According to the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, thunderstorms could be contributing to global warming due to their ability to capture and retain heat. If true, environmental scientists may have to drastically adjust their climate models in order to take this in account.

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Post tags: aerosols, anvil clouds pollutions, Atmospheric Science, Climate Change, Environment, Fundamental Science, pacific northwest national laboratory, Pollution, storm clouds pollution, thunderclouds, thunderstorms pollution

While we’ve been talking about how cost-saving green architecture can be for some time now, a new nationwide government report has actually documented some impressive statistics that make it official. The Government Services Administration (GSA) commissioned the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to evaluate 22 green federal buildings across the country and came up with some amazing numbers showing that green buildings not only cost less to build and maintain, they also have happier, more satisfied occupants.

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Post tags: architecture news, eco design news, government news, government services administration, government study, green buildings, green buildings news, green buildings save money, green design news, green news, national green study, news, pacific northwest national laboratory, sustainable design news, sustainable news

By far one of the most wasted spaces of every residence is the roof – of course it is there to protect us from the elements, but surely it can be put to better use. Aiming to innovate upon conventional roof cladding, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently unveiled a new breed of flexible and moisture resistant solar panels that are designed to be rolled out en masse as energy-generating roof tiles!

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Post tags: "clean energy", green energy, pacific northwest national laboratory, photovoltaic, renewable, roof shingle solar cells, Solar Power, sustainable design

We tend not to acknowledge it, but our dependence on oil is not limited to the consumption of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Finding an alternative to plastic (which is also made from oil), is proving to be one of the most difficult problems we face today. Recently scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have announced a groundbreaking development that provides a simple solution to the problem, transforming plant cellulose into plastic in one single step.

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Post tags: alternatives to plastics, pacific northwest national laboratory, plastic alternatives, plastic that grows on trees, plastics are made from oil