Solar Soars Above Coal as World’s Biggest Source of Electricity

- Adam Clare

Solar panels on grass

Believe it or not there are places love coal so much that they seem to despise their citizen’s health and wellbeing. The rest of the world is moving to renewables rather quickly and this year marks is the first that solar is now the biggest single source of electricity. That’s right: just one source of renewable electricity has overtaken the most harmful source of electricity. The future is 100% renewable!

Solar power delivered the lion’s share of growth, meeting 83% of the increase in electricity demand. It has now been the largest source of new electricity globally for three years in a row.

Most solar generation (58%) is now in lower-income countries, many of which have seen explosive growth in recent years.

That’s thanks to spectacular reductions in cost. Solar has seen prices fall a staggering 99.9% since 1975 and is now so cheap that large markets for solar can emerge in a country in the space of a single year, especially where grid electricity is expensive and unreliable, says Ember.

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Want Above Average Intelligence? Study Philosophy

- Adam Clare

steaming mug

The humanities have been pushed to side due to the praise and perceived wealth that STEM education gets. This is not good for a vibrant and diverse society as the humanities provide people with knowledge that can expand minds and sway cultures. The field of philosophy is one such domain that provides people new ways of thinking, and a multitude of ways to question their own thoughts and those of others. Philosophy means practicing logic and exploring new ideas, which is perfect for setting people up for success in a world of information.

In a world filled with lies and other misinformation, content generated by AI, and malicious state actors swaying geopolitics, it’s more important than ever to posses critical thinking kills that studying philosophy provides.

According to the University of Illinois, the average salary for a philosophy graduate who finds work within six months of graduation is $60,069. This puts them above economics majors and just below physics majors. Other sources report similar figures.

They also enjoy a respectable increase when one considers mid-career earnings. The median philosophy major can expect to earn a salary of more than $80,000. This is higher than that earned by business management or chemistry majors. And according to data from Payscale, those with only an undergraduate degree in philosophy rank 16th for mid-career median earnings.

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Simply Ditching Your Car Saves Money

- Adam Clare

Graph showing average monthly car ownership costs $1370 CAD

Cars are a burden that suck money out of your wallet and dump pollutants onto the streets (yes, even electric cars cause harm). So why dod people use them? Frugal people already know that owning a car equates to a mobile money pit and have looked for more fiscally prudent solutions. If you live a city then you have a multitude of options to get around, those stuck in the suburbs or rural areas are more limited. Still, you can look into car sharing programs and can even reduce the amount you use your car to save money.

The TTC charges $156 for an adult monthly pass. Bike Share Toronto charges $105 plus HST for an annual pass that includes unlimited 30-minute rides. Then there are car-sharing services like Communauto, which offers free monthly membership plans and charges from $13 per hour for a car rental.

If you’re thinking about going car-free, it’s a good idea to tally up exactly how much you spent on owing a car in the past year (including maintenance and repair costs) to see how much you could potentially save and reinvest elsewhere to pay off debts, contribute to an RRSP or reach other financial goals.

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Solar is Powering the Syrian Rebuilding Process

- Adam Clare

Syria has started the rebuilding of infrastructure, culture, communities, and more now that the civil war has concluded. The video above shows how Damascus is rebuilding their trains and other core infrastructure. The most interesting thing in the video is the prevalence of solar panels in the city, seemingly every roof has an installation on it!
The future is renewable and that’s made clear as Syria needs to rebuild quickly and efficiently so they can heal and improve the entire nation.

Tram Driver Championship Goes Global

- Adam Clare

Trams, known in Toronto as streetcars, are a delightful and efficient way to get people around a city. If you’ve ever been a regular rider on a tram network then you know that some drivers are better than others. To celebrate the best tram drivers in the world is the newly global Tram Driver Championship; perviously the competition was only open to European teams. Vienna hosted the competition and introduced the new tram curling competition.

The video above is the official highlight video capturing the highlights and reveals the first ever World Champions.

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