Browsing: environmentally friendly

You would not believe your eyes if 10 million fireflies lit up the world as you fell asleep. And remember…

At one point in time, running an entire country entirely on renewable energy seemed like a pipe dream. No longer, though.

For almost a week in November 2023, the country of Portugal ran on 100% renewables. It was said that Portugal's energy landscape witnessed about 1102 Gigawatt hours (GWh) from renewable sources during this period. As a frame of reference, that could power thousands of sports stadiums hosting a really important cricket match. So, Portugal operated without the use of natural gas for about 130 consecutive hours, which just might signal a reduced dependency on fossil fuels. Portugal's renewable energy is said to be wind and solar power and there are said to be plans to explore hybrid plants that combine both wind and solar energy.

And Portugal's total energy consumption amounted to about 840 GWh, encompassing households and industries. So, there was surplus energy as well. During 95 of those 130 hours, where natural gas wasn't used, Portugal was said to have met its own energy needs, while, also, exporting excess clean energy to Spain. That might mean that Spain could be a renewable energy exporter.

In June 2023, when Indian PM Narendra Modi visited the US during a 3-day visit, he gifted US First Lady Jill Biden a 7.5-carat diamond. But, it wasn't like the diamonds you've heard of or seen: this one was grown in a lab.

Lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) are different from natural diamonds. A natural diamond is formed deep within the Earth over billions of years and is mined from the Earth’s crust, which is said to be a complex and costly process. Each natural diamond is different and has variations in colour and quality & can be quite expensive.

There are said to be environmental and ethical concerns related to the mining of these natural diamonds. Some natural diamond mining operations are said to have had human rights abuses, like exploitative labour practices. And diamond mining could lead to habitat destruction, deforestation and water pollution.