also be positive for the environment. And even acidic soils, promoting the destruction of forests, can have a positive effect. Researchers from the Biogeochemistry Department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz found out that nitrogen fertilizer indirectly strengthens the self-cleaning capacity of the atmosphere.
Bacteria from fecal material -- in particular, dog fecal material -- may constitute the dominant source of airborne bacteria in Cleveland's and Detroit's wintertime air, says a new University of Colorado, Boulder study.
Using government-supplied measurements, the researchers found concentrations of fine particles in Ulaanbaatar’s air were more than seven times the level considered safe by the World Health Organization
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside along with their research partners received a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Energy to study and evaluate technologies that provide feedback to drivers so they can cut harmful emissions and reduce fuel use by up to 30 percent.
Their estimate, reported this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is based on a signal sent across the Pacific Ocean when operators of the damaged reactor had to resort to cooling overheated fuel with seawater.
As consumers stay focused on keeping cool during the hottest months of the year, they may fall victim to some of the myths that may be giving electricity customers the wrong idea about how to curb their electricity consumption and save money on their monthly bills.
Recent data from NSF-funded research in both Greenland and Antarctica demonstrate that fossil-fuel related emissions of both methane and ethane, two of the most abundant hydrocarbons in the atmosphere, declined at the end of the twentieth century, according to a paper published Thursday in the journal Nature.
These findings point to climate change and variability working together equally to accelerate the observed sea ice loss during the late 20th century.
New computer modeling work shows that by 2100, if society wants to limit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to less than 40 percent higher than it is today, the lowest cost option is to use every available means of reducing emissions.
Writing in the journal Annals of Botany, Professor Douglas Kell argues that developing crops that produce roots more deeply in the ground could harvest more carbon from the air, and make crops more drought resistant, while dramatically reducing carbon levels.
Residents in the Midwest awoke to the highest mold count for the season after a night of torrential rain and lightening strikes. An official air alert was issued by Joseph Leija, MD, allergist who performs the official allergy count for the Midwest for the National Allergy Bureau.
Carbon dioxide still plays a major role in climate change, but other greenhouse gases contribute to the problem.