A Fracker in Pennsylvania Wants to Take 1.5 Million Gallons a Day From a Small, Biodiverse Creek. Should the State Approve a Permit?
Sometimes, when evaluating a river, size matters. If you need to supply 40 million people in seven states with drinking water, you would hope for a body of water that resembles the Colorado River—classified as an order seven watershed for its size and biological diversity. The Amazon river, the world’s largest, is an order 12 watershed.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate: water resources
Extreme weather and prolonged drought in some regions are affecting electricity generation — notably hydroelectric and nuclear power.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: fossil fuels
Fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas, primarily — remain the dominant energy sources for much of the world, with their accompanying infrastructure of mines, drilling and production wells, pipelines and various forms of transportation. But they have become more problematic as governments struggle to address climate change and pivot to energy sources that do not result in carbon dioxide emissions.