U.S. Better Buildings, Better Plants Program saves $1 billion!

The United States Energy Department recently released a list of more than 120 manufactures and businesses that are leading the charge to cut down on carbon emissions while simultaneously saving money on energy costs. The Obama Administration has already come out with the bold prediction that they'll double energy production by 2030 while simultaneously cutting costs. So far so good it seems, as the Department’s “Better Buildings, Better Plants Program” is reporting that nearly 1,800 facilities across the U.S. will save an estimated $1 billion this year.

Oh – and those businesses also happen to be cutting down on 11 million metric tons of CO2! That’s 11 million metric tons of poison we won’t be breathing in the future.

“Through the Better Plants program, American manufacturers are cutting energy waste and saving millions of dollars each year,” says Kathleen Hogan, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency. “These manufacturers are leading by example – demonstrating the promise of energy efficiency, increasing competitiveness in the private sector and reducing harmful carbon pollution.”

Across the U.S., businesses spend more than $200 billion a year to power their offices and facilities. Through the Energy Department’s Better Plants Program, businesses take a voluntary oath to reduce their consumption by 25% over the next decade. As of today, the 120 participating companies represent nearly 8% of the country’s manufacturing energy footprint.

If they can change, then anyone can change!

During today’s World Energy Engineering Congress, Hogan recognized five companies in particular – AT&T, Cummins, Metal Industries, TE Connectivity and United Technologies Corporation – for exceeding their 25% consumption reduction goal. Along with the other Better Plants participants, these companies are modeling alternative yet affordable energy management strategies that save bottom lines and strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. on the global market.

The “Better Buildings, Better Plants Program” is only one aspect of President Obama’s grander plan to make American commercial and industrial buildings at least 20% more energy efficient. His initiative also includes the Better Buildings Challenge, where businesses, universities, and local governments can agree to cut down on their energy consumption by the aforementioned 20%.

Do you own a business? Then what are you waiting for? Step up to the challenge! Or tell your boss that you know a way to save the company TONS of money over the long term. It makes for a great publicity stunt. And not to mention – you'll be doing the right thing!

So join NRGLab in helping create a better, greener future for us all. Because people come and go. The Earth is here forever.

Unites States Energy Department, Obama Administration, carbon emissions, energy production, NRGLab, Kathleen Hogan

The American dream now a recurring nightmare

For centuries, the world has looked upon America with envy. It was an oasis where the individual was judged not by his or her parents, but by his or her willingness to succeed. Freedom, democracy, and the ‘American dream’ were alive and well. Yet over the last several decades, that dream has become a recurring nightmare. Will Americans ever wake up?

Citizens are bogged down by social stagnation reminiscent of medieval feudalism. The top 1% controls a majority of the country’s wealth and resources. They concentrate power within their families, passing it down from silver spoon to silver spoon. So why do the other 99% continue to oppose tax increases on the top tier?

Because everyone wants to be rich! In fact, most people expect it. The American dream basically culminates with entry into the 1%, and who would want to pay a higher tax rate then?

Nobody.

So although raising taxes on the wealthiest few could create breathing room for the majority fighting to stay afloat, world leaders have turned a blind eye and succumb to the will of their constituents.

Call it forward-thinking. Call it ambition. Call it what you will. But in reality, the American dream has glorified greed on an epic scale. Instead of telling people to explore what makes them happy, what gives them a sense of fulfillment and pride, the government preached free-market capitalism and buy, buy, BUY! Sell, sell, SELL!

Because THINGS will make you happy, people were told. Possessions = stature. Stature = power. Power = more possessions. Americans were sold on this viscous cycle. They ignored the toll on the environment and the rest of the world and took pride in simply being American. The title was enough.

But that shouldn’t be the case. Where you live shouldn’t dictate who you are, nor should your family’s bank account. True democracy is the freedom to have your voice heard. To wake up each morning not having to fear for your life. That’s freedom. Not a shopping or shooting-spree.

How can Americans wake up from this nightmare?

First, they need to realize that happiness is the ultimate goal, and that happiness is relative. One must learn to be happy with what they have – plain and simple. Material possessions fade with time. They break. The human spirit doesn’t have to.

Second, Americans must remember that societies are judged by how they treat the least of their people. And just as everyone sees themselves becoming rich, anyone – with one wrong turn – can end up living on the streets.

Think of citizens like cells in the body. Each one different. Some aggressive. Some passive. Some more prone to cooperate than others. But each cell serves a distinct purpose, and only by working in harmony do they survive.

Lastly, making the wealthy pay more than their fair share sets a shining example for the rest of the population. Yes, success is good – but reaching out to others to elevate them is by far nobler. What good is success if everyone else fails?

NRGLab believes happiness means living relatively stress-free. With the SH-Box, a portable generator that produces low-cost electricity for your home, office, or industrial facility, you can forget about that monthly utility bill. You can forget about your carbon footprint, too. The SH-Box is emission-free, powered by an all-natural polycrystalline core.

To learn more about how you, your friends, and family can achieve energy independence and take the next step towards stress-free living, check us out on YouTube, or visit nrglab.asia.

Regionalization & the electric car: facts, or fictions?

The economic crisis has broken all of the rules developed countries play by on the global market. As a result, the world is undergoing a reverse process of globalization called “regionalization.” A United States intelligence agency recently identified regionalization as a potential threat to the country’s stronghold on global markets. (http://gt2030.com). The emergence of new financial and industrial centers in developing countries is expected to rattle the status quo.

“We do not expect global growth to be much higher this year than last,” said Christine Lagarde, Head of the International Monitory Fund, who voiced her concerns on the real economy. Although business and industry is flocking to the third world, the local population hasn’t benefited, financially or by any other means. “In far too many countries,” said Lagarde, “Improvements in financial markets have not translated into improvements in the real economy—and in the lives of people.” (Economic Club of New York, New York, April 10, 2013).

We can delay regionalization by embracing revolutionary breakthroughs in science and technology like high-quality renewable energy and low-cost cargo output to Low Earth Orbit. These kinds of breakthroughs not only excite the public and ignite the imaginations of millions, they also add real value to bubbles in banking and manufacturing markets.

Sadly, we simply do not have these miraculous new technologies available today. What we do have, however, is an abundance of ambition in the automotive industry. American car companies were hit especially hard by 2008’s economic collapse. Now they’re looking to revive the market and raise quotes again. How? By tantalizing the public with promises of eco-friendly, cost-efficient, high-capacity batteries. Every year there’s another dozen commercials for the latest innovation in hybrid technology, or a new electric car that promises you’ll only have to stop for gas once a month!

But, as the past several decades have demonstrated, these “innovations” weren’t ready for mass production. They were merely marketing ploys – a way of getting the public to trust the automakers again after a pattern of gross mismanagement in the years preceding the financial crisis. Electric vehicles will never gain market share with a limited battery range and limited infrastructure of charging stations in place.

The automotive market has become saturated with hybrid vehicles. All the while, car companies have shifted focus away from concept designs and the production of prototypes. Instead of thinking long-term about staying competitive on a global scale, they’ve settled for temporarily satisfying the public’s soft-spot for cross-overs.

Following the economic crisis, most of the top managers in the western auto industry faced a dilemma: they could either file for bankruptcy, or come up with a PR-trick claiming to have made another technological breakthrough. The latter would distract investors from their ineptitude while earning government subsidies at the same time. Not a bad alternative to bankruptcy.
 
After 2008, investors and regulators began to closely monitor and trace the potential for financial bubbles in the industry. Sounds easy, but in fact it’s quite a difficult task in a real economy. Outsourcing makes it challenging for private and corporate investors to accurately analyze and predict how technical components will pan out on the market.

So where does all of this leave the electric car? Should we expect to see another PR campaign on TV? Indeed, we’re being told of a possible breakthrough relating to the incorporation of an isotropic polycrystalline generators (SH-boxes), which convert electricity from environmental heat, into a line of zero-emission vehicles. NRGLab PTE Ltd., based out of Singapore, was the first to generate energy via polycrystals in an anisotropic media with a thermoelectric merit figure of 0.8 (ZT). The resulting electrical capacity exceeded that of thermoelectric converters based on carbon nanotubes (0.02 ZT).

Let’s hope this technological breakthrough will add some REAL value to the real economy for once.

Power blackouts crippling India

Last summer, over 700 million people were affected by sweeping power blackouts across India. Doctors in the middle of surgeries. College students in the middle of term papers. The blackouts became just another part of Indian culture. Over time, however, they could decidedly cripple the country’s economy.

Businesses purchased backup generators to address the problem, but these generators ran on fossil fuels like diesel, and ultimately contributed to rising pollution concerns. Hospitals began reporting an increased number of heart disease and asthma cases.

While all of this has been going on, 400 million people in India continue to live without regular access to power. The government has promoted energy efficient renovations as means of saving energy. More efficient windows, air conditioning, and motion sensor lighting use less electricity, save money, and reduce the frequency of blackouts.

The next step would be to introduce a clean alternative source of energy to the market. The SH-Box by NRGLab is the ideal generator. It’s powered by a polycrystalline core that’s reliable, renewable, and emits zero amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Can’t get much cleaner than that! The SH-Box could immediately replace the diesel generators in India and begin to heal the environment as well as the economy.

India’s growing at a furious rate. Companies, cities, and public officials are straining to figure out how best to sustain that growth in a responsible manner.  The government recently announced its plans to double the amount of clean energy it produces by the year 2017. To meet that quota, they may need a little assistance from NRGLab.

For more information on the SH-Box revolution, visit the NRGLab homepage at nrglab.asia.

Europe fighting a losing battle against climate change

Europe has been at the forefront of the fight against global warming for decades now, going so far as to criticize the rest of the developed world – the United States especially – for not following their lead. Recently, however, the European Union has been victimized be inauspicious governing and ineffective legislation, and now find themselves fighting a losing battle.

One proposal under consideration would place a ‘carbon cap’ across the continent, allowing companies to save and trade their surplus of allotted pollution. This would grant companies an additional stream of revenue in hopes that, with that additional revenue, the company will invest in green-renovations for their manufacturing and corporate facilities.

But, as author John Steinbeck once wrote: “The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry…”

The E.U. didn’t present a fully-fleshed out proposal. They allowed the demand for carbon permits dry up, and then voted down a rushed, patch-work relief plan. Any hope for continental-congruency in the plight against climate change has all but disappeared. Instead, individual regions will be responsible for drafting their own energy policies and passing their own legislation – an act of delegated democracy that has proven itself futile in the past. Most analysts place the blame on incompetent politicians hovering on the fence, too afraid to lose what little power they’ve been entrusted with. Their inability to present long-term solutions has set the entire union back who knows how far.

For example, Germany has suddenly closed several of its carbon-free nuclear power plants in an ‘all-or-nothing’ gamble on renewable energy. Though well-intentioned, the move has forced the country’s remaining power providers to burn more coal to pick up the slack.

Spain’s economy has suffered due to investments in ill-conceived energy projects. France continues to syphon through coal while (wisely) refusing to explore domestic fracking operations. This has contributed to creeping levels of carbon emissions across Europe, while countries like the United States have been able to reduce their overall CO2 levels.

The U.S.’s progress is due, partially, to an increased emphasis on vehicle fuel efficiency, a willingness to open power-plants near residential areas, and a curious courtship with natural gas. Hopefully the country will learn from Europe’s mistakes and enforce a strict, extensive cap on carbon emissions.

NRGLab offers a variety of solutions to today’s energy problems. Innovative techniques of extracting oil from agricultural waste and shale. A low-cost renewable generator called the SH-Box. Learn more by visiting nrglab.asia, and see which solution best suits your energy needs.

Little to no progress made on cleaning up energy, according to research

This week, the Clean Energy Ministerial, an organization of representatives from countries responsible for 80% of today’s carbon emissions, will meet in New Delhi to share environmental experiences and encourage the transition to a more stable, globalized energy infrastructure.

However, according to one representative who will be in attendance, Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy has been shelved in favor of temporarily stimulating national economies. “The average unit of energy produced today is basically as dirty as it was 20 years ago,” she claims.

Modern power plants are the worst polluters of all. Usually dependent upon coal, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, these power plants emit astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. In order to track these levels, the IEA has relied on a system of evaluation called the Energy Sector Carbon Intensity Index (ESCII). The ESCII calculates the average amount of carbon emissions expected in the production of an individual unit of energy. In 2010, the index calculated that, in order to produce energy from one metric ton of oil, 2.37 metric tons of carbon dioxide would be given off – or nearly the exact same number registered back in 1990!

Can you think of any other industry that’s experienced stagnant quality or production costs and actually survived amidst the free-market? Didn’t think so. Hence the reason Apple, Nike, and all of your favorite brands compete for the top designers and then outsource production to manufacturers where laborers have never heard of a “minimum wage.”

The important of developing alternative energy sources has been stressed amongst the media, environmentalist, and politicians alike for decades now. Yet, as van der Hoeven points out, the “growth of coal-fired power is actually outpacing the increase in generation from non-fossil energy sources.”

Why? Because sticking with what’s already in place is usually the easiest option -- not necessarily the right one.

 
Even countries making “honest” attempts to curb their carbon emissions eventually succumb to greed. The United States, for example, is burning less coal than in the past, but is selling their stockpile of unused coal to facilities over in Asia. One way or the other, the stuff is getting burned. It’s polluting our air and waterways. And the problem is only getting worse. Since we consume roughly 50% more energy compared to a decade ago, and yet the ratio of carbon output to energy production hasn’t improved, that means we’re pumping cataclysmic amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

At our current pace, van der Hoeven thinks “the world is on track to have global temperatures rise by 6 degrees Celsius,” or 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit, by the year 2100. If that happens, most scientists agree – we’re done for. (In fact, they estimate that if surface temperatures rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the world as we know it will cease to exist.)

“The overall lack of progress should serve as a wake-up call,” warns van der Hoeven. “We cannot afford another 20 years of listlessness. We need a rapid expansion in low-carbon energy technologies if we are to avoid a potentially catastrophic warming of the planet.”

NRGLab couldn’t agree more. That’s why we developed the SH-Box, a generator that produces electricity with absolutely ZERO carbon emissions. Not only is it a clean and renewable source of energy, the SH-Box is also a penny-saver, generating electricity for as little as $0.03 per kWh. That’s four times less than your current energy provider is probably charging you!

Want to know more? Check out the SH-Box and NRGLab’s other green initiatives at nrglab.asia.com.

U.K.'s energy industry on the verge of collapse?

The United Kingdom’s energy industry risks collapse if the government isn’t able to come to terms with EDF Energy on the price-point for electricity from the planned £14 billion nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point.

According to Lord Hutton, chairmen of the Nuclear Industry Association, the strained negotiations could scare future investors away from other energy projects. "If a deal cannot be struck for new nuclear, can it be struck for offshore wind or carbon capture and storage?"

If negotiations do collapse, the future of EDF’s influence in Britain would be uncertain. Currently, EDF controls eight nuclear power plants, employs over 20,000 people and handles 5.7 million customer accounts across the U.K. But these existing plants are projected to stop generating electricity within the next ten years. What then?

Lord Hutton is meeting with senior executives of the French-owned EDF, as well as U.K.’s Energy secretary, Stephen Lovegrove, and Treasury minister, Lord Deighton. The negotiations center on a guaranteed price-point for electricity over the next 30 years – a price which the government plans to subsidize through an energy tax.

However, the two sides appear far apart on the operating costs for the power plant, and the return rate EDF is entitled to. Hutton estimates that roughly £3 billion could but cut from construction costs due to the previous design and development of U.K.’s other nuclear facilities. “Time is of the essence,” he stressed. “EDF Energy has spent £1 billion already and the project is at present costing the company £1 million a day.” (That’s over £100 million EDF’s spent since they missed their December deadline to get the deal done!)

Last week, CEO of EDF Henri Proglio was quoted as saying he expects the two sides to come to an agreement “within a month.” This after EDF missed their March deadline, too.

Critics of the deal with EDF say any agreement will enslave consumers for years to come, forcing them to pay billions of pounds to the French. They also cite recent progress in the natural gas industry as, potentially, a more affordable long-term solution.

Yet nuclear and natural gas are both CARBON-EMITTING sources of energy. If either becomes the predominant industry in the U.K., it will only be contributing to the spiraling effects of global warming.

“Left to its own devices, the market would not choose to invest in capital intensive low-carbon infrastructure,” said Hutton. “This would lead us to a precarious, high-carbon future increasingly dependent on imported gas. This would be absolutely the wrong direction for us to take and is why we must not lose sight of this in the current negotiations.”

He’s right. Just because we’ve relied on fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution doesn’t mean we should be forced to give-in to the unreasonable demands of greedy corporate executives. The free market should be exactly that – free. People should be free to choose their own energy providers. They should be fear-free to invest in innovative new technology.

Technology like the SH-box by NRGLab. Learn more by visiting nrglab.asia, before the energy crises reaches you and your home.

Future Waterworld features new trade routes: no Kevin Costner

As the ice caps continue to  melt, new trade routes through the arctic are expected to open by mid-Century, increasing trade between the United States and Asia. Sure, we may be forced to live in Waterworld, where pirates run amok in a Kevin Costner-less future, but hey -- at least the economy will see a boost.

For hundreds of millions of years, the Arctic has been an impenetrable sheath of ice, forcing seafarers to navigate around the obstacle through man-made canals. Currently, trade between the U.S. and Asia runs primarily through the Suez and Panama canals; but as the planet continues to warm, the Northwest passage could become the next most-viable trade route. Hear that, Canada? With your meteor defense system and this added economic leverage -- you're on the verge of becoming the next superpower.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Plus, man may soon be able to pass directly over the North Pole for the first time in Earth's history. Due to the albeido effect, where in which reflective light-colored ice is replaced by murky sun-absorbing water, the more the ice melts, the hotter the planet gets; becoming a viscous, downward spiral ending in the Apocalypse.

So, global warming is growing exponentially, and moderate energy policies aren't doing enough to address the seriousness of this fact. Last fall, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center recorded the level of Arctic ice at an historic low. Now, scientists are scrambling to try and predict the consequences of heightened sea levels.

According to Laurence Smith, a geography professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, "The (Arctic) distances are vast. The landscape is boggy and wet and covered with lakes. What you see is a shutdown of human access on land and an increase of human access in the ocean."

Ships capable of plowing through an estimated four-feet of ice will be able to make the 'over-the-globe' trip by 2050. This new route will save ships 30% of current travel times through the Northern Sea Route.

It's nice to try and paint a silver lining on global warming. I joke about Waterworld and amphibious adaptations, but really -- melting ice caps shouldn't be seen as a positive thing. Although offering temporary economic perks, new sea routes are but a glimpse of a bitter long-term reality. The water is rising. The question is, when will our ancestors have to build themselves houseboats?

Besides, there are other ways to boost the economy! Like investing in clean-energy. Developing new strategies through collaboration. We don't have to simply accept our dismal fate. We have the ability to change the world. It starts with slowing global warming by cutting down on fossil fuel consumption. And how can we do that without descending into chaos?

Visit the NRGLab homepage at http://nrglab.asia/ to learn more about how the SH-box is the answer.

Big business addresses climate change?

Late last week, the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) gave their recommendations to President Obama regarding climate change. According to the BCSE, investing in green-energy will not only stimulate the tech industry, but could pull the entire economy out of the hole Americans currently find themselves in. Thank goodness for the sequester then, which, if left unresolved, will result in billions of federal spending cuts, leaving little to no room for green-energy investing. Hooray, for split Congresses.

In a letter from the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change to the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) “the window to prevent catastrophic climate change is rapidly closing.” The Task Force requested suggestions on how federal agencies could cut down on their carbon emissions. In reply, the BCSE released a factbook entitled 'Sustainable Energy in America', in which they identified economic-based legislation as the “optimal policy.” They also recommended the following measures:

1. Allow existing power plants to achieve target emission rates.

2. Use an output-based approach to setting emissions standards for New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) of greenhouse gases.

3. The Department of Energy should implement efficiency measures, including appliance and equipment standards, manufactured housing efficiency standards, and previously announced programs for commercial buildings.

4.The federal government should follow through on commitments made in the White House Executive Order 13514, including making greater use of federal performance contracting, aggregating procurements within federal agencies, between federal agencies, and leveraged with state and local government procurements, and clarify that Combined Heat and Power (CHP) qualifies under this executive order.

5.Federal agencies should support efforts to strengthen the smart grid, especially distributed generation at disaster centers, hospitals, etc., and should implement and update climate change adaptation plans to improve resilience.

6.Congress should continue to support research, development and deployment of homegrown and clean energy sources.

These actions could significantly cut into America's carbon emissions, and would set a positive example for the rest of the world to follow. As previously quoted, “the window to prevent catastrophic climate change is rapidly closing.” We have passed the development period. It' time for implementation. It's time for change. It's time for the SH-box and other innovative green initiatives to finally get the recognition, and the funding, they deserve and need to save the world.

February highs for gas prices

As I predicted, gas prices in America have soared to all-time seasonal highs. According to AAA spokesman John Townsend, ‘February “is the most expensive we’ve seen gasoline in the dead of winter.”

Despite vehicles becoming more fuel-efficient and more people growing conscious of the miles they're driving, the bills just aren't reflecting this progress. In a study performed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the typical American family spends roughly $3,000 a year on gas. This includes heating the house. Driving to work. Things that, if re-imagined, could be accomplished just the same via alternative energy sources.

In February, the national average for gasoline rose to $3.80 a gallon. (On the West Coast of California, it's more like $4.00 plus) This price depends on a number of factors, of which the American Institute for Energy Research has broken down into four basic components:

1. World markets

2. Refining costs

3. Taxes

4. And distribution markup.

Saudi Arabia produces 700,000 fewer barrels now compared to a year ago. As a result, market competition between Iran and Iraq has increased. Add to that the current civil uprising in Syria, another major crude oil producer, and it's no wonder why, with the American government's dependency on foreign oil, people are paying the price. There are even talks of America raising the national gas tax, which has been stable at 18.4 cents per gallon for almost twenty years. 

It seems like everything costs more these days. From diapers to highways, as the costs of raw materials rises, so too will taxes. If history has proven one point: it's that citizens have rarely given into increased taxation without some sort of push back. Families are already struggling to survive and cannot afford to pay more for gasoline. IT'S TIME FOR AN ALTERNATIVE.

And not just a hypothetical one, either. We need real solutions, like the one offered by NRGLab. Their crystal technology produces natural electricity that's not only green and good for the environment, but good for the American wallet as well. Because times are tough. The government needs to stop offering temporary solutions to structural issues (like the gas tax hike), and repair the structure from the foundation up. 

1.5 degrees away from total meltdown

We now have a number. Scientists from Oxford University say an increase of merely 1.5C will be enough to send the world reeling into an Apocalyptic scenario.

This increase in temperature will begin to melt Siberia's permafrost. Covering roughly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's total land surface area, the melted permafrost could release hundreds of GIGATONNES of methane and carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

Though scientists claim that this type of melting could take decades to reach, the fact remains: in the spectrum of billions of years, mankind's occupancy his been minimal, yet disastrous.

Compare our time on Earth to the stalactites and stalagmites studied in Siberia. They've formed over hundreds of thousands of years from melting permafrost dripping into the caves. Through ice ages and vast civilizations, warming periods and wars, they've grown and shrunk with the environment. Scientists can measure individual stalactites and stalagmites much like loggers can measure the age of trees -- by cutting into them. (Only scientists use radio-carbon dating instead of saws.) They're then able to examine growth and decay rates, which can be linked to specific periods in history.

Scientists discovered that Siberian stalactites experienced rapid growth during a period dating back 400,000 years, when temperatures were 1.5C higher than today. This finding indicates that permafrost will melt just as quickly again if temperatures rise to a similar level.

Presently, the global temperature is approximately 0.6C-0.7C above pre-industrial revolution levels.

Anton Vaks, of Oxford's Earth Sciences department and one of the chief scientists on the Siberian team, hinted that their findings could have an affect on energy infrastructure, including the laying of natural gas pipelines and future drilling operations. Oh, and one more thing: it could send the world into complete, and total chaos. "Although it wasn't the main focus of our research, our work also suggests that in a world 1.5C warmer – warm enough to melt the coldest permafrost – adjoining regions would see significant changes. Mongolia's Gobi Desert could become much wetter than it is today."

New oceans, drowning our deserts. Coastline cities under water. Sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie, though I assure you -- the threat is all too real. We need to gain an appreciation for consequences, and the domino-effect our every decisions, even the simple ones, have on the rest of the world. Leaving the water running while brushing your teeth. Leaving that extra light on when you're not even in the room. These things seem trivial, and yet they add to the overall problem of global warming and energy consumption.

Consumption has been taken off the table of debate, since democracies often equate consumption with personal freedom. So then, what can we do? We must re-evaluate our means of energy production and distribution. A good way to start? The SH-box by NRGLab -- a device designed as a cost-effective alternative to carbon emitting fuel sources.

We will decide the world we live in. Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen. Every pipeline feeds our consumption habits, which warm the planet, making it harder to lay more pipelines, which makes gas more expensive, and people poorer and more stressed. The end of the world doesn't always lie at the bottom of an ocean. Sometimes, it lies at the bottom of ourselves.