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Glaciers in Venezuela

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There are nearly 200,000 glaciers in the world.  About 91% of them are in Antarctica and 8% in Greenland.  The rest are scattered across nearly 50 countries.  The non-polar country with the most glaciers is actually Pakistan, which has over 7,200 of them.  But as the world continues to warm, glaciers are shrinking back, and many are disappearing altogether.

Venezuela, once home to six glaciers, has become the first country in the Americas to lose all of its glaciers.  Slovenia is considered to be the first country to lose its glaciers in modern times, perhaps as long as 30 years ago.  Glacial thawing has been worsening over the past decade throughout the Andes, which cover parts of Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

Five of Venezuela’s glaciers had largely melted away by 2011.  The Humboldt glacier, which is on the highest peak in the Cordillera de Mérida mountain range in Venezuela, has now been declared as too small to be classified as a glacier.  It once covered over a thousand acres; it now has less than 5 acres of ice.  The US Geological Survey defines glaciers as ice bodies extending 25 acres or more.

The loss of glaciers in the Andes has serious consequences for communities that live on their slopes and depend upon glacial melt for water and for energy and food production. 

At least 80% of glaciers worldwide are on track to mostly disappear by the year 2100 because of global warming.  Given that previous forecasts estimated that the Humboldt glacier might last another decade, the prospects for the world’s remaining glaciers are not good.

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Venezuela becomes first nation in the Americas to lose all glaciers

Photo, posted November 11, 2012, courtesy of Tim Snell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Recycling cement

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Concrete is the second-most-used material on the planet.  Only water is used more.  Producing concrete is responsible for 7.5% of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions.  So, finding a cost-effective way to reduce these emissions is a major challenge in the face of ever-growing global demand for concrete.

Researchers at Cambridge University have found that used cement is an effective substitute for lime flux, which is an essential material used in steel recycling that results in a waste product called slag.  When lime is replaced with used cement, the end product instead is recycled cement that can be used to make new concrete.

The process does not add any significant costs to concrete or steel production and significantly reduces the emissions associated with both.

Concrete is made from sand, gravel, water, and cement.  Cement is made by a process called clinkering, in which limestone and other materials are heated to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit.  The process converts the materials into cement but releases large amounts of CO2 as limestone decarbonates into lime. 

Cambridge researchers found that using cement clinker and iron oxide instead of lime works well in steel recycling.  Crushing old concrete and taking out the sand and stone results in a cement that is reactivated by the recycling furnace to produce a material with excellent properties. 

Recent tests by the Materials Processing Institute showed that recycled cement can be produced at scale in an electric arc furnace.  Ultimately, this method could produce zero emission cement if the electricity for the furnace comes from renewable sources.

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Cement recycling method could help solve one of the world’s biggest climate challenges

Photo, posted July 18, 2011, courtesy of Kenta Mabuchi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Beware of the blob

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For the past 10 years, there have been several occurrences of a vast expanse of ocean stretching from Alaska to California in which water temperatures are as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal.  Known jocularly as “the Blob,” the phenomenon can last for several years and decimates fish stocks, starves seabirds, creates blooms of toxic algae, prevents salmon from returning to rivers, and displaces sea lions and whales.

Until recently, there was no accepted explanation for this abrupt ocean heating.  Climate change, even combined with natural cycles like El Niños, is not enough to account for it.

In depth analysis by an international team of researchers has found that the extraordinary heating is the result of a dramatic cleanup of Chinese air pollution.  The decline of smog particles, which to some extent shield the planet from the sun’s rays, has accelerated warming and set off a chain of atmospheric events across the Pacific, essentially cooking the ocean.

This is an example of what can be called the pollution paradox in which global warming is actually increased when air pollution is reduced.  Reduced air pollution on the US West Coast has even been identified as a factor contributing to increased wildfires.  However, air pollution causes more than 4 million premature deaths from cancers and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases each year. 

Nobody thinks that we should stop cleaning up the air to slow down global warming.  The only viable solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible.

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Pollution Paradox: How Cleaning Up Smog Drives Ocean Warming

Photo, posted December 18, 2017, courtesy of SGUP via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A month of extra-hot days

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The past 12 months have been the hottest ever measured across the globe.  This may not be everyone’s experience in every location, but the average person on Earth experienced 26 more days of abnormally high temperatures than they would have in the absence of climate change.

Researchers considered a given day’s temperature to be abnormally high in a particular location if it exceeded 90% of the daily temperatures recorded there between 1991 and 2020.  Nearly 80% of the world’s population experienced at least 31 days of abnormal warmth since May of 2023.  Theoretically, the number of unusually warm days would have been far fewer in the absence of global warming.

In some countries, the extra-warm days added up to two or three weeks.  In others, such as Colombia, Indonesia, and Rwanda, there were up to 4 months of them. The average American experienced 39 days of extra-warm temperatures since last May.

Scientists also added up how many extreme heat waves the planet experienced since last May.  These are defined as episodes of unseasonable warmth across a large area, lasting three or more days, and causing significant loss of life or disruption to infrastructure or industry.  In total, the researchers identified 76 such episodes, affecting 90 countries, on every continent except Antarctica.

The world’s climate is now shifting toward the La Niña phase of the cyclical pattern called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. This usually leads to cooler temperatures on average, but the recent heat could have lingering effects on weather and storms for months to come, including what is expected to be an extraordinarily active Atlantic hurricane season.

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Climate Change Added a Month’s Worth of Extra-Hot Days in Past Year

Photo, posted December 21, 2011, courtesy of Maggie Lin Photography via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Olive oil and climate change

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Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained by mashing whole olives and extracting the oil.  A superfood staple of the Mediterranean diet, olive oil is used in kitchens around the world for frying, sauteing, baking, and as a condiment.  It can also be widely found in cosmetics, soaps, and pharmaceutical products. 

Globally, 2.6 million tons of olive oil were consumed last year.  Spain is currently the world’s largest producer of this “liquid gold,” accounting for 44% of global production.  The second largest producer of olive oil is Italy, followed by Greece, Tunisia, Turkey, and Morocco.   

But recently, the price of olive oil has been rocketing up.  Droughts, wildfires, floods, and heat waves, combined with pests, have punished olive-producing regions around the world.  The climate-fueled extreme weather has significantly impacted olive oil production in southern Europe.  Olive trees are exceedingly vulnerable to climate change. 

Spain, for example, typically produces somewhere between 1.3 to 1.5 million metric tons of olive oil each harvest.  However, officials expect a production range of only 830,000 to 850,000 metric tons this season. 

This shortage has sent prices soaring.  According to the International Monetary Fund, the average price of olive oil has doubled over the past two years.  In fact, the price is currently hovering at or around $10,000 per metric ton.  And there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight.  

The record-breaking price has also unsurprisingly fueled a surge in crime, with criminals targeting supermarkets, oil mills, and olive groves. 

The changing climate continues to threaten food security around the world. 

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‘Liquid gold’: An olive oil shortage is fueling record prices and food insecurity fears

Extra virgin olive oil prices tipped to top £16 a litre next month

Photo, posted October 29, 2015, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Cloud brightening

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Solar geoengineering is a type of climate intervention:  deliberate actions designed to affect the climate.  There are several ways to try to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth and all of them are controversial.  Perhaps the least controversial approach is cloud brightening.

The idea is based on something called the Twomey effect, which is that large numbers of small droplets in the atmosphere reflect more sunlight than small numbers of large droplets.  Spraying vast quantities of minuscule aerosols into the sky, thereby forming many small droplets, could change the reflective properties of clouds.  If clouds are more reflective, then less sunlight reaches the surface, and the temperature goes down.

This form of geoengineering is thought to be less risky because it can be performed on a localized basis and can use relatively benign materials such as sea salt. 

In early April, scientists from the University of Washington started testing a device that sprays tiny sea-salt particles into the air from the deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier in Alameda, California.  The test was simply to see whether the machine propelled a mist of suitable size.

Within two weeks, Alameda officials ordered a stop to the experiment, citing potential health and environmental risks.  After a month-long investigation, Alameda ruled that the experiment does not generate a measurable risk to health, wildlife, or the environment.

But before more ambitious experiments take place, there are potential side effects of cloud brightening that need to be studied.  It may turn out to be a useful tool in fighting global warming, but in any case, such technology should not be viewed as a substitute for moving away from fossil fuels.

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A Test of Cloud-Brightening Machines Poses No Health Risk, Officials Say

Photo, posted September 8, 2011, courtesy of Justin Ladia via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Around-the-clock clean energy

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Using solar and wind power can go a long way toward replacing fossil fuel-generated electricity, particularly with the addition of battery energy storage.  But because of the intermittent nature of both sun and wind, other sources are still needed.  There is also the need for ways to produce high temperature for industrial processes.  Complete decarbonization will require a host of complementary technologies.

A spinout company from MIT called 247Solar is building high-temperature concentrated solar power systems that make use of overnight thermal energy storage to provide electric power around the clock as well as industrial-grade heat.

The system uses a field of sun-tracking mirrors to reflect sunlight to the top of a central tower.  A proprietary solar receiver heats air to over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.  The heated air drives turbines that generate 400 kilowatts of electricity and produces 600 kilowatts of heat.  Some of the hot air is routed through a long-duration thermal energy storage system and the stored heat is then used to drive the turbines when the sun isn’t shining.  The unique part of the technology is not the concentrated solar power; it is the solar receiver.

The modular systems can be used as standalone microgrids for communities, or to provide power in remote places.  They can also be used in conjunction with conventional wind and solar farms to enable around-the-clock renewable power.

The first deployment will be with a large utility in India.  If it is successful, 247Solar hopes to scale up rapidly with other utilities, companies, and communities around the globe.

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Offering clean energy around the clock

Photo credit: 247Solar.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Deer vs. caribou

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The combination of a warming climate and human disruption of traditional habitats has been causing changes in the ranges of many animal species.  Over the past century, white-tailed deer have greatly expanded their range in North America.  Researchers from a group of Canadian institutions have been investigating the expansion of the deer in the boreal forest of Western Canada.  A five-year study used 300 wildlife cameras throughout the region to track the activities of large mammals.

Climate change has created milder winters and habitat alteration from forestry and energy exploration have created new food sources for deer. 

The expansion of deer in the forest has not been a good thing for the woodland caribou. The species was designated as threatened in 2002.  As of 2011, only 34,000 remained in the region.  Deer are ecosystem disruptors, in this case disrupting existing predator-prey dynamics.  Areas with more deer typically have more wolves and wolves are predators of caribou.  Deer can handle high predation rates, but the already threatened caribou cannot.

Understanding the relative roles of climate and human land use is essential in efforts to recover caribou populations.  It is complicated because further north, the climate becomes harsher and human land use decreases.  The debate over the relative effect of climate or habitat change is one of the most pressing issues facing ecologists globally as they pursue efforts for ecosystem restoration.

In any case, winter severity is expected to decline as climate change progresses.  Therefore, deer are expected to keep expanding northward and increasing in abundance, which means increasing risk to caribou.

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Deer are expanding north, and that’s not good for caribou

Photo, posted January 12, 2016, courtesy of Gerry via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California renewable energy

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California has aggressively pursued the use of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind power.  Last year, renewables supplied 54% of the state’s electricity needs.  This year, California has been achieving some remarkable milestones with its renewable energy.

As of May 26th, California had produced more than 100% of its electricity demand with wind, solar, and hydropower for parts of 51 straight days and 75 out of 81 days.  On May 25th, California’s grid ran entirely on renewable energy for 10.1 straight hours and renewables provided 83% of the state’s electricity for the entire 24-hour period.  California uses more electricity than any other state apart than Texas, which uses more than half its energy for operating refineries and petrochemical plants.

Excess power in California is either exported to other states or is used to charge up the state’s growing arrays of energy storage batteries.  California has the largest grid-connected battery storage facility in the world, located in Kern County.  The facility can store nearly 3,300 megawatt-hours of energy.

The ability to produce more power than the state needs occurs during the day when the sun is shining, and when many people are not at home.  At night, demand goes up and solar power is not available.  But as the quantity of energy storage available continues to grow along with additional solar installations, California will ultimately be able to wean off of the gas-fueled power plants it predominantly uses at night.

According to some experts, California may operate entirely on renewables and battery storage as soon as 2035. 

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California exceeds 100% of energy demand with renewables over a record 30 days

Photo, posted January 11, 2016, courtesy of Jared Eberhardt via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The largest carbon removal plant

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Direct air capture (DAC) is process that removes carbon dioxide out of the air and stores it away where it can no longer trap heat in the atmosphere.  It is intended to be a way of getting rid of the greenhouse gases that have built up in the atmosphere.  In principle, it’s a great idea.  In practice, it is a huge challenge.

In 2017, a company called Climeworks became the first company to take carbon dioxide out of the air and sell it as a product for use in carbonated drinks and in greenhouses.  In 2021, the company opened a DAC plant called Orca in Iceland that captures CO2 and permanently stores it underground.  Clients like Microsoft pay Climeworks for doing this as a way of offsetting their own emissions.

Recently, Climeworks has started operating a new plant called Mammoth – also in Iceland – that will be able to capture about 10 times more carbon dioxide than Orca.  Iceland is a prime location for DAC technology because its abundant geothermal energy makes powering it cheap and environmentally friendly.

Mammoth, when fully operational, will remove about 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, the largest DAC system in the world.  But there is a long, long way to go.  Microsoft alone emits nearly 13 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.

There are multiple DAC projects in development including several in the United States being funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  The four DAC hubs being developed under the program are each supposed to have the capacity to capture at least a million metric tons of CO2 a year.

Whether DAC can make a real difference remains to be seen.

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The world’s largest carbon removal plant is here, and bigger ones are on the way

Photo credit: Climeworks

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fireflies are in decline

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If you are seeing fewer fireflies each year, you’re not alone.  Like many insects, firefly populations are in decline.  A new study by researchers from the University of Kentucky, Bucknell University, Penn State University, and the USDA has shed some light on the precarious situation facing firefly populations across North America. 

The research team used a mix of field surveys from citizen scientists and advanced machine learning techniques to analyze more than 24,000 surveys from the Firefly Watch citizen science initiative.  The study, which was recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, identified the factors likely responsible for the declines in firefly populations. 

The research team found that fireflies are sensitive to various environmental factors, from short-term weather conditions to longer climatic trends.  Fireflies thrive in temperate and tropical climates.  As global temperatures rise, these conditions become less predictable and less hospitable.

Light pollution is another threat to fireflies.  Artificial light at night – from things like street lights and billboards – is particularly disruptive to fireflies as it interferes with their bioluminescent communication essential for mating.

Urban growth, including buildings, roads, and sidewalks, poses another significant threat to fireflies by overtaking their natural habitats and decreasing available breeding areas. 

Additionally, certain agricultural practices seem to contribute to the decline of fireflies. 

According to the research team, reducing light pollution, preserving natural habitats, and implementing wildlife-friendly agricultural practices are conservation measures that could help mitigate the decline of fireflies. 

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Fading lights: Comprehensive study unveils multiple threats to North America’s firefly populations

Photo, posted July 12, 2021, courtesy of Bruce Hallman/USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

EV growth and oil demand

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There has been lots of talk recently about the transition to electric vehicles sputtering out.  Several automakers have delayed their EV programs citing reduced demand for the vehicles and lack of profitability.  In the bigger picture, the auto industry as a whole is in a rough patch as rising interest rates and other factors have reduced car buying.

Despite all this doom and gloom talk, sales of electric vehicles will hit an all-time high this year.  Adoption of EVs is accelerating more quickly than many people expected and government policies in China, the United States, and Europe have had a significant impact on vehicle sales.  In China, 37% of new cars sold last year were electric.  The country hit its 2025 target three years early and this year the figure could hit 45%.

But even as electric car sales rapidly increase, oil demand has continued to climb, reaching 100 million barrels a day, slightly more than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.  The International Energy Agency expects that oil demand will peak before the end of this decade, but oil consumption could remain strong for decades unless there is further policy action encouraging the transition away from it.

Some experts say that the IEA’s models don’t take into account how quickly the world is changing.  New emission rules are expected to speed the adoption of EVs and plug-in hybrids.  In addition, falling battery costs are making the economics of electric vehicles increasingly attractive.  If EV adoption accelerates more rapidly than these models predict, then oil consumption could drop much more quickly.

However, the oil industry is deeply embedded in modern life and is not likely to fade away without a fight.

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EV Sales Are Taking Off. Why Is Oil Demand Still Climbing?

Photo, posted September 9, 2020, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Floating cities

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About 40% of the world‘s population lives in coastal regions.  People really like ocean-front property.  But worldwide, rising sea levels mean that more and more people want to live on land that may someday be swallowed up by the sea.

One possible solution to the problem is to build cities on top of the water.  It sounds pretty futuristic and impractical, but it is starting to happen.  There have long been floating communities in places like the Netherlands, but these are for the most part clusters of houseboats moored close together.

But there are far more ambitious projects underway.  The Maldives Floating City, already under construction, will eventually have 5,000 houses located in a lagoon that is a 15-minute boat ride from the capital city of Male.  The housing units will be tethered to the lagoon floor and linked together. 

A new project, located off Busan, South Korea, will combine high and low technology to create a large-scale, on-water town, that can house more than 10,000 people.

The town will be built on enormous concrete platforms suspended on the water.  The platforms float because they are rounded hexagonal boxes that are buoyed up by Archimedes’’ principle.  They can’t sink.  Such structures will attract marine life, providing places for oysters and mussels, for example, to grow. 

The initial development will cover 15 acres and the infrastructure will handle power, water, waste, and even some food.  The goal is even to produce enough energy to provide some to the nearby community.  A bridge will link the community to the land.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2028.  Future expansion could end up housing 150,000 people.

Floating cities could soon no longer be exotic or futuristic.

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Are Floating Cities the Solution to Rising Seas?

Photo, posted June 5, 2012, courtesy of Raymond Bucko via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Penguin detectives

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Emperor penguins, the tallest and heaviest of all living penguins, are also the most famous, being the subject of a very popular documentary film.  The ongoing loss of sea ice in Antarctica has led to unprecedented breeding failures in emperor penguin colonies. 

Since 2016, Antarctica has seen the four years with the lowest sea ice extent on record.  Between 2018 and 2022, 30% of the 62 known emperor penguin colonies were affected by partial or total sea ice loss.  Current predictions suggest that the population of emperor penguins will fall by 99% by the end of the century.

To monitor remote emperor penguin colonies, researchers use satellite images in which the brown stains of the birds’ guano stand out against the white ice and snow.

Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey have launched the ‘Polar Observatory’ on the online citizen science website Zooniverse to recruit ‘penguin detectives’ to help validate the accuracy of satellite images in assessing penguin populations.

The online app contains drone photos taken over the Snow Hill penguin colony.  The images have been split into more than 300 10-meter squares.  Volunteers are asked to identify any adult and chick penguins in a given picture.  The results will be fed into machine learning algorithms to train the AI systems in automatically counting penguins in future surveys.

The project is a fun opportunity for aspiring conservationists and penguin lovers in general to help learn more about the future of the species.  Interested people can learn more on the Zooniverse website.

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‘Penguin detectives’ required for new counting app

Polar Observatory

Photo, posted October 7, 2017, courtesy of Christopher Michel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Gravity storage on the grid

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For the past several years, the Swiss-based company Energy Vault has been developing an energy storage system based on the principle of using mechanical devices to lift heavy concrete blocks into stacks using power generated by wind turbines or other renewable sources.  When energy is needed, the blocks are lowered back to the ground, spinning generators in the process.

The principle of storing energy in the form of gravitational potential energy is the most widely used form of energy storage in existence but usually works by pumping water into a reservoir at higher elevation and then letting the water come back down when energy is needed.

Energy Vault has built a grid-scale 100 MWh gravity storage system in Rudong China.  It has now been successfully tested with charging and discharging and has been commissioned. Pending final provincial and state approvals, it will be the world’ first commercial, utility-scale non-pumped hydro gravity energy storage system.

The Rudong project teamed Energy Vault with environmental management company CTNY and Atlas Renewable.  Energy Vault has extended its license agreement with Atlas Renewable to 15 years.  CTNY has announced plans for eight additional deployments of the Energy Vault gravity storage system across China, representing more than 3.7 GWh of energy storage.

Energy Vault’s technology has attracted a fair amount of skepticism from parts of the energy community based on the environmental burdens of concrete as well as durability issues.  It appears the technology will have significant real-world testing in China, which should provide unambiguous answers to everyone’s questions.

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Energy Vault Announces Successful Testing and Commissioning of First EVx 100 MWh Gravity Energy Storage System by China Tianying, Extension of Atlas Renewable Licensing Agreement to 15 Years

Photo, posted December 21, 2018, courtesy of Nancy Winfrey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Palm oil and water quality

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Palm oil is the world’s cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil.  In fact, more than 86 million tons of palm oil was consumed last year alone.  Even though few of us cook with it, palm oil can be found in approximately half of all packaged grocery items – everything from ice creams and pizzas to detergents and cosmetics. 

This massive global demand for palm oil is driving tropical deforestation around the world.  While many studies have shown how converting rainforests to oil palm plantations causes biodiversity loss, researchers from UMass Amherst are the first to demonstrate how these plantations also cause wide-ranging disturbances to nearby watersheds.

In the study, which was recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, the research team focused on the Kais River watershed of West Papua, a province in the far east of Indonesia.  Approximately 25% of the watershed has been turned into oil palm plantations. The watershed is also one of the oldest continually inhabited homes for different groups of Indigenous Papuans.

The researchers found that the conversion of tropical rainforest to oil palm plantation has increased precipitation, runoff, and soil moisture. Water quality in the watershed has also gotten dramatically worse: sedimentation has increased by 16.9%, nitrogen by 78.1%, and phosphorus by 144%.

The research team hopes regulators will work to limit the use of pesticides, conduct continuous water quality monitoring, and ensure that downstream communities have access to water quality information. 

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Oil Palm Plantations Are Driving Massive Downstream Impact to Watershed

Photo, posted December 13, 2008, courtesy of Fitri Agung via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Giant batteries and the grid

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All across the country, electric utility companies are starting to use giant batteries to counteract the biggest weakness of renewable energy; namely, that the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow.  Solar panels and wind turbines can keep generating energy when people don’t need it and batteries can store up that energy for when they do.

Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on US grids has grown by a factor of ten adding up to 16 gigawatts.  This year, it is expected to double again, led by massive growth in Texas, California, and Arizona.

California generates more electricity from solar power than any other state.  But it has a timing problem:  solar power is plentiful during the day, but it disappears in the evening when people get home from work and start using lots of electricity.  The previous solution was to burn lots of fossil fuel to produce it.

This has been changing thanks to battery storage.  Since 2020, California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere else in the world other than China.  Batteries are gradually replacing fossil fuels for California’s evening power needs.  On the evening of April 30th, for example, batteries supplied more than 20% of California’s electricity.  This is equivalent to the output of seven large nuclear reactors.

Batteries have multiple uses in the grid.  They handle big swings in generation from renewable sources, they reduce congestion on transmission lines, and they help to prevent blackouts during heat waves.  Batteries are starting to eat into the market for fossil fuels and will play an ever-growing role in the electricity grid.  As the role of renewables grows, so will the role of batteries.

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Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity

Photo, posted December 5, 2022, courtesy of Jonathan Cutrer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Natural solutions for coastal defense

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Protecting coastal cities and towns from the dangers of tsunamis, storm surges, and sea-level rise has become an ever-increasing challenge.  There are so-called hard coastal defenses as well as nature-based solutions.  A new study by the University of Tokyo has found that combining the two types of defenses may be the most effective way to protect, support, and enrich coastal communities.

Sea walls, dikes, dams, and breakwaters are the traditional hard measures.  They are popular and have proven track records but are facing challenges to keep pace with increasing climate risks.  They are expensive to build and require continuous upgrades and repairs.  While they do provide protection from many disaster risks, they also can cause significant disruption to coastal ecosystems as well as to coastal communities.

Nature-based coastal defenses include such things as mangroves and coral reefs.  So-called soft measures involve restoring, rehabilitating, reforesting, and nourishing natural ecosystems that protect coastal areas.

The Tokyo researchers analyzed the defense strategies in terms of risk reduction, climate change mitigation, and cost-effectiveness over a 20-year period. The results of the study were that among all coastal defense options in lower-risk areas, hybrid measures provide the highest risk reduction and can harness the advantages of both hard and soft measures. 

The findings provide strong evidence for integrating nature-based components into coastal defenses, but these approaches have not yet been adequately tested in circumstances of extreme events and high-risk urgency.  Research in this area has important implications for policy makers, coastal planners, and communities looking to make evidence-based decisions.

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A natural touch for coastal defense

Photo, posted October 22, 2021, courtesy of Kevin Dooley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Good owls and bad owls

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In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, spotted owls have been the subject of environmental concern for more than 30 years.  Over the past 20 years, northern spotted owl populations have declined by up to 80% as the birds have faced marginalized territories and increasing numbers of wildfires.  Only about 3,000 of them remain on federal lands.  Spotted owls are picky eaters and are not very adaptable.

The barred owl, a larger and more ornery species, has been moving in on spotted owl turf for 50 years, competing for food and space, and out-reproducing them and chasing them out of their nesting spots.

A last-ditch effort to rescue the northern spotted owl from possible extinction has been proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The plan would be to eradicate up to half a million barred owls over the next 30 years in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.  The owls would be dispatched using cheap and efficient methods, such as shotguns.

The concept of killing off vast numbers of barred owls is awful, and nobody likes the idea.  However, other strategies have failed, and time is running out.  The only way to preserve the northern spotted owl is to protect and increase its habitat and have fewer barred owls.

To say that the proposed plan is controversial is a massive understatement.  A coalition of 75 wildlife and animal welfare organizations described it as a “colossally reckless action.”

A central issue in the debate is whether humans are responsible for this situation and should try to rectify it or, despite our desire to protect the spotted owl, we should just let nature take its course.

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They Shoot Owls in California, Don’t They?

Photo, posted April 4, 2022, courtesy of Kyle Sullivan / BLM via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Offshore wind and the wake effect

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Electricity demand in the U.S. continues to grow and, in the summer, homes and businesses crank up their air conditioning which drives demand even further.  Many East Coast cities are banking on offshore wind projects that are underway in the Atlantic Ocean to help meet that growing demand.  The first offshore turbines are now producing power off the coasts of Massachusetts and New York.

Electric power utilities need to know how much power they can get from offshore wind farms, and this is not that easy to predict.  Wind is variable, so there is some built-in uncertainty.  But there is also a phenomenon known as the wake effect to contend with.

When wind passes through a series of giant turbines, the ones in front extract some energy from the wind and, as a result, the wind slows down and becomes more turbulent behind the turbines.  So, the downstream turbines get slower wind and may produce less power.

A study by the University of Colorado has modeled this phenomenon for planned wind farms in the Atlantic Coast region and has found that power output could be reduced by over 30%.  Researchers are installing weather monitors and radar sensors in islands off the New England coast to better understand the behavior of the wind in the area and improve prediction models.

The New England grid covers Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Even with the wake effect, offshore wind is predicted to be able to provide 60% of the electricity needs of the grid, but it is important to be able to accurately predict what it can produce.

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Web Link

How much energy can offshore wind farms in the US produce? New study sheds light

Photo, posted August 31, 2022, courtesy of Nina Ali via Flickr.

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