New research by Ohio State University suggests that adding plants and trees to the landscapes near factories and other pollution sources could reduce air pollution by an average of 27%.  In addition, the study indicates that, in many cases, plants may be a cheaper option for cleaning the air than more technological approaches.

The study looked at public data on air pollution and vegetation on a

county-by-county basis across the lower 48 states. It then calculated what

adding additional trees and plants might cost. 

The calculations included the capacity of current vegetation to mitigate

air pollution as well as the effects that restorative planting might have on

pollution levels.

In 75% of the counties analyzed, it was cheaper to use plants to

mitigate air pollution rather than add technological interventions such as

smokestack scrubbers to the sources of pollution.  The results varied according to the pollution

source.  For example, technology is

cheaper at cleaning the air near industrial boilers than ecosystem

approaches.  For the broad manufacturing

industry, one approach or the other was favorable, depending on the type of

factory.

Adding trees or other plants generally can lower air pollution levels

in both urban and rural areas, although success rates depend on a variety of

factors including how much land is available to grow new plants and current air

quality.

Reducing air pollution is critical to public health.  An estimated 4 in 10 people in the U.S. live

in areas with poor air quality, leading to health issues including asthma, lung

cancer, and heart disease.  The study

shows that nature should be part of the planning process for industry to deal

with air pollution.

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Nature might be better than tech at reducing air pollution

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

According to a new Trump administration proposal, federal agencies would no longer need to take climate change into account when evaluating infrastructure projects.  The proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are aimed at speeding up approvals for highway construction, pipelines, oil and gas leases, and other major infrastructure projects.   

Under NEPA, federal agencies are required to consider how their

proposed actions would affect everything from water quality to wildlife to

greenhouse gas emissions.  They’re also

required to understand how rising seas and other consequences of climate change

might affect a given project.  These

requirements have proven to be an obstacle to projects like the Keystone XL

pipeline, for example. 

According to reporting in the New York Times, the administration also

plans to narrow the range of projects that require environmental review in the

first place.  That could make it more

likely for projects to be approved without having to disclose plans to do

things like cut down trees, discharge waste, or increase air pollution. 

The administration says that the changes would improve the

environmental review and permitting process while ensuring a safe, healthy, and

productive environment. Environmentalists say the proposed changes would weaken

critical safeguards for air, water, and wildlife. 

The proposed changes to NEPA would revise the rules that guide the

implementation of the law, as opposed to amending the act itself.  Once these proposed changes appear in the

federal register, the public will have 60 days to comment on them. 

A decision on whether or not to weaken the nation’s benchmark

environmental law is expected before November.

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Trump Rule Would Exclude Climate Change in Infrastructure Planning

Photo, posted February 23, 2016, courtesy of Lissy Wild via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Wildfires raging across Australia have devastated large swathes of land and prompted one of the largest evacuations in the country’s history.  The fires, which have scorched approximately 20 million acres, have also killed 27 people and affected an estimated one billion animals at the time of this recording. The fire season, though still young, already ranks as among the worst in Australia’s recorded history. 

Away from the flames, millions more in Australia are breathing

unhealthy air as a result of the smoke from these wildfires. Wildfires release

all sorts of dangerous air pollutants, like carbon monoxide and nitrous

oxide.  But wildfires also release fine

particulate matter (more commonly referred to as PM2.5), which can be

transported long distances.  Breathing in

these microscopic particles can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular problems.  High levels of PM2.5 are particularly harmful

to older people, young children, and those with weakened immune systems.  

The Australian capital city of Canberra has been covered in a thick

haze of smoke from nearby wildfires. 

Canberra recorded its worst air quality day on January 2nd, when levels

of PM2.5 spiked to more than 200 micrograms per cubic meter during the worst

hour.

Smoke has also been fouling Sydney’s air off and on for months, with

PM2.5 readings hitting nearly 400 micrograms per cubic meter last month during

the highest hour of pollution. 

The U.S. EPA has in place an annual PM2.5 standard of 12 micrograms

per cubic meter and a daily (or 24 hour) standard of 35. 

According to the IPCC, southern Australia is expected to see increased

risk of fire as the planet continues to warm. 

Regrettably, this could be the new normal. 

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Millions of Australians Are Choking on Smoke From Wildfires

Photo, posted December 5, 2019, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Solar energy is a nearly unlimited resource, but it is only available to us when the sun is shining.  For solar power to provide for the majority of our energy needs, there needs to be a way to capture the energy from the sun, store it, and release it when we need it.  There are many approaches to storing solar energy, but so far none have provided an ideal solution.

Scientists

at the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden have developed a way to harness solar energy and keep it in reserve so it can be

released on demand in the form of heat—even decades after it was captured. Their

solution combines several innovations, including an energy-trapping molecule, a

storage system, and an energy-storing laminate for windows and textiles.

The energy-trapping molecule is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and

nitrogen.  When hit by sunlight, the

molecule captures the sun’s energy and holds on to it until it is released as

heat by a catalyst.  The specialized

storage unit is claimed to be able to store energy for decades.  The transparent coating that the team

developed also collects solar energy and releases heat.  Using it would reduce the amount of electricity

required for heating buildings.

So far, the team has concentrated on producing heat from stored

solar energy.  It is unclear whether the

technology can be adapted to produce electricity, which would be even more

valuable.  In any event, the team does

not yet have precise cost estimates for its technology, but there are no rare

or expensive elements required, so the economics seem promising.  There is much more work to be done, but this

could be a very important technology for the world’s energy systems.

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An Energy Breakthrough Could Store Solar Power for Decades

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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.

Mirror Lake is a popular recreational lake located in the Village of Lake Placid.  It is the most developed lake within the Adirondack Park, which is a publicly protected area that is actually larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.

New research has revealed that road salt runoff into Mirror Lake is

preventing natural water turnover which poses a risk to the balance of its

ecology.  The study, which was published

in Lake and Reservoir Management, found that road salt runoff is

preventing spring mixing of the water column.   

This creates more anoxic water conditions, meaning there is less oxygen

in the water, and limits the ability of the habitat to support the native lake

trout. 

Mirror Lake is the first lake in the Adirondack Park to show an

interruption in lake turnover due to road salt. 

Many lakes in northern climes experience so-called “dimictic turnover”,

which is a natural process where wind and less stratified water conditions of

spring and fall allow mixing of the water column that redistribute oxygen and

nutrients throughout the lake.  High

levels of surface-water chloride introduced into the lake from road salt runoff

inhibit the mixing of the water column.

The lack of mixing and oxygenation is bad news for fish species such

as lake trout, which require cold, oxygenated water to survive.  It may also put the lake at a greater risk of

algal blooms.

Mirror Lake is small, surrounded by concentrated development, and

receives the direct discharge of stormwater. 

So, it is particularly vulnerable to road salt contamination.  Other lakes elsewhere in New York may

experience similar conditions.  The

researchers are confident that natural turnover conditions could be restored to

the lake if road salt application in the watershed is reduced.

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Road salt pollutes lake in one of the largest US protected areas, new study shows

Photo, posted January 5, 2018, courtesy of MTA of the State of NY via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached yet another new record high.  Globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018, up from 405.5 parts per million in 2017.

The increase year-over-year was similar to that from 2016 to 2017, and remains a little over the average for the last decade.  Global CO2 levels crossed the 400 parts per million threshold in 2015.

Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide also increased by higher

amounts than the average for the past decade, based on observations from the

Global Atmosphere Watch network with stations all over the globe.

Since 1990, there has been a 43% increase in total radiative forcing – which is the warming effect on the climate from long-lived greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide accounts for about 80% of this.  The report notes that the last time the Earth experienced this high a level of CO2 was 3 to 5 million years ago. At that time, global temperatures were 2 to 3 Celsius degrees higher and sea levels were 30 to 60 feet higher than now.

The report includes data on the isotopic analysis of the CO2 in the atmosphere.  CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion comes from plant material from millions of years ago and does not contain radiocarbon, that is, carbon-14.  CO2 from natural sources contains radiocarbon produced by cosmic rays.  The increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere contain decreasing levels of radiocarbon, indicating that the overall increase is largely due to human activities.

Overall, global efforts to date to reduce emissions have not been very

successful, and this is borne out by the growing levels of carbon dioxide in

the atmosphere.

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Greenhouse gas concentrations in atmosphere reach yet another high

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

As the world continues to struggle to find ways to reduce carbon emissions, there is increasing attention being paid to so-called negative emission technologies (NET), which remove and permanently sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The University of Victoria in British Columbia has brought together an international team of experts to explore the possibilities of permanently and safely sequestering CO2 as rock beneath the ocean floor.  The Solid Carbon Project seeks to extract carbon dioxide directly from the air and then, using deep-ocean technology powered by offshore solar and wind energy, inject it into sub-seafloor basalt, where it would mineralize into solid carbonate rock.

When CO2 is injected into porous basalt, a type of volcanic rock, it reacts relatively quickly with minerals to form solid carbonate, thereby permanently removing it from the atmosphere.  Because 90% of the planet’s basalt is located beneath the ocean floor, the deep ocean is the place to do this kind of carbon sequestration.

The team includes experts in ocean science, carbon mineralization,

renewable energy, engineering design, and oil-and-gas drilling/injection operations.

Other experts are focusing on the social and legal implications of the NET

technology.

Over the next four years, the Solid Carbon Project will assess the

integration of multiple existing technologies that will be needed to

successfully develop this kind of carbon storage.  One of these is the direct air capture

technology itself, which will need to be adapted to a renewable energy-powered

offshore platform.  The best outcome

technologies explored by the project will be selected for a real-world demonstration

at Ocean Networks Canada’s observatory site, 9,000 feet underwater in the

Cascadia Basin, off the coast of British Columbia.

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A rock-solid solution for CO2

Photo courtesy of the University of Victoria.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

This past fall saw yet more of the high temperatures the world has been experiencing in recent times.  Both the season (September through November) and the year to date were the second hottest in recorded history.  November itself was the second-hottest November in the 140-year global climate record.

The high temperatures were felt at both ends of the world.  Sea ice coverage across both the Arctic and Antarctic oceans fell to near-record lows in November.  Arctic sea ice coverage was nearly 13% below the 1981-2010 average, while Antarctic coverage was 6.35% below average.

The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November was

1.66 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average.  The year-to-date global temperature was 1.69

degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average.  These numbers correspond to almost a 1-degree

Celsius increase, which should be compared with the Paris Climate Accord goal

of keeping that increase to no more than 1.5 degrees.

November was the hottest November on record for South America, Africa,

and the Hawaiian Islands.  The Caribbean

had its second-hottest November, and Europe had its seventh hottest on record.

The world’s average sea surface temperature ranked second warmest for

the year to date and was only 0.05 degrees cooler than the all-time record.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues monthly global climate reports and for quite some time, these reports seem to all be the same.  Another new record for heat or at least another near record.  We have to expect that this trend will continue at least until the world starts making progress in dealing with its root cause.

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November 2019 was 2nd hottest on record for the planet

Photo, posted July 20, 2016, courtesy of Salehin Chowdhury via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, both wind and solar power are contributing more and more to total electrical generation in the United States.  For the first 8 months of 2019, the combination of wind and solar power accounted for almost 10% of U.S. electrical generation.

Solar, including small-scale PV systems on home rooftops, grew by almost 14% compared to the first eight months of 2018 and accounted for more than 2.7% of total electrical output.  In fact, small-scale solar generation increased by 19% and provided nearly a third of all the solar power in the country. 

Wind energy in the U.S. increased by 4.4%, accounting for almost 7% of

the country’s electricity.

Overall, renewable energy sources – which include biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind – accounted for 18.49% of net domestic electrical generation during the first 8 months of 2019.  The non-hydro renewable sources actually accounted for over 11% of total electricity production and saw a year-over-year growth of 6%. 

Outside of renewables, nuclear-generated electricity declined by 0.6%

and coal power dropped by almost 14%. 

Much of the coal generation was replaced by natural gas, which grew by

6.5% compared to the previous year.

Renewables now accounting for nearly 20% of overall electricity generation in the US represents significant progress.  But the variations by state continue to be substantial.  For example, while Vermont gets 99% of its power from renewables, Ohio gets only 2%. 

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Solar and wind energy provide almost 10 percent of total generation in the US in 2019

Photo, posted April 8, 2019, courtesy of City of St. Pete via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.