Energy, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 8, 2017

California Prepares for Solar Power Loss During the Great Eclipse

A total solar eclipse that will sweep across the United States on Aug. 21 is expected to make a noticeable dent in solar-energy collection, prompting energy workers to concoct workarounds that will help them meet energy demands while the eclipse passes overhead. Utility workers already have a game plan in...

Jul 3, 2017

More Than a View: Windows Double as Solar Panels

A tech startup on a mission to make modern commercial and housing estates energy neutral has outfitted the headquarters of a Dutch bank with the world's first commercial, fully transparent solar-power-generating windows. The windows have solar cells installed in the edges at a specific angle that allows the incoming solar...

Aug 20, 2017

Total Solar Eclipse Could Cost US Nearly $700 Million in Lost Productivity

The total solar eclipse of 2017 could cost U.S. companies nearly $700 million in lost productivity on Monday (Aug. 21) when workers pause to watch the moon block the sun. Based on an analysis from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the worker outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc....

Aug 24, 2017

Solar Power Dipped Along Great American Solar Eclipse Path (Video)

Solar power took a dip in the United States when the total eclipse swept across the country Monday (Aug. 21), as a new video shows. As the solar eclipse moved from coast to coast, solar-energy generation dropped. The map shows the hottest zones — in dark orange — fading to...

Sep 19, 2017

London's 143-Ton 'Fatberg' Gets Second Chance As Biofuel

Even a fatberg — an enormous clotted, mass of fat and garbage found clogging a London sewer — deserves a second chance, and the biggest fatberg ever found in a British sewer recently got one. The fatberg, a cement-like plug of accumulated cooking grease, diapers, wipes, sanitary products and other...

Sep 19, 2017

Toilet Paper Power: How Used Bathroom Tissue (Yuck) Could Generate Electricity

Are we flushing away a greener future? Perhaps, according to scientists who found a way to turn used toilet paper into electricity. The researchers found that they could generate energy from waste toilet paper with about the same efficiency as a natural gas plant and for the same cost as...

Sep 20, 2017

How 139 Countries Could Be Powered by 100% Renewable Energy by 2050

Scientists have published a detailed road map to move 139 countries to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, according to a recent study. Energy experts at Stanford University reported that using wind, solar, geothermal and water (hydropower, tidal and wave) energy to electrify all economic sectors that need power to...

May 6, 2018

Gaza Now Has a Toxic 'Biosphere of War' That No One Can Escape

Gaza has often been invaded for its water. Every army leaving or entering the Sinai desert, whether Babylonians, Alexander the Great, the Ottomans, or the British, has sought relief there. But today the water of Gaza highlights a toxic situation that is spiralling out of control. A combination of repeated...

May 16, 2018

Bitcoin Is Sucking Up So Much Energy, It Could Stop Being Profitable

The Bitcoin network could use 0.5 percent of the world's energy consumption by the end of this year, and it could soon cost so much to mine the cryptocurrency that it stops being profitable. These figures come from a new commentary published today (May 16) in the journal Joule. In...

Jun 17, 2019

The Plastic We 'Recycle' Is Actually Horrible for the Environment

When you drop your plastic waste into the recycling bin, it most likely makes its way around the world, where it can pose a health and security risk to developing countries, according to a new Guardian report. The planet is getting buried under plastic: beaches are littered with it, sea...

Mar 7, 2020

How much plastic actually gets recycled?

We're drowning in plastic. In 2017, the U.S. produced nearly 35.4 million tons (32 million metric tons) of the stuff, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. If you want to reduce your own contribution to the plastic pollution problem, recycling might seem like an easy solution. But what happens after...

Nov 22, 2020

Solar power stations in space could be the answer to our energy needs

It sounds like science fiction: giant solar power stations floating in space that beam down enormous amounts of energy to Earth. And for a long time, the concept – first developed by the Russian scientist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, in the 1920s – was mainly an inspiration for writers. A century later,...

Jan 4, 2021

What is renewable energy?

Renewable energy comes from sources that are replenished naturally, such as the sun and wind. Traditional energy sources, like coal and oil, are finite and when burned, release carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and methane — two greenhouse gases that significantly contribute to the acceleration of global climate...

Feb 19, 2021

Disastrous Houston blackouts captured from space

New satellite photos captured the widespread and disastrous power outages that plunged the Houston area into darkness this week, when a powerful Arctic weather system swept through the state. Millions of Texas residents lost power when the polar air mass hit the state on Feb. 13, according to a NASA...

Feb 18, 2022

10 energy-saving life hacks: How to save on electricity bills & more

Are you looking for new answers about how to save on electricity bills? With the general rise in energy prices across much of the globe, it's easy to feel helpless when faced with incessant expenses. For example, it was recently announced that in April 2022, the U.K. will see an...