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The green grab for land

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Solar and wind farms are spreading rapidly around the world.  Many economists believe that solar power has crossed the threshold where it is generally cheaper than other ways to make electricity and will become the dominant energy source in the next couple of decades.  As a result, both solar and wind farms are gobbling up more and more land around the world.  Estimates are that they will take up around 30,000 square miles by mid-century.

One concern is whether we are entering an era of trading food for energy.  Land conflicts seem inevitable since solar power operates best in unshaded areas with gentle winds and moderate temperatures, which are the same conditions favored by many crops.

China is installing more solar farms than the rest of the world combined.  Many of these are in the Gobi Desert, where there is no competing need for the land.  But some are in eastern China, in densely populated grain-growing areas.

There are a number of strategies that reduce the impact of solar farms on land use.  One approach is to put them on old industrial or brownfield sites that are otherwise unusable.  Another is floatovoltaics:  putting solar panels on the surface of lakes and reservoirs.  And then there is agrivoltaics, where solar panels are installed above crop fields or where livestock graze between or even beneath solar arrays.  China has more than 500 agrivoltaic projects that incorporate crops, livestock, aquafarming, greenhouses, and even tea plantations.

Green energy has both environmental and economic benefits to offer, but it must conserve nature and not excessively grab land needed for people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

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‘Green Grab’: Solar and Wind Boom Sparks Conflicts on Land Use

Photo, posted May 25, 2011, courtesy of Michael Mees via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fighting harmful algal blooms with harmful algal blooms

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Harmful algal blooms – HABs – occur when colonies of algae grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, marine life, and birds.  HABs occur naturally but their frequency and intensity are often associated with increased nutrient loading (mainly phosphorous and nitrogen) in bodies of water that is the result of runoff from sources like lawncare and agriculture.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University have developed a technique for transforming cyanobacteria – also known as blue-green algae and a prime HAB material – into an effective material for removing phosphorous from water.

Their process converts blue-green algal biomass – essentially hazardous waste – into a custom-made adsorbent material that can pull harmful phosphorous from water.  The algae is first quickly heated up using microwaves and then it is modified by adding lanthanum chloride. 

The study took blue-green algae from Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, synthesized the adsorbent material in minutes, and using only small amounts of it could remove 90% of the phosphorous present in only half an hour.  It worked perfectly well in the presence of natural organic matter.  Using the harmful algae itself to prevent algal growth in bodies of water is an innovative way to reduce its further occurrence.

Phosphorous is a major contributor to the occurrence of harmful algal blooms, which can lead to toxic water conditions, loss of aquatic life, and significant economic losses for the fishing and tourism industries.  This technique could prove to be an essential tool for managing the growing problem of nutrient pollution.

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FAU Engineering Develops New Weapon Against Harmful Algal Blooms

Photo, posted October 27, 2010, courtesy of Jennifer L. Graham / U.S. Geological Survey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate risks for apple-growing areas

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The changing climate is creating challenges for some of the most productive apple growing regions in America.  A study by Washington State University analyzed over 40 years of climate conditions that impact the growth cycle of apple trees.

Many growing areas face increased climate risk, but the top three apple-producing counties are among the most impacted.  Yakima County in Washington is the country’s largest apple producer with more than 48,000 acres of apple orchards.  Kent County in Michigan and Wayne County in New York (located east of Rochester) are the next two largest.

The study looked at six metrics that affect apple production.  Two of these metrics relate to extremes:  extreme heat days (with temperatures above 93 degrees) that can cause multiple problems and warm nights (with minimum temperatures above 59 degrees) that adversely affect coloration.

Other metrics included the number of cold days, the last day of spring frost, and the number of growing degree days, which are the number of days above a certain temperature that are conducive for apples to grow.

Changes to these metrics can impact apple production, change the time when apple flowers bloom, increase risk of sunburn on apples, and affect apple appearance and quality.  In many places, nearly all of these metrics are changing in an undesirable direction.

Apples are the most consumed fruit in the United States.  27,000 American producers supply an industry with a downstream value of $23 billion.  Apples are a big deal.

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Prime apple-growing areas in US face increasing climate risks

Photo, posted August 8, 2020, courtesy of Sue Thompson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Growing safer potatoes

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We are often advised to avoid eating green areas on potatoes.  The green comes from chlorophyll that occurs naturally when potatoes are exposed to light.  It is harmless but when it is there, it can be accompanied by a natural toxin – a substance called solanine, which is a steroidal glycoalkaloid or SGA.  Sunlight can produce solanine as well as chlorophyll.  Solanine is produced by plants to protect them from insects. 

Solanine is bitter tasting so one is unlikely to consume much of it.  But consuming enough of it can lead to gastrointestinal complications like diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and sweating. 

Researchers at the University of California Riverside have discovered a way to eliminate toxic compounds from potatoes, making them safer to eat and easier to store.  They have identified a key genetic mechanism in the production of SGAs.  They found a specific protein that controls the production and believe it will be possible to control where and when SGAs are produced.  Thus, it may be possible to have SGAs present in the leaves of potato plants, thereby protecting them from insects, while having none in the potatoes themselves.  By limiting SGAs to non-edible parts of plants, they can be safer and more versatile plants.  For example, modified potatoes could be stored in sunny places without worry and would always be safe to eat.

Plants have evolved ingenious ways to balance growth, reproduction, and defense.  Our growing understanding of these mechanisms can allow people to redesign crops to meet modern needs, increase food safety, and reduce food waste.

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Growing safer spuds: Removing toxins from potatoes

Photo, posted October 14, 2013, courtesy of Elton Morris via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solar grazing

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Agrivoltaics is the combination of solar power generation with agriculture.  Generally, this has involved growing crops under and around solar panels harvesting both food and electricity.  More recently, there has been increasing interest in grazing animals to manage lands used for solar power.

Enel North America, a large operator of solar farms and utility-scale battery storage facilities in Texas, has announced a partnership with Texas Solar Sheep Company to deploy more than 6,000 sheep to chow down on the greenery on eight large Texas solar sites.  This is the largest known solar grazing agreement executed in the United States

Texas Solar Sheep’s flocks will graze on more than 10,000 acres of land being used for solar generation, an area roughly ¾ the size of Manhattan.  Most of these sites are situated in areas with high rainfall and long growing seasons. 

The American Solar Grazing Association, an organization with 950 members across 45 states, facilitates research, provides education, and develops best practices in support of a unique population of shepherds and solar developers.  Their recent survey estimates that 100,000 acres of U.S. solar sites are currently being chewed on by sheep.  Texas has the most installed utility-scale solar power in the country.

According to Enel, its existing solar grazing program has demonstrated substantial improvements in soil health by the additional of organic matter to the soil.  Managing vegetation with sheep is also better for pollinators because sheep don’t cut down all plants the way mowing does.

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No more sheepless nights: Enel inks largest solar grazing contract

Photo, posted April 7, 2020, courtesy of Sean Nealon / Oregon State University via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Greenhouses and the environment

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The use of greenhouses around the world has been growing dramatically.  A new satellite mapping exercise estimated the total land area covered with permanent greenhouses at 3.2 million acres, which is an area the size of Connecticut.  More than half of this is in China, where the growth of greenhouses has been driven by the rapid urbanization of the country and by a more prosperous population increasingly consuming produce like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplants.

The intensive agricultural methods employed within greenhouses can be harmful to local environments because of overtaxing water supplies and by polluting rivers and soils with nutrients, pesticides, and plastic waste.  But the effects of vast areas of plastic coverings on local temperatures can be even more dramatic, and often beneficial.

There are so many plastic and glass roofs in many areas that they are reflecting sufficient amounts of solar radiation to cool local temperatures.  Greenhouse roofs increase the albedo – the reflectivity – of the land surface typically by a tenth.

All these greenhouses are just the tip of the albedo iceberg.  Many farms now temporarily cover crops with reflective plastic sheets.  If these coverings are included in the satellite survey, the total reflective area would be about ten times greater – roughly the size of New York State.

A study in Almeria, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, which grows about 3 million tons of fruit and vegetables annually, determined the cooling effects of greenhouses.  Weather stations amid the greenhouses showed an average cooling of 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit compared with the surrounding area.

Greenhouses are an accidental and benign form of climate engineering. The cooling provided by greenhouses is similar to the effect of white roofs in urban areas. 

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Could the Global Boom in Greenhouses Help Cool the Planet?

Photo, posted September 6, 2017, courtesy of Lance Cheung / USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Golf courses gone wild

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Golf courses are a significant burden on the environment.  The US has 16,000 golf courses which use 1.5 billion gallons of water a day and are treated with 100,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium each year.  In recent years, the golf industry has taken steps to lighten its environmental toll by using less water, introducing pollinator-friendly plants, and decreasing pesticide and fertilizer use.  The US has more golf courses than any other country, accounting for 42% of all courses worldwide.

There is really an oversupply of golf courses and, as a result, more golf courses have closed than have opened since 2006.  Most closed golf courses end up in the hands of commercial or residential developers, but some of them are allowed to return to nature.

For this to happen, there has to be a willing seller and, more importantly, a conservation-minded buyer who can afford both to purchase the land and to restore it to a natural state.  There have been 28 former golf courses transformed into public green spaces between 2010 and the end of 2022.  But that number seems to be growing.

In 2023, the former Cedar View Golf Course on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York was bought by the Finger Lakes Land Trust.  In California, places like Santa Barbara, Marin County, and even Palm Springs have all undertaken the transformation of former golf courses into public parklands.

Rewilding a golf course is undoubtedly a disappointment to local golfers, but it can bring big benefits to animals, plants, and people. 

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After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild

Photo, posted October 19, 2016, courtesy of Cabo Girao via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Why are bees making less honey?

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Scientists have been sounding the alarm on the global struggle of pollinators for a long time.  According to the United Nations, nearly 35% of the invertebrate pollinator species, such as bees and butterflies, are facing extinction. And since 75% of the world’s food crops depend on pollination to some extent, the decline of pollinators poses a major threat to global food security.

Honey bees are among the struggling pollinators.  Honey bee colonies in the United States have experienced annual population declines since 2006.  But in addition to there being fewer bees, the bees that remain are also making less honey.  In fact, honey yields in the United States have been declining since the 1990s. 

A new study by researchers from Penn State University has solved some of the mystery.  Using five decades of data across the United States, the research team analyzed the factors that could be affecting the number of flowers growing in different regions, which, in turn, affects the amount of honey produced by bees. 

In the study, which was recently published in the journal Environmental Research, the scientists found that climate conditions and soil productivity were two of the biggest factors in estimating honey yields.  States in both warm and cool regions produced higher honey yields when they had productive soils.  These two factors set a baseline production level of honey, while herbicide use, weather, and land use changes influenced how much honey was produced in a given year. 

The study’s findings  provide valuable insights that should help beekeepers, growers, and land managers better support honey bees.

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Why are bees making less honey? Study reveals clues in five decades of data

Photo, posted August 30, 2021, courtesy of Brandon O’Connor / NRCS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Cleaning the grid can create messes

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The electric grid is increasingly embracing renewable energy sources like solar and wind power as well as the energy storage systems that support them.  These generation sources differ from traditional sources in that they produce direct current electricity rather than alternating current electricity.  Our power grid runs on alternating current.  Traditional generators produce alternating current that synchronizes with the grid.  Wind and solar power connect to the grid using electronic power converters called inverters that produce the required alternating current. 

All of this technical detail is something we don’t pay much attention to, except that the current state of inverter technology can lead to some problems that don’t exist with a fully synchronous power system. 

The electric grid frequently experiences disruptive events like trees falling on powerlines, squirrels shorting out substation equipment, and so on.  These things normally don’t cause widespread trouble, although there have been notable exceptions such as the massive Northeast blackout of 2003 triggered by an overloaded transmission line drooping onto foliage.

The issue with inverters is that they can shut down in the presence of certain disturbances to the grid.  This has happened on a number of occasions and has exposed vulnerabilities that need to be addressed by the industry.  Inverter-based resources currently constitute only a relatively small fraction of the grid, but that fraction is growing steadily and can have an increasingly widespread impact.  The grid was built predominantly for synchronous generation, and it must be adapted and improved to assure the reliability that is required and expected.  It is an issue that can’t be ignored.

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Renewables are cleaning the grid. They’re also messing it up

Photo, posted July 5, 2017, courtesy of Sue Thompson 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

Coffee, cocoa, and pollinators

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Multiple forces have been at play that have been detrimental to pollinators including climate change, land use change, pesticide use, and more.  There have been substantial declines in both the abundance and diversity of insect pollinators.  There is increasing public awareness of this issue, but it hasn’t really risen all that high among many people’s concerns.

A new study by University College London looked at the effects of the global decline in pollinators on thousands of crop-growing sites around the world involving thousands of insect pollinator species.

About 75% of all crops grown depend on pollinators to some degree.  The UCL research created a model that looks at which pollination dependent crops are most threatened over the next 30 years in order to provide a warning to both the agricultural and conservation communities.

The research indicates that the tropics are likely to be most at risk with regard to reduced crop production caused by pollinator losses.  This is mostly due to the interaction of climate change and land use.  The risks are highest in sub-Saharan Africa, northern South America, and southeast Asia.

These areas are where the world gets most of its coffee and cocoa, two crops that are near and dear to most of us.  These crops, as well as others such as mangoes, play vital roles in both local economies and global trade and reducing them could lead to increased income insecurity for millions of small-scale farmers in these tropical regions.

If pollinator loss isn’t high up on your list of global concerns, perhaps you should think about it next time you have a cup of coffee or enjoy some chocolate.

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Coffee and cocoa plants at risk from pollinator loss

Photo, posted May 23, 2013, courtesy of McKay Savage via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Glacier Loss Day | Earth Wise

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Glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change that respond to changes in both temperature and precipitation.  But they are not only affected by climate change, they also affect climate change.  As glaciers melt, they contribute to sea level rise, alter regional hydrology, and influence the global energy balance.

A group of glacier experts from the University of Innsbruck in Austria introduced a concept called “Glacier Loss Day” or GLD as a way to measure the annual mass balance of glaciers.  Mass balance is the difference between the amount of snow and ice that accumulates on a glacier and the amount that melts or sublimates.  If the mass balance is positive, the glacier is growing.  If the mass balance is negative, the glacier is shrinking.

GLD is the day during the year when the glacier has lost all the mass it gained during previous winter.  This is a similar concept to Earth Overshoot Day, which marks the date when humankind’s demand for ecological resources exceeds the amount the planet can regenerate during the year.

The Hintereisferner, a glacier in the Tyrolean Alps, has been monitored for more than 100 years and there are continuous records of its mass balance since 1952.  In 2022, the GLD on the Hintereisferner was measured on the 23rd of June.  In the two previous years, it was reached in the middle of August.  Even in years with large negative balances, such as 2003 and 2018, GLD did not occur until the end of July.

Every summer in the future may not be like 2022, but the trend is clear.  Climate change is taking its toll on glaciers.  Experts project that the Hintereisferner will lose half of its volume in the next 10 to 20 years.

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Glacier Loss Day indi­cates record break­ing glacier melt

Photo, posted July 20, 2023, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Big Year For Rooftop Solar | Earth Wise

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The global capacity of rooftop solar power grew by 49% in 2022.  Overall, the installed amount of rooftop solar grew from 79 gigawatts to 118 gigawatts last year and it is projected to reach 159 gigawatts by the end of this year.  By comparison, a typical nuclear power plant can produce 1 gigawatt; a gas-powered power plant is typically half a gigawatt.

Rooftop solar constitutes a relatively small fraction of the total global installed solar capacity, which is dominated by utility-scale solar arrays.  Total installed solar capacity rose from 950 gigawatts to 1,177 gigawatts last year and is projected to reach 1,518 gigawatts this year.  That is enough power to meet more than half the electricity demand of the European Union.

The rapid growth of solar power can only continue if there is more energy storage put in place to manage the peaks and troughs in solar output.  Countries will also need to upgrade their power grids to be able to transport excess solar power from where it is generated to where it is needed.   Bottlenecks in the grids of most of the leading solar-producing nations are already interfering with further solar development.

The overall potential for rooftop solar is based on the number of rooftops that would be suitable for solar power, which depends on the size, shading, orientation, and location of the roofs.  According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, rooftops in the United States have the potential for more than 1,000 gigawatts of solar capacity. Currently, only about 4% of US homes have rooftop solar. 

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Rooftop Solar Grew Nearly 50 Percent Globally Last Year

Photo, posted November 16, 2022, courtesy of Oliver Knight via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Water For Arizona | Earth Wise

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The Phoenix area is the fastest growing region in the country.  Arizona’s two major sources of water – groundwater and the Colorado River – are dwindling from drought, climate change, and overuse.  Officials in the state are considering a radical plan to construct a desalination plant off the Mexican coast that will take the salt out of seawater, and then pipe that water hundreds of miles, much of it uphill, to Phoenix.

The project is the brainchild of the Israeli company, IDE, which is one of the world’s largest desalination companies.  IDE has asked Arizona to sign a 100-year contract to buy water from the project. 

There are multiple complications surrounding the plan.  Desalination plants are common in California, Texas, and Florida, and in more than 100 other countries.  But the Arizona project is unusual because of the distance involved and because the state is landlocked.  The water would have to travel 200 miles and climb 2,000 feet along the way.

There is also the issue of waste brine, which is a major output of desalination plants.  In this case, the brine would flood the northern Gulf of California, potentially threatening a productive fishery.  In addition, the pipeline, as well as electrical transmission lines, would have to go through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The plant would be located in Puerto Peñasco, a struggling town with its own water problems.

With booming home construction going on in the Phoenix area, the need for more water continues to grow.  Whether this plan will be approved by Arizona and by Mexico remains to be seen.

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Arizona, Low on Water, Weighs Taking It From the Sea. In Mexico.

Photo, posted September 26, 2008, courtesy of Dan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Airplane Turbulence And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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If you’ve ever been on an airplane, chances are pretty good that you’ve experienced turbulence.  As the busy summer travel season kicks off, travelers are being encouraged to brace themselves for a bumpier-than-usual ride. 

There has been a major increase in the number of severe turbulence cases on both domestic and international flights.  According to a new study by researchers from the University of Reading in the U.K., climate change is leading to this increase in turbulence, driving up costs (via wear and tear on aircrafts), and increasing the risks for passengers and flight attendants.  In the United States alone, turbulence costs the airline industry $150-$500 million annually. 

The study, which was recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that warmer air, caused by carbon emissions, is creating bumpier flights around the world.  In fact, the study found that severe turbulence in the North Atlantic is up by 55% since 1979. 

The changing climate is affecting air travel in other ways as well.  A faster jet stream across the Atlantic is altering travel times.  Rising temperatures are reducing the weight that aircraft can carry.  Rising seas are threatening low-lying coastal airports around the world. 

But carbon emissions from aviation are also a significant driver of the climate crisis.  Air travel accounts for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, emissions from international air travel are expected to triple by 2050.

The future is shaping up to be a bumpy ride.

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Climate crisis leading to more turbulence during flights, says study

Evidence for Large Increases in Clear-Air Turbulence Over the Past Four Decades

Climate Scientist Explains Increase In Airplane Turbulence

Airports and Rising Seas

Photo, posted May 9, 2018, courtesy of Steve Lynes via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Renewables’ Growing Share | Earth Wise

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Not long ago, many states across the country were setting goals to obtain 20% of their electricity from renewable sources. For a few states, like New York and Washington, ample amounts of hydropower made 20% an easy target.  But for many others, 20% seemed like a very ambitious objective.

Things have certainly changed.  According to the latest monthly Short Term Energy Outlook, a report from the federal government, the combination of wind, solar, and other renewable sources will exceed one-quarter of the country’s generation by 2024.

Renewables are already at 24% of U.S. electricity generation and are expected to rise to 26% by next year.  Coal, which used to be the largest source of electricity, will continue to drop from its current 18% to 17% by next year.  Overall, renewables passed coal for the first full year in 2020.  Coal staged a bit of a comeback in 2021, but has once again resumed its decline.  Many coal-fired power plants continue to close, and there are not new ones being built because of diminishing economic benefits as well as concerns about emissions.

The largest source of electricity generation continues to be natural gas at 38%, but that number is also expected to slowly decrease over time. The growth in renewable energy is coming from wind and solar power.  Two-thirds of that growth is from solar and one-third is from wind. 

Together, wind and solar power will add up to 18% of the country’s electricity supply.  The government still tracks them lumped together as renewables, but both are so large and growing so quickly that the Energy Information Agency is likely to soon start tracking them as separate categories.

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Renewables Projected to Soon Be One-Fourth of US Electricity Generation. Really Soon

Photo, posted April 18, 2011, courtesy of Allan Der via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Growing Threat To Wheat | Earth Wise

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Wheat is one of the most widely-grown crops in the world and plays a major role in human nutrition.  In fact, wheat contributes approximately 20% of the protein and 20% of the calories consumed by humans globally.  It is grown on every continent except Antarctica.  

But wheat is under growing attacks from harmful toxins.  According to a new study by researchers from the University of Bath and the University of Exeter in the U.K., almost half of wheat crops across Europe are impacted by the fungal infection that gives rise to mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by the fungus that causes Fusarium Head Blight.  Fusarium Head Blight is a disease that affects wheat and other grains growing in the field. Eating products contaminated with mycotoxins can cause sickness in humans and livestock, including vomiting and other gastrointestinal problems.

In the study, the research team examined 10 years of government and agribusiness data, which tracked Fusarium mycotoxins in wheat entering the food and animal supply chains across Europe and the U.K.  Half of the wheat intended for human food in Europe contained the Fusarium mycotoxin.  In the UK, 70% of wheat was contaminated.

Governments set legal limits on mycotoxin contamination levels in wheat that is to be consumed by humans. But with the ubiquitous nature of these mycotoxins, the effect of constant, low-level exposure in the diet over the course of a lifetime is not known. 

With climate change and the war in Ukraine already impacting both wheat yield and price, preventing toxin contamination is critical to help maintain a stable crop price and to protect global good security. 

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Harmful fungal toxins in wheat: a growing threat across Europe

Photo, posted July 11, 2011, courtesy of Maria Keays via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Increasing Palm Oil Production Without Harming The Environment | Earth Wise

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Palm oil is the most important source of vegetable oil in the world.  The oil itself and ingredients based on it are found in approximately 50% of the products on supermarket shelves, including both food and non-food items.  Many of the mysterious chemicals that show up on ingredient lists such as sodium lauryl sulfate are actually derived from palm oil.

Dozens of countries produce palm oil, but about 2/3 of the world’s supply comes from Indonesia and the demand for its oil keeps growing.  To keep up with that demand, Indonesia continues to convert valuable ecosystems that contribute greatly to biodiversity to palm production.

A four-year research project at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln has found that keeping up with palm oil demand may not necessarily mean converting valuable, fragile ecosystems into agricultural land.  According to the study published in Nature Sustainability, palm oil yields on existing farms and plantations could be greatly increased with improved management practices.

The researchers identified key practices that could lead to larger yield.  These include improved harvest methods, better weed control, improved pruning, and better plant nutrition.  With such practices, Indonesia could produce 68% more palm oil on existing plantation areas.

The results were surprising to the researchers and are significant from both environmental and economic standpoints.  In particular, it could have a great impact on the millions of individual farmers who draw their livelihood from small palm farms often containing just a few acres.  In Indonesia, about 42% of land used for palm oil production is owned by smallholder farms.

The researchers are now working with various stakeholders in Indonesia to put these management techniques into practice.

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Husker research shows palm oil production can grow while protecting ecosystems

Photo, posted August 15, 2006, courtesy of Lian Pin Koh via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Vehicle Electrification On The Rise | Earth Wise

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Nearly 70% of U.S. oil consumption is for transportation and transportation accounts for 28% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.  Therefore, technology improvements in transportation that can reduce emissions are a key element of combating climate change.  The highest impact strategy is the electrification of the transportation sector, and it is definitely accelerating.

Demand for electric vehicles is growing for multiple reasons.  These include long-term cost savings, tax incentives, declining battery costs, and greater environmental awareness.  This year, about 2.7 percent of global passenger vehicle sales will be for electric vehicles.  It is still a fairly small number, but that number is growing rapidly.  It is expected to be 10% in 2025, 28% in 2030, and more than half of all vehicle sales by 2040.  By that year, more than 30% of passenger vehicles on the road worldwide will be electric.  The numbers for electric buses, delivery vans and trucks, mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles are expected to be even higher.

The environmental impact of electrification will be significant in reducing carbon emissions and pollution in general.  Electric vehicles already reduce oil demand by a million barrels a day.  By the year 2040, they will displace nearly 18 million barrels of oil a day and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.5 billion tons per year.

Electric cars still face challenges.  They are still more expensive than gas-powered cars, but their cost-benefit analysis is changing rapidly as technology improvements and volume efficiencies drive down the cost of battery packs.  Analysts predict that electric vehicles will achieve price parity with internal combustion vehicles in as soon as two years but in any case within the next ten years.

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Electrification of transportation sector nears tipping point

Photo, posted May 7, 2020, courtesy of Mark Vletter via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Plants Paying For Biofuels | Earth Wise

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Biofuels are an important element in broader strategies to replace petroleum in transportation fuels like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.  The idea is that biofuels recycle carbon by getting it from growing plants rather than from fossil sources.  The biggest problem with biofuels is that they cost more than conventional petroleum fuels, so there is economic incentive to keep burning the fossil fuels.

One strategy to make biofuels cost competitive is to have the plants provide additional economic benefits beyond being a feedstock for fuel.  This in principle can be done by engineering plants to produce valuable chemical compounds, or bioproducts, as they grow.  Bioproducts include such things as flavoring agents and fragrances as well as biodegradable plastic.  These bioproducts can be extracted from the plants and then the remaining plant material can be converted to fuel. 

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently published a study to determine what quantities of bioproducts plants need to produce to result in cost-effective biofuel production.

The study looked at a compound called limonene, which is used for flavoring and fragrance.  They calculated that if this compound was accumulated at 0.6% of the biomass dry weight, it would offer net economic benefits to biorefineries.  This corresponds to recovering 130 pounds of limonene from 10 tons of sorghum on an acre of land.

Such quantities are completely practical but, on the other hand, none of these substances are needed in huge quantities. Just six refineries could supply the world with limonene.  So, fuel crops would need to be engineered to produce a broad range of bioproducts to enable a viable cost-effective biofuel industry.

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Making Biofuels Cheaper by Putting Plants to Work

Photo, posted September 28, 2019, courtesy of Michele Dorsey Walfred via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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