environmental impact

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Voracious AI Data Centers Met With Backlash Around the Globe

Communities blame power outages, water shortages on tech giants' facilities

(Newser) - As the race to build artificial intelligence accelerates, data centers are springing up worldwide, sparking backlash from Ireland to Mexico over blackouts, water shortages, and secrecy, the New York Times reports. More than half the world's 1,244 largest data centers now operate outside the United States, with hundreds...

There's Fallout From That Himalayan Fireworks Show

Four Chinese officials lose their jobs after last month's environmentally damaging display

(Newser) - Four Chinese officials have lost their jobs in the fallout to a clothing company's fireworks display in the environmentally sensitive Himalayas last month. Authorities in Tibet's Shigatse city announced the punishments Wednesday, following apologies from Canadian clothing comapny Arc'teryx and Chinese pyrotechnics artist Cai Guo-Qiang. Gyantse County'...

China Bets on Underwater Data Centers

Ocean cooling expected to significantly cut energy costs

(Newser) - Beneath the waves off Shanghai, China is launching a new era of digital infrastructure—cooling its AI-powered data centers with the chill of the ocean, and potentially reshaping the global approach to sustainable computing. Traditional data centers, both in China and globally, use enormous amounts of electricity, with cooling...

A Law Meant to Protect the Peruvian Amazon Is Unwound

Amendment to 2011 law eliminates need for state approval on land use

(Newser) - An amendment to a Peruvian law has shaken environmentalists who warn it may accelerate Amazon deforestation in the name of economic progress, with one critic calling it "gravely concerning." The AP reports the change to the Forestry and Wildlife Law allows landowners and companies to convert forested...

To Rebuild Fast, Newsom Halts Environmental Rules

California's stringent regulations have been suspended for the time being after fires

(Newser) - With massive rebuilding needed in the Los Angeles area after a series of devastating wildfires, including the deadly Palisades Fire , Gov. Gavin Newsom has already made a big move to expedite that process. The New York Times reports that Newsom has given his OK to a "broad" executive order...

These Are America's Most Sustainable Cities

LawnStarter ranks US cities by 39 sustainability metrics

(Newser) - What makes a city green? LawnStarter has a few opinions, including zero-energy buildings, alternative fuel stations, and how many greenhouse gases they emit. New York City topped the list of their most sustainable cities, ranking first for its green restaurants and public transit system that connects commuters to jobs. But...

States Sue Postal Service Over Its Truck Plan

Agency is buying vehicles that get just 8.6mpg

(Newser) - The Postal Service disappointed a lot of people when it announced in February that only 10% of the roughly 150,000 delivery trucks it will buy in the next decade will be electric . Now, some of them are suing to block the purchases of gasoline vehicles, including 16 states, DC,...

The Oil Slicks Covered 4 Square Miles. A Day Later, 13 Times That

Environmentalists are fretting after tanker spill in East China Sea

(Newser) - Environmental activists are raising the alarm following what the New York Times calls the largest tanker oil spill in nearly 30 years. The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tons, or more than 1 million barrels, of natural gas condensate when it collided with a freighter in the East China Sea...

White House: Cut Carbon Now, or Pay $150B a Year Later

Climate change costs could jump 40% each decade

(Newser) - When it comes to climate change, the United States can pay to cut carbon emissions now, or we can pay about $150 billion a year down the road as costs soar by about 40% a decade, according to a White House Council of Economic Advisers analysis out today, as per...

Gulf's Mystery Sheen Baffles BP, Coast Guard

But the once-burst well is still sealed

(Newser) - Underwater inspections conducted with robot submarines at the site of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have failed to identify the source of a persistent sheen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, officials said yesterday. It's not all bad news: The Coast Guard and BP both said...

Study: Electric Cars Hurt the Environment

At least in areas that burn fossil fuels for electricity

(Newser) - Buying a Model S or a Leaf might not be the proverbial tree hug you thought it was. Electric cars actually harm the environment more than their gas-powered counterparts in many places, a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has concluded. That's in part because...

London Olympics Blasted for Using Endangered Wood

Team USA will use basketball court for training

(Newser) - At next year’s London Olympics, the US basketball team will train on some pretty rare ground. The court is being made from eucalyptus wood logged in a 1,000-year-old Tasmanian forest that's home to endangered species such as the Tasmanian Devil, activists allege. The UN World Heritage Committee...

22-Mile Oil Plume Found in Gulf
 22-Mile Oil Plume Found in Gulf 
Aug 20, 2010 8:29 AM CDT

22-Mile Oil Plume Found in Gulf

BP pushes back final cap for well to mid-September

(Newser) - Scientists have detected an underwater plume of oil the size of Manhattan, according to the Wall Street Journal . The findings, published yesterday, further undermine the Obama administration’s optimistic view that most of the Deepwater Horizon oil has already disappeared. The 22-mile-long underwater plume is also highly unusual. “If...

Oil Spill Damage Overhyped
 Oil Spill Damage Overhyped 
Analysis
Jul 29, 2010 1:56 PM CDT

Oil Spill Damage Overhyped

Spill's effects don't appear all that catastrophic

(Newser) - Everyone seems to be calling the Deepwater Horizon spill the worst environmental disaster ever, but rumors of the Gulf’s death may be greatly exaggerated, writes Michael Grunwald of TIME . While there could be long-term ramifications from the spill, the damage so far actually looks pretty modest. It’s killed...

Gulf Oil Spill Fallout Baffles Scientists

Scientists have little experience with oil from below

(Newser) - The Gulf oil spill will affect all living things in the area—but determining what those consequences will be is stumping the best minds in environmental science. There's never been an oil spill of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon accident on the ocean floor, and data is scarce on...

Jindal to US: We're Not Waiting for You
 Jindal to US: 
 We're Not 
 Waiting 
 for You 


SAND BERMS WILL GO
May 23, 2010 5:16 PM CDT

Jindal to US: We're Not Waiting for You

Sand berms will go without Army Corps of Engineers OK

(Newser) - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says the state is not waiting for federal approval to begin building sand barriers to protect the coastline from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Jindal's defiant comments today came as oil pushed at least 12 miles into the heart of Louisiana's marshes. Two major pelican...

Advice on How to Live Cheaply, Simply Is Thriving

Books, blogs popular in recession

(Newser) - What with the recession, worldwide poverty, and impending environmental doom, it’s no wonder that bookshelves and the blogosphere are crammed with tales of voluntary privation and experiments in skimp. Last month there was On a Dollar a Day, about a couple's attempt to live on that amount—in San ...

Go Green: Move to NY
 Go Green: Move to NY 
DAVID OWEN
Oct 27, 2009 2:00 AM CDT

Go Green: Move to NY

Space-guzzling homeowners in countryside exact bigger toll

(Newser) - Vermont has been hailed as the greenest place in America but its residents need to look to Manhattan for some real low-impact living, argues David Owen. Vermonters might feel green with all that countryside around, but they lack the public transport and low energy use that makes New York City...

Wine, Meet Your Future: Plastics

(Newser) - Screw tops, boxes, and now—plastic bottles? A move is afoot to package wine in low-cost, lighter plastic containers, the Los Angeles Times reports. The bottles come with an expiration date because the plastic does not provide the same airtight seal as glass. But because most wine sold in the...

Supreme Court Rules for Power Plants, Against Fish

EPA regulators can perform cost-benefit analysis before ordering upgrades: ruling

(Newser) - Federal regulators may perform cost-benefit analysis on new power plant equipment designed to protect fish, and decide whether to require the equipment based on that analysis, the Supreme Court ruled today. The 6-3 decision overturns an appellate court ruling that barred the EPA from performing cost-benefit analysis because it wasn't...

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