Nuclear watchdog tracks warming
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 10 June 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02044-9
Nuclear watchdog tracks warming
Nature Climate Change…
Virginia has the biggest data center market in the world. Can it also decarbonize its grid?
While short-lived, the denial came as a surprise.
This March, Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington, D.C. in northern Virginia that is home to the greatest concentration of data centers in the world, made an unexpected move: It rejected a proposal to let a company build a bigger data center than existing zoning automatically allowed.
“At some point we have to say stop,” said Loudoun Supervisor Michael Turner during the meeting, as reported by news site LoudounNow. “We do not have enough power to power the data centers we have.”
County supervisors would later reverse the decision, approving a smaller version of the project. But the initial denial sent ripples throughout Virginia, where concern over the rapid growth of data centers and what that means for the state’s ambitious decarbonization goals is growing.
“It is really a salient …
Pacific climate variability biases constrained warming projections towards low estimates
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 05 June 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02018-x
A comprehensive analysis of observations and model simulations finds that future global mean warming is likely to be larger than previously thought, and that limiting global warming to well below 2°C will be more difficult than previously anticipated.
Nature Climate Change…
Oviraptor Facts & Pictures: Complete Guide To A Cretaceous Period Dinosaur
Oviraptor was a small theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. Discovered in the Gobi Desert around a century ago, Oviraptor was given the name “egg thief”, as it was found alongside some fossilized eggs. The dinosaur is now believed to have been brooding the eggs, rather than stealing them.
As well as its probable nesting behavior, Oviraptor had other bird-like features such as a toothless beak and a covering of feathers.
Read on to find out more about this distinctive Cretaceous dinosaur…
Oviraptor Facts
- Type of Dinosaur: Theropod
Release: NSAC Applauds Introduction of the Save Our Small Farms Act
Washington, DC, June 4, 2024 – Today, Connecticut Representatives Hayes (D-CT-5), Larson (D-CT-1), Courtney (D-CT-2), DeLauro (D-CT-3), and Himes (D-CT-4) teamed up with Reps. Adams (D-NC-12), Neal (D-MA-1), McGovern (D-MA-2), and Jackson (D-TX-18) to introduce the Save Our Small (SOS) Farms Act. This bill would meaningfully expand access to the farm safety net for small, diversified, and underserved farmers and ranchers who find themselves at the mercy of worsening storms but unable to access coverage.
…“There is no acceptable reason that our country’s small farmers should be forced to crowdfund to stay afloat after unexpected floods and worsening droughts,” said Billy Hackett, NSAC Policy Specialist. “The SOS Farms Act represents a true commitment to building a farm safety net that supports all farmers, in sharp contrast to the House farm bill mark which recently passed from
California sides with big utilities, trimming incentives for community solar projects
This story was originally published by CalMatters.
California’s utilities regulator adopted new rules for community solar projects on Friday, despite warnings from clean energy advocates that the move will actually undercut efforts to expand solar power options for low-income customers.
The state’s biggest utility companies advocated for the new rules.
Community solar projects are generally small-scale, local solar arrays that can serve renters and homeowners who can’t afford to install their own rooftop solar panels. They are one part of the state’s overall strategy to eventually run the power grid entirely by renewable energy.
The California Public Utilities Commission’s 3-1 ruling preserves and expands programs that will allow any ratepayer to subscribe to a pool of projects and receive a 20 percent rate reduction, said Commission President Alice Reynolds. But it also reduces future compensation for solar providers and residents.…
Climate change and geohazards
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 29 May 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02026-x
Long-term monitoring is required to determine whether climate change is having an impact on shallow geohazard frequency and magnitude; however, these records rarely exist. An innovative approach, using tree damage as evidence, suggests climate change has shifted the seasonality of alpine rockfalls as well as increasing their frequency and volume.
Nature Climate Change…
Huayangosaurus Facts & Pictures: Discover An Early Relative Of Stegosaurus
Huayangosaurus was a mid-sized stegosaurid dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic period. Discovered in the fossil beds of Sichuan Province, China, this herbivorous dinosaur roamed the Earth approximately 165 million years ago. With its distinctive bony plates and defensive tail and shoulder spikes, Huayangosaurus is one of the earliest known stegosaurids.
Huayangosaurus Facts
- Type of Dinosaur: Stegosaurid
- Diet: Herbivore
- Continent(s) Found: Asia (specifically China)
- Length: Approximately 4 meters (13 feet)
- Weight: Estimated around 500 kilograms (1100 pounds)
- Period: Middle Jurassic (about 165 million years ago)
What Did Huayangosaurus Look Like?
Huayangosaurus…