Results tagged “energy” from 60 Second Science

Methane-filled cow toots have long been the bane of environmentalists and pythonophobes everywhere (see also: megacorporations and carbon dioxide).

Now there's a chance that at least one thing coming out of cows could actually help stop global warming.

"When most people see a pile of manure, they see a pile of manure. We saw it as an opportunity for farmers, for utilities, and for California," said David Albers, dairyman and collaborater in The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project.

Continue reading 'Everybody poops, but cow's power the world' >

The presidential campaigns are heating up, and we're still hearing very little about science. Will we? Three weeks ago, Science featured a special section devoted to candidates’ opinions and views on science. Unfortunately, some of those articles are available only to subscribers.

Not so at Physics Today, which is published by the American Institute of Physics. At the web site, you can read about the major candidates and their official positions on topics related to science. Physics Today posed six questions to the major contenders; the topics for the questions included science education, teaching evolution, nuclear weapons, science investment, energy policy and climate change. The answers to the questions are pulled from the candidates’ web sites.

Do you know of other publications tracking the candidates' views on science? Let me know in the "comments" section. Here's a link to the "climate change" section of the New York Times Election Guide.

And if you're not sure which candidate you should throw support, play “Choose Your Candidate” at the Washington Post here.

Continue reading 'Candidates and science, round two' >

Lonnie Johnson is a nuclear engineer who's worked as Acting Chief of the Space Nuclear Power Safety Section at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Senior Systems Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and formed the energy research firms Excellatron Solid State and Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems. But his most important contribution to society thus far is the Super Soaker, an all-purpose weapon for watery destruction, in any season. I bet life and limb on my Super Soaker many a summer, and along with a fannypack full of water balloons, it helped me survive the Great Water War in the jungles of Spring, TX back in '87.

But spaceships and water guns aren't the endpoint of Johnson's achievements: Johnson has invented a solid-state heat engine that has the potential to boost solar-power efficiency by as much as 60 percent, making the traditionally expensive source competitive with more destructive sources like coal or oil.

Continue reading 'Inventor of Super Soaker aims to boost solar energy, summertime fun' >

How many representatives does it take to change a light bulb? 314 to 100, plus one President!

Rim shot! No, seriously, Bush is taking away your light bulbs, but he's replacing them (or making you replace them) with even better bulbs! A massive energy bill that passed the House on Tuesday and was signed yesterday, set higher fuel economy standards for the first time in 32 years, called for 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, and, most importantly, set a goal for getting rid of the incandescent light bulb within 10 years.

Continue reading 'Bush takes away light bulbs; sends America back to Dark Ages' >

The scary, bloodthirsty vampire of legend always ends up having a lame analogue in real life, i.e. a tiny bat or mosquito. To further diminish the vampire's (das vampyr, if you want to get official, nerds) aura of danger, a new real-life manifestation has been discovered: Vampire Energy.

Vampire energy is when appliances in your home that are turned off still suck power from the grid. It seems wimpy, but it can add up to you paying hundreds of extra dollars per year in electricity bills, which in turn taxes the environment with your increased, fat-ass carbon footprint. According to a GOOD Magazine charticle with info from the Dept. of Energy (and with a neat-o vampire graphic), a turned-off but plugged-in computer eats $34.21 a year, a cordless phone base station snacks on $3.18, and a plasma TV swallows up a whopping $159.76. I guess it makes sense the "PLASMA" screen "SUCKS" the most "BLOOD" from your "WALLET," right? Right? Hahahaha —

OK, I'll stop. Check the full chart after the cut.

Continue reading ''Vampire energy' sucks power from appliances even when they're off; Solution: Cover plasma TV in garlic and stab your Wii with a wooden stake' >

So how much more does the Bush Administration spend on the Iraq War than it spends on energy R&D? Answer: a big-ass number. But a number doesn't really get across the sheer magnitude of these mis-allocated resources. This bar graph does a better job. (Be prepared to scroll down. A LOT.)

Continue reading 'Ginormous bar graph shows folly of Iraq spending vs energy spending' >

Just how close is your neighborhood power plant? How many kilowatts of energy is it producing? And how much carbon dioxide does that eyesore emit into the air?

Answer these questions and find out more fun and frightening facts about 50,000 plants worldwide at CARMA.org, Carbon Monitoring for Action. The newly unveiled site is hosted by the think tank, the Center for Global Development.

Continue reading 'World's best place for power-plant voyeurism now open' >