Earth Wise

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.

Coral reef habitats are some of the densest and most varied ecosystems on earth.  While coral reefs cover just 0.2% of the ocean floor, scientists estimate that nearly one million different species of fish, invertebrates, and algae can be found in or around coral reefs. 

However, climate change is wreaking havoc on the health of coral

reefs.  Warming and acidifying oceans are

resulting in enormous coral losses. 

Overfishing, development, and pollution are also threatening coral reef

health.

According to new research, positive community action can help boost

fish populations in coral reefs and safeguard future fish numbers.  The paper, which was recently published in

the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, details the social

and ecological outcomes of work being done in Papua New Guinea since 2001. 

These communities have established a traditional system of rotational

fishing closures in order to manage their fisheries resources.   They ban fishing on part of their reefs for

a few years, and then open these closures when village elders believe fish

behavior has changed and fish populations have recovered.  They then close a different part of their

reefs, and repeat the process. 

The researchers found that these rotational practices resulted in more

than twice as many fish on the closed reefs as compared to open ones, and the closures made fish less

scared of people and easier to catch. 

But the researchers did caution that this short term boost in fish

numbers may not be enough to stop the overall impact of fishing.

Globally, more than 500 million people depend on coral reefs for food,

income, and coastal protection. 

Balancing community needs with environmental needs can be tricky

business.  

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Positive community action can help coral reef health

Photo, posted October 11, 2011, courtesy of Paul Toogood via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The use of both solar and wind farms has been expanding all over the country as a way of lowering carbon emissions from the electric power sector.   According to a new study led by Princeton University, these renewable energy sources have another important benefit:  they keep more water in the ground.

The study focused on drought-prone California where both solar and

wind power have been expanding dramatically. 

California is the largest agricultural producer in the United States and

has also experienced one of the most severe droughts on record between 2012 and

2017.

The study determined that increased solar and wind energy can reduce the reliance on hydropower, especially during times of drought. 

The study looked at multiple scenarios in order to determine how much

solar and wind energy should be used to maximize economic revenue and to see

how solar and wind power could ensure groundwater recovery.  They created a framework to quantify the

optimal pathways for maximizing hydroelectricity and agricultural income while

avoiding groundwater depletion.

During the long drought, California’s agriculture industry relied

heavily on tapping into groundwater stores, which is an unsustainable

practice.  With more droughts likely to

occur in California as well as increasing water demand from the growing

California population, the burden on the state’s groundwater supply will only

grow.

According to the researchers, it is far more practical to impose

further regulations on groundwater use if sufficient solar and wind power is

deployed.   They caution that these

resources need to be deployed long before groundwater aquifers are depleted, or

it will be too late for them to do any good.

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Solar and Wind Energy Preserve Groundwater for Drought, Agriculture

Photo, posted December 11, 2014, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Offshore Chemistry Program, run by the Darrin Fresh Water Institute at RPI, has been monitoring the deep waters of Lake George in New York for 40 years.  Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is famed for the transparency of its water and a new report on the health of the lake reveals that it is doing rather well.

According to the report, although concentrations of chemicals and

pollutants like salt and nutrients have increased in the deep waters of Lake

George, they are still too low to harm the ecosystem at those depths.

The Offshore Chemistry Program studies the lake as part of a

collaboration between RPI, IBM Research, and the FUND for Lake George that is called

the Jefferson Project.  This long-term

commitment provides a wealth of information over time matched by few lake

studies in the world.

The recent results show that levels of salt, the nutrient

orthophosphate, and chlorophyll have increased substantially over time, but

none are yet at a level that will cause harm.

Orthophosphate occurs naturally, but most likely the higher levels are due to improperly functioning septic systems, failing wastewater treatment systems, and stormwater runoff.  The orthophosphate most likely triggered the increase in chlorophyll, which probably is associated with increased density of chlorophyll in individual algal cells, rather than an increase in total algal mass in the lake.

Overall, the results demonstrate the continuing resilience of Lake

George to a growing array of stressors. 

In nearly 40 years of human activities, the lake has changed in a number

of ways, but the changes have so far been relatively small.  With such careful monitoring, we can hope to

keep them that way.

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Four Decades of Data Sounds Early Warning on Lake George

Photo, posted September 24, 2009, courtesy of GPA Photo Archive via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere is an essential part of the overall effort to achieve zero net carbon emissions and stabilize the climate.  Since we have not been able to reduce emissions fast enough to do the job, it is important to find ways to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

There are many ways to do it, but they tend to be rather expensive

and, so far, the need to mitigate climate change does not seem to provide

sufficient incentive. A new study by researchers at UCLA, the University of

Oxford, and five other institutions, analyzed the possibility of creating a

large global industry based on capturing carbon dioxide and turning it into

commercial products.

The study investigated the potential future scale and cost of 10

different ways to use carbon dioxide, including in fuels and chemicals,

plastics, building materials, soil management, and forestry.  The study looked at processes using carbon

dioxide captured from waste products that are produced by burning fossil fuels

as well as by simply capturing it directly from the atmosphere.  The study also looked at processes that use

carbon dioxide captured biologically by photosynthesis.

The conclusions of the study were that on average each of the ten utilization pathways could use about half a billion tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere.  Thus, theoretically, these various pathways could take more than five billion tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.   Currently, fossil fuel combustion emits about 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

The authors of the study stress that there is no silver bullet in the fight against climate change.  It will require multiple approaches – including CO2 removal for industrial use – to make real progress

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Carbon dioxide capture and use could become big business

Photo, posted September 18, 2015, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

One of the things that hampers the adoption of electric vehicles is range anxiety.  Drivers worry that they will run out of charge before they get to the closest charging station.   Range anxiety has lessened considerably in recent years as electric cars have incorporated larger and larger battery packs yielding driving ranges well over two hundred and even over three hundred miles.

With these extended driving ranges, drivers then turn their attention

to how long it takes to charge.  Tesla’s

Superchargers have gotten to the point where a car can add 75 miles of charge

in 5 minutes and 200 miles in less than half an hour.  Fast charging systems are improving the

charge times for other electric models as well.

Nevertheless, drivers would ideally like to reduce charging times to as

little as possible in order to provide the convenience experienced in gasoline

cars.

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have reported a mechanism

for speeding up the charging of lithium-ion batteries for electric

vehicles.  By exposing the battery

cathode to a beam of concentrated light, the charging time can be reduced by a

factor of two or more. If this could be commercialized, it could be a real game

changer for electric vehicles.

The research used specially crafted lithium-ion cells with transparent

quartz windows.  Shining white light into

the windows caused a semiconductor material known as LMO to change its charge

state and drive the charging reaction more quickly in the lithium ions of the

battery.

Using this photo-assisted technology in vehicle batteries would

require substantial redesign that would allow concentrated light to illuminate

battery electrodes during charging.  How

practical that is remains to be seen, but the payoff would be substantial.

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Shedding new light on the charging of lithium-ion batteries

Photo, posted June 30, 2018, courtesy of Open Grid Scheduler via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Natural gas has become a huge industry in the United States, increasingly replacing coal in power plants, and otherwise contributing to energy independence.  Unfortunately, it also contributes to climate change.  Methane – the primary component of natural gas – is a powerful greenhouse gas that is estimated to be responsible for as much as a quarter of atmospheric warming.

Not all of the emissions from natural gas come from its use.  In the United States, so-called fugitive

emissions from the oil and gas industry total an estimated 13 million metric

tons per year.  These emissions basically

consist of leakage of various types from the extraction, transportation, and

processing of natural gas and cost the industry $2 billion in lost revenue each

year.  Globally, that figure is estimated

to be $30 billion.

Research labs and startup companies are working on developing and

deploying novel technologies to address the growing issue of methane leaks

across the fossil fuel supply chain.

One company called LongPath Technologies – a spinout from the University of Colorado – uses frequency comb laser technology that can pinpoint a leak to about a 50 square-foot area from half a mile away.  Other companies use different variations on laser absorption technology to be able to measure methane concentrations from a distance. 

Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide,

but it stays in the atmosphere for much less time.  As a result, reducing methane emissions can

pay off much more quickly than reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The current EPA is trying to eliminate emissions regulations on the

natural gas industry, but it is in the industry’s economic interest to curb

those emissions even if they were unconcerned about the environment.

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Methane Detectives: Can a Wave of New Technology Slash Natural Gas Leaks?

Photo, posted October 22, 2016, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.