G energy

advertisement advertisement advertisement Two months ago, Denmark said that it would stop all new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and completely phase out fossil fuel production by 2050. The country is currently the largest oil producer in the European Union. Now it’s planning the next step in its transition: an artificial island that will serve as a clean energy hub and eventually make zero-carbon fuel using wind power. advertisement Airplanes could also run on green hydrogen or on synthetic fuels that combine the hydrogen with CO2 captured from the atmosphere. The hydrogen can also be used in fuel cells in vehicles, or in industrial plants that can’t easily run on renewables. It could even be piped into homes to replace natural gas. “It offers a pathway for us to step away from fossil fuels and to move to a zero-carbon solution in sectors that a very short time ago looked very difficult to reach,” Molloy says. The hub will send … [Read more...] about Denmark is building an artificial island to house the world’s first clean energy hub

advertisement advertisement advertisement Plants miraculously create clean energy using only sunlight and water, and until recently, we’ve only been able to look on in envy. All our attempts to mimic photosynthesis have been expensive and energy intensive. But a new start-up aims overcome those challenges: Sun Catalytix, founded by Daniel Nocera , a chemistry professor at MIT, just opened shop thanks to a $700,000 seed investment led by Polaris Ventures . advertisement That might sound like a small sum, but Nocera has been an epicenter of buzz ever since last year, when he first published the research behind Sun Catalytix. His discovery splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the process sounds disarmingly simple: He started by placing a small strip of platinum into a vat of water mixed with cobalt and phosphates. Running a small electric current through the water, he found that the water’s oxygen atoms bubble away, leaving pure … [Read more...] about Sun Catalytix Gets Funding to Search for Holy Grail: Freeing Hydrogen From Water

advertisement advertisement advertisement Sometimes it seems like cities were designed to kill birds. Take for instance the single night in October when more than 1,000 birds were killed when they collided with buildings in the city of Philadelphia. Due to a combination of confusing reflections from building windows, disorienting light pollution, and the location of tall buildings in the direct flight paths and habitats of many birds, deadly collisions—sometimes in mass numbers—are depressingly common. Researchers estimate that collisions with buildings cause up to one billion bird deaths in the United States every year. advertisement advertisement The Bird-Friendly City: Creating Safe Urban Habitats, by Timothy Beatley. Citing new policies, building materials, and DIY designs, Beatley shows how urban environments can be tweaked to allow birds to live and thrive in human-centric spaces. Beatley, a professor at the University of Virginia School … [Read more...] about Why cities should be designed for birds

advertisement advertisement advertisement According to Page Six, Brad Pitt has a new friend–and maybe something more? She’s Neri Oxman, an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab and a superstar in her own right. What Pitt is to Hollywood, Oxman is to organic architecture and manufacturing. advertisement Page Six‘s source puts it: “Their friendship has not turned into romance … as both are cautious and this is, again, more of a professional friendship, but Brad is very interested in spending more time with Neri, she is fascinating.” I don’t claim to know exactly what that means. But you can’t blame Pitt for wanting to spend “more time with Neri.” Oxman is one of the most intriguing researchers working today. A Fast Company Most Creative Person of 2009, she’s part architect, part biologist, part fashion designer, and her work is almost impossible to pigeonhole into a single field or aesthetic. … [Read more...] about Who Is Neri Oxman?

advertisement advertisement advertisement As a world of busy people, we are obsessed with time management. We spend a great deal of time and effort seeking out systems and tinkering with tools that promise to help us squeeze in more work in fewer hours. Although some systems and tools have merit, they are perpetuating several time management myths. We need to unpack these myths and start doing what works. Time is ticking. advertisement advertisement Myth 1: Improved time management increases performance Interestingly, the relationship between time management and performance is relatively weak. Performance is about much more than time. We’ve all heard the old adage, “work smarter, not harder.” This is good advice for time management enthusiasts. It’s not about how much work you can get done—it’s about how much your work positively influences others. We need to reframe time management to be about focusing on quality, not … [Read more...] about 3 time management myths messing with your productivity