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Self-Deicing Roads | Earth Wise

March 23, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Driving on snowy or icy roads can be pretty dangerous. That is why roads are salted or coated with sand to provide traction in icy weather. But excessive use of these substances is bad for the environment and sometimes a storm will blow in before the roads can be coated.

In a paper published in the American Chemical Society Journal ACS Omega, researchers in China describe a method of adding microcapsules filled with a chloride-free salt mixture to the asphalt with which roads are paved. The idea is to provide the road itself with long-term snow melting capabilities.

The researchers prepared a sodium-acetate salt and combined it with a surfactant, silicon dioxide, sodium bicarbonate, and blast furnace slag, which is a waste product from power plants. The substances were reduced to a fine powder and then coated with a polymer solution to form tiny microcapsules. The microcapsules were then used to replace some of the standard mineral filler in asphalt.

Lab experiments showed that the special additive lowered the freezing point of water on the asphalt to -6 degrees Fahrenheit. The researchers estimated that a 2-inch-thick layer of the anti-icing asphalt would be effective at melting snow for seven or eight years. A real-world pilot test of the coating on a highway offramp showed that it melted snow that fell on the road whereas an uncoated road required snow removal operations.

According to the researchers, given the cost of materials used for the coating and its potential useful lifetime, it could be a practical and economic enhancement for wintertime snow and ice removal. Maybe we’ll someday have roads that can fairly often deice themselves.

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Keeping drivers safe with a road that can melt snow, ice on its own

Photo, posted April 8, 2007, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Bad Year For California Rice | Earth Wise

November 2, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Rice production is the third largest cereal crop in the United States after corn and wheat. Four regions in the country produce almost the entire U.S. rice crop: the Arkansas Grand Prairie, the Mississippi Delta, the Gulf Coast, and the Sacramento Valley in California. Arkansas is the largest producer of rice in the country by far, but California ranks second.

A combination of drought and water shortages in the Sacramento Valley has taken a major toll on the California rice crop. This year, rice growers have only planted half as much grain as usual. The changes in rice plantings in California are so substantial that they are easily visible from space.

In Colusa and Glenn counties, rice acreage this year dropped by 84 and 75 percent respectively, compared to 2021. Farther to the east, in Butte Country, rice acreage was down by 17%. The change was smaller there because farmers in that county had more groundwater to tap into.

According to the USDA, the California rice crop will be reduced by 38% this year, making it the smallest rice crop in the state since 1977. California mostly grows short- and medium-grained rice, which is used in dishes like sushi, paella, and risotto. Arkansas and other states produce most of the long-grain rice such as basmati and jasmine rice.

In late September, there was a burst of rain, which offered some short-term relief for farmers. However, it will take much more wet weather to ease the ongoing drought conditions. As of the end of September, over 40% of California remained in extreme drought and 17% was in exceptional drought.

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A Rough Year for Rice in California

Photo, posted March 21, 2020, courtesy of Ajay Suresh via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Another Bad Year For Bees

August 6, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The latest annual nationwide survey of beekeepers in the US revealed that honeybees are still dying off at an alarming rate. According to the survey, beekeepers across the country lost 40.7% of their honey bee colonies from April 2018 to April 2019.

This annual loss represents a slight increase over the average annual loss of 38.7%. Of greater concern is that winter losses of 37.7% were the highest reported since these annual surveys began 13 years ago and are almost 9% higher than the survey average.

These results are very troubling considering that the elevated losses are continuing even after a decade of intense work trying to understand and reduce colony loss. Evidently, there has not been much progress.

The number one concern among beekeepers is varroa mites, which are lethal parasites that can readily spread from colony to colony. These mites have been decimating bee colonies for years. Products developed to remove mites seem to be getting less and less effective.

But mites are not the only problem for bees. Land use changes have resulted in reduced availability of pollen sources for bees. Add to that pesticide exposures, environmental factors, and even problems with beekeeping practices. In addition, extreme weather conditions such as wildfires and floods are only adding to the problems facing bees.

The tools that used to work for beekeepers seem to be failing and they are already stretched to their limits trying to keep their bees alive. Honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of food crops in the United States each year. The problems facing bees are a problem for all of us.

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U.S. Beekeepers Suffered Higher than Average Colony Loss Last Year, with Winter Losses the Highest Recorded, According to UMD-Led Annual Survey

Photo, posted June 3, 2009, courtesy of Jennifer C via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bad News For Penguins

June 21, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The second-largest breeding colony of emperor penguins in Antarctica, located in the Waddell Sea, has experienced “catastrophic breeding failure” for the past three years. Nearly all of the colony’s chicks have failed to survive due to the breakup of sea ice, according to a new study published in the journal Antarctic Science.

The colony was once home to 14,000 to 25,000 breeding pairs, which represents as much as 9% of the global emperor penguin population. Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest of all living penguins, reaching up to 4 feet in height and weighing between 50 and 100 pounds. They are the only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter and their lengthy treks to breeding colonies have been the subject of numerous films and television shows.

Sea ice at Halley Bay in Antarctica had been stable and reliable for nearly 60 years but stormy weather in 2016 driven by El Nino conditions, strong winds, and record low ice extent caused the ice on which penguin chicks gather to break up. This happened again in 2017 and 2018. By last year, just a few hundred adult pairs were present at the breeding site and almost no chicks survived the ice breakup.

Researchers say that they have never seen a breeding failure on a scale like this in 60 years of studying the colonies. On a more positive note, while the population of the Halley Bay site has collapsed, the Dawson-Lambton breeding area – located about 34 miles away – has actually seen significant growth over the past four years. While this is encouraging, the growth at Dawson-Lambton does not fully compensate for the losses at Halley Bay, which was once considered relatively safe from the impacts of climate change.

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