Road construction is a more-than-$80 billion annual industry in the United States. Yet nothing comparable to the LEED rating system for buildings, or the Energy Star system for appliances, exists for highways and roads.
Earth has warmed much less than expected during the industrial era based on current best estimates of Earth's "climate sensitivity" -- the amount of global temperature increase expected in response to a given rise in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.
In a study published online on Jan. 19 in the Journal of Climate, Stephen Schwartz of Brookhaven National Laboratory, Robert Charlson of the University of Washington and colleagues examine the reasons for this discrepancy.
Civil engineers at the University of Washington and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Seattle office have taken a first look at how dams in the Columbia River basin, the nation's largest hydropower system, could be managed for a different climate.
At the UW, we seem to continually strive toward complete environmental sustainability. The recently installed restrictions on paper used at the UW bring us ever closer to this lofty, yet incredibly noble goal. In addition to this, the introduction of the trial power-grid program, energy-efficient light-bulb exchange, and the on-campus composting program define our school as environmentally conscious, at the very least.
Ice sheets are melting more quickly and Arctic sea ice is disappearing much faster than previously projected, and significant sea level rise is more certain than ever, according to a new global scientific synthesis prepared by some of the world's top climate scientists.
Sen. James Inhofe, champion of global-warming deniers, recently declared 2009 the “Year of the Skeptic.” Sadly, in some ways, he might be right.
Recent polls indicate that skeptics are gaining ground in the battle for public opinion. Americans are increasingly unsure about the causes of climate change.
In recent years, a steady stream of universities have established either a college, school or campus dedicated to the study of sustainability and the environment, and they're experimenting with a range of innovative organizing principles and structures to promote interdisciplinary (or transdisciplinary) teaching and research.
A college, three schools and departments, several centers and programs, and an institute will be combined
In this two-part class, 15 students learn about the historical roots and various definitions of sustainability, then explore and analyze the UW to figure out how it could be more sustainable. This quarter -- the first this class has been offered -- students focus on sustainability practices related to water; future topics may include energy and transportation. Student teams partner with staff, including campus utility workers, to research topics like the efficiency of water flow in showers at the IMA, or the layout of storm-water drains on campus.
There has been sharp disagreement in recent years about how much, or even whether, winter snowpack has declined in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon during the last half-century. But new research leaves little doubt that a warmer climate has a significant effect on the snowpack, as measured by water content on April 1, even if other factors keep year-to-year measurements close to normal for a period of years. Water content can vary greatly depending on temperature and other conditions at the time of snowfall.