Cretech climate

Denver takes steps to cut greenhouse gases from commercial buildings

Denver is rapidly moving toward electrifying buildings and homes by eliminating gas ranges and fireplaces.  Driving the news: The Denver City Council unanimously approved an ordinance last week that will require large office and apartment buildings to use solar power and switch to electric and water heating systems by 2030. …

Think Climate Change Is Messy? Wait Until Geoengineering

Here’s the thing about the stratosphere, the region between six and 31 miles up in the sky: If you really wanted to, you could turn it pink. Or green. Or what have you. If you sprayed some colorant up there, stratospheric winds would blow the material until it wrapped around the globe. After a year or two, it would fade, and the sky would go back to being blue. Neat little prank.

Amazon and Target play ‘outsized’ role in port congestion and pollution, report finds

Amazon and Target are playing a big role in the port pollution crisis along the US West Coast, according to a report published today. These retail giants are among the top importers in the US and rely heavily on shipping routes between China and California. …

Crazy Floating All-In-One Renewable Energy Gizmo Has Everybody Suddenly Talking

When the German company SINN Power first introduced its floating hybrid renewable energy platform last year, the news caused barely a ripple. Now suddenly everyone is talking about the company’s so-named Ocean Hybrid Platform, including us. We’re calling it the Swiss Army Knife of clean power because it combines wind, solar, and wave energy all in one delicate-looking package. However, looks can be deceiving, and perhaps this spring chicken is no shrinking violet after all. …

‘Urban myth’: Can Congress replace coal with renewables?

As coal mines and power plants close across the U.S., many climate hawks envision a new generation of renewable energy facilities rising from the ashes of America’s coal fields.

Reality is more complex.

A retina-inspired device that can detect and recognize movements in the environment

Devices that can automatically detect and recognize moving objects have numerous valuable applications, for instance, enhancing remote environmental monitoring. Most existing motion detection and recognition (MDR) technologies are based on image sensors made of complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS). Compared to the human retina, these systems are often bulky and ineffective, as they require several hardware components for capturing, storing, and processing images. …

More Tree Canopy Can Stop Climate Change from Killing Vulnerable Americans

Critics of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act have singled out for mockery two words in the two-thousand-plus-page, roughly two-trillion-dollar legislation. Seizing on the words “tree equity,” FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy group, told its more than four million Facebook followers, “The Democrats want YOU American Taxpayers to shell out $3 BILLION for ‘non-racist’ trees.” House Republican Whip Steve Scalise tweeted, “Dems’ far-left spending bill exposed: $2.5 BILLION of American tax…

Israeli agtech companies take on worst-case climate crisis forecasts

As the battle to increase crop output faces off with ever-worsening extreme weather, Israeli agtech (agricultural tech) innovators are finding fresh ways to update and re-invent farming. Tech in agriculture is not novel but the agricultural field is taking its creativity up a notch as it adopts and devises new methods to change how farming functions.

Climate change hub coming to Governors Island

New York City’s work against climate change could have a new center of power at Governors Island, where a partnership of real estate and consulting companies is set to open a research and training facility.

The industry must act now on climate

As world leaders turn their attention to tackling climate change following COP26 in Glasgow and governments develop key commitments, this is an opportunity for industry to step up and do its part. Because if there is one thing we have learned from recent climate research, it’s that we do not have time to waste.