Archive for May 4th, 2010

Sometime late this summer, a consortium of scientists, private companies and the U.S. government plans to make its very own sun. Using a giant laser. In a rather nondescript 10-story office building just northeast of Fremont, California.

Though this may appear to be the kind of statement you’d read on the conspiracy Web site of a guy who lives in a trailer in Area 51, sports a tin foil chapeau and chats regularly with Z’lurg, his non-corporeal friend from the Andromeda Galaxy, it’s not. Sitting quietly in a large building belonging to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the largest and most powerful laser in the world, named the National Ignition Facility (or NIF to its closest friends). Dedicated nearly a year ago, the laser will be ready for its close-up before the end of this summer. The goal is the thus-far somewhat elusive creation of fusion energy (that which powers stars) or more specifically, fusion “burn and gain.” The project may ultimately help solve pretty much all of the world’s energy problems in the future; that is, if it works. Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report titled Inventory Of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 – 2008 that shows a drop in overall emissions of 2.9% from 2007 to 2008. The drop is attributed to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions associated with transportation fuel and electricity consumption. Demand for transportation fuel dropped in 2008 due to record high costs, and electricity demand also declined, in part due to high costs of the fuels used to generate electricity. Read the rest of this entry »

With the passing of the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day,  is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard of recycling? Are there offices who haven’t tried it? Can it be possible to not be recycling something? The answer is probably ‘yes’ and if that’s the case, then Earth911.com has put together a list of 8 steps to move each workplace, big or small, into the green scene. It may seem daunting at first but this list should make it easy to take that first step, even if it is starting small with just one type of recycling. Every little bit helps!