Alec Ross, Author at Bluedot Living

Heat Pumps Demystified

Alec Ross — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 16:05:42 +0000

Heating and cooling homes with oil, natural gas, and propane furnaces generates significant greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to climate change. As a result, governments around the world are encouraging homeowners whose fossil-fueled furnaces or boilers are at the end of their useful life to replace them with cleaner, more energy-efficient air-source electric heat pumps, […]

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Keeping Cool (or Warm) With Paint

Alec Ross — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 22:43:15 +0000

Painting buildings white to keep them cool in hot climates is nothing new. Look no further than the Greek island of Santorini, with its stark — and picturesque — dwellings. The science behind it is simple: lighter colors reflect heat — or, more accurately, infrared light from the sun — while darker colors absorb it. […]

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FluxJet: Next-Level Commuter Transportation

Alec Ross — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 18:17:24 +0000

Right now, taking a train from Boston to New York, a trip of about 186 miles, takes about five and a half hours. But what if you could cut that travel time down to, say, 45 minutes? Making such ultra-high-speed travel possible is the goal of TransPod — a company with offices in Toronto, Canada; […]

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Powerful Powder Purifies Water

Alec Ross — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 15:11:02 +0000

According to a recent United Nations report, some two billion people lack access to safe drinking water. There are ways to address the situation — for example, through extensive filtration, treating the water with bacteria-killing chemicals, or exposing it to ultraviolet light. Unfortunately, filtration doesn’t always remove all contaminants, and chemical treatment often leaves toxic […]

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Hellstrip Heroes Transform Neglected Space into a Pollinators’ Paradise

Alec Ross — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:44:05 +0000

Sustainable Saratoga launched a program that encourages the city's residents to grow native plants, pollinator gardens, and small trees in hellstrips.

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Hydropanels Pull Water Out of the Sky

Alec Ross — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 14:40:26 +0000

We’ve all heard the expression, “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” It’s a line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s eighteenth-century poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” and it describes the plight of a group of ill-fated sailors becalmed near the equator, baking in the sun but unable to sip from the briny ocean […]

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Can Vertical Farms Feed the World?

Alec Ross — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 17:48:17 +0000

Farmers everywhere have always been at the mercy of the weather. Droughts, prolonged periods of rain, early frosts, hailstorms, and unexpected temperature fluctuations (not to mention pest infestations and other non-weather-related scourges) can delay crop growth or destroy the harvest. But over the past couple of decades, vertical farming — growing plants in multi-story, high-tech […]

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Cairn Controversy

Alec Ross — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:39:17 +0000

If you’ve ever hiked in the mountains or strolled along a stony beach, you’ve probably seen them: piles of rocks shaped like mini pyramids, towers, or even something vaguely resembling a human. The stones might even be artfully balanced on top of each other, seeming to defy gravity, and ready to topple at the touch […]

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Californians Lease Electric Vehicles on a Trial Basis

Alec Ross — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 15:48:55 +0000

More and more Americans are hopping on board the electric vehicle bandwagon. Many of those still on the fence are often held back by the up-front cost of an EV or by general uncertainty about whether an EV is the right choice for them. But Californians who are considering going electric now have a cost-effective […]

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Six Flags Taps the Sun

Alec Ross — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 14:33:54 +0000

If you’ve ever screamed while corkscrewing and plummeting your way through a terrifying, monster-sized roller coaster ride in the U.S., chances are you did it at a Six Flags theme park. The firm operates twenty-seven regional theme parks in North America and is the largest operation of its kind on Earth. And now it can […]

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