Biofuel from kudzu vines and branches boosts energy efficiency
Leftover branches and kudzu vines from logging are repurposed as carbon-neutral fuel to generate electricity.
Jun 26, 2024
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Energy & Green Tech
Leftover branches and kudzu vines from logging are repurposed as carbon-neutral fuel to generate electricity.
Jun 26, 2024
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Energy & Green Tech
A U.K. university spin-out has developed a bacteria-powered battery that harvests energy from microorganisms in the soil to recharge itself, with a prototype already rolled out in Brazil.
Jun 21, 2024
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Robotics
A robotic gripper developed by Washington State University researchers is able to gently grab the majority of apples out of a tree without damaging the fruit.
Jun 13, 2024
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Energy & Green Tech
New Zealand plans to commission about eight gigawatts of solar photovoltaic projects—more than the maximum power demand of the whole country on a typical winter's day—by 2028, according to the government's latest generation ...
Jun 6, 2024
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Energy & Green Tech
A new study maps how energy and food systems depend on stored water to generate hydropower and feed irrigation. Dams and reservoirs won't be able to meet the demand in coming decades.
May 30, 2024
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Engineering
University of Illinois Chicago engineers have helped design a new method to make hydrogen gas from water using only solar power and agricultural waste, such as manure or husks. The method reduces the energy needed to extract ...
May 30, 2024
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137
Engineering
A team at the University of Cordoba has developed a methodology that defines the cultivable space between two-axis photovoltaic modules, with the aim of promoting the conversion of existing plants over to agrivoltaic production.
Apr 30, 2024
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Engineering
Wind power is a source of energy that is both affordable and renewable. However, decision-makers have been reluctant to invest in wind energy due to a perception that wind farms require a lot of land compared to electric ...
Apr 17, 2024
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148
Energy & Green Tech
Those advocating for a green transition have, in recent years, had to contend with not just economic or political resistance, but ideological push back as well—specifically, from those adhering to the "ideology of fossil ...
Apr 17, 2024
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Energy & Green Tech
A major global catastrophe could disrupt trade in liquid fuels used to sustain industrial agriculture, impacting the food supply of island nations like New Zealand that depend on oil imports.
Mar 29, 2024
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Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science (the related practice of gardening is studied in horticulture).
Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant raising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century there has been increasing concern to identify and quantify various forms of agriculture. In the developed world the range usually extends between sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture) and intensive farming (e.g. industrial agriculture).
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, and at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects.[citation needed] Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.[citation needed]
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, pharmaceuticals and stimulants, and an assortment of ornamental or exotic panget products. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Stimulants include tobacco, alcohol, opium, cocaine,and digitalis. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.
In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. However, the relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of industrialization, and in 2003 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).[dead link]
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA