Assuming the tail doesn’t begin until term 18, the head and body together only account for 3.25% of all search traffic! In fact, the top terms don’t account for much traffic: • Top 100 terms: 5.7% of the all search traffic • Top 500 terms: 8.9% of the all search traffic • Top 1,000 terms: 10.6% of the all search traffic • Top 10,000 terms: 18.5% of the all search traffic

Existing approaches to reducing environmental impacts along the metal production and consumption chain are focused largely at the plant scale for primary production, rather than considering the whole metal cycle. As such, many opportunities for systemic improvements are overlooked. This paper develops an approach to designing preferred futures for entire metal cycles that deliver reduced carbon footprints. Dynamic material flow models in Visual Basic® are used to provide life-cycle-impact-assessment indicators, which help identify key intervention points along the metal cycle. This analysis also identifies which actors or agents along the value chain are responsible for, or can influence, behaviour which affects environmental performance. With this information, it is possible to evaluate different scenarios for transition paths to achieve reduced impact. These scenarios consider combinations of new technology, increased metal recycling and demand management strategies. A case study for the copper cycle in the USA shows that to meet a CO2 reduction target of 60% by 2050, innovative technologies for primary processing of mined ore will play a limited role, due to their increasing impacts in the future associated with mining ever lower ore grades. To compensate for this whilst meeting demand projections, recycling of old scrap would be required to increase from 18% to 80%, requiring extensive collaboration between primary and secondary producers. An alternate scenario which focuses on demand reduction for copper by 1% per year, meets the CO2 target whilst only requiring an increase in the recycling rate from 18% to 36%. Together, these suggest that there is merit in examining the 'metal-in-use' stage of the metal value chain more closely in order to achieve targeted reductions in CO2. The approach also highlights the inherent trade-offs between different aspects of environmental performance which are required when pursuing CO2 reduction targets.

Boston University's College of Engineering is launching a program, under a National Science Foundation grant, to develop the next generation of wireless communications technology based on visible light instead of radio waves. Researchers expect to piggyback data communications capabilities on low-power light emitting diodes, or LEDs, to create "Smart Lighting" that would be faster and more secure than current network technology.

Nearly 50% of global electricity supplies must come from renewable energy sources in order to cut CO2 emissions in half by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says in its latest study, “Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies.”

With input from people around the world -- much of it on this website -- an international group of leading technological thinkers were asked to identify the Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century.  Now their conclusions are revealed on this website.

Our society cannot survive without a cheap supply of minerals; so, it may not be too early to look for new sources. If mines on land are gradually becoming depleted, could the oceans become our new mines? There have been several proposals for mining the oceans' floor, but that is just an extension of conventional mining and, besides, the task has proved to be complex and expensive. The real change of paradigm, instead, is in extracting ions dissolved in seawater.

The IAEA has revised upwards its nuclear power generation projections to 2030, while at the same time it reported that nuclear´s share of global electricity generation dropped another percentage point in 2007 to 14%. This compares to the nearly steady share of 16% to 17% that nuclear power maintained for almost two decades, from 1986 through 2005.

A company called M2E Power has announced plans today to release a charger that will powered by kinetic motion. The released date is expected to be next summer. The charger derives power from the motion of walking, jogging, cycling, or driving. Six hours of motion provides 30 to 60 minutes of charging power. It will be priced between $25 and $40.

Aluminium prices have fallen as the market worried about rising stocks and soft demand from auto makers, while fears of slowing demand from China pushed copper lower.

GE Digital Energy announces the Multilin HardFiber System which eliminates the need for thousands of copper wires in a substation and replaces them with a few fiber optic cables. By eliminating the need to install and maintain thousands of copper wires, used for signaling and monitoring in electrical substations, utilities can save up to 50% of protection and control installation and maintenance costs, while at the same time increasing worker safety and power system reliability.

It's called New Urbanism, and Christopher Leinberger, an urban planning professor at the University of Michigan, visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution   and author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream  , says the movement is changing the American dream:

A Slum Insigt was made for the Wolrd Urban Forum in Vancouver, 2006, by invitation of UNHABITAT.

As the cost of fuel soars and the pressure mounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, several schemes for a new generation of airship are being considered by governments and private companies. “It’s a romantic project,” said Mr. Massaud, 45, sitting amid furniture designs in his Paris studio, “but then look at Jules Verne.”

I've been travelling around Broadband Britain with a whole lot of clutter in my suitcase - three phones, two computers, an SLR camera, three USB mobile broadband dongles, a digital radio recorder and two microphones. But buried in my bag are two lengths of cable - one traditional twisted pair copper telephone wire and one fibre-optic cable,

File this one under if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. A group of commercial fishermen wants to get in on the rush to build offshore wind farms to generate electricity. It’s an interesting about face for the fishing industry, which has traditionally fought offshore industrialization – other than their own floating seafood factories, that is. The effort is attracting attention in New Jersey, where the state is looking to provide grants for a pilot offshore wind farm.

As the real estate sector in Dubai booms, so do associated businesses. One sector currently enjoying good growth on the back of the property frenzy is high-end consumer electronics, particularly for top of the range entertainment systems and smart homes.

BC Transmission Corporation (BCTC), the transmission system operator for the province of British Columbia, is the first Canadian utility to install 3M’s light-weight, high-capacity electricity conductor, 3M Aluminum Conductor Composite Reinforced (ACCR). 3M ACCR can carry twice the current of conventional steel-core conductors of the same diameter, without requiring larger towers, even across long spans.