Earth Wise

By Randy SimonScience Education Self-Improvement Natural Sciences Nature

Earth Wise episodes

July 19, 2019 Capital Region Community Solar
New York’s Capital Region is getting a major new community solar farm. A community solar farm is a solar power installation whose output is shared by multiple community subscribers who receive credit on their electricity bills for their share of the power produced. The primary purpose of community solar is to allow members of a community to have the benefits of solar power even if they cannot or prefer not to install solar panels on their own property.
US Light Energy has broken ground on the Sugar Hill Solar Farm, to be
located on 40 acres of land on the Sugar-Hill/Sugar-View Farm in Clifton
Park. The 7-megawatt, ground-mounted
solar project will include nearly 20,000 solar modules. When fully operational later this year, the
facility is expected to produce more than 8.6 million kilowatt-hours of energy
a year.
The farm will be part of New York state’s Community Solar Program, and
the electricity it generates can be supplied to customers anywhere in National
Grid’s existing distribution system.
Residential and commercial properties in Clifton Park will have 30 days
to subscribe before the solar energy generated by the farm is opened to the
general public. Subscribers of community
solar farms typically save 10% on their electricity bills.
There are already community solar programs in operation in several
Capital Region communities, but this is the first one in the Clifton Park
Area. Apart from providing savings on
utility bills, community solar allows consumers to support clean, locally
generated power with little or no upfront costs. Not everyone is in a position to put solar
panels on their roof, but community solar is increasingly an option for New
York residents.
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Construction begins on 7-MW community solar farm in New York
Photo, posted March 19, 2012, courtesy of Kate Ausburn via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 18, 2019 Fresh Water Under The Sea
A new survey of the sub-seafloor off the U.S. Northeast coast has revealed the existence of a gigantic aquifer of relatively fresh water trapped in porous sediments lying beneath the salty ocean. This appears to be the largest such formation ever found.
The newly-discovered aquifer stretches from the shore at least from
Massachusetts to New Jersey and extends more-or-less continuously out about 50
miles to the edge of the continental shelf.
The deposits begin at around 600 feet below the ocean floor and bottom
out at about 1,200 feet. If all that
water was found on the surface, it could create a lake some 15,000 miles in
area. The researchers estimate that the
region holds at least 670 cubic miles of fresh water.
Researchers made use of innovative measurements of electromagnetic
waves to map the water, which had not been detected by other technologies. It was already known that fresh water
existed in places under the sea bottom as a result of oil drilling as far back
as the 1970s. But there was previously no
hint of the extent of the undersea aquifer.
The water probably was trapped by sediments deposited during the last
ice age when sea levels were much lower.
But modern subterranean runoff from land sources might also be a
contributor.
If water from the aquifer was to be withdrawn, it would still have to be desalinated for most uses, but the cost would be much less than processing ordinary seawater. There is probably no need to do this in the Northeastern US, but the discovery suggests that such aquifers probably lie off many other coasts worldwide and could provide desperately needed water in places like southern California, Australia, the Mideast or Saharan Africa.
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Scientists Map Huge Undersea Fresh-Water Aquifer Off U.S. Northeast
Photo, courtesy of August 1, 2015, courtesy of Michael Vadon via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 17, 2019 Bees And Plastic
Wild bees in Argentina have recently been found to be constructing nests entirely made of flimsy plastic material left on farms and scientists don’t know why.
In 2017 and 2018, researchers at Argentina’s National Agricultural
Technology Institute built wooden, artificial nests for wild bees. These bee species burrow into nests to
individually lay larvae rather than having a large hive with queens and
workers. The artificial nests provide
hollow openings that bees generally fill with cut leaves, twigs, and mud.
Sixty-three wooden nests were constructed and three were found lined
entirely with plastic. The bees
carefully cut bits of plastic in the shape and size of fingernails and arranged
them in an overlapping pattern in their nests.
The plastic seems to have come from plastic bags or films, which have a
similar texture to the leaves bees ordinarily use to line their nests. And, in fact, leaves were readily available
to the bees making use of plastic.
This is the first time that bees have been seen making nests entirely
out of plastic, but for years scientists have known bees were incorporating
plastic into their building materials.
Research is needed to determine the potential impact plastic might have
on bees, but the nest building shows that bees are highly adaptive to changing
environments.
Plastic often forms a threat to wildlife in the form of microplastics
that can be consumed. But there is no
evidence that bees are consuming plastic.
Some researchers have speculated that the plastic in bees’ nests may
form a barrier against common nest issues like mold and parasites.
At this point, it is not clear whether it is a good thing or a bad
thing that some bees are choosing plastic over natural materials, but it is
certainly interesting.
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Wild bees are building their homes from plastic—and scientists aren’t sure why
Photo, posted December 12, 2014, courtesy of Judy Gallagher via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 16, 2019 100% Renewables Does Not Necessarily Mean Carbon-Free
Hundreds of companies around the world have committed to use 100% renewable energy in order to fight climate change. But a new study from Stanford University points out that 100% renewable energy does not necessarily mean 100% carbon-free energy.
The problem is that the carbon content of electricity can vary a lot
over the course of a day in many locations.
Using yearly averages can overstate the carbon reductions associated
with a particular power source, in some cases by significant amounts.
Suppose a California company purchases or generates enough solar power
to match 100% or more of their electricity use over the course of the
year. In reality, it may generate far
more electricity than it uses during the afternoon and sell the excess. Then, at nighttime, it purchases power from
the grid, which would be far more carbon-intensive if it involves the burning
of fossil fuels.
But in Britain, for example, the situation is very different. With a high reliance on wind power, grid
carbon intensity is actually lower at night.
So very different consumption patterns over the course of a day would be
less carbon-intensive.
If sufficient energy storage capacity can be implemented into the grid
as well as suitable long-range transmission, these time-based fluctuations in
the electricity supply could be ironed out.
Until such time, electricity consumers need to evaluate the environmental
benefits of their renewable strategies on an hourly basis rather than using
averages. And the best strategies are
entirely dependent upon the characteristics of the specific grid they interact
with. The need for this kind of analysis
will only grow as renewable generation expands.
Transparent, precise and meaningful carbon accounting is necessary.
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100% renewables doesn’t equal zero-carbon energy, and the difference is growing
Photo, posted January 29, 2013, courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 15, 2019 Climate Change And Harsh Winters
In recent years, there have been some unusually harsh winters in North America and Central Europe. This past January, the Midwestern US experienced extreme cold temperatures. We have all become familiar with the term ‘polar vortex’ and its role in sending cold air to middle latitudes and it is generally agreed that unusual behavior by the jet stream is the primary cause of the extreme winter weather.
For years, climate researchers around the world have been
investigating the question as to whether the increasingly common wandering of
the jet stream is a product of climate change or is a random phenomenon
associated with natural variations in the climate system.
The jet stream is a powerful band of westerly winds over the middle
latitudes that push major weather systems from west to east. These days, the jet stream is increasingly
faltering. Instead of blowing along a
straight course parallel to the equator, it sweeps across the Northern
Hemisphere in massive waves, producing unusual intrusions of Arctic air into
the middle latitudes.
Atmospheric researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany
have now developed a climate model that can accurately predict the frequently
observed winding course of the jet stream.
The breakthrough combines their global climate model with a new machine
learning algorithm on ozone chemistry.
Using their new combined model, they can now show that the jet stream’s
wavelike course in winter and subsequent extreme weather outbreaks are the
direct result of climate change. The
changes in the jet stream are to a great extent caused by the decline in Arctic
sea ice, according to the results of the investigations. The results are not surprising but there is
now a detailed model to support the hypothesis.
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A warming Arctic produces weather extremes in our latitudes
Photo, posted January 11, 2011, courtesy of Carl Wycoff via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 12, 2019 Complications For New York Solar Farms
A study by engineers at Cornell University looked at the implications of adding utility-scale solar farms throughout New York State. Adding such farms could reduce demand for electricity from conventional sources by nearly 10% in some places. But the engineers caution that winters in upstate New York could create some novel problems for the state’s power system.
Electrical energy demand tends to be low around midday when many people are not home. Electrical production from solar farms is high at that time when the sun is at its highest position in the sky. This can lead to what power system operators call “ramping”, which is the term for rapid increases or decreases in demand.
This sort of ramping was first discussed in California years ago. When people wake up and prepare for the day,
there is a morning peak in electrical load, which occurs before solar
production ramps up. When people get
home from work in the evening, energy demands create a second peak. A graph of this lack of synchronicity of load
and supply looks a little like the shape of a duck and is popularly known as
the duck curve.
The Cornell engineers figured out that maximum ramping in New York –
where electrical demand and electricity supply from solar farms are out of
synch- will take place in the winter. In
fact, when there are several days of sunshine in a row during winter, the
largest ramping in the New York power system will take place.
The general issue of having solar energy available when it is most
needed is one that is the driver for energy storage technology. If the energy
can be provided when demand calls for it, there would be no more ramping.
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Winter could pose solar farm ‘ramping’ snag for power grid
Photo, posted September 8, 2015, courtesy of New York National Guard via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 11, 2019 Degraded Permafrost In The Arctic
Permafrost is defined as rock or soil that has been at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Most of it is located in high latitudes in and around the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Permafrost covers nearly a quarter of the exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere.
Permafrost can contain many different materials including bedrock,
sediment, organic matter, water and ice.
Because of the presence of organic matter, permafrost is potentially the
source of significant methane emissions if it thaws and the trapped biomass
begins to rot.
A recent study looked at the results of 30 years of aerial surveys and
extensive ground mapping of an area of Canada’s high Arctic polar desert known
as the Eureka Sound Lowlands. This area
has an extremely cold climate and the permafrost there is over 1/3 of a mile
thick. It has long been assumed that
this landscape was stable.
Research led by McGill University in Montreal has found that this is
not the case. The increases in summer
air temperatures seen in recent years are initiating widespread changes in the
landscape.
A particular landform known as a retrogressive thaw slump that forms
when ice within permafrost melts and the land slips down is widely occurring in
the area. The absence of vegetation and
layers of organic soil in these polar deserts make permafrost in the area
particularly vulnerable to increases in summer air temperatures.
The research indicates that despite the cold polar desert conditions
that characterize much of the high Arctic, the interaction between ice-rich
permafrost systems and climate factors is complex and the links between global
warming and permafrost degradation are not well understood.
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Widespread permafrost degradation seen in high Arctic terrain
Photo, posted August 11, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 10, 2019 Sunlight As A Cash Crop
It isn’t so easy to be a farmer these days. Farming has always involved long hours, hard work and the uncertainties of weather and yield. The 21st Century has added new and unique challenges such as increasingly unpredictable weather, insect infestation and disease, and low commodity prices. Add in sudden tariffs and farmers struggle even more to make ends meet. The default rate for farmers’ loans is the the highest in at least nine years.
One thing that remains reliable for farmers is the sun. It rises in the morning and goes down at
night. The sun can be trusted, unlike
politicians, rain, or commodity prices.
These days, many farmers are taking advantage of the dependability of
the sun to make money from a new cash crop: solar energy.
The trend is spreading. North
Carolina has been a leading solar energy state for several years and a 2017
report found that solar energy generates 30% of the income of many farms. Typical annual rent payments for farmland by
solar companies range from $500 to $1,400 per acre in North Carolina.
A growing list of states have clean energy mandates targeting 100% use
of renewable energy. These mandates provide incentives for farmers
that make installing solar a financially smart decision and falling prices for
solar installations make it an even better deal.
Solar works well when co-located on a farm and can be built in ways
that minimizes impact. It is quiet, uses
almost no water, doesn’t pollute, and if it is decommissioned, the land can go
back to its previous use. If the solar
facilities are raised up, the same land can be used to graze livestock or grow
shade-tolerant crops.
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Harvesting the sun is the new cash crop
Photo, posted December 25, 2017, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 09, 2019 The U.S. Military And Climate Change
According to new research by scientists from Durham University and Lancaster University, the United States military is one of the largest climate polluters. The U.S. military consumes more liquid fuels and emits more greenhouse gases than most countries.
The study, published in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, finds that if the U.S. military were a country, it would be the 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, falling between Peru and Portugal. And this only takes into account the emissions from its liquid fuel consumption. For this study, the U.S. military’s 2015 consumption was compared with the 2014 World Bank country liquid fuel consumption.
In 2017, the U.S. military purchased more than 269,000 barrels of oil a day, emitting more than 25,000 kt- CO2e by burning those fuels. The Air Force accounted for $4.9 billion worth of this fuel, followed by the Navy at $2.8 billion, the Army at $947 million, and the Marines at $36 million.
The Air Force and the Navy are not only the U.S. military’s largest
purchasers of fuel, they also use the most polluting types of fuel. The Air Force is the largest emitter of
greenhouse gases at more than 13,000 kt CO2e, nearly double that of the Navy’s
7,800 kt CO2e.
Despite this study’s findings and a general uptick in awareness, it’s
unlikely that the U.S. military’s dependence on fossil fuels will change. That’s because the military continues to
pursue open-ended operations around the globe, and the lifecycle of its
existing military equipment insures dependence on hydrocarbons for many years
to come.
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U.S. military consumes more hydrocarbons than most countries — massive hidden impact on climate
Photo, posted July 8, 2016, courtesy of Alan Wilson via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
July 08, 2019 Shutting Down Minnesota Coal Plants
One of the largest utilities in the United States, Xcel Energy Inc., announced that it will close its remaining coal-fired power plants in the Upper Midwest a decade ahead of its previously-announced schedule. In addition, the company will add 3,000 megawatts of new solar capacity by 2030.
The Allen S. King plant in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and the
Sherburne County Generating Station in Becker, Minnesota are the plants in
question. The transition away from coal
is a difficult challenge for such small communities. The plant in Becker, for example, employs 300
people in a town of 4,500 and provides 75% of the city’s tax base. Towns like this realize that coal is
inevitably going away and must find ways to move beyond their dependence upon
it. The Becker plant will not completely
close until 2030, but parts will now only run seasonally, and one of the 3
units will close permanently in 2023
Xcel Energy, based in Minneapolis, serves more than 3.3 million electricity customers in 8 states. Last December, the company announced that it would deliver 100% clean, carbon-free electricity by 2050 and would achieve an 80% carbon reduction from its 2005 levels by 2035. It is the first major US utility to set such a goal.
Xcel will increase its investment in energy efficiency measures, bring
1,850 megawatts of new wind capacity online in Minnesota by 2022, and keep its
Monticello Nuclear Generating Station operating until 2040, a decade later than
planned. The company’s stepped-up clean
energy strategy is part of a new legal settlement between the company,
environmental organizations, and labor groups that involves Xcel’s proposed
$650 million purchase of a 760-megawatt natural gas plant.
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A Major U.S. Utility Is Closing Its Coal-Fired Power Plants a Decade Early
Photo, posted January 3, 2016, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min

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From green business and new environmental legislation to how nature impacts our environment in ways never before considered, Earth Wise offers a look at our changing environment.