26 new planets outside ‘our’ solar system

The Kepler space telescope mission has found 26 new planets outside our solar system, all of them orbiting too close to their host stars to sustain life, said a recent statement from the US Space Agency.

Scattered across 11 planetary systems, their temperatures would be too hot for survival, as they all circle their stars closer than Venus, the second planet from the Sun, which has a surface temperature of 464C (867F).

But Nasa is pleased with the findings, which nearly double the number of confirmed planets that Kepler has found since 2009.

“Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky,” said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist.

“Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits.,” he added.

Is the next ice age here yet?

Relax. The next ice age is not likely to hit for a minimum of 1,500 years thanks to high levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, according to Nature Geoscience.

The UN’s weather department said that the main gases blamed for global warming reached record levels last year and will linger in the atmosphere for decades even if all emissions were stopped today.

An ice age referred to a period when there is a long-term reduction in the earth’s surface and atmospheric temperature, which leads to the growth of ice sheets and glaciers.

According to scientists, there have been at least five ice ages on earth. During ice ages there are cycles of glaciation with ice sheets both advancing and retreating.

Officially, the earth has been in an interglacial, or warmer period, for the last 10,000 to 15,000 years, and estimates vary on how long such periods last.

The study based on variations in the earth’s orbit and rock samples was conducted by academics at Cambridge University, University College London, the University of Florida and Norway’s University of Bergen.

The world is forecast to grow hotter as greenhouse gases continue to rise, increasing threats such as extreme weather events and sea level rise.

Scientists have warned that global temperature rise should be limited to within 2 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effects of climate change but delays in curbing emissions growth are putting the planet at risk.

2012 – Set to be hottest year yet?

2012 could very well rank among the top hottest 10 years since 1850, with global temperatures likely to be half a degree Celsius warmer than the long-term average of 14 degrees, the UK’s Meteorological Department has said.

This year could become one of the top 10 hottest since 1850, with global temperatures expected to be almost half a degree Celsius warmer in 2012 than the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14 degrees, the UK’s Met Office said yesterday.

“2012 is expected to be around 0.48 degrees warmer than the long-term (1961-1990) global average of 14 degrees, with a predicted likely range of between 0.34 and 0.62 degrees,” the Met Office said in a statement.

“In 2011 we saw a very strong La Niña, which can temporarily cool global temperatures. The La Niña has returned, and although it is not as strong as early last year, it is still expected to influence temperatures, (and) we expect 2012 to be slightly warmer than last year but not as warm as 2010,” said Adam Scaife, head of Monthly to Decadal Forecasting at the Met Office.

2011 figures released by the Met office were close to those published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which put the global average temperature at 0.41 degrees above the norm.

The WMO lists 2010 as its warmest year on record, and all of its 12 warmest years fall between 1998 and 2011.

Towards a greener home

How environment-friendly is your home? Amidst all the propaganda for eco-friendly living, there are still millions of homes that could do with a little more of a ‘green’ touch. A non-toxic home is good not just for the environment but also for your family and pets.

If you look around at any given time in your house, how many of the things you see are non-toxic or non-recyclable? You may be amazed at the percentage of environmentally hazardous stuff lying in your living rooms, kitchens, garages and bathrooms. Unused and unwanted materials such as paints, brake fluids, pesticides, batteries, light bulbs and cleaning chemicals ought to disposed of at a proper waste management facility.

With little or no effort, you could save water by properly closing the faucet, using a high-efficiency toilet and taking a ’slightly’ quicker shower. You can even keep the environment clean through regular maintenance programs, such as using a septic tank cleaner for less tank pumping.

What if everyone in your neighborhood recycled all their aluminum cans?

Sometimes I wonder if everyone understands completely what recycling can do for sustainability. Check out this photo I found on NewsCom:

Bales of crushed aluminum cans ready for recycling at the Novelis plant in Oswego, NY. Each bale contains approximately 34,000 used beverage cans.
(PRNewsFoto/Novelis Inc.) Location: Atlanta, GA, USA

That led me to try and find out what if EVERYONE recycled their aluminum cans?

Thankfully, Novelis Recycling provides a ‘recycling calculator‘ to find stats about just that.

Assuming 100 people lived in your neighborhood, this is what the calculator says:

(These statistics are based on US data, assuming 100% recycling rate.)

Total Cans Recycled: 29,900
Total Weight Recycled: 874 LBS
Amount of Greenhouse Gases (C02e) Saved vs Using New Aluminum: 4 Metric Tons
Energy Saved: 56 MBTUs
Barrels of Oil with Equivalent Energy: 10 Barrels
Equivalent GHG Emissions from Cars Not Driven in One Year: 1 Car(s)
Length of Cans if Stacked End to End: 2 Miles
Value of Aluminum: $656
Water Saved: 2 Cubic Meters

Use the calculator to see what if everyone in NYC recycled all their aluminum cans? (Population: 18,800,000)

When can we start?