I hadn’t known that Einstein had invented a novel type of fridge in 1930, together with Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard. I was even more intrigued to read that engineers at Oxford are reviving their elegant design, because it has no moving parts and is ideal to run on solar power. The physics fridge uses ammonia, [...]
Archive for September, 2008
Einstein’s fridge and the Aga cooker
Posted in electricity on September 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
What’s green, and earning money?
Posted in Carbon, Sustainable living, Tourism, electricity on September 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Expect to hear more about the Danish island of Samsø which, thanks to a massive community effort over the past decade, is now self-sufficient in renewable energy. The 4,000 inhabitants spent €54 million (raised in local taxes and investment), to install nearly a dozen wind turbines on land, and the same again offshore, plus banks [...]
Irish firm makes CleanTech top 100
Posted in electricity on September 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
An interesting list of the ‘companies of the future’ has just been published by the Guardian and Library House. It spotlights 100 private firms around the world working to develop new clean, renewable and sustainable technologies.Interesting to see Irish firm OpenHydro tipped among the 100 hottest to watch. The Dublin company, one of only a [...]
Do you count your carbon?
Posted in Carbon, Food, Sustainable living on September 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
If you knew a product’s carbon footprint, would it influence what you buy? Could carbon-labelling help reduce a country’s greenhouse gas emissions? Tesco and other British high street multiples are introducing carbon labelling on selected products, and the Japanese government recently announced something similar. But, I’m not convinced that this carbon labelling will work. First, [...]
Hotel towels and ‘green wash’
Posted in Sustainable living, Tourism on September 2, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Hotels worldwide have cottoned onto the benefits of not changing guest towels every day. Usually, there is a sign inviting us to join them in doing our bit to help the environment. But are they really helping the environment? Or hoping to save money on their laundry bills? I’ve been pondering this since reading about [...]
Motoring tips from Ryanair?
Posted in Ryanair, Transport on September 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s not often we agree with Ryanair’s environmental strategies. And no, we don’t know about the safety implications of asking pilots to carry at most 300 kg of extra fuel (nothing about it on Ryanair’s news page, so here’s an Irish Times report). But carrying extra fuel adds to the weight of any vehicle, so [...]
Forthcoming talks:
MEDIA SKILLS
Science, sustainability, women
-
Lab Coats & Lace
Free audio tour!
Recent books
-
Currently reading . . .
Archives
Categories
Meta
