A primer on the origin, extraction, and emissions of everyone’s favorite fossil fuels — Three major forms of fossil energy together provide almost all the world’s energy: coal, oil (and the derived petroleum fuels), and natural gas. Moreover, humanity’s insatiable appetite for these fuels is the major driver of climate change. Therefore, it is essential to understand the fundamentals of these fuels: Where do…

Shockley-Queisser and the limits to converting sunlight into electricity — Commercially available solar panels now routinely convert 20% of the energy contained in sunlight into electricity, a truly remarkable feat of science and engineering, considering that it is theoretically impossible for silicon-based solar cells to be more than 32% efficient. …

Whether 100 or 100,000, it’s consuming the fossil fuels extracted by these companies that ultimately drives climate change — The Takeaways The famous 71% figure comes from tracing fossil fuels to the companies that extracted the raw fuel, ignoring all the downstream companies, governments, and individuals that actually use these fuels Viewed from the perspective of fossil fuel consumption, global warming emissions are generated by myriad actors, with households the final…

And how many would you save by going meatless one day a week? — Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, etc. diets seem much more mainstream in the media these days, and meat substitutes are no longer just a bad joke, and yet the typical American eater is the greatest carnivore in all the world, with Americans consuming more meat and other animal products (per capita) than…

The epidemiologic picture has improved, but student case rates remain quite high, and ASU’s zip code is now at the epicenter of the Arizona epidemic; future case counts at ASU are highly uncertain — Final Update, Sep. 10, 2020: ASU has confirmed elsewhere that it is indeed reporting active cases, but will now includes cumulative cases from August 1, 2020 to (presumably) the date of the most recent update. Historical data has not been provided. From Sep. …

While the numbers are presented as benign, a closer look shows an unfolding disaster — Academic Caveat: The following analysis and findings have not been peer-reviewed. All opinions are solely those of the author. An update on more recent numbers can be found here, but the original text of this article will remain unaltered. First: The Takeaways Under public pressure, Arizona State University disclosed limited COVID-19 case data…

Discards, biofuels, meat, and opportunities for change — Overview and effective waste in the food system The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the patterns of American life in unprecedented ways and with stunning rapidity, resulting in many unintended, but not unwelcome, environmental benefits, as skies clear and animals venture into newly empty spaces [1]. On the other hand, the pandemic has also resulted in what appears…