Via The Financial Post, a report on how – with parts of the U.S. facing chronic drought – the U.S. president has reportedly threatened to tear up joint agreements regulating the natural wonders: Thomas Kierans was stopped by a reporter in St. John’s, Nfld., on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Regarded around town as […]
Introducing Hidden Depths, a six-part narrative podcast miniseries from CSIS, exploring the dynamics of water conflict and the possibilities for water cooperation.
Via CSIS, a new report on the politics of water in the Middle East: The Middle East has battled water insecurity for centuries, but today, the region is on a razor’s edge. Climate change and overuse have threatened water supplies like never before. In a region beset with wars, fragility, and political tensions, it is […]
Via Bloomberg, a report on Saudi Arabia’s plans to build an AI powerhouse: Entity would build on kingdom’s efforts to emerge as AI hub PIF, Google AI partnership may serve as model for project Saudi Arabia is planning a new artificial intelligence project with backing of as much as $100 billion as it seeks to […]
Via the Wall Street Journal a look at Russia’s plans to merge its oil giants into a mega producer which would be the world’s second-biggest crude producer, after Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, pumping almost three times the output of Exxon Mobil: Moscow is working on a plan to merge its biggest oil companies into a single […]
Kazakhstan once harbored grand plans for a high-speed rail network. The Diplomat examines why – while its neighbors have pushed ahead with such projects – HSR fallen out of favor in Astana: High-speed train travel can be a challenging prospect for any nation. To achieve speeds of 250 kilometers per hour, high-speed rail (HSR) requires […]
Via BBC, a report on a planned dam in Africa: From a set of roaring rapids, comes a grand vision. There are plans to build a magnificent, multi-billion dollar mega-dam on the Congo River – one that would produce enough renewable electricity to power vast areas of Africa. The structure would be called the Grand […]
Via SciTech Daily, a report on a recent Department of Energy study on the potential for federal reservoirs to generate enough solar energy to power 100 million homes annually: A new study reveals that federally managed reservoirs have the potential to generate enough energy to supply power to around 100 million U.S. homes annually. Federal […]
Via The Diplomat, a look at how Ecuador’s energy crisis has focused attention on its under-performing hydroelectric dams built by China’s state-owned enterprises. For the past three month, the Ecuadorian government has been struggling to combat droughts within the Mazar and Coca rivers. These droughts are occurring due to El Nino, forcing Ecuador’s mainly hydroelectric system to […]
Via Texas Tribune, a look at how – as the state’s energy demand soars – a pilot program looks to bolster grid with “virtual power plants” fueled by people’s homes On sunny days in the Hill Country, Tom Cook taps open an app on his phone and watches the power generated from the solar panels […]
Via Volts, an interesting interview examining how residential solar is becoming residential solar + storage + VPP: Hello everyone, this is Volts for November 13, 2024. “Residential solar is becoming residential solar + storage + VPP.” I’m your host, David Roberts. Last month, I was in Brooklyn for the third annual DERvos conference celebrating distributed […]
Via MIT Technology Review, an article on efforts to connect the U.S.’s grids: Michael Skelly hasn’t learned to take no for an answer. For much of the last 15 years, the Houston-based energy entrepreneur has worked to develop long-haul transmission lines to carry wind power across the Great Plains, Midwest, and Southwest, delivering clean electricity […]
Via Associated Press, a report on North Dakota’s efforts to limit Chinese land purchases in its state: It’s been three years since a Chinese company’s plan to develop a swath of farmland near a North Dakota Air Force base prompted local security concerns and led to a rush of legislation across the country, but calls for restrictions keep coming. If anything, the […]
Via The Economist, a look at how tensions with the West are fuelling China’s anxiety about food supplies American soyabean farmers could draw some comfort from the tariffs that China imposed on an array of American imports on February 10th. Foodstuffs like theirs were not affected by China’s countermeasures against the 10% levy on Chinese imports […]
Via Bloomberg, a look at China’s substantial efforts to future-proof itself for trade wars and the return of Donald Trump: China’s quest to feed itself has taken it as far as Kenya’s macadamia nut groves and Bolivia’s cattle ranches, as part of a push in recent years to diversify food sources away from traditional Western […]
Via the Wall Street Journal, a report on Electronic Arts’ use of new tech to scan photos for its videogame after securing players’ likeness rights for the first time A character artist works on the new ‘EA Sports College Football 25.’ PHOTO: EA SPORTS It has been over a decade since Electronic Arts released a college football videogame. To […]
Via MIT’s Technology Review, a report on how how AI-powered NPCs that don’t need a script could make games—and other worlds—deeply immersiv First, a confession. I only got into playing video games a little over a year ago (I know, I know). A Christmas gift of an Xbox Series S “for the kids” dragged me—pretty easily, […]
Via Sports Business Journal, a look at how Gym Class VR is building on its popularity with the addition of NBA logos and venues: The mid-range jumper may be a lost art in the NBA game, but I sank one from just inside the free-throw line at the TD Garden, as the PA announcer called out the basket. […]
Via South China Morning Post, a look at China’s massive ‘distributed’ solar power generation program on roofs of houses, factories and airports is spreading across country, but curtailment rate is also rising: Former construction contractor Gao Shouguang switched careers last year, abandoning the troubled property sector to become a solar panel distributor – and another example […]
Via Fast Company, a report on where homeowners are adopting solar panels: While more homeowners are adding solar panels to their homes in hopes of reducing their energy bills, adoption varies significantly across the country To understand which housing markets are doing the most solar panel installation, ResiClub collaborated with the data experts at BatchService, […]
Via Grist, a report on the math behind putting solar on your roof, which indicates that waiting until you need to re-roof is usually the best course of action: Not too long ago, Bryan and Summer Stubblefield wanted to outfit their California home with solar panels. They were considering an electric vehicle, and powering it with the sun […]
Via Forbes, a look at how Markel’s Chief executive Thomas Gayner has quietly turned insurer Markel into a mini-conglomerate. Meet Richmond’s answer to the Oracle of Omaha: Thomas Gayner gets a kick out of telling the story. It was 1983. He had just graduated from the University of Virginia with a plan to return home to Salem, […]
Via The Economist, a look at a firm which many consider as technology’s Berkshire Hathaway: For older startups these are tough times. The weak recent stockmarket debuts of Arm, a British chipmaker, Instacart, a grocery-delivery group, and Klaviyo, a software firm, have dampened enthusiasm for initial public offerings. Venture capital (vc) has dried up. Data […]
Via Bloomberg, interesting commentary on how many – such as crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried couldn’t survive the comparison – but others who actually invest somewhat like the Berkshire Hathaway chairman fare better: A couple of months ago, crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried was peering out from the cover of Fortune magazine above the words “The Next Warren Buffett?” Now he’s at […]
Via Wired, a report on how monitoring the noises within ecosystems reveals their health—allowing researchers to monitor changes in biodiversity, detect threats, and measure the effectiveness of conservation strategies: Monica Retamosa was in the middle of changing the batteries of a tape recorder when she heard a bellbird for the first time. Standing on a forest […]
Via Bloomberg, an article on how an AI-powered robot and gaming are helping scientists identify new deep-sea species: Nearly a dozen miles off the California coast on a foggy October morning, a crane lifts a boxy yellow robot off the deck of the research vessel Rachel Carson and lowers it into Monterey Bay’s choppy gunmetal-gray waters. The […]
Via Nautilus, a report on how to tell a leopard from its roar and the potential to make a Shazam for conservationists: The leopard’s roar is a distinct sound. A repetitive pattern of hoarse and guttural calls, it is often compared to the rough music of a saw being pushed and pulled through a giant […]