Silflower was among native plants that blanketed the vast North American prairie until settlers developed farms and cities. Nowadays confined largely to roadsides and ditches, the long-stemmed cousin of the sunflower may be poised for a comeback, thanks to solar energy.
The production of steel, cement, and ammonia together emit about one-fifth of all human-caused CO2. Technologies are emerging that promise to decarbonize these problem industries, but analysts warn big challenges remain before the processes can be cleaned up.
Solar energy has the potential to supply up to 40 per cent of the nation’s electricity within 15 years — a 10-fold increase over current solar output, but one that would require massive changes in U.S. policy and billions of dollars in federal investment, a new federal report says.
With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, Nunavut is trying to confront climate change by cutting its reliance on diesel-generated electricity — but high costs put the switch to solar out of reach for many.
Scientists in California just ran the numbers on what would happen if their state slapped solar panels on 4,000 miles of its canals, including the major California Aqueduct, and the results point to a potentially beautiful partnership.
Solar energy has an increasingly important role to play in combatting the global threat of climate change and helping Canada reach its 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, writes Robert Hornung of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association.
“We sometimes get obsessed with the absolute number. We should be thinking about the quality and types of jobs that end up coming into a Canadian environment," says Stewart Beck, head of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
