Secretary of Energy Steven Chu returned to Stanford recently, urging a crowd of more than 700 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to confront what he called "the energy challenge."

Tagged: Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

At any moment, the winds in high-altitude jet streams hold roughly 100 times more energy than all the electricity being consumed on Earth, according to a study by Stanford environmental and climate scientists Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira.

Tagged: Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences

Synthetic fertilizers have dramatically increased food production worldwide. But the unintended costs to the environment and human health have been substantial.

Tagged: Environmental Research, farming, Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

Air travel is projected to triple in the next 30 years. Stanford researchers are working to reduce the environmental impact of this increase by finding innovative ways to reduce aviation energy requirements and noise pollution.

Tagged: aviation, conservation, Environment & Sustainability, Engineering

Climate change threatens hundreds of thousands of species, including the colorful San Francisco Bay checkerspot butterfly, with extinction. Now Stanford scientists are proposing when and how to save these vulnerable species by moving them to suitable new habitats.

Tagged: climate change, Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

A team of five Stanford doctoral students has conceptualized a way for commercial planes to save fuel and reduce harmful engine emissions by flying in formation to reduce drag.

Tagged: airplanes, Environment & Sustainability, Engineering

The Woods Institute for the Environment has awarded four new Environmental Venture Projects (EVP) grants for interdisciplinary research aimed at finding practical solutions promoting global sustainability. Four Stanford University faculty teams will receive a total of $791,692 over the next two years to tackle environmental challenges, from the desert grasslands of Australia to the mountain meadows of California.

Tagged: conservation, Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability

Stanford scientists have found evidence that some coral reefs are adapting to higher ocean temperatures and may actually survive global warming.

Tagged: Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability, Earth Sciences, Humanities & Sciences, Medicine

Using biofuel crops such as corn or switchgrass to generate electricity for running battery-powered vehicles is a far more efficient way of producing energy than making ethanol with them, according to Stanford researchers.

Tagged: bioelectricity, cars, Environmental Research, fuel, Environment & Sustainability, Earth Sciences, Humanities & Sciences

A hydrogen-rich compound discovered by Stanford researchers is packed with promise of helping overcome one of the biggest hurdles to using hydrogen for fuel.

Tagged: conservation, hydrogen, Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences