The Emerald Review
On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Terminating the Green New Deal” which halted all disbursements of federal funding for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Part of a larger order to “[Unleash] American Energy,” Trump’s funding pause took aim at the landmark package […]
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between asking ChatGPT the answer to your homework question and asking Google? Turns out, environmentally, the difference is vast. Researchers estimate that a single ChatGPT query consumes between five and ten times more electricity than a Google search. This article outlines the negative impacts of Artificial Intelligence […]
On January 31, 2025, the World Bank, in collaboration with the African Development Bank and other global investors, provided a loan of 35 billion dollars to expand electricity access throughout the African continent. The loan occurred in tandem with the African Energy Summit and Mission 300, a collaborative initiative aimed at providing accessible and affordable […]
Here Be Monsters: Historically, this phrase on maps indicated unknown or dangerous waters for sailors, symbolizing the risk of testing said waters. Many ships have been built, manned, and sunk throughout human history, especially during maritime warfare. These crashes swallowed up the lives of the crew; many of whom were lost to the ocean. But […]
Trash is a constant of current human existence. Many things in daily life produce waste, especially single-use items, such as plastic water bottles or candy wrappers. The average American produces 4.5 pounds of trash each day, or 1,642 pounds of trash per year, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. Some people in different […]
Although once considered an inefficient and costly method of electricity generation, solar power now contributes to the fastest growing source of energy: renewables. Since 2010, the average cost of solar energy has declined by around 70%, and since the 1980s, solar power saw a reduction in costs of 97%. This sharp decrease has largely been […]
Steel is present in a myriad of everyday items from cutlery to refrigerators, and the global steel industry directly employs more than six million people. It is, undoubtedly, a necessary material and industry, but it contributes to a significant amount of climate change-inducing emissions. During the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, the United Nations declared […]
In January 2023, Boston University presented the grand opening of their newly constructed Center for Computing & Data Sciences building. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 19-story building was attended by the likes of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, drawing plenty of attention across the city. For good reason at that, with the building being completely fossil […]
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima—nuclear energy has had its fair share of disasters. Despite these catastrophes, nuclear seems to keep reemerging in the public consciousness as a potential energy source of the future. Why? The answer is simple: carbon-free energy. Nuclear energy releases no direct emissions that contribute to global warming. Clean, abundant, […]
Boston University, like many other colleges and universities, has an ambitious goal: to be carbon neutral by 2040. In order for this to happen, BU will need to decrease its emissions until it no longer emits more carbon into the atmosphere than it takes out. For a university that serves over 36,000 students, employs over […]