https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/world/europe/germany-ebikes-transportation.html By Melissa Eddy , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Germany’s automakers are facing steep challenges as they convert to battery-powered lineups and confront rising competition from China. But business is booming in another corner of the German transport industry: e-bikes. Sales of bicycles in Germany reached a record 7.36 billion euros, or $7.8 billion, in 2022, with e-bikes accounting for nearly half of sales, according to the German Bicycle Industry Association. The group is forecasting that this year, for the first time, Germans will buy more e-bikes than conventional models. Electric bicycles and scooters are the backbone of what’s known as  micromobility , seen as crucial to cutting the carbon emissions of transportation and helping to ease pollution and congestion in European cities.... 

https://www.science.org/content/article/chemical-cages-could-store-hydrogen-expand-use-clean-burning-fuel By ROBERT F. SERVICE , Science.  Excerpt: Cheap molecular “sponges” made with aluminum can be low-pressure gas tanks. Hydrogen seems like the perfect fuel. By weight it packs more punch than any other fuel. It can be made from water, meaning supply is almost limitless, in principle. And when burned or run through a fuel cell, it generates energy without any carbon pollution. But hydrogen takes up enormous volume, making it impractical to store. Compressing it helps, but is expensive and essentially turns hydrogen storage tanks into high-pressure explosives. Now, a molecular sponge made of organic compounds and cheap aluminum promises a practical solution, holding significant amounts of hydrogen at low pressures. Described in a paper accepted last week at the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), it is the latest in a series of promising metal-organic framew...

https://www.science.org/content/article/ferociously-hot-weather-could-make-some-cities-unlivable-low-tech-solutions-can-help By VAISHNAVI CHANDRASHEKHAR , Science. Excerpt: MUMBAI, INDIA ...Before the monsoon rains arrive, temperatures can top 37°C, with humidity at a sweltering 95%. ...Sometimes, Mumbai’s heat becomes deadly. In April, on a day the temperature reached 36°C, 11 people sitting through an hourslong outdoor ceremony died from heat stroke. At least 20 others were hospitalized. ...It wasn’t until 2015 that officials designated heat waves as a natural disaster at the national level. ...heat action plans, or HAPs, have been proliferating in India in the past few years. In general, an HAP spells out when and how officials should issue heat warnings and alert hospitals and other institutions. ... IN THE LONG RUN , cooling India’s cities will mean changing the way they are built. One possibility is to look to the past, when structures were designed to insulate peo...

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/26/1201781387/climate-change-emissions-report-offers-hope By Jeff Brady , NPR.  Excerpt: Countries are setting records in deploying climate-friendly technologies, such as solar power and electric vehicles, according to a new  International Energy Agency report . The agency, which represents countries that make up more than 80% of global energy consumption, projects demand for coal, oil and natural gas will peak before 2030. While greenhouse gas emissions keep rising, the IEA finds that there's still a path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. That's what's needed  to avoid  the the worst effects of climate change, such as catastrophic flooding and deadly heatwaves. ...overall message is more optimistic than the one issued in 2021, when the IEA released its first  Net Zero Roadmap . In addition to optimism, the  2023 version  shows that the transiti...

https://www.science.org/content/article/heat-and-disease-will-exact-heavy-toll-climate-warms Collection of articles in Science.  Excerpt: ...the stories in this special package will explore the threats, and how we can minimize them. Vector-borne diseases are a special worry . A warmer climate favors the mosquito that spreads dengue and may already be fueling a worldwide surge in the debilitating disease. Warming may also have enabled malaria-carrying mosquitoes to flourish in Africa’s cooler highlands and ticks that carry Lyme disease to advance northward. Migratory birds, which ferry cargoes of pathogens such as West Nile virus and influenza across continents, are changing the timing and routes of their journeys, with consequences that have yet to emerge. Then there are the direct effects of heat on the human body. The worsening toll of heat waves is unmistakable, with thousands dying every summer, but researchers are also discerning subtler impacts. Among the most vulnerable to ...

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2023/09/air-force-eyes-future-logistics-missions-its-first-electric-air-taxi/390614/ By BY AUDREY DECKER , Defense One.  Excerpt: Joby Aviation delivered its battery-powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to Edwards AFB in California. The U.S. Air Force will soon begin testing how it will use battery-powered planes to transport people and cargo. ...The aircraft holds one pilot and four passengers, can carry a payload of up to 1,000 pounds, and flies at speeds up to 200 miles per hour, said Greg Bowles, head of government affairs for Joby. It will primarily fly missions between 25 to 50 miles, “but the aircraft has the capability to do a lot more than that,” Bowles told  Defense One  on Friday. If the Air Force decides to use the aircraft in operations, it could be to fly cargo and personnel short distances in the Pacific. The Joby aircraft could be helpful within “some of the island clusters that don’t have those large ran...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/25/climate/fracking-oil-gas-wells-water.html By Hiroko Tabuchi  and  Blacki Migliozzi , The New York Times. Excerpt: Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers. ...energy giants are drilling not just for oil, but for the water they need. ...Along a parched stretch of La Salle County, Texas, workers last year dug some 700 feet deep into the ground, seeking freshwater. Millions of gallons of it. The water wouldn’t supply homes or irrigate farms. It was being used by the petroleum giant BP to frack for fossil fuels. The water would be mixed with sand and toxic chemicals and pumped right back underground — forcing oil and gas from the bedrock. ...Fracking a single oil or gas well can now use as much as 40 million gallons of water or more. These mega fracking projects, called “monster fracks” by researchers, have become the industry norm. They barely...