Earth Wise

By Randy SimonScience Education Self-Improvement Natural Sciences Nature

Earth Wise episodes

May 10, 2019 Deepwater Impacts Lingering
On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the BP-owned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig released an estimated 210 million of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the oil was recovered, burned, or dispersed at sea, while some washed up onto coastal shorelines.
Now, more than nine years later, a long-term study suggests the oil is still affecting the salt marshes of the Gulf Coast. A multi-institutional research team began sampling in the region once the spill was contained and continue their work to this day.
The researchers found that heavily-oiled marsh areas remained less
healthy than less polluted sites more than six years after the spill. They fear that complete recovery of these
oil-soaked regions will likely take more than a decade.
But the researchers also discovered that salt marsh grasses play a key
role in coastal wetland recovery. Two
plants dominate healthy salt marshes in the Gulf: smooth cordgrass and black
needlerush. Single-celled, plant-like
organisms known as benthic microalgae also abound in healthy salt marshes, as
do many small invertebrates.
In heavily-oiled areas, the researchers found that nearly all the plants died, and benthic microalgae and small invertebrate populations declined significantly. Importantly, however, they also found that it was only after smooth cordgrass started its comeback in these areas that invertebrate populations began to recover. They noted that these salt marsh grasses provide habitat, bind soil, slow water, facilitate colonization, and fuel the food web.
Plants are the foundation of and play a crucial role in salt
marshes. The researchers hope these
findings will help shape the mitigation strategies of any future oil
spills.
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Web Links
Continuing impacts of Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Photo, posted April 21, 2010, courtesy of Deepwater Horizon Response via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 09, 2019 Plant-Based Jet Fuels
The global aviation industry uses a whole lot of fuel: more than 5 million barrels a day. It is an incredibly energy-intensive industry and almost all of its energy comes from petroleum-based fuels.
While other large energy sectors such as electric power, ground
transportation and commercial buildings have well-defined pathways to adopting renewable
energy sources, the aviation industry does not have such a straightforward way
to make a transition to sustainability.
Electrifying planes using batteries or fuel cells is very challenging
for a number of reasons, notably the weight restrictions on aircraft. So liquid biofuels as replacements for
petroleum-based fuels remain the most promising approach.
A new study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concludes
that sustainable plant-based biofuels could provide a competitive alternative
to conventional petroleum fuels if current development and scale-up initiatives
are successful.
Multidisciplinary teams based at the Department of Energy’s Joint
BioEnergy Institute are focused on optimizing each stage of the bio-jet fuel
production process. This includes bioengineering
ideal source plants and developing methods for efficiently isolating the
carbohydrates in non-food biomass that bacteria can digest and bioconvert into
fuel molecules.
The critical issue is cost. The
theoretical cost of bio-jet fuel has come down dramatically in recent years but
is still around $16 a gallon. The cost
of standard jet fuel is about $2.50 a gallon.
So, the real challenge is bridging that gap.
Reducing the cost of the fuel could come both from the material and process improvements that are underway as well as by finding ways to turn the leftover lignin residuals from the bioconversion process into valuable chemicals.
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Web Links
Bright Skies for Plant-Based Jet Fuels
Photo, posted March 28, 2009, courtesy of Yasuhiro Chatani via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 08, 2019 Utility-Scale Solar On The Rise
According to research from Goldman Sachs, utility-scale solar power
capacity is expected to grow by double digits globally over the next two years. The growth will be driven by expanding use of
the technology in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and China.
Solar power is the world’s fastest growing source of electricity
generation and is slowly taking market share from fossil fuels like coal and
natural gas. The transition is being
driven by a combination of continuously lower prices for solar power and the
impact of policies aimed at reducing emissions.
Utility-scale solar is defined as installations designed solely to
feed electricity into the grid, in contrast to smaller-scale residential or
commercial building units. There are now
solar farms larger than half a gigawatt in generating capacity. According to the Goldman report, global
utility-scale solar installations will reach 108 gigawatts in 2019, up 12% over
the previous year, and will then grow another 10% to 119 gigawatts in 2020.
When residential and other smaller installations are included, most analysts expect global solar power capacity to soon hit 600 gigawatts. To put this in perspective, the global capacity only reached 100 gigawatts in 2012 and was actually less than 10 gigawatts in 2007.
Even more dramatic than the growth of solar installations is the
reduction in solar cost, and the two are obviously closely related. Solar panel costs have dropped from around
$70 per watt of electricity generated in 1980 to 36 cents per watt currently in
the United States. When favorable
policies both from governments and related to corporate sustainability targets
are added to the mix, the booming growth in solar power is easy to understand.
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Web Links
Large-scale solar power set for double-digit growth: Goldman Sachs
Photo, posted March 7, 2019, courtesy of Hedgerow Inc via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 07, 2019 Shipping And Invasive Species
The increasing numbers of invasive species around the world are a major driver of biodiversity change and cause billions of dollars in economic damages annually. Climate change is a major factor in the spread of invasive species, but a new study by McGill University suggests that global shipping growth will far outweigh climate change in the spread of non-indigenous pests to new environments in the coming decades.
One of the most significant ways in which the disparate regions of the
world are interconnected is via transportation networks. The global shipping network is the primary
means by which materials and goods are moved worldwide, accounting for over 80%
of world trade. And for this reason, the
global shipping network is responsible for much of the introduction of
non-indigenous species across the planet.
Living organisms are often transported through ballast water, which is taken up to stabilize cargo vessels. Other species are transported by biofouling, whereby they attach to the hulls of ships. Taken together, these two pathways account for anywhere between 60 and 90% of marine bioinvasions. (Terrestrial invaders are generally moved as a byproduct of shipping, for example by infesting wood packaging material).
The McGill study looked at trends in global shipping and how socioeconomic factors are driving change. For example, China’s share of global container throughput has gone from 1.4% in 1990 to 20.1% in 2013. So, the distribution and patterns of shipping have been changing dramatically and with it the spread of non-indigenous species.
Awareness of this issue is increasing.
For example, there have been policy initiatives such as the
International Ballast Water Management Convention that is an effort to control
bio-invasions through measures such as ballast exchange. We need to take measures to limit the
unintentional spread of species.
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Web Links
Global forecasts of shipping traffic and biological invasions to 2050
Photo, posted December 3, 2009, courtesy of Roger W via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 06, 2019 Supermarkets And Zero-Waste
There are about 38,000 supermarkets in the United States alone and they are responsible for vast quantities of waste in the form of single-use plastic bags, plastic containers that store food products, and food waste as well. Globally, over 80% of poll respondents feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment. Responding to this message, markets are starting to make changes.
In a number of places, there are now markets that are
package-free. The Nada grocery store in
Vancouver and Precycle in Brooklyn are examples of zero waste grocery
stores. Websites like Litterless provide
online help for customers trying to find packaging-free grocery stores.
Markets are not only changing their packaging, they are using
artificial intelligence to develop more sustainable production processes and
seeking other ways to reduce waste.
On average, Americans throw away over 300 plastic bags a year, but an
increasing number of grocery retailers are making commitments to more
sustainable, plastic-free options. It
isn’t just small stores either. Grocery
giant Kroger plans to eliminate plastic bags in its stores by 2025. When that happens, it means that 6 billion
plastic bags will no longer be distributed.
Big Y stores will fully transition to reusable bags by next year. More and more cities and states are banning
or imposing fees on plastic bags.
An interesting statistic shows that the age group of Americans that is leading the adoption of reusable grocery bags is not millennials but in fact is people over 50. With multiple generations now indicating that they want shopping to be more sustainable, it is likely that supermarkets will strive to help make that happen.
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Web Links
Why More Supermarkets Are Committing to Zero-Waste
Photo, posted March 4, 2013, courtesy of Dean Hochman via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 03, 2019 Rare Earths From Mining Waste
The 17 rare earth elements have become important parts of much of
modern technology. Despite their name,
most of these elements are relatively plentiful in the earth’s crust, but
because of their geochemical properties they are typically dispersed and not
often found concentrated in minerals. As
a result, economically exploitable ore deposits are uncommon. There are no significant sources in the U.S.
Rare earths play important roles in high-performance magnets, electric
motors in vehicles, wind turbines, microphones and speakers, and in portable
electronics like cell phones. As these
applications become ever larger, the need for additional sources of rare earths
increases.
Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory and Rutgers University have
studied a method for extracting rare-earth elements from mining waste that
could greatly increase the world’s supply of these valuable materials.
It turns out that large amounts of rare earths exist in phosphogypsum, a waste product from producing phosphoric acid from phosphate rock. The U.S. alone mined 28 million tons of phosphate rock in 2017. (Phosphoric acid is used in the production of fertilizers and other products).
The researchers estimate that more than a billion tons of
phosphogypsum waste sits in piles at storage sites across the U.S. alone. World-wide, about 100,000 tons of rare earth
elements per year end up in phosphogypsum waste. This compares to the total current world-wide
production of rare earth oxides of 126,000 tons.
The researchers studied methods for extracting the elements from the
waste. A method utilizing a common environmental bacterium showed great
promise.
There are concerns about residual radioactivity and other environmental issues in dealing with the waste material, but the world’s supply of rare earth elements might become much greater based on this research.
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Web Links
Critical Materials: Researchers Eye Huge Supply of Rare-Earth Elements from Mining Waste
Photo, posted June 19, 2015, courtesy of David Stanley via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 02, 2019 How Much CO2 Can The Oceans Hold?
The carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere doesn’t necessarily stay there. As part of the natural carbon cycle, much of it goes into plants, soil and, very significantly, the ocean. In fact, the world’s oceans are a sink for human-generated carbon dioxide without which the extent of global climate change would be far worse.
Oceans takes up CO2 in two steps: first the CO2 dissolves in the surface water. Then, the ocean’s overturning circulation distributes it. Currents and mixing processes transport the dissolved CO2 from the surface deep into the ocean’s interior, where it accumulates over time.
A long-standing priority for climate researchers is to determine how much of the CO2 we produce is being absorbed by the oceans and, ultimately, how much can they hold?
An international team of scientists has recently provided some answers. As reported in Science, the researchers have determined that the oceans have taken up from the atmosphere as much as 37 billion tons of human-made carbon between 1994 and 2007. This figure corresponds to nearly a third of all the anthropogenic CO2 emitted during that time.
Furthermore, they found that the percentage of CO2 taken up by the oceans has remained relatively stable compared to the preceding 200 years even as the absolute quantity has increased. So, evidently, the oceans’ capacity for carbon dioxide has not yet been saturated.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that putting all that CO2 into the oceans has a steep price: the dissolved CO2 acidifies the water. The consequences for a wide range of marine life including coral reefs are serious and getting worse. We need to drastically reduce carbon emissions.
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Web Links
Ocean sink for human-made carbon dioxide measured
Photo, posted November 5, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
May 01, 2019 Affordable Electric Cars
The main reasons that electric cars haven’t taken over are that they didn’t drive far enough on a charge, it took too long to charge them, and, most of all, they cost too much.
In recent years, the problem with driving range has steadily been
disappearing as electric cars that can go over two hundred and even over three
hundred miles on a charge have entered the market. Charging time has also become less of a
problem. Tesla’s network of
Superchargers can provide 200 miles worth of charge in half an hour and their
next generation of chargers, which are just starting to appear, can cut that
time much further.
As for cost, a new report by transportation analysts at Bloomberg New
Energy Finance predicts that electric vehicles will be cost-competitive with
combustion-engine cars by 2022.
The main reason is that the cost of EV batteries has been
plummeting. In 2015, batteries made up
57% of the total cost of an electric vehicle.
Today, that number is down to 33% and is expected to drop to 20% by
2025. In addition, the cost of electric
powertrain systems is also dropping. The
Bloomberg report predicts that over the next decade, costs for motors, inverters,
and power electronics could be 25 to 30% cheaper than today.
The cost of electric vehicles has been dropping faster than
predicted. Bloomberg’s report on the
subject in 2017 predicted cost parity in 2026.
Last year, they changed it to 2024.
And now, they are saying 2022.
Given that electric cars are much cheaper to drive than gasoline cars,
finding reasons not to drive them is getting harder to do.
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Web Links
Electric Cars Could Be As Affordable as Conventional Vehicles In Just Three Years
Photo, posted November 17, 2018, courtesy of Jakob Harter via Flickr.
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April 30, 2019 High-Tide Flooding And Pollution
Global sea levels are steadily rising. They are up 8 inches in the past century and now increasing at an average of 1.3 inches per decade. As a result, the incidence of high-tide “sunny day” flooding is on the rise, especially along the U.S. East Coast.
Norfolk Virginia experienced fewer than 2 days of high-tide flooding a year in the 1960s; it had 14 in 2017. Up and down the East Coast, flood days have increased by factors of 5 and more.
This has led to a form of pollution that hasn’t gathered much
attention in the past: when these
floodwaters recede, they can carry debris, toxic pollutants and excess
nutrients into rivers, bays, and oceans.
In the aftermath of high-tide flooding in Norfolk, Chesapeake Bay was
littered with tipped-over garbage cans, tossed-away hamburgers, oil, dirty
diapers, pet waste and all manner of other things. Water that comes up on the landscape takes
everything back into the river or ocean with it.
Analysis of tidal flooding along the Lafayette River in Norfolk
indicated that just one morning of tidal flooding poured nearly the entire EPA annual
allocation of nitrogen runoff for the river – nearly 2,000 pounds – into
Chesapeake Bay. The effects of excess
nitrogen in the water are well-known and responsible for the toxic algal blooms
that endanger aquatic life as well as human health.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, high-tide flooding frequency along the southeastern coast of the U.S. rose 160% since 2000. With the expected continuing rises in sea level, NOAA projects that as many as 85 days of high-tide flooding will occur along the coast by the year 2050. It’s a big problem.
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Web Links
As High-Tide Flooding Worsens, More Pollution Is Washing to the Sea
Photo, posted September 20, 2018, courtesy of SC National Guard via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
2 min
April 29, 2019 Lots Of Renewable Energy In Germany
As the contributions to the electrical grid from renewable sources continue to rise, people have expressed concerns about what might happen as sources like wind and solar energy become dominant. Not many years ago, there was a common concern that if wind and solar contributed more than about a quarter of the energy mix, the grid might become unstable or unreliable. Theoretical models looked at this situation but there hadn’t been much real-world data to look at.
One place where there is now real-world data on a large scale is
Germany. Germany has been aggressively
deploying both wind and solar energy for years as part of a national initiative
called the Energiewende or energy
transition. Germany recently increased
its renewable energy goal from 55% to 65% by the year 2030. The increased share of renewables takes into
account the decommissioning of aging nuclear and coal power plants.
A demonstration of the feasibility of such a goal occurred in the
first week of March when renewable sources actually supplied nearly 65% of
Germany’s electricity. Wind power alone
provided nearly half of the country’s power.
As a result, fossil fuel plants ran at a minimum output and nuclear facilities
were shut down at night.
Germany has a very large domestic coal industry and indeed lignite
coal generated an average of 24% of the country’s power last year. However, recently that share was down to
just 12%. During that first week of
March, solar power contributed more than 5% of Germany’s electricity, biomass
7.6%, and hydropower 3.5%.
While the week with 65% renewable set a record, the ongoing trend is
very positive as well. In 2018,
renewable energy generated an average of more than 40% of Germany’s
electricity.
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Web Links
Renewables Generated a Record 65 Percent of Germany’s Electricity Last Week
Photo, posted April 28, 2012, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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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.