Cool Roofs Can Mitigate Global Warming

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

Lighter colored pavement is more reflective, resulting in a cooler surface temperature. (Credit: Photo courtesy ASU National Center of Excellence for SMART Innovations)

Light-colored rooftops and roads really curb carbon emissions and combat global climate change? The idea has been around for years, but now, a new study by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that is the first to use a global model to study the question has found that implementing cool roofs and cool pavements in cities around the world can not only help cities stay cooler, they can also cool the world, with the potential of canceling the heating effect of up to two years of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.

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Posted in Global Warming | 1 Comment

New Theory Why Tectonic Plates Move the Way They Do

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

A team of researchers including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego geophysicist Dave Stegman has developed a new theory to explain the global motions of tectonic plates on the earth’s surface.The new theory extends the theory of plate tectonics — a kinematic description of plate motion without reference to the forces behind it .

This discovery explains why the Australian, Nazca and Pacific plates move up to four times faster than the smaller African, Eurasian and Juan de Fuca plates.

The computer models demonstrate that the subducted portion of a tectonic plate pulls on the portion of the plate that remains on the earth’s surface. This pull results in either the motion of the plate, or the motion of the plate boundary, with the size of the subduction zone determining how much of each.

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U.K. layers climate shift on Google Earth

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

The U.K. government  launched a Google Earth layer that models what Earth might look like in the event of a significant worldwide rise in temperature.

Specifically, the interactive map visually demonstrates what could happen if carbon emissions are not curbed, and as a result, Earth’s temperature rises four degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial worldwide climate average. As a plethora of scientists and politicians have repeatedly stated, an increase in things like drought and agricultural disruption as a result of drought, could lead to instability and violence in some parts of the world.

The free downloadable Four Degrees Celsius layer was developed and released by the U.K.’s Foreign Office (FCO) and Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in response to the public attacks that have been made against scientific research regarding global warming, according to the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

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Posted in climate change, earth, Ecosystem, Environment | 2 Comments

Indian Rupee has a symbol Now

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

The jury has given its verdict: the rupee will retain its Indian character with an international flavour. The five-member panel has chosen IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar’s design from among five shortlisted symbols and recommended it for Cabinet approval.

Kumar’s symbol (on the left) is an amalgam of the Devanagari ‘Ra’ and the Roman capital ‘R’ without the stem, very much in line with what Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had envisioned. “We intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee which reflects and captures Indian ethos and culture,” Mukherjee said in his Budget speech this year.

The chosen symbol has the Finance Minister’s approval, said a Ministry official.

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Posted in India | Leave a comment