Tag: decarbonization

7 Technologies for Fighting Climate Change

1. Reengineer Electric Motors To replace a gas engine car, you have to match or exceed it in power. The key to that, today, is motors built with rare-earth metals. With exotic names like neodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and praseodymium, rare earth elements go into so-called permanent magnets. They have persistent magnetic fields and are considered […]

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The Inflation Reduction Act Could be the New, New Deal

For businesses, the carrots are even more significant. “This legislation can catalyze an entirely new set of climate-friendly industries,” says tech and climate journalist and Techonomy founder David Kirkpatrick. The Brookings Institution calculates that, by 2030, the IRA will help reduce U.S. CO2 emissions about 40 percent below 2005 levels. “This is a business-first approach to government climate action,” […]

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Oppenheimer’s Legacy: Nuclear Energy?

During the Eisenhower administration, groups like Atoms for Peace were created with impetus from J. Robert Oppenheimer to acknowledge the risks and hopes and of nuclear energy and answer the public’s fears about atomic power as a  force of destruction. With backing from the U.S. government, large (and costly) reactors were built in the 60s […]

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What Does ‘Net-Zero’ Emissions Actually Mean?

Why Do Net-Zero Emissions Matter? Greenhouse gases trap heat near the Earth’s surface. When their concentrations get too high, they fuel global warming. In 2015, countries around the world agreed to limit global warming to well under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) compared with preindustrial times, with a goal of 1.5 C (2.7 F). To keep […]

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