I never thought I’d favor nuclear power. But here it is: I believe nuclear energy is our last best chance to stem the tide of climate change. Time is running out for reversing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning from the fossil fuel age. Nuclear power must occupy a larger share of our energy mix and replace coal-fired power plants. For energy policy, I think “near-term” decisions should still favor: (1) energy efficiency; (2) big wind; and (3) small solar. But nuclear power is going to be needed, too. (Comment)

This work aims to identify the geographic distribution of photovoltaic (PV) energy potential considering the effect of temperature on PV system performance. A simple framework is developed that uses the JIS C 8907 Japanese industrial standard to evaluate the effects of irradiation and temperature on PV potential. The global distributions of PV potential and yearly performance ratio are obtained by this framework. Generally, the performance ratio decreases with latitude because of temperature. However, regions with high altitude have higher performance ratios due to low temperature.

Aircraft emissions impact human health though degradation of air quality. The majority of previous analyses of air quality impacts from aviation have considered only landing and takeoff emissions. We show that aircraft cruise emissions impact human health over a hemispheric scale and provide the first estimate of premature mortalities attributable to aircraft emissions globally.

Beijing, the capital of China, has experienced rapid motorization since 1990; a trend that is likely to continue. The growth in vehicles and the corresponding emissions create challenges to improving the urban air quality.

Beijing, the capital of China, has experienced rapid motorization since
1990; a trend that is likely to continue. The growth in vehicles and
the corresponding emissions create challenges to improving the urban
air quality.

On April 15, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the

Brazilian agriculture covers about one-third of the land area and is expected to expand further. We assessed the compliance of present Brazilian agriculture with environmental legislation and identified challenges for agricultural development connected to this legislation.

Despite great progress made in the past 25 years, acid deposition continues to cause widespread damage to the environment in Europe and eastern North America. Legislation to limit emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds in Europe is now under revision. The most recent protocol was based in part on the critical loads concept.

Human burning of fossil fuels and biofuels for energy use affects global climate change through increasing carbon dioxide (CO2), but also a host of other short-lived non-CO2 effects that are complex and involve impacts that are both warming and cooling.

Many factors have contributed to China