There’s a chance (as yet unquantified) that you’re eating a sandwich as you read this. If so, you might pause to consider its carbon footprint – which, it turns out, is likely to be content-dependent. That’s one of the findings of a 2018 study from Dr Namy Espinoza-Orias and Professor Adisa Azapagic of the Sustainable Industrial Systems […]
Tag: carbon
A novel source of ultrahigh surface area carbons – fizzy drinks (study)
“Ultrahigh surface area carbons (USACs, e.g., >2000 m2/g) are attracting tremendous attention due to their outstanding performance in energy-related applications.” Observations such as this have lead to the search for an easy and cheap method of producing these materials – which find uses like supercapacitor electrodes, catalyst supports, and gas sorbents etc etc. A research […]
How much water does it take to make a (250ml) cup of tea?
The answer may depend on many factors – not least, on whom you ask. Dr John Kazer for example, who is a Carbon Footprint Certification Manager for the UK-based Carbon Trust will tell you that for a 250ml cup, it’ll take around 30 litres – but that’s just for the tea itself – considerably more […]
The (carbon) footprints of criminals (new study)
A news release from the University of Surrey, UK, draws attention to the first study to have systematically assessed the carbon footprint of UK crimes. The research team found that :- “[…] crime committed in 2011 in England and Wales gave rise to over 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. Burglary resulted in the […]
Diamonds from tequila and peanut butter…
First cam diamonds from peanut butter, in Scotland, in 2007. Then came diamonds from tequila, in Mexico, in 2008. Now, in 2014, come diamonds from peanut butter, in Germany. (Thanks to Roger Highfield for alerting us to the German peanut butter.) BONUS (not necessarily related): The effect of peanut butter on the rotation of the earth UPDATE […]
Hank says that’s why carbon is a tramp
Hank Green is pretty good at explaining things, with clear language, lots of metaphors, quick talk with varied pacing, hints of naughtiness, and bits of this and that. Here he talks about carbon, and how and why it matters to living things, then zips through other chemical gossip: (HT metafilter)
Graphene from Girl Scout Cookies
Technology Review reports: One box of shortbread cookies can be made into $15 billion of nanomaterials. by KATHERINE BOURZAC To chemists, carbon is just carbon. But graphene, the ultrathin material whose strength, flexibility, and high conductivity is promising for electronics, is one of the more costly forms of the element. High quality graphene is commonly […]