mostlymovies:

Suspiria
Directed by Dario Argento (1977)

npr:

It’s easy to think we’re being virtuous when we fill up the blue recycling bin and put it on the curb. But it’s clear we have embraced some magical thinking when it comes to what can be recycled.

Morning Edition asked its social media followers to share what puzzles them the most about the recycling process. Then, NPR’s Dianna Douglas visited a waste management plant in Elkridge, Md., to get the answers from Michael Taylor, director of recycling operations for the plant.

Taylor’s number one tip: don’t recycle plastic bags, even if they’re full of newspaper. They gum up the whole processing system. Every few hours Taylor has to shut down the machines to remove all the plastic. Take your plastic bags back to the grocery store, Taylor says. And don’t just throw your flip flops, bowling balls, and Christmas lights into the blue bin because you think they should be recyclable. Below are five more of his responses to readers’ questions.

Reduce, Reuse, Remove The Cellophane: Recycling Demystified

Credit: Dianna Douglas/NPR

ncrussell:

theycallmeparrot:

estebanwaseaten:

moyaofthemist:

ilovecharts:

The total area of solar panels it would take to power the world, Europe, and Germany

“In just six hours, the world’s deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes in a year. (x)

I don’t care how many times I see this I will always reblog it

Stop spending money on war and lies and start spending it on ways to make this planet better.

america-wakiewakie:

A fully transparent solar cell that could make every window and screen a power source | Extreme Tech

Researchers at Michigan State University have created a fully transparent solar concentrator, which could turn any window or sheet of glass (like your smartphone’s screen) into a photovoltaic solar cell. Unlike other “transparent” solar cells that we’ve reported on in the past, this one really is transparent, as you can see in the photos throughout this story. According to Richard Lunt, who led the research, the team are confident that the transparent solar panels can be efficiently deployed in a wide range of settings, from “tall buildings with lots of windows or any kind of mobile device that demands high aesthetic quality like a phone or e-reader.”

Scientifically, a transparent solar panel is something of an oxymoron. Solar cells, specifically the photovoltaic kind, make energy by absorbing photons (sunlight) and converting them into electrons (electricity). If a material is transparent, however, by definition it means that all of the light passes through the medium to strike the back of your eye. This is why previous transparent solar cells have actually only been partially transparent — and, to add insult to injury, they usually they cast a colorful shadow too.

To get around this limitation, the Michigan State researchers use a slightly different technique for gathering sunlight. Instead of trying to create a transparent photovoltaic cell (which is nigh impossible), they use a transparent luminescent solar concentrator (TLSC). The TLSC consists of organic salts that absorb specific non-visible wavelengths of ultraviolet and infrared light, which they then luminesce (glow) as another wavelength of infrared light (also non-visible). This emitted infrared light is guided to the edge of plastic, where thin strips of conventional photovoltaic solar cell convert it into electricity. [Research paper: DOI: 10.1002/adom.201400103- “Near-Infrared Harvesting Transparent Luminescent Solar Concentrators”]

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