Most recent 20 articles: Yale Climate Connections - Energy
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What is a passive house? - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Apr 17) |
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Apr 17 · In a webinar on April 19, we'll explore how climate organizations are currently using storytelling in their work, the impacts of these stories, and lessons learned from other movements. Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections A well-insulated, airtight thermos or cooler can keep your coffee warm - or your water cold - all day. So-called passive houses are not all that different. Like a thermos, they’re designed to keep heat from entering or escaping. So their design focuses on what’s called a building’s envelope - the walls, windows, roof, and foundation that separate the inside from ... Read more ... |
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Schools in coal country are going solar - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · In a webinar on April 19, we'll explore how climate organizations are currently using storytelling in their work, the impacts of these stories, and lessons learned from other movements. Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Deep in the heart of coal country, schools in Wayne County, West Virginia, are going solar. Conant: “The schools, they don’t have to pay for the equipment. They don’t have to pay for the panels, the labor. Instead, Solar Holler pays for all of that up front.” Dan Conant is the founder and CEO of Solar Holler. The West Virginia-based solar ... Read more ... |
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Want a climate-friendly home? You might need a new breaker box. - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · In a webinar on April 19, we'll explore how climate organizations are currently using storytelling in their work, the impacts of these stories, and lessons learned from other movements. Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Many people are replacing their old, fossil-fuel-powered furnaces and gas stoves with new electric heat pumps and induction stoves. But some hit a snag when they find out that their home’s electrical panel, or breaker box, cannot handle all the extra electricity they’ll need. Fowler: “That’s when you realize, oh, I need a little more juice.” Eric ... Read more ... |
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A blizzard put a hyper-efficient home to the test. It passed. - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections When the power goes out on a cold winter night, some people head to a hotel. Others huddle around a fireplace bundled up in hats and blankets. But after a blizzard knocked out the power at Katrin Klingenberg’s home in Illinois, her house stayed warm and comfortable. Klingenberg: “I was sitting in my living room in a T-shirt, and outside it was negative 40 windchill. And that’s kind of cool.” She lives in a so-called passive house she designed herself. And she’s co-founder of Passive House Institute U.S., a nonprofit that works to increase ... Read more ... |
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Yes, heat pumps slash emissions even if powered by a dirty grid - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Apr 1) |
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Apr 1 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Do you plan to take advantage of clean energy tax credits? Tell us about it in this brief survey. You might consider heat pumps to be a tantalizing climate solution (they are) and one you could adopt yourself (plenty have). But perhaps you’ve held off on getting one, wondering how much of a difference they really make if a dirty grid is supplying the electricity you’re using to power them - that is, a grid whose electricity is generated at least in part by fossil gas, coal or oil. That’s certainly the case for most U.S. households: While ... Read more ... |
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What is solar thermal? - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 25) |
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Mar 25 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections When people talk about solar panels, they’re usually referring to solar photovoltaic panels, which convert the sun’s energy to electricity. But solar PV is just one way to harness the power of the sun. Gasco: “Solar thermal is, I’d say, the simpler and kind of overshadowed little brother almost to solar PV. … I think it’s a really great technology in the simplicity and the efficiency of it.” Gwe Gasco is with Eighth Fire Solar, an Indigenous-led initiative in Northern Minnesota. The group manufactures and installs solar thermal panels, ... Read more ... |
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Wind farm radar system reduces nighttime light pollution in Iowa - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 22) |
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Mar 22 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections If you drive across Iowa at night, you might encounter a series of coordinated red lights flashing in the sky. Greenwood: “It looks like a whole bunch of fireflies lighting up at the same time.” Geoff Greenwood is with MidAmerican Energy, which operates 3,400 wind turbines across the state. Red lights are placed on top of the turbines to prevent pilots from crashing into the structures, which can be more than 200 feet tall. But that flashing lights up the night sky, which some people find annoying - so at three of its wind farms, ... Read more ... |
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You can start applying for the American Climate Corps next month - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 21) |
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Mar 21 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Do you plan to take advantage of clean energy tax credits? Tell us about it in this brief survey. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively with Grist. The program is modeled after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, launched in 1933 to help the country make it through the Great Depression. The positions with the new corps could range across a number of fields including energy-efficiency ... Read more ... |
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Do wind farms hurt home values? When they do, it’s usually temporary. - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 20) |
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Mar 20 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Some homeowners wonder if having a wind farm nearby will affect their property values. A recent study finds that although wind farms can reduce nearby home prices, the drop is usually limited and only temporary. Hoen: “We hope that this allows people to have greater confidence into what are the likely effects from building a wind project in the future and when those effects are likely to occur.” That’s Ben Hoen of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He and his colleagues found that, on average, wind farms had no impact on property values in ... Read more ... |
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Want clean electricity? These are the overlooked elected officials who get to decide. - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 13) |
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Mar 13 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections On a Tuesday morning in January, college student Aurora Gray stepped up to the podium in a windowless room in Atlanta, around the corner from the state capitol building. In front of her sat a five-member panel of elected officials that oversees how and where nearly every Georgia resident gets their power. “The generation of energy … using fossil fuels has become an existential threat to our safety due to the undisputed impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on our planet,” Gray told the commission. “We must act now, as later is way too late.” More ... Read more ... |
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Solar project at Fort Lauderdale park keeps basketball players cool - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 8) |
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Mar 8 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections At Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, teens can practice jump shots under the shade of a new open-air pavilion covered with solar panels. Jennifer Jurado is chief resilience officer for Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale. She says the city is hot and getting hotter as the climate warms. So it’s important to help protect people from the scorching sun. Jurado: “So being able to provide a shaded area for play at a site that’s so heavily utilized and valued by the community, it really provides ... Read more ... |
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Heat pumps are keeping homes warm in Maine - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 6) |
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Mar 6 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Manufactured - or mobile - homes make up about 8% of the housing in Maine. Most of them are heated with oil, kerosene, or propane. Mistro: “And all of these are relatively expensive heating fuels.” Dan Mistro is with Efficiency Maine, an agency that runs the state’s energy efficiency programs. He says electric air source heat pumps can provide a cheaper - and cleaner - alternative. So his group has been running a pilot program to show that heat pumps can heat homes even during Maine’s cold winters. Casagranda: “We had two days ... Read more ... |
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The U.S. has never produced more energy than it does today - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 6) |
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Mar 6 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections U.S. energy production is going gangbusters. Despite persistent false claims that the Biden administration is waging an “unprecedented assault” on American energy, the U.S. is producing energy at a pace never seen before and from a broad mix of sources and locations throughout the country. In fact, the data illustrates that we’re experiencing an unprecedented renaissance of American energy production and innovation. The chart below is interactive – hover over the lines to see the details. This graph shows primary energy production data from ... Read more ... |
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Is marijuana bad for the climate? - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Mar 1) |
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Mar 1 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections As a growing number of states legalize marijuana, cannabis businesses are ramping up. But cannabis is often grown in indoor farms under intense grow lights. And this setup can have a large carbon footprint. Quinn: “Indoor-grown cannabis is using just a ton of electricity.” Jason Quinn of Colorado State University co-authored a study on how much energy it would take to grow cannabis indoors at various locations in each state and the carbon pollution that would cause. In the worst case, growing just one kilogram could emit as much ... Read more ... |
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How oil sands undermine Canada’s climate goals - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Feb 20) |
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Feb 20 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Now in his ninth year as prime minister, Justin Trudeau has sought to position Canada as a global climate leader, touting one of the world’s highest taxes on carbon pollution, clean fuel regulations, and clean technology tax credits. Yet Canada’s per-person climate pollution remains stubbornly near the top of the list of developed countries - alongside the United States and Australia, whose governments have been less consistently supportive of climate solutions over the past decade. Climate Action Tracker, an independent project that monitors whether ... Read more ... |
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Company gives retired wind turbine blades new life - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Feb 19) |
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Feb 19 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections A wind turbine usually lasts 20 years or more. But at the end of its life, its giant blades often end up in a landfill. That’s because many turbine blades are built out of a composite material made of glass fibers mixed with a hardened resin or other polymer. Recycling this composite material is difficult. But a company called Carbon Rivers has found a way to give this material a new life. Morgan: “We know how to do this with paper, we know how to do this with metal, and we know how to do this with plastic. Now we’re doing this with composite.” Read more ... |
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What 10 EV lovers from around the world say about their cars - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Feb 19) |
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Feb 19 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections No matter where in the world you live, you might have questions about EVs: How do you charge it? How often? Can you charge at home? How much range do you need? To get firsthand answers to those questions, I (David Carlson) connected with international EV-driving friends I met during a career working in science. Collectively, we operate 10 different EVs from BYD, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Nissan, Renault, Tesla, and Volkswagen (for details on our vehicles, see Table 1). Our insights offer a glimpse of the on-the-ground realities of driving an EV today in ... Read more ... |
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Why Biden’s pause on new LNG export terminals is a BFD - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Feb 14) |
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Feb 14 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Natural gas has long been touted as a “bridge fuel” to a clean energy future that gets all its power from renewable sources like wind, solar, and geothermal power. That’s because natural gas produces about half as much carbon dioxide as coal when burned to generate electricity. But researchers have warned for years that natural gas - whose main ingredient is climate-warming methane - is not the trouble-free substitute for coal that the oil and gas industry claims. The long-simmering issue became a top news story in January when President Joe Biden ... Read more ... |
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Could your next home be made of hemp? - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Feb 12) |
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Feb 12 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections When you think about the materials that make up your home, oil probably isn’t at the top of your list. There’s a good chance it should be, however. In a recent book about natural building materials, the leaders of New York design firm LTL Architects discussed the growing problem of fossil-fuel-derived products in residential construction. “The over 1 million homes which are built each year in North America are increasingly assembled and glued together from petrochemical-based materials throughout, from vinyl floors and siding to plastic lumber, acrylic ... Read more ... |
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A New Mexico electric utility is developing microgrids to keep the lights on when the larger grid goes down - Yale Climate Connections - Energy  (Feb 5) |
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Feb 5 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections Worsening storms, wildfires, and other extreme weather are causing a growing risk of power outages in rural northern New Mexico. Reyes: “A couple of years ago, we had winds over 100 miles an hour in the mountains. Besides taking down a lot of our power lines, it just ravaged the forest by taking a lot of trees down.” Luis A. Reyes, Jr., is the CEO of Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, which provides power to about 30,000 households in the region. This past fall, the member-owned utility was awarded more than $15 million in funding from the ... Read more ... |
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