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Groundwater loss

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Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and rock.  It is held in aquifers and bubbles up naturally into springs, streams, and rivers, but also is pumped out for use by people.  Groundwater provides almost half the drinking water in the U.S. and is a main source of water for agriculture.

The world’s supply of groundwater is steadily declining.  The combination of climate change and human population growth is increasingly diminishing groundwater.

A study by the Desert Research Institute published in the journal Nature Communications has mapped the global permanent loss of aquifer storage capacity for the first time.  Computer modeling with advanced machine learning techniques has provided a detailed picture of the world’s groundwater situation.

The study found that global aquifer storage capacity is disappearing at a rate of 10 miles a year, about the size of 7,000 Great Pyramids of Giza.  The loss of groundwater storage is permanent, forever reducing the amount of water that can be captured and stored because the pumping of groundwater can cause the ground surface above to sink, collapsing the space where water can be stored.

About 75% of this subsidence is occurring over cropland and urban regions.  The United States, China, and Iran account for most of the global groundwater storage loss but many other places in the Middle East and Asia are experiencing significant groundwater withdrawal as well.

Most regions of the world do not have monitoring programs for groundwater pumping.  The study underscores the need to better understand this issue on a global scale and take appropriate action before it is too late.

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Scientists Map Loss of Groundwater Storage Around the World

Photo, posted August 7, 2015, courtesy of NRCS Oregon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Uncounted emissions

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Most countries around the world have pledged to cut their carbon emissions to try to reduce the effects of climate change.  The extent to which countries are meeting their emission reduction goals has been the primary way of keeping score on their efforts.  But there is a major problem with this scorekeeping system: exporting fossil fuels does not count as part of a country’s contributions to emissions.

Exports of fossil fuel are the driving force of fossil fuel expansion around the world and a significant fraction of those exports come from powerful and wealthy nations that are essential to the effort to reduce carbon emissions.

Our own country is a prime example.  The U.S. is working to cut back its carbon emissions.  The Inflation Reduction Act is driving the reduction of domestic use of oil, gas, and coal and is providing subsidies for the use of heat pumps and the buildout of EV charging networks.  However, at the same time, U.S. production of fossil fuels is booming, driving substantial profits for that industry.  The result is that much of the expanding supply of fossil fuels is headed overseas.

American liquified natural gas exports are growing rapidly.  Estimates are that by 2030, United States LNG exports will be responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than every house, car, and factory in the European Union.  And, according to the UN emissions accounting system, none of those emissions will be attributed to the United States. 

The situation is rather disastrous.  Countries use this loophole to claim they are doing their part to reduce emissions, but the world is continuing to suffer the consequences.

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Uncounted Emissions: The Hidden Cost of Fossil Fuel Exports

Photo, posted January 9, 2015, courtesy of Bernard Spragg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Brownfields and solar power

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Brownfields are blighted lands that have suffered environmental contamination, making it very difficult to redevelop them or make good use of them.  Generally, they are previously used lands that have the presence or at least the potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or other contaminants at levels exceeding health-based or environmental standards.  There are nearly half a million brownfields in the U.S. that are ripe for repurposing.

One very attractive use for brownfields is to convert them to “brightfields,” which is the colloquial term for brownfields redeveloped into solar projects.  Estimates are that nearly 200,000 U.S. brownfield sites are eligible for brightfield conversion, which could provide hundreds of gigawatts of energy production.  Over 10,000 of these sites are inactive landfills, which alone could power 8 million homes.  Many of these sites have sat unused for decades.

A recent success story took place in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey where an abandoned waste site – designated a Superfund site by the EPA for decades – has now become a solar project that will generate more than $1.2 million a year for the township and will provide reduced-cost electricity for 400 homes, half of which are low- and moderate-income residents.

The site was on the EPA list of Superfund National Priorities , meaning it was considered one of the most serious abandoned hazardous waste sites.  Such sites required continuous monitoring, modifications, and cleanup. 

Projects like the Old Bridge solar project are likely to become increasingly common in the future, as legacy liabilities can be turned into valuable assets.

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How solar installations give new life to blighted brownfields

Photo, posted November 11, 2015, courtesy of Martin Malec via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Food and the climate crisis

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Agriculture is a major part of the climate problem and remains one of the hardest human activities to decarbonize.  It’s responsible for approximately 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Many experts contend that alternative food sources – like insect farming and seaweed aquaculture – are part of the solution.  Additionally, expanding production of climate resilient food crops, including quinoa, kernza, amaranth, and millet, likely also have a role to play. 

But according to a new study led by researchers from the University of California – Irvine, another solution to this problem may be to eliminate farms altogether.  In the study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Sustainability, the research team explored the potential for wide scale synthetic production of dietary fats through chemical and biological processes.  The materials needed for this method are the same as those used naturally by plants: hydrogen (in water) and carbon dioxide (in the air).   

The research team highlighted some of the potential benefits of farm-free food, including reduced water use, less pollution, localized food production, and less risk to food production from weather. 

Cookies, crackers, chips, and many other grocery products are made with palm oil, a dietary fat that continues to be a major driver of deforestation around the world.  However, it remains to be seen how consumers would react if the oil used to bake their cookies came from a food refinery up the road instead of a palm plantation in Indonesia.     

According to the researchers, depending on food refineries instead of tropical plantations for dietary fats could mitigate lots of climate-warming emissions while also protecting land and biodiversity.

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UC Irvine-led science team shows how to eat our way out of the climate crisis

Photo, posted July 15, 2008, courtesy of Quinn Dombrowski via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Are we really serious about eliminating fossil fuels?

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Almost all the countries around the world have pledged to take action to reduce planet-warming emissions by expanding the use of renewable energy sources and phasing out fossil fuels.  But very few countries seem to be taking the fossil fuel phase-out seriously.

Almost all the top 20 fossil-fuel producing countries plan to produce more oil, gas, and coal in 2030 than they do today.  Countries are doubling down on fossil fuel production, which will make it virtually impossible to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Despite having an administration that takes climate issues very seriously, the United States is now the world’s biggest crude oil producer and is ramping up exports of natural gas.  Brazil, under its environmental champion President da Silva, plans to increase oil production by 63% and more than double its gas output over the next decade.  India, which has promised to expand renewable energy production, will more than double its production of coal by 2030.  Canada, which has a net-zero commitment enacted as law, will boost its oil output by 25% in the next 12 years.  Meanwhile, countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia aren’t even pretending to make the transition away from fossil fuels.

Governments and citizens around the world may be serious about the climate crisis and are taking various actions.  But the world cannot address climate change without tackling its root cause.  The overwhelming force of greed and the power wielded by the fossil fuel industry has created a dynamic that is making real progress nearly impossible as fossil fuels continue to power the world.

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Coming Soon: More Oil, Gas and Coal

Photo, posted June 22, 2020, courtesy of John Morton via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

New York’s first offshore wind farm

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New York has set a target of installing 9 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2035.  The first offshore wind farm in the state – South Fork Wind – was approved by the Long Island Power Authority in 2017.  Construction began in 2022.

South Fork Wind Farm is a 132 MW project sited 35 miles offshore from Montauk, New York.  Early this year, the subsea power export cable was installed by Nexans, a cable and optical fiber company.  In June, the project reached its “steel in the water” milestone with the installation of the farm’s first monopile foundation.

In November, the first of South Fork Wind’s 12 Siemens Gamesa wind turbine generators was hoisted into place by the offshore construction team.  The turbines are being installed by a specialized vessel called the Aeolus.  Turbine installation involves using a crane to place the steel turbine tower onto the foundation.  The nacelle and rotor are then installed on top of the tower.  Finally, the blades are bolted one by one to the rotor.

All 12 turbines for the project are expected to be installed by the end of this year or by early 2024.

There have been setbacks for the U.S. offshore wind industry in recent times.  Two projects in New Jersey have been scrapped because of supply chain issues.   Rhode Island Energy pulled out of a project citing higher interest rates, increased expenses, and problems with tax credits.

But despite these setbacks, the industry continues to make headway.  Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts is on the precipice of delivering its first power to the grid and the pipeline of additional projects continues to grow.

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First turbine installed at South Fork Wind, New York’s first offshore wind farm

Photo, posted August 7, 2013, courtesy of SSE / Department of Energy and Climate Change via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Action on the toxic chemical from tires

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Since the 1990s, populations of coho salmon in streams and urban creeks up and down the West Coast have been dying in large numbers.  Scientists at the University of Washington began studying the mysterious deaths and it took years to figure out what was going on.  They analyzed water samples from urban creeks and found that chemicals from vehicle tires were present.  By soaking tires in water, they found that more than 2,000 chemicals were present.  It took three years to narrow down the suspect list to one chemical:  a toxin called 6PPD-quinone, which is produced when the common tire preservative 6PPD mixes with oxygen.  It is that chemical that was responsible for the salmon die-off.

6PPD-quinone is toxic enough to quickly kill some fish.  Studies showed that concentrations of the chemical in stormwater were found to be lethal for coho salmon following exposures lasting only a few hours.

Despite the discovery, the tire industry has continued to use the chemical in its products.  The industry says 6PPD is an antioxidant and antiozonant that helps prevent degradation and cracking of tires in the environment and is essential for the performance and safety of vehicles.

Last year, California regulators directed the tire industry to seek out substitutes for 6PPD.  The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association pledged to investigate possible safer alternatives to the chemical.

In November, spurred by a petition by West Coast tribes whose lifeways depend on coho salmon, the EPA said it will study the impact of 6PPD with an eye to potentially banning its use. 

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After Salmon Deaths, EPA Takes Aim at Toxic Chemical Issuing from Car Tires

Photo, posted May 31, 2021, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The warmest fall

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has global climate records dating back 174 years.  As the planet continues to heat up, both September and October set new records as the warmest of those months in history.

September was the fourth month in a row of record-warm global temperatures.  Not only was it the warmest September on record, but it was also the most atypically warm month of any month of the entire 174 years of record keeping.  In fact, September 2023 was warmer than the average July from 2001-2010.

For the sixth consecutive month, September also set a monthly record for global ocean surface temperature.

Not to be outdone, the planet added a fifth straight month of record-warm temperatures in October.  The average global temperature for October was 1.34 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average.  This was .24 degrees higher than the previous October record set in 2015.  And, for the seventh straight month, global ocean surface temperatures were also at a record high. 

October was the 47th consecutive October and the 536th consecutive month with global temperatures above the 20th century average.  In fact, the past 10 Octobers have been the 10 warmest Octobers in the global climate record.

With only a short time remaining in the year, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2023 will rank as the warmest year on record for the world.  It is no cause for celebration.

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The planet just had its warmest October on record

Topping the charts: September 2023 was Earth’s warmest September in 174-year record

Photo, posted October 18, 2016, courtesy of Dave Roberts via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Detecting dangerous chemicals with plants

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Researchers at University of California Riverside have been studying how to enable plants to sense and react to a chemical in the environment without damaging their ability to function in all other respects.  Why do this?  The idea is to be able to use plants as environmental sensors that can detect the presence of harmful substances.

The impetus for the work is presence of a protein in plants that senses a plant hormone called abscisic acid (or ABA) that helps plants acclimate to environmental changes.  During drought, plants produce ABA causing the plant to produce ABA receptor proteins that close pores in its leaves and stems, keeping in moisture.

The UCR researchers demonstrated that these ABA receptor proteins can be trained to bind to chemicals other than ABA.  This ability enabled them to create sensors for many chemicals, including banned pesticides.

In their recent publication, they demonstrated a green plant that turns bright red in the presence of azinphos-ethyl, a banned pesticide.  The goal is to easily detect chemicals in the environment from a distance.  A field of these plants would provide an obvious visual indicator of the use of a banned pesticide.  The researchers also demonstrated the ability to turn a variety of yeast into a sensor that could respond to two different chemicals at the same time.

Ultimately, it would be extremely valuable to design plants that sense dozens of chemicals to they could be used as living sensors that persist for years and provide environmental information.  The sensor plants are not being grown commercially at this time.  That will require regulatory approvals that are likely to take years.  But the discovery opens up real possibilities.

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Plants transformed into detectors of dangerous chemicals

Photo, posted August 29, 2013, courtesy of the United Soybean Board via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A fern-based insecticide

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A spore-producing bacterium is the source of various crystal toxins (known as Cry proteins) that are widely used in modern agriculture to combat insect pests – generally caterpillars and other larvae – that attack important crops.  Pest control in corn, soybean, and cotton use these insecticidal proteins for protection against major insect pests.  The pesticides are obtained from Bacillus thringiensis (Bt) bacteria to produce the proteins.

Bt Cry proteins are secreted by the bacteria but are harmless to the bacteria.  They are harmless until ingested by insects and are then activated by the alkaline environment in the gut of insects which is entirely different from the acidic environment of our own digestive systems.  In the insect’s gut, the proteins become a powerful feeding inhibitor by breaking down the insect’s gut lining.  Bt Cry proteins are considered safe for humans.

Researchers continue to seek alternative solutions because there are concerns that insect pests could develop resistance to these toxic proteins.

Researchers from two Australian universities have analyzed the structure of a novel insecticidal protein that could be effective in protecting essential crops.  The protein is naturally produced by ferns including common houseplants like brake ferns.

The newly discovered proteins offer a different mode of action from the Cry proteins and therefore are a potential solution to the problem of pest resistance to existing insecticides.  The new family of insecticidal proteins is designated as iPD113 and has been shown to be very effective against caterpillar pests of corn and soybeans.

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Discovery: ferns produce crop-saving insecticide

Photo, posted October 5, 2015, courtesy of Marianne Serra via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Deeper corals bleaching

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When ocean waters get too warm, corals – which are actually tiny animals – eject the colorful algae that inhabit their tissues.  The symbiotic relationship between coral polyps and algae is essential to coral survival   When the algae is ejected, previously colorful coral turns white, and the coral can ultimately die.  If waters cool off, the algae can reestablish themselves and the coral can regain its color and health.

The world’s oceans have been warming at an unprecedented rate, making coral bleaching and die-off a global phenomenon.  It is estimated that half of the planet’s reefs have already disappeared.  Some places are worse off than others.  For example, almost 95% of coral reefs in Southeast Asia are threatened.  Florida’s reefs are especially threatened, particularly since there have been unprecedented marine heatwaves off its coast.

It has long been assumed that deeper reefs, where water is cooler, would remain safe from the effects of warming, but a few years ago researchers recorded coral bleaching some 300 feet underwater along the Egmont Atoll in the western Indian Ocean.  At one point, bleaching affected 80% of corals in some areas.  This discovery came as a huge surprise to oceanographers.  It was probably associated with an El Niño-like phenomenon in the waters and those reefs have mostly recovered in the intervening years.

Fairly recently, researchers have found pristine coral reefs deep down in the waters off the Galapagos Islands, where shallow reefs have largely disappeared.  There are likely to be similar reefs in the ocean depths around the world, but scientists are expressing concern that even coral reefs lying deep beneath the ocean surface may not ultimately be protected from the warming seas.

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As Oceans Warm, Coral Bleaching Seen at Greater Depths

Photo, posted June 5, 2023, courtesy of Ryan Hagerty / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wildlife rebounding in Uganda

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The numbers of elephants, rhinos, and other animals in Uganda’s nature preserves is steadily improving, reversing the trend of steady declines previously caused by poachers, wildlife traffickers, and conflict.

Between the 1960s and 1980s, political conflict and lawlessness in Uganda led to massive declines in some species as poaching, trafficking, and encroachment ran rampant.

Uganda’s population of over 700 northern white and eastern black rhinos was completely wiped out in the early 1980s by people hunting them for their horns.  A charity brought four rhinos in 2005 to a sanctuary called the Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch and, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, there are now 33 in the facility.

Increased conservation efforts have allowed the population of buffalos to increase 77% to over 44,000 since 1983.  The number of elephants has surged almost 300% to nearly 8,000 over that same time period.  There has also been an increase in the number of mountain gorillas in dense forests.

Over the years, the Ugandan government has brought in a string of conservation policies including lengthy jail terms for violations.  As a result, wildlife populations have been on a steady recovery.

It is typical to think about species in terms of how close to extinction they are, but the ultimate goal of conservation is to recover species.  This means not only gaining distance from extinction but also resuming a species’ role in its ecosystem and repopulating its former range.  Whether the wildlife in Uganda is achieving this status remains to be seen, but the trends are very positive.

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Uganda Sees Resurgence of Rhinos, Elephants, Buffaloes

Photo, posted September 15, 2014, courtesy of Rod Waddington via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tracking down PFAS toxins

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PFAS – per- and polyfluoralkyl substances – are a group of organic compounds that have been extensively used to provide water-, oil-, and dirt-resistance to a wide range of products ranging from non-stick pans, clothing, and packaging to paint, car polish, and fire-suppressant foam.  Exposure to specific PFAS compounds is associated with multiple adverse health effects, including altered immune and thyroid function, liver disease, kidney disease, poor reproductive and developmental outcomes, and cancer.  PFAS compounds do not break down in the environment and therefore, over time, become concentrated in plants, animals, and people.

Government agencies such as the EPA in this country and the EU have set strict limits for allowable levels of PFAS in drinking water.  Testing water for the trace amounts of PFAS that constitute the limits is time-consuming and expensive and requires complex equipment and experienced personnel.

Researchers at MIT have now introduced a technique for making a portable, inexpensive test that can easily and selectively detect PFAS in water samples.  The test makes use of a special polymer containing fluorinated dye molecules that cause the polymer to fluoresce red.  If PFAS are present in the sample, they enter the polymer and displace the dye molecules and switches off the red fluorescence. 

The new technique is suitable for on-site detection in highly contaminated regions.  Detecting smaller concentrations can be achieved with sufficient precision after pre-concentrating the samples using the process of solid-phase extraction.

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Tracking down Environmental Toxins

Photo, posted October 16, 2021, courtesy of Nenad Stojkovic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electricity from chicken feathers

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The food industry generates enormous amounts of waste and by-products.  Each year, 40 million tons of chicken feathers are incinerated, causing adverse environmental effects.  Not only does it release large amounts of carbon dioxide but also produces toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide.

Researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a way to put chicken feathers to good use by using them to make fuel cells more cost-effective and sustainable.

Using a simple and environmentally friendly process, they extract the keratin from the feathers.  Keratin is the protein that helps form hair, nails, the outer layer of skin, and feathers.  The extracted keratin is then converted into ultra-fine fibers known as amyloid fibrils.  The keratin fibrils are used in the membrane of a fuel cell.

Fuel cells generate clean energy from hydrogen and oxygen with only heat and water as byproducts.  At the heart of every fuel cell is a semipermeable membrane that allows protons to pass through but blocks electrons, thereby producing an electric current.  Fuel cells are the primary way hydrogen is used to directly generate electricity.  Hydrogen cars run on fuel cells.

Conventional fuel cells typically use membranes made from highly toxic chemicals.  The new ETH membranes essentially replace these toxic substances with biological keratin. 

The researchers are investigating how stable and durable their keratin membrane is and to improve it if necessary.  The team has already applied for a joint patent and is looking for partners and investors to further develop the technology and bring it to market.

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Generating clean electricity with chicken feathers

Photo, posted July 10, 2016, courtesy of Matthew Bellemare via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric planes: Fantasy or reality?

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Airplanes have been around for over a century, but the idea of powering them with electricity rather than with liquid fuels has been little more than a fantasy.  Over the years, billions of dollars have been invested trying to make electric planes practical.  In recent times, progress on battery technology has provided a much-needed boost for the field.

Electric planes are nowhere near becoming competitive with long distance commercial aircraft.  The weight and power requirements for such craft are far beyond what electric plane technology can do.  But electric planes could offer a very practical solution for transporting relatively small numbers of passengers over relatively short distances.

A plane built by the well-funded private company Beta Technologies has flown as far as 386 miles on a single battery charge.  The company envisions such planes to be mostly used for trips of 100 to 150 miles.  These planes could open new opportunities, like better connecting rural areas that have little or no direct air service.

Their latest model was tested on a trip between Burlington, Vermont and Florida, making multiple stops and flying through congested airspace over Boston, New York, and Washington.

Commercial versions of the planes will likely have lift rotors to take off and land like helicopters, making them deployable in a wide range of places.  Many companies are working on electric aviation, and they have backers like major automakers, major airlines, and large investment firms. 

Electric planes are not likely to replace conventional aircraft but are likely to have a meaningful impact how we move goods and services and reconnect rural parts of the country.

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Electric Planes, Once a Fantasy, Start to Take to the Skies

Photo courtesy of Beta Technologies.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protecting berries with sunflower extract

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Many of us buy blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and more in those little clear plastic clamshell boxes.  We try to check them out at the store to make sure they are ok and even if are, many soon end up coated with gray mold and other fungi.  It is a problem that is both disappointing and expensive.

Researchers from several Chinese Universities recently reported that compounds extracted from sunflower crop waste are quite effective at preventing rotting in blueberries.  They suggest that the food industry could use these natural compounds to protect berries from postharvest diseases.

Sunflowers are grown globally for their seeds and oil.  The flower stems themselves are generally considered to be a waste product.  Sunflowers are known to be particularly resistant to many plant diseases so the researchers decided to investigate whether there might be chemical constituents within the plants that are responsible for the protective property.

Their research led to the isolation of 17 different compounds known as diterpenoids, including four that have never been identified before.  They found that 4 of the compounds, including 2 of the newly discovered ones, were effective at preventing the growth of fungus on the blueberries. 

Berries were wetted with the compounds and then dried off and injected with mold spores.  Half of the treated berries were protected from the mold.

There is no reason that the method couldn’t be applied to a variety of crops.  There is great appeal in the concept of using a harmless extract from a plant to render a food crop safe from fungal infestation.  The technique holds great promise in preventing postharvest disease in fruit.

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Sunflower extract fights fungi to keep blueberries fresh

Photo, posted August 26, 2006, courtesy of Liz West via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Buildings and birds

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Birds face a wide range of dangers.  Billions of them each year face violent deaths.  Concerned individuals point at such things as wind turbines, which in fact do kill hundreds of thousands of birds.  But the great majority of bird deaths are caused by cats.  And that’s a danger that isn’t going to go away.

The second largest cause of bird deaths is collisions with building windows.   Building collisions kill hundreds of millions of birds each year in the U.S. alone.  As other places have seen glass skyscrapers proliferate, such as in Chinese cites, these collisions have become a major global factor in bird mortality.

There are growing efforts across the U.S. and Canada to reduce bird collisions.  Many businesses are taking part in “lights out” programs in which their buildings dim lights during spring and fall migrations.  Some buildings now use special glass that birds can see and avoid.  Some communities even have adopted ordinances that require bird-friendly glass in new construction.  Keeping bird attractants away from windows is another important way to reduce bird strikes.  All these measures have been proven to be effective in reducing the number of bird collisions.

 Companies sell vinyl film with tiny dots that can be affixed to windows.  Both businesses and homeowners have seen substantial reduction in bird collisions with such films installed.

Bird collisions are not a new problem but is one that wasn’t really taken seriously until at least the 1970s.  There isn’t much to be done about the greatest threat to birds – namely cats – but how buildings are constructed and operated is something we can control.

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As Bird Kills from Buildings Mount, Cities Look for Solutions

Photo, posted December 24, 2017, courtesy of Nicolas Vollmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Farming the frozen north

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Agriculture is the primary cause of land-based biodiversity loss.  As the global population grows, agricultural production needs to keep pace.  Estimates are that production needs to double by 2050.  How this can be accomplished without doing further harm to the environment and biodiversity is extremely challenging.

Climate change adds further complications to the challenge.  As the climate warms in the middle latitudes, agricultural zones may need to shift northward to regions which have evolved to have more suitable climates.  This represents a very real threat to the wilderness areas of Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia.  These places represent a significant fraction of the world’s wilderness areas outside of Antarctica.

According to researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK, if the forces driving climate change are not diminished, over the next 40 years warming temperatures are expected to make more than 1 million square miles newly suitable for growing crops.  As cropland goes barren in areas that have warmed too much, northern wilderness could be turned over to farming.  The vital integrity of these valuable areas could be irreversibly lost.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, also says that climate change will shrink the variety of crops that can be grown on 72% of the land that is currently farmed worldwide.  Given this situation along with the rising global population, it is essential that land be used more efficiently.  We can feed a larger population from the farmland we already have, but people need to reduce meat consumption, cut food waste, and grow crops suited to their local climate.

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Warming Could Make Northern Wilderness Ripe for Farming, Study Finds

Photo, posted September 7, 2016, courtesy of Scott via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Who wins: Wind or solar?

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A new study by the University of Exeter in the UK suggests that the world may have crossed a tipping point that will inevitably make solar power our main source of energy.  This data-driven model of technology seems to fly in the face of the current situation in which wind power contributes considerably more generation than solar power – by a factor of 3 in the U.S. and nearly double worldwide.

Wind and solar power both have advantages and disadvantages.  Solar power is quiet, requires little maintenance, and presents little danger to wildlife.  It is also practical for individual homes.  Residential wind power is not really a viable option for most people in most places.  But on the other hand, wind energy can produce more power than solar, can work both day and night, and can be located offshore far away from people.  On land, both wind and solar power take up lots of space and compete with other land use needs as well as countering people’s aesthetic preferences.

Both technologies continue to get cheaper over time, although solar has especially seen significant cost reductions.  The cost of solar power, which is already the cheapest form of electricity production, is estimated to fall to as low as $20 per megawatt hour over time from the current level of $40 per megawatt hour.

Wind and solar energy are on track to account for more than a third of the world’s electricity by 2030, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.  Despite the predictions of various studies and the ambitions of specific technologies, it seems likely that wind and solar power will both play an expanding role in our energy systems for a long time to come.

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World may have crossed solar power ‘tipping point’

Photo, posted November 22, 2008, courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

More renewable energy for New York

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In late October, New York announced its largest state investment in renewable energy to date that includes three offshore wind projects, and 22 land-based clean energy projects totaling more than 6 GW of power generation.

The portfolio of projects is expected to create approximately 8,300 jobs and spur $20 billion in economic investments statewide.

The projects support the state’s goal to have 70% of its electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 and to have 9 GW of offshore wind operating by 2035.  The announcement represents the first set of actions taken by the State as part of New York’s 10-Point Action Plan.

The three offshore wind projects include Attentive Energy One, a 1.4 GW project that seeks to retire fossil fuel power generation in New York City.  Community Offshore Wind, a 1.3 GW project will make use of a new grid interconnection in downtown Brooklyn.  Excelsior Wind, another 1.3 GW project, will provide robust energy deliverability to Long Island. 

Apart from the offshore wind projects, there will be 14 new solar projects, six wind upgrading projects, one new wind project, and one return-to-service hydroelectric project.

The average bill impact for customers over the life of the land-based projects is estimated to be approximately 0.31%, or about 32 cents a month for the average customer.  The bill impact for customers utilizing the offshore wind projects is estimated to be about 2.7%, or $2.93 per month.

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NY to invest in 3 offshore wind farms, 22 land-based renewable projects

Photo, posted October 21, 2016, courtesy of B Sarangi via Flickr.

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WAMC Northeast Public Radio

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