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On Friday, July 22, US senator Catherine Cortez Masto visited Fulcrum BioEnergy’s new Sierra BioFuels Plant in Storey County.
For years, governmental red tape prevented this plant from launching operations, but as a result of advocacy by Senator Cortez Masto with both the Trump and Biden administrations, the plant will soon begin production. Cortez Masto’s work has helped protect 120 permanent jobs and over 1,000 indirect jobs across Nevada.

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MELBOURNE, Fla. — For most of his 15 years, Levi Draheim led a beachy life on a barrier island on Florida's east coast, swimming, surfing and sailing in the nearshore waves. He dreamed of someday becoming a marine biologist. But Levi's world is changing.

Warming temperatures led to widespread Sargassum seaweed and harmful algae blooms in the Atlantic Ocean and 156-mile Indian River Lagoon, which together encircle the island. The seaweed and algae blooms have left beaches stinking with rotting seaweed and dead marine life. In the Indian River Lagoon, the algae blooms have killed seagrass, leading to an unprecedented die-off of manatees that consume the marine plants. On some days, Levi wore a mask at the beach to guard against the smell.

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Talk about hot nights, America got some for the history books last month.

The continental United States in July set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from the day's sizzling heat for people, animals, plants and the electric grid, meteorologists said.

The average low temperature for the lower 48 states in July was 63.6 degrees (17.6 Celsius), which beat the previous record set in 2011 by a few hundredths of a degree. The mark is not only the hottest nightly average for July, but for any month in 128 years of record keeping, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climatologist Karin Gleason. July's nighttime low was more than 3 degrees (1.7 Celsius) warmer than the 20th century average.

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Solar panels often get a bad rap for spoiling the appearance of homes and businesses. Yet, this may be about to change.

A research group has fabricated a highly transparent solar cell with a 2D atomic sheet. These near-invisible solar cells achieved an average visible transparency of 79%, meaning they can, in theory, be placed everywhere - building windows, the front panel of cars, and even human skin.

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The Biden administration wants to spur the electrification of the transportation sector beyond traditional cars.

The Energy Department plans Thursday to announce it will spend $96 million to reduce emissions by pushing forward the technology and charging infrastructure needed to electrify tractors, construction equipment, planes, trains, boats, and other off-road vehicles. The funding will also be focused on alternative fuels, which could further reduce emissions.

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"The USDA is accepting applications for a new pilot program supporting the development of biobased products, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday."

"Under this program, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) can award up to $10 million divided among the highest rated applications that include eligible universities and private-sector partners, according to a release from Vilsack’s office."

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A new low-temperature, multi-phase process for upgrading lignin bio-oil to hydrocarbons could help expand use of the lignin, which is now largely a waste product left over from the production of cellulose and bioethanol from trees and other woody plants.

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"Facing the disintegration of his climate agenda as ferocious heatwaves hit large parts of the world, Joe Biden has unveiled a new plan to push billions of dollars to US cities and states to help them cope better with extreme heat."

"The president stopped short, however, of declaring a climate emergency."

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"The University of Maine has been issued a patent for a process to create strong composite laminates that are bound with cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). This technology, called Cellubound™, is part of UMaine’s widening patent portfolio of strong, environmentally friendly products bound with CNF."

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"An integrated approach to land management practices in the U.S. can reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere far more than earlier estimates based on separate approaches, Michigan State University researchers say. Their research was published May 31 in the journal Global Change Biology."

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