Without decisive action, global warming in the 21st century is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted, according to a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Read more

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Global warming is, unfortunately, a fact of life. A bad economy is also a fact of life, and both add up to a need to save on home energy costs. The average U.S. family pays $1,900 a year in utility bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Here are a few tips for saving energy in your home and reducing utility bills.

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Could the sun's unusual behavior herald a new ice age? For about 50 years from roughly 1650 to 1700, the Sun took a break from its typical sunspot activity. That phase of solar rest coincided with what we now refer to as "The Little Ice Age" -- a period of cooling on the Earth that resulted in bitterly cold winters, particularly in Europe and North America. Scientists attribute the Little Ice Age to two main causes: increased volcanic activity and reduced solar activity. Could it happen again? And are we headed there now? Read more

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Several companies have come up with instruction kits on building your own solar panels and windmills to save energy in your home. A panel at All Science News provides reviews of several DIY solar panel and windmill kits, and you can read about our results here.

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It's still in the theoretical stages, but Lockheed Martin has been studying the possibility of providing energy by exploiting the difference between the temperature of seawater near the surface and deep down. Read more

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Nanoribbons from Sliced Open Nanotubes: New, Faster, and More Accurate Method from Stanford Researchers

A world of potential may lie tied up in graphene nanoribbons, particularly for electronics applications. But researchers have been hampered in their efforts to fully explore that potential because they had no reliable way of creating the large quantities of uniform nanoribbons needed to conduct extensive studies. Now a team at Stanford University under Hongjie Dai has developed a new method that will allow relatively precise production of mass quantities of the tiny ribbons by slicing open carbon nanotubes. Read more

Do you want to Go Green and Save Green at the Same Time? This can save you money while you save the planet.

Have you considered do-it-yourself (DIY) solar panels or windmills for your home? They can save hundreds of dollars on your utility bills.