Utility companies’ demand-side programs produced a 0.9 percent savings in electricity consumption over the period between 1992 and 2006 and a 1.8 percent savings overall. They also achieved their maximum impact a few years after launching and had a long-lasting effect. Policy-makers should incorporate consideration of lasting and lagged effects of DSM programs into consideration.
Human population density is the strongest driving force behind invasive species in protected areas.
Local waste sources, accumulation points, and marine pathways around Hawai’i Island were determined to address the origin of the debris accumulating in Kamilo Point through the deployment of debris-catching booms and wooden drifter blocks.
When choosing fuel efficient vehicles, US consumers undervalue future fuel costs by valuing one dollar’s worth of future savings at 76 cents for the present price, a value gap of 32 percent.
Individuals of all economic backgrounds in developing countries demand public green spaces and are willing to give time and money for their maintenance.
Radioactive material from the Fukushima disaster was detected in food webs in the Pacific. However, it isn’t substantial enough to be dangerous to humans or animals.
Little is known about whether regional shark management plans are robust enough to sustainably manage shark stocks. However, implementing national action plans that adhere to international guidelines and that build on experiences from other fisheries can help save endangered shark species from extinction.
Research into ancestral associations between personality and survival reveals that extraverted gorillas, like humans, live longer lives.
Sustainable forest management that aims at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) includes payments to landowners and can provide economic benefits over alternative land uses such as oil palm plantations. If certain key factors are resolved, REDD+ can simultaneously achieve economic and social success while bringing ecological benefits and contributing to climate change mitigation.
The key ingredient in beer is proven to reduce parasitic mite populations in honey bee colonies.
Scientists examine how zoning and land use policy can protect environmentally sensitive areas at the fringe of the cities from damage by shantytowns. Political and social factors can often cause these policies to fail.
In the search for effective adaptations to climate change, governments and international organizations may have little need to cast their nets far from home.
Spring is coming earlier for wild bees in the Northeast. This could have serious ecological consequences if bee seasons go out of sync with plant seasons.
Butterflies and moths with specialized diets are utilizing human-altered environments to expand their ranges with climate change.
Scientists find that golf courses can be suitable nesting habitat for turtles.
Life-cycle assessments on bed sheets reveal criteria for ideal product.
The Malaysian state of Sarawak started its implementation of a gigantic hydropower project with the goal to leapfrog into modernity. This causes a range of unfavorable consequences that should be carefully assessed by other countries in the region that plan to install similar projects.
Regions containing much of the biological diversity on Earth should be conserved for reasons beyond the plant and animal species within them.
In Kansas, researchers are finding easy ways to minimize the negative impacts of wind energy while greatly surpassing the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2030 goals.
Coastal managers must anticipate and follow tropical storm patterns to protect endangered sea turtle species more effectively.
Life-cycle assessments and carbon footprinting of viable recycling and reuse options for food cartons provides a quantitative look that can aid in decision-making processes.
Scientists explore how entrepreneurs and decision makers can make or break how a national park benefits a community
Brown bears are escaping hunters by increasing their nocturnal activities. Yet their adaptations may come at a cost.
The Great Lakes – our largest global reserve of freshwater – are under attack from invasive species, and a new study provides an estimate of what this will cost us.
The inevitable expansion in renewable energy infrastructure will require keen attention and careful management of restricted water supplies.
Recent studies at one of the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill sites has revealed that, preceding engineering activities diminished the resilience of the salt water marshes.
Coastal parks provide places for restoring psychological health, but climate change—which is predicted to change factors that impact perceived restorative value of beaches such as temperature, tide levels, and air and water quality—may affect society’s mental health. Leading scientists recommend that climate change adaptation plans include inland open space and shaded parks to provide places of mental restoration as beaches lose their restorative value.
Events that happened over a decade ago in California still provide insights into what could trigger consumers to cut back their energy use today.
The do-it-yourself approach to bed bug control may be causing more harm to the indoor environment than good.
Despite capital investment and regulatory initiatives worldwide, international environmental technology transfer between developed and developing country occurs rarely while 60 percent of related innovation is concentrated in 3 countries.
Man’s best friend is one of wildlife’s worst enemies.
The policies and measures aiming at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) have proliferated, resulting in varying interpretations of “safeguards”. Now that REDD+ is maturing, direct trade-offs between monetized emissions reductions and social and biodiversity values call for more explicit regulations in this approach to climate change mitigation.
The invasive Burmese python has been linked to mammal declines Florida’s Everglades National park. Researchers fear that some of the endangered species of the region may be in danger.
Research finds that people who believe they are helping the environment may actually know less about energy conservation than the average person.
Though shale gas extraction with the use of hydraulic fracturing has been underway in the U.S. for about a decade, peer-reviewed literature looking at its impacts has only begun to be published. Some of the articles that were among the first published on the environmental impacts, and remain among the most talked about, are described here.
Previous research on hydraulic fracturing has indicated possible contamination of water wells by methane. A new research article attempts to model potential contamination pathways to aquifers from Marcellus shale gas beds.
Scientists explore how and what kind of methane makes it into natural gas wells.
Drinking water wells are only 60 to 90 meters below the surface, while the Marcellus Shale is at depths of 1,200 to 2,500 meters. Still, new research suggests that, because of the hydrology of northeastern Pennsylvania, hydraulic fracturing poses a risk to these shallow drinking water resources.
A new study calculates the total water usage for shale-gas production in Texas. While the total water usage doesn’t overwhelm state resources currently, the variability in local conditions over time will call for more careful consideration of water resources in the future.
Why has sustainable development been so hard to achieve? It turns out we have been measuring it incorrectly.
The government is supposed to provide clean drinking water. But, in many cases, they aren’t and consumers are paying for it.
Peering into the past can help us to discern the future. But, when it comes to ocean acidification, past events may offer little indication of what is in store.
People appreciate farmland for more than what it can grow, but values vary.
It is often assumed that global warming will make mountain trees climb uphill. A new long-view study shows that this is not always the case, meaning that managers must take heed when planning the future of their forests.
Being afraid of the dark is apparently justified.
Electronic textiles are on the verge of mass-commercialization. Now is the time to think about their potential impacts…and act.
Many conservationists and land planners look to property tax policy to encourage private landowners to keep their land undeveloped. While property tax can hold back the conversion of rural land to some extent, its impact is limited.
Jellyfish blooms are an increasingly frequent problem in many parts of the world. While it has long been understood that these blooms deprive fish and other species of food, new research sheds light on how they disrupt the ecosystem in ways that reduce the productivity of the oceans.
Local leaders must prepare for sea-level rise and coastal disaster management. Besides property damage, issues of social justice will arise because minorities, the poor, and the most vulnerable people are at greater risk than others.
Some populations – often those with the fewest resources and constituting a racial minority – ultimately pay more for basic water and sewer services than others.
Information and advocacy campaigns can affect environmentally related behavior, but not for long.
Common terms have different meanings to scientists and the general public. Recognizing this simple fact will help bridge the gap in the climate science debate.
In the summer of 1993, over 12,000 people flocked to the otherwise remote Clayoquot Sound to protest the logging of old growth forest on Meares Island, British Columbia. This precipitated changes in the public participation process that are still evolving twenty years later.
More stringent air pollution standards could encourage, rather than restrict, economic growth.
Climate change predictions are classifying species in the wrong way – putting biodiversity at risk.
Almost 30% of New York State’s electricity demand can be met by wind and solar energy, and having both forms of renewable energy operating at the same time can significantly reduce the problem of intermittency.
Coral reefs are one of the most critically endangered ecosystems on the planet, and untreated human waste is contributing to their decline.
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