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Transparent Wood | Earth Wise

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In recent years, there have been efforts to change the nature of wood to give it new properties.  People have demonstrated so-called augmented wood with integrated electronics, energy storage capabilities, and other properties.  Several different groups of researchers have developed wood that is actually transparent.

In 2016, researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm demonstrated transparent wood made by selectively extracting lignin – the substance that makes up the cell walls of wood -and replacing it with a polymer.  The result is a new material that is weatherproof, fairly fire resistant, stronger than wood, lighter than wood, and transparent.

When the lignin is removed from wood, the empty pores left behind need to be filled with something that restores the wood’s strength.  The early versions of transparent wood used polymethyl methacrylate – essentially acrylic plastic – for this purpose.  But that material is made from petroleum, so it is not an environmentally desirable approach.

Recently, the KTH researchers have successfully tested an eco-friendly alternative:  limonene acrylate, which is a monomer made from renewable citrus, such as peel waste that can be recycled from the orange juice industry.

There are many potential applications for transparent wood as a structural material.  These include load-bearing windows, skylights, and semi-transparent facades that are strong and thermally insulating and yet permit light to enter. 

Transparent wood would be a very attractive material for many applications in that it comes from renewable sources and offers excellent mechanical properties including strength, toughness, low density, and low thermal conductivity.

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Citrus derivative makes transparent wood 100 percent renewable

Photo, posted October 12, 2018, courtesy of Mussi Katz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Insanely Cheap Energy | Earth Wise

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The International Energy Agency, founded in 1974, keeps track of the world’s energy systems and anticipates how they are likely to change over time.  Policymakers around the world look to the agency’s annual World Energy Outlook publication for guidance.

In 2000, the agency made the prediction that by the year 2020, there would be a total of 18 gigawatts of photovoltaic solar power installed.  Within seven years, that number was already too small.

The IEA was not the only source to miss the mark on solar power.  The head of solar analysis at BloombergNEF in 2005 expected solar to eventually supply 1% of the world’s electricity.  It is already 3% and Bloomberg now predicts that it will be 23% by 2050 and expects that to be an underestimate. 

What has happened is that the world has unexpectedly gotten to the point where solar is the cheapest source of energy in most places.  Over the past decade, every time solar production capacity has doubled, its cost has dropped by 28%.

Historically, a combination of groundbreaking research in Australia and intense Chinese industrial development led to the creation of a massive new industry.  When Germany passed laws encouraging the use of solar power, suddenly there was massive global demand and a struggle to keep up with supply.

The industry had its fits and starts, and many players fell by the wayside.    But at this point, solar technology continues to get better and cheaper.  Market forces are pretty hard to beat and when solar technology can supply insanely cheap energy, it is going to be used in more and more places.

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‘Insanely cheap energy’: how solar power continues to shock the world

Photo, posted January 10, 2020, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Accelerating Global Glacier Loss | Earth Wise

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Glaciers represent the snows of centuries compressed over time to form flowing rivers of ice.  Glaciers always change, accumulating snow in the winter and losing ice to melting in the summer.  But in recent times, the melting has been outpacing the accumulation.

Glaciers are a sensitive indicator of climate change.  They have been melting at a high rate since the mid-20th century – regardless of altitude or latitude. But up until recently, the full extent of glacial ice loss has only been partially measured and understood.

Now, according to new research led by scientists from ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the University of Toulouse in France, nearly all the world’s glaciers are becoming thinner and losing mass.  And the changes are accelerating.  The study, which is the most comprehensive and accurate of its kind to date, is the first to include all the world’s glaciers – around 220,000 in total – excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The research team’s findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

Between 2000 and 2019, the world’s glaciers lost an average of more than 294 billion tons of ice per year.  Between 2000 and 2004, glaciers lost an average of about 250 billion tons of ice each year.  But between 2015 and 2019, ice mass loss jumped up to an average of approximately 328 billion tons annually.    

Glacial melt is responsible for 21% of the observed sea level rise during this two decade time period studied.

This research is just another reminder of how we need to act urgently if we want to prevent the worst-case climate change scenario from becoming a reality. 

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Global glacier retreat has accelerated

Photo, posted September 17, 2015, courtesy of Richard Whitaker via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Dangerous Fire Season | Earth Wise

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The western United States is entering the fire season under much worse drought conditions than last year.  Last year, 15,800 square miles burned in the U.S., mostly in the West.

The western U.S. is in the midst of a 20-year mega-drought.  Rainfall in the Rocky Mountains and farther west was the second lowest on record this April.  The soil in the western half of the country is the driest it has been since 1895.

The situation is particularly bad in California and the Southwest.  In March, less than a third of California was experiencing extreme or exceptional drought.  Now, 73% of the state is.  A year ago, a record-breaking fire season burned 4% of the state and, at that time, only 3% of California was in a state of extreme drought.

A year ago, no parts of Arizona, Nevada, or Utah were in extreme or exceptional drought.  Now, more than 90% of Utah, 86% of Arizona, and 75% of Nevada face severe drought conditions.  At this time last year, only 4% of New Mexico faced extreme drought but 77% does now.

These extreme drought conditions, which are believed to be linked to climate change, are causing increased tree mortality among many species, ranging from junipers in the Southwest even to drought-tolerant blue oaks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Conditions are extremely ripe for a lot of forest fire this year.  Last year was a terrible year for wildfires in the West and we are heading into a fire season with much drier fuels than there were last year.  The risks of great damage from wildfires are higher than ever.

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US West Enters Fire Season Facing Extremely Dry Conditions

Photo, posted September 18, 2020, courtesy of USFS/National Interagency Fire Center via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Floating Solar In New York’s Capital Region | Earth Wise

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We have previously talked about installing solar arrays on the surface of bodies of water.  The idea is especially attractive in places like Japan where land resources are scarce.  There are several floating solar installations in the UK and the idea is starting to catch on elsewhere as well.

It is quite possible that the largest municipally owned floating solar array may get built in the city of Cohoes in New York’s Capital Region if a project under consideration for federal funding moves forward.

The proposal is for an installation of 8,000 solar panels to cover about 2/3 of the 10-acre Cohoes reservoir.  Cohoes has wanted to erect a solar installation to generate power for its buildings but needed to find suitable vacant land.  The 10-acre manmade reservoir could be an excellent location for a floating solar array.

Cohoes would be the first community in the US to build and own a floating array on a manmade reservoir and could serve as a model for municipalities across the nation.  Such a project makes additional use of land that is already municipal property.  According to the city, the 3.2-megawatt array would generate over 4 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, saving the city $300-350,000 annually.

Cohoes is seeking $4.59 million in federal funding to support the project and has the support of U.S. Representative Paul Tonko for possible inclusion in the 2022 federal budget. 

Apart from generating electricity, putting solar panels on the surface of a reservoir reduces evaporation, lowers algae growth, and actually improves solar panel performance because of the cooling effect of the water.

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Cohoes reservoir could be a floating solar power pioneer

Photo courtesy of Michael Coghlan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Biodiversity And Trawling Bans | Earth Wise

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Trawling is a method of commercial fishing that involves pulling or dragging a fishing net – called a trawl – through the water or across the seabed in hopes of catching fish.  Commercial fishing companies favor towing trawl nets because large quantities of fish can be caught in one go.  

However, the trouble with trawling is that it’s destructive to the seafloor and indiscriminate in what it catches.  When towing these large trawl nets, the largest of which is reportedly big enough to catch thirteen 747 jets, everything that happens to be in the way gets caught.  As a result, trawling results in lots of bycatch, a fishing industry term used to describe the deaths of non target species during the process. 

In 2012, the Hong Kong government implemented a territory-wide trawling ban in its waters in hopes of rehabilitating the marine benthic habitat.  The benthic zone refers to the ecological region at the bottom of the ocean. 

Researchers from City University of Hong Kong collected sediment samples from 28 locations six months before the trawl ban and two and a half years after the trawl ban to see whether such interventions can facilitate ecosystem recovery. 

According to the study, which was recently published in the journal Communications Biology, the ban on trawling significantly improved marine biodiversity.  The researchers observed substantial increases in the richness of species and the abundance of benthic marine organisms following the trawling ban.  And since small benthic organisms are the main source of food for large species like fish and crabs, the trawling ban actually helps support fisheries.

More governments should consider a trawl ban to promote sustainable fisheries and marine biodiversity conservation.

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Research confirms trawl ban substantially increases the abundance of marine organisms

Photo, posted December 4, 2018, courtesy of John via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Blue Carbon Credits | Earth Wise

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Carbon credits have been around since the late 1990s.  The idea is to offset carbon emissions from some carbon emitting activity – anything from a wedding in California to a factory operating in Minnesota – by buying carbon credits earned from a carbon-absorbing activity, such as planting trees in the Amazon.

Blue carbon credits are credits earned by increasing the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows in fact sequester and store more carbon per unit area than terrestrial forests and are increasingly being recognized for their important role in mitigating climate change. 

Blue carbon credit awards have to date been relatively few and far between and have mostly been granted for mangrove restoration efforts.  But mangrove projects are now ramping up dramatically in scope.  Scientists are working hard to analyze the amount of carbon in other ecosystem types – seagrasses, salt marshes, seaweeds, and seafloor sediments – so that these systems can also enter the carbon credit market.

Over the past 20 years, conservation scientists have spread over 70 million seeds in the bays of Virginia to restore over 9,000 acres of seagrass meadows that were devastated by disease in the 1930s.  The restored meadows are absorbing nearly half a ton of CO2 per acre. 

The rules to allow for blue carbon credits are recent and evolving, which is a big deal. The market may currently be small, but it is growing exponentially.  But as important as carbon credits are, it is still paramount to decarbonize before turning to offsets for existing emissions.

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Why the Market for ‘Blue Carbon’ Credits May Be Poised to Take Off

Photo, posted July 2, 2009, courtesy of Nicolas Raymond via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Progress Towards Carbon-Free Power | Earth Wise

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Climate change has driven countries, states, utilities, and corporations to set goals to eliminate power-sector carbon emissions.  So far, 17 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity over the next couple of decades.  Forty-six U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon-free no later than 2050.   Adding these together, these government and industry goals cover about half of the U.S. population and economy.

New research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has analyzed historical trends to determine how much progress the power sector has already made in reducing emissions.  The study focused on the 2005 Annual Energy Outlook from the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration.

If the previous growth in emissions had continued from 2005 to 2020, annual CO2 emissions would have risen from 2,400 to 3,000 million metric tons.  But actual 2020 emissions fell to only 1,450 metric tons.  So, by this metric, the U.S. power sector cut emission by 52% below projected levels.

According to the study, total consumer electricity costs were 18% lower than projected values, but meanwhile, the number of jobs in electricity generation was 29% higher. 

Among the driving forces for these trends were wind and solar power dramatically outperforming earlier expectations, delivering 13 times more generation in 2020 than projected. 

The study shows that dramatic changes in emissions are possible over a 15-year span, but much has to happen over the next 15 years to ensure the progress required to meet the ambitious goals set for emissions reductions.

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U.S. Power Sector is Halfway to Zero Carbon Emissions

Photo, posted April 18, 2020, courtesy of Roman Ranniew via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

What Does Conservation Really Mean? | Earth Wise

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There is a great deal of interest in protecting nature and, in many cases, restoring aspects of nature that have been lost.  But what do these things really mean?

What is most important?  Protecting iconic species?  Strengthening nature’s resilience?  Several recent scientific papers address these questions and come up with rather different answers.

It isn’t even clear what constitutes a pristine ecosystem.  According to some experts, ecosystems that have lost most of their large mammal species, for example, cannot be considered intact.  By that standard, only a tiny fraction of the world’s ecosystems remains intact.

Other experts contend that preserving individual species is not what really matters.  Studies have shown that many ecosystems have undergone and continue to undergo massive species shifts over time with frequent extinctions along the way.  Nevertheless, the ecosystems continue to flourish with new species replacing others to perform the various functions required.

Some perspectives consider intact ecosystems to be those devoid of human influence.  But that notion is not universally held.   There is the idea that most of the world’s ecosystems were essentially untouched until perhaps 500 years ago when European exploration expanded greatly.  But the reality is that even 12,000 years ago, nearly three-quarters of terrestrial nature was inhabited, used, and shaped by people.  However, those human interactions were similar to how many indigenous and local peoples across the globe still live, not like the interactions of modern civilization that result in massive changes to ecosystems.

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Species or Ecosystems: How Best to Restore the Natural World?

Photo, posted November 21, 2003, courtesy of Megan Coughlin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Improving Solar Cells With Human Hair | Earth Wise

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Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia have been able to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells using material made from human hair.

Perovskite solar cells are an up-and-coming technology that offers the possibility of making solar cells less expensive, more efficient, and flexible so that there could be solar-powered clothing, backpacks, or even tents for camping.  While the technology has been shown to be as effective in converting sunlight to electricity as currently available silicon technology, it faces problems with stability and durability.

The Australian research centered on the use of carbon nanodots to improve perovskite solar cell performance.  The nanodots were created in a rather unique way.  The carbon came from hair scraps from a Brisbane barbershop that were first broken down and then burned at nearly 500 degrees Fahrenheit. 

By adding a solution of the carbon nanodots into the process of making the perovskites, the dots formed a wave-like layer in which the perovskite crystals in the cells are surrounded by the carbon dots.  It serves as a protective layer, essentially a kind of armor, for the active portions of the material.

The result was solar cells with a higher power conversion efficiency and greater stability.  The researchers did not explain why they chose human hair as the source of carbon, but it does make for an interesting sidelight to the promising research.

Perovskite solar cells could be very important for spacecraft applications where reducing weight is paramount.  But in order to be able to use them for this purpose, perovskite solar cells will need to be able to cope with the extreme radiation and temperature variations in space.

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Carbon dots from human hair boost solar cells

Photo, posted October 3, 2009, courtesy of Arktoi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Solar Power Boom In Texas | Earth Wise

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Texas has been a leader in wind energy for a number of years.  In 2020, wind made up 23% of the state’s generating capacity and provided 20% of in-state generation.  But although wind capacity in Texas has grown rapidly in recent years, solar power is expected to make up the largest share of the state’s capacity additions over the next two years.

Texas plans to add 4.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar power this year and 5.4 gigawatts in 2022.  This will give the state a total capacity of 15 gigawatts, which will nearly catch up to California, the state with the most large-scale solar power.  California already has 16 gigawatts of installed solar capacity and plans to add about two more over the next two years.

The planned capacity for Texas will provide enough power for roughly 5 million homes, taking into account the intermittency of solar energy.  Much of the new solar capacity will be in the Permian Basin in West Texas, which is a particularly sunny place.  Because solar generation is greatest in the middle of the day, when wind generation is typically lower, the transmission line infrastructure already in place for the wind power will be adequate for the new solar installations.

The boom in solar power in Texas is driven in part by the federal solar Investment Tax Credit that is available to project developers as well as by the ever-lower cost of solar technology. 

One-third of the utility-scale solar capacity planned to come online in the U.S. in the next two years will be in Texas.  Currently, utility-scale solar only makes up 4% of electrical generating capacity in Texas, but that is clearly changing.

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Texas likely to add 10 GW of utility-scale solar capacity in the next two years

Photo, posted May 14, 2020, courtesy of Courtney Celley/USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Post-COVID Emissions Rebound | Earth Wise

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The extensive shutdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in reduced activity across many sectors of the global economy.  As a result, global pollution and greenhouse gas emissions also saw lower levels.  As the COVID crisis lessens, an economic recovery is growing and as that occurs, emissions are on the rise.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are projected to increase by 1.5 billion tons this year, the second-largest increase in history.

The emissions increase in 2021 is expected to be nearly 5%, reversing most of last year’s emissions decline caused by the pandemic. This would be the largest annual rise since the 2010 recovery from the global financial crisis.  In many places across the globe, people are making up for lost time and doing more of all the things that cause carbon emissions.

A key driver of the emissions increase is a rise in coal use.  The forecast is that coal-burning in 2021 would come close to the all-time peak of 2014.  Both natural gas and oil use are also expected to increase this year.  These increases are in spite of a predicted 17% increase in electricity generation from wind power and an 18% increase in solar-power generation. 

Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are now at 417 parts per million and have increased by 3 PPM in the past year.  If human CO2 emissions are not reined in, atmospheric concentrations of planet-warming greenhouse gases could double those of pre-Industrial levels by mid-century, which would have disastrous impacts on the climate.

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Global CO2 Emissions Set to Surge in 2021 in Post-Covid Economic Rebound

Photo, posted October 22, 2020, courtesy of Hospital Clínic Barcelona via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Green Light For Commercial-Scale Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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The Biden administration has given final approval to a project it hopes will usher in a new era of wind energy in the United States.  The greenlight was announced by the Department of the Interior on May 11.

The Vineyard Wind project intends to install up to 84 huge wind turbines about 12 nautical miles off the cost of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.  In total, Vineyard Wind could generate 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 400,000 homes.  The construction project will create about 3,600 jobs.  The $2.8 billion project is a joint venture of the energy firms Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

The idea of a wind farm off the Massachusetts coast was conceived 20 years ago but ran into repeated setbacks, delays, and well-funded opposition from waterfront property owners concerned about what will ultimately be the barely discernable sight of tiny blips on the distant horizon.  The Trump administration moved to cancel the permitting process for Vineyard Wind, but the Biden administration revived the project in March as part of its greater efforts to tackle climate change.

Electricity generated by Vineyard Wind will travel via cables buried six feet below the ocean floor to Cape Cod, where they will connect to a substation and feed into the New England grid.  The project is expected to begin delivering wind-powered electricity in 2023.

The Biden administration says that it intends to fast-track permits for other wind projects off the Atlantic Coast and that it will offer $3 billion in federal loan guarantees for offshore wind projects and invest in upgrades to ports across the United States to support wind turbine construction.

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Biden Administration Approves Nation’s First Major Offshore Wind Farm

Photo, posted February 8, 2007, courtesy of mmatsuura via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Radar Satellites And Hazard Mitigation | Earth Wise

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Scientists have concluded that the changing climate is primarily the result of increased human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.  Some of the effects of global climate change include melting glaciers, warming oceans, intensifying storms, and rising seas.

Another consequence of global climate change is natural disasters like floods and wildfires.  Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires and increasing the odds of record-breaking floods in many parts of the United States and all around the world.

As a result, scientists in Australia have turned to technology for better assistance in keeping tabs on these climate change-driven natural disasters.  Researchers from Curtin University in Perth, Australia have found that satellites can improve the ability to detect, monitor, prepare for, and withstand natural disasters, including floods, wildfires, and earthquakes.

The research team used Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, which was acquired by the European Space Agency Sentinel-1 satellite.  The researchers also used data acquired by other satellites to evaluate these Australia-specific case studies.

According to the researchers, SAR data provides remote monitoring capabilities of Earth’s surface around the clock and in all weather, which is something that traditional optical Earth Observation (EO) imagery cannot do. The ability to function through fog, clouds, rainfall, and smoke is what makes SAR so valuable.

The research team says that the data can be used to improve how people track and respond to natural disasters, by precisely mapping topography, tracking movements of the ground, and mapping damage to infrastructure. 

As the climate continues to change, the ability to mitigate hazards like floods and wildfires will be increasingly important. 

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Radar satellites can better protect against bushfires and floods

Photo, posted May 11, 2007, courtesy of Bert Knottenbeld via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Infinitely Recyclable Plastic | Earth Wise

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The glut of plastics is one of the world’s most challenging environmental problems.  The average American generates over 200 pounds of plastic waste each year and most of that ends up in landfills.  Researchers around the globe continue to work on potential solutions to the plastic waste problem.

Two years ago, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced the invention of a new plastic that could be an answer to the plastic waste problem.  The material is called polydiketoenamine or PDK and it differs from traditional plastics in a very important way:  it can be recycled indefinitely with no loss in quality because it can easily be broken down into its constituent component monomers and be used to make brand new plastic.

Only a small percentage of plastics are currently recycled.  When many plastics are melted down together, the polymers are mixed with a slew of incompatible additives, resulting in a new material with much lower quality than newly produced plastic.  As a result, less than 10% of plastic is recycled more than once.

Recently, the Berkeley Lab researchers released a study that shows what could be accomplished if manufacturers began using PDKs on a large scale.  They determined that PDK-based plastic could quickly become commercially competitive with conventional plastics and, furthermore, would get less expensive and more sustainable as time goes on.

PDK is starting to draw interest from companies needing to source plastic.  The best initial application for PDKs are markets where manufacturers have the most access to products at the end of their lifespans such as in the automobile industry and consumer electronics.  Making plastics part of a circular economy is a challenging task.

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The Future Looks Bright for Infinitely Recyclable Plastic

Photo, posted April 19, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Rising Seas In The Maldives | Earth Wise

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The Republic of Maldives is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka and India and about 400 miles from the Asian mainland.  It is one of the world’s most geographically dispersed sovereign states, the smallest Asian country by land area, and, with a little over 500,000 inhabitants, the second least populous country in Asia.  With its spectacular scenic beauty, it is also a premier tourist attraction.

With more than 80% of its 1,190 coral islands standing less than 1 meter above sea level, the Maldives has the lowest terrain of any country in the world.  As a result, the Maldives is particularly vulnerable to the sea level rise associated with climate change.

Some studies predict a grim future for the Maldives as well as other low-lying islands.  One study concluded that the islands could become uninhabitable by 2050 as wave-driven flooding becomes more common and freshwater becomes limited.

The Maldives government has explored plans to purchase land on higher ground in other countries.  Planners are also working to enhance the resilience of the country’s current islands.   An example is Hulhumalé, a newly constructed artificial island northeast of the country’s capital, Malé.

Construction of Hulhumalé began in 1997 and it now covers 1.5 square miles, making it the fourth largest island in the Maldives.  Its population is now more than 50,000, with more than 200,000 expected to eventually move there.  The new island, built by pumping sand from the seafloor onto a coral platform, rises about 2 meters above sea level.  The extra height could make the new island a refuge for Maldivians driven off lower-lying islands by the rising seas.

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Preparing for Rising Seas in the Maldives

Photo, posted June 15, 2009, courtesy of Elena N via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Better Solar Evaporator | Earth Wise

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Water security is a serious global problem.  Nearly 1.5 billion people – including almost half a billion children – live in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability.  Less than 3% of the world’s water is fresh and demand for it is rising with increasing population growth, urbanization, and growing water needs from a range of sectors.

Researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a promising new technique that could help reduce or eliminate water stress for millions of people.  The technique uses highly efficient solar evaporation to obtain fresh water from seawater, brackish water, or even contaminated water.   According to the researchers, their technique can deliver enough daily fresh drinking water for a family of four from just one square meter of source water.

Solar evaporation has been the focus of a great deal of effort in recent years, but it has generally been found to be too inefficient to be practically useful.  The new technique overcomes those inefficiencies and can deliver fresh water at a fraction of the cost of existing technologies like reverse osmosis.

The system utilizes a highly efficient photothermal structure that sits on the surface of a water source and converts sunlight to heat, focusing energy precisely on the surface to rapidly evaporate the uppermost portion of the liquid.  The technique prevents any loss of solar energy and even draws additional energy from the bulk water and surrounding environment.

The system is built entirely from simple, everyday materials that are low cost, sustainable, and easily obtainable.

The technology has the potential to provide a long-term clean water solution to people who can’t afford other systems, and these are the places where such solutions are most needed.

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Sunlight to solve the world’s clean water crisis

Photo, posted November 13, 2016, courtesy of Steve Austin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Banning Short Plane Flights | Earth Wise

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Almost everything we do ultimately results in greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere and therefore has an impact on the climate.  But some activities have much more impact than others.  The aviation industry is responsible for about 5% of global warming.

This doesn’t seem like that large a contribution, but only a very small percentage of the world’s population flies frequently and even in richer countries, only around half the population flew in any given year (at least before the pandemic.)

Flying is generally the only practical option for most long-haul trips and unless people give up on seeing the world or conducting global business in person, they are not going to give up taking air trips.

But shorter flights are a different story.  If you are planning to take a reasonably short trip in France, a plane will soon no longer be an option.  The French government says that flights will be banned on any route where the trip could be made on a train in 2.5 hours or less.  The driving force is the reduction of CO2 emissions.  A plane trip emits an average of 77 times more CO2 per passenger than taking a train on the same route.

The Netherlands and Belgium are also considering bans on short-haul flights and Austrian Airlines recently replaced its Vienna-to-Salzburg flights with train service.

Advocates of the flight bans say that not only does taking the train significantly reduce a traveler’s carbon footprint, but it can be cheaper and actually faster than a plane when factoring in the time spent getting to airports, standing in security lines, getting on and off planes, and so on.  Europe’s extensive train system makes this approach broadly practical. Unfortunately, here in the U.S., it is not quite that easy.

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France Will Ban Short Flights That Could Be Replaced By a Train Trip

Photo, posted December 17, 2016, courtesy of Dylan Agbagni via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Global Assessment Of Groundwater Wells | Earth Wise

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Water is a fundamental need for every human being on the planet.  Each person requires more than five gallons of clean and safe water a day for drinking, cooking, and keeping clean.

Groundwater wells remain one of the primary sources of drinking water.  In fact, more than half of the world’s population gets its drinking water from groundwater wells.  Groundwater wells also sustain more than 40% of irrigated agriculture.

Researchers from UC Santa Barbara have recently compiled the most comprehensive assessment of groundwater wells to date.  Their research, which was recently published in the journal Science, spanned 40 countries, which collectively account for more than 50% of all groundwater pumping. 

According to the survey’s findings, many wells are at risk of running dry – up to one in five wells, to be exact.  The researchers compared the depths of water tables against well depths. They found that 6% to 20% of the wells in the study were at risk of running dry if water levels continue to decline by just a few meters.

In many areas where groundwater levels are declining, the research team found that new wells are not being drilled deeper to keep pace with the falling water table. As a result, newer wells are just as vulnerable as older wells should groundwater levels continue to decline.  

The researchers hope to expand on this study to include data from China, Iran, and Pakistan, three major users of groundwater from which the researchers could not obtain records.  The researchers also plan to investigate how quickly water tables are dropping and where the trend is accelerating.   

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The largest assessment of global groundwater wells finds many are at risk of drying up

Photo, posted January 20, 2018, courtesy of François Molle via Water Alternatives Photos on Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Sunscreen And Coral Reefs | Earth Wise

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The dangers of overexposure to UV solar radiation have led to the extensive production and use of sunscreen products.  It is generally understood that many of the chemical compounds used in sunscreen products have toxic effects on marine organisms, but research in this area is relatively limited.

There are estimates that as many as 82,000 kinds of chemicals from personal care products have made their way into the world’s oceans.  In 2015, it was estimated that around 14,000 tons of sunscreen are ending up in the world’s coral reefs per year and causing irreparable damage.

Eighty-five percent of the Caribbean’s coral reefs died before the turn of the century, not as a result of global warming, but because of pollution.  Oxybenzone and octinoxate are two of the common sunscreen ingredients that are most toxic to corals.  Preservatives like parabens are also toxic.

There are much safer sunscreens such as those based on zinc oxide or titanium oxide.  In some places, such eco-friendly sunscreens are mandatory.  Sunscreens with SPF values above 30 contain a higher percentage of chemicals and have been shown to not really provide any more protection than SPF 30 products.

Apart from the choice of sunscreen product, if one really wants to reduce the negative impact sunscreen has on reefs and marine life, wearing sun-protective clothing such as rash-guards will allow the use of much less sunscreen and therefore result in less of it entering the ocean.

Products that can help protect against the harmful effects of UV radiation on human health are extremely important, but it is also important to identify and quantify the risks associated with these products to reef ecosystems.

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Web Links

How to Know If Your Sunscreen Is Killing Coral Reefs — and the Brands to Try Instead

Impacts of sunscreen on coral reefs needs urgent attention, say scientists

Photo, posted January 11, 2015, courtesy of Elch Korallen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)