Tag: energy

Supermarket goes off the grid

You know there’s hope for the environment when big business starts taking climate change, waste and energy issues as seriously as the giant supermarket chain Sainsbury’s. The UK firm has just disconnected its first supermarket from the national electricity grid, powering it instead with energy generated from its own food

Lego drops Shell after public pressure over Arctic drilling

Lego will stop making Shell-branded toys following a prolonged campaign by Greenpeace, including a viral video, protesting Arctic oil drilling. Lego Group chief executive Jørgen Vig Knudstorp announced on Wednesday [8 October] the toy manufacturer would fulfil its existing contract with the multinational oil and gas company but after that would

Korean river powers city mobiles

When you recharge your phone you don’t often think about its environmental impact, yet with more than 7 billion mobiles being used around the world, their electricity use soon adds up – and no more so than in the world’s most plugged-in nation, South Korea. There, however, a little reminder

QA_West Antarctica

A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a

Fracking explained in a simple animation

German website Kurzgesagt has gone viral with their new animation explaining the controversial natural gas harvesting technique commonly known as fracking.  The complex maneuver has become more profitable than ever as nearly all of the easy to reach fossil fuels have been discovered or depleted in most developed countries in the West.  A fracking boom is

Passive design

Some great resources here on passive design in housing – ie. making the most of free, renewable energy when building a house, thereby reducing the need for extra energy for heating, etc. http://www.level.org.nz/passive-design/