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New Statistical Technique Yields Better Wind-Speed Predictions with only Three Months of Data

When a power company wants to build a new wind farm, it generally hires a consultant to make wind speed measurements at the proposed site for eight to 12 months. Those measurements are correlated with historical data and used to assess the site’s power-generation capacity.

17 Jul 2015

EDF EN Canada Dedicates Rivière-du-Moulin Wind Project

EDF EN Canada Inc., a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles Group, today held a dedication ceremony for the Rivière-du-Moulin Wind Project. Once completed Rivière-du-Moulin Wind Project will be the largest wind energy facility in Canada at 350 megawatt (MW) total under a single Power Purchase Agreement. Local officials, stakeholders and company representatives were joined by 100 guests to mark the successful collaboration of the community to see this project come to fruition.

17 Jul 2015

MIT Spinout Develops Cost-Effective Systems to Treat Briny Oilfield Water for Reuse

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” produces a lot of wastewater. Drilling one well requires millions of gallons of water that’s injected into the ground to loosen rocks and release oil. While some is reused, much of the produced water is discarded into deep injection wells, and clean water is purchased again and again.

17 Jul 2015

Urban Wildlife Should be Cherished for the Ecological Benefits

Urban wildlife such as deer, foxes and badgers should be cherished for the ecological benefits they bring to towns and cities, rather than feared as potentially harmful pests, scientists argue in a new report.

17 Jul 2015

Dilbit Spills Can Seriously Harm Canada's Fish Populations

A mixture of bitumen and gasoline-like solvents known as dilbit that flows through Prairie pipelines can seriously harm fish populations, according to research out of Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada.

17 Jul 2015

Lake Erie’s Yellow Perch Fish Threatened by Climate Change

Research has suggested yellow perch grow more rapidly during the short winters resulting from climate change, but a new study shows warmer water temperatures can lead to the production of less hardy eggs and larvae that have trouble surviving these early stages of life in Lake Erie.

16 Jul 2015

Mercury Emission Control Systems also Lower Other Pollutants

Air pollution controls installed at an Oregon coal-fired power plant to curb mercury emissions are unexpectedly reducing another class of harmful emissions as well, an Oregon State University study has found.

16 Jul 2015

Fuel Cells are Ecologically Sound only if run on Hydrogen from Renewable Energy Sources

In the future, we might be driving fuel-cell cars that burn solar-generated hydrogen. This would make the “zero emissions car” a reality. At the same time, small combined heat and power units – also based on fuel cell technology – could be placed in our cellars at home. They convert natural gas and biogas into electricity while generating heat as an added “bonus” to warm the building.

16 Jul 2015

Impact of Climate Change on Future Fish Communities Must Be Anticipated

If it seems like you're pulling more bass than trout out of Ontario's lakes this summer, you probably are.

16 Jul 2015

Lichens, Mosses and Cyanobacteria Release Large Amounts of Greenhouse Gas

Inconspicuous creatures surprise with a property that is important for our climate: Lichens, mosses and cyanobacteria release large quantities of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O), also known as laughing gas, and low quantities of methane (CH4) into the atmosphere.

16 Jul 2015

Battery Second Use Strategies May Help Offset Expenses of Plug-In Electric Vehicles

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have the potential to dramatically drive down consumption of carbon-based fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the relatively high price of these vehicles--due in large part to the cost of batteries--has presented a major impediment to widespread market penetration.

16 Jul 2015

Groundbreaking at Iberdrola-Powered Amazon Wind Farm in North Carolina

For the first time, wind power is lifting off in North Carolina. Gov. Pat McCrory joined business and community leaders in Elizabeth City today to break ground on North Carolina's first industrial-scale wind power project.

15 Jul 2015

LG Announces Availability of LG NeON 2 Solar Power System in the US

LG Electronics today announced that its most innovative and efficient solar power system ever, the LG NeON 2, will be available in the United States in August.

15 Jul 2015

Human-Caused Changes to the Environment Causing Dramatic Breakdown in Ecosystem Behavior

A collection of fossilized owl pellets in Utah suggests that when the Earth went through a period of rapid warming about 13,000 years ago, the small mammal community was stable and resilient, even as individual species changed along with the habitat and landscape.

15 Jul 2015

Stronger Precipitation Extremes Observed Due to Ocean Warming

That the temperatures on our planet are rising is clear. In particular, the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide continue to warm the atmosphere. The effects of global warming on the hydrological cycle, however, are still not fully understood. Particularly uncertain is how the strength of extreme summertime thunderstorms have changed, and how it may change in the future.

15 Jul 2015