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Cheaper Carbon Capture | Earth Wise

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As the years roll by without sufficient progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the need for technologies that can capture CO2 from its sources or remove it from the air becomes stronger and stronger.  People have developed various ways to capture carbon dioxide, but to date, they generally suffer from some combination of being too costly or not being able to scale up to the necessary magnitude.

Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington recently announced the creation of a new system that they claim is the least costly to date that captures carbon dioxide and turns it into a widely-used chemical: methanol.

Technologies that simply capture carbon dioxide that then needs to be stored in some secure location are difficult to implement from a cost perspective.  The PNNL researchers believe that turning CO2 into methanol can provide the financial incentive for widespread implementation.   Methanol can be used as a fuel, a solvent, or an important ingredient in plastics, paint, construction materials, and car parts.

The system is designed to be installed in fossil fuel-fired power plants as well as cement and steel plants.  Using a capture solvent developed by PNNL, the system grabs carbon dioxide molecules before they are emitted and converts them into methanol. Creating methanol from CO2 is nothing new, but capturing the carbon dioxide and converting into methanol in one continuously flowing system is new.

More work is needed to optimize and scale the process and it may be several years before it is ready for commercial deployment.

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Scientists Unveil Least Costly Carbon Capture System to Date

Photo, posted November 25, 2022, courtesy of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Conservation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tracking Small-Scale Fishers | Earth Wise

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About half of all global seafood is caught by artisanal fishers.  These are individuals who operate on a small scale – often on a subsistence level – and typically fish only a short distance from shore.  Over 85% of the estimated 2.5 million motorized fishing vessels in the world are less than 12 meters in length.  Compared with large-scale commercial fishing operations, these enterprises are very small.  However, they are essential to the food security and livelihoods of their communities.   Because of their sheer numbers, artisanal fishers are an important sector to monitor, manage, and advocate for.  They may be small-scale, but their importance and impact are huge.

Large ships make use of vessel tracking systems, which were originally conceived to prevent maritime collisions.  Over time, VTS technology has become useful for other purposes including monitoring fishing activity in sensitive marine areas and looking out for forced labor on the high seas.

Among small fishing vessels, only an estimated 0.4% are equipped with VTS technology.  So, a massive number of vessels accounting for a big part of the global catch cannot be monitored.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara surveyed hundreds of artisanal fishers in Indonesia and Mexico to see if they were willing to pay to participate in a VTS program, or participate for free, or be paid to participate.  Having the equipment would provide multiple benefits to the fishers including increased safety and better fisheries management.  Two-thirds of the survey participants said they were willing to pay for the technology.  The study is the first effort to explore the potential for encouraging wide adoption of VTS technology among artisanal fishers.

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Tracking Small-Scale Fishers

Photo, posted November 30, 2014, courtesy of Bernard Spragg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Avoiding Blackouts With Renewable Energy | Earth Wise

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There are some people who worry that an electric grid heavily dependent upon intermittent sources like solar and wind power may be more susceptible to blackouts.  According to a new study by Stanford University, these fears are misplaced.

The study, published in the journal Renewable Energy, found that an energy system running on wind, water, and solar, when combined with energy storage, avoids blackouts, and lowers energy requirements and consumer costs.  In addition, implementing such a system would create millions of jobs, improve people’s health, and reduce land requirements.

The study focused on the stability in all U.S. grid regions as well as individual states based on the requirement that all electricity is provided by clean and renewable sources. No fossil fuel use, bioenergy, blue hydrogen, or even nuclear power were included in the modeling.  Critics of such a shift in the energy system point to grid blackouts during extreme weather events in California in 2020 and Texas in 2021 as evidence that renewable sources can’t be trusted.  But in both cases, renewable energy was not found to be any more vulnerable than other sources.

The study looked at the costs of the transition – which would be substantial – but found that it would pay for itself fairly quickly based on energy cost savings alone.

A significant finding of the study was that long-duration batteries were neither necessary nor helpful for grid stability.  That stability could be obtained by linking together currently available short-duration batteries.  Interconnecting larger and larger geographic regions would make the power system smoother and more reliable.  Overall, intelligent management of the electric grid can result in a reliable and clean power system.

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Stanford researchers point the way to avoiding blackouts with clean, renewable energy

Photo, posted October 17, 2016, courtesy of B Sarangi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Keeping Venice From Flooding | Earth Wise

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Since 2003, Venice Italy has been building a system of mobile gates at three inlets to its famous lagoon.  The project is called MOSE, the Italian word for Moses, but is actually an acronym for the Italian words meaning Experimental Electromechanical Module.  

The 78 mobile gates are metal box structures that sit at the bottom of inlet channels.  When a high tide is predicted, compressed air is pumped into the structures.  The air causes the barriers to rise up to the surface and block the flow of the tide, thereby preventing water from flowing into the lagoon.

The system had an important test on November 3 when water levels were predicted to rise four-and-a-half feet above normal at high tide and strong winds were blowing.  Water at that level is enough to flood 60% of the city, including the famous St. Mark’s Square, which is unfortunately the lowest part of the city.

Activating the flood gates proved to be successful.  Even though high tide water levels in fact rose 4.3 feet in the surrounding Adriatic Sea, they only reached 2.7 feet in Venice, which was enough to prevent significant flooding.

Rising sea levels have led to increasingly frequent floods in Venice.  In 2019, before the MOSE system was available for use, there were more than 25 high-water events swamping Venice, including one in November of that year that was the second worst on record.

Some researchers have calculated that the system will need to be closed for as much as 3 weeks a year by the end of the century even if emission reductions are reasonably effective.  If they aren’t, the gates may be closed for at least two months a year by 2080.

After many years of delays, setbacks and controversies, the system is finally operational.

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Venice Holds Back the Adriatic Sea

Photo, posted October 25, 2014, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Liquid Fuels From Carbon Dioxide | Earth Wise

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Most of the world’s energy demands are still being met by burning fossil fuels, thereby releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  The energy system is in the midst of a transition to renewable sources such as solar and wind power, but it will be quite some time before fossil fuels are only a minor part of energy production.  To reduce global warming, it will be necessary to prevent the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels from entering the atmosphere by capturing it and either locking it away or making use of it.

Recent research at several Chinese universities has developed a novel electrocatalyst that efficiently converts CO2 to liquid fuels containing multiple carbon atoms.  The main products of the high-efficiency reaction are ethanol, acetone, and n-butanol.  Previous electrocatalystic methods have mostly produced simpler hydrocarbons – namely, ones with only a single carbon atom.  The fuels the new catalyst produces are much more useful.

The catalyst is made from thin ribbons of a copper/titanium alloy that are etched with hydrofluoric acid to remove the titanium from the surface.  The process results in a material with a porous copper surface on an amorphous CuTi alloy.  The substance exhibits remarkably high activity, selectivity, and stability for catalyzing the reactions leading to the production of the hydrocarbon fuels.

Converting carbon dioxide into liquid fuels would be advantageous because they have high energy density and are safe to store and transport.  Apart from preventing carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, the process could also be a way to make use of excess energy produced by solar and wind generation by essentially storing that energy in the form of liquid fuels.

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Liquid Fuels from Carbon Dioxide

Photo courtesy of Angewandte Chemie via Wiley-VCH.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Greenhouse Gas Removal And Net Zero | Earth Wise

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Reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions can slow the progress of global warming but only reaching and sustaining net zero global emissions can halt the progress of climate change.

The move to renewable power and the use of electric transport are substantial and essential ways to reduce emissions.  But even if these transitions take place on a rapid timescale, they will not eliminate all emissions.  Many industrial activities and, especially, agriculture will continue to contribute substantial greenhouse gas emissions.   There are efforts to reduce the contributions of these things, but there are no zero-emission substitutes for most of them.

As a result, actually removing CO2 from the atmosphere once it is there is essential to achieve net zero emissions.  If greenhouse gas removal can be scaled up sufficiently, it opens the option of going “net negative”, which would be the ideal way to mitigate and, better still, reverse the effects of climate change.

There are multiple approaches to carbon dioxide removal.  Some are natural, involving ways of capturing and storing carbon in trees, biochar, and peatlands.  Others are technological.  An example is the system that has just gone into operation in Iceland that uses fans, chemicals, and heat to capture CO2 and then mineralize it in volcanic rock.   Another is a system being tested in the UK that captures CO2 from growing biomass and pipes it to storage under the North Sea.

Much of the attention on carbon capture technology is aimed at trapping the emissions from fossil fuel power plants, but the need to remove carbon dioxide that has entered the atmosphere in other ways is ultimately far greater.

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CO2 removal is essential to achieving net zero

Photo, posted August 17, 2013, courtesy of Joshua Mayer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Wireless EV Charging | Earth Wise

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Michigan, historically the focus of the American auto industry, has announced a new initiative to develop the nation’s first wireless charging infrastructure on a public road.  The Inductive Vehicle Charging Pilot is a partnership between the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification.

The idea is to deploy an electrified roadway system that allows electric buses, shuttles, and vehicles to charge while driving, allowing them to operate continuously without stopping to charge.  In principle, such electrified roadways have the potential to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and turn public streets into safe and sustainable shared energy platforms.  This is especially valuable for drivers who might not have easy access to conventional charging facilities.

The pilot program is seeking proposals to design, fund, evaluate, iterate, test, and implement an inductive charging system along a one-mile stretch of state-operated roadway in Michigan.

The basic concept is to embed coils in a road that will convey electricity to cars outfitted with coils of their own.  It is much like the wireless charging pads used to power up smartphones.  Indiana is pursuing a similar project in the next couple of years.

Clearly driving through a one mile stretch of roadway for minute or two is not going to provide a whole lot of energy by whatever coupling mechanism is used. Scaling up the technology represents a significant challenge at the very least.  How practical such a scheme is from both a technology and an economic perspective remains to be seen.  In any case, it is interesting to see that states are looking at various alternatives for providing access to charging infrastructure to the growing population of electrified vehicles.

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Governor Whitmer Announces Initiative for Nation-Leading Wireless EV Charging Infrastructure in Michigan

Photo, posted September 6, 2020, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Direct Air Capture | Earth Wise

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There is a lot of interest in carbon capture and sequestration (or CCS) in the context of trapping the carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.  The fossil fuel industry is especially enthusiastic about the potential for continuing to burn fuels without harming the environment.  Apart from the technical challenges, there is the looming problem of CCS adding significant costs to power generation that is already losing the economic battle to renewable sources.

Direct air capture is a different matter.   This is the idea of actively taking CO2 out of the atmosphere.  This already happens by natural means such as sequestering it in soil or forests.  But there is considerable work going on aimed at developing technology to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide in massive quantities.

This September marks the opening of a new project called “Orca” in Iceland, which will, for the time being, be the largest direct air capture system in the world.  Once it is running around the clock, Orca will remove up to 4,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.

Even larger DAC plants – one in the southwestern U.S and another in Scotland – are planned to come online in the next few years.

Ultimately, the question is whether direct air capture is feasible at large enough scale and affordable cost.  The numbers are daunting.  Society releases over 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.  Removing significant amounts of that with DAC technology is an enormous challenge.  Eliminating emissions remains the most practical way to mitigate the effects of climate change.

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The Dream of Carbon Air Capture Edges Toward Reality

Photo, posted November 10, 2017, courtesy of Governor Jay and First Lady Trudi Inslee via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Grid-Scale Battery Storage is on the Rise | Earth Wise

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Driven by steeply falling prices and improving technology, grid-scale battery storage systems are seeing record growth in the U.S. and around the world. Battery storage is a way to overcome one of the biggest obstacles to renewable energy:  the cycling between oversupply when the sun shines or the wind blows, and shortage when the sun sets or the wind drops.  Storing excess energy in battery banks can smooth imbalances between supply and demand.

In California, a 300-megawatt lithium-ion battery plant is being readied for operation with another 100 megawatts to come online in 2021.  The system will be able to power roughly 300,000 California homes for four-hour periods when energy demand outstrips supply.  It will be the world’s largest battery system for a while until even larger systems in Florida and in Saudi Arabia come online.

Nationwide, a record 1.2 gigawatts of storage were installed last year and that number is projected to jump dramatically over the next five years to nearly 7.5 gigawatts in 2025.

The price tag for utility-scale battery storage in the U.S. has plummeted, dropping nearly 70% just between 2015 and 2018.  Prices are expected to drop by a further 45% over the next decade.  Battery performance has continued to improve dramatically with increased power capacity and the ability to store and discharge energy over ever-longer periods of time. 

Favorable energy policies including renewable energy mandates coupled with continued price drops will drive the widespread expansion of battery energy storage.

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In Boost for Renewables, Grid-Scale Battery Storage Is on the Rise

Photo, posted November 17, 2016, courtesy of Steve Ryan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Improved Radar For Cars | Earth Wise

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Self-driving cars require a variety of sensor systems in order for the cars to safely navigate roads and deal with the wide range of objects and conditions that they encounter.  Two competing technologies that cars use to identify and locate objects on the scene are radar and LiDAR. 

Radar uses transmitted radio waves to locate objects and LiDAR bounces laser beams off of objects.   Each has its shortcomings.   Radar has the problem that only a small fraction of the transmitted signals gets reflected back to the sensor, so that there is frequently insufficient data to fully characterize a scene.  LiDAR has the problem that it is an optical system that does not work well in fog, dust, rain, or snow.  It is also much more expensive than radar.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new system that they describe as a LiDAR-like radar. The system consists of two radar sensors placed on a car’s hood and spaced about 1.5 meters apart.  This configuration enables the system to see more space and detail than a single radar sensor.

Having two radars at different vantage points with an overlapping field of view creates a region of high-resolution with a high probability of detecting the objects that are present.  The system also overcomes noise problems of conventional radar systems.

The researchers developed new algorithms that can fuse the information from two different radar sensors and produce a new image free of noise.

Self-driving cars have to combine detection technologies like radar with cameras and ultrasonic sensors.  Duplicating the capabilities that people use in order to safely drive a car is a complex problem requiring a combination of multiple sensors and sophisticated software.

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Upgraded radar can enable self-driving cars to see clearly no matter the weather

Photo, posted January 2, 2014, courtesy of Bradley Gordon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Community Solar With Storage In New York | Earth Wise

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Community solar allows members of a community to share the benefits of solar power even if they cannot or prefer not to install solar panels on their own property.  There are several models for how community solar works, but all of them allow members to benefit from solar power being generated by an offsite solar array by effectively allocating a portion of its output to them.  In any event, community solar can save money on electric bills and allow people to make use of renewable energy for their needs.

A next step in the evolution of a decentralized energy system is incorporating energy storage into community solar projects.  The first one of these in New York State has now been completed in Yorktown Heights in Westchester County.  The project consists of 557kW of rooftop solar in the form of nearly 1,500 solar panels paired with 490kW of four-hour Tesla Powerpack battery energy storage.  The system is expected to provide 150 participants with approximately 10% savings on their monthly electric bills over 25 years, as well as providing power to 12 Tesla electric vehicle charging stations.

The project was funded by NYSERDA, under its Retail Energy Storage Incentive program, which currently includes 50 community solar-storage paired projects across New York State that are expected to be installed in the next two to three years.

New York has been actively promoting community projects in support of goals announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo to install 6,000MW of solar in the state by 2025 and 3,000MW of energy storage by 2030.

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First community solar-storage project completed in New York

Photo, posted June 21, 2017, courtesy of Franck Michel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bees Threatening Bees | Earth Wise

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Domesticated honeybees are an essential part of our agricultural system, being responsible for one in every three bites of food Americans consume and contributing $15 billion a year to the value of the nation’s crop production.  Millions of bee colonies are trucked across the country every year to pollinate cranberries, melons, broccoli, blueberries, and cherries, and also to produce honey.

After the growing seasons, honeybees are trucked to various locations to rest and rebuild their population and to replenish bees lost to disease and pesticides.  Some of these locations are in national forests.  Thousands of hives belonging to 112 apiaries are currently permitted in national forests by the Department of Agriculture.  This presents a problem because these hives are being permitted on public lands with virtually no environmental review and with little consideration of the impact these colonies can have on local wild bee populations.

The 4,000 wild bee species in the U.S. consume up to 95% of local available pollen.  Nearly 40 federally listed threatened or endangered species of bees, butterflies, and flower flies depend on national forest land for their survival.  And now the pollinators in these places, which were once refuges for these species and others, increasingly face competition from millions of domesticated honeybees.

Honeybees are super-foraging machines and are literally taking the pollen out of the mouths of other bees and pollinators.  Honeybees themselves have been facing numerous problems from habitat loss, pesticides, and other stress factors.  So, what is happening is essentially a pollinator habitat crunch that carries long-term implications for the U.S. food supply.  We need to find some answers and the sooner the better.

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Will Putting Honey Bees on Public Lands Threaten Native Bees?

Photo, posted August 9, 2015, courtesy of Tak H. via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Ocean Currents And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Oceans cover more than 70% of the earth and absorb 94% of incoming solar radiation.  As a result, oceans play a major role in the climate system.  With their massive size and capacity to store heat, oceans help keep temperature fluctuations in check.  But oceans also play a more active role.  Ocean currents are responsible for moving vast amounts of heat around the planet.  

According to a paper recently published in the journal Nature Communications, the world’s strongest ocean currents will experience more intense marine heatwaves than the global average in the coming decades.  These strong ocean currents play key roles in fisheries and ocean ecosystems.  

Sections of the Gulf Stream near the United States, the Kuroshio Current near Japan, the East Australian Current near Australia, and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current will all see more intense marine heatwaves over the next 30 years. 

Scientists from the University of Tasmania and CSIRO in Australia relied on high-resolution ocean modeling to carry out their research.  They confirmed the model’s accuracy by comparing outputs with observations from 1982-2018.  They then used the same model to project how marine heatwaves would alter with climate change out to 2050.

The model projects, for example, that intense marine heatwaves are more likely to form well off the coast of Tasmania, while more intense marine heatwaves along the Gulf Stream start to appear more frequently close to the shore from Virginia to New Brunswick, Canada. 

Marine heatwaves are on the rise globally, but knowing where they will occur and how much hotter they will be will help policymakers, ecologists, and fisheries experts in their regional decision-making. 

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Where marine heatwaves will intensify fastest: New analysis

Photo, posted April 17, 2016, courtesy of Nicolas Henderson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Generating Hydrogen From Poor-Quality Water | Earth Wise

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Hydrogen could be the basis of a complete energy system.  It could be stored and transported and could be used to power vehicles and to generate electricity in power plants.  Proponents of the so-called hydrogen economy contend that hydrogen is the best solution to the global energy challenge.  But among the challenges faced by a hydrogen economy is the development of an efficient and green method to produce hydrogen.

The primary carbon-free method of producing hydrogen is to break down water into its constituent elements – hydrogen and oxygen.  This can be done in a number of ways, notably by using electricity in a process called electrolysis.  A method that seems particularly attractive is to use sunlight as the energy source that breaks down the water molecule.

While there is an abundance of water on our planet, only some of it is suitable for people to drink and consume in other ways.    Much of the accessible water on earth is salty or polluted.  So, a technique to obtain hydrogen from water ideally should work with water that is otherwise of little use to people.

Researchers in Russia and the Czech Republic have recently developed a new material that efficiently generates hydrogen molecules by exposing water – even saltwater or polluted water – to sunlight. 

The new material is a three-layer structure composed of a thin film of gold, an ultra-thin layer of platinum, and a metal-organic framework or MOF of chromium compounds and organic molecules.  The MOF layer acts as a filter that gets rid of impurities.

Experiments have demonstrated that 100 square centimeters of the material can generate half a liter of hydrogen in an hour.  The researchers continue to improve the material and increase its efficiency over a broad range of the solar spectrum.

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New Material Can Generate Hydrogen from Salt and Polluted Water

Photo courtesy of Tomsk Polytechnic University.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Camera For Insects | Earth Wise

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Electronic devices get smaller and smaller all the time.  We are used to carrying around phones in our pockets that incorporate a whole host of sophisticated devices. But we can still be amazed by miniaturization.  Recently, scientists at the University of Washington announced the development of a tiny, wireless camera small enough to be worn by insects.  The work was published in the journal Science Robotics.

The device weighs only 250 milligrams, which is less than one hundredth of an ounce.  The camera streams high-resolution video to a smartphone at up to 5 frames per second, which allows scientists to record video of what insects see in real time.

The device has a mechanical arm that allows the camera to pivot 60 degrees, which can allow it to create panoramic shots.  It is controlled by a smartphone app and can be operated up to 120 meters away from the insect.

The new camera system enables scientists to better understand insect behavior and explore novel environments.  Having a first-person view from the back of a beetle while it is walking around allows researchers to explore how it responds to different stimuli that it sees in its environment.

Of more general interest, the technology can be used to help develop the next generation of small robots.  Insects can traverse rocky environments, which is really challenging for small robots to do.  The device will allow engineers to study how insects can move around in such environments.  It will also be useful for observing and collecting samples from hard-to-navigate spaces.

It is remarkable how sophisticated technology keeps getting smaller and smaller.

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Scientists Develop Tiny Camera Backpack for Insects

Photo courtesy of Mark Stone/University of Washington.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Better Radar For Cars | Earth Wise

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Major automakers as well as dedicated specialized companies are actively developing autonomous vehicle technology.  Many cars already offer varying degrees of self-driving capability.  These vehicles have a variety of sensor systems that allow them to detect other objects on the road.  Many rely on lidar or on cameras using visible or near-infrared light and these sensors do a pretty good job of preventing collisions.   But all of these systems are pretty much limited to detecting objects within a car’s line of sight.  Of course, human drivers have the same limitation.  We can’t see things hidden around corners or blocked by other objects.

Researchers at Princeton University have developed an automated system that will allow cars to peer around corners and spot oncoming traffic and pedestrians.  The system uses Doppler radar to bounce radio waves off of surfaces such as buildings and parked automobiles.  The radar signal hits a surface at an angle and its reflection bounces off much like a cue ball hits the wall of a pool table.  The reflected signal then hits objects hidden around the corner.  Some of that radar signal bounces back to be detected by sensors on the car.  In this way, the system can see objects around the corner and even tell whether they are moving or stationary.

This new technology could easily be integrated into today’s vehicles.  It would enable cars to see objects that current sensor systems cannot record.  For example, it would allow a self-driving vehicle to see around a dangerous intersection.

The system will require further development, refinement, and testing before it can find its way into our vehicles, but it does represent yet another way that self-driving technology may ultimately result in a safer transportation system.

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New radar lets cars spot hazards around corners

Photo courtesy of Princeton University.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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

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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. 

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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.

Solar-Powered Desalination | Earth Wise

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

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

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

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

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

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Simple, solar-powered water desalination

Photo courtesy of MIT/researchers.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Native Species Or Invasive Species? | Earth Wise

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For decades, conservation biology has characterized the movement of species into new habitats as potential invasions of alien species that pose serious dangers to local ecosystems and resident species.  Wild species are classified as either native or alien.  But this way of looking at the natural world is becoming increasingly controversial.

As the world warms, a mass exodus of tens of thousands of species is transforming the distribution of biodiversity.  Scientists have documented countless species shifting their ranges towards the poles, higher up into the mountains, and deeper into the oceans in response to the changing climate.

Deciduous shrubs have spread into the Arctic tundra.  Tropical fish have arrived in the kelp forests of the eastern Mediterranean. 

A growing number of scientists now say that continuing to base conservation policy on the native-alien dichotomy may actually endanger biodiversity.  The climate-driven range shifts may be the only way for many species to survive.  Furthermore, only a small fraction of new arrivals may actually endanger resident species and ecosystems.

There are real distinctions between climate-displaced species and disruptive alien species introduced through global trade and travel.  Among other things, climate-displaced species tend to shift their ranges alongside other species they have co-evolved with.

There is talk of establishing a Climate Change Redistribution Treaty that would create a transnational system to manage species shifting across geopolitical and biogeographical borders.  The assumptions traditionally made as to which species to protect, which to leave to their own devices,  and which to eradicate are no longer valid and the time has come to base conservation policies on the new reality.

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Native Species or Invasive? The Distinction Blurs as the World Warms

Photo, posted March 21, 2011, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Predicting Lightning Strikes

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Lightning is one of the most unpredictable phenomena in nature.  Approximately 100 lightning bolts strike earth’s surface every second, and each lightning bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity.  Lightning regularly kills both people and animals and sets homes and forests on fire.  It’s also been known to ground airplanes. 

Researchers at EPFL – a research institute and university in Switzerland – have developed a novel way to predict where and when lightning will strike.  The system relies on a combination of standard data from weather stations and artificial intelligence to predict lightning strikes to the nearest 10 to 30 minutes and within a radius of less than 20 miles.  The simple and inexpensive system was outlined in a research paper recently published in Climate and Atmospheric Science, a Nature partner journal.   

According to researchers, the current systems for predicting lightning strikes are slow, expensive, and complex, relying on external data acquired by satellite and radar.  The new inexpensive system from EPFL uses real time data that can be obtained from any weather station, meaning it can cover remote regions that are out of radar and satellite range and where communication networks are lacking.  The quick predictions from the system allow alerts to be issued before a storm has even formed. 

The system uses a machine-learning algorithm that’s been trained to recognize conditions that lead to lightning.  The researchers took into account atmospheric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, among other things.  After training the algorithm, the system was able to predict lightning strikes accurately nearly 80% of the time.

This system is a simple way to predict a complex phenomenon. 

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Using AI to predict where and when lightning will strike

Photo, posted December 14, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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