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Josie Garthwaite

Journalist covering science, technology & environment

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dry earth

California Drought Dries Up Hydro, But Power Stays On (National Geographic)

March 12, 2014 by Josie Garthwaite

California’s record drought has parched crops, but hasn’t yet dimmed lights or choked the flow of electricity, even though the Golden State, with more than 300 dams, has long been a hydroelectricity leader among U.S. states.

Categories: Energy, Environment, National Geographic • Tags: California, Climate Change, drought, electricity, extreme weather, hydropower, natural gas, renewables, water

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Mapping the Shale Gas Boom (Smithsonian)

September 16, 2013 by Josie Garthwaite

An interactive map reveals where energy companies are using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to force tightly trapped oil and gas from fine-grained sedimentary rocks known as shale.

Categories: Energy, Miscellaneous, Smithsonian • Tags: California, Fracking

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Mojave Mirrors: World’s Largest Solar Plant Ready to Shine (National Geographic)

July 26, 2013 by Josie Garthwaite

The huge Ivanpah solar plant is part of a push to expand renewable energy on U.S. federal land. The developer took steps to relocate a population of the threatened desert tortoise.

Categories: Energy, Environment, National Geographic, Technology • Tags: BrightSource, California, Ivanpah, Mojave, Solar

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California Keeps Its Energy Cool in Summer Scorcher (National Geographic)

July 17, 2013 by Josie Garthwaite

Over the past 13 years, California has added more than 15,000 megawatts of natural gas-fired electricity generation, which helped ensure supply when a heat wave hit this summer.

Categories: Energy, National Geographic

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Too Much Wind Energy? Save It in Volcanic Rock Reservoirs (National Geographic)

July 2, 2013 by Josie Garthwaite

To manage a surplus of intermittent power in the Pacific Northwest, scientists propose underground compressed air storage in porous volcanic rock.

Categories: Energy, National Geographic, Science, Technology

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Good-bye, Gas Guzzlers (Smithsonian)

May 24, 2013 by Josie Garthwaite

The path toward cleaner cars will be walked in tiny steps. There’s a place for all-electric and even semi-autonomous vehicles, but tweaks to designs that burn gasoline will deliver much of the fuel-economy gains expected in the coming decades.

Categories: Energy, Mobility & Transport, Smithsonian, Technology

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The Unclear Fate of Nuclear Power (Smithsonian)

May 24, 2013 by Josie Garthwaite

Two years after the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi, can the nuclear renaissance regain its momentum?

Categories: Energy, Smithsonian

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Coal-Fired Australia, Buffeted by Climate Change, Enacts Carbon Tax (National Geographic)

October 6, 2012 by Josie Garthwaite

Drought, rampant wildfire in the outback, and the degradation of the treasured Great Barrier Reef have forever altered how Australia views its energy endowment. Facing a future as one of the places on Earth most vulnerable to climate change, and one of the nations with the world’s highest per capita carbon emissions, Australia has taken steps to change its fate.

Categories: Energy, Environment, National Geographic, Policy

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Fracking FAQ: The Science and Technology Behind the Natural Gas Boom (Grist)

September 19, 2012 by Josie Garthwaite

By turns demonized as a catastrophic environmental threat and glorified as a therapy for our foreign oil addiction, fracking has become a flashpoint in our national energy policy. But how does fracking really work?

Categories: Energy, Grist, Technology

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Did you know? (Carnivores Among Us)

Coyotes now inhabit every state in the country except Hawaii, eating mostly rodents, rabbits, and fruit.

— "Learning to Live With Urban Coyotes"

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Did you know? (Going Without)

Desert tortoises in the Mojave are able to survive a year or more without water and live for as long as 80 years.

— "World's Largest Solar Plant Ready to Shine"

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Did you know? (Creepy Crawlers)

A nearly 10-foot-long relative of the centipede called the Arthropleura splashed through Inner Mongolia's swampland 298 million years ago.

— "Into the Permian Woods"

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