Bakers ferment dough for a well-risen loaf of bread. Brewers ferment wheat and barley for a smooth, malty glass of beer. And as nature's foremost bakers and brewers, some microbes can do even more. Certain species of bacteria ferment carbon dioxide (CO2) gas to make their own nutrients of choice, which might be leveraged to help energize our world.
With the aviation industry contributing 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, a clean energy transformation in aviation operations will prove essential to mitigate climate change. Cutting-edge research is paving the way.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) leverages advanced data analytics to help guide mobility transformations as part of a new sustainable aviation research initiative. Major transportation hubs, fuel producers, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers tap NREL's unique capabilities in sustainable fuels analysis, resilience, electrification, and large-scale validation and modeling to understand how to achieve ambitious energy-saving goals, improve regional air quality, and optimize the movement of people and goods.
A critical pathway for producing large quantities of low- to negative-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is en route to market following a collaborative research and development agreement between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Alder Fuels.
The technology—an advanced pyrolysis process that converts biomass into refinery-ready biocrude oil—is backed by millions of dollars in funding from United Airlines, Honeywell UOP, AvFuel, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Bioenergy Technologies Office.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revealed that there is over $400 million (€356.5 million) available in financing under a programme that provides loan guarantees to help rural small businesses in the US lower energy costs.
A Pennsylvania farm has partnered with a nearby microbrewery to create an alternative fuel produced with brewer’s waste and organic matter.
The Dickinson College Farm in Pennsylvania joined with Molly Pitcher Brewing Company and other local farms to create large quantities of sustainable biogas from materials that would otherwise be discarded.
According to a new study by researchers in the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, replacing coal in Georgia’s power plants with woody biomass could not only meet Georgia’s power needs, but reduce carbon emissions.
The research calculated both economic and environmental factors to provide a comprehensive picture of the impact of replacing coal with timber for a 50-year period.
The New Zealand government has released a plan to transform the country's forestry sector so more trees are further processed locally and investment in a wood-based biomass fuel is increased, according to RNZ.
The Minister of Forestry launched the draft Forestry and Wood Processing Industry Transformation Plan in Christchurch and said it would boost innovation and investment and unlock the future of forestry and wood processing.
Climate change has exacerbated more than 200 infectious diseases and dozens of non-transmissible conditions, such as poisonous-snake bites, according to an analysis1. Climate hazards bring people and disease-causing organisms closer together, leading to a rise in cases. Global warming can also make some conditions more severe and affect how well people fight off infections.
Most studies on the associations between climate change and disease have focused on specific pathogens, transmission methods or the effects of one type of extreme weather. Camilo Mora, a data scientist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and his colleagues scoured the literature for evidence of how ten climate-change-induced hazards — including surging temperatures, sea level rise and droughts — have affected all documented infectious diseases (see ‘Climate hazards exacerbate diseases’). These include infections spread or triggered by bacteria, viruses, animals, fungi and plants (see ‘Mode of transmission’). The study was published in Nature Climate Change on 8 August.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Democrats' massive climate, health and tax bill into law, marking a major accomplishment for his domestic agenda less than three months before midterm elections.
Speaking from the White House State Dining Room, Biden touted the Inflation Reduction Act as "further proof that the soul of America is vibrant, the future of America is bright and the promise of America is real and just beginning."
When the big flood comes, it will threaten millions of people, the world's fifth-largest economy and an area that produces a quarter of the nation's food. Parts of California's capital will be underwater. The state's crop-crossed Central Valley will be an inland sea.
The scenario, dubbed the "ARkStorm scenario" by researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey's Multi Hazards Demonstration Project, is an eventuality. It will happen, according to new research.
