The world is good

2021-09-18 10:47:56 Open / Comment

2021-09-18 10:47:46 In a world-first, England will require all new homes to have EV chargers

With people’s garages increasingly housing electric cars rather than gas-powered ones, there is also a growing need for adequate charging infrastructure for these vehicles.

Well aware of that, the British government has decided to introduce legislation that will require all new homes and offices to feature electric chargers in England, a move that will make it the first country in the world to do so.

As part of the new law, all newly built homes and offices will have to specifically feature “smart” charging technology that can automatically charge vehicles during off-peak periods. Every new office block will also be required to install a charging point for every five parking spaces.

The initiative is intended to boost EV adoption by helping those transitioning from internal-combustion cars overcome range anxiety, as many streets in England lack charging infrastructure for electric cars. The move also comes ahead of the UK’s 2030 ban of new fossil-fuel vehicles.

“Flexible charging at home and at workplace during the day is going to be crucial to decarbonizing not just transport but the UK’s entire energy system,” Nigel Pocklington, CEO of clean energy company Good Energy, told Business Green. “As will better energy efficiency, electrified heating and solar power on 13.5 million homes – we hope to see all these as part of the plans for new homes, too.” Open / Comment

2021-09-17 10:41:37

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2021-09-17 10:41:32 This company is on a mission to bring back the woolly mammoth

Harvard Medical School biologist George Church is most famous for inventing ways of reading and editing DNA, but these days, the scientist is on a new mission: bringing back the woolly mammoth. At the helm of a new company, Colossal, and armed with $15 million in initial funding, Church and his team hope to produce embryos of these elephant-like mammoths in the next few years and eventually reintroduce them. If successful, their work would revolutionize the study of extinct animals and perhaps even help mitigate climate change.

The tundra of Siberia and North America where the giant animals once grazed is rapidly warming. Today, the region is mostly dominated by moss, but it used to be grasslands. Church and other researchers theorize that the reintroduction of woolly mammoths would help break up moss, knock down trees, and provide fertilizer in the form of droppings. This would keep the soil from melting and potentially even lock away carbon dioxide.

Church first introduced his mammoth revival idea in a National Geographic Society talk in 2013. The concept gained a lot of attention and funding, and Church spent the next eight years working with a small team of researchers to painstakingly develop the tools for recreating mammoths. The team analyzed the genomes of woolly mammoths collected from fossils and categorized the differences between these ancient species and modern-day elephants.

After connecting with Ben Lamm, the founder of artificial intelligence company Hypergiant, Colossal was founded to continue the work. Their aim is to remove the DNA from an elephant egg and replace it with the mammoth-like DNA. The researchers are also looking into turning ordinary elephant tissue into stem cells and growing them in an artificial uterus.

It’s safe to say that bringing the woolly mammoth back remains a long shot, not to mention it prompts a number of ethical concerns, but researchers point out that even if the effort is unsuccessful, Colossal’s work could be used to save species under threat from diseases by arming them with genes for resistance to a pathogen. Open / Comment

2021-09-15 11:12:32 Open / Comment

2021-09-15 11:12:23 Rotterdam becomes home to the world’s largest floating office

While Rotterdam is typically known for hosting Europe’s biggest port, the second largest Dutch city is also famous as a forerunning innovator in climate adaptability. This reputation is reflected by (among other things) a floating dairy farm located near the port, as well as by the more recently completed Floating Office Rotterdam (FOR) — the world’s largest floating office, designed to adapt to rising sea levels.

Recently inaugurated by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the office serves as the headquarters for the Global Center on Adaptation, which Ki-moon chairs.

The project, located in Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven harbor, measures 3,606 sq m (roughly 38,800 sq ft) and consists of a large terrace area, as well as three floors. The structure is topped by a green roof, while the upper floors feature overhanging balconies to shade the interior. Its framework is made from prefabricated timber and rests on top of 15 concrete pontoons which are anchored together to create a solid floating base, reports New Atlas.

FOR’s also features an 800-sq-m (8,611-sq-ft) solar panel array connected to a battery that provides all of the building’s electricity. Additionally, the floating office uses the harbor water as a heat sink to help provide efficient heating and cooling.

The structure is expected to remain in place for ten years, after which it may host another tenant or be moved to another location. The designers also ensured that at the end of its useful life, the construction could be easily recycled.

“The carbon-neutral building is designed to be climate resilient and will float if sea levels rise due to climate change,” says Powerhouse Company, the design company behind the project. “Our climate-resilient office is both an illustration of the center’s mission and sets an example for how to build sustainable floating structures.” Open / Comment

2021-09-14 10:53:05 Open / Comment

2021-09-14 10:52:58 Collaborative project yields first high-resolution map of the world’s coral reefs

Climate change is a huge threat to the world’s coral reefs, but targeted conservation efforts can help buy us time in saving these critical marine ecosystems. To help citizens, scientists, and policymakers better understand the world’s reefs, the Allen Coral Atlas has recently finished the first-ever high-resolution satellite map of the world’s shallow coral reefs.

The complete map is truly a collaborative effort and is the result of three years of work, 450 research teams, and nearly two million satellite images. The satellite imagery was provided by Planet, and these images were cleaned by a team from Arizona State University before being integrated into the map by researchers at the University of Queensland. The National Geographic Society is training conservationists on how to best use the map while the company Vulcan sponsors the live website.

The map was named after its early instigator: late Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen. The current map covers coral reefs up to a depth of 15 meters. Previously, only about a quarter of the world’s coral reefs were mapped using high-resolution imagery.

The atlas provides multiple layers of data including a benthic map layer, which shows what other habitats and organisms are living around reefs, as well as a protected area map for conservationists and policymakers. The geomorphic layer shows the physical contour of different reefs so conservationists can know where planting lab-raised corals will be most effective.

You can check the map out for yourself here. Open / Comment

2021-09-13 09:20:56 Open / Comment

2021-09-13 09:20:47 France makes birth control free for everyone under 25

Lack of affordability is one of the biggest barriers for women when it comes to accessing contraceptives. To address this, the French government has announced it will make birth control free and available to all women under 25.

The country already makes birth control free to everyone under 18, but the country is expanding the program after surveys indicated a drop in birth control use among women ages 18-25. The primary reason cited was the lack of health insurance or financial means to afford it.

The free contraceptives offered include the pill, IUDs, contraceptive patches, and other methods composed of steroid hormones. Doctor’s visits for birth control prescriptions will also be free.

A number of European countries make birth control free for teens including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway. Britain makes several forms of contraception free to all, regardless of age.

Free contraception has been shown to lower the number of abortions among teenagers. France saw a decrease in the number of abortions among teens after introducing free contraception. The country reported a drop from 9.5 abortions per 1,000 girls between 2012 and 2018 to 6 per 1,000 today. Open / Comment