Design & Architecture

Historic buildings sure looked good a year ago. What happened? Wikipedia commons

We have noted before that the greenest brick is the one already in the wall, and that renovation and restoration are labor-intensive, giving twice as much stimulus bang for the buck than new construction. They are green jobs, creating more efficient buildings and saving energy at a lot less cost than covering the roofs with solar panels.

But that didn't stop President Obama from cancelling two programs, Save America's Treasures and Preserve America, that cost $220 million over ten years. The White House says "Both programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear."

Except that isn't true, there are performance metrics, that prove that the programs created jobs at 1/18th the cost of last year's stimulus programs.

Science & Technology

photo: Roberto Zingales via flickr.

Geoengineering comes in many forms from the benign (planting more trees to soak up carbon, biochar, etc.) to the downright dangerous. This is about one of the latter: Simulating a volcanic eruption by pumping sulphur particles into the atmosphere. This idea has been poo-pooed plenty of times before, and some new research in the journal Nature Geoscience only adds to the warnings about unintended consequences:

Business & Politics

It gets pretty tiresome having to explain that climate change doesn't mean that every region of the world will turn into the Sahara Desert next week. But it seems like that's what it would take for many to appreciate the vast body of scientific evidence confirming man-caused climate change: Fox correspondents, GOP Senators (and their grandchildren!?), and climate skeptics of every stripe are reveling in the snowstorms that are battering the east, making the ever-sophisticated claim that 'snowfall disproves global warming.' Thank goodness at least one newscaster had the sense to point out how incredibly wrong that logic is. Video's after the jump.

Cars & Transportation

Photo: Courtesy of Buenos Aires government.

If you're thinking about traveling to Buenos Aires, consider taking your bike with you. The promise of 100 kilometers of new bike paths is becoming a reality with new safe, separated-from-traffic lanes popping up in different parts of the city. Take a look at the map inside.

Business & Politics

Junichi Sato (left), Toru Suzuki (right), and their lead counsel, Yuichi Kaido (center) face reporters at a press briefing following their first pre-trial hearing at Aomori District Court in 2009. Caption and photo: Greenpeace

Nearly eighteen months ago two Greenpeace anti-whaling activists were arrested by Japanese police for stealing whale meat from a shipping company. Now a working group of the United Nations Human Rights Council has said the human rights of the so-called "Tokyo Two" have been violated by the Japanese justice system:

Travel & Nature

Climate change may make flowers more fragrant. Photo by Jennifer Hattam.

"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Shakespeare famously wrote. And the flowers sweethearts buy for future Valentine's Day gifts may smell even more fragrant, some new research suggests. But that's not necessarily a good thing.

Science & Technology

"For the US in 2006, online data centres accounted for 1.5 percent of the entire country's electricity use - equating to more than the entire state of Massachusetts. " View the chart up close...Really interesting facts/stats! Image via GDS Digital

Energy Star is ratcheting up its evaluation of data center components, moving from certifying servers to certifying entire data centers. Possibly as early as June of this year, Energy Star will start auditing and certifying data centers that rank in the top 25% of centers for efficiency, helping to give those centers with the most energy-savvy practices a leg-up in the market place, or more specifically, "to assist data center operators in capturing the financial and environmental benefits of improved energy efficiency in their facilities."

Food & Health

Image credit: Elective Decisions

Jeff has already explored a whole variety of diseased and pest ridden trees this week, but the pine bark beetle's march has to be one of the biggest threats to forests in North America. Unsurprisingly, researchers are working hard to find ways to combat this debilitating pest. But some of their methods are less than conventional. Could it be that playing recordings of Rush Limbaugh backwards might help deter this unwanted visitor?