reduced Emissions tagged posts

This is a blue whirl over water in a swirl generator. Credit: Photo: University of Maryland

Findings could lead to better oil spill cleanup. Fire tornados, or ‘fire whirls,’ pose a powerful and essentially uncontrollable threat to life, property, and the surrounding environment in large urban and wildland fires. But now, a team of researchers in the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering say their discovery of a type of fire tornado they call a ‘blue whirl’ could lead to beneficial new approaches for reducing carbon emissions and improving oil spill cleanup. This previously unobserved flame phenomenon burns nearly soot-free.

“Blue whirls evolve from traditional yellow fire whirls...