Climate-Friendly Metals From Deep-Sea Ores

If manganese nodules can be mined in an environmentally friendly way, the critical metals needed for the energy transition could be produced with low CO2 emissions.

UAlbany Atmospheric Scientist Proposes Innovative Method to Reduce Aviation’s Climate Impact

If you look up at the sky on a clear day, chances are you’ll notice thin, white clouds following behind airplanes— also known as contrails.

CSU Researchers Find Promising Adaptations to Climate Change in Tropical Forests

As tropical forests experience chronic drying and more extreme droughts due to climate change, some plants are adapting by growing longer root systems to reach water deep within soils, according to a study published in November in New Phytologist. 

Switching to Electric Stoves Can Dramatically Cut Indoor Air Pollution

A new study links gas and propane stove emissions to asthma, lung cancer, and other health risks.

New Chemical Discovery Could Speed Up Future Medicines, Materials

A new chemical method that could speed up the creation of medicines, materials and products people rely on every day has been developed by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry researchers.

What’s the Best Way to Expand the US Electricity Grid?

Growing energy demand means the U.S. will almost certainly have to expand its electricity grid in coming years. What’s the best way to do this? A new study by MIT researchers examines legislation introduced in Congress and identifies relative tradeoffs involving reliability, cost, and emissions, depending on the proposed approach.

The researchers evaluated two policy approaches to expanding the U.S. electricity grid: One would concentrate on regions with more renewable energy sources, and the other would create more interconnections across the country. For instance, some of the best untapped wind-power resources in the U.S. lie in the center of the country, so one type of grid expansion would situate relatively more grid infrastructure in those regions. Alternatively, the other scenario involves building more infrastructure everywhere in roughly equal measure, which the researchers call the “prescriptive” approach. How does each pencil out?

After extensive modeling, the researchers found that a grid expansion could make improvements on all fronts, with each approach offering different advantages. A more geographically unbalanced grid buildout would be 1.13 percent less expensive, and would reduce carbon emissions by 3.65 percent compared to the prescriptive approach. And yet, the prescriptive approach, with more national interconnection, would significantly reduce power outages due to extreme weather, among other things.

Read more at: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Photo Credit: Laurseum via Pixabay

Countries Agree to New Protections for Imperiled African Hornbills

Countries agreed Wednesday to new limits on the international trade in African hornbills.

Scientists Warn of Emissions Risks from the Surge in Satellites

On a recent mid-November evening, at precisely 7:12 p.m., a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Florida coast.

A Cleaner, Less Toxic Way of Making a Staple Chemical

Cornell scientists have discovered a potentially transformative approach to manufacturing one of the world’s most widely used chemicals – hydrogen peroxide – using nothing more than sunlight, water and air.

New Inflammation Test May Keep Cows Healthy, Farms Productive

As a veterinarian, Dr. Sabine Mann, Ph.D. ’16, had frequently wished for a simple, accurate, affordable test that could assess inflammation in dairy cow herds.