Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

You are here: Home / Archives for parts

parts

A giant plane for giant wind turbines

By Leave a Comment

Wind turbines have been getting bigger all the time.  Larger turbines have real advantages.  They can operate at lower speeds so they can be deployed in more places.  They capture more wind, so they make more power.  Large wind turbines can have blades more than 200 feet long and even larger ones are on the way.  An offshore wind farm in China has turbines with 400-foot blades.

Giant wind turbines face a thorny problem:  getting the blades to where they are to be installed.  The enormous blades can’t be easily shipped across aging roads and bridges.   Tunnels are too narrow, bridges are too low, and roads can be too tight to allow turns when transporting these massive turbine parts.  Some developers have actually had to build special roads for wind projects.

For nearly a decade, a Boulder Colorado company called Radia has been working on what would be the world’s largest plane.  The WindRunner aircraft would have a dozen times the cargo volume of a Boeing 747.  The WindRunner will be 356 feet long and 79 feet tall.  While its primary purpose would be transporting wind turbine blades, the plane could also be used to aid the military or businesses that are thinking really big.  Product developers often don’t even try to invent really big things because there is no way to transport them.  Radia expects the WindRunner to be rolled out before the end of the decade.

The wind industry is currently facing strong opposition from the Trump administration, but wind energy is not going away and bigger and better wind turbines will ultimately be built and will have to be transported.

**********

Web Links

Building the World’s Biggest Plane to Help Catch the Wind

Photo, October 10, 2013, courtesy of Allan Der via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

South American drought

By Leave a Comment

Vast areas of South America have been gripped in drought conditions for months.  Rivers in the Amazon basin fell to record-low levels in October.  The drought has amplified wildfires, parched crops, disrupted transportation networks, and interrupted hydroelectric power generation in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

The drought is related to the impact of the El Niño that was present for the latter part of 2023 and the first half of this year.  El Niño typically shifts rainfall patterns in such a way that there is reduced rainfall in the Amazon.  This is especially true during the dry season months of July, August, and September.

Forecasts earlier in the year warned that there would be extreme fire conditions during the dry season.  Indeed, the Pantanal region that spans parts of southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia has experienced one of its worst fire seasons in decades.  The lack of rainfall, low soil moisture, and drawdowns of groundwater helped to amplify fires and caused them to spread faster and farther.

The drought has strained power supplies in Brazil and Ecuador because hydroelectric power stations are producing less electricity.   Snarled transportation networks with impassible rivers have left some communities struggling to get supplies. 

Brazil’s National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters has called the current drought the most intense and widespread Brazil has ever experienced.  Late October saw 293 Brazilian municipalities facing extreme drought.

**********

Web Links

Intense, Widespread Drought Grips South America

Photo, posted August 13, 2010, courtesy of Colm Britton via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric cars: Boom or bust?

By Leave a Comment

Media coverage of electric cars in this country is pretty confusing.  Are electric cars taking over or has the EV bubble burst?

EVs currently represent about 8% of the US new car market.  But they continue to face some relatively unique headwinds in this country.  A very powerful and influential oil industry makes sure that anti-EV stories occupy center stage in the media.  Traditional car dealers don’t want to sell EVs because they don’t make much money from parts and service.  And EVs often find themselves tangled up in American politics.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world tells a very different story.  Globally, EVs constitute 20% of new car sales, but in some places, they are doing much better than that.

So far this year, almost 87% of new car sales in Norway are electric and in August, the figure was 94%.  Norway has some incentives in place for EV owners, but the fact that nearly all new cars on the road are electric is far more than the result of incentives.

One might argue that Norway, a country with only 5 million people, faces a much easier task of transitioning to EVs.   But how about China with its 1.4 billion people?  In July, plug-in vehicles in China were 51% of new auto sales.  And the numbers continue to rise.

There are plenty of articles out there explaining why electric cars just can’t meet people’s needs, have insurmountable problems, and how having too many of them would collapse electric grids and otherwise wreak havoc with society.  Apparently, the Norwegians and Chinese, among a growing number of other countries, haven’t gotten the memo.

**********

Web Links

Elbil Thinks Electric Car Sales In Norway Could Hit 100% By Next Year

Photo, posted July 27, 2024, courtesy of Amaury Laporte via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Upcycling Plastic Waste | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

People have generated 8 billion tons of plastic waste over time and less than 10% of it has been recycled.  Millions of tons of it escapes into the oceans.  Plastic piles up virtually everywhere on earth.

There are many approaches to dealing with the plastic waste problem and no one of them is a magic bullet.  Engineers at Stanford University have investigated the prospects for upcycling plastic waste for use in infrastructure like buildings and roads.

They used a mix of computer modeling, scientific research, experimental and field data to analyze the potential for using plastic waste in infrastructure.

Among their findings is that recycled glass fiber reinforced polymer composite – which is a tensile plastic commonly used in car, boat, and plane parts – is a promising material for reuse in buildings. 

Roads in which waste plastic is melted down and mixed with conventional paving materials are becoming more common around the world.  India has installed over 60,000 miles of these roads.  Studies show that roads containing waste plastic have the potential to perform better than conventional roads.  They can last longer, are more durable, can tolerate wide temperature swings, and are more resistant to water damage, cracking, and potholes.  Such roads rely less upon virgin fossil resources, which is obviously advantageous.

Upcycling plastic waste in infrastructure is attracting increasing interest because it creates value from something that is strictly a liability and may end up having regulatory advantages as societies move toward more environmentally friendly and sustainable policies.

**********

Web Links

Can we use plastic waste to build roads, buildings, and more?

Photo, posted October 7, 2022, courtesy of the Grand Canyon National Park via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Bald Eagles And Lead Poisoning | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States.  It was once a common sight over much of the continent but was severely affected in the mid-20th century by a variety of factors, particularly the use of the pesticide DDT, which caused thinning of its eggshells and sterility.  In the 18th century, the bald eagle population was 300,000 – 500,000.  By the 1950s, there were only 412 nesting pairs in the 48 contiguous states.

The bald eagle was declared an endangered species in the US in 1967 and additional regulations strengthened protections for the bird.  The banning of DDT in 1972 was a major factor in the recovery of the species.

Bald eagle populations have been rebounding for decades but another issue is weakening that rebound – lead poisoning from gunshot ammunition.  According to a new study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, poisoning from eating dead carcasses or parts contaminated by lead shot has reduced population growth by 4% to 6% annually in the Northeast.

Bald eagle numbers in the lower 48 states quadrupled between 2009 and 2021 to more than 316,000, according to a report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  But even though the population has seemingly recovered, some combination of factors such as habitat loss, climate change, infectious disease, and lead poisoning could reverse the trends and lead to population declines.

The hope is that the study could help educate and inform policy on ammunition choices for hunters.  There are alternatives such as copper-based ammunition.  Human health can also be affected when bullets fragment inside game species and are then consumed.

**********

Bald eagle rebound stunted by poisoning from lead ammunition

Photo, posted March 28, 2013, courtesy of Ben Johnson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Monitoring Wildlife For Warning Signs of the Next Pandemic | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

According to the World Health Organization, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 likely originated in wild bats near Wuhan, China, and may have been passed to a second animal species before infecting people.  Since then, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 13 million people around the world have been infected by COVID-19 and about 600,000 have died. 

But despite the ever-present threat of a new virus sparking the next pandemic, there is currently no global system to screen for viruses in wild animals that could eventually spill over to humans. 

In an article recently published in the journal Science, a group of scientists is calling for the creation of a decentralized global system of wildlife surveillance.  The establishment of this global system could help identify viruses in wild animals that have the potential to infect and sicken people before another global disease outbreak begins. 

According to the scientists, coronaviruses alone have caused outbreaks in humans three times in the last 20 years:  SARS (or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), MERS (or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and COVID-19. 

While it’s impossible to know today how often viruses jump from animals to humans, human activity is making such spillover events more and more likely.  For instance, many continue to develop wild animal habitat to build new homes or businesses.  Some catch wild animals and re-sell them either for consumption or as exotic pets.  Parts from these wild animals are often shipped around the world as trinkets or as ingredients for traditional medicines. 

A global system that could identify potentially harmful viruses before they jump to humans is technologically feasible, affordable, and clearly necessary. 

**********

Web Links

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

Global wildlife surveillance could provide early warning for next pandemic

Photo, posted January 15, 2008, courtesy of Doug Beckers via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Hyping Electric Cars | Earth Wise

By Leave a Comment

During this year’s Super Bowl, at least three car companies – GM, Porsche, and Audi – ran commercials for plug-in cars.  This is a sign that automakers are ramping up their efforts to persuade the public that electric cars really are the future.

The auto industry is investing billions of dollars to develop electric vehicles, spurred by stricter emissions rules in places like California and concerns about climate change.  In fact, more than 100 new plug-in models are expected to become available in the United States over the next five years.

In Europe, electric cars are increasingly popular.  Norwegians, for example, buy more electric cars than gas cars.  And several European countries have banned the sale of gas cars starting in 2025.

But in the US, enthusiasm for electric cars has been slow to build.  Automakers sold fewer than 330,00 electric vehicles in the US in 2019 and more than half of those were from Tesla, which actually does not even advertise its vehicles.

The auto industry spent nearly $9 billion in national and local advertising in the US last year, but less than half a percent of that went toward promoting electric vehicles.

A big part of the problem is that car dealers are not very enthusiastic about selling electric cars, which require far less maintenance than conventional cars and have far fewer costly replacement parts to sell.   As a result, the industry’s efforts to speed the transition to electric cars has been ambivalent at best.

World-wide, Tesla has sold about a million cars, mostly in the past 4 years, so there is clearly a growing demand for electric vehicles.  It is up to the rest of the industry to create demand for the new cars they have committed to produce.

**********

Web Links

Super Bowl Ads Hyped Electric Cars. But Will Anyone Buy Them?

Photo, posted October 6, 2018, courtesy of Mike Fonseca via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Car Parts From Agricultural Waste

By Leave a Comment

A new bio-composite material made from date palm fiber biomass could be used to produce sustainable, lightweight and low-cost parts for the automobile and marine industries.

A team of researchers from the UK has developed a date palm fiber polycaprolactone composite that is completely biodegradable, renewable,sustainable and recyclable, in contrast to synthetic composite materials reinforced by glass and carbon fibers. The team tested the mechanical properties of the material and found that it achieved better low-velocity impact resistance than traditional man-made composites.

The idea would be to use the material in non-structural auto parts such as car bumpers and door linings.   The result would be to reduce the weight of vehicles, contributing to less fuel consumption and lower emissions.  The new material can be produced using less energy than glass and carbon fibers and is biodegradable and therefore easier to recycle.

Date palm fibers are one of the most available natural fibers in many parts of the world.  The trees produce a large quantity of agricultural waste, which is mostly burned or land-filled,causing serious environmental problems.

Convincing industry to use a new class of materials such as natural-fiber reinforced composites is challenging.  First it is necessary to obtain consistent,reliable properties from the material. Then the industries need to work closely with the developers to test the materials and convince themselves of the viability of using them.  The team, led by researchers at the University of Portsmouth, has been working with industry to test the viability of parts made from a variety of other sustainable materials as well including flax, hemp, and jute.  Someday, our cars may have bumpers made from agricultural waste.

**********

Web Links

Agricultural waste drives us closer to greener transport

Photo, posted October 27, 2017, courtesy of David Stanley via Flickr. 

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

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