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Lifestyle And Carbon Footprint | Earth Wise

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Many studies have shown, to no great surprise, that affluent lifestyles lead to larger carbon footprints. Households in Switzerland enjoy a high standard of living and a team of researchers there has been studying the consumption and travel habits of Swiss citizens to better understand the impact of various factors on carbon footprint. Key factors include household composition and income, and whether the households are in the city or the countryside – even though, in the end, people’s lifestyles do not differ greatly from one environment to another. 

A team of researchers at EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzed data from Switzerland’s household budget survey for 2008, 2011 and 2014.  They combined that data with an environmentally extended input-output analysis to assess households’ carbon footprints by measuring their direct and indirect emissions.

Overall, households in the countryside have larger carbon footprints than those in the city, mainly because they travel more and use more energy in their homes. But urban households have larger carbon footprints than their rural counterparts when it comes to food, clothing, cultural activities and air travel.  

A household’s composition directly influences its carbon footprint. A two-person household has the largest per-capita carbon footprint, and it falls as the size of the family grows since many of the same resources are shared by more people. 

Income levels play an important role.  People consume without much thought because they can afford to and enjoy doing it. But there is a trend towards people becoming more conscious of their levels of consumption and trying to be more responsible in Switzerland.  Overall consumption has actually declined over the years studied.  

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Our carbon footprint is highly impacted by how we live

Photo, posted December 19, 2017, courtesy of Alexander Kozik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Solar-Powered Desalination | Earth Wise

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About 1% of the world’s population is dependent on desalinated water to meet daily needs, but water scarcity is a growing problem that experts believe will affect 14% of the world’s population within the next five years.

Desalination takes much more energy than, for example, transporting fresh water over large distances.  In general, desalination costs are much higher than those associated with fresh water, but beyond costs, freshwater is simply not always available.

Researchers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have developed a completely passive solar-powered desalination system that could provide more than 1.5 gallons of fresh drinking water per hour for every square meter of solar collecting area.   Such a system could provide an efficient, low-cost water source for coastal areas that are off the grid.

The system uses multiple layers of flat solar evaporators and condensers topped with transparent aerogel insulation.  The key to its efficiency is the way it uses each of its multiple stages to desalinate water.  At each stage, heat released by the previous stage is harnessed instead of wasted.  The proof-of-concept device, which was tested on an MIT building rooftop, produced more than twice as much water as the record amount produced by any previous passive solar-powered desalination system.

The researchers plan further experiments aimed at optimizing the choice of materials and configurations and to test the system under realistic conditions.  The hope is to have a technology that can play a role in alleviating water scarcity in parts of the world where electricity is scarce, but seawater and sunlight are abundant.

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Simple, solar-powered water desalination

Photo courtesy of MIT/researchers.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

An Ecological Trap For Polar Bears | Earth Wise

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Climate change has been shrinking Arctic sea ice and this is causing changes in the behavior of polar bears.   The Southern Beaufort Sea, located where the northern edges of Alaska and Canada meet, is home to one of the 19 population groups of polar bears.  Historically, the polar bears in this region remained on sea ice year-round.  But in recent decades, about a quarter of them have chosen to come on land instead of staying on the shrinking summer ice platform.

A recent study by San Diego Zoo Global, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Polar Bears International looked at the energetic consequences of the bears’ behavior.  The decision of each individual bear to stay on the ice or move to land appears to be linked to the energetic cost or benefit of the choice.

Bears who moved to land expended more energy during the summer than bears that remained on the sea ice.  In late summer, as the ice became even more restricted, a greater amount of energy was expended by bears swimming to land.  So, the immediate energy cost of moving to land is much greater than remaining on the receding pack ice.

On the other hand, bears on land in this region have access to whale carcasses in the summer while bears on the sea ice appear to be fasting.  As a result, it may be the case that the declining population of bears in this region is in part caused by the ecological trap of bears staying on the ice to avoid expending all the energy needed to move to land.  The shrinking polar ice is a real problem for polar bears.

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Energetics Study Indicates that Shrinking Sea Ice Is Creating an Ecological Trap for Polar Bears

Photo, posted October 30, 2011, courtesy of Martin Lopatka via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Figuring Out Photosynthesis | Earth Wise

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Plants have been harnessing the sun’s energy for hundreds of millions of years. Algae and photosynthetic bacteria have been doing the same for even longer, all with remarkable efficiency and resiliency. 

People have used the energy of the sun in one way or another for millennia, but only recently have we gotten sophisticated about it by using devices like solar panels and sensors.  And we still have a long way to go to get anywhere close to the efficiency of plants. It’s no wonder, then, that scientists have long sought to understand exactly how photosynthesis works.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, and collaborators at Washington University in St. Louis, recently solved a critical part of the age-old mystery of photosynthesis, studying the initial, ultra-fast events through which photosynthetic proteins capture light and use it to initiate a series of electron transfer reactions.  Electrons in plants have two possible pathways to travel but only use one.   

But as a result of their efforts, the scientists are now closer than ever to being able to design electron transfer systems in which they can send an electron down a pathway of their choosing. 

By gaining the ability to harness the flow of energy, it may be possible to incorporate new design principles in non-biological energy systems. This could allow us to greatly improve the efficiency of many solar-powered devices, potentially making them far smaller. Understanding the intricacies of photosynthesis creates a tremendous opportunity to open up completely new disciplines of light-driven biochemical reactions, perhaps even ones that haven’t been envisioned by nature.

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Scientists unravel mystery of photosynthesis

Photo, posted June 14, 2017, courtesy of Alex Holyoake via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A First In The Climate Change Fight | Earth Wise

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Under a new initiative, builders in New Jersey will have to take climate change into account in order to win government approval for projects.  New Jersey is the first state in the United States to enact such a requirement, which will leverage land-use rules to control what and where developers can build, and limit the volume of pollution. 

Through executive order, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will require the state Department of Environmental Protection to draft new building regulations.  The changes, to be adopted by January 2022, do not require legislative approval, but could face political and legal challenges. 

Climate change is expected to have a significant impact on New Jersey and its 130 miles of coastline.  According to a recent study from Rutgers University, the sea level along the New Jersey coast rose 1.5 feet since 1911, which was more than twice as much as the global average. The sea level is expected to rise by as much as another foot by 2030.  At the same time, some coastal areas of New Jersey are gradually sinking.

The initiative by New Jersey comes on the heels of a Trump administration proposal which would allow federal agencies to not take climate change into account when evaluating infrastructure projects. The federal changes are geared towards speeding up approvals for highway construction, pipelines, oil and gas leases, and other major infrastructure projects.   

In the absence of anything resembling leadership on climate change from the federal government, it remains for states like New Jersey to continue to press ahead.  In addition to the new building initiative, New Jersey also plans to produce 100% clean energy by 2050. 

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Excluding Climate Change From Infrastructure Planning | Earth Wise

With 130-Mile Coast, New Jersey Marks a First in Climate Change Fight

Photo, posted August 27, 2016, courtesy of Rashaad Jorden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Saving Energy At Data Centers | Earth Wise

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A data center is a building, dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and data storage systems.  Data centers are the backbone of internet services and cloud computing, which together are increasingly dominant elements of modern life.

Energy use is a central issue for data centers. Power used by them ranges from a few kilowatts for a rack of servers in a closet at a local business to several tens of megawatts for large facilities. Some data centers have power densities more than 100 times that of a typical office building and use as much electricity as several thousand homes. For such facilities, electricity costs are a dominant operating expense and account for over 10% of the total cost of ownership of a data center.  These centers, with their numerous racks of computer servers, consume 90 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year in the United States, as much as all of our residences use for lighting. 

A research group at Princeton University is developing a family of devices that can dramatically reduce power consumption at data centers.  The team’s technology focuses on the process by which the AC power from the grid is converted to the low-voltage direct current used by computer equipment.  With existing technology, this power conversion takes place in each individual computer, which ends up wasting about 40% of the original energy.   The new device aggregates power conversion into a single unit, which then distributes the power to the individual computers and storage units.

As data centers get bigger and more numerous, the opportunity to save a lot of energy becomes increasingly important.

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New technology boosts energy efficiency in data centers

Photo, posted June 8, 2007, courtesy of Sean Ellis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

American Households and Food Waste | Earth Wise

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Food waste is a big problem.  According to the United Nations, approximately one-third of the food produced globally – more than 1.4 billion tons – goes to waste.  If food waste was a country adding carbon to the atmosphere, it would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases – behind only the U.S. and China.  All of this food waste takes place in a world where 815 million people – more than 10% of the people on the planet – are chronically undernourished.

A new study recently published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics has analyzed the level of food waste for individual American households. It found that American households waste, on average, nearly one-third of all the food they acquire.  This wasted food has an estimated aggregate value of $240 billion annually.  Divided by the number of U.S. households, this food waste could be costing the average household about $1,866 per year. 

According to researchers, the households with higher household incomes generate more food waste.  Those with healthier diets, which include more perishable fruits and vegetables, also waste more food.  

Meanwhile, households with greater food insecurity, especially those that participate in the federal SNAP food assistance program, as well as those households with a larger number of members, were associated with less food waste.  Households that use shopping lists and those that travel further to reach the grocery store were also associated with lower levels of food waste. 

When food is wasted, the resources used to produce food, including land, energy, water and labor, are wasted as well.  We have to do better. 

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SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction

US households waste nearly a third of the food they acquire

Photo, posted March 22, 2009, courtesy of Nick Saltmarsh via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Harvesting Blue Energy | Earth Wise

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There are various ways to generate renewable energy from the world’s oceans, most obviously from the power of tides and waves.  But there is also an oceanic energy source called osmotic or “blue” energy.  Osmotic energy uses the differences in pressure and salinity between freshwater and saltwater to generate electricity. 

When freshwater and saltwater are mixed together, large amounts of energy are released. If the freshwater and seawater are then separated via a semi-permeable membrane, the freshwater will pass through the membrane and dilute the saltwater due to the chemical potential difference. This process is called osmosis. If the salt ions are captured completely by the membrane, the passing of water through the membrane will create a pressure known as osmotic pressure. This pressure can be used to generate electricity by using it to drive a turbine.  This has been demonstrated to work as far back as the 1970s, but the materials we have to use are not adequate to withstand ocean conditions over the long term and tend to break down quickly in the water.

New research, published in the journal Joule, looked to living organisms for inspiration to develop an improved osmotic energy system.  Scientists from the U.S. and Australia combined multiple materials to mimic the kind of high-performance membranes that are found in living organisms.  They created a hybrid membrane made from aramid microfibers (like those used in Kevlar) and boron nitride.  The new material provides both the flexibility of cartilage and the strength and stability of bone.

The researchers believe that the low cost and high stability of the new hybrid membrane will allow it to succeed in volatile marine environments.  They also expect the technology will be both efficient and scalable. 

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Inspired by the Tissues of Living Organisms, Researchers Take One Step Closer to Harvesting “Blue Energy”

Photo, posted February 14, 2017, courtesy of Marian May via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

How Environmentally Friendly Are We? | Earth Wise

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Many of us are very concerned about the environment and want to try to do the right things as we go about our daily lives.  New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that we tend to overestimate just how much we are actually doing.

A study of over 4,000 people in United States, England, India, and Sweden revealed that most people are convinced that they act more environmentally friendly than the average person.  Their actions might include buying eco-labelled products, saving household energy, recycling, driving a hybrid or electric car, and reducing purchases of plastic bags.  Participants in the survey rated themselves as more environmentally active than other people, including both unknown people as well as their own friends.

The results are in keeping with a general tendency people have to overestimate their own abilities.  Studies over the years have shown that most people consider themselves, for example, to be more honest, more creative, and better drivers than others.  This sort of over-optimism apparently also applies to environmentally friendly behaviors.

The data from the survey revealed that the participants were more likely to overestimate their engagement in activities they perform often and draw the faulty conclusion that the things they do often, they in fact do more often than others.

A consequence of thinking that you are more environmentally friendly than other people is that it can reduce the motivation to act environmentally friendly in the future.  In fact, when we think we are more environmentally friendly than others, we actually end up becoming less environmentally friendly.

Logically speaking, the majority of people cannot be more environmentally friendly than the average person.  We are not living in Lake Wobegone where all children are above average.

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The majority consider themselves more environmentally friendly than others

Photo, posted March 6, 2014, courtesy of Karlis Dambrans via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Plan For New England Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Last December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management auctioned off lease rights for developing offshore wind in the New England Wind Energy Area.  The auction brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Recently, the five New England offshore wind leaseholders – Equinor, Mayflower Wind, Ørsted, Eversource, and Vineyard Wind – jointly submitted a uniform turbine layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The five developers joined forces to respond to feedback from key stakeholders in the region including the fisheries industry, the Coast Guard, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and coastal communities.

The proposed layout specifies that wind turbines will be spaced one nautical mile apart, arranged in east-west rows an north-south columns, and the rows and columns will be continuous across all New England lease area.  Independent expert analysis confirmed that this uniform layout would provide for robust navigational safety and search-and-rescue capability by providing hundreds of transit corridors to accommodate the region’s vessel traffic.

Vessels up to 400 feet in length can safely operate within the proposed turbine layout and will allow the region’s many fishing vessels to follow a wide range of transit paths as they come from many different ports and head to a variety of fishing grounds.

The New England Wind Energy Area is expected to be able to provide as much as 8 GW of electricity generation for the states in the region.  Getting approval for this planned layout is one of multiple steps required before the offshore wind complex becomes a reality.  Overall, states along the U.S. East Coast are seeking to procure more than 19,300 MW of offshore wind capacity through 2035

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New England offshore wind developers submit uniform layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Possible Storage Breakthrough: Solar Energy | Earth Wise

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Solar energy is a nearly unlimited resource, but it is only available to us when the sun is shining.  For solar power to provide for the majority of our energy needs, there needs to be a way to capture the energy from the sun, store it, and release it when we need it.  There are many approaches to storing solar energy, but so far none have provided an ideal solution.

Scientists at the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden have developed a way to harness solar energy and keep it in reserve so it can be released on demand in the form of heat—even decades after it was captured. Their solution combines several innovations, including an energy-trapping molecule, a storage system, and an energy-storing laminate for windows and textiles.

The energy-trapping molecule is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.  When hit by sunlight, the molecule captures the sun’s energy and holds on to it until it is released as heat by a catalyst.  The specialized storage unit is claimed to be able to store energy for decades.  The transparent coating that the team developed also collects solar energy and releases heat.  Using it would reduce the amount of electricity required for heating buildings.

So far, the team has concentrated on producing heat from stored solar energy.  It is unclear whether the technology can be adapted to produce electricity, which would be even more valuable.  In any event, the team does not yet have precise cost estimates for its technology, but there are no rare or expensive elements required, so the economics seem promising.  There is much more work to be done, but this could be a very important technology for the world’s energy systems.

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An Energy Breakthrough Could Store Solar Power for Decades

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Solar And Wind Energy And Groundwater

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The use of both solar and wind farms has been expanding all over the country as a way of lowering carbon emissions from the electric power sector.   According to a new study led by Princeton University, these renewable energy sources have another important benefit:  they keep more water in the ground.

The study focused on drought-prone California where both solar and wind power have been expanding dramatically.  California is the largest agricultural producer in the United States and has also experienced one of the most severe droughts on record between 2012 and 2017.

The study determined that increased solar and wind energy can reduce the reliance on hydropower, especially during times of drought. 

The study looked at multiple scenarios in order to determine how much solar and wind energy should be used to maximize economic revenue and to see how solar and wind power could ensure groundwater recovery.  They created a framework to quantify the optimal pathways for maximizing hydroelectricity and agricultural income while avoiding groundwater depletion.

During the long drought, California’s agriculture industry relied heavily on tapping into groundwater stores, which is an unsustainable practice.  With more droughts likely to occur in California as well as increasing water demand from the growing California population, the burden on the state’s groundwater supply will only grow.

According to the researchers, it is far more practical to impose further regulations on groundwater use if sufficient solar and wind power is deployed.   They caution that these resources need to be deployed long before groundwater aquifers are depleted, or it will be too late for them to do any good.

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Solar and Wind Energy Preserve Groundwater for Drought, Agriculture

Photo, posted December 11, 2014, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Detecting Methane

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Natural gas has become a huge industry in the United States, increasingly replacing coal in power plants, and otherwise contributing to energy independence.  Unfortunately, it also contributes to climate change.  Methane – the primary component of natural gas – is a powerful greenhouse gas that is estimated to be responsible for as much as a quarter of atmospheric warming.

Not all of the emissions from natural gas come from its use.  In the United States, so-called fugitive emissions from the oil and gas industry total an estimated 13 million metric tons per year.  These emissions basically consist of leakage of various types from the extraction, transportation, and processing of natural gas and cost the industry $2 billion in lost revenue each year.  Globally, that figure is estimated to be $30 billion.

Research labs and startup companies are working on developing and deploying novel technologies to address the growing issue of methane leaks across the fossil fuel supply chain.

One company called LongPath Technologies – a spinout from the University of Colorado – uses frequency comb laser technology that can pinpoint a leak to about a 50 square-foot area from half a mile away.  Other companies use different variations on laser absorption technology to be able to measure methane concentrations from a distance. 

Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but it stays in the atmosphere for much less time.  As a result, reducing methane emissions can pay off much more quickly than reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The current EPA is trying to eliminate emissions regulations on the natural gas industry, but it is in the industry’s economic interest to curb those emissions even if they were unconcerned about the environment.

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Methane Detectives: Can a Wave of New Technology Slash Natural Gas Leaks?

Photo, posted October 22, 2016, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A New Way To Remove CO2 From The Air

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Researchers at MIT have developed a new way of removing carbon dioxide from a stream of air that could be a powerful tool in the battle against climate change.  The new system can pull carbon dioxide out of almost any concentration level of the gas, even including the roughly 400 parts per million level currently found in the atmosphere.

The technique is described in a new paper in the journal Energy and Environmental Science and is based on passing air through a stack of electrochemical plates. The device is essentially a large battery that absorbs carbon dioxide from the air passing over its electrodes as it is being charged up, and then releases the gas as it is being discharged.

To use it, the device would simply alternate between charging and discharging.  Fresh air or some other feed gas would be blown through the system during the charging cycle and then pure, concentrated carbon dioxide would be blown out during discharging.

The specialized battery uses electrodes coated with a compound called polyanthraquinone, which is composited with carbon nanotubes.  These unique electrodes have a binary affinity to carbon dioxide, which means that they either strongly want to capture carbon dioxide or not at all, depending upon whether the device is charging or discharging.

Carbon dioxide is important in many industries such as soft drinks and greenhouse agriculture.  With this device, the stuff could literally be pulled out of the air.  And, of course, in power plants where exhaust gas is dumped into the air, these novel electrochemical cells could be used to prevent the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere.  At the right price, this could be a game changer.

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MIT engineers develop a new way to remove carbon dioxide from air

Photo, posted August 9, 2007, courtesy of William Clifford via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Potential For Offshore Wind

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According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, offshore wind technology has vast potential for meeting our energy needs.  In total, offshore wind has the potential to generate more than 420,000 terawatt-hours of electricity each year, which is more than 18 times the global electricity demand that exists today.

Based on current policy targets and plummeting technology costs, offshore wind could increase 15-fold by 2040, becoming a $1 trillion industry and eliminating 5 to 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Offshore wind today generates just 0.3% of the world’s electricity, but its’ use is growing rapidly.  The industry has grown nearly 30% a year since 2010, and 150 new offshore projects are currently in development around the world.  The leading countries are in Europe – especially in the UK, Germany, and Denmark – but China is greatly expanding its offshore capacity and the US, India, Korea, Japan, and Canada are also expected to make large investments in offshore wind going forward.

Offshore wind is in a category of its own because it is considered a variable baseload power generation technology.  This is because the hourly variability of offshore wind is much lower than solar power or onshore wind.  Offshore wind typically fluctuates far less from hour-to-hour than the other variable energy sources.

Technology improvements and industry growth are driving steep cost reductions for offshore wind.  The cost of offshore wind is expected to be cut in half in the next five years, dropping to $60 per megawatt-hour, which is on par with solar and onshore wind and cheaper than new natural gas-fired capacity in Europe.

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Offshore Wind Has the Potential to Fulfill Global Electricity Demand 18 Times Over

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Clean Gas From An Artificial Leaf

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Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy.  It is often described as the green engine of life on earth.

For quite some time, there have been extensive research efforts around the world in the area of artificial photosynthesis.  The goal is to somehow mimic the behavior of plants in order to generate clean-burning fuels using nothing more than sunlight and the carbon dioxide in the air.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have recently demonstrated a so-called artificial leaf that can directly produce syngas using sunlight.   Syngas is a fuel gas mixture consisting primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.  Most people haven’t heard of syngas, but many products are created using it.  Being able to produce it sustainably would be a critical step to a far greener chemical and fuel industry.

The artificial leaf contains two light absorbers, similar to the molecules in plants that harvest sunlight, which are combined with a catalyst made from the naturally abundant element cobalt.  When the device is immersed in water, one light absorber uses the catalyst to produce oxygen.  The other carries out the chemical reaction that reduces carbon dioxide and water into carbon monoxide and hydrogen.  The result is the syngas mixture.

It turns out that even a rainy or overcast day provides enough light to drive the process.

Previous artificial leaf devices have mostly just produced hydrogen.  The Cambridge device produces syngas thanks to the novel combination of materials and catalysts it uses.

The researchers are now focused on finding ways to use the technology to produce a sustainable gasoline substitute.

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‘Artificial leaf’ successfully produces clean gas

Photo, posted August 15, 2014, courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Stranded Coal Assets In Japan

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Japan is facing a looming financial problem as a result of heavy investments in coal technology that may quickly become stranded assets as renewable energy sources become increasingly inexpensive.

Japan is gradually adding more ambitious policies with regard to climate change including goals to reduce emissions and to have renewables become the main source of power over the next three decades.  But despite these policy efforts, Japan is still investing heavily in coal power.  Japan currently has 21 new coal projects with over 11 GW of under-construction, permitted or pre-permitted coal capacity.  But these tens of billions of dollars in assets would have to be closed prematurely in order to remain consistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

According to a new report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a financial think tank, and the University of Tokyo, offshore wind power will be cheaper than coal in Japan by 2022, new solar cheaper by 2023, and onshore wind less expensive by 2025.  The price of offshore wind is already comparable to existing coal power in Japan.  Japan had a total of 55.5 GW of solar capacity last year and has the potential to reach 150 GW by 2030.

The report notes that 42% of the global coal fleet likely became unprofitable last year and this could rise to 72% by 2040.  The authors contend that building coal power today equals high-cost power and financial liabilities tomorrow.  The planned and operating coal capacity in Japan is partially protected by regulations that give coal generators an unfair advantage in the marketplace.  Ultimately, the stranded coal assets are likely to be passed down to consumers through higher power prices.

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Land of the Rising Sun and Offshore Wind

Photo, posted April 25, 2019, courtesy of Jen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Largest Community Solar Program

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Community solar projects allow customers to benefit from the economic and environmental attributes of solar energy when they don’t have the ability to invest in their own system for any number of reasons.

Florida Power & Light company is proposing to build the largest community solar program in the United States, pending regulatory review.  The planned installation of 1,490 MW of new solar capacity at 20 new power plants distributed across FPL’s service territory is expected to generate an estimated $249 million in net savings for all FPL customers over the long term.

In addition to becoming the largest community solar program in the country, the new program would also be the largest voluntary low-income solar offering in the country.  Low-income households are typically unable to benefit from solar energy because of not having the means to invest in the technology.  The new SolarTogether program will have more than 35 megawatts of capacity dedicated to low-income Florida families.  Solar energy is a critical tool for enabling low-income families to tap into energy savings. 

The SolarTogether program would provide direct savings in the form of bill credits, making solar an affordable option for any customer.  The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Vote Solar joined with FPL to help design the program to include a low-income component and request Florida Public Service Commission approval. There is broad support for the program from universities, county and city governments, and private companies.  In addition, more than 90,000 residential and small business customers have already signed up to receive more information.  The utility hopes to receive regulatory approval in time to launch during the first quarter of 2020.

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FPL plans nation’s largest community solar program; includes low-income focus

Photo, posted March 8, 2018, courtesy of Babcock Ranch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Removing Dams Restores Ecosystems

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In many parts of the country, dams that sometimes date back as much as 100 years are being removed and are giving way to the revival of migratory fish and their river ecosystems.  Since 1912, more than 1,600 dams have been removed in the U.S., but the pace of dam removal has greatly picked up in recent years.  2017 and 2018 were the highest years ever with 91 and 99 dams removed, respectively.

When dams are removed, the response from migratory fish can be almost immediate.  A large dam removal project on the Penobscot River in Maine in 2012 opened up 1,000 miles of habitat with a quick return of shad and alewives, followed by salmon.

In 2022, four large dams across the Klamath River will be removed.  The dams, which are located at the California and Oregon border, were facing an expensive re-licensing process and, because of their age, could no longer be run at a profit.

Re-licensing the dams along the Klamath was going to cost as much as $400 million.  On the other hand, uncapping the Klamath River has tremendous commercial and tourism potential.  Two states, tribal nations, and other stakeholders have all seen the virtues of restoring the landscape to its original form.

Opposition to dam removal is typically driven by aesthetics or recreational preferences.  But dam economics are getting increasingly worse.  Now that electricity can be produced far more cheaply with wind and solar power, many American dams have become artifacts of an older manufacturing era.  Meanwhile, rural towns near decommissioned dams are likely to now have more robust fishing industries.

In rivers big and small, migratory fish and river ecosystems surge back to life as old energy structures are taken down.

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Take Down That Dam: River Ecosystems Bounce Back As Removals Soar

Photo, posted June 11, 2016, courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Electric Buses In Latin America

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Latin America has become increasingly urbanized.  In fact, about 80% of the region’s population lives in cities today and by 2050, that figure could climb to 90%.  Transportation is the largest and fastest-growing source of energy-related emissions in Latin America and accounts for about a third of all of the region’s carbon dioxide emissions. 

Private vehicle ownership is rising in Latin America but at the same time, the region’s rapidly growing cities have increased demand for buses, taxis, and motorcycles.  Currently, an estimated 64,000 people die prematurely every year in Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of air pollution, which is mostly caused by transportation emissions.

Given this situation, major cities across Latin America – from Colombia to Argentina – are starting to adopt electric bus fleets.   Latin America actually has the highest use of buses per person globally.  So, the transition to electric buses is an important step toward meeting climate targets, cutting fuel costs, and improving air quality.

Medellin, Colombia – whose metropolitan area has 3.7 million people – has started to add electric buses to its fleet, the rest of which runs on natural gas.  When new units arrive from China later this year, Medellin will have the second largest electric bus fleet in Latin America, after Santiago, Chile. 

Worldwide, 425,000 electric buses are in operation, 99% in China.  Europe has a couple of thousand while the United States has only 300.  But going forward, and especially in Latin America, electric buses are the wave of the future.  Estimates are that there will be 1.3 million on the roads by 2040.

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An Increasingly Urbanized Latin America Turns to Electric Buses

Photo, posted April 22, 2018, courtesy of Hans Johnson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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