Africa's largest wind farm will supply 1.5 million homes

The largest wind farm in the African continent, the Tarfaya Energy Project, began to produce energy from the Atlantic coast south of Morocco. About 8,900 acres, the 131 wind turbines must prevent the emission of 990,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year.

The project began construction in 2013 and was recently completed, being a partnership between GDF Suez and Nareva Holding. With a cost of about €452 million, the Tarfaya farm should produce enough energy to power 1.5 million homes in Morocco.

Each of the 131 turbines have the capacity to produce 2.3 megawatts of electricity, for a combined total of 15% of the goal of wind power that the Government of Morocco wants to have implemented in 2020, writes the Inhabitat. Over the next five years, the Moroccan Government has plans to install other wind farms to generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity that will be distributed by the national electricity grid. When these projects are completed, 42% of electrical capacity of Morocco will come from renewable sources.

Foto: jacilluch/Creative Commons

Read More

Tourism in Antarctica is putting in jeopardy penguins

About 10,000 people travel every year to the Antarctic, for tourism or research, and bring something more than cameras. According to a team of scientists led by Wray Grimaldi, the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, were found several infectious agents in the penguins-bacteria such as salmonella and e. Coli, virus as West Nile or Avipoxvirus have been found in captive penguins since 1947-what is jeopardising the fragile local biodiversity.

"The effects of the growth of the tourism industry and the presence of researchers will have consequences. The Penguins are highly susceptible to infectious diseases, "explained the New Scientist Grimaldi.

The scientist explains that outbreaks of these bacteria and virus have killed thousands of penguins over the years. The boots of tourists and researchers are one of the main vectors of transmission.

Another theory for this puts migrant animals the cause of these outbreaks, once the milder climate have attracted biodiversity never before seen in this region.

Foto: David Stanley/Creative Commons

Read More

Divorce makes men fatter

There's a cliché that says marriage leads men to increase the weight, a fact which is confirmed by several studies. However, according to a study by Ohio State University, in the United States, the divorce also helps men to get fatter. That is, from the moment when a man marries, the more likely it is to win some weight: want to stay in the marriage or divorce.

The study, cited by NYMag, analyzed more than 10,000 people in the two years following the marriage or divorce â€" the first data was collected in 1979.

So, 63% of the men gained weight after the divorce, when compared with men who remained married; the chances of women gain weight in post-divorce however are only half of these.

"This study proves that marriage is associated with all kinds of health benefits for men, while the divorce is especially bad in terms of health," says the New Yorker magazine.

On the other hand, the risk of heart attack, stroke and suicide also increases after the divorce. IE: from that moment on, for man, it takes a special care with their diet.

Foto: Jason Rogers/Creative Commons

Read More

Pay to see an exhibition of Earth and grass?

Per Kristian Nygard, a Norwegian artist, managed to bring literally the nature inside an enclosed space and managed to fill a gallery in Oslo with a mound of dirt and grass.

Installing flows from the showroom to the entrance hall. Called "Not Red But Green", the installation plays with the notion of unlikely environments, the intuitive human responses and the relationship between architecture and nature.

Works by Per Kristian Nygard tend to explore the possibilities of space and in this last installation the aim was to create the experience of "enter a space where everything is bad but that appears to be fine," cites the Inhabitat.

To build the facility was a wooden structure used to create the valleys and mountains of work. Subsequently, the structure was covered with plastic sheets on which was deposited layer of dirt impregnated with grass seed. Along the exhibition the seeds were germinating creating now looks like a green landscape trapped inside four walls.

. fancybox-wrap {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; z-index: 8020; }. fancybox-skin {position: relative; /* margin-top: 20px! important; */backgroun d: #222222; color: #74b32e; text-shadow: none; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 2px; }. fancybox-opened {z-index: 8030;} . fancybox-opened. fancybox-skin {-webkit-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); -moz-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); }. fancybox-outer,. fancybox-inner {position: relative;} . fancybox-inner {overflow: hidden;} . fancybox-type-iframe. fancybox-inner {-webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch;} . fancybox-close {backgroun d: url('wp-content/themes/codistage/styles/fancybox/exit.png') no-repeat; width: 25px; height: 25px; float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 5px; }/*. ng-gallery-image img {width: 565px; height: 393px;}*/

Read More

What if you could rent your bicycle to a stranger?

In Copenhagen, Denmark, it is possible to rent the bike to a stranger. The Cyclister, Danish startup, wants to help cyclists to rent your bikes to total strangers. So, intends to release soon a smartphone app to make the service more effective.

The company launched its service in the city of Copenhagen for more than six weeks and already has an online database with approximately 300 bikes. The cost for renting a bike is approximately $ 15 (€ 12), according to the co-founder of Cyclister David Paag.

"The Denmark is the perfect place to start. Is the capital of the bikes in the world and 25 percent of tourists actually rent a bicycle in the city, "says Paag, quoted by PC World Magazine and quoted by my aggregator well-being.

So far, the Cyclister managed to attract a small number of people willing to rent your bikes to other inhabitants or tourists in the city, so the rental companies in town offer most bikes available in the database of the company.

The company is now looking for investors to help expand and improve the service, including developing a mobile application to make the rental process more effective and "an obvious need," according to Paag.

The Cyclister will have to compete with bike rental programs supported by municipalities and companies in major cities. But Paag ensures that Cyclister will compete with rental services already available, by offering a wider range of bikes, including cargo bikes, racing and mountain bikes.

The aim of the company is to provide 5 million bicycles in Denmark in February 2015.

Read More

Pope will ask Catholics to combat climate change

Next March, the Pope should disclose an edict where Francisco will ask Catholics around the world to combat climate change. The document will be the first of its kind issued by a Pope and will be directed to approximately 1.2 billion Catholics.

The document, according to the Guardian, writes should be disclosed after a visit to Tacloban City â€" the Philippine city devastated by a typhoon in 2012 â€" which is scheduled for next March.

An encyclical like this is rare in the history of the Catholic Church, and the Pope's message must have a stamp of urgency and seriousness. The Pope is expected to ask the world community of Catholics not only to fight climate change in the name of science but also make this claim in a moral obligation for believers. The edict, which should take between 50 to 60 pages will be distributed to 5,000 bishops and 400,000 priests around the world.

It is estimated that this Pope's message can reach more individuals than any other message on the same subject issued by political groups or environmentalists. Is still on the agenda of the Pope speak on the same topic at the UN General Assembly in September, which will take place in New York.

Foto: Catholic Church/Creative Commons

Read More

Rio de Janeiro: air pollution kills more than traffic accidents

The traffic jams in Rio de Janeiro have skyrocketing due to the numerous interventions and works at various points in the city, which has caused more damage to the health of our citizens than hours lost, according to the least one Car.

Between 2006 and 2012, 36,194 people died as a result of diseases caused by air pollution, according to a survey of Health and sustainability Institute (ISS). This number is even more alarming when compared with the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents between 2006 and 2011: according to data from the map of Violence from 2013, 16,441 people died in Rio de Janeiro, i.e. less than half of the deaths from pollution, according to the Jornal do Brazil.

Also according to the study of the ISS, on average, 14 people died in Rio de Janeiro a day due to air pollution. In addition, the survey estimates that the deaths because of pollution can exceed the records of death by HIV, breast cancer and prostate in the State of Rio de Janeiro, same as pollutant emissions decrease over the years.

About 77% of the pollution in the Rio de Janeiro results from emission from cars, concludes the study. Second Evangeline Motta Pacheco, Director of ISS and coordinator of the study, "measuring parameters of pollution in the State is lagged. Therefore, the research used data from the World Health Organization (who), who come to be three times more stringent than the Brazilian legislation. Based on these data, the survey showed that in the State of Rio de Janeiro the pollution rate is two times higher than what is determined by who ".

"There are cities in the State [Rio de Janeiro] in which the rate is three times greater, but that's just the average per year. While conducting the study, when we analyze the relationship of emissions per day, we found that these amount to be between six to ten times higher than is considered to have a minimal effect on health "alerts.

The traffic of Rio de Janeiro has arrived to be ranked as the third worst in the world, in 2012, and the situation seems to have improved over the years. In 2013, a study indicated that the time that Brazilians spend in traffic has exceeded the time of congestion in Sao Paulo.

Foto: epSos. de/Creative Commons

Read More