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Tepary Beans | Earth Wise

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Tepary beans are an ancient crop native to the northern part of Mexico and the southwestern part of the U.S..  They have been grown in those places by native peoples since pre-Columbian times.  They are still grown in Native American reservations in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.  One can purchase them from some small farms in that region. 

What sets tepary beans apart from other beans is that they are among the most drought- and heat-tolerant legume crops in the world.  They can be grown without irrigation under conditions that are not viable for other crops.  They can be consumed by people like many other kinds of beans, and they can also provide forage for livestock with better nutrition content than many other plants.  They seem to be a very attractive option for a crop in the changing climate.  What is lacking, at present, is large supplies of tepary seeds to be planted.

Researchers at Texas A&M have been funded to bring tepary beans into modern cropping systems and diets.  The goal is to develop tepary bean cultivars with high biomass and yield that are still well-suited to drought and heat conditions.  Getting the beans to the point of widespread commercialization will take several years.  The end result should be of interest to pulse growers, seed industries, and food companies across the U.S.

Tepary beans are higher in fiber and protein than most other beans.  They come in several different colors, each of which has unique flavor and texture characteristics.  The white ones have a naturally sweet flavor.   The brown beans are slightly nutty in flavor and are similar to pinto beans.  If the Texas program is successful, we may all be eating tepary beans some day.

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Tepary Beans Offer Producers A Low-Input, Climate-Resilient Legume Alternative

Photo, posted August 25, 2017, courtesy of Katja Schulz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bringing Back Bison | Earth Wise

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Over the past few decades, research has identified the importance of large mammals like bison as ecosystem engineers.  These animals shape and maintain various natural processes and, in the process, are responsible for the sequestering of large amounts of carbon.  But large mammals – both herbivores and predators – have seen their numbers dwindle over time.  At this point, nearly two-thirds of large carnivores are threatened with extinction.   Overall, less than 6% of worldwide ecosystems have the extensive, intact large-mammal communities that were dominant 500 years ago.

Conservationists around the world have embarked on programs of “rewilding”- reintroducing large mammals into ecosystems.  Some of the animals involved in these programs include brown bears, wild horses, jaguars, reindeer, Eurasian beavers, elk, moose, wolverines, tigers, hippos, and bison.

A group of bison raised in South Dakota have recently been transplanted to the Chihuhuan Desert at the US-Mexico border across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  There used to be huge bison herds in that region, but it has been largely bison-free for 150 years.

Perhaps more remarkably, wild bison are also being reintroduced into a forest near Canterbury, England.  There haven’t been bison in the United Kingdom for thousands of years.  But conservationists are introducing European bison into the British forest to knock down trees, trample shrubs, and create space for a greater diversity of flora and fauna. 

Apart from the ecosystem goals of the British project, people in the UK, for the first time in over a thousand years, will be able to experience bison in the wild.

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Gone for Thousands of Years, Wild Bison Return to the UK

Photo, posted December 31, 2018, courtesy of Marco Verch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker | Earth Wise

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The ivory-billed woodpecker was the largest woodpecker in the US.  They were once relatively common, stretching from the Carolinas through the southeast and across to Texas.  Their numbers started to drop sharply in the 19th century because of habitat loss and overhunting.  Many were taken as valuable specimens; some were even eaten by poverty-stricken people.

The last widely accepted sighting was way back in 1944.  For years, the birds were listed as critically endangered with only infrequent and entirely anecdotal reports of sightings.  Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally declared the species extinct.

A multiyear field study by avian researchers from multiple institutions has recently reported that the ivory-billed woodpecker may in fact still exist in a remote swampy region of Louisiana. 

The three-year effort to find the woodpecker involved scientists trudging through the remote site to observe birds and take audio recordings.  Unmanned trail cameras taking time-lapse photos and a drone were used to capture images.  Several members of the team report that they observed the birds.  Some photographic images and videos appear to show ivory bills.  Based on characteristic markings visible in some of the photos, the birds do appear to be the ivory bill and not, for example, the fairly common but similar looking pileated woodpecker.

The birds are scarce, live in a tough, swampy habitat, and actively avoid getting near people.  They live high in trees and are very difficult to spot, much less get clear photographs of.  From all indications, however, reports of the demise of the ivory-billed woodpecker may have been premature.

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Back from the dead? Elusive ivory-billed woodpecker not extinct, researchers say

Photo, posted May 3, 2008, courtesy of Michael McCarthy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Record Renewable Use In California | Earth Wise

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California, the most populous state, is the second largest electricity user.  Only Texas, the second most populous state, uses more energy, in part because it consumes large amounts in refining fossil fuels. Overall, California uses about 8% of the electricity generated in the U.S.

Thus, it was a significant milestone when briefly, on April 3, a record 97.6% of the energy on California’s statewide grid came from renewable energy resources.  (The previous record of 96.4% was set just a few days earlier).

Renewable energy’s share of the power typically peaks in the spring when mild temperatures keep demand relatively low and higher sun angles drive greater solar energy production.

On April 8, a record peak solar power production was set at 13,628 megawatts just after noon.  On March 4, the state set an all-time wind generation record of 6,265 megawatts. 

California now has over 15,000 MW of grid-connected solar power and 8,000 MW of wind.  Another 600 MW of solar and 200 MW of wind are coming online by June.  The state also has about 2,700 MW of energy storage online and that will climb to 4,000 MW by June.

In 2020, 34.5% of the state’s retail electricity sales came from wind and solar sources.  Adding in hydropower and nuclear power, nearly 60% of the state’s electricity came from non-fossil fuel.  Despite the effects of drought on hydropower generation and the impact of the pandemic on the pace of renewable energy projects, California continues its dramatic transition to sustainable energy.

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Solar and wind notched records as renewables met California’s energy demand

Photo, posted September 20, 2016, courtesy of Tom Brewster Photography / BLM via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Electric Cars On The Rise | Earth Wise           

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The first quarter of the year was a tough one for the U.S. auto industry.  Overall sales of cars and trucks were down 15.7% compared with last year.   Automakers have been dealing with shortages of computer chips and other supplies, resulting in slowdowns in production.

The one major exception to the trend has been sales of electric cars.  In the first quarter, U.S. electric vehicle sales were up 76% compared with last year.  This was enough to double EV’s market share to 5.2%, up from 2.5% last year.

Reaching a five percent market share is a significant indicator that electric vehicles are becoming mainstream.  According to many industry analysts, this is just the beginning of a major ramp-up in EV sales.

The strong results in the first quarter were largely driven by one company – namely, Tesla.  Tesla has been expanding rapidly and has been proactive and creative in avoiding delays due to parts shortages.  Tesla’s best-selling car is now the Model Y, which is an SUV implementation of its Model 3 design.  Overall, the company is now producing cars at a rate of more than 1 million per year and has recently opened new manufacturing plants in Texas and in Germany.

But Tesla is not the only story in the world of electric vehicles.  Mass production is beginning for Ford’s F-150 Lightning truck. 

Nissan, Hyundai and Kia have electric cars on the market and shortly near-twin electric models jointly developed by Subaru and Toyota will be available as well.

The electrification of vehicles is an essential step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  With gasoline at painfully high prices, electric cars are more attractive than ever.

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Inside Clean Energy: US Electric Vehicle Sales Soared in First Quarter, while Overall Auto Sales Slid

Photo, posted October 13, 2017, courtesy of Rob Bertholf via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Large Solar Projects In The U.S. | Earth Wise

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The United States now has over 108 gigawatts of total solar generating capacity, which is enough to power about 19 million homes.  There are more than 3 million solar installations across the country, the majority of which are residential systems.

The growth in solar power has been enormous over the past 13 years.  In 2008, the total solar capacity in the U.S. was 0.34 gigawatts.

In recent times, utility-scale solar installations have been on the rise.  At least 10 systems in excess of 100 megawatts have come online just in 2021.  These systems have been built in Georgia, Ohio, California, Texas, and Nevada.  Other large installations have come online in Virginia, Utah, Indiana, and Florida.  Overall, Texas has had the most new installations, followed by California and Florida.

The largest utility-scale solar project completed this year is the Eunice Solar Project in Andrew, Texas.  The 420-megawatt project is part of the Permian Energy Center which also features 40 megawatts of battery energy storage.

The pipeline for new utility-scale solar projects under construction includes more than 17 gigawatts, so there is strong continuing growth in the industry.

The Biden administration has proposed a blueprint for the nation to produce 45% of its electricity from solar power by 2050.  Currently, solar energy contributes about 4% of the country’s power.  Being able to produce almost half the country’s electricity from the sun by 2050 would require a vast transformation in technology and the energy industry.  Whether there is the political will and the wherewithal to achieve this remains to be seen.

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U.S. Solar Market Insight

Photo, posted March 7, 2019, courtesy of Hedgerow Inc via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Deadly Urban Heat On The Rise | Earth Wise

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According to a new study by the Columbia Climate School, exposure to deadly urban heat has tripled since the 1980s.  The increase is the combined result of both rising global temperatures and booming urban population growth.

The study looked at more than 13,000 cities worldwide and found that incidents of extreme heat and humidity have increased dramatically.   It defined extreme heat as 30 degrees Celsius on the wet-bulb temperature scale that takes into account the effect of high humidity.  In 1983, there were 40 billion person-days under such conditions.  By 2016, the number was 119 billion.  More specifically, in 2016 1.7 billion people were subjected to such conditions on multiple days.

Sheer urban population growth accounted for two-thirds of the increase, while actual warming contributed a third.  Over recent decades, hundreds of millions of people have moved from rural areas to cities, which now hold more than half the world’s population.  And because of the urban heat island effect, temperatures in cities are generally higher than in the countryside.

In the United States, about 40 sizable cities have seen rapidly growing exposure to extreme heat, mainly clustered in Texas and the Gulf Coast.  Globally, nearly a quarter of the world’s population is affected by the increased incidence of extreme temperatures.

A study last year showed that combinations of heat and humidity literally beyond the limits of outdoor human survival have been popping up around the world.  A wet-bulb temperature reading of 30 – equivalent to 106 degrees Fahrenheit on the “real feel” heat index – is the point at which even most healthy people find it hard to function outside for long, and the unhealthy might become very ill or even die.

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Exposure to Deadly Urban Heat Worldwide Has Tripled in Recent Decades, Says Study

Photo, posted March 5, 2007, courtesy of Michael Phillips via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

What’s The Best Way To Reduce Emissions? | Earth Wise

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A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels, like coal, oil, and gas.  It’s one way to make the users of carbon fuels pay for the climate damage caused by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 

According to a new study by researchers at Ohio State University, putting a price on producing carbon is the cheapest and most efficient policy change that legislators can make in order to reduce climate change-causing emissions. 

The case study, which was recently published in the journal Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports, looked at the impact that a variety of policy changes would have on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation in Texas. The researchers found that assigning a price to carbon, based on the cost of climate change, was most effective. 

The study did not look at how policy changes might affect the reliability of the Texas power system, an important consideration after the failure of the state’s power grid following winter storms in February. 

But the study did examine other policies and found that they were either more expensive or not as effective, including mandates that a certain amount of energy in a portfolio come from renewable sources.  Subsidizing renewable energy sources was also found to be less effective. 

According to researchers, market-based solutions have previously proven effective combating environmental issues.  For example, a cap-and-trade approach was used to reduce levels of sulfur dioxide, one of the chemicals that causes acid rain. 

For the sake of the climate, we should probably tax carbon. 

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Want to cut emissions that cause climate change? Tax carbon

What’s a carbon tax?

Photo, posted June 5, 2011, courtesy of John Englart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change And Allergies | Earth Wise

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According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an addition to the many hardships that climate change is causing around the world is the fact that it is making allergy season worse.

Researchers have found that there is a strong link between planetary warming and pollen seasons.  The combination of warming air and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has caused North American pollen seasons since 1990 to start some 20 days earlier, on average, and to have 21% more pollen.

The most pronounced effects were seen in Texas, the Midwest, and the Southeast.  The effects were less obvious in the northern United States, including New England and the Great Lakes states.  The greatest pollen increases came from trees, as opposed to grasses and weeds.

Allergies do not just trigger sniffles and sneezes; they have serious effects on public health in the form of asthma and other respiratory conditions.  Studies have shown that students do less well in school during peak pollen season.  Of special concern at the moment is that high-pollen periods have been associated with greater susceptibility to respiratory viruses.  The U.S. has nearly 25 million people with asthma and 19 million adults reported hay fever in the past 12 months.  Research suggests that the early onset of pollen season correlates with a higher risk of hospitalization for asthma.

There are far fewer pollen monitoring stations than those measuring particle pollutants and air quality.  As the climate warms, we need to pay more attention to pollen as an airborne pollutant.

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Achoo! Climate Change Lengthening Pollen Season in U.S., Study Shows

Photo, posted May 18, 2012, courtesy of Forest Wander via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Understanding How To Enhance Desalination | Earth Wise

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Desalination is the process of removing mineral components – notably salt – from saline water, generally seawater.  Over 16,000 desalination plants operate across 177 countries, generating 25 billion gallons of fresh water each year.  Currently, desalination accounts for about 1% of the world’s drinking water.

The leading process for desalination in terms of installed capacity as well as new installations is reverse osmosis that makes use of a thin-film composite membrane based on ultra-thin polyamide.

Despite the fact that these membranes are widely used for desalination, they are actually rather poorly understood.  It has not been known exactly how water moves through them.  As a result, much of the progress made on the technology over the decades has been essentially based on guesswork.

A team of researchers at the University of Texas, Austin has used advanced microscopy techniques to solve some of the mysteries of reverse osmosis membranes.  By mapping membranes at very high resolution – less than half the diameter of a DNA strand – they gained a much better understanding of what makes a membrane better at reverse osmosis.

They found that desalination membranes are inconsistent in mass distribution and density and that these inconsistencies can impair membrane performance.  It turns out that inconsistencies and dead zones in membranes play a bigger role than membrane thickness.  By making the membranes more uniform in density at the nanoscale, they were able to increase desalination efficiency 30 to 40 percent, therefore cleaning more water with less energy and at lower cost.

Producing fresh water is not just essential for public health, it is also crucial for use in agriculture and energy production.

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Nanoscale control of internal inhomogeneity enhances water transport in desalination membranes

Photo, posted February 13, 2017, courtesy of Jacob Vanderheyden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Shifting Climate Attitudes – Even In Texas | Earth Wise

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Any conversation about climate policy and energy in the United States has to take Texas into consideration.  Texas leads the nation in energy production, providing more than one-fifth of U.S. domestically produced energy.  Texas also uses more energy than any other state and accounts for almost one-seventh of total U.S. energy consumption.  The state’s industrial sector, which includes petroleum refining and chemical manufacturing, accounts for almost half of Texas energy consumption.

As a result, longstanding skepticism among Texans toward the climate movement has represented a real impediment in developing and implementing effective climate policy in this country.  But according to new research at the University of Houston, attitudes in Texas have changed and now mirror those in the rest of the United States.

About 80% of Americans believe that climate change is happening, and now about 81% of Texans hold the same view.  Two out of three Americans are worried about climate change; more than 60% of Texans agree.

Nationwide, 55% agree that the oil and gas industries have deliberately misled people on climate change; 49% of Texans agree. 64% of Americans say hydraulic fracking has a negative effect on the environment and 61% of Texans agree.  People everywhere are willing to pay more for carbon-neutral energy, and a higher premium for gasoline as well.

Mitigation strategies for climate change are not well understood.  While 61% nationwide have heard of carbon taxes, less than half are familiar with carbon management, and only a third have heard of carbon pricing.

As the U.S. heads toward reengaging in efforts to address climate change, Texans appear to have caught up with the rest of the nation.

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Attitudes About Climate Change Are Shifting, Even in Texas

Photo, posted October 1, 2011, courtesy of Steve Rainwater via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New York And Renewables | Earth Wise

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In 2019, New York generated more electricity from renewable sources than all but three other states.  The 39.4 million MWh of renewable electricity generated in New York was the largest of any state east of the Mississippi. 

New York has been a leader in renewable power long before it became a topic of great interest because of its hydroelectric power.  In 2019, 78% of the state’s renewable electricity came from hydropower.  The Robert Moses Niagara hydroelectric plant is the second-largest capacity conventional hydroelectric power plant in the country. 

The three states that generated more renewable electricity than New York are California, Texas, and Washington.  Washington gets 69% of all its electricity generation from its multiple hydroelectric plants which together produce a quarter of all hydroelectric power in the nation.  Texas leads the nation in wind-powered generation and gets over 17% of its in-state generation from wind.  California gets 14% of its power from solar generation, 7% from wind, and over 16% from its own hydroelectric resources.

Wind is the second-largest source of renewable power in New York, accounting for 11% of renewable generation in the state and 3% of total electricity generation.  Solar power is expanding in New York, but the great majority of it is still in the form of small-scale installations on residential and commercial rooftops.

New York’s renewable generation grew from 19% in 2005 to 30% at present.  New York’s Clean Energy Standard adopted in 2015 requires the state to generate 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040.

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New York generated fourth most electricity from renewables of any state in 2019

Photo, posted October 15, 2010, courtesy of michael-swan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Quiet In The Pandemic | Earth Wise

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The early months of the Covid-19 pandemic had dramatic effects on many aspects of our daily lives.  Vehicle traffic, air pollution, and many other aspects of modern life saw reduced levels not seen in decades.  It turns out that one of the things that saw reduced levels was people’s exposure to environmental noise.

According to University of Michigan researchers, daily average sound levels dropped in half during the time that local governments made announcements about social distancing and issued stay-at-home orders in March and April as compared to noise levels measured in January and February.

The data was acquired from the Apple Hearing Study, which looked at noise exposure data from volunteer Apple Watch users in Florida, New York, California, and Texas.  The analysis included more than half a million daily noise levels measured before and during the pandemic shutdown.

The noise reduction – 3 decibels, which is a factor of two in noise level – is considered to be quite large and could have a significant effect on people’s overall health outcomes over time.

The four states studied had differing responses in terms of stay-at-home orders.  Both California and New York both had really drastic reductions in sound that happened very quickly, whereas Florida and Texas had somewhat less of a reduction.

The study demonstrated the utility of everyday use of digital devices in evaluating daily behaviors and exposures.  This sort of analysis could allow researchers to begin describing what personal sound exposures are like for Americans who live in a certain state, or are of a certain age, or who do or don’t have hearing loss.  The Apple Hearing Study is continuing and is still accepting new participants.

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Stay-at-home orders cut noise exposure nearly in half

Photo, posted April 10, 2020, courtesy of Joey Zanotti via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Changing Climate Is Changing Insurance

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As the climate changes, wildfires get bigger and more destructive and hurricanes and powerful storms are more frequent and damaging.  In places where these things are occurring, it is getting harder and more expensive for many homeowners to get insurance.  The affordability of home insurance in the face of climate change has become a huge issue in many states.

In California, the number of homeowners who got non-renewal notices from their insurance companies rose by 6% between 2017 and 2018.  In areas directly affected by wildfires between 2015 and 2017, that number jumped by 10%. Similar things have happened in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, where hurricanes and flooding have caused extensive damage.  Because of this, many homeowners have been forced to turn to bare-bone plans such as the California Fair Access to Insurance Plan, which can cost two or three times as much as normal insurance policies.

According to a 2019 survey of insurance companies, more than half of insurance regulators said that climate change was likely to have a high impact or an extremely high impact on the availability of insurance coverage and the assumptions used for underwriting.  In the past, governments have been able to mandate coverage in certain areas or even provide coverage themselves in some cases.  As the occurrence of climate-related damage becomes increasingly frequent, homeowners have to face up to a grim reality.

The challenges of dealing with wildfires, floods, powerful storms, and the like are significant enough for people who live in high-risk areas.  Increasingly, home insurance in these places is becoming much more expensive, harder to find, and is worth less.

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As Climate Impacts Worsen, Homeowners Struggle to Find Affordable Insurance

Photo, posted September 1, 2020, courtesy of The National Guard via Flickr.

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Family Forests And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Climate experts consider sequestration and storage of carbon in trees to be among the most affordable and scalable natural climate solutions.  If implemented globally, trees could provide a third of the near-term climate change mitigation needed to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement.

Small family-owned forests make up 38% of U.S. forests, a total area 1.5 times the size of Texas and more than any other ownership type.  Most small landowners want to do right by their land, but they rarely have access to the expertise or resources needed to optimize their forests for carbon sequestration.

This spring, the Nature Conservancy, the American Forest Foundation, and the Vermont Land Trust announced two new programs, funded in part by a $10 million grant by Amazon, that will provide funds to small landowners to grow larger, healthier forests.

Few forests are managed for carbon sequestration.  Practices like fast logging rotations, so-called high-grading that strips out the largest, most valuable trees, and rampant invasive species all compromise the ability of a forest to lock away carbon.  It turns out that most small landowners would like to do better, but they don’t have the expertise or the financial resources to implement sustainable management.

Existing carbon markets are not geared towards small forest owners.  Their payments are tiny and the required contract terms are onerous.  The Family Forest Carbon Program commits landowners for only 10 to 20 years.  Typical landowners won’t get a windfall.  A 100-acre landholding would stand to earn around $24,500 over 20 years. 

If these programs can sign up 20% of U.S. forest landowners, it could offset the emissions from 6 million cars.

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How Small Family Forests Can Help Meet the Climate Challenge

Photo, posted July 14, 2013, courtesy of Joshua Mayer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

More Plastic Pollution On The Way | Earth Wise

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Public concern about plastic pollution has been rising.  More and more of us are choosing reusable grocery bags, metal straws, and reusable water bottles.  We shake our heads at images of immense plastic garbage patches in the ocean. We see reports of birds with 15% of their body weight in plastic.

While all of this is going on, companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, and Saudi Aramco are ramping up production of plastic – which is mostly made from oil, gas, and their byproducts.  They are doing this as a hedge against the growing possibility that the global response to climate change will reduce demand for their fuels.  Plastics are part of the category called petrochemicals, which currently account for 14% of oil use.  Petrochemicals are expected to drive half of oil demand growth over the next 30 years.

The World Economic Forum predicts plastic production will double in the next 20 years.  The fracking boom in the United States has turned this country into a big growth area for plastic production.  Natural gas prices are low which is hurting profits at fracking operations.  But fracking also unearths ethane, which is a feedstock for plastic production.  So plastic is becoming a kind of subsidy for fracking.

The American petroleum industry’s hub has historically been the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana as well as a stretch along the lower Mississippi River.  There is a slew of new projects there.  The industry is also seeking to create a new plastics corridor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where fracking wells are rich in ethane.

Society in general may be increasingly concerned about the impact of things like carbon emissions and plastic pollution, but the fossil fuel industry continues to focus entirely on growth and profits.

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The Plastics Pipeline: A Surge of New Production Is on the Way

Photo, posted January 10, 2015 , courtesy of Daniel Orth via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Problem Of Gas Flaring | Earth Wise

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Gas flaring is the burning off of flammable gas released by pressure relief values during over-pressuring of plant equipment at petroleum refineries, chemical plants, natural gas processing plants, and a variety of oil and gas production plants.  Flaring is also used during plant startups and shutdowns.

A new study by Rice University concludes that reducing gas flaring would benefit both the environment and the economy. Flaring and venting of gas in West Texas’s Permian Basin and certain other parts of the U.S. have reached levels that the intended result of burning gas to allow oil extraction now looks more like wasting one resource to produce another.

At current rates, enough gas is flared in the Permian Basin to yield nearly 5 million metric tons of exportable liquid natural gas if it was captured and liquified.  At these rates, the wasted gas could fill the largest sized LNG carrier every ten days.  If that liquified natural gas was exported to China and used in a power plant, it would displace 440,000 metric tons of coal burned to generate electricity.

Burning natural gas to heat homes, power industrial processes, or generate electricity all emit carbon dioxide, but at least these things also perform valuable functions. Flaring gas produces CO2 as well as other combustion products but doesn’t even do anything useful.  The venting of unburned gas, which also takes place with some frequency, is even worse since it is dumping methane directly into the atmosphere.

Across the U.S., some 14.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas was flared in 2018, equivalent to nearly 9 million metric tons per year of LNG.  In energy terms, that is equivalent to more than one-third of the total LNG volume U.S. firms actually exported that year.

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Reducing gas flaring will benefit economy and environment, says Baker Institute expert

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Cost Of Rising Seas

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Coastal cities in the United States are grappling with the need for extensive infrastructure projects to protect against rising seas and worsening storms.  The cost of these projects will be enormous, and it is unclear how to pay to them.

Boston has many neighborhoods in low-lying areas, and it is estimated that $2.4 billion will be needed to protect the city from flooding.  The city abandoned plans to build a harbor barrier that would have cost $6 to $12 billion because it was economically unfeasible.

Charleston, South Caroline needs $2 billion to reduce flooding that occurs regularly during high tides.  The Houston, Texas area needs $30 billion to provide protection against a 100-year flood.  Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion in damages in Texas in 2017.  New York City is considering a $10 billion storm surge barrier and floodgates to shield parts of the city from rising waters.

Florida faces the greatest exposure to flooding with an estimated $76 billion in costs to address some of its problems.

At the federal level, multiple agencies represent potential funding sources, but none offer the kind of money required to address the need.  This places a heavy burden on state and local governments.  Various states have passed legislation related to shoreline resiliency and flood abatement, but relatively little funding has been approved.  Some bond measures have passed, but the totals are small compared with what is needed.

Educating people about the costs of not doing anything or not doing enough soon enough is essential.  As Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, not spending a large amount of money on resilience can result in having to spend a colossal amount of money on recovery.

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Who Will Pay for the Huge Costs of Holding Back Rising Seas?

Photo, posted December 26, 2013, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Shifting Ecosystems

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The Great Plains ecosystem has been shifting northward over the past fifty years, driven by climate change, wildfire suppression, energy development, land use changes, and urbanization.  The ecosystem is an area historically rich with grasslands and shrub steppe and is prime habitat for grassland birds.

According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the northernmost ecosystem boundary of the Great Plains has moved more than 365 miles north since 1970, amounting to about 8 miles a year.  The region’s southernmost ecosystem boundary has shifted 160 miles north, or about 4 miles a year.

The study used bird distribution data as an indicator of shifting ecosystem boundaries.  The researchers analyzed 46 years of data for 400 bird species across a 250-mile-wide strip stretching from Texas to North Dakota.  They tracked how the birds’ distributions changed as a measure of how these ecosystems were shifting.

While climate change has been a major driver of these ecosystem shifts since the 1970s, several other factors such as wildfire trends, land use changes, and invasion of tree species into grassland habitat have also played a role.  Like most things in ecological systems, the changes are likely to have multiple causes.  One cannot really separate causes like tree invasions, warming climate, and wildfires, as they are all interrelated.

Using bird distribution patterns for tracking ecosystem shifts could be a useful tool for scientists and land managers in the coming decades to give them an early warning of how habitats are changing in response to rising global temperatures and therefore allow them to take action to protect vulnerable species.

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Great Plains’ Ecosystems Have Shifted 365 Miles Northward Since 1970

Photo, posted March 24, 2017, courtesy of Rick Bohn / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Two Million Solar Installations

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Three years ago, we reported that the United States had installed its one millionth solar energy system, a feat that took 40 years to accomplish.  Recently, the Solar Energy Industries Association announced that there are now more than 2 million U.S. installations.

Analysts forecast that there will be 3 million installation in 2021 and 4 million in 2023.

California continues to lead the nation in installing solar power.  More than 50% of the first million installations were in that state and California accounted for 43% of the second million.  Its share is nevertheless slowly dropping with the growth of the residential solar sector that is rapidly diversifying across state markets.  Some places have seen extremely rapid growth.  In South Carolina, there were barely more than 1,000 cumulative installations in 2016; today, the state is home to more than 18,000 solar systems and expects to add 22,000 more over the next five years.

The five leading states in terms of number of solar installations are California, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.    Other states recently seeing rapid growth in solar installations are Texas, Utah, Florida, Rhode Island and Maryland.  Looking ahead, Illinois is forecast to grow from only 4,000 installations today to nearly 100,000 by 2024.  The top ten state markets apart from California expect to add nearly 750,000 installation over the next five years.

The United States is at least the third nation that is home to more than 2 million solar installations.  (Australia hit the milestone late least year and Japan actually topped 2 million in September 2014).

According to forecasts from analyst first Wood Mackenzie, by the year 2024, there will be on average one new solar installation every minute.

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The United States surpasses 2 million solar installations

Photo, posted January 11, 2012, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation 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...)