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Beet juice, molasses and mag: Colorado's search for the right highway de-icing mixture

Pam Boyd

January 19, 2019 |

Sky-Hi News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

As Colorado searches for the most effective and efficient de-icer for its winter weather, the state weighs the pros and cons of using agricultural by-products like beet juice and molasses as base ingredients. The quest for finding the perfect de-icer comes up against environmental concerns – especially considering the robust outdoors of Colorado – as well as budget limitations and effectiveness.

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How Poop-Eating Worms Could Help Save Thousands Of Lives Each Year

Oliver Balch

January 16, 2019 |

The Huffington Post |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Nairobi

The Bill Gates Foundation is currently funding a number of organizations that seek to solve the rate of open defecation by creating low-cost toilets that utilize the feces within them. One organization, called Sanergy, operates in 11 neighborhoods across Nairobi and uses a systems-based approach that takes into account financing and maintenance of the toilet as well as selling the waste as fertilizer. Another, called Tiger Toilets in India, uses a septic tank toilet that places worms within the drainage layer who then consume the feces and produce fertilizer to be used or sold.

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Bringing back historic wildlife migration corridors to the mountains

Karen Chávez

January 04, 2019 |

Citizen-Times |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Asheville, North Carolina

In North Carolina, a group of planners and conservationists are working to install wildlife corridors along a stretch of I-40, allowing animals like elk and bears to cross safely. The plan has myriad benefits: stopping fatalities, reducing traffic accidents, and improving wildlife habitat. Climate change only makes such corridors more crucial, because wildlife will be increasingly on the move.

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How a Louisville company aims to make electric cars cost less and drive farther using technology from CU

Mark Jaffe

January 02, 2019 |

The Colorado Sun |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Louisville, Colorado

Solid state battery technology is gaining momentum towards positively impacting electric cars in both cost and distance efficiency. In Louisville, Colorado, one company is looking at expanding this momentum by raising funds to build the largest solid state battery factory that is focusing on making "light, fast-charging and, hopefully, cheaper batteries for electric transportation, from next-generation electric vehicles to drones or even electric airplanes."

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Smart ships using wind and bubbles to save fuel

Nick Holland

December 15, 2018 |

BBC |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United Kingdom, London

The shipping industry has made moves to halve fuel consumption by 2050. With a few clever technological innovations--bubbles and rotating sails--ships are closer to that goal. But whatever the promise of these new technologies, they're not yet cost effective.

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Climate-Positive Architecture Has Arrived In Norway

Tracey Lindeman

December 13, 2018 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Norway, Trondheim

Powerhouse, a collective of architects, engineers, environmentalists, and designers based in Oslo, reimagines building design to address climate change. Not only are many of their structures energy-neutral, but they actually produce surplus energy. For example, Powerhouse Brattørkaia in Trondheim is an eight-story office that will generate 485,000 kWh annually. Such "energy-positive" building has made great strides in Norway.

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Betting on a new way to make concrete that doesn't pollute

Stanley Reed

December 02, 2018 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Piscataway, New Jersey

Solidia, a cement and concrete technology company, is changing the chemistry of how cement is created that could make the building material cheaper and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Cement plants create more carbon dioxide than any other manufacturing process, so the American-based company is testing how to use the greenhouse gas to incorporate it into the mixture instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. So far, it can reduce as much as 70 percent of CO2 that is normally emitted from the process and it's faster to make than normal concrete.

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Meet the Young Alaska Natives Pursuing a Successful Career in the STEM Fields

Lillian Mongeau

November 19, 2018 |

Pacific Standard |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Anchorage

The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program is working to provide full scholarships, a strong STEM background, and most importantly, a sense of community, to the majority Alaska-Native group of students in the program. The program's results are impressive - ANSEP students "outperform students of all backgrounds in math and science" and groups around the country are trying to emulate those results for other disadvantaged and negatively stereotyped groups.

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From German trains to South Korean buses, hydrogen fuel is back in the energy picture

Bianca Nogrady

November 06, 2018 |

Ensia |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Germany, Hamburg

Hydrogen fuel has made promising strides from Germany to Japan, thanks to shifting markets for renewables, improved storage technologies, and emissions-reduction goals. Electrolysis that uses renewables to make the fuel could transform transportation and energy infrastructure, but a few concerns about the unintended effects persist.

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In Chula Vista, Calif., Drones Now Respond to 911 Calls

Gustavo Solis

October 29, 2018 |

San Diego Union-Tribune |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Chula Vista

Police in Chula Vista, Calif., are using drones to respond to some emergency calls as part of a pilot program between the Federal Aviation Administration, Chula Vista and the city of San Diego. It’s an idea from Ensenada, Mexico, where use of drones prompted a 10 percent drop in crime, and on its first day in Chula Vista drones responded to 30 emergency calls that led to three arrests. The FAA is working with police to rewrite regulations as the program evolves to adapt to police needs.

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