Wood conservation
Wood conservation is a necessary and noble art. In itself, wood is an excellent construction material: in ample supply, often locally sourced, easy to process; its production requires little energy.
Strong climate policy or freedom to consumers?
A recent article in The Conversation shows the undesirable results of a climate policy that lends its ears to public opinion. For consumers are at odds with themselves – in
Addressing climate change with self-fertilizing crops
MIT in Boston (UsA) is one of the scientific centres developing initiatives to stop climate change. On April 11, it announced five flagship projects in its Climate Grand Challenges. Among
Thermal batteries that store solar and wind power
Thermal batteries are yet another way to store an excess of solar and wind power. According to the laws of physics, they would seem to incur major energy losses. But
Iron powder as an energy carrier
The contours of the future energy system haven’t yet been drawn with great precision. Solar and wind energies lie at its foundation. But these come with their problems: at times
Ten times as much solar energy
There are many reasons for use of more solar energy. Most importantly, the climate. Moreover, the world needs to scale down its use of gas and oil quickly. More solar
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 68. Limits to healthcare
An urgent (but often forgotten) issue in our society is that of the limits to healthcare. Its costs have been on the rise for quite some time now – just
Against desertification
Each year, planet Earth loses 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of forest. Since 1960, more than half of all tropical forests have disappeared. Particularly because of logging in the
