Environment
How Cheap Must Batteries Get For Renewables To Compete With Fossil Fuels?
While solar and wind power are rapidly becoming cost-competitive with fossil fuels in areas with lots of sun and wind, they still can’t provide the 24/7 power we’ve become used to. At present, that’s not big a problem because the grid still features plenty of fossil fuel plants that can provide constant baseload or ramp …
3 Dangers Of Rising Temperatures That Could Affect Your Health Now
I read the news about the urgency of addressing climate change, and as a mathematician who studies climate change, I was not surprised. Very worried, but not surprised. A few days before Christmas last year, I took a picture of a blooming cherry tree along the Charles River in Boston. As a scientist at Tufts …
Why We Need New Climate Models
In 1950, meteorologists Jule Charney and Ragnar Fjørtoft joined with mathematician John von Neumann and other researchers to create the first computer simulation of the weather. Back then, it took 24 hours of calculations to forecast 24 hours’ worth of weather. In other words, practically as soon as the paltry forecast was finished, reality had …
Climate Change Affects Us All – Here’s What Singapore Is Doing About It
Singapore is a small, low-lying and highly urbanised city-state, with limited land and no natural resources. This limits our access to alternative clean energy options. It also makes us particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We are already experiencing some of the impacts of climate change such as more intense rainfall and prolonged …
Asian Cities To Experience Hotter & Drier Climate — Yes, Including Singapore
The effects of climate change is becoming more and more apparent as the world continues to experience extreme weather events. These erratic bioclimatic conditions are not going anytime soon. A study, “Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues” reveals that 77% of the cities of the 520 major cities all over the …
Our Mostly Dry Planetary Neighbors Once Had Lots Of Water—What Does That Imply For Us?
We already knew about Venus. We had our suspicions about Mars. Now we’re sure. Our two closest solar system neighbors once had oceans – planet-encircling, globe-girdling, Earth-like oceans. But waterbearing planets are fragile. Venus didn’t have the right stuff and lost her oceans to space. We have the smoking gun. And now we know that …
Urban Greening Can Save Species, Cool Warming Cities, And Make Us Happy
The current climate and ecological crisis demands a radical redesign of how we live and organise our societies. Yet these urgent changes, though complex, are far from impossible. Some of them are simple, beautiful, and beneficial to all. By greening our cities with street trees, urban paks, and community and rooftop gardens, we can keep …